Hello ST.N members:
This is a bittersweet day for me. I am both sad and happy to announce that ST.N has been sold.
Effective today ST.N control and ownership has been transferred to
Motorcycle.com and is now part of their motorsports network affording it more opportunities than I’m able to provide going forward.
There is a laundry list of reasons why this has happened. I won’t bore you with all of them, but twelve years of history is hard to gloss over. I’ll try to hit the highlights. Forgive me if I become long winded. I tend to get that way when I’m writing.
Why?I started ST.N in October of 2001 as a personal website to store photos, ride reports, and general motorcycle information. 2001! Can you believe that? Twelve years ago. I installed free forum software on a whim to learn how to setup a server . . . and people just started showing up. I’m still not sure where they came from, or how they found out, but there was clearly a desire for a community that catered to more mature riders of sport and sport-touring motorcycles.
Over those twelve years ST.N became something I never dreamed of, or was even looking for: A community of enthusiasts who loved to ride fast and far. During that time ST.N has gone through two rebirths, approximately 60,000 registered members, 3.5 million posts, and 200 million page views.
As you can imagine managing such a thing takes time, knowledge, effort, patience, money, and interest. In 2002, when ST.N started to take off, I had all of those. In 2013 I have little to none of those remaining.
People change, and over twelve years my interests and needs have shifted. So in bullet form here are the main reasons why ST.N is changing ownership:
• Motorcycling as my primary interest has waned. There are so many things I’m interested in that it was inevitable that it fall down the list at some point. I also have much less free time to ride than I had 10-15 years ago, which has also contributed to this waning interest.
• I also have much less free time to monitor and work on the site due to professional and other personal commitments. The days where I would spend evenings writing articles, reviews, or coordinating raffles/giveaways ended quite some time ago.
• For many years I was able to pay for everything involved with ST.N via donations and Google ads, but recent developments at work (which I posted about on the forums) have caused me to think of my family first and re-evaluate the offers I’ve received to sell the site. This is something I resisted for almost 8 years, but Amy and I felt this time around it was the right thing to do.
How does this affect me, the former owner of ST.N?Quite a bit actually. It removes all the burdens of owning, running, worrying about, and managing a large website. I get to spend more time concentrating on other interests important to me. I’ll still be a member, with forum admin abilities, and I’ll still visit and post.
How does this affect you, the members of ST.N?It doesn’t. All the current moderators will remain, if they choose. No memberships will change. The forums themselves will change very little. Ads will continue to be served, but obviously they will be more directed and targeted to motorsports. Motorcycle.com has the resources and talent to keep ST.N chugging along uninterrupted.
What’s next?Well, as stated above things should continue on normally and smoothly with little to no impact to members. I expect to see new vendors with specials and group buys for members. And you should expect to see a less stressed out and less impatient member (me).
Dwayn, the new community liason for Motorcycle.com, will be available to answer any questions you may have about the transition and future plans for the site.
Thanks.When twelve years goes by there is bound to be a list of people to thank. So here it is . . .
• The server admins: bsd43 (Nevin) and twist (Gary). These guys stepped up and helped save ST.N after one of its crashes/hacks. They’re good. What would have taken me months to figure out with excessive hair loss (effective server management), is just child’s play to them. Without their expertise, ST.N likely wouldn’t have risen from the ashes last time and would have died back in 2006. Thank you!
• The moderators: Mrs. DantesDame (Colleen), ksann (Ken), Orson, DredheadV2.0. Thanks for taking up the moderating slack when I wasn’t around or available. You’ll all remain moderators as long as you’d like.
• To all past and current members. Some of you have been members for over 10 years. You know who you are! You guys & gals truly make the ST.N community what it is, and I hope you continue to do so.
• To all the members who voluntarily organized national and regional rides and meets. Well done.
• And the gentlemen at Motorcycle.com who made this a smooth transition: David, Mark, Dwayn, and Zsolt.
It may sound odd, but selling a virtual thing was a very hard and personal decision. I nurtured ST.N from an idea hatched while riding to clear my head shortly after the events of 9/11/2001, to a site that’s been viewed by people from every country in the world.
ST.N became one of the greatest adventures of my life. It’s brought people together. It’s inspired adventure and wanderlust. It’s created tangible bonds and real friendships. Those are all rewards in themselves!
See you on the site!
Neal Ulen
Fomerly 'The Skipper' – USS ST.N
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