More of the same...

JN

New member
To all Staff, Members, Friends and Guests of Overclock3D...

It's been 7 years since I founded Overclock3D and what amazing things we have accomplished together. Every time I tune into OC3D and see our fantastic reviews, TTL's amazing videos and our vibrant community it makes me proud to see what has been accomplished. As with all things in life, things change. Unfortunately due to family needs (3 children and a wedding - sounds like a Film?) I just haven't been able to give back to the site what it deserves in the form of time and commitment. It is with heartfelt sadness that I need to announce my retirement.


Fear not though, for things in the OC3D offices are very much still business as normal. The familiar faces of Tom and Bryan retain their positions to deliver you with your daily dose of both written and video tech, and our forum moderating team also remains unchanged. I have passed on my responsibilities to a small online forum community company called Social Knowledge who will be responsible for managing the server(s), software and ensuring the team and community have tools needed to remain the best overclocking community on the internet. You will see a few new faces from Social Knowledge including Andy who owns the little company, Janet who helps support the mods/admins, Jeff who is their programmer and will be building some new features for us.


Murphy's Law always presents itself at the most awkward times and that's what happened a few weeks ago when a hacker attacked our site. They kept hacking things even after we would secure the software. We were running a version of IP.Board that was outdated and in order to move to the next version we were going to have to completely re-skin software, a significant task. The last exploit resulted in malware being installed on vulnerable computers so it was decided to take quick action and convert the site back to vBulletin which Social Knowledge has significant experience managing. They will be working with Tom to develop some new features including some which will allow us to host some more contests and give-a-ways.


The Overclock3D community is a great one, and even without my biased feelings, I would say that it is one of the best on the internet. You are all great people and I thank you for making OC3D what it is today.


Best Regards
James, Emma & Family
 
Jim, I know it's bittersweet to pass the torch, hopefully we will see more of you around the community now that you don't have to deal with all the behind the scenes stuff (server admin, programming, etc). With three kids you have your hands full and I am sure they will appreciate more time with Daddy too!

I just want to reiterate that it's business as usual here at OC3D. I have had some great discussions with Tom and we are going to be building some tools for him to help facilitate some great new contests. We will also be here to support the mod/admin team and make sure they have the tools needed to best manage the community.

Since you are probably wondering who I am, I'll post an intro. I founded my first forum a little over a decade ago and quickly was fascinated by the power of empowering people to share and communicate. Through a random twist of fate, I ended up adopting a forum that was going to be closed. Around the same time got fed up with my job (managing a technology team for a financial services firm) and decided to try and build a small business out of fostering online forum communities. Since I had to take a big wage cut, I needed to figure out how to survive on less so I decided to research the cheapest places to live. In 2005 Argentina was just recovering from defaulting on their national debt so the cost of living was dirt cheap while the lifestyle was excellent. I put my belongings into storage, packed my backpack and took off for a working adventure. In total I spent 4 years traveling around the world working from my laptop in countries where the Dollar (I am from the US) was strong.

As time passed, I kept growing Social Knowledge bit-by-bit. Once it had grown beyond what I could handle on my own I started to look for people who could help me. I found the best place to look was the members of my sites. They were passionate, knew why forums were so special (that's why they participated in them) and it felt like the right thing to do. We now have an amazing (yet small) team that helps support the forums we work with.

I actually enjoy building computers but have been out of the hobby since I left for my travels. I started building computers out of necessity in my early 20s when I wanted a PC but didn't have the budget to afford the latest and greatest. I remember taking parts from a few different trashed desktops to make one that would work. I believe it was a Pentium 133Mhz with 128MB of RAM! Thankfully that was short lived and I was able to move on to building nicer machines quickly. I have worked mostly from a laptop for the last few years but now that I am spending more time on OC3D I think it's time for me to build my next PC. I can already tell spending more time around here is going to be expensive!

I look forward to working with Tom, Bryan and the rest of the team (mods and writers) and getting to know everyone in the years ahead.

Kind Regards,

Andy R
 
Its a sad day to say the very least. James gave me my first chance at reviewing over 4 years ago. Who would have though what we would have achieved way back then.

Ive thoroughly enjoyed working with you over the previous years Jimbo and wish, you and the family all the very best. Ive taken the time to book you a date with a surgeon and your Vasectomy can be done pretty quickly, or Ive got a couple of bricks if you want it done the old fashioned way!

Im also looking forward to working with Andy and the team over the comming months and years. The only changes to be made here at OC3D will hopeflly be seen by all to be positive moves to progress the site. We already have many plans on the table and the team are just as enthused as I am to keep things moving forward.

Good luck to Jim but a very warm welcome to Andy, Jeff and Janet.


big love


- The Guv ;)
 
Fare thee well, Jim - I'm only a newcomer here, but I would like to thank you or founding this amazing site. You've done a top job, and I wish you all the best with life.

Welcome to Andy, Jeff and Janet - I hope that you feel welcome here, and are able to integrate yourself into those fantastic community that Jim has created.
 
Farewell Jim, Good luck in the future for you and your family.
Andy, Jeff and Janet Welcome and hope you enjoy

Fez (Adam)
 
Farewell Jim, it's sad to see you go, but family takes precedence over everything else. You have done a fantastic job with the website and it is the only forum I visit and post on everyday. I love the OC3D community and You, Tom, the Mods/Writers and everyone behind the scenes have provided an amazing service to Forum members like me, so thank you for that.

I would also like to welcome Andy, Jeff and Janet :D. I look forward to everything they have to offer :).
 
Sad times :( Good luck with your future, Jim and family :D
Thank you also for creating OC3D, it has helped me in more ways than one and not just the PC side of things, that thanks also goes out to the rest of OC3D. :cool:

Also, welcome to the new guys :hello:
 
Yes as has been said FAIRTHEEWELL Jim and good luck to you and your family may everything you do in life be as successful as OC3D, and to the newcomers I bid you Welcome and hope you enjoy your stay with us and this fabulous community.
 
farewell Jim, it's very sad to see you go, you´ve done a fantastic job with the website.
I wish you and your family all the best. A big welcome to Andy, Jeff and Janet
 
Farewell Jim thank's for bringing us a amazing site.

Good luck to you in the future both in your personal and business life.

Thank's :)
 
'This is for everyone' could have applied here too.

Thanks for everything, good luck in the future, you've done a brilliant job here and will be missed greatly
 
Good luck to you Jim - Top bloke, whether dealing with you in a work capacity or on a personal level, you were in my introduction to watercooling!

The wierd thing is these threads always seem like someone has passed away *morbid*.

But look what you made me do, I even logged in breaking my long term absence and lurking habit.

Welcome, -VK-.
You last visited: 26-10-10 at 04:08 PM

P.S - Dont forget this - http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=18300
 
Thanks to everyone for your well wishes :)

It is heart wrenching to let OC3D go after all this time, but I know deep down that it's the right thing to do. I want to make sure that the future growth of the site is secured and I can look back in a few years and feel proud to have been the 'father'.

However, I will never be far away. I'll still be working on the occasional OC3D PSU review along with some of my own (non review website!) projects once things in my life calm down a bit.

I love ya all, and here's a little sommit from my memory box:

December 2005:



December 2006:



October 2007:


I've got lots more somewhere too, but its everyone here that helped grow the site into what it is today and pushed me to make it better for us all :)
 
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