longer version.


Where do I start with this one.......

What have I done? What was I doing? Spent several thousand dollars in gear, events, promotions, giveaways and hosting. What was returned out of it. People that whinned, complained and moaned that they did not have a "section" for themselves or people that felt that they were too good to even answer or participate in another section of the site. I promoted that site like crazy. I sunk in hours of redesign that was actually fixing to be launched when the domain was sold.

You doubt or question what was done...well since you dont know what was done there is not any need to assume that nothing was done. I ran that site as I do my others. I put 2 people in charge to run day to day activities and oversee moderators and the site in general. I gave moderators an open source to be able to do what they needed. Yet, those that were in power sat on it and did not do anything. I obtained Media credentials for GMF so we could get access to new and upcoming information from GM Media and from Weick <however you spell their name>. I used exclusive ties with just-auto and their writers to have articles written by them exclusively for GMF. I had test drives and write ups ready to launch upon removal of the black out date. I spent time with GM themselves from Dealers, dealer principles to Brand managers getting and sourcing interviews to be launched on the news portal. I spent the time building up the Technical database that i just did not launch and am importing the data for FORD into now. I set up subdomains, upgraded software, updated code, got other members to help in participating in adding info on subdomains etc. I guess I did not do a damn thing then ehh?

Try looking at the larger picture. with such a broad array of vehicles to cover, members that are too uppity to participate with any other group and "need" to have their own special sections because they dont want to associate with "the other" classes of vehicles, it is a bit difficult to get them to participate with one another. So you have 24 offtopic areas due to those facts, 24 general areas, 24 technical areas etc...etc...etc. We moved all offtopic into one area with links pointing towards the one, yet no one would then participate in it. Why because it was not in their vehicle specific area. Gets better, try to organize a centralized forsale are so there are not 24 posts across the site selling one item. But, hey you know vehicle specific site not manufacturer specific sites are easier to maintain. Only one crowd to deal with, unlike GMF that had countless; even though the majority shared platform and parts across the boards from w body to caddy to trucks.

Regarding Superpap.....you want the entire PM and post history of this idiot? I can supply that. Where do I start. Besides the fact that he openly attacked myself in forum over points made about all things the Iraq war. I guess he has the right to voice his opinion and I did not stiffle that. I only used the same examples that he used against me and turned the tide on to him, yet when I did that he tells me to F off, get F'ed, i am a f'ing a**hole and starts spamming the board with the same attack against myself in every section. I guess I should have allowed him to continue to attack and berate me. I took the steps of removing him from the site because that is all he was doing. Once he was unable to do it on the forum he proceeds to attack in email. After 2 months I removed the ban figuring that he has either cooled down or is not going to bother coming back. Boy was I wrong. He comes back just to attack me in another thread that had nothing to do with him or anything regarding what he got banned for. Just came on jumped in a thread and started the same crap that he did when he was banned. So he was RIGHTLY banned for his actions. What did I do? Nothing but what any admin of a site would have done. I removed his posts from view, added him to the ban list and then added him to the Firewall. So do you need the posts? I have them all saved in a back up.

The domain was sold. The db is still in my posession and doubtful if I will relaunch it or sell it. Comments on the mods and how I treated them? Yes, I may have treated them like dirt, but they were the ones in charge basically on the site. They were the ones that did not do anything until I started forcing emails down their way to make them even touch the admin/mod forum. Go look on s10f and have a gander in OT over there. I posted a reply to the idiocy that others are spewing about on other forums and the way I ran it. Do I regret shutting it down? Not one bit. It was a money pit that was going no where and everyone that wanted to be a part of it only dragged it down further, with a few exceptions of course. People complain that they should have gotten a warning. My response is this. I only saw my American Express card paying for BW, paying for software, paying for a new server, paying the colocation fees. Money talks, plain and simple. I had an offer that I could not refuse and was close to my Ebay asking price for the domain name, db and all other domain names associated with the site. Best part is that I only had to give up one domain name.

Dont get me wrong. I dont GM. Hell I own a Z06. I just dont want to waste my time and money on a site that is not going to go anywhere even with countless hours and $'* being sunk into it. It stayed afloat only due to FordForums paying its way. Atleast on FF I have corporate sponsorship from Ford OZ, FPV(Ford Australia'* performance division), DJR and FPR (two of the Ford v8 Supercar race teams) and other smaller names. GM, well I wont go there.

John
LunaticSS
Owner: FordForums.com

Interesting letter, I kind don't blame lunatic ss. I've been on that site for years with my Aurora, too bad it'* gone. $hit happens I guess, Hopefully the same thing dosen't happen here. I'll give some cash to keep this site going

DAMN

Good for Lunatic SS for standing up to his beliefs, its to bad GM Forums is gone tho... :(