Those were the days: F-Chat Archives

Yeah, i found that thread a few months ago after looking through almost every thraead in the archives. I was surprised at how "public" the telaio was. Then i looked at the date....

I wish i was here for old days

Still, in a few years, we may be saying the same about this thread

 

Wow Wayne, that's a little depressing. I remember the Jens incident, still bums me out.

A moment of silence please:

Con saluti cordialissimi,
Jens Haller

 

The old Fchat was awesome . So particular to start from the bottom.




Reading Jens posts bummed me out too.

 

Was Jens the guy who crashed at the Ring?

 

That does bring back memories. The days of Ed Gault, BRETT M., Magoo. I too felt very welcome from my first post and my questions were always answered in full detail. One of the first members I met was William Hart who invited me to stop by and meet him and check out his 550 barchetta as he was showing it at the Greenwich Concours. Definately a great group here formely and presently.

 

Unfortunately...

 

Yes Jens was. If I remember correct he was also one of the guys that prompted Rob to ad the Euro section to Fchat. Man this place has gotten so big. I remember when the Texas guys had the biggest post count, and when NNO (aka DES) had less posts than me, LOL. Memories, ah memories.

 

.....brings back memories.
R.I.P. my dear old friend Jens.
He was a wondeful man, an awesome great Ferrari enthusiast, founder of our european section and organiced the 1st. European FerrariChat.com Rallye.

We miss you.

Wolfgang

 

I was there when Jens and Amar were killed. I had to tell the crowd that they were dead. I will never forget that in my life.
Jens was one of my true friends. It is a huge comfort to see that he is still remembered by so many people from all over the world.

Thanks for that!

The old-archives also brings me back to Wolfgangs change to his TR and the arrival of my first Ferrari. Beautiful memories!

 

Wayne

I too miss the old board. It seemed cozier. People were more friendly. When the new Fchat board came into being, people seemed to change names and attitudes

Bob

 

No we weren't. We were always nasty.

 

I DO miss Alans wife!

 

I tend to agree.

 

I've haven't been here long enough to know Jens Haller, but hearing you guys talk about him makes me sad.

R.I.P. Jens

 

I agree as well!
It felt more like a big family in the beginning, with normal family fights.

Now it has grown too big and the atmosphere is less personal.

IMHO

 

There were fewer forums and everyone tended to meet and know everyone else. It's now like Macy's - used to be more of a general store and Rob was Mr Drucker.

 

I still think that the regulars still hang out at the bar, its just the crowd in the background has gotten bigger and a little louder.

 

I joined F-Chat about two years ago when I was considering buying a Maranello and found it to be a great resource. At that time, I was definitely more of a lurker because I didn't really understand the culture. There would be really intelligent posts and then someone called stickshift would make multiple posts consisting of only one word.

As a betweener, i.e., one foot on the pedal and one foot in the grave, Internet chat boards were a new experience for me. I had to go with the ebb and flow of things in order to figure out what was what.

Then the unfortunate accident happened with Jens on the Ring, and it was amazing to see this community come alive with love and grief.

Later, I'm not sure when, Napolis started posting pictures of his car as it was being built. I never realized that a car could be a work of art. Unfortunately, this lead to one of the first flame wars, both on F-Chat and that group of which we dare not speak.

Then came JR.

Then came Lambo.

Then came the Matt implosion.

Then came the Carbon explosion.

Personally, I came very close to leaving. Who needs more grief in their life? But I hung around because I discovered that beneath the bs there is a group of real people whose opinions on a wide range of subjects I came to respect. Just today, Ghost saved me $1,000 on a new TV.

Yes, F-Chat has grown into an international community. To use the hip vernacular, it has become a community blog site, yes/no/maybe? To be frank, most of the posts are total bs. But this is the Internet where everybody is an instant expert in everything. However, for those of us who are patient, the 10% of posts that are valuable are worth the wait.

Hmm... Maybe Rob should start "Classic Ferrari Chat."

Dale

ps I sure wish that Rob would lighten up on the time out feature. I never got to even see the new posts, after making this one, because, well, some of us just can't type that fast!

 

It was a nicer place them. A lot of the humor has gone, but there is still some fun around. A few of those old guys: Matt Lemus is still around, goes under a different name, but he's still here. Magoo is gone, wonder what he's doing now?

Art

 

There were posts as far back as 2002 lamenting the loss of the "old, friendly Fchat".

Everyone's always 10 years late to a place, because it was better when it was cheaper, less crowded, hipper people. That's true of the Keys, clubs, and yes, even Fchat (except 1=10 in internet years).

I personally think that's all horsefeathers.

Nostalgia screws up perspective. Flame wars were always a part of Fchat, there were always certain people to avoid, and there were always too many "new people who just don't get the community".

Life moves forward. Forza Fchat.

 

Tillman nailed it. Otherwise, we'd still be riding around in buggies.

 

Yup, Tillman's got it right. I've been here about three years, and I'm surprised that we haven't seen greater changes in that time. The first flame war I remember was when Magoo took a joke by Chris Parr far too literally and roasted our poor friend. Chris is still here and Magoo is long gone.

A lot of the old board are still here, though, just less conspicuous. At least the old board I remember. Some of us still consider El Wayne a newbie!!! That's what's cool about this place, there are several generations, each with their own perceptions, but somehow we all manage to hang together.

 

The spirit of Enzo usually sits at the bar with the rest of the old crowd.
Image Unavailable, Please Login