PDABuzz May Have Gone Up to the Big Ethernet Port in the Sky

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2004Feb/bpd20040218023921.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2...40218023921.htm</a><br /><br /></div>Early this morning, I tried going to PDABuzz to check out the name of the company that owned them, and it didn't load. I tried a ping, and there wasn't even a DNS record for it. I assumed they were having a glitch and moved on. Well, it seems that this has become news, because people are speculating that PDABuzz may have shut down for good. I'm not willing to believe that just yet without confirmation, but if it's not back up within 48 hours or so, they just might have pulled the plug. I used to visit PDABuzz now and then back in the day when Wes Salmon ran it, but when Handheld Media Group kicked him to the curb in a very disrespectful fashion, I stopped visiting because I strongly objected to how they did it. So, are they gone for real, or will they be back? Cast your vote...

[dmacburry2003]

Finally, after a flurry of notifications pointing to non-existant threads--thanks :werenotworthy:

Anyway, I had a question.

Does Handheld Media Group run Pocket PC Magazine or vice versa? I don't see why they would kick out that Wes guy. If they realized that the site was going downhill why didn't they get him back on the board??? Hmmm... seems a bit shady--er--"sleazy".

[Duncan]

Does Handheld Media Group run Pocket PC Magazine or vice versa?

They have nothing to do with Pocket PC Magazine. HHMG run another mag entirely (with an absurd and laughable Palm bias - my God they don't even bother to check their facts with non-Palm handhelds).

[entropy1980]

Yeah things over there got real goofy real fast..... I new things were getting real bad after I dropped by (after not visiting for about a year because of Wes' depature) and they had dropped Vbulletin for some kooky other bulletin board and things just looked well......... not so good. After Wes left they never quite got it back together kind of shocking considering it had like a gazillion registered members (remember the counter on top? :D)

[dmacburry2003]

Does Handheld Media Group run Pocket PC Magazine or vice versa?

They have nothing to do with Pocket PC Magazine. HHMG run another mag entirely (with an absurd and laughable Palm bias - my God they don't even bother to check their facts with non-Palm handhelds).


OHHH! Ok, Handheld Computing Magazine. Good, I was just about to delete PPC Mag from my favorites :wink:

Edit: *contradicting* The last time I did go there was for a contest concerning where handhelds were going in the future. I didn't win, but maybe that handheld they were giving away made them go bankrupt :wink:

I also noticed that the site was not really updated. I saw something here at PPCT and then a week later it would be on PDABuzz. Essentially, the site seemed obsolete.

[pdauser]

I guess it was only a matter of time. As others have said, it sure isn't what it used to be. Oh well...

Actually none of the HHMG sites URLs work. It must just be a network issue.

[Jason Lee]

Wow. pdabuzz.. haven't been there since they canned Wes....

[tthiel]

I won't miss them.

[entropy1980]

Unless HHMG went under I am thinking it's a network or server issue, none of their online properties are available.

[dmacburry2003]

Unless HHMG went under I am thinking it's a network or server issue, none of their online properties are available.

Oh, if they are that sleazy I hope they did :evil:

[Partita]

They should just close the site, and save some electricity already. Why bother.

[Palmguy]

Man...the memories of that site in it's prime...brings a tear to my eye :mrgreen:

I was a long time member over there, and was part of the mass exodus when they screwed Wes like they did. PDABuzz went right down the crapper after that :? It actually may have survived and then they went and switched to a whole new BB system...

It really has been a shame watching Buzz fall from what it used to be...there's nothing quite like it anymore.

[JonnoB]

I was only a lurker at PDABuzz and when the whole thing with Wes came around, I just didn't bother anymore. You need someone like Wes (or Jason + team on this site) that has the energy to keep things active. Without the passion, people will leave and the site will die.

Please, please Jason - don't ever give in and sell this or your other 'Thoughts' sites.

[Palmguy]

Wes didn't give up control or ownership of PDABuzz by choice...just so ya know.

[sgyee]

Hmm...I did a cached page check of HandHeldMedia Group, and their web site shows a web server problem as of Feb 11, 2004.

http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=hhmgroup.com&u=www.hhmgroup.com/&d=E2B922626F&c=482&yc=19818&icp=1

[dmacburry2003]

Jason, if your still in contact with Wes, why not ask him to come and join you here at PPCT? I know how you like to give away subscriptions and such :wink:

He could use it as an ultimate revenge against his enemy, Handheld Media Group :D

Edit: I don't really know Wes' gender :oops: I thought I saw "he" somewhere so I'll just leave it go.

[JoshB]

I never went back after they unceremoniously dumped Wes.

Maybe karma is coming back around to bite them in the :oops:

JoshB

[entropy1980]

Jason, if your still in contact with Wes, why not ask him to come and join you here at PPCT? I know how you like to give away subscriptions and such :wink:

He could use it as an ultimate revenge against his enemy, Handheld Media Group :D

Edit: I don't really know Wes' gender :oops: I thought I saw "he" somewhere so I'll just leave it go.

I believe Wes got a nice job at Microsoft after everything if my memory serves....

[Jeff Rutledge]

Wow. pdabuzz.. haven't been there since they canned Wes....

Me too. Still, it's unfortunate to see any PPC-related site shut down. Hopefully it's not an indication of the state of the industry.

[Paul Martin]

He could use it as an ultimate revenge against his enemy, Handheld Media Group :D

Edit: I don't really know Wes' gender :oops: I thought I saw "he" somewhere so I'll just leave it go.

Sure, Wes was frustrated, but he's moved on. Literally, he moved from the SouthEast to Washington State. Shortly after his leaving, he started a blog. You can check it out here (http://www.wessalmon.com/).

p.s. Wes is most definately a "he".

[JvanEkris]

Wow. pdabuzz.. haven't been there since they canned Wes....

Me too. Still, it's unfortunate to see any PPC-related site shut down. Hopefully it's not an indication of the state of the industry.I agree. Although i liked the site until Wes got canned, it had an audiance that it probably served well. It is a shame to see a board go.....

Jaap

[MikeUnwired]

Unless HHMG went under I am thinking it's a network or server issue, none of their online properties are available.

The site was DEFINITELY NOT shut down by HHCG. It's DEFINITELY NOT a network or server issue, so you decide from there.

Also, technically, Wes sold the site to Companion Link and stayed-on as the Editor-In-Chief. Companion Link sold the site to Handheld Media Group. The owner of HHMG and Wes did not see eye to eye on many things as they got to know each other and eventually, Wes was let go -- as is public knowledge. I'm not going to debate or out the reasons that I was told, but, there are always two sides every story and this one definitely has two side.

At some point in the near future, PDABuzz may be back up. Then again, it may not. I have no clue (and some may say I'm always clueless anyway.) :twisted:

[JonnoB]

The site was DEFINITELY NOT shut down by HHCG. It's DEFINITELY NOT a network or server issue, so you decide from there.


Hmmm, this mystery just keeps getting more complex.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Ah - memories. I first got into PDAs in PDABuzz's heyday - I first signed on a web board and posted there.

Good times, 8) wrecked by unscrupulous greed. :evil:

It just does show that the most important aspect of such a site is the community - it's the people here that make the site what it is! :way to go:

[Scott R]

The site was DEFINITELY NOT shut down by HHCG. It's DEFINITELY NOT a network or server issue, so you decide from there.Well, I've heard of sites getting shut down by their hosts if they exceed their bandwidth. I'm wondering if their host had a minimum bandwidth requirement? ;)

OK, so if they didn't shut it down and it's not a network issue, they either...

a) Moved it and messed up by changing the IP address (and letting it propogate) before things were set up on the new server, or...
b) Didn't pay their bills.

So if you know the truth, why don't you just come out and enlighten us already?

Scott

[entropy1980]

The site was DEFINITELY NOT shut down by HHCG. It's DEFINITELY NOT a network or server issue, so you decide from there.


That leaves only one thing.... they will be re-launching under their new site name:

www.PDABUZZ-Kill.com
:lol:

[Hyperluminal]

So I imagine PDABuzz wasn't shut down, but it really should be. Why keep it up? It's dead. The forums were empty, save for some people poking fun at their astroturfing. In terms of reviving it, the name PDABuzz at this point has none if its former reputation.. newbies wouldn't know about it either way, and most people who do know about it would probably avoid it because of its bad karma, if nothing else.

The owner of HHMG and Wes did not see eye to eye on many things as they got to know each other and eventually, Wes was let go -- as is public knowledge.
No, no, the party line at the time was that HHMG couldn't afford to pay Wes's full-time salary. Perhaps they didn't see eye to eye on things, but I believe Wes when he says that those were requests such as posting ads as news. If I recall correctly, however, those were things you did do during your tenure as editor...

I also remember Steve Bush of Brighthand saying that HHMG wanted to buy his site, but instead he decided to start a business relationship first. So he had HHMG sell him advertising for a while. Six months later, they ended the ad deal, and BH never saw a cent for all those ads they ran. Good people... :roll:

[Master O'Mayhem]

He could use it as an ultimate revenge against his enemy, Handheld Media Group :D

Edit: I don't really know Wes' gender :oops: I thought I saw "he" somewhere so I'll just leave it go.

Sure, Wes was frustrated, but he's moved on. Literally, he moved from the SouthEast to Washington State. Shortly after his leaving, he started a blog. You can check it out here (http://www.wessalmon.com/).

p.s. Wes is most definately a "he".

I would argue that... You should see how "wes" Plays craps!! :)

[MikeUnwired]

No, no, the party line at the time was that HHMG couldn't afford to pay Wes's full-time salary. Perhaps they didn't see eye to eye on things, but I believe Wes when he says that those were requests such as posting ads as news. If I recall correctly, however, those were things you did do during your tenure as editor...

I also remember Steve Bush of Brighthand saying that HHMG wanted to buy his site, but instead he decided to start a business relationship first. So he had HHMG sell him advertising for a while. Six months later, they ended the ad deal, and BH never saw a cent for all those ads they ran. Good people... :roll:

I don't know the exact numbers or the exact problems, but I do know that there are two sides to the Wes story. I don't really care. I stepped in well after Wes left to try to rebuild a little and earn a little extra money.

I can't speak to the Brighthand issue at all. I posted what I was told to post because I was an employee and got paid to do what I was told. I didn't break laws or kill babies -- I just did what my bosses told me. I could have left under protest, but I liked the $500 a month more.

[Hyperluminal]

I can't speak to the Brighthand issue at all. I posted what I was told to post because I was an employee and got paid to do what I was told. I didn't break laws or kill babies -- I just did what my bosses told me. I could have left under protest, but I liked the $500 a month more.
OK. Then maybe your bosses were inept, since that's the kind of stuff that easily destroys a site. I won't debate your morals here.. just leave it as a "point taken," since I'd rather not turn this into a flame fest, which this could easily become.....

[Wes Salmon]

I would argue that... You should see how "wes" Plays craps!! :)

Dude, I'm sooooo money at the craps table it's not even funny.

[Paul Martin]

I would argue that... You should see how "wes" Plays craps!! :)

Perhaps he should stick with the cart racing....the points were better.

[dmacburry2003]

I would argue that... You should see how "wes" Plays craps!! :)

Dude, I'm sooooo money at the craps table it's not even funny.

Lol, there's Wes. Hey dude. :lol:

[Jonathan1]

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAH
:oops:

Sorry ;)

What goes around comes around. That's what you get for kicking out the owner. Long live the Wes. :D
In all seriousness. I don't want to dump on anyone's bad luck but really. The drama that went down there it sounds like they had it coming and I think it also points to the likelihood that a lot of the success of PDABUZZ was due to Wes and his cohorts.

[Palmguy]

I would argue that... You should see how "wes" Plays craps!! :)

Dude, I'm sooooo money at the craps table it's not even funny.

The boss emerges... :D

Looks like you're doing pretty good now, Wes...I'm glad to see that. Just ran across your blog tonight, found out you're at Microsoft now. Congratulations.

[Phoenix]

PDABuzz no longer around? &lt;Yawn>

I don't even remember the last time I visited there.

[bjornkeizers]

Wow. pdabuzz.. haven't been there since they canned Wes....

Same here. I stopped visiting Buzz the day Wes left. PDAbuzz reallly want downhill in like that *snaps fingers* Honestly, I sure as hell won't miss them.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Wes, can I ask you how you feel about all of this?

The site you founded and that meant so much to many of us, seems to have finally stopped.

What are your thoughts?

[CoreyJF]

Am I missing something? Pdabuzz is still up and running. I was just on there site?

[Jimmy Dodd]

They're back up, though the site mentions that their ad server is down. They've probably gotten more hits today off this Pocket PC Thoughts blurb than in the last six months. What a time to have your ad server go down! :lol:

[CoreyJF]

Just shows you what the rumor mill is like... It would also be interesting to see if the survey remains up, how many people will suddenly be voting the other direction :-)

[Hyperluminal]

That's weird. I still can't access them, and according to this (http://www.dailygadget.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1378) article, they're done for...

[CoreyJF]

I have no idea what is going to happen, but they are currently up and running. Maybe that was from a reliable source, however I am often just shocked how rummors on one site often become fact on another...

[CoreyJF]

I did notice that www.hhcmag.com is down but www.pdabuzz.com works fine. Check your bookmarks

[Duncan]

I did notice that www.hhcmag.com is down but www.pdabuzz.com works fine. Check your bookmarks

Have you cleared your cache? I can't get PDA Buzz any more and neither can a number of other people. Checking the Google cache shows that links to various PDABuzz files are broken.

[CoreyJF]

February 19, 2004 today's date copied from there front page. This is a new computer at work, had not been to the site since getting it.

I did notice that www.hhcmag.com is down but www.pdabuzz.com works fine. Check your bookmarks

Have you cleared your cache? I can't get PDA Buzz any more and neither can a number of other people. Checking the Google cache shows that links to various PDABuzz files are broken.

[CoreyJF]

Are you actually typing in www.pdabuzz.com? I noticed when I googled pdabuzz I got several links that were dead that had pdabuzz as the title, such as www.hhcmag.com/ But www.pdabuzz.com work fine

[Hyperluminal]

I couldn't get on either, but I just figured out how.

Use a proxy service, like The Cloak (www.the-cloak.com). You can get to it from there...

[Steven Cedrone]

Are you actually typing in www.pdabuzz.com? I noticed when I googled pdabuzz I got several links that were dead that had pdabuzz as the title, such as www.hhcmag.com/ But www.pdabuzz.com work fine

The links are dead for me. If you really can access the page, then this looks like a network issue...

Steve

[Duncan]

Are you actually typing in www.pdabuzz.com?

Of course! But even if I wasn't - it would be improbable that everyone who can't access PDA Buzz would be mistyping the URL!

It may be that PDA Buzz is back up but is taking a while to 'spread' OR possibly your ISP has a cached version of the site (PHP Nuke would still return today's date to your PC if that were the case)?

Odd too that you should see PDA Buzz back up while still seeing hhcmag.com as dead...

[CoreyJF]

They havn't updated since monday
Sprint Treo 600 SMS Works!
Monday, February 16, 2004 @ 4:24 PM
posted by PDABuzz Editor

To quote the immortal Homer Simpson -- WOO HOO! Sprint Treo 600 SMS now works!

But that is not unusaul for them.

They do have an notice up about there add server
NOTICE: The ad server is down. So, there will be blank spots and maybe even error messages while browsing. We're working to get it back up...

I have no idea if the rummors are true and it is going away, but right now it seems to be working for me.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Are you actually typing in www.pdabuzz.com? I noticed when I googled pdabuzz I got several links that were dead that had pdabuzz as the title, such as www.hhcmag.com/ But www.pdabuzz.com work fine

I treid all of these at home and work - differnt ISPs. I can't get to the site.

[Hyperluminal]

But again, if you use a proxy service (like The Cloak, which worked for me), it does take you there.

Unless it's doing caching too...

[juni]

I get a "Server Error in '/' Application." when trying www.pdabuzz.com. It is a shame when a site goes down because of lack of trust from visitors (like posting ads under guise of being news and things like that). I remember it getting more and more palm-oriented and stopped visiting it a long time ago.

[Hyperluminal]

Also I can get to the forums (FWIW, the last post was on 2/16.. though I doubt that's unusual). Can't you not cache a bulletin board?

[c38b2]

Also I can get to the forums (FWIW, the last post was on 2/16.. though I doubt that's unusual). Can't you not cache a bulletin board?
You can, but some caching programs use the URL to distinguish independent pages and some forums put a session ID in the address causing major problems. Some newer, better forum systems can recognize spidering programs and NOT append the session ID.

[Jason Dunn]

www.pdabuzz.com is back up for me, pings to 69.20.16.114, whereas yesterday it didn't ping at all. tracert shows that they're at Rackspace - not sure if that's a new ISP or not.

What's really confusing is that I've heard from two difference sources that Handheld Computing (the magazine) is now dead - the company is shutting down. The Web site was pulled by the ISP when HHMG (Handheld Media Group) didn't pay their ISP hosting bills. Yet it apparently lives again...? Maybe it's a DNS hiccup and it will disappear again shortly.

[RLBorg]

Even if PDABuzz comes back fully you will probably see broken links on Google. Remember that they changed their whole forum setup. Anything related to the old forum software will bring up broken links.

Even if the company was to go under, it is very likely that they will try & sell PDABuzz. It still has a name. I doubt that they would get much for the site currently, except from rip van winkle .....;)

[Hyperluminal]

I've taken the liberties of going to the horse's mouth, so to speak. I whois'd the domain, and in the administrative contact section there was a phone number. I googled the number to see who it would lead to, and apparently it goes to the CEO, and also some general MMG contact line. Or something like that, it didn't make complete sense.
Anyway, this page also had the email address of the CEO ([email protected]), so I emailed him and asked for info. Who knows, maybe I'll get a response...

[bjornkeizers]

It's definitely back up. 17:07 GMT current time. I'm looking at it right now, and it's not cache - I checked it this morning when I read the post, and it was down then...

Still, we'll see. Even if Buzz is up right now, who's to say it'll still be here in a day or two, if you believe the rumors...

[Steven Cedrone]

Enough! Let's get back on topic!

Posts relating to "business ethics", moved here! (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24701&highlight=)

Thanks,

Steve

[MaximumPDA]

Can't we all just get along? :wink:

BTW: The PDABuzz URL work from Seattle on VerizonDSL, I get there note about the ad server and there are no ads showing.

[JvanEkris]

It's up again. But very quiet.......


Jaap

[Steven Cedrone]

It's up again. But very quiet.......


Jaap

Yup it appears to be back up. Now let's all stop going over there to see if it is up, we're driving up their hit counter! :wink:

Steve

[ctmagnus]

Poll (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=217107)!

[Pony99CA]

PDABuzz is definitely alive, and even commented on the rumors of its death (http://pdabuzz.com/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=30&itemid=196). In case they have further outages, here's the text of that article:

It was widely reported this week that PDABuzz was dead. Obviously, those reports were somewhat inaccurate as you're reading this post. Mobile Media Group has not shut the site down and they do not intend to close the site, shut it down or discontinue posting.

This isn't to say that there aren't changes afoot -- it would be wrong of me to say that everything is ok and the down time this week was a fluke. However, I do know that PDABuzz will continue as a destination for handheld news, reviews, opinion and support.
With three new threads and only nine replies in the last three days, it does seem a bit moribund, though.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

I stepped in well after Wes left to try to rebuild a little and earn a little extra money.

I can't speak to the Brighthand issue at all. I posted what I was told to post because I was an employee and got paid to do what I was told. I didn't break laws or kill babies -- I just did what my bosses told me. I could have left under protest, but I liked the $500 a month more.
OK, sorry, but I have to say this. Does anybody find it ironic that a SuccessWizard didn't help PDABuzz succeed? :twisted:

Sorry, the :devilboy: made me do it. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

Steve

[Duncan]

PDABuzz is dead. Like the metaphorical chicken it died the moment its head was removed and has been staggering about ever since waiting for the message to get through...

[Jonathon Watkins]

PDABuzz is dead. Like the metaphorical chicken it died the moment its head was removed and has been staggering about ever since waiting for the message to get through...

:rotfl:

Now that is Funny.

Let that statment be "The site formerly owned by Wes Salmon"’s obituary.