Spymac V

[amacgenius]

Let me rephrase this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=192376) so it can actually be a discussion topic.

Seems, that everybody's (except mine) favorite, and "largest" Mac community, Spymac.com has taken down their website for an unannounced "Version 5" upgrade, dubbed Spymac V.

Spymac is/was currently in Version 4 - and if this is a system upgrade it will be the shortest time Spymac has ever spent in a "version".

The only thing you can currently do is check your email and download some iffy quality wallpapers, so what do you all think of this, has anybody from Spymac come here while they wait (hoping to stay here ;)), or do you just hate Spymac's guts (like myself) and hope that they stay offline.

Here's a picture of their current splash page which plays a flash movie:
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/848/picture19ef.th.png (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture19ef.png)

Discuss.

[lilstewart]

I don't have anything against it, and I don't have anything for it.

I never go on it, don'te even have an account.
I don't hate it guts, but I don't like 'em.

I <3 me some MR. :D

[amacgenius]

I <3 me some MR. :D

Don't we all, don't we all :).

[stoid]

If v.V it faster, more reliable, and less polluted with ads, I'll give them another shot.

[cycocelica]

Never been to the site but that video was pretty cool.

[narco]

I've been a long-time member of Spymac. I've met a lot of nice people from the site and the staff has been extremely nice to me as well.

I don't agree with some of the decisions they made with version 3 and 4, so I'm not exactly sure how I feel about version V. I think their biggest mistake was the 1GB email plan -- that seemed to be the "beginning of the end" for a lot of people. The sense of community really seemed to fade for me after that, but I stuck around because of the gallery (the only thing I really used on that site).

Then the gallery went out for a few months and was eventually replaced with a cool forum-type gallery, but the thumbnails were tiny and made browsing an absolute nightmare. I since moved to Flickr and have been happy since.

Spymac was the first online community I really got into and enjoyed so it was sad to see it go downhill, but I wish them the best of luck and hope everything works out for them. I may not be as popular on MR as I was in Spymac, but when it comes to discussing all-things-Apple, MR is hard to beat.

Fishes,
narco.

[amacgenius]

1GB email plan -- that seemed to be the "beginning of the end" for a lot of people.

Yeah, the surely killed it a little bit.

[Laser47]

Before I became a member of MacRumors I was a member of Spymac, I really liked their site and the community, when the announcement of Spymac 4 was posted I was anxious and exited. The site was pulled down for the upgrade and we were told it would only take around 2 days ,instead it took IIRC a few weeks. Then when the site finally came back up nothing worked, almost everything on the site yielded "The feature is not available yet" the site was suppost to be upgraded in a month, instead it was a few months. And when V4 finally came out, a lot of people didint even like the new layout everything was very unintuitive and clunky. We were told that they expirenced problems during the transition, which was very understandable but the final result was what made many people stop using spymac. During their transition I found MacRumors and joined.

[timmillwood]

sorry for starting a rubbish thread, it's not good having your first thread being sent to the wasteland.

I have been a member of spymac since 2003 when i got my first mac, i think it was the first mac forum i stubbled across, it seemed ok, so i stayed. but since spymac 4 it has been going really downhill, most of the threads seem off topic, the mail is *CRAP* i had to switch to gmail, the gallery takes hrs to scroll through.

so i guess if there is no reason to go back.

[ITASOR]

That was one corny introduction movie for a Mac website. "Hold your fists clenched until it's time to emerge"...uhh ok...

[maya]

Never been to the site but that video was pretty cool.

Agreed. :)

[maya]

That was one corny introduction movie for a Mac website. "Hold your fists clenched until it's time to emerge"...uhh ok...

Corny or not, I would like to see you do any better. ;) :)

[iFaulder]

Hope its better than 4. They could have put up a little more info. All it says is April 2006, last time I check it was April so where is it? Maybe if they spent less time on flash movies and actually fixing the site 4 would not have been such a screw up. And you can't even read the text at the bottom.

[stebu]

Such a good idea was Spymac, but almost impossible for an intelligent, but poor, person to use.
Living overseas and not having a credit/debit card precludes many members form joining the exclusive "club" for $25. And the forums have lost much of their smartness, descending into favourite colours and foods and some awful mindless stuff. Try to start a forum with wit and spunk and it's virtually ignored.
Anyway I had to come here to find out why I couldn't get away from that uninforming, repetitive trailer thingy, so thanks for all that.
So many times I've threatened to quit that spymac habit. Perhaps this latest bunch of horse feathers will goad me to success this time.

[Lacnce]

What is spymac?
Is it just another forum site? :confused:

[yoshipop]

How to get beyond Spymac V splashi screen?

I can't access anything but webmail.spymac.com.

[timmillwood]

How to get beyond Spymac V splashi screen?

I can't access anything but webmail.spymac.com.

you cant, thats it!

[Benjamin]

a long time ago....

I was once a member, then after the 1GB email thing, well for me the site died. Now this trailer to be honest if they would spend that much time on other parts of the site... anywho... we shall see.

[Scooby_Doo]

I used to frequent SpyMac (i think when it was version 2), but got frustrated when the site was redesigned for version 4. It simply became a nightmare to navigate. Way too many buttons, adds, and links. It made me feel like I was going into seizures the first time I saw it.

Sad to see it go, because like many other people who have replied, I used to like the small and fun community that it had going. :(

[speakster]

Corny or not, I would like to see you do any better. ;) :)

That trailer is utterly pretentious and sophmoric....

It also illustrates Spymac's problems quite well....a lack of a defined target audience.

Mac-based news site? Hardly....rehashed news pieces from around the web.

Flickr competitr? Took them, what...6 months to get the galleries back up and running and now its down again?

Mac-based forums? All the posts denigrate into childish blather....If you're looking for intellectual, or even technical stimuli.....ain't here.

Ad-filled wasteland? That must be it....

ooohhh but you get an email address with the domain of a site that caters to teenage mac wankers....

no thanks :)

[edesignuk]

Didn't they only quite recently actually get everything back working again since the last "upgrade"? :rolleyes:

omg wtf spymac sux0rs.

[Laser47]

This just makes me feel sorry for the people who actually pay and use spymac. Could you imagine if MacRumors shut down without any announcement for weeks?
Im glad I dont post there anymore.

[Benjamin]

Didn't they only quite recently actually get everything back working again since the last "upgrade"? :rolleyes:

omg wtf spymac sux0rs.


everything was working? must have missed that headline. Also Laser brings a good point, too bad for all those club users that paid for services...

[BigFrank]

Let me rephrase this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=192376) so it can actually be a discussion topic.

Seems, that everybody's (except mine) favorite, and "largest" Mac community, Spymac.com has taken down their website for an unannounced "Version 5" upgrade, dubbed Spymac V.

Spymac is/was currently in Version 4 - and if this is a system upgrade it will be the shortest time Spymac has ever spent in a "version".

I don't despise Spymac the way you clearly do, in fact I enjoy my Spymac membership (free, not paid) but I really wish they would stop treating their members like kindergarten pupils and give them some warning that the site is going to be down (it's been a week now IMO). Mail is up and every Spymac member has a mail account so why the hell can they not send a blanket email telling people the damn site is going to be pulled? Or at least that something special is about to happen and we should be patient yadda yadda yadda. They have a major communication problem since the launch of SM4 last August which they have still not resolved. I think it is safe to say Spymac members have had enough surprises to last a lifetime.

Oh yeah, and if anybody from SM is watching WTF is that video all about? Do you not realise that not everybody has a 5mb dsl line??? Jesus, after waiting that long for a goddam movie I would have expected something as long as Gladiator, not 5 frames of some arty farty whooshy thing with Powerpoint transitions.

Anyway, that's my rant over but I think it should be said that because of Spymac's lamentable inability to communicate with its members I now have a macrumors account. I never had any desire to have one before.

[SilvorX]

That trailer is utterly pretentious and sophmoric....

It also illustrates Spymac's problems quite well....a lack of a defined target audience.

Mac-based news site? Hardly....rehashed news pieces from around the web.

Flickr competitr? Took them, what...6 months to get the galleries back up and running and now its down again?

Mac-based forums? All the posts denigrate into childish blather....If you're looking for intellectual, or even technical stimuli.....ain't here.

Ad-filled wasteland? That must be it....

ooohhh but you get an email address with the domain of a site that caters to teenage mac wankers....

no thanks :)

Good comparison!

I've been a user for Spymac for 3.5 years, it's really gone down hill, I don't think that Spymac will recover from Spymac V since if it removes features (temporarily) such as an "edit" function, then people will leave in disgust.

I paid for Spymac's "Club" program, which essentially gives me an ad-free Spymac and a software application to allow me to do blogging on my desktop.. and probably something else.. but it's not worth it anymore since I'm paying my money towards something that's not finished.

I want my member forum to be back since I have a loyal user base who goes to the member forum, but it hasn't been around for 9 months so it's too late now to get it back.

I'll probably leave spymac if they don't make improvements towards what I want to see changed, and if they don't come back online soon.

[edesignuk]

everything was working? must have missed that headline. Also Laser brings a good point, too bad for all those club users that paid for services...Ooooops, it's been so long since I've been I just assumed (my fatal error, I know) that they MUST have got it all working again by now.

[BigFrank]

Ooooops, it's been so long since I've been I just assumed (my fatal error, I know) that they MUST have got it all working again by now.

I get the impression that that is the point of Spymac V, to get a system that works up and available to all members, especially the poor schmucks that pay for it. :(

[backupdrummer]

I am still scratching my head over them needing to shut down thier site for days and maybe weeks to get another up a running. That seems utterly absurd. Don't you usually build it in parallel and then flip a switch so that it is a little more seamless?

I am begining to believe that it is a kid who is getting a new apartment and is waiting for the cable guy to come and hook up his internet so that he can get spymac back up.

I went to the way back machine the other day to kill some time. Checked out spymac circa 2000 and it had a hell of a lot of potential.

eh screw dude lets go bowling.

[backupdrummer]

http://web.archive.org/web/20020124060125/http://www.spymac.com/

[edesignuk]

I am still scratching my head over them needing to shut down thier site for days and maybe weeks to get another up a running. That seems utterly absurd. Don't you usually build it in parallel and then flip a switch so that it is a little more seamless?pfffff, you and your logic! :rolleyes: ;) :p

[TMA]

I still hold a grudge with Spymac for the fake iWalk pictures/videos they posted a number of years ago. (http://guides.macrumors.com/Gallery_of_Apple_Mockups_and_Fake_Products)

It was one big evil publicity stunt. I bet they also made a fair few £££ by selling the email addresses they harvested.

Everyone should still be bitter with them.

[cheaplaughs]

Does anyone know of an alternative (Mac-centric or not) to Spymac that provides a similar amount of web space and POP email services for a comparable price? I've had enough of their nonsense and want to switch when my year is up.

[BigFrank]

I don't understand why people want to pay little or nothing for something as important to them as their email and document storage (aka webspace). For about €150 a year you can get a domain name, a hosting account and a couple of hundred or more mgs of space from many professional hosting companies. Why do people who want a standard of professional services expect people like Google, Yahoo, Hotmail or Spymac to be able to provide them? And if you want a professional standard or service why expect to pay bottom dollar? If you think $24.95 a year is expensive then wake up and smell the Arabica. It's bottom dollar and you get no SLA, just their ToC. I'm on Spymac for one thing, the community, nothing else.

[narco]

Updated site. Looks like it's supposedly coming "today."

Fishes,
narco.

[edesignuk]

Updated site. Looks like it's supposedly coming "today."

Fishes,
narco.....but, take that with a pinch, no sorry, a LORRY load of salt. Remember last time? :rolleyes:

[vniow]

Spymac can go frack themselves for all I care. I uploaded a 1.1MB image that I spent months designing and I needed the space so I could keep the quality and the size if I wanted to show it to someone online. However when they changed stuff around, I couldn't log in and my image was gone. :mad:
I was more pissed that I wasn't notified of any changes or anything and I had lost my FW drive which the original PSD file was on (found it later thankfully) so I freaked out because I spent a lot of time on that thing and I was afraid that the one I uploaded to Spymac was the only high quality copy I had left. I guess since it was free and from Spymac I shouldn't complain much but I was still pissed.

Grr...

[Benjamin]

....but, take that with a pinch, no sorry, a LORRY load of salt. Remember last time? :rolleyes:

... and the time before the last time ... :rolleyes: :p :cool: :eek:

[edesignuk]

ha, indeed :D

well they're doing something, if you visit now it prompts you to authenticate to view a "DEBUG ONLY" area.

oooohhhhhh, how exciting! :p

edit: re-live (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=147099&highlight=spymac) the fun from last time round :smug:

[Benjamin]

ah yes... well i'll just preempt this post now and get it over with...

2 whole weeks later and still nothing :eek: :eek: :eek: Awesome.

:eek:

[Laser47]

What a great site!:D

[edesignuk]

So is it just me, or does it look pretty much the same, but with less of the fracking popup messages saying "this feature is not yet available"?

[eva01]

what an atrociously ugly website :eek:

[me_94501]

Wow. That is...

Wow.

Someone got paid to design that?? :eek:

[CindyFem]

Seems now that they offer their services for free.

Huh, a comparable account to the one of .mac for free?

Quiet interesting and worth testing I think.

[janey]

Seems now that they offer their services for free.

Huh, a comparable account to the one of .mac for free?

Quiet interesting and worth testing I think.
For someone who's only made one post ever on MacRumors forums...




Also, I don't know anyone who would give a flying f**k how comparable it is to .mac especially if the site is any indication of their reliability.

[liketom]

Spymac is just a waste of my time - never really got with the layouts there.

From what i hear some people like it there due to there desktop picys bit?


Spymac/Spycrap :D

[janey]

Spymac is just a waste of my time...
Agreed. Dunno that many people who like Spymac, most of them think it's a dumb site...didn't have much but the community going for it in the beginning, and that soon went down the toilet too.