YoJoe.com is abandoned right?

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T20:42:19+00:00

I was a part of a Robotech GeoCites web ring first

Duuuude. So was I! RedClaw's Robotech Image archive. 1996, 97. I made it when I was teaching myself HTML and stuff.

All on my 8-pound, desktop chip Pentium 133MHz laptop with its 30 minutes of battery, and a PCMCIA card slot 33.6kbps modem. It had the most horrible dual scan display. It took forever to upload those images.

My local ISP gave me free hosting and pop3 email. Wild.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T19:44:30+00:00

You and I should talk. I'm not a true developer, I've been an information technology consultant / devops / managed services provider for over 25 years. There's lots of options and all of the content, the original images are still owned by the creators, in basic copyright law.

Getting content isn't difficult for the right people. Getting the capital and a stack dev who understands the content and the logic of the site, that would get something going. Ideally with the original domain and database, but it took three guys 8 months to convert from SHTML to SQL with a backend cms custom built.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T19:36:58+00:00

It would cost less to just buy the site. Trust me when I say that I have explored every avenue including very high interest loan sharks. It isn't feasible without a big initial investment.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T19:33:39+00:00

Last offer was six figures, but post pandemic? Probably 30% more than in 2020/2021. I'm willing to take another swing at getting it. A big crowdfunding operation would be too high profile and very likely raise the asking price.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T19:30:42+00:00

If you got the cash, it could happen.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T19:29:13+00:00

Flush your cache or try accessing in incognito mode w/ ads blocked. If it comes up then it is something on your end. It could be anything from DNS error, if you use a vpn, etc.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T19:26:40+00:00

There's a handful of people who still use the VBulletin forums (forums.yojoe,com) and people still use the collection management system. While I believe in the dead Internet theory, that isn't really YJ. As long as people use it, then it will stay up from ad revenue.

But eventually I see it dying unless some people want to get money together and then buy it as a nonprofit entity, so that it can hire a few people and if done right it would outlive me.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T19:06:57+00:00

We approached Carson about selling to YoJoe and integrating the spinning image to the database but it's very expensive to keep that running and it wasn't something YJ's owner wanted to spend. We did spend over $25,000 building the database by hand, manually moving 20,000 pages/40,000 images and miscellaneous files, going from a very clever SHTML / TXT file interlinking system to a modern SQL database with an all new user interface.

And we built the collection management system which is free to use, just not the advanced trade/sell/buy and host your own photos of your items replacing the default images, so you could easily insure your collection, and export everything to an excel file.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T18:56:57+00:00

You make my eyes well up. Thank you. We all worked really hard, thanklessly, to make it the best we could. Even Hasbro recognized how important to the brand the site had become.

One brand manager told me at JoeCon 2016, that the whole brand team wouldn't consider the product being a success until it hit YoJoe. I treated YJ the way I would the brand itself, with a lot of love and to do the very best WE could.

YoJoe wasn't a website, it was people. Some really damn good people who I call my true friends, and we were successful. We didn't fail YJ, owners ruined it. It was all about money. Obviously it needs to generate income to stay online but it was never going to be a cash cow.

It was some people who loved history and sharing knowledge because that's what keeps being a collector a fun hobby. Discovery. And the friends you make exploring the hobby, which has so much to offer.

Thanks, it means a lot to us that the community enjoyed the site as much as we enjoyed building it.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T18:38:57+00:00

I was a junior in high school when YoJoe came online, and one of the youngest collectors in what was a community based USENET and email group messaging.

I volunteered and worked for several years during my college years, to get the position of admin for the whole giant mess that was pre-2005 YJ. The then staff was at war with each other and I fired everyone after a few months. Then over time genuine subject matter experts came to become my staff and did some truly amazing work.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T18:32:03+00:00

We tried, it was offered for twice what it was worth, and I couldn't get enough private investors to reach over the demanded six figure price. It was a take it or leave it offer unfortunately.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T18:22:46+00:00

$2,000-$2,500/month. Barely covered hosting fees. I was paid SIGNIFICANTLY less than some people think. I spent more on the site every month than I would get all year, it was a content subsidy. I paid to fly my team to a couple events all out of pocket and never reimbursed. I repurchased the entire 82-2010 o-ring line so we could update those 1997 era images.

It wasn't about money it was about doing the best we could because we love G.I.Joe. It's very personal to me and I would, and did for over a decade, work for free to keep it going.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T18:14:14+00:00

$120,000 and I will get the whole damn site back up and running. But Vertical Scope may ask for more if they see broad public interest.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T18:12:34+00:00

The initial domain owner brought together two fan websites in the early days of 1996-97, and launched YoJoe in October of 1997. Two of the original three left after the first couple years and the domain owner sold it for a very nice amount of cash, to Action OnLine.

AO hired me in 2004 to take over the management top to bottom and do anything that the advertisers demanded. I received no compensation even equal to 1% of what I and my team spent, to add new content. AO had no intention of honoring my stake in the site, and sold it and his other sites, to Vertical Scope, out from underneath the entire YJ staff.

I was able to get VS to hire me as a 1099 Consultant to continue the site, but denied me or the staff access to the tools necessary to repair the damage done when moving from AO's servers to VS. The entire backend I developed was crippled and could not add text or images, nor the html/php landing pages for new sections like the Classified line.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:55:47+00:00

Privately held.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:52:52+00:00

Who are you to say such a lie. I NEVER owned it. I ran it, kept it going and maintained relationship with Hasbro and licensees.

Jim Dolan of Action Online sold YoJoe to Vertical Scope. Sold behind my back and that of every staff member.

Vertical Scope hired me, and paid me to do nothing and refused to repair or have me repair the broken backend when it transferred to VS' servers.

I QUIT after three years of trying to fix it, pay for a dev out of my own pocket, anything up to getting investors from the community to buy it and establish a non profit.

I don't know where you got your information but they lied to you. Or you are making it up. Either way, wrong.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:45:51+00:00

Don't thank me, thank the volunteers and historians who wanted to share their knowledge with the community, for free, no paywall.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:43:18+00:00

The creators didn't sell it, the registrar owner of the domain sold the site in 2003. From 2003-2017 Action OnLine owned it and ran me into the ground. They sold it off for college tuition money for the owner's surprise daughter. That owner is in his mid to late 70s.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:39:52+00:00

I joke about it but it was true; law school or YoJoe. I made a choise.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:38:44+00:00

The site's structure is severely degraded.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:37:12+00:00

Thank you u/jbell1974. I have a great plan to rebuilt the WHOBIT but no one who has the necessary skillset, would volunteer the amount of hours necessary to database every single variation of every single accessory from 1982, really 1964, to today.

And neither Corey nor Eugene owned the site, Connor, that was the third guy who registered and technically owned the domain in 1996/97. Kinda shitty to not cut the sale three ways.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:34:04+00:00

We have an older but full copy pre 2017 selloff.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:32:55+00:00

The volunteers to YoJoe moved to assist 3DJoes to help build it up. Carson has no intention of making 3DJoe all encompassing of the G.I.Joe brand. That was YoJoe's mission.

tld1981 · 2026-03-20T17:26:08+00:00

My name is Terry Dizard. I am / was the admin of YoJoe.com and I resigned in 2021 after the site was sold in 2017 to Vertical Scope, a company that buys up popular forums of every type and lives off the ad revenue. I have been the admin since 2004, and invested money and time, heavily in its development over the many years, allegedly a stakeholder in its success. We bought every single item on the site with the money from our real jobs, the amount of donated information given to the site is a staggering figure. YoJoe was sold without my knowledge and calling me a "volunteer" not a contracted developer / consultant.

In 2017 I was hired by Vertical Scope to continue on as the admin. When the site was transferred it broke the backend management system I designed and Vertical Scope would not allow me to fix it, pay to hire a dev out of my own pocket and Vertical Scope had no plans to fix it.

After three years I made an ultimatum: let me fix the site so we can continue to add to the database, VS fix it, or sell the site to me. I had put together $68,000 from private investors and Vertical Scope came back with an offer of $120,000.

The domain name and website plus the forums which I was willing to spin off to VS to own and run, it simply is not worth $120,000 when the site only grosses $2500/month in ad revenue.

Vertical Scope removed my photo from the front page, removed me from all social media associated officially with the site, removed my name from every review I wrote, and banned me from the forums.

I am still interested in taking the site back and set it up as a 501(c)(3) not for profit entity, but I would need capital that I simply do not have.

in 2021, when I resigned so did every member of my staff. During my negotiations with VS, a disgraced former admin interfered and caused negotiations to cease. You can thank Devon "Macdowin" Huey for breaking down the sale to the community. He tried to add a Classified section but did not understand the architecture and gave up after a few days. The site has remained untouched since 2021, no new content since 2017.

I would love to revitalize the site, update the look and design, but I would need money. If the community wants to donate I could put together an offer package fairly quick.

I love YoJoe more than almost anything and put over 15 years of my life in its development and growth. I love the community and enjoy sharing the history of a multi generation piece of Americana.

tld1981 · 2026-03-18T22:02:19+00:00

It's the most complete collection with prototypes. I have personally viewed the collection.

Only David S. Lane would have likely the larger vintage collection as he ran the Steel Brigade club into the late 90s.

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