Is anyone else surprised that Webmonkey hasn't responded

You ask why he just doesn’t sell Utefans.net? I would ask who would buy it and if that person existed, what would they pay for it? It took 24 hours to set up this site and it’s free. I would argue that the barriers to entry are minimal.

I’m also surprised the has not shown any gratitude for collecting now $6480. I’m now in full out disgust mode. How many times have you been handed 6500 bucks for a little help? I feel raped.

There were some wild accusations being tossed around on Twitter. People were saying that Monkey’s wife posted on facebook about going on a Hawaiian vacation. Somebody else said there’s nothing to that and all she said was that she would like to go there someday.

You can’t buy a web community; you earn it. Web users will flea like c**kroaches when the lights are turned out if they don’t like it. I’ve seen it happen many times before.

Pleeaaaase let this site take off and let the horrible formatting and redirect ads of Utefans die forever.

If you have a Utefans account and you are upset about the Owner, cast your “vote” for this site by never posting on Utefans again other than to let people know that all of the conversation is happening at Utehub.

The Utes fan base should be represented by a quality website, I’m sure if people get behind this one we will have just that.

Lol when I signed up I didn’t realize my sign in name Wouldnt be my board username.

I was a long time lurker of ufn. The years of commentary, discussions and guided information should be worth something.

What makes UFN valuable is not the name, the archive of posts, or the recognition it gets in the local media. What makes it valuable is the community that has been built and how the site has grown and evolved with that that community.

Sadly, that evolution has stagnated and users have noticed and they are either going elsewhere or just giving up on the community entirely.

WebMonkey was going through hard times and I could understand him not being able to invest time in the site, and I was happy to throw into the donation hat the first time around because it was being done to help a fellow community member and to help keep the place alive where we all meet to share our fandom.

This second round of fundraising feels different to me. It feel like it’s being rationalized as “well, it worked once before maybe I can squeeze a bit more”. I hate to feel that way but it is how I feel. Honestly, I can’t justify putting more money in his hands without some type of assurance that he’s going to do the right thing and get UFN working better.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by UteStuckInSeattle.

I’m a little surprised, but I also understand if Webmonkey is going through some tough times. It’s hard to know just how bad things might be. I know there are times when my job totally consumes me, and I have little or no time for some things. I also know how tough it can be to give up control of something that is your “baby.” I will be sad if Utefans dies off. I guess we’ll see how it plays out.

UGLI’s in here?
What were you on UFN??
And why did I not know that was you??

I began to take the initiative to create a new Utah forum last week but since this one is already off the ground a little bit, I’ll just concede. UF is becoming a freeway exit ramp and I’m trying to avoid contact if you know what I mean… Plus I was never fond of that format for a message board.

I’m not surprised at all. I’m certain that *if* he has seen those threads, he is just simply in full avoidance mode, refusing to deal with the conflict. In full disclosure, I was sitting right next to him when he registered the UF.N domain name way back in, I wanna say, 1999. I’ll just say that he doesn’t have much business acumen and doesn’t really care about balancing the books. For him, it’s all about being the life of the party, the center of the Utah fan universe. And that is why he will resist giving up on the site or selling it. It is an emotional decision, not a rational one. We had an amazing community in 2004-2005, but it splintered apart from within. He’s never really stopped trying to recapture that moment, or trying to figure out how to bottle it.

I, more than anyone, wish he would sell it or divest himself and focus on the important things he needs to like his career and his health and his family. Fifteen years is a damn good run in the internet-age.

UF.N was a staple and still is to many Ute fans.
BUT! With the introduction of Facebook groups so many pages have popped up that are far easier to read than UF.N is, I am afraid UFN has become a fossil.
Pac-12 trash talk, Utenation, pac-12 fight Club, Ute Fan faithful, Utah Football etc etc etc.

I wish I was still SFA and I miss the guys from 10-12 years ago but times are different.
In the end I will still go to Utefans.net until the death rattle is over and i hope we all still have a place to collect our thoughts and opinions.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Badbadute.

I’m not sure what the deal is with WM. I suspect that he’s getting some revenue from the current ads and it sounds like he’s in a dire situation which makes that revenue, however much it is, really really important. Otherwise all the complaining about the redirects and problems might have resulted in some changes. I can’t fault someone for trying to do what’s best for themselves, and for trying to pay the bills.

Or perhaps it’s a case that UFN is working and bringing in some revenue with no elbow grease needed. It’s easy to just let it do what it is currently doing.

I was never able to post on Ufn, nor send anyone a message about how to change that. Im guessing you have to donate to be able to post? Seems sketchy…. It also turned me off how he was always asking for large amounts of money. I feel bad if he really is going through some health stuff (and would have donated), but I have a really hard time giving the benefit of the doubt to a username on the internet.

The site always seemed to jam up my computer, and was slow as hell. Poor design. All of this combined just gave the website a really dirty feeling to me. Was always hoping for another site to come up and become the most active Utah forum. Hopefully its this one.

I’m already loving this site , but I’m not ready to give up on UFN yet. I’m a trusting guy and believe WB is more concerned about his health right now.

Sweet!!! Somewhere to post and read Ute related news! Love it. Keep it going w/o malware, please:)

I’m not surprised in the slightest. More than a year ago I had a sign-up problem with Utefans (you know that stupid message you get that says don’t click ‘Remember Me’ or something like that?). I couldn’t sign on and I couldn’t re-register. I tried emailing Webmonkey for months without any response whatsoever. Eventually I just had to give up.

I was a member on UFN for 8 years but like many here now gave up posting as it was too painful on that site. UH has a lot of potential so I’ll be sticking around here from now and planning on becoming more of a contributer like I used to be.

FWIW I’ve been unemployed before. It was the worst three months of my life, I had been laid off, systematically rejected by a good ol’ boy network, and was a couple months into a new mortgage on a single paycheck.

I sank into a deep funk, retreated into a dark corner, and sought escape in the most brain dead activities. And I wasn’t struggling with health and family issues as long as WM has. I don’t blame him for not taking care of the site. The second and third round of hat-passing was a bit tasteless but that’s definitely out of survival mode. If Oracle treats him well, I think he’ll come up for air eventually.

It’s okay to decide you’ve had enough, but the vitriol and criticism seems unwarranted. Obviously the alternative has been provided here.

I’m just glad to see posts from people long ago lost. Hoping to see maki, heartless, LA, others.

I gave up posting on UFN years ago for the most part. Twitter been my friend. Hoping this site works out.

To that end, I’ll show and post, hopefully something worth reading, occasionally.

I’m equally interested to see what happens to the “old guard” posters at UFN. I personally don’t get all the inside jokes and memes. I know that many avoid UFN because of all the regulars who treat it as their own blog. Will they abandon their insiders club and come over here? In the end, they may have no choice.

I have been a daily reader on Utefans for years. Have met Monkey several times, last time was at the coach’es radio show at Trolley Square lat year. I sat next to them. I told him of my recent return to SLC after retiring in Portland. He said welcome back you’re among friends now. To me it looks like a young couple trying to make it even with all the health issues, joblessness. I appreciate all he’s done. At this point given all their circumstances I feel it’s hard to judge. I know loyal posters on Utefans will support that site to the very end. I enjoy Utehub now and visit both sites daily. All the best for both.

I am one of those that is friends with Monkey on Facebook, so I have some idea what he’s going through. His issues are real, and it’s not just him. He has other family members that are facing significant challenges.
He even reached out to me for help once in a way that both surprised me and, well, made me uncomfortable. I can only imagine that he must have been in a bad way to do that.
But, like others, I am not sure I completely understand the apathy he has towards UFN lately. I am sure he has been contacted IRL and had help offered concerning UFN. He has derived serious benefit from being the guardian of such a community – to the tune of a lot of dollars. In my mind, if I had derived such great benefit from that community, I would spend a lot more time nurturing it. But he is virtually ignoring it. That just feels wrong to me.
What is happening now is a natural result of the situation. WM has the ability and the bandwidth to dive back in if he chooses. But he chooses not to.

I’m sure we’ve all had those times where we’re dealing with financial trouble or health issues and understand how it can consume your time and energy.

However, when you start campaigning for financial help you kind of open yourself up to some questioning from those you ask for help from.

He’s certainly not required to tell anyone anything or give any updates but I think it would go a long way to ease some tension on UFN.

Overall, I don’t want to see UFN falter. I hope things get straightened out over there.

I love the guy, he is my big brother. But I gotta say every time I see him he is literally/physically/etc. a shell of his former self. I don’t know the full scale of things, but I honestly feel he needs a spark to enjoy life again and site maintenance is bottom of the list. Obviously there are medical complications I don’t understand, but his financial requests have reached borderline uncomfortable levels for everyone he knows (hope the job works out) but bottom line I hope he becomes that happy focused fun loving guy again!

That said this site is another option for Utes info, perspectives, blah blah etc and personally I got to the Espn pac12 blog first, then Utefans, this site comes before local sports news and coming opponents city newspapers. Its nice to see the same thing from different angles 🙂

Go Utes!!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by IrieUte.

Sooooo much whining….

It’s the nature of the beast. Sites rise and fall and some rise again (whether you wanted them to or not). And WebMonkey has had real life issues that affected his ability to manage the site as well as he once did. Can any of you honestly say that something you started 11 years ago (aside from family/marriage) are still your top priority?

I will bite my tongue.

Let’s just say, God bless the gullible.