Wow.... umm... hm. Interesting move, I didn`t see that coming.
I can`t help but wonder what sense it makes to essentially throw the brand equity of Detail City down the drain after acquiring it, though.
While it is totally understandable that PBMA made the purchase in order to gain a pre-established membership database and informational archive, I think some of the members who were hesitant after learning that DC was acquired by PBMA and linked to autopia-carcare.com might become even more leery about the forum now being called autopiaforums.com. It does no good to buy an established membership if the subsequent moves being made act to drive those members away.
Now, having said that, I do want to clarify that I`m not saying I personally have an issue with it or that I won`t be posting here, I`m just saying that it throws yet another challenge at the goal of growing the site and "Re-establishing Autopia`s brand and position" especially since the original Autopia.org still exists and is owned by a competitor. People tended to identify with Detail City specifically because it wasn`t "Autopia" and that distinction was plainly obvious. Now, what we have is a brand which appears to be aiming to compete against itself. That has the potential to be confusing.
Anyway, I hope this move doesn`t end up backfiring; should be interesting to watch things unfold.
What`s this still doing here?
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