| Author | Message | ||
| BretM (Bretm)
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You guys are pretty ridiculous. But ridiculous and classy are synonymous in my book. I can't help but laugh. On the topic of Gates, I have heard that he has some pretty cool cars (2 McLaren F1s, etc.) but I have also heard that he drives a 1980s Honda Accord most of the time. Seriously, although the Accord may be a reasonable alternative for many people, for one of the richest men in the world? He's got problems. And he should get rid of his mere mortal wife and get a super-model, everyone needs a super-model. | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
|
Mr. Gates, I agree with your assesment of the Chris "Ferrari Chat Weekly Poll". I am actually a big fan of it myself. Although there is not a long history yet to make any concrete decisions yet. BTW, is your Ferrari still impounded by the government? Ciao, Rob | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
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Chris, you should've gone undercover when posting that message..."Dude N Denver". | ||
| Chris_N_Chicago (Chris_N_Chicago)
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Rob, You should keep letting that Chris n Chicago guy have his little " Ferrari Chat Weekly Poll". He is cool ! Signed , Bill Gates | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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Anand Shimpi, so far I like how this software is working. I have looked at several, but will always take a look at others. I think stability is the key. Also, you can post pictures on any message and also on your personal profile. Most people do show thier cars under "Showroom" and also their personal profile. Is there anything else I can help you with? | ||
| Anand Shimpi (Anand)
|
Rob, I'd strongly suggest thinking about a new software package for the Forums. Having had a lot of experience with running a very large on-line forum (50K users registered) I'd look into FuseTalk from e-Zone Media (www.e-zonemedia.com). The solution is quite robust and very aesthetically pleasing. You can see examples of it on e-Zone's site. Other suggestions include setting up a members area where they can post specs, pictures, etc... of their cars. There is a site that already does this (www.355f1.com) but there's nothing that says there can't be two. Just my 2 cents | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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Craig, unfortunately I have to manually move subtopics with new messages back into the active list. This isn't a problem, it may just take me a little time to catch it and move it. Thanks. | ||
| Craig Dewey (Craigfl)
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1. When we post a message to the archives, it would be nice if it "jumped" to the current messages so others could view. 2. And Kelly, I would like to see the repair instruction database too! It would be very valuable. | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
|
Kristoffer, yes, I'm the web slave of this site, actually it's a bunch of fun. I can't easily set up how many messages people have posted so it updates automatically, but I can post a complete list of users and how many posts they've had at periodic intervals. I'll try to do that in a little. kelly, yes, when the site first started we had a "consumer reports" section that did what you suggested. After consideration, I felt the liability was too high. I believe I have every right to do it on this site, but I don't have the funds to prove I do. kelly, if you want a commission, I am offering people a nice % for every dollar of advertising they bring in. This could possibly be a nice little payment on yet another Ferrari. Let me know if anyone is interested. | ||
| kelly vince (Tofosi1)
|
I would like to see a database setup so that as one of us has an experince in a repair, we can post the instructions of what we did. In the end none of us should ever have to go to a deallership or repair shop again.(of course in a perfect world) On the web there is instruction as to do timiming belts, well what about cluthes, heads, and piston replacement. I would also like commission for my ideas. Hey! I am allowed to still dream. Of course I got my real dream, Beautiful wife three kids, job and of course the other woman(308) that what my wife refers to her as. | ||
| Kristoffer Hansson (Maverick)
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Rob - Are you the webmaster of this site? I must say its great.. Well, the status i had in mind is a number that shows how many posts the person has posted on this site. The number could be displayed in the blue table, for example... | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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Thanks for the input, what do you mean by posting status? | ||
| Kristoffer Hansson (Maverick)
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Posting status with total number of postings displaying within every mess contributed. Pretty funny indeed. Several other boards have that feature.. | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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No problem, it doesn't seem like work when you love doing it. I have many plans to improve the site and I'll take other ideas as well. | ||
| Awang (Wang)
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Thanks again Rob for the work you're doing. | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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One thing I've just been doing in "General Discussion" is to put messages in an Archive at the very end when the sub topics start adding up. I will start doing this in the other topics. "Technical Q&A" is getting close. | ||
| Craig Dewey (Craigfl)
|
I'm stuck with 56K also. When I view the "Showroom" pictures, it takes a long time to load. I have increasing concern about the ever growing message thread lengths....Some forums allow profiles to just look at the last 2 days, etc so that you don't have to wait for all of them to be loaded. | ||
| Awang (Wang)
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Personally I am stuck with 56K due to my ISP set-up.If things get to big it may be a hassle for me to connect as often. Sorry. | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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William, don't you like how we have our profile set up? I see that you are using it. That way a signature with picture doesn't have to load every message we look at. A sub-topic with 20 posts and 20 pics with signature may take a little bit to load. Although I just use a 56k and most of you probably have more bandwidth than I do. What do other people think? | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
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Rob, how about if we could have a small space under our posts for our signature & a small foto of our car? The Viper forum has that & we r better than them  LOL | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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Do you think the "General Discussion" area kinda covers that? Let me know, thanks for your feedback. | ||
| William Hubbell (Countachxx)
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Rob, I'd like to see a Miscellaneous or off topic section. the Corvetteforum.com & supercars.net both have them & they r great places to toss in whatever is on your mind regards, William | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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I ended up compromising a little bit by adding "Other Italian". That is the only non Ferrari specific topic, but I think it will always come back to Ferrari. This will be a good topic for discussing things like travel to Italy and the language. | ||
| Warren E. Smith (Magoo)
|
Rob, This is a great site for FERRARI lovers. Let's keep it strictly Ferrari and not confuse the issue with other exotics. Open discussion always stimulates good thoughts and ideas. It's an informative site about Ferrari, lets not screw it up with info. not pertinent to Ferrari. Thanks for a job well done. A happy Ferrari owner, MAGOO | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
|
I think this is a good idea. I'm not sure if I can develop the functionality to have users control it 100%. I can create a special page for event write ups and pics (w/thumbnails), but I'll have to be sent everything and then I'll post it. In the future we might think of a better way for users to control it. I'll start with our FCA event at Texas Motor Speedway in a few weeks. Thanks for the idea. | ||
| Ben Lobenstein 90 TR (Benjet)
|
After careful thought I have come up with a suggestion, which may take a bit of work or may not even be feasible. I tend to think big (I�m already a bandwith hog)�. As the winter ends and the time comes upon us to show/display, race, or otherwise gather with our automobiles I thought why not a section just for event pics. We should be using the showroom section for the display of our own collections, right? and I think that if we posted MANY photos in the events section it would then become tedious to navigate/load. My suggestion is for a special Tifosi (am I using that word correctly?) or Admirer�s Gallery. A place where we could post pics from track/Concours events, etc. not necessarily of our own vehicles. Something on the idea of photopoint.com, but I don�t like that interface and here I�m sure we all would enjoy the scenes as captured by our members, complete with thumbnails (for those with slow connections) and then able to display the full images upon selection. The only condition I think we would need to add is that the poster attended the event and took the pictures themselves (or close friends/family), maybe not even limited to just Ferraris as well. This is not for pics from other websites. This would allow others who aren�t able to attend to share in the feel of the event. Yes I know that pics can be put into the events section, but I�m thinking bigger, better and easier to navigate (with LOTS of pics). Discussion board is for discussion (even those with great/helpful pics on them), but I am a big photo buff and would love to have a place where I can house large groups of big images which I intend to take at various (Ferrari) events, especially hosted online where others can enjoy viewing the pictures. I�m sure others would love to share in this as well. My $0.02, does NOT come with a money back guarantee. -Ben P.S. If I'm thinking too big just say so. | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
|
The "Model List" has links to pics of most Ferraris. Also, in "Research" there is a link to Scott Swartz site that has over 250 pics. I want to do a model timeline or something like that here soon. | ||
| William Hubbell (Countachxx)
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How about a photo gallery of classic Ferraris & an off topic section to discuss whatever ? | ||
| Erik Jonsson (Gamester)
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For those who hate to fill in passwords and screen names, I have had great luck with this free program. www.gator.com It will fill in all those tedious forms too. So much for people losing their passwords! Thanks to everyone for their contributions to this site. Damn you all for taking another hour of my day away because I HAVE to read every post every day!!! Just Kidding- LOL | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
|
Thanks everyone for your great responses. Here's the game plan, although the game plan will ever be evolving with your input... 1) K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid, I agree with this 100% I'll stay away from confusing you with other domain names and keep the layout as straight forward as possible. 2) All message posters must be registered - I have already implemented this. 3) Technical How To Area - This is a great idea and everyone liked it. Problem is that I'm not all that auto technical yet. We need people to create the how to's and I can help with the web design. In return we'll credit your pages and you might also be able to get some ad dollars from a company. For example, do a piece on installing an exhaust and get Borla to pay for a link on your how to. Just an idea. This section will have to be driven by all of you. 4) Replacement parts cross reference - this is a great idea. The best way to manage this is through an application. I already have the skills and configuration to run Java servlets into a database on this site. It takes time, but I'll create an interface for users to add these parts to a searchable database. 5) Dealer comments and consumer reports - for those that were here back in December, I had a section for something like this. After talking with some lawyer friends I can't afford to take the liability. I think I have the right to create a page like this, but I don't have the resources to prove I do. The best is to post messages and use the search functionality to see other reports. 6) Buyer's guide - I would like to work on the model section more, but most of that will just be adding numbers and links. This is another opportunity for people to do their own page. 7) Scans of buyer's guides and books - What are the legalities of this? 8) Timeline - my next research project will be a timeline page of Ferrari's history. 9) I will add another main topic just for other Italian cars. I still want to K.I.S.S., but I think this will be ok. 10) Bikini Babes with Ferraris - don't tempt me, I'm amazing with cutting/pasting in PhotoShop. Pick any girl you want and any Ferrari. Please continue to provide me input. Thanks, Rob Lay | ||
| Kenneth Butler (Mondialman)
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I would love an organized cross reference for parts!! | ||
| CraigFL (Craigfl)
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One of the areas of the old expensivecar.com that I appreciated as a new owner was the "How to" procedures.... Oil change, belt change, etc. The tip about filling transaxle oil thru the transfer case fill hole makes the procedure much easier. I think it would be great to have many of these procedures posted for those of us who are doing them the first time or even as a refresher. It would also be nice to have an area where each of us could offer suggestions/improvements for the posted procedures. This would make it easier to keep the information updated. If this sounds like I'm volunteering in some way, I would be happy to help! | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
|
Thanks everyone for your great responses. I will respond to all the points made and offer my plans for the future later today. I have immediately stopped public and anonymous postings, although the public can still view messages. Since you are forced to use a username and password now, you can register to the left at "Register or Edit". If you have already registered and forgot your username and/or password, please e-mail me. Thanks. | ||
| Justin Kerns 86 328 GTS (Kerns)
|
I agree with many of the excellent points made so far, but would like to stress the simplicity of the site. Per your post Rob about the new Ferrari sites, they are cool the first time you see them and then are way annoying once you actually try to *use* them. I love the fact that I can access what I'm looking for on this site in about 5 seconds. The compilation of technical information is also critical in my opinion. Like Paul308QV, I scour the net for DIY info and parts info. Lots of great experience gets shared here and it would be great to capture that. | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
|
I find it easy to use the site as is now. But I whole-hardedly agree with all users registering. Any crude comments that have been posted have been from people hidding in the dark. We are here to discuss about our Ferraris. It was most excellent for you Rob to get ahold of the expensivecar.com files, but is it possible to go through all of that and link it to new service links on your site? What I'm trying to say, is that if you decide to start up a new service FAQ page, could you link up all of the appropriate articles from expensivecar to your new service page (something on the same idea as I had mentioned in my email to you)? I like Jerry's idea of cross-referencing parts, I'm always on the search for off-the-shelf parts and I've found a few of my own which I would have no problem in sharing that info. I too would like to talk about other Italian cars, I'm nuts about all of them! Abarth, Alfa, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati... But then I think it would get out of control. If there was a way that other registered users could find out about peoples other interests, they could communicate privately through email. I think in the end, whatever comes next, we'll always have something like this. Just a great place to talk about our cars. Rob, you've got an excellent site. | ||
| Chris in Chicago |
How about a bikini babes in Ferraris link? ( just kidding ) Rob this site is the best ! We wholeheartedly thank you for all you do! | ||
| Jerry
|
I don't know if this speaks to your question proper but...I would like to see more effort put into a the following: 1)a comprehensive/ongoing cross reference of common replacement parts. i.e. the A/C compressor or switches that can be found for substantially less money than the factory stuff. 2)scans of parts books,shop manuals even owners manuals. This info is valuable to many and costly to buy. 3)New car buyers section. More than the FNA site offers. Things like what to look out for and common Ferrari "soft" spots. I realize most of what I would like to see comes from involvement and participation. Fortunately, I have seen this site go from virtually zero to fifty in a very short amount of time. I feel confident that no matter what specific direction the site takes, the information gotten from sharing experiences will be invaluable. | ||
| Jerry
|
I don't know if this speaks to your question proper but...I would like to see more effort put into a the following: 1)a comprehensive/ongoing cross refference of common replacment parts. i.e. the A/C compressor or switches that can be found for substantually less money than the factory stuff. 2)scans of parts books,shop manuals even owners manuals. This info is valuable to many and costly to buy. 3)New car buyers section. More than the FNA site offers. Things like what to look out for and common Ferrari "soft" spots. I realize most of what I would like to see comes from involvment and partisipation. Fortunately, I have seen this site go from virtualy zero to fifty in a very short amount of time. I feel confident that no matter what specific direction the site takes, the information gotten from sharing experiences will be invaluable. | ||
| Paul308QV
|
There are some great comments before mine. I personally favor the Technical FAQ. I really appreciate the effort found at expensivecar.com to help mechanically inclined people like me circumvent dealer costs by DIY. I just need the instructions and I will try almost anything. The factory service manuals are not as helpful as a guy that just did something and posts his experience in layman's terms. I would volunteer to write some of the "how to's". | ||
| Caribe
|
I also believe that keeping it simple is the way to go. Neverthless here are some suggestions of things that I personally will like to see: a. A brief historical photographic timeline of all the models and their respective accolades so that everyone can get familiar with the cars and share some of the memories. b. A buyer's guide to some of the more popular models. Perhaps from already published sources such as Forza magazine, and others, will be a big plus. It will be nice to be able to suplement these guides with information provided by actual owners of the cars featured. c. As I have personally noted from my questions and from reading other people's postings, many Ferrari owners are also interested in other Italian cars such as Lamborghinis, etc. It would be nice to have a little corner somewhere to share info and data regarding our other rides. Of course, I believe in keeping Ferrari the main focus of this site, but since so many share the passion this way, I thought it might be appropriate. d. It will be very desirable, specially for new buyers, to have a section where owners comment about their experiences with dealers, and service centers throughout the nation. Ferrari owners sometimes are targeted by some of these people as a revenue increasing medium and service and quality are sometimes sacrificed in the process. It will be nice to know who the real people are. The same probably goes for Financial institutions and Insurance companies. I have read postings regarding experiences with Insurance companies on this site. I am sure Insurance and Financing are some of the most hazardous environments some of us have to deal with to own and secure our passion. Rob, I love your suggestion regarding the Technical FAQ section, and the need to have people register, somehow, to maintain the site clean and honest. Keep up the good work! Arnaldo Torres (Caribe). | ||
| Bret M |
I got to admit, I'm not a big fan of the anonymous either. Some people are really nice that use it, but others are somewhat negative. If you are one of the anonymous good people then please share your name with us so we can get to know you. | ||
| irfgt
|
I like the format as is. we need to keep it simple because there will be people posting stuff in the wrong place and will lead to a big unorganized mess. Keep it simple. I definately agree to regestering with names and addresses and phone numbers to hold people accountable for the wild inflamatory statements they make and no more anonymous postings. If you can't give your name then we do not need you. Thank you, Edward Gault {irfgt} | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
|
I have limited time, so I want to ask what people would prefer on my next project, here are some of my ideas... 1) Start a page with a complete Ferrari timeline. I'll start with base info and people can add events throughout Ferrari's history if they know something not listed. I could give it some functionality where you can search or just list categories of events (like F1 or new models). 2) Add more trivia and create an interface where you can login and high scores are recorded. We'll really see who knows Ferrari. 3) More complete and easier to use model information. There is just a list and a few links now. 4) Create a FAQ section where I pull together and organize valuable information on mainly technical issues. Remember, we do have search functionality. Any other ideas? Also, I've thought about changing the format a little, what do you think about... 1) Requiring all message posters to be registered. This means no public posters. 2) Dividing the site up in several different sites. They would still link to each other, but there would be a dedicated web address for different uses... FerrariChat.com and FerrariForums.com would be linked to this message board. FerrariFAQ.com would be linked to a comprehensive FAQ list and technical how too's. FerrariAds.com would have the free wanted and for sale ads. FerrariCommunity.com and Ferrari101.com would be linked to research and general Ferrari information. Please let me know what you think, this is everyone's site. Thanks |