We started the Somersoft Forums back in 1999 as a way of building a community for property investors to learn from each other by sharing their knowledge and experiences. It was really a natural extension of what we have been trying to achieve through our books and software tools: to help fellow property investors and potential property investors gain the knowledge necessary to confidently invest in real estate. It may have been a simple idea but as it turned out, it was a very popular one.
After 16 years, the forum has grown into Australia's largest and most respected property investment discussion community. We may have been the instigator and primary sponsor, but its success has mostly been as a result of the enthusiastic support of property investors and the hard work of a group of volunteers in ensuring that the discussions remained on track and free from chaos. We are very proud of the valuable information resource that has been created and are very appreciative of the contributions that so many people have made to make it what it is today. The growth of the community forum has far exceeded our hopes and expectations.
Until now, the costs to us to host and administer the site have been relatively modest. For this we must thank the volunteer moderation team and in particular Simon Hampel (Sim) who helped enormously in terms of technical support and forum administration. This made it possible for the forum to remain somewhat independent of commercial influence and free of advertisements.
However, it has now reached a point where the costs of hosting such a busy forum, including the costs of administration and community management, have become unsustainable without some form of commercialisation. After much soul searching and negotiating we have collectively come up with the following plan.
The current Somersoft forum will be preserved as an independent educational resource for the property investing community, providing insight and understanding to new generations of property investors who come seeking knowledge. To facilitate this, we will shortly be archiving the Somersoft forum, making it read-only in that no more threads or posts can be made - but allowing the content to be freely searched and accessed into the future.
To provide a new home for existing members who wish to continue contributing and engaging with other property investors, Simon has been working hard to build a new website independent of Somersoft. Simon is the owner and operator of the new site and we wish him all the best and are confident that the skills and dedication that he demonstrated in managing the Somersoft forum since 2002, will ensure its long term success.
At this point, we wish to recognise the contribution of our members - without you the site could not have become what it is today. We also want to highlight the efforts of our volunteer moderators over many years in tirelessly dealing with spam and recalcitrant members to keep the community on track and in order. Finally we wish to again thank Simon Hampel for all his efforts in building and maintaining the current version of the Somersoft forums - we have enjoyed working with Simon and very much appreciate the time he has dedicated to making the site the success that it has been.
While the forum may well be undergoing a dramatic change, our Somersoft book and software business (www.somersoft.com.au) will still be open for business and we thank our loyal customers for their support over many years and look forward to working with them into the future.
We will leave Simon to explain the timeline for the upcoming changes to the forum and answer any questions about the process and the transition.
Thank you and best wishes,
Jan & Ian Somers
After 16 years, the forum has grown into Australia's largest and most respected property investment discussion community. We may have been the instigator and primary sponsor, but its success has mostly been as a result of the enthusiastic support of property investors and the hard work of a group of volunteers in ensuring that the discussions remained on track and free from chaos. We are very proud of the valuable information resource that has been created and are very appreciative of the contributions that so many people have made to make it what it is today. The growth of the community forum has far exceeded our hopes and expectations.
Until now, the costs to us to host and administer the site have been relatively modest. For this we must thank the volunteer moderation team and in particular Simon Hampel (Sim) who helped enormously in terms of technical support and forum administration. This made it possible for the forum to remain somewhat independent of commercial influence and free of advertisements.
However, it has now reached a point where the costs of hosting such a busy forum, including the costs of administration and community management, have become unsustainable without some form of commercialisation. After much soul searching and negotiating we have collectively come up with the following plan.
The current Somersoft forum will be preserved as an independent educational resource for the property investing community, providing insight and understanding to new generations of property investors who come seeking knowledge. To facilitate this, we will shortly be archiving the Somersoft forum, making it read-only in that no more threads or posts can be made - but allowing the content to be freely searched and accessed into the future.
To provide a new home for existing members who wish to continue contributing and engaging with other property investors, Simon has been working hard to build a new website independent of Somersoft. Simon is the owner and operator of the new site and we wish him all the best and are confident that the skills and dedication that he demonstrated in managing the Somersoft forum since 2002, will ensure its long term success.
At this point, we wish to recognise the contribution of our members - without you the site could not have become what it is today. We also want to highlight the efforts of our volunteer moderators over many years in tirelessly dealing with spam and recalcitrant members to keep the community on track and in order. Finally we wish to again thank Simon Hampel for all his efforts in building and maintaining the current version of the Somersoft forums - we have enjoyed working with Simon and very much appreciate the time he has dedicated to making the site the success that it has been.
While the forum may well be undergoing a dramatic change, our Somersoft book and software business (www.somersoft.com.au) will still be open for business and we thank our loyal customers for their support over many years and look forward to working with them into the future.
We will leave Simon to explain the timeline for the upcoming changes to the forum and answer any questions about the process and the transition.
Thank you and best wishes,
Jan & Ian Somers
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