Hello everyone!

On behalf of the Community Management team, we'd like to offer you the warmest of welcomes to the VerticalScope family of forums! Our team helps manage the site administration and maintenance duties of keeping ClubSeaRay.com operational, and we wanted to take the opportunity to not only say hello, but also to share a little bit about what to expect.

Who Are We?

VerticalScope is a network of forum communities around the internet. The community management staff on our team help make the work of the forum moderators and administrators easier.

What Do We Do?

Community means a great deal to us - we're all community people, and so continuity and stability are our primary aim. We bring reliability, support, and the infrastructure required to ensure that this community will be able to thrive for many years to come. It is our goal to work with the volunteer moderators/administrators to provide the resources required to increase reach, attract new members, increase engagement, and better the community experience overall.

What Will Change?

From a cultural side, next to nothing, you will eventually see our TOS and Privacy Policies in place but you’ll find they’re the same as you already work with. From a technical standpoint in the coming months you will see some necessary software updates and a change in the look and feel as we have a platform we’ve built up that should improve performance. Apart from that you'll now have access to better resources as well as community management staff for support and forum-related technical issues. Community is the focus here, and we know that the members of every forum work to keep things going awesomely. You're a huge part of that success, and we're here to ensure that the lights stay on, upkeep is tended to, and the infrastructure gets the attention it needs.

If you have any questions, ask away!

We're looking forward to working with the members, mods and admins here, and we're incredibly happy to be with you.

Warm Regards,

 

Wow, cool! Congrats Jim. Keep us posted on your son. Good luck and here's to a smooth transition!

 

Hi everyone, the huge outage and scare we had last year when upgrading the software made me realize I am probably not the one to be in charge of maintaining this wealth of Sea Ray knowledge. I have worked out a deal for Vertical Scope to take it from here. They are in the "forum" business and manage some of the largest boating forums around. They will have the time and expertise to keep this place running the way it should, and make sure the information is protected. I founded this place almost 20 years ago. We've sold marine electronics to so many of you, been on trips with many of you, and have so many friends and customers here. With me being on the road chasing my son's racing career I am hardly able to even get on here any more, but you all know where to find me.

I'll certainly stick around for the rest of the year through the transition to help connect the dots and keep things running without interruption.

Thank you everyone!

Quitter….. best of luck Jim. Thanks for all you’ve done

 

Jim thank you for all you have done throughout the years. Best of luck with your son's racing Career.

 

Thank you Jim for all your hard work.

 

Thank you Jim for all of the time, effort, and money put into CSR. Hope your son has a long and storied racing career.

 

Thanks Jim to your dedication to CSR for so many years, good luck to your son and his racing.

 

Thank you for creating and maintaining and promoting the best member invested boating knowledge bank in the world

BEST !

RWS

 

Thanks for your vision and fortitude bringing this to life. Good luck to you and your son in his racing career!

 

 

Thank you Jim!!

 

Thanks Jim!

 

Thanks for all you've done Jim! For the site, and to keep the hobby and the brand going

 

Thanks Jim for such a great job on making CSR the best boating site! Also, thanks for choosing what appears to be a fantastic company to continue from here!!

 

Thanks Jim for the great community you have hosted, I hope the new group appreciates what a great site you have.

Now what can we do about the bots?

 

We can look at measures to help catch them at the point of entry and block them from being able to be seen by you all.
-Philip

 

Thanks Jim for creating this great community. This is my primary social media site. I don’t subscribe to any of the other BookFaces, & Twisters, etc…

 

Thanks Jim

 

Who managed the site before Jim took it over ?

 

Jim (BOEMarine) started this site and managed it from what I understand.

 

Hey Jim,

It was sure long and eventful journey. We greatly appreciate all of your efforts on keeping the largest boating community running smoothly. Best of luck in your future journey and best of luck to your son's exciting career! We'll sure miss you.

 

Hi everyone, the huge outage and scare we had last year when upgrading the software made me realize I am probably not the one to be in charge of maintaining this wealth of Sea Ray knowledge. I have worked out a deal for Vertical Scope to take it from here. They are in the "forum" business and manage some of the largest boating forums around. They will have the time and expertise to keep this place running the way it should, and make sure the information is protected. I founded this place almost 20 years ago. We've sold marine electronics to so many of you, been on trips with many of you, and have so many friends and customers here. With me being on the road chasing my son's racing career I am hardly able to even get on here any more, but you all know where to find me.

I'll certainly stick around for the rest of the year through the transition to help connect the dots and keep things running without interruption.

Thank you everyone!

Who managed the site before Jim took it over ?

 

@VS-Admin @CSR_Admin

Practical question. What happens with the existing silver/gold/platinum sponsorship program? Will that continue? Will the benefits be the same/different?

I just got a notice that my gold sponsorship is up for renewal. If it happened before the announcement I would have just reupped. I paid it because I value the content (although I no longer have a Sea Ray). Operation under Jim felt like hobby that really grew up and I wanted to support that and membership/minimal ads were a way to keep the lights on and cover costs. As a board member of a small non-profit with just a bare-bones website, I totally understand how much it costs just to keep it functional at the most basic level.

Sponsorship payment to a commercial operation that I assume will be taking further action to monetize the site's base and history feels a bit different to me. I'm truly not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but want to understand what I'm getting before I re-up.

 

@VS-Admin @CSR_Admin

Practical question. What happens with the existing silver/gold/platinum sponsorship program? Will that continue? Will the benefits be the same/different?

I just got a notice that my gold sponsorship is up for renewal. If it happened before the announcement I would have just reupped. I paid it because I value the content (although I no longer have a Sea Ray). Operation under Jim felt like hobby that really grew up and I wanted to support that and membership/minimal ads were a way to keep the lights on and cover costs. As a board member of a small non-profit with just a bare-bones website, I totally understand how much it costs just to keep it functional at the most basic level.

Sponsorship payment to a commercial operation that I assume will be taking further action to monetize the site's base and history feels a bit different to me. I'm truly not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but want to understand what I'm getting before I re-up.

The program will continue. If there is a need to change or consolidate it the existing membership holders would be grandfathered and maintain a special status.

I understand your feelings on this and respect if you choose to re-up or not. Having an established member who can contribute to the conversations and camaraderie here is often equally as valuable as anyone who pays for a sponsored membership.

-Philip

 

Thanks Jim for creating and keeping this site going. I wouldn't make it off the dock if weren't for the members here sharing knowledge and advice. Best of luck to you and your family.

 

Kinda feels like when my family owned marina got bought by Safe Harbor.

 

Jim you will be missed.

 

I have got some updated info on ad placement. You should notice some changes today and tomorrow. This will include removing the large interstitial ad; It appears this has historically been the placement that was triggering popups. Anyone with an active paid membership will continue to not see ads other than your existing direct advertisers who are also valued and contributing members of the community.
-Philip