The Future of Oppo
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Hello Fellow Opponauts!
We find ourselves in an unpleasant place this week, our former home is dying, we’re building a new home though. This one will be owned by, developed by, curated by and is for Opponauts.
What you are looking at today is the first generation of hopefully something that will become grand. The current working title is The Hyphen. This is a nickname, but it stuck. In the current form it is a fairly modern forum which helps us emulate a lot of Kinja functionality while adding some nice features as well. This platform will continue to grow and evolve as it is in the early stages of life now, but the community will survive. I want to thank you for patience and understanding too, it has not always been smooth in this first week of operation but we’re getting there.
This is what I want to talk to you about Oppo, the vision we have at the Hyphen for what Oppo can be, should be.
First and foremost Oppositelock will always be about the community, talking to each other, educating, sharing, helping and yes shitposting. Some of the deepest conversations I’ve had have been right here with strangers on the internet, yet is always felt like so much more.Secondly, at some point we’ll have to figure out a way to pay for this thing. Soon(ish) a donation funding source will be setup to cover costs, fund future growth and give a few leftover sheckels to those putting their blood sweat and tears into building this thing to buy beer and pizza (or their chosen vice). There will also be a merch store once we figure out how to build the damn thing. I’m extremely grateful for anything anyone can contribute to help us build this.
Our costs are manageable right now so if you can’t afford to give please do not, there is no need to strain yourself to do this. If you want to help oppo in another way you can make content, engage on the forum, recruit friends and so on – these are all extremely valuable things to do. Or if you have technical expertise in web development or graphic design and want to help, email me at oppo@opposite-lock.com, I’ll be putting together a roster of folks and reaching out when something is needed.
Third I would love Oppo to also be a destination, with a frontpage showcasing the very best of oppo. Things like This day in aviation history, Flightline, The Jeep Experience and so many others I can’t even count them. This vision is at least months away, but it’s been in the back of our minds since we started building this thing. I’d also love to see ad/merch revenue sharing with authors as well when we can manage it.
This is a bit of a fantasy, but I think it is possible. It’ll take all of us but it will be a hell of a thing if we can pull it off.
In the coming days we’ll also put together an ‘Owners Manual’ of sorts. Kind of a guiding rules of keeping Oppo awesome so stay tuned.Lastly, but not least I would like to call out a few Opponauts in particular that have helped make this a reality. Some of which are right in front helping people in the forum every day and others behind the scenes but this wouldn’t be possible without all of them. In no particular order they are RallyDarkStrike, NickHasAnExocet, Jb boin and Rusty Vandura. There are countless more who have contributed but then I’d just be naming all the members, but we couldn’t do any of it without all of you.
Thank you Oppo – it has been an amazing ride and you’ve all been so embracing of the new platform. I’m truly touched and I hope we don’t disappoint you.
-jminer
Former hoarder of motorcycles, recent CA transplant, nerd.
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Something something Dom Toretto "family".
Seriously glad this new space exists, thank you all that have contributed to it's birth!
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@jminer I'm not crying. You're crying. This is beautiful and I'm excited! Thank you again!
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@hooker I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up a couple times writing this today, or last week finding out death was coming.
Former hoarder of motorcycles, recent CA transplant, nerd.
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@jminer man, I know the feel. Been here since somewhere in 2012 I think? That's the oldest I can find. I know only a few in real life. However, the ones I know only online are just as special to me!
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@jminer stickers as revenue may need to be subsisted with other merch.
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NVRMND Appears the future where https://oppositelock.com/ is concerned is still an open book.
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@jminer Any word from the old guard or mods?
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@nomdeplume This is very true, I'd love to move there but we'll have to wait and see what those that own it want to do with it.
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@dr-zoidberg I have been talking with the Kinja Oppo mods (and Rory at the FP) but it's too early to say what will come of that right now. I think they're mostly waiting to see what the community wants to do, and then join us there.
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@jminer I have no skills that can help create this site, but I would be willing to be a moderator, if the team feels they could use my help.
I am certainly willing to toss in a few shekels and buy some steekers as well.
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I like how The Hyphen feels like a cult lol "Here at The Hyphen we believe in all cars and car enthusiasm, Hail Hyphen!" "Hail Hyphen!"
But yeah I'm in, I'll try to contribute posts by as soon as fundraising and merch is setup I'll contribute there as well. This community is too important to me to let it fall into my normal disregard for the world.
14' Cayman S | 99' Miata
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Thank you for all you and the others have put into this site so far! Can't wait to see what it becomes!
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Looking forward to a long and overall good time here. Some day there will be a bunch of people that don't know why we call this "the hyphen" or what kinja was.
I know we want to stay ad-free but as an option, if in the future the member contributions aren't quite going to cut it, I've seen quite a few sites that only show ads to non-members - if you're logged in there are none but guests have some minimal ones poking along. Definitely prefer an organic voluntary funding setup (and will contribute myself) but it's something to keep in mind if it gets a little tight at some point down the road.
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My only other forum experience was with a large, long standing group that had to find another home quickly, and then a few months later had to move again. It hemorrhaged members and didn’t survive. So in the back of my mind I was worried I would see it happen again.
A week later, I no longer worry. We came together and pulled it together. You guys did a tremendous job setting up this new home, and though it’s not finished, it’s getting pretty comfy.
I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.
Curator, Kia enthusiast, dad joke specialist
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@mm54 This is something I've definitely thought of. I neither want to create a paywall or and ad covered site. Particularly on the proposed front page though there will probably be a banner add or something. Also the no-ads for members is definitely something that would be nice if we start publishing them.
For the next while though (unless for some reason it explodes in traffic) we'll just stick to member/merch supported.
Former hoarder of motorcycles, recent CA transplant, nerd.
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@chariotoflove It is still definitely a risk, but feeling like less of one every day. We're adding ~50-60 members a day right now with solid engagement. Hopefully it keeps growing too, I'm excited about the future.
Former hoarder of motorcycles, recent CA transplant, nerd.
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@jminer said in The Future of Oppo:
@chariotoflove It is still definitely a risk, but feeling like less of one every day. We're adding ~50-60 members a day right now with solid engagement. Hopefully it keeps growing too, I'm excited about the future.
The key was deciding on a decent landing place right away, whatever it was, so we don’t get dispersed . That’s why I publicly called my vote for The Hyphen after a couple of days. All the registrations give me great confidence.
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Key difference if ads are a fiscal necessity. They stand a much better chance of being for places like Rock Auto and other relevant commercial entities than something a family member looking over your shoulder would be offended by.
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@jminer I would be happy to pay a monthly donation / recurring PayPal transfer. I do that for The Brewing Network already.
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@poor_sh said in The Future of Oppo:
I like how The Hyphen feels like a cult lol "Here at The Hyphen we believe in all cars and car enthusiasm, Hail Hyphen!" "Hail Hyphen!"
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@jminer Yeah thanks to everyone that knows how to do this stuff, it's really surreal Oppo is being chopped in 2020, I guess if it was going to happen it would be in 2020. Count me in.
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It's nothing to quibble about but our old home is not dying. It is being executed (along with its brothers & sisters) like an unwanted puppy, just because it might wee on the carpet.
Ours is not to reason why...merely to point and giggle.
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@silentbutnotreallydeadly
To be fair, there was zero chance they would have ever been able to house train this hound... LOL
