Our Beginnings:

Covert Conservatives is a mere 8 days old at this writing.  It was born out of necessity to preserve literally hundreds of Internet friendships that were made at a very popular web Forum hosted by an even more popular conservative Pundit.  Said Pundit supposedly gave the approval for a regime change that resulted in the loss of the “old guard” Moderators and an influx of previously banned renegades who took control of everything on Saturday, October 28^th at approx. 12:00 noon.

View From The Trenches:

I was a daily poster at this Forum and had made dozens and dozens of friends over the past 8 months.  It seems much longer – like years, but it was only 8 months ago that I joined.  During that time there was never any indication that people were trying to cause trouble behind the scenes.  There were private message and threatening emails made to the Moderators by former members who had insulted people and/or broken many Forum rules.  But, I guess rules don’t apply to everyone.  At least that’s what these former members thought.  So they plotted and schemed and now claim that they contacted said Pundit and, with said Pundit’s approval, took control of the entire Forum.

Why This Smells Rotten:

 I have a very big problem with what happened at my “home” Forum last Saturday.  Since the attackers to took over, they have succeeded in demonstrating to everyone why they were banned in the first place.  They are quite a contrast to the old Moderators who were kicked out.  Our old Moderators were kind, gentle, yet strict.  They kept the Forum running smoothly without resorting to the tactics being used by the new guard.  Since last Saturday I have had no less than 5 posts deleted.  No warning, no questions first, just deleted.  Why?  Simply to prevent anyone from reading what I wrote. 

 So, what did I write?  I asked why this was happening.  I stated that I wanted to know why the old Moderators were removed.  Then I wanted to know why posts were being deleted.  I then received some Private Messages (PMs) from the new guard stating that they were trying to make the transition smooth, that this was approved by said Pundit, and that I should just keep quiet.

 Needless to say, I was quite angry.  And, I was far from being the only person who was angry over this.  People were being banned left and right.  New rules were being posted, plus an influx of old, formerly banned members were flooding into the Forum.  People we didn’t know were rejoicing over this apparent takeover while providing no rhyme or reason for why the takeover ever happened.  The more they suppressed posts with questions, the angrier we got.  The angrier we got, the more people were lost.  Something had to be done.  And it was.

A New Forum Is Born:

I received an email from one of our former Moderators who was just devastated at what happened.  She even gave me her phone number and wanted to talk.  So I called her, flattered that she wanted to speak with me about this.  What I learned made me even angrier than I had been before.  Not only were the former Moderators kicked out without any warning, they were never given any chance to defend themselves or tell their side of things.  Plus, over all these years of Moderating said Pundits Forum, they never received payment.  All of their time was donated for free.  Not once did they ever hear from said Pundit or receive so much as a “thank you.”  That’s when I realized what must be done.

Using an inactive website I just happened to have, I removed the test site data and installed a fresh copy of PHPBB Forum software.  Having done this before helped quite a lot.  Within 2 hours of moving files and folders, and installing the initialization package, I had created a new home for the former moderators.  I knew that they would need a place to regroup.  The would need some place where all of their fans could find them.  But, what happened next was the biggest surprise I could imagine.

EXODUS:

I honestly figured that our new little Forum would remain as a little Forum with maybe some of the former Moderators and a few close friends.  What actually happened was quite the opposite.  We started receiving over 30 new applications a day over Saturday and Sunday.  Then on Monday we had over 50 applications.  This continued over the past 8 days varying slightly to the point where we now have over 220 registered members and all of the former Moderators. 

 Traffic became so busy that the old site no longer functioned.  By Thursday afternoon we had acquired a new web host and had to move 200 members to yet another new home.  We are now on a very fast server with a new domain name of www.CovertConservatives.com.  And the most wonderful surprise of all is, it feels like we never left said Pundit’s forum.

At our former home, membership has dropped by over 1,000 members since the takeover happened.  Some of these were outright bannings, but others were members who demanded that their membership be deleted.  Many people also demanded that all of their posts be deleted as well.  Such is the damage that resulted from a hostile takeover.

The Particulars of Home:

What we discovered is a new sense of pride.  As it turns out, and especially since said Pundit never once showed up, all of the content, all of the discussions, and all of the reasons why we enjoyed ourselves so much was because of us mere Forum members.  We provided the content, we participated in the discussions, therefore we were the very reason we loved that place so much.  The Forum itself is not why we had fun.  Now that we have a new home, it feels like we never left simply because all of the daily posters followed us to where the former Moderators could be found.

The New Journey:

Now that the dust has settled we find ourselves not just in a new home, but in a much better one.  We have taken control and are creating www.CovertConservatives.com in our own image – not in the image of any one Pundit.  If you care to join us, please stop over for a visit.  If you enjoy intelligent conversations, bad jokes, and meeting with other Conservatives, you may just find a home too.

© StarryNightDave Sunday, November 05, 2006