Buzz Kanter announces suspension of American Iron Magazine

[exeric]

I have never preemptively replied to any of your posts and I have asked you repeatedly to ignore my posts. Is it impossible for you to just move on? Troll someone else.

[T. Cotten]

I always promote the AMCA forum when I can, and try to shame my friends who are AMCA members who don't ....

Do you really think shaming works, Eric?

Did it?

Or turn them off completely.

....Cotten

[exeric]

I always promote the AMCA forum when I can, and try to shame my friends who are AMCA members who don't use this forum. I have discovered that many of my AMCA friends prefer AMCA Facebook to this forum and I have yet to get a good reason for that preference. I know the search engine here is rather crappy, but try to find something from last year on Facebook. At least our forum has categories to give a searcher a starting point (which is why people should always pick the right category to post a thread). Like others here, I have tried to give the AMCA Facebook site a chance, and I do see interesting things there, but there doesn't seem to be any real depth to a topic, or questions. I always see the ubiquitous picture of a knucklehead, and then comments like; "bitchin', or bad-ass". The AMCA forum members take a longer view because most are in this as a life-long hobby (passion, obsession, religion, etc.).

If the CAIMAG Forum is gone, I dearly hope that those members come here and enrich the AMCA Forum with their vast knowledge, and experience. Unfortunately, many of those people left the AMCA with anger, and resentment over AMCA upper management screw-ups from a decade ago. The challenge for the AMCA is to make this forum a welcoming place again. First, and foremost will be to make registering, and signing in painless, and easy for AMCA members. That was a royal P.I.T.A. earlier this year.

[T. Cotten]

..A good thing about sites like this one is they usually get quick responses to questions...

Sadly, BoschZEV,..

That depends upon who asks them.

....Cotten

[BoschZEV]

building a new website we can reference ... lets get a site to help them help us greenhorns to become even better.

The internet age is a blessing and a curse. One can learn things they never could have before, then in an instant it all goes away

A good thing about sites like this one is they usually get quick responses to questions. That said, it requires having read a number of responses from a given person to a variety of questions to know how much to weigh their answers, no matter how confidently they might be presented.

However, as a permanent repository of information, the internet is lacking. A web site with all its content can disappear overnight due to actions by its owner, technical difficulties including lack of a backup, or hackers. Even if a web site is still active, the photographs needed to illustrate technical content can separately disappear, as happened with those on Photobucket.

The recent problems in the publishing industry are well known (e.g. Motorcyclist ceased in 2019), but motorcycle magazines have disappeared with distressing regularity over the years (e.g. Cycle Guide 1987, Cycle 1991, Motorcycle Collector 1994, etc.). This means one shouldn't count on the continued availability of any information on web sites associated with magazines.

Clubs are run by volunteers whose individual personalities can bother some members as well as have unexpected effects on their operation. As the bankruptcy of ARHMA in the mid-'00s shows, clubs aren't immune to serious problems. However, of the several possibilities for keeping internet-based information accessible, a web site run by a large, long-established club like the AMCA seems more likely than the others to be around the longest.

[FCJ]

PS: And the pics don't "disappear". I've re-posted this one enough.

As to disappearing pics, I don't know if your post was intended to be ironic or sarcastic (or both or something else), but I see only an attached thumbnail of a photobucket image dated May 28, 2011 that says "This image or video has been moved or deleted."

[Paps]

It sure bums me out that forum is down. A lot of priceless information was shared there. Buzz ought to at least say something.

[pisten-bully]

...it’s been a few days and still no CAIMAG. It’s kind of a bummer, and true to the old adage that “all good things come to an end”.

The internet age is a blessing and a curse. One can learn things they never could have before, then in an instant it all goes away or turns to mindless fluff. So I’ll support AMCA and the forum it provides for the exchange of information and ideas....(but only as those ideas relate to vintage motorcycles)

[T. Cotten]

...in tune with others on building a new website we can reference, ..

Without burning this house down, Ryan..

If only the "search" function functioned, a lot of past info would be at 'greenhorn' fingertips.

Even Cotten can't find things he posted; But over 860 saved pics that don't need re-loaded for re-posting is actually pretty amazing, eliminating the cost of external photo-hosting!

....Cotten
PS: And the pics don't "disappear". I've re-posted this one enough.

[KNUCK]

Didn't Buzz just recently sell off some vintage bikes? At Mecum Vegas? Moving on.............................

[droptopford]

And don't think Buzz didn't profit from every click on his link. THAT's how commercial sites work.

If nothing else, Buzz is still a businessman.

....Cotten

That's just one more thing (in a very long list) I don't understand...

I've been under the impression that sites like CAIMAG do make a profit. Maybe not a huge profit, but at least a positive cash flow through advertising etc.
If Buzz is "still a businessman", why abandon the website just because the actual paper magazine is taking a hit?

And if there is money to be made, why wouldn't the site be sold so someone else who wants to run it?

[ryan]

If CAIMAG is gone, the old bike hobby has suffered an enormous loss. If Buzz did pull the plug, I would bear him non animus as he did more for old bikes than anyone else I can think of. He put his money where his mouth was and I don't see anyone here taking his place. I would encourage everyone who haunted CAIMAG, to come here and make the AMCA forum what it had been, and should be. The AMCA goes back to 1954 and was the only thing out there for those (few) crazy old bastards that loved, and preserved our American motorcycle heritage. The people I have known, and respected on CAIMAG are some of the finest, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable old bike lovers on planet earth. They need to be here, and bring this forum back to the premier status it had years ago. I hope this is all moot and CAIMAG will be back, but if not; my CAIMAG friends need to make the AMCA their new home.

I am not a website designer, but I am sure my thoughts are in tune with others on building a new website we can reference, so people like myself can research the old bikes and mechanical issues without repeating ourselves. This site gets us by, and questions get answered, but that is about it.
The best site I saw, dealing with antique American iron, is a site called SimpleTractors.com. If we could model our site after them, not just like them, we would draw all kinds of people.
The people on this site are great (even Cotten, he is invaluable to me and others), lets get a site to help them help us greenhorns to become even better.

[T. Cotten]

Your previous post said Bruce Palmer the II, before you edited it. I have always been curious what (of many things) you said to get banished from CAIMAG

Just for the record, Eric,..

I was never, ever "banished", "banned", or "barred" from CAImag.

Just once censored by a "super moderator" when he disparaged strokers, and I replied that with a 'handle' like "Big Incher", he obviously never stroked anything but himself.

He is no longer with us to defend himself, but Buzz is.

...Cotten

[exeric]

Your previous post said Bruce Palmer the II, before you edited it. I have always been curious what (of many things) you said to get banished from CAIMAG

[exeric]

Now it's B.P. III. You're such a jerk, Cotten.