Read last night Brett is closing Vhlinks down October 31..
We might get a lot more members here…

09.23.13, 02:08 AM
Brett
Emperor of VHLinks.com

Everyone Please Read!

Hi all,

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this, and it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever posted on here, but like all things in life, everything has to come to an end. I’ve owned this site for over 14 years, and when I started it I never in my wildest dreams thought it would have lasted this long, or been such a huge part of my life. That’s really a testament to all you amazing people that have made this more than just a web site about Van Halen, but an incredible community of people who shared a little bit of their lives everyday on here.

So I’ve been thinking this through so many different ways the last several weeks, and it’s been a very hard decision to make, but I have decided I am going to close VHLinks, effective October 31st this year.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who would like to take the site over, but I just don’t want to do that. I started this site, and I want to end it on my own terms…and I know that’s a little selfish, but it’s just how I feel. It’s always been my baby and I want it to go out that way too. So I will not be transferring it to anyone and I will continue to own the domain name. I may leave up a tribute page or something that I can do for like a couple bucks a month, but haven’t really given that much thought yet. Some of the other big VH site owners have moved on and let others take their sites over…just never going to happen here.

You may ask why I’ve all of a sudden made this decision. Well it wasn’t an overnight decision, I’ve thought about for the last several months before I made my final decision on Friday night. I went back and forth for months on this. The reason is purely a financial one. This isn’t some web site you can put on a $10 shared hosting plan and let it go…it demands a lot of bandwidth, time, and resources to keep it functioning, and that is a very big expense every month. In the past when the economy was good, it wasn’t such a burden financially to me…and the site advertising helped offset it just a little, but even then not too much. But I accepted that and was fine with that. But as the lousy economy continues, and other family obligations have popped up that I need to use money on, something had to lose, and as sad a decision as it was for me, this was it. Unfortunately my real job is really reliant on a good economy…and right now, buying advertising isn’t something that small/medium businesses care about, they care about paying their employees and keeping their heads above water. And I can no longer shell out the $4,000 a year to keep this site hosted the way it needs to be.

I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this site for the last 14 years. I want to thank the moderators for their tireless work in keeping some sense of sanity around here, they have been the lifeblood of this site, and I owe them a huge debt of gratitude for all they’ve done. I will miss having this place to look at everyday, it’s part of my daily routine as I know it has been for so many of you. I know many of you have become friends in real life from here (we’ve even had a marriage through this site), and that’s one of the things I will always remember about this place, that it was more than just a site about VH like I said. We had a great run.

So let’s enjoy the last month together, I intend to keep all the site files and database even after we’re gone…so if something were to happen and I could ever load up the place again, I most certainly would.

All right, I didn’t want to get too wordy with this, so that’s all I’m going to say right now. Again, thank you all for everything!

B

PT5150: Read last night Brett is closing Vhlinks down October 31.. We might get a lot more members here…

Well hopefully a lot of the members do not find their way here. VH links had way too much negativity, flame wars etc.

mcs5150: Well hopefully a lot of the members do not find their way here. VH links had way too much negativity, flame wars etc.

Agree could never understand why people went on a VH forum site and bagged the band and its members??

Won’t happen. He’s just trying to raise money.

Hummmm…………

He is succeeding in raising money, I guess the figure needed was $4000.00 and it looks as if a lot of members are willing to shell it out. Some claim to want to contribute over $100.00.

mcs5150: Well hopefully a lot of the members do not find their way here. VH links had way too much negativity, flame wars etc.

I doubt we will see an influx of members from there. First of all, it won’t shut down, second, it won’t shut down!

If thats the same guy who runs Jam To This he’s all about the money. Sounds like you don’t need to pat him on the back for anything he does a great job of doing that himself.

videoman320: If thats the same guy who runs Jam To This he’s all about the money. Sounds like you don’t need to pat him on the back for anything he does a great job of doing that himself.

Yup, same guy.

I like the Links for an occasional visit when things are happening in the VH world. I would think it’s hard to keep “control” over a well-attended open forum like that, so I gotta say 14 years is pretty impressive.

That didn’t take long. It looks like it’s not going anywhere as long as you contribute $30, $51.50 or $100.

Mmmmmm so not closing down just a fund raiser….

sickman: That didn’t take long. It looks like it’s not going anywhere as long as you contribute $30, $51.50 or $100.

LMFAO !! Told ya!