I miss Mike

[Hey_Dan]

I would like to say hello to everyone, I have not been around here much lately. Jeff - I wanted to see which one of us joined the site first, and we have the same join date 6/6/2007! Jeff told me about this site back then, I guess he must have told me the day he joined, and I joined the same day. I miss the days of huge rides at Humphrey NY, Copper Ridge in Olean NY, and Ledges in Ohio. I enjoy Ashtabula, but it is not the same as Humphrey was. Humphrey was a long dice run through a marked trail, so everyone could ride at their own pace and not have to stay in line. Big groups of machines would stop and watch as the other the riders challenged the mud holes.

In 2007 I was working for RI, and I asked Mike to send me a stamp that said 6x6world.com on it. I used to stamp the boxes of the parts getting shipped out to help spread the word about this site.

-Dan

[marauder]

I heard a rumour that Mike got into trouble with the IRS and that as part of his plea deal he had to give up this website, anybody hear anything similar? I always thought it was strange that he would walk away from something that he obviously was passionate about, but if that rumour is true then it makes a lot of sense.

[jpswift1]

Good to see you stop in, figured you may have been lurking occasionally. You were a large part of the reply conversations for a long time.

Hope all is well.

Hi Jim! Thanks for the kind words. I still get on here every now and then to see what's going on. It's great to hear from you and I hope to see you and the rest of the group soon.

I would like to say hello to everyone, I have not been around here much lately. Jeff - I wanted to see which one of us joined the site first, and we have the same join date 6/6/2007! Jeff told me about this site back then, I guess he must have told me the day he joined, and I joined the same day. I miss the days of huge rides at Humphrey NY, Copper Ridge in Olean NY, and Ledges in Ohio. I enjoy Ashtabula, but it is not the same as Humphrey was. Humphrey was a long dice run through a marked trail, so everyone could ride at their own pace and not have to stay in line. Big groups of machines would stop and watch as the other the riders challenged the mud holes.

In 2007 I was working for RI, and I asked Mike to send me a stamp that said 6x6world.com on it. I used to stamp the boxes of the parts getting shipped out to help spread the word about this site.

-Dan

Dan, I can't remember which one of us joined first, but I think I sent a mass email out to all of the original folks as soon as Mike told me he was starting the site. I forgot about the 6x6world stamp! You really helped spread the word about the site when you were working at Recreatives. That was great! Those huge rides were always a great time. I think those rides you mentioned are non-existent now because of insurance reasons or something. If I remember correctly a lot of the Humphrey and Copper Ridge rides were right before 6X6World started up.

I heard a rumour that Mike got into trouble with the IRS and that as part of his plea deal he had to give up this website, anybody hear anything similar? I always thought it was strange that he would walk away from something that he obviously was passionate about, but if that rumour is true then it makes a lot of sense.

That couldn't be farther from the truth. I wonder who in the world would come up with some nonsense story like that? If anyone knows what it takes to run a site like this, including moderating the forums, keeping spam bots off here, etc, they'd realize that it's not easy and it requires a ton of time and effort and money. He did it for something like 10 years in addition to his regular corporate job, which had him extremely busy with all of the added workload and traveling. It's pretty demanding being a homeowner, having a corporate career, being a big forum moderator, trying to maintain a fleet of machines, set up rides and get togethers for the 6X6 community, etc. You just don't put a site like this on autopilot when you're the moderator and just check in on it whenever you feel like it and think that it's going to run itself without and effort or money. People apparently don't think of these things.

[smudvapor]

I think a lot of people have migrated to FaceBook. Many of the folks that I used to talk to on here I talk to all the time on the FaceBook page. I am seeing it in classic cars pages as well as the minibike pages. I think one way to keep people interested in the site is to come to the gatherings and actually meet some of the people who post on here. I joined about 10 years ago and since I started going to the meets and racing there are many people I met on here that have become almost like family to my wife and me. We never miss a chance to get together with everyone. Pine Lake is our "home away from home".

[techfx]

I think I'm noticing this working tech support too: More people (especially younger) seem to be using apps/phones instead of websites/computers. That might explain a few more people popping up on facebook. I think I have also seen the same for VW msg boards vs fb pages. More ads for AATVs on fb marketplace than Craigslist.

I think a lot of people have migrated to FaceBook. Many of the folks that I used to talk to on here I talk to all the time on the FaceBook page. I am seeing it in classic cars pages as well as the minibike pages. I think one way to keep people interested in the site is to come to the gatherings and actually meet some of the people who post on here. I joined about 10 years ago and since I started going to the meets and racing there are many people I met on here that have become almost like family to my wife and me. We never miss a chance to get together with everyone. Pine Lake is our "home away from home".

[John8x8hdi]

I miss him too-not only on the site, but also on the trail. I wonder if he still owns his machines or if he's sold them entirely and is done with the hobby. I hope if he isn't done that he could meet us again for a ride in the near future. I think the best way to improve relations on this site is to get contact info outside of this site. Notifications are often missed, but a phone call or text is much easier to see. Anyways, Mike if you're out there we miss you and hope you can meet with us soon.