Yes.
The idea that “Make America Great Again” and “Make LMR Great again” could be considered similar could only be noticed by someone using drugs. Sorry --I gotta head out and find more drugs.
My expectations and concerns
Glory days are gone… I guess the site/community that made me go deep in this hobby will never be the same.
Important people are gone: it’s like when you lose a body member… you’ll never be the same.
But I continue to visit MRL every day, and, fortunately, are still here many good and talented people.
It won’t be the same… but it does not mean it can not be good … maybe GREAT! For this, we’ll need the cooperation of users and the new owners.
For now, I have just a few things causing itch in my brain:
1. Let’s Make Robots URL Re-Direct (https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/lets-make-robots-url-re-direct) - Someone sometime in the past (when RobotShop acquired LMR) said that LMR could become a simple side blog of RobotShop’s site. Well, I can not remember who said that and the exact words, and that was just speculation at that time. But seeing this URL Re-Direct made me think about it again and I got worried. Well, becoming LMR just a blog, probably I’ll not be here anymore.
2. Get the most out of LMR (https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/get-most-out-lmr) - The “quality” of posts declined. People invests weeks and months in their cool projects, but can’t take a half hour to make a good post, that their projects deserves. I would appreciate some kind of content moderator… or, better, a “first-post” approval.
3. News About Product Reviews (https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/news-about-product-reviews) - I can’t see, what was promised, happening. I know it’s difficult to maintain, and I guess the expectation of RobotShop was frustrated… for example, people taking too long to post their reviews (I even took about six months to complete a review). But people taking too long to post or making low quality reviews, may be affected in future calls. But certainly reviews are an excellent marketing investment.
I expect some words from RobotShop. See you guys.
Changes are coming
Hello Chris, I am Cameleon, # 1 here at RobotShop ! We are all here to build this community and bring it further. We want to look forward, not backward.
We do not want to go back into a debate about who did what in the past. The intentions have always been good so that LMR becomes a more reliable source for all, young and old, beginners or experts. I am convinced that you can continue to contribute to this community. I think it is just a question to be open-minded and have respectful discussions.
We have the ambition to build the largest online community in the field of robotics. You will get more details soon and this will start with the appointment of a full-time community manager. A lot of discussions will be done about what we want to build together. Many ideas are already on the table and we want to be sure to listen to everybody and not forget anything. We will do surveys and ask for the opinion of all members.
It is a great moment to stay close and observe what will happen. It is even more exciting time for those embracing changes who want to help build something positive, something with more influence and more impact in the world. Stay close, be active and share your opinions.
Thank you for your comments
Thank you for your comments Dickel. Here are answers to your questions:
1. Let’s Make Robots URL Re-Direct (https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/lets-make-robots-url-re-direct) - No worries, we have no intention in making LMR a simple side blog. Our vision is to make LMR the largests robotics community where members can meet, share and learn about robotics. LMR was brought under RobotShop so it can benefit from the traffic RobotShop receives and in order to improve the ranking of the LMR website. This is so everyone wins. We want to continue building the LMR community and making this place an area where robotic enthusiasts can meet and share. We will be opening up a full-time position for a community manager very soon. He/she will be in contact with LMR and make sure your ideas are heard for us to make LMR a better place for all. We will put the resources we need in place in order for LMR to grow and we hope you members will be here along the way to help out.
2. Get the most out of LMR (https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/get-most-out-lmr) - This is certainly an idea that can be discussed with our community manager. We do already verify the first post to make sure that it is not spam. We can therefore work together to teach new members and improve their posting skills to showcase their projects.
3. News About Product Reviews (https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/news-about-product-reviews) - We do still feel that call for reviewers are a great way for members to learn new products while at the same time bringing more content to the community and marketing for products. Unfortunately, the community did not engage in this initiative and as you mentioned, reviews were posted many months after receiving the product if posted at all. We are shipping shortly a few products from our last call for reviewers: https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/call-reviewers-megapi-motion-controller
We do hope that the community will be able to receive great reviews from the lucky reviewers including you. 
If this picks up again, we are very open to making one every month.
If this picks up again, we are very open to making one every month.We do hope this helps.
Make it great again?
Whats wrong with it now? People are posting stuff, lots of members, shoutbox being used for live interaction. People move on, new people come in, new stuff gets made.
I was dismayed to see some references to a “proper” post. My thinking is “it’s better to see a little information and content than to not see any content at all”. Maybe everyone doesn’t want to make a full post, just a quick reveal or a breif introduction to a project. Perhaps they will stimulate a conversation, or put some new ideas out for others to build on. There should not be criticism over how much info must be revealed about someones own work, if thats what they choose to reveal.
I was here during the “Glory” days…Near the end before the new ownership, and things were not all that glorious at times.The talent pool at the time was immense, some of the finest on the planet. Sometimes when you get that many talented people together in one place, egos clash, there are scuffles but it was mostly pretty civil…mostly.
Things change, people change, ideas change. It is what you make it.No need to remake it.
New user
I’m new user and was hoping to learn and get some questions answered it unfortunately it said my post was under review because it was my first post or it could be spam. As a new user I recommend you do away with that and do what all the other sites are doing that I hate with a passion and prove your not a robot. If it’s just a one time thing I’m fine with. I’m really not planning on posting my stuff again if it doesn’t show up. If it doesn’t show up I feel I wasted my time joining this site sorry to say but this is not norm for me as I’ve joined severa forums before and never had this type situation. Hopefully my question will be posted otherwise I’ll be looking elsewhere. This looks like kind of place I’d like to join depending on what happens.
Demands?
You are new and asked a question, hardly a position to make any kind of demands. But I get it, everyone wants instant gratification for free. It’s how the world turns nowadays. (I really dislike this planet.)
Thanks for your comments
Thanks for your comments. We will start by adding a message under the login box to indicate that users can register and login to chat with other members. We’ll see if this helps in having users register and shout instead of visiting as guests only.
Welcome
Welcome to LMR Earthbound. It’s nice to see new users join. The post or comment review is normally a 1 time thing for new users to ensure that they are not spammers and are interested in robotics and helping the LMR community grow. We are very open to seeing new members but, please understand that it can take a few hours for a post to be verified the first time. We see that your post is live and hope that the community can help out. Enjoy!
Shout Box
Hi JGendron, hi all,
do you think it would make sence to add a time stamp in the shout box?
As we’re all spread around the globe it is dificult to see when was what written. Somethimes I’d like to chat with you, but I never know who can be there or not. Of course I can see who is onlin, but only the people who are logged in. If I answered then, then is too late.
Hi Sandamol,If you take your
Hi Sandamol,
If you take your mouse and place the cursor over the message you will see a baloon box with the date and time stamp.
Let me know if this works for you.
Now it works fine
Hi JeffRo,
thanks for your help. For some reasons, probably wrong settings in my browser, I could not see the time stamp. Now that I know there is one, I managed to see it.
Thank you.
I feel that what made LMR
I feel that what made LMR pre-robotshop.com a success is that there was a successful merging of professional and hobbyists on this forum. Professionals could show their products as long as it was a “here is how I built this” and not a car sales ad. The pros then also gave back to the community by the content that was written, tutorials, code etc as well as answering questions that came through. People post questions here and the reality is that there are only a few people left who know the electrical and embedded side really well.
On the bad side, LMR was pre-robotshop.com also a fraternity house and boys club. It was just about completely uncensored. If people asked questions in the wrong way or someone took offense, people were ridiculed, told to google it or insulted. I can remember a 14 year old kid apologizing that he stepped on people’s toes and that he wasn’t coming back. I know that wouldn’t happen today thanks to robotshop.com.
But why not let professionals post their stuff as they did before? Let’s face it, we live in the age of information and everything is just a few clicks away anyways. As long as it isn’t a car sales ad and more of a “this is how I built it” kind of post, why not? If they don’t follow your guidelines, you pull it.
I think there are some ways to build community that have been successful. Gamification is one (people are given levels based on content or number of questions answered). On stackoverflow, people get very competitive over who gets credit for answering the question. Done well, these are things people can put on resume to sell themselves as a builder in the industry. Contests can be inexpensive (just give away a few parts) and get people talking. Robotshop did one but it wasn’t handled well because the product they had people use had a learning curve and didn’t involve building anything. People do robotics to build something tangible. I spend my life pushing electrons so if I do a contest, I want to build something not just do software. Otherwise it feels like I am working since that is what I do for a living.
Maybe have guest speakers who answer questions. Every builder dreams of doing a company, so maybe see if there are authors who write on entrepreneurship who could come on for a chat once a month or let them have their own forum where people could ask questions. They push their book, you get something for the community that is valuable.
Anyways, I am full of ideas, but short on follow through. Probably nothing you haven’t thought up yourselves. Thanks for listening politely.
Regards,
Billl
Great ideas !
Thank you Bill. There are many great ideas in this post that are in tune with what we have in mind since Day 1. StakOverflow, StakExchange are good examples of well engaged communities where members help each other. The idea is to build an “ecosystem” where all robotic fans (hobbyists, professionals, robot owners or just curious people) will come to learn, build and share, and in so doing, inspire and influence the world. There is so much potential here to build the largest and most active robotic community in the world. We have a strong membership base supported by the world’s first robotics site (RobotShop.com) bringing in traffics that are all potential future members. We have the talents, the passion, the vision and now the money and the workforce to achieve our goals.
We are currently on the drawing board.
Please, continue to dream and keep sharing your ideas. We listen carefully.
what happened?
still reading through all the comments here. hehe
was in hiatus for a year due to work-life-family balance. haven’t even touched my arduino for a while. hoping to get back to posting here, and back to my backlogs. goodmorning from singapore