beestapart said:

Aaron has been asked about this, however he's adamant that it's "the end".

I notice some people are still mentioning the banner (including one particular smart-arse who's been saying "I told you so") but the banner was just a very small cog in the wheel.

Aaron's mentally departed from HQ some time ago following the PFU events. Prince's request that no banners contain his symbol, face, or name was making it extremely difficult to keep the site positive for him and he decided to walk away.

I'd actually talked about resolving the banner issue with Prince's team so to say "HQ deserved it" is both an ignorant and childish view.

Gav said:

So sorry to hear this. I did not expect it would actually really be 'the end'. But I respect Aaron's choice in this. Aaron if you read this: Thanx a million times again for the last 6 years of joy I had on HQ. It'll be missed greatly. Maybe I'll meet you again in the future at the tramstop here in Amsterdam All the best to you.

Love RTM

Why couldn't aaron walk away and let some one else take control of housequake for a while? there are plenty of mods to oversee things.

bobgeorge2 said:

Aaron pays for the hosting and does the back end HTML

He did actually walk away for about a month a while back and let mods run things (some people noticed this after a while) but came back for one last go.

As I said, this has been brewing for a while.

Gav said:

Sad (and understandable) but: there are 30'000 Members who lost friends, contacts & informations...

Isn't anybody out there who have the energy to takeover Housequake?

And/or can't the lots of Informations bequeath to the org / prince info or another serious site?

bobgeorge2 said:

sorry, I noticed Gav already answered this one
[Edited 2/2/09 4:02am]

Gav said:

It's such a shame? all the wonderful threads and resources we had at hq.

.
[Edited 2/2/09 9:58am]
[Edited 2/2/09 10:05am]

macbos said:[quote]

Gav said:

And let's not forget the money and skills.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have HQ back but I'm not getting my hopes up to high.

Just reading the note at the front of HQ seems like it is a 'gone for good' type of message.
Well, it would be nice to have the site back,
I remember when the org was down, I felt totally lost.

Hope HQ members are able to find their friends here and re-connect!

Susann209 said:[quote]

Gav said:

A great loss indeed! Besides Uptown, HQ had the most accurate sources and guides and specials into Prince's music I have ever seen (and will ever see again)

Gav said:

Sorry didn't realize this.
Just a shame to see it go.

btw.: uptown.se is also unaviable ...

macbos said:

Yeah, that's the way I feel too... There are quite some Quakers I had more or less frequent contact with, but only through (the PM section of) HQ. Don't have their e-mail addresses, so I feel kinda lost, so to speak.

I'd wish we had some time to 'pack our suitcases' and leave before the closing. It's all so sudden...

SonnyAruba said:

I love your new name Tricky
Good to find you here also! Maybe we should open up our chippy in here again where all the lost HQ friends can meet up and xchange their infos, etc?

ok, I made this thread for lost Quakers, hopefully that's gonna help a little bit.

beestapart said:

That's not a bad idea at all, lillek beest!
[Edited 2/2/09 5:02am]

beestapart said:

Oops, thread closed. But thanks for the initiative anyway, beestapart

SonnyAruba said:

Thnakyouforthemusic yourself Mistadobalina

I wonder if Prince realises that without Housequake and Prince.org a large proportion of fans wouldn't even know about things like lotusflow3r.com?
How does he think that news spreads?
And, we're the only ones who even know about the new albums and site! He needs to do some kind of promotion... and fast!!

xenophobia2002 said:

Tickets? Who wants to collect tickets?

Everybody has their own thing. I'm older than Prince & I still wear a couple of P t-shirts, proudly. I also have a lot that are just for my collection, some as reminders of great times I had and others just because I liked the design or era they're from.

And don't talk about how Prince treats his fans, when some of those same fans treat their fellows worse.

Gav said:

I'm so sorry that they've pushed Aaron to this, he was so dedicated and put so much work into it, along with all you mods. Is there any way he could let the org or someone else get all the reference data so it doesn't get lost and is still available?

Serena said:

The reference work is all saved on other mods' hard drives and the team are looking at the best way to share that in the future.

Thanks for the kind message.

Gav said:

Dancing on a place's grave that I haven't been to in years? Nah - I just find it weird that nobody associated with the site, including you, will admit to the fact that the decisionmakers made some terrible mistakes that DID in the end lead to it's (current) demise. Why is it all Prince's fault in your eyes? I am not trolling either, I am stating what I experienced during my brief membership on HQ - mentioning the Org would very often result in derogatory comments, way worse than the other way around. It's why I left there and never went back, I'd rather have fun here. I'm sorry you see it as being vindictive, I have no personal interest in either site, nor in Prince. I just, like I said, find it odd that very few people and certainly nobody who's in the know from HQ, will even in the slightest own up to your part of what's happened. That's all.
As for a mass message feature/newsletter, is that really a strange question? I'd ask the same of any website with as many members as HQ had.

Teacher said:

I pretty much stopped going there when a lot of what they did was focused on circumventing some policy Prince had regarding his pics, official videos, boots or whatever dudes issue was at the time.

james said:

And how does fan sites find out this information in the first place usually by google or press releases, Prince survived before HQ and he will survive after, its down to the person who decided to put the banner up why HQ is done after all even the newest fan knows how he feels about that shit

Gav said:

Why the org manages well without picture banners, why didnt you have ure own design completely without pics of symbols or prince.

cream72 said:

As I've now said on here dozens of times, the banner was a MINOR issue, not the MAJOR issue as to why Aaron closed the site down.

Let me give you an example of the editorial control from Prince's team - last year we had an email due to a member posting that there were 3 hit singles from a given album when the correct answer was actually 4.

We were TOLD by Prince's team to delete the post or face legal action. That give you an idea of how crazy things can be? Incidentally, have you forgotten the threatened legal action only just over a year ago against this very site ?

Edit - I've just finished typing this and saw this thread - http://prince.org/msg/3/296170 You see, the mods here have emails of their own from Prince's team. Now that the heat is off Housequake, I sincerely hope that certain staff members don't start focussing their efforts over here. I have a horrible suspicion that might be the case though sadly.

.
[Edited 2/2/09 12:16pm]

Gav said:

It is indeed a very strange idea that all our posts were monitored at HQ .... big brother was watching us ...

I guess, in a few day, teh Org will be obliged to put a lotusflow3r on this site

Gav said:

That is mental.
[Edited 2/2/09 12:42pm]

Ifsixwuz9 said:

Obviously I'm not arguing that Prince has a shitload of issues, not at all, but blame needs to put at all the right doors. Prince is a dick but two dicks do not a pussy make.