Open Letter to X5world/X3world/X6world Members
 

Dear X5world / X3world / X6world community:

Recently, a legal firm representing BMW contacted us and communicated that it is its position that as long as we are operating as a commercial enterprise (defined as a site that offers products for sale or generates revenue via advertising or sponsorships) then we are violating BMW's trademarks for using X3, X5 and X6 in our domain and trade names. While I cannot claim with total honesty that I am in agreement with all of BMW's positions on this matter, the reality is that we at X5world do not have the financial resources available to us to fight this issue. Our monthly site traffic now exceeds 2 terabytes of bandwidth per month, and without our advertisers and sponsors we would be financially unable to continue to operate. To that end, we have come up with a solution that I think keeps the peace and allows this community to continue to thrive and grow.

Soon we will be moving all forum traffic over to a new domain, Xoutpost. xoutpost.com, X3world.com and X6world.com will still exist, but will simply become repositories for the articles and reference material, as they exist today - without any advertising or banner ads (thus making them non-commercial). From a user perspective, the only significant change will be to remember to use Xoutpost.com rather than the entry domain you are now using. And we will have links on the current site in case you need a friendly reminder. ;)

One benefit of this change is that, as we make the move, we will be launching the latest version of vBulletin (3.8.2), which gives our community all of the latest and greatest forum features available on the net.

All member ids and forum posts will be migrated to the new site, and a copy of the old posts will remain on xoutpost.com for archive purposes. Members that are Premier Member status will retain this status.

While I expect the initial reaction to this change may not be 100% positive, in a very short period of time I think that the community will adapt and find that there has been nothing of significance lost, and a lot of positive for the future to be gained.

So please join me in soon welcoming in the new era of Xoutpost.com!!

Sincerely,
Jeff

Wow, sorry to hear that. So you'll be dependent on Premier membership as the sole funding source?

Welcome Xoutpost.com! :thumbup: :thumbup:

No, in addition to Premier Memberships, we will be able to have site sponsors and advertising on xoutpost.com without any issues

Oh, thanks. I misunderstood !ouch:

upgrade :thumbup:

Sorry to hear that - I would have thought that BMW see this site as doing a great service to them. Very disapointing. Makes me fear for the other BMW boards out there - many of which share similar names and policies.

We aren't going anywhere. It's simply an evolution in our journey. ;)

Onward and upward!

BMW should be paying this site for the valuable info it provides when some of it's sorry azz dealers can't. This site has saved a many of BMW fans from going off. With that being said....let's all welcome the change and keep this party going :beerchug: .........Phil

Great that the community can continue!

Just curious if BMW offered you to continue as is for a nominal " licensing" fee. Wouldn't surprise me if the real reason is to score more dough. Circumvented that issue very nicely. :thumbup:

We did attempt to negotiate a "licensing" arrangement, but as long as the site is considered to be "commercial" then BMW would have nothing to do with it. No worries, we'll march onward and succeed with providing BMW SAV owners and enthusiasts the best possible site for information, resources and friendships.

Jeff

I'm looking forward to the upgrades and the next chapter in our history. There is a such a strong support base here... things will turn out great. :thumbup:

Jeff and Drex,

Sorry to hear but WTF are we still hanging around here for then?

Let's go Xoutpost!!
:popcorn:

i'm looking forward to the upgrades too.. can i respond to PMs via emails and it automatically send the PM to the person that sent me the PM? lol... j/k (although that would be nice.. for posts too..)

Xoutpost.com!!! (what was the decision on name based on?)..

To be honest - this site kept me in a BMW X5 after the first one went.. if it wasn't for the mod bug i might be in an escalade or infiniti QX56..

Regardless - happy this isn't a "we're shutting down.." msg

I'm excited for the change but I have a heavy heart because of all the wonderful memories I have on this site. I have formed many lifelong friends and grown so much as a person as a result of this site. I look forward to the next chapter of this one in a million forum. I must say that (and I hope BMW reads this) I'm glad I don't own any BMW's because their actions seriously make me question why I would spend money on their product. Most car markers (I know VW for instance) almost seem to encourage their Pro-Brand forums because they understand just how important brand identity and passion are.

From a branding standpoint I actually like Xoutpost more. X5/6/3world sort of divided the segments (even though its all the same site). Now all X users can come together with one central site. People should be happy with the change and I thinks its a positive movement. Especially considering "X5world" can still continue!

Congrats and thanks to all the admins for keeping this going!


P.S. Whats going to happen to e90post and the such?

BMW is concerned about image and money. And not in that order. Sure, their stuff is proprietary; if so, then why do their techs come here to monitor the site to figure things out??!?!?!???????

Its been a very painful bunch of crap from BMW and a law firm in Washington DC. Obviously, some one needed to make some billable hours. And, to think, that they have an issue with BMW marks and roundels on everyone's avatars (they thought that people's avatars were being used for commercial purposes).... hmmm.....

very nicely put 1 agree 100%, I'm really surprised BMW didn't take this and use it to there advantage seems like a next logical step, that eventually some auto companies should consider, not to mention its already thriving and popular

Thanks admins for your work.

Jeff,

Bummer man. BMW has dropped the ball on this big time. I truly am less likely to buy another of their products in the future. This is nothing more than some corporate jerk not understanding the value of this awesome site, and the benefit it brings to all who own the damn products they sell.

Truly, I am shocked.

I bet if we worked at it would get get a LOT of signatures on a petition that would make the corporate jokers rethink their decision. I'd be happy to help!

I agree with everyone's comments and in particular I think Drex hit the nail on the head. This country generates thousands of lawyers every year and they eventually all have to do something to earn a living, no matter how stupid it is, and I honestly think this redefines the word 'stupid.' You only have to look at a BMW brochure from 1979 compared to one from 2009 with it's thousands of warnings printed in a 4 point font to realize that just as much money is spend (wasted) on lawyers as is on engineers by our beloved car manufacturer of choice.

Anyway, as said above, I'm glad we can continue, nice job on the seemless transition and upgrade guys; very well done.

Now I'm off to the dermatologist's office to get the 'X5 World" tattoo on my ass lasered off before I get a letter for The Man.

If you kept your pants on, no one would know...:stickpoke

Look, as a non-practicing attorney myself, I can say lawyers suck. But this isn't a lawyer problem, it's a BMW Corporate Marketing problem. BMW coporate things they can somehow make money here, and I think they are costing themselves money. Corporate has given the lawyers their marching orders here. And these are stupid orders.

It's the chicken or the egg problem; my vote is the chicken.

Summer, beach, thong... you do the math.

Hmmm ... please say you mean the hot chicks in thongs and not you know who! :D:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Jeff,

When could we expect access to the old Homepage? The one with the articles/DIY and such. No rush, just curious.

Better shut up or I'll make my long lost brother Simon my new avatar.

At this time I am planning to keep all that as an information repository on xoutpost.com - X5world

Over time I may decide differently, but for now it provides a bridge between the old and the new.

That link seems to be redirecting to the forums right now, Jeff.

Sorry you had to go through all this trouble.

BMW ain't perfect but they do make vehicles that are fun to drive.

The link takes you to the home page for X5world (at least it does for me)

Could be a DNS propagation issue. For any xoutpost.com address I tried, I got:

"Member community: Please note that our forums will be rebuilt at Xoutpost.com - powered by BMW X-sav Enthusiasts!. Please be patient while we undergo the conversion to make this as seamless to the user community as possible. Thank you for your understanding! Jeff"

sorry to hear it, i agree with some others, they should embrace these kinds of sites instead of just getting out there threatening people.... next thing you know they'll make you drop the word "BMW" anywhere on the site :/

I get the same screen, and can't seem to get past it.

Jeff,

This is the issue I have and the reason I asked. Seems that there's a problem for everyone else except you. I can't actually get to the homepage itself that has the articles and such.

Shouldn't you be packing boxes or did you delegate all moving duties to the rest of the clan while you watch with a beer in hand?

BTW, I'm having the same issue.

I get the same message as the others.

Ok, try it now. I think I've fixed the issue.

Woiks for me! :thumbup:

So is there any way to get the X5world homepage setup to be the Xoutpost home page? The latest forum topics is the part I was thinking about... and missing terribly. The Xoutpost home page is currently the forums page.

(I'm sure you're working on it currently anyways as you are always on top of this kind of shit :D)

You can use a bookmark like this:

http://www.xoutpost.com/search.php?do=getnew

[ don't bookmark the resulting page which will be a temporary URL ]

If you want to exclude certain forums you need to determine their forum ids. I use this one to exclude the Politics forum which has id 85:

http://www.xoutpost.com/search.php?do=getnew&exclude=85

If you want the split view with the older posts marked as read:

http://www.xoutpost.com/search.php?do=getdaily

or

http://www.xoutpost.com/search.php?d...ily&exclude=85

Me too! Thanks! :2thumbs:

i would have sold my troublesome x5 if i had not found x5 world .
:p: just another example of bmw`s new kids on the block crapping on loyal customers , sack the shitheads and get back to the company it was before .;puke;

Yeah, when the bean counters were still in diapers.

Done :thumbup:

AWESOMENESS X2!!!

very shortsighted by BMW - this website IS more frank with both pros'n'cons of X3/X5/etc ownership, but it (IMHO) also promotes the brand by helping owners and prospective owners in dealing with all issues of BMW ownership. If we only had dealers to answer/solve(?) our problems, there would be alot fewer BMW owners.

Jeff, Drex and everyone else - thanks for the update and keeping it going - one of the best places. Period.
Cheers,

I am very disappointed, but not surprised in BMW for a nickel and dime attitude like we are witnessing here. If they put the same amount of time and money in working out these issues we
discuss and try to help each other with, this site would not have a purpose. My money will go to other manufacturers in the future. I am still interested in trying to help others with the quirks of beemers and continuing all the great frienships we have.
Changing the site will be the best thing that ever happened to us all. Thanks to all the admins for their professional attitudes and hard work. I learned a lot, personally, on this one...

I'm still amazed that BMW hasn't contacted the site with a " Dear x5World, we appreciate the brand loyalty and the knowledge we find on your site. It is our position to have someone from R&D and our tech division monitor the threads to see how we can assist with issues. We'll also take the information and use it to help us develope a more quality product" .....well BMW....your move.........Phil

Like just about everything else in this world, you hear far more about the bad things that happen compared to the good that is being done every day.

Late to the "ReOpening", as we were migrating from our FLA Starter Shack back to our Mtn House...

Kudos & Accolades to Jeff, DrDrex and any/all involved for their arm wrestle efforts with the
BMW Bureaucratic Barristers and, for migrating us all over, in good stead, to The X Outpost! :thumbup:
Best Regards, mD

Ditto.!!

Thanks to everyone who's working on making the transition go smoothly.. Great jobs guys!! :thumbup:



Chad :cool:

Well done guys on the smooth transition!

I cannot believe how stupid the BMW management are. They must have the best R&D, engineers etc in the world to keep rolling out great products with idiot leaders.. They seem to go out of their way to alienate their loyal owners. Amazing. I too think they'd learn a bit by having active particiapation in the forums.

Keep up to good work.

good, just upgrade

Good upgrade!Sent from my iPhone Simulator using Tapatalk

Dame... I go to Africa on vacation to come back an all hell is turn upside down.
Xoutpost.com let's ride and X5world Died. now it time to change my decal in the window. better yet.. I'm take off the X5 Badge and replace it with Xoutpost.

Within the next few weeks, Xoutpost.com stickers will become available. Premier Members will be able to request two free stickers. Non-Premier Members can purchase the same stickers, or obtain them for free when joining Premier Membership. :thumbup:

Stay tuned for more info....