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Conversation on Twitter with former Mode Media/CEO, Former CEO of Ning

May 18, 2016

For what it's worth, finally "heard" from someone involved with Ning, the former Ning CEO - - and (just found out today, Former of Mode Media/CEO, as well), Samir Arora. It wasn't much, but great to hear he is listening. Does this mean Ning will improve their communication dialogue with Ning Creators? Who knows? But, maybe, just maybe, they will start listening, or at least tell Ning Creators their plans for the future of this platform. Honestly, this is the first time in 2 years I have heard one word from this company, other than support calls, "...working on the issues, updates to come..." AND the announcement: Notice of 2016 Storage Limit and Pricing Plan Changes. I just wanted to share this with you all. If you want to follow on Twitter, click on one of the links, below.

I will continue to design sites on Ning, help maintain existing sites. BUT, I am about to embrace the new version of phpFox! I love what I'm seeing.

@samirarora Great someone involved @Ning listening finally. LOVE #Ning but must have reliable platform/open dialogue https://t.co/QHfZbzdxSD
— JenSocial Directory (@jensocial) May 18, 2016

@Ning @samirarora You set up phone intros with several Ning Site Owners, when @ModeMedia first purchased #Ning. I thought you cared? Show it
— JenSocial Directory (@jensocial) May 13, 2016

@samirarora Thanks! We all feel lost. Had no idea you were no longer #Ning CEO. ZERO communication updates/overall. About to embrace @phpFox
— JenSocial Directory (@jensocial) May 18, 2016

This Blog post started out with sharing a very short Twitter response from the former CEO of Ning and Mode Media. It's turned into an active discussion on Ning alternatives. Join the conversation.

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Comment by Steve Cyrkin on May 19, 2016 at 9:55am: Jen, you're so right, it really is sad about Ning I had no idea you had that many clients on it!

Comment by Friends of musicians on May 19, 2016 at 9:34am: Apparently GlamMode is offering the domain of ning.com for sale:

http://whois.domaintools.com/ning.com

Comment by Troy D Bertrand on May 19, 2016 at 8:24am: JenSocial Said:

@Troy, wow! Thanks for sharing this...

Not a problem Jen...Glad you found the information useful.

JenSocial Said:

I've been watching phpFox for years, was never much impressed. Although, I always admired what the platform wanted to be.

I'm on the same page with you here. I've had my eye on phpFox for quite some time now...about three years to be a little more precise. Back then, I was a bit disappointed when I finally got a chance to explore the platform. The functionality was there but I was thrown off by the steep learning curve which made configuration a bit of a nightmare. There was one other thing I did not like. The then version (3) of phpFox looked too much like Facebook and I could not find any themes that would taken that look away.

JenSocial Said:

Recently I tried their new demo (4.3), and whoa, blew my socks off. It's elegant, smooth, fun, and seems to work flawlessly from a User standpoint. This means a lot.

Yes! I was blown away too but even more so after I installed it myself. The script is super lightweight and real easy to install. It literally took me about two minutes. I love the ajax loading of pages...it makes things so much faster. I could go on and on about this. Wanna take the platform out for a spin Jen? Be my guess. I'll DM you my login credentials.

JenSocial Said:

I started conversations with phpFox, and they were incredibly responsive to my emails. This definitely got my attention.

I was surprised at how responsive and helpful they were myself. I actually had conversations (via email) with the General Manger who was kind enough to answer nearly 100 questions on my "Platform Verification of Features" questionnaire which I used to build the phpFox Platform profile ( see it here: https://excreators.com/community/Platform/15/phpfox ). Yes...a lot of work goes into this. I go to these lengths to ensure Ex Creators deliver the most accurate info as possible.

JenSocial Said:

I believe that any platform will have it's issues, be lacking in features, etc...but thinking this one may be a huge winner.

The feature list is huge, all that Ning 2.0 had, all that Ning 3.0 has for design and responsive, plus a whole lot more.

You're right about that. phpFox is superb as is but it still needs to attract a lot of developers which in turn will give rise to a wider range of third party features. They're lacking in that department but the platform is moving in the right direction.

JenSocial Said:

Oh, and of course, thrilled to pursue a platform that is not hosted by the company, and no control over your destiny. THIS is what Ning was promising in the beginning. We had about 75% control of all our code. I was the last person to move over to their hosted version, and only because I was forced to, many years ago.

Nothing beats self hosted. The problem is, most people get scared when the hear the words/term "software" and "self hosted"...it's that complicated - trust me. I will never go back to a turnkey solution. I should point this out as this seems to becoming a trend. Software platforms like Jamroom and Dolphin Pro offer managed hosting of their platforms. Choosing this option means that you don't have to pay for the software. It's similar to a turnkey solution but not quite.

JenSocial Said:

@Troy, if you don't mind me asking, what was the huge bug?...

There's a problem with the video module - it's "missing". Some kind of error occurs during installation that prevents the module from loading. I don't think this is an across the board issue but quite a few people have experienced this in their installation. I think there may be a fix already available...but I've been strapped for time for the past several weeks.

TDB

Ex Creators Dot Com

Comment by JenSocial on May 18, 2016 at 10:43pm: The number of Clients I have sent to Ning is staggering. BUT, that will and has changed! I have over 1100 Client folders, for Ning alone.

Comment by JenSocial on May 18, 2016 at 10:41pm: Yep, hear you totally, sad affair...

Comment by Steve Cyrkin on May 18, 2016 at 10:39pm: Jen, maybe you're right, but I do think he's telling you to since he didn't say that he would. Still, to say that he's sorry you're having issues and lack of communication with Ning and sound surprised--when it was his doing in the first place--just sounds like more you-know-what to me.

Comment by JenSocial on May 18, 2016 at 10:32pm: Steve, too funny - - and even more eye-opening. I took it in the most positive way. Now, I question his tweet. I thought he was saying HE forwarded the messages to Ning. But, I think you're right. He was telling me to?

Comment by JenSocial on May 18, 2016 at 10:29pm: Steve, I updated the post with "former" for both. =) Even more concern for Ning, if you ask me.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin on May 18, 2016 at 10:28pm: Thanks, Jen, it's nice to see you, too!

For Samir Arora to just tell you to contact Ning, and not even say he'll look into it shows how little Mode or he cares about Ning. But then again, he was CEO for 90% of the two years Mode has treated Ning and its customers as worthless garbage, so it's not a surprise.

Comment by JenSocial on May 18, 2016 at 10:21pm: Steve,

Thanks. To clear up any misunderstandings, I am aware that Samir Arora is a major player. Mode Media (Glam) was his baby. I didn't however realize, he had also stepped down from CEO of Mode Media, until a few hours ago. =)

http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/04/samir-arora-leaves-mode-media/

Hope you're doing well, nice to see you!

Jen