You have got to be kidding me. The groupee login on the official support boards was already highly annoying, but re-branding everything Groupee, Inc?

Glad I have a classic WWWThreads license and can remove that silliness from my boards. That is of course until they force all classic license holders to adhere to the new product license...which I would be surprised if they do not enforce. BUT the upside is that the groupee logo is better than a dimming lightbulb.

And "Development of our next generation message board product is behind schedule. We hope to have a schedule update in the near future."

No kidding. Well there is the surprise of the week!

Sorry...just completed frustrated with InfoGroupee. Here is the update in it's entirety:

[]Infopop is pleased to present the UBB.threads™ May 2005 Monthly Report. In this issue, you'll find some information about version 6.5.2 and our new product, as well as news about our corporate name change.

Product News
Currently in beta testing, Version 6.5.2 of UBB.threads™ is due to be released within the next couple of weeks. This version incorporates some minor bug fixes and security patches.

Development of our next generation message board product is behind schedule. We hope to have a schedule update in the near future.

Corporate Name Change
Guess what... we're changing our corporate name! Say "goodbye" to Infopop Corporation and "hello" to Groupee, Inc. Note that we are still the same company - the same people, products, services, management, and ownership. We just felt like it was time to start consolidating around one brand name. Our existing products and services are not changing, just the name.

What's a Groupee? A Groupee is quite simply a member of a group, but we also interpret Groupee to mean a web citizen. That name embodies what the company represents and the services that we offer. It quite simply has more meaning than Infopop, a name we will certainly miss, but felt was not as strong for us in terms of creating a unified vision of our present and future.

We'll have more info on this later in May, when we also debut our new website. Here's a sneak peek at our new logo, however: (logo removed)

In the meantime, you'll still see lots of references to Infopop. It will take us a couple of months to change everything over. We'll respond to either name until you get comfortable. [/]

I do not understand the rebranding either, it's the most well-known name in forum/community software on the internet. The new name is kinda silly, I was just getting used to them changing from "Madrona Park"

I'm not a Marketing guy...I just play one on TV.

BUT - I have a professional financial background and am a project manager...and my wife is in marketing. Was talking with her on this.

Typically the only time you rebrand yourself is for one of the following reasons:

1. Merger or purchase of your company (and you are the subsidiary).

2. To offset negative public opinion on a brand name.

3. A company may feel they have lost market share or have not met their customers' needs, so they want a fresh start.

Anyone reading this can form their own opionion, heh. Here is a random article on rebranding, interesting read when you compare it to Infopop.

http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/content/2004/s1070451.htm

sounds like 2 or 3, especially on the Threads side of things. There weren't any real complaints about Classic recently

I'd hazard a guess it was closer to 1, but I know noteeng about the company's goals/practices. I *did* guess correctly that they were purchasing wwwthreads well ahead of the actual purchase/public release of info

I believe the renaming is because of there being more revenue generated by Infopops hosted products rather than their downloadable boards. I can understand the reason to focus on and place an emphasis on the hosted products.

I bet Allen is onto something.... If I were to guess I would also say 1 ish.

[]Medar said:

Typically the only time you rebrand yourself is for one of the following reasons:

1. Merger or purchase of your company (and you are the subsidiary).

2. To offset negative public opinion on a brand name.

3. A company may feel they have lost market share or have not met their customers' needs, so they want a fresh start.

Anyone reading this can form their own opionion, heh. Here is a random article on rebranding, interesting read when you compare it to Infopop.

http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/content/2004/s1070451.htm [/]

I'd agree with this. Companies with a good name and good following don't change it. Even if they are merged or acquired, you keep the name which has the best reputation.

Example.... First Union Bank based here in Charlotte, acquired the much smaller bank named "Wavhovia". "Wachovia" is a sucky name for sure, nobody can spell it, nobody knows how to say it. "First Union" is a better name, because generally 'First' is good, it was more widely known, etc..... BUT "First Union" (commonly called "Worst Union" by it's customers) was a name widely associated with poor customer service. So when they purchased Wachovia, they rebranded everything and used that name instead.

Who knows the real reason... I'm just guessing like everyone else. But I know widely respected and well known companies don't change their name for the sake of changing their name. It's costly, confusing and a lot of work.

"Groupee" didn't exactly have a good name around here. If I recall about half the members had trouble with using "Groupee" when it was rolled out. Although I personally never had any trouble with it.
:shrug:

just don't call it
'pee

(as we used to call 'pop)

http://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/showflat.php?Number=42231#Post42231

Ted O'Neill sais:

"Hi everyone-
No release date yet. We ran into some problems and had to do some backtracking. Rest assured that we are moving as fast as we can to get it done. Best guess now is that there will be a beta sometime this summer. "

Great
Just in time for my license to expire

Doesn't bother me at all as I've completely dumped .threads in favor of a much better software. The abrupt announcment that they were ceasing all new development of it caused me to re-evaluate my choice and the decision was to go with something else altogeter. I couldn't see paying money to something be able to get the stable release of .threads and then have a piece of software that was being dumped in favor of something no one knows anything about.

What have you gone for mitucker? PM might be best I too am looking around now. If it was not for this site I would have made my mind up about moving a while ago.

edit, I see what route you have gone for

Well at least it is news.

[]sassierapple said:
just don't call it
'pee

(as we used to call 'pop) [/]



you hit it on the head there.

[]Mudcon said:
[]sassierapple said:
just don't call it
'pee

(as we used to call 'pop) [/]



you hit it on the head there. [/]

hehe. i got moderated for saying this there. it got deleted. i think that was my first moderation anywhere.

yay?

Sassier got moderated? LOL

I'm going to go post something funny at which do you prefer. infopop is dying to moderate me.

LOL

[]JoshPet said:
Sassier got moderated? LOL

I'm going to go post something funny at which do you prefer. infopop is dying to moderate me. [/]

you know you always wanted to moderate me back in the day...

Groupee is such a stupid name to go with for a corporate name. Has Infopop's reputation really suffered that much?

Isn't a groupee one of those people with low self esteem that throw themselves at rock stars and athletes to feel important because they're near someone famous?

It doesn't seem like a positive image to asscioate yourself with.

I think Threads users would be wise to follow MITrucker's path. It looks like a really good product with some awesome features written by some talented coders.(Infopop has been incorporating their hacks into threads for sometime now anyway.) I'm sure that the code is both secure and lean even with the abundance of features.

Groupee sounds like groupie which is defined as:

A groupie is a person whose devotion to a person (usually a celebrity, especially a rock and roll star) approaches the level of fanaticism.

Groupie is derived from group, meaning a musical band, but now has more general application.

Female groupies in particular are known for a long-standing tradition of being available for, and willing to have, sexual intercourse with celebrities and rock stars. While only a small number of groupies are truly promiscuous in that they are willing to trade sexual favors for attention, the tradition of "rock and roll groupies" continues to the present day, contributing to the image of the rock-and-roll lifestyle as one where sex and drugs are readily available at any time.