I share your concerns, Martin. But I am always happy to see someone succeed from hard work and dedication. Congrats Rob. CC BTW - I noticed the new logo Monday night and immediately liked it.
Congratulations Rob - I found Fchat about a year ago when looking to acquire my first Fcar. It was a tremendous help in that process. I am not really into blogs and this is the only blog I have really found educational, interesting and entertaining. Glad you are staying involved in the operations. Now on the 12 Fcar. Thanks for creating and moderating fchat.
understood. I think forums fail after ownership change because they do change. Owner is paid off and never returns (I still have ownership and still the admin - not going anywhere but here), they slam with ads (important to keep a clean look at FerrariChat), and moderation/rules change (we still have the same great mod team and rules aren't changing). so philosophy is not to change FerrariChat, but enhance everything around it. we'll have another page to access all the content we'll produce, a mobile version to make site easier to use, and marketing/SEO work will keep us from going stale.
Rob, I find this site works great on mobiles devices. I hope the new mobile format does not auto sense and force as I cannot stand when sites do that
I hope so this forum is the ONLY forum I have ever been active in and that is partially due to the cars but mostly because it is a common sense layout easy to decide where to go and mostly because it one of the FEW that does not slam you with adds ... I also feel like most of the members seem easy to deal with I have purchased 5 cars thru this site and never looked at a single one never been diappoionted and also bought a lot of parts and accessories and no issues. I even have members assist me , people I never met pm and offer time and free advice and even go look at the cars .. All as a favor for someone they never met.. As I said mostly a great bunch of people So don't F .... It up..LOL Thanks By the way congrats on what I hope was a good deal for you ROB
Can we expect increased advertisement for the site (I.e. Advertising for more members)? With this company's pull, I could see a significant user increase. Mark
+348 & 360. I haven't read all post . I hope this forum doesn't go the way most small businesses who sell to larger corporation. I think everyone has confidence in Rob but if and/or when Rob steps away then there is cause for concern .
Rob, While I don't post much as I don't own an FCar now, one of the things I love about FChat compared to some other forums is that you KEEP the history. I can search back on old threads, search by serial number, search for parts or maybe a detailed description of a problem and repair, etc. A LOT of history out there. Is the new company, and new format if changed from the current format, still going to allow all that history to be available? Just curious, as I'd hate to lose all that knowledge. I'm not sure I have the time, or the patience, to do searches on things I MIGHT need in the future and print them all out before any changes/deletions occur. James
Keep pleasing loyal followers as before, as you said. Best wishes for all future improvements. Not being currently a Ferrari owner, and as a longterm fan and owner of Maserati and other brands you have supported so well, I look forward to all plusses you may bring. Keep carrying the flame (and all the prior threads and history).
Current direction no paid advertising. We are improving SEO and there will be ton of cross promotion within parent. Also the original content that will bring eyes here.
There is no business reason to not have old content available, that drives traffic through search engines.
Congrats, Rob. That's huge. I hope you have no regrets. When Randy Chase sold Lotus Talk, I believe he regretted it years later. But, I don't think he maintained a piece of ownership or control in the deal as you have. All the best!