Well a few. please take all this as constructive criticism.
Ok, I have tried to give the new ownership the benefit of the doubt, but I feel I have to get this out, as I am sure I am not the only one feeling this way.
1. PMs (PTs) are STILL missing, I am not the only one looking for them. And there has been little to no response lately regarding this.
2. I receive notification that threads I am subscribed to have new posts, however when I go to my user control panel, it shows all topics as read, even if I haven't been online in a day or two. It's the same for the forums, Topics are marked as read, I haven't read them.
3. POSTING PICTURES, I went to review a post I made some time ago Help installing convertible inner rockers on a 65 Mustang Coupe there were 3 pictures of an issue I was having with an inner rocker, they are gone now! They were in the "Gallery Forum" and I linked back to them in the post. All that is left is the big red X. Where are the pictures? This is why I feel that pictures that help describe what we are working on should be attached in the post, NOT linked to an outside source. While that is nice for the forums bandwidth, it makes for a poor archive of information. If I close my photo hosting account, ALL the photos I have posted in the many forums are now reduced to a X. Nothing is more frustrating then reading a post that says, "if you see in my 2nd picture, that is how the widget is supposed to be installed" And all that is there is a X. And I am sorry $120 a year for the right to attach in a post is not worth it. Show me where other forums are doing this. At least in the old forum we could post a picture in the Gallery forum without subscribing, and link to it! Having all the info in one place keep continuity. Having to depend on other sites is not wise.
4. Commercialization. What has happened here? VMF was about one Mustang enthusiast helping another. The information was shared freely, with the understanding that someday it would help someone else. Now we have to PAY to get basic features. What is the 25 PM limit, and you can pay to get more space... To get any features, that are remotely what users would want is $60 a year. I stopped buying Car magazines to get away from the commercialization. Now they are in MY forums. When I say 'MY' I mean all users of VMF. Without us VMF would not exist! The ADs are annoying, but I understand they are needed to keep the site afloat, but they need to be trimmed a little. (And not by me paying to turn them off). I also think the subscriptions prices are outrageous!
What set VMF off from some of the others (AllfordMustangs.com, mustangforums.com, Stangnet.com, etc...) was the way we all felt at home, ADs were not banging you in your face, no one hounded you to subscribe, or cut features, the place was friendly, warm, home like, and I give great credit to the former owner/admin, he made it feel like it was run from his living room (I mean that in a good way) You felt like you could stop in and get a cup of coffee, or a cold one, and talk Mustangs all night. I don't get that feeling anymore Maybe it is the bright white sterile background, or the fact that it seems that the new owners are more interested in the income, (how many forums do they own??) then if Someone finds out what the right paint code for a '65 289 is. Please, I beg the admins, please bring this site back to the way it was. I/We all love VMF, but it is not what it once was I am not going to stop visiting, but I hope the admins read this and take it to heart.
I'll agree that the "new" is not as good as the "old" site. But I think for years Bob was gently telling us he didn't have the time nor money to run this site, as large as it got. He offered various means to help keep it funded, but in the end, not enough stepped forward.
Hopefully the new managers will be able to close the items you talk about. Because I miss the old site too...
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Bryan
"So , let me get this straight; your Honda has 1.6 liters, whereas my bottle of diet Coke has 2?"
I've been having issues with everything getting marked Read, too. I think the problem is because I go to http://www.vintage-mustang.com and it shows a list of recent activity in every forum...thus marking every forum read when I surf away from VMF even though I may have only visited the main forum. I'm hoping that if I start going straight to http://forums.vintage-mustang.com, this issue will be taken care of. I have not found a way to turn off the Recent Activity list of threads.
I also agree the "feel" of the forum has turned "cold"....sterile, as you put it. I don't like the stark whiteness of it all either.
I'll agree that the "new" is not as good as the "old" site. But I think for years Bob was gently telling us he didn't have the time nor money to run this site, as large as it got. He offered various means to help keep it funded, but in the end, not enough stepped forward.
Hopefully the new managers will be able to close the items you talk about. Because I miss the old site too...
I think Bob was doing a great job, and i know it is a lot of work to keep us happy. And I really hope the new admins take these as suggestions and not attacks, they are not.
I have been a member here for a long time and have met some awesome people. I must have been out on tour when Bob sold the VMF. I thought it was just another upgrade. I had no idea we were even for sale. WTF?
I don't like a few things either, the main one being unable to change the color scheme. I am thinking the fact that I have to pay to play is not a bad idea, but the prices are high. I am not as active as I once was.
If I had known Bob was selling the forum, I might of purchased it. I still have great connections in that industry. The company I sold my ISP to would have given me awesone prices on bandwidth and storage space. Heck I can even hang a server in his rack if I want to.
So, to whoever is running this, I hope they are a VMFer and if not I hope they would consider letting a VMFer take over the board, or at least take the advice we are giving them, and make some changes.
I do hope this doesn't end up like the other boards. I don't like them at all, this was a fun place to just hang out and always easy to get some good info on how to fix stuff.
Just my .02.
Mel
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Woman and Mustangs are like Artichokes, It takes a bit of work to get to their hearts.
May your dreams turn into goals and your goals turn into reality. http://aandmcustomtours.com
I lost ALL of my Threads. They were my catalog. I lost almost ALL of my PM's. I have no venue to get them back. I have only paid $20"s or $40"s along the way but I had saved many of my postings to help answer repeat questions from new members. So if there is a wonder of the lack of postings from some members ...at least a few lack of postings from me are from not being able to answer with ease by attaching from old posts. I just do not have the time to research and do it all over again and perhaps loose them again and so on. Maybe they are there and I do not know how to get them.
I had no idea the site was sold. Is this true? Is it for profit now? I like it here as a reader and perhaps I will eventually get used to the new site. I dunno , I am nostalgic I suppose.
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-Mark Our Children , Inspire The Future Love Your Children
You posts are all still here Mark. Use the search and do a: "Search by user name" search. I found your posts back to '06. Which is when you registered...
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Jeremy
M y . A r c h i t e c t u r e . of . A g g r e s s i o n ...
Thanks 70 Fastback I was in the middle of editing my post to ad "I may not be looking correctly" ( then my 2 yr old clicked the mouse and my browser closed) I was used to a tab that made it one click or so away. I am very happy that you helped me in this regard...in fact I was afraid to post anything.
I am going to try my best to learn the new format...and actually I like parts of it better.
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-Mark Our Children , Inspire The Future Love Your Children
You posts are all still here Mark. Use the search and do a: "Search by user name" search. I found your posts back to '06. Which is when you registered...
Speaking of the search,What happened to the Google search ?That was great
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66 GT K Fastback-for sale
67 Alfa Romeo GTV
64 Econoline
"Any 20 year-old who isn't a liberal doesn't have a heart, and any 40 year-old who isn't a conservative doesn't have a brain." Winston Churchill
"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" Benjamin Franklin
I'm obviously new to this forum. I found it quite by accident and have found it to be a great forum. The "family" feel to it is well earned.
I also belong to the Bullitt forums (www.imboc.com) and have for over 7 years. It is a very close community and has a very "family" feel to it as well. There were many issues when our software was updated, but we all got used to it and some bugs did need to get worked out. It also took a while to figure out a good way to earn money so the owner didn't go broke. But the community is always involved in major site decisions. Everything from the name (the old site was bullittclub), sticker designs, price packages, to having to make people join to post for sale items (to stop spammers) and the layout of the site, etc. The owner ultimately makes the final decision but big issues are always offered up for suggestions and comments.
I think the main issue with this site is the membership fees. I've never seen a forum that charges so much and the user gets so little in return. I would be willing to bet if the prices were lower more money would actually get raised. There are 3 price points at the Bullitt site and they are nowhere near the prices here. I looked into joining here, but I won't pay those prices. I've also given money to the www.1969stang.com site so I'm not afraid to support a good website.
I would just like to suggest to the owners that they look over at IMBOC and see the offerings there. I understand the cost issues, bandwidth issues, etc but to keep this place successful it has to offer some goodies to the non-paying members or else they will never decide to support the site.
I hope that all came across as friendly suggestions
Edit: I just checked out the prices over at IMBOC and currently they are only offering a $20 membership for full web access (pictures, private forum, avatar, etc). I'm not sure what happened to the other options (they included stickers, cards, t-shirts, etc). I'll find out and get back over here.
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I have a complaint!
Maybe it is the bright white sterile background, or the fact that it seems that the new owners are more interested in the income, (how many forums do they own??) then if Someone finds out what the right paint code for a '65 289 is. Please, I beg the admins, please bring this site back to the way it was. I/We all love VMF, but it is not what it once was 
[rant off]
I was in the middle of editing my post to ad "I may not be looking correctly" ( then my 2 yr old clicked the mouse and my browser closed) I was used to a tab that made it one click or so away. I am very happy that you helped me in this regard...in fact I was afraid to post anything.
