Future of Motohell

[Exploited]

I remember how back in 2007 I asked you guys "should we continue with Motohell or we should close it" here https://motohell.com/index.php?topic=676. I am very happy that we stayed on. I found great friends and I think it was lots of fun. The forum was raising and gaining new users up to 2010 with great success.

The last two years are showing a great decrease of the usage in Motohell. No new monster packs are reported, few skins, few new users. And now we are up to the moment when the forum has almost NO activity.

I can say that one of the biggest culprits for that situation is me. I focused my personal interests away of the Moto modding. When the owner of one property is not working for the property, then who should be doing that?

Now I am pretty realistic that Motohell cannot raise again the same way as it was before. It's lost as a forum - the users moved to other places a long time ago. Well I won't sell Motohell and I won't close it for sure. And no - I won't change it to some ads site to gain few bucks. I am not going to earn any money from this site - that was the initial idea and this is how it's going to be.

But what I am thinking about right now is some kind of restructuring. To move the forum contents in the archives and to start a completely new project, probably related to mobile phones again, or maybe something else. It's only an idea which is not very clear. The website has pretty much good traffic of visitors - I want to make it useful for the people. Not like right now - an archive of old and forgotten monster packs...

What do you say guys (if anybody is still out there)?

[Joka X]

i agree the website need restructuring. but no idea how, hmm...

[Polar_BearXL]

hi, sorry I just read the email from motohell before, it's in my old email so I didn't notice it, from my point of view, yes motohell need a restructuring. First of, the main attraction were linux kjava and motomagx modding, those were great for modder before, but things changes now, now it's about Android, or iOS, even Blackberry OS kinda anonymous, so yeah we need a restructuring.

The first problem is, the side name is "Motohell", the focus was in Motorola, and Motorola kinda turned to another "usual" company now, it's just another "Samsung", "LG" or other millions of company that use Android. So, do we need to refocus on that? only focus on Motorola? I mean, I did love Motorola, maybe I still am, but for now, the direction kinda turns me down

The second, the focus on modding, as we know, if we choose to focus on Motorola, it means we focus on Android modding, but as much as I think Android is fun, it's not as fun as modding my old E2 ROKR phone, when I mod that old phone, I gain new things, most Android phone provide almost anything that "regular-joe" need, sure there's some good additions, but, that's just one "rooting" away, that's it. So I'm kinda turned off in that too. Anyway, so should we keep focus on modding? or is it time to refocus on something else? if yes, on modding, how much variations in modding we can expect? and if it's modding is it on android? or modding in another things? I do know people do modding on Sony-Ericsson dumbphone, but how many expected fans and enthusiast we can expect to join the new focus bandwagon?

Lastly, I love Motohell, but I don't do modding anymore :'(, my old ROKR E2 is now in my friend's hand, I just use a dumbphone now, I will keep checking out Motohell every now and then, see if the change is happening, and hopefully turned to a forum that have things that I can join in to discuss (right now it's not, I believe most of our old users too, they don't mod their moto anymore too, most change to android, and well, like I said, just one "root" away, it's far to easy to discuss in a forum).

This is what I though Phil, I hope this can help you to decide the focus of the new Motohell, if you want to discuss it here, I'm happy to join in

[Exploited]

Lastly, I love Motohell, but I don't do modding anymore :'(, my old ROKR E2 is now in my friend's hand, I just use a dumbphone now, I will keep checking out Motohell every now and then, see if the change is happening, and hopefully turned to a forum that have things that I can join in to discuss (right now it's not, I believe most of our old users too, they don't mod their moto anymore too, most change to android, and well, like I said, just one "root" away, it's far to easy to discuss in a forum).

That's right and that's what I saw too. iPhone and Android phones blasted all old modding phones. So it's pointless to focus on old-school modding now.

Actually I am in the same situation as you - my E2 is retired in the hands of a friend. I couldn't even sell it because it's not attractive for anyone now.

And yes, even the nostalgic E398/E1 is now dead. Users are few and they are no more enthusiastic.

As for changing to an "Android modding" forum - I am afraid that we are too late. I should have done that like 3 years ago. Even if I restructure everything - do you think that we can compete with all the other already known large alternatives? I doubt that... I guess we will only steal stuff from there and copy/paste here... And actually the software focus of Android is in the "Android Market" - not the forums...

My intention was to make something new... It's not obligatory that it should be related with software development. It can be something else, even not mobile phone related. Like keep the domain, make a new service and move the forum to archives.

[Polar_BearXL]

Lastly, I love Motohell, but I don't do modding anymore :'(, my old ROKR E2 is now in my friend's hand, I just use a dumbphone now, I will keep checking out Motohell every now and then, see if the change is happening, and hopefully turned to a forum that have things that I can join in to discuss (right now it's not, I believe most of our old users too, they don't mod their moto anymore too, most change to android, and well, like I said, just one "root" away, it's far to easy to discuss in a forum).

That's right and that's what I saw too. iPhone and Android phones blasted all old modding phones. So it's pointless to focus on old-school modding now.

Actually I am in the same situation as you - my E2 is retired in the hands of a friend. I couldn't even sell it because it's not attractive for anyone now.

And yes, even the nostalgic E398/E1 is now dead. Users are few and they are no more enthusiastic.

As for changing to an "Android modding" forum - I am afraid that we are too late. I should have done that like 3 years ago. Even if I restructure everything - do you think that we can compete with all the other already known large alternatives? I doubt that... I guess we will only steal stuff from there and copy/paste here... And actually the software focus of Android is in the "Android Market" - not the forums...

My intention was to make something new... It's not obligatory that it should be related with software development. It can be something else, even not mobile phone related. Like keep the domain, make a new service and move the forum to archives.

I think yes, the idea of keeping the domain and making new service and move the current forum to the archives is quite a good idea, what do you have on your mind now?

maybe for a re-focus, what term in general of this "new service" that you think of ? is it about mobile phone? or anything else?

[Exploited]

I think yes, the idea of keeping the domain and making new service and move the current forum to the archives is quite a good idea, what do you have on your mind now?

maybe for a re-focus, what term in general of this "new service" that you think of ? is it about mobile phone? or anything else?

Still puzzled...

[Polar_BearXL]

I think yes, the idea of keeping the domain and making new service and move the current forum to the archives is quite a good idea, what do you have on your mind now?

maybe for a re-focus, what term in general of this "new service" that you think of ? is it about mobile phone? or anything else?

Still puzzled...

hi Phil, here's some suggestions that might help you refocus :
1. are you going for the same topic (Motorola), or are you going off it ?
2. are you going bigger (Android, mobile phone forum), or are you going smaller (programming, modding)? in term of the user target
3. will it still be having a link with the current forum?
4. how about competitors?
5. when all else fail. Is it still a viable option for making a new forum? or is it better to just close down Motohell, and moving on to another things that might be important in your life too?

You should read the question and try to think the answer one by one, step-by-step.
For reference, you might want to refer to Friendster case, started off as one of the most populated social network site, and plummet down when Facebook started to have a grip, ultimately, they change, first, they refocus their topic, it will still be a social network, on a smaller scale, targeting more specific users, and it doesn't have a link with the previous site, surely competitors will be strong (Facebook), but at least their market is a bit too specific they don't really have many threat.

Well Phil, this is all I can think of, like You and I agreed before, time's changing, modding Kjava, and Motomagx are the things of past. If you're still puzzled about what to do, I think it's easier for you to take a long break, and not thinking about this forum matter, and just enjoy your life, maybe that way you can find a new inspiration on what to do

Anyway, sorry for all the babbling, my Major is Psychology so sometimes I talk to much

[Exploited]

Large scale is not an option - it needs money, it needs lots of time and efforts. I want to make something targeted, specific. Small but useful.

Bad side - I am too busy with my PhD, too busy with my family (expecting a baby) and too busy with my jobs (practically working on two primary and other two smaller jobs)... Yeah!

[keaglez]

Ah, missed the old good times with E2.

I think it's kind of hard to focus on another topic when we have Motorola-related domain. Some forum changed their Motorola to Mobile to focus on more general stuff, like Android. And yes, Motorola itself seems to be another Android company now, also with the acquisition by Google, they might focus more on Android as opposed to their own platform.

I agree that the website need to be restructure or maybe remade to something new.

[Schrick'Z]

I'm still workin on my MP for the Legendary E1/E398 , hope it'll bring some fun for the forum ..
Since Macho stopped his work on DAR FW , E1/E398 modding started to die ..
Yeah , MotoHell still could focus on Android & other stuffs , web design maybe etc ..
Guess many users switch their phone from Moto to other phone , Samsung users grew stronger everyday ..

[Exploited]

New E398 MP? That's not a bad idea

[Deisler Smith]

I remember how back in 2007 I asked you guys "should we continue with Motohell or we should close it" here. I am very happy that we stayed on. I found great friends and I think it was lots of fun. The forum was raising and gaining new users up to 2010 with great success.

The last two years are showing a great decrease of the usage in Motohell. No new monster packs are reported, few skins, few new users. And now we are up to the moment when the forum has almost NO activity.

I can say that one of the biggest culprits for that situation is me. I focused my personal interests away of the Moto modding. When the owner of one property is not working for the property, then who should be doing that?

Now I am pretty realistic that Motohell cannot raise again the same way as it was before. It's lost as a forum - the users moved to other places a long time ago. Well I won't sell Motohell and I won't close it for sure. And no - I won't change it to some ads site to gain few bucks. I am not going to earn any money from this site - that was the initial idea and this is how it's going to be.

But what I am thinking about right now is some kind of restructuring. To move the forum contents in the archives and to start a completely new project, probably related to mobile phones again, or maybe something else. It's only an idea which is not very clear. The website has pretty much good traffic of visitors - I want to make it useful for the people. Not like right now - an archive of old and forgotten monster packs...

What do you say guys (if anybody is still out there)?

First of all modding now Motorola's with a Linux based OS is not interesting anymore, mainly because new Motorola devices are now powered by Android, I own several blogs and websites and with my experience let me tell you that if you continue doing the same then it just won't work anymore, so dedicate to Android Modding, rooting, flashing custom Android Roms like Cyanogenmod in Motorola Devices, remove the limitations you have put like registering or posting links, make this and you will see Motohell raising from it's grave.

[Exploited]

I think to keep it staying as a "backup" for old users. Motohell will not restructure as it is senseless to compete with other already huge forums. If somebody needs old info for old phones - he is welcome to the site and the information will be here.

It was a pleasure for me to be with you during all those years. I am still available around and will be happy to get in touch with you sometimes

[Suraj]

maybe we should let it be just an archive for tools and old phone data and have link page to better sites.

[Exploited]

it's definitely going to stay "as it is" - an archive for all you guys.