GT40s.com Latest Upgrade

Ron Earp · 03-19-07, 08:12 PM

Dear GT40s.com Members,

GT40s.com has now been around for almost six years - unbelievable! The board was started in the middle of 2001, a few months after I purchased Roaring Forties kit #44 from Australia, at the prompting of two then-prominent GT40 community personas. The forum was first started on a free service and then later moved on to the UBBthreads software and a dedicated server platform. Over time the forum attracted a lot of GT40 gear heads and we have a 100% free community that is entirely supported via user donations and paying advertisers. Many thanks to all the members and advertisers for making this happen!

We've recently upgraded to the newest version of VBulletin software in addition to having undergone a cosmetic make over. The newest version of software fixes a lot of security holes, is more robust and efficient with server resources, and is generally an all around more stable package. To the end user not a whole lot has changed, but there are a few cool features.

Automatic photo resizing - now you don't have to worry about meeting forum requirements for picture size. Take your picture, upload it on the attachment screen like you normally do, and the forum will handle making it 640x480 for proper browser viewing. Enjoy this one - I know it'll cut down on PMs and emails to the admins and save me a lot of time. Try it out, let's see those pictures! Caution - if you upload a 2048x1024 picture to GT40s.com it is going to take a good while because the picture has to fully upload, then the forum has to resize it, so be patient if you do this!
A User Infraction Manager - have a look at the photos below (admin screens, you don't see that). This system allows the admins to keep tabs on those that overuse or abuse GT40s.com. Folks who advertise wares with every post, abuse the forum, spammers, folks who don't play nice with others, folks who use multiple logins, etc. it allows the admins to record the events and after awhile can result in a user being banned. I don't think the system will get much use at all, we're a fairly friendly lot on GT40s.com.
A few changes to the menu items to make it easy to navigate. I hope that we did the right thing there.
GT40s.com store is installed but it is not live yet. We're starting to collect goods that will be sold through this store and they range from hard to find bits to build your car to things like artwork, posters, tshirts, etc. GT40s.com vendors might wish to offer their wares through the system since it'll handle payments for you seamlessly and provide an advertising environment for your wares. Contact me if you are interested.

And a bunch of other things on the "inside" that make moderation and admin of the site easier to handle. There are still a few cosmetic issues, like the "New Posts" link, the offset in the viewing window that need to be fixed, but the admins are on it.

We're a big group now, over 3500 members and a whole lot more on the outside just lurking. The site can eat up a fair amount of time during a week to keep running, handle user requests, and so forth but so far it has been worth it. It is a cool thing to see GT40s.com grow, expand user base, and to become an integral part of the GT40 scene. It has been a long and twisted road, and I'm still not there, but I hope to join a lot of you folks as a GT40 owner one day,

Thanks for making the site what it is!

Best Regards,
Ron

Gary Kadrmas · 03-20-07, 01:28 AM

Ron,

Everytime I get on this site, I improve my knowledge of the marque due to the great members we have here. Congradulations go to you and the other folks that maintain this site. Please continue to guide us along.

I really do enjoy being a part of GT40s.com........

Ron Earp · 03-23-07, 08:09 AM

Thanks Gary, we appreciate it.

I know the automatic picture re-sizer will be liked by all, but I can tell as of this writing most people don't know about since only 98 people have viewed this thread. The Infraction system will probably be canned, but I'm experimenting with it now to see how it works. Maybe you'll get one (just as an experiment) - if you do PM me and tell me what you see, then it'll be removed.

Thanks much!
Ron

The Dutch(Jos Vervoorn) · 03-23-07, 08:35 AM

Hi Ron,

I'm only a small submitter and sometimes I even reply. After my first visit I found a meaning for live. I need my daily serum on GT40s and GT40s.com is the right place.!

Thanks for hosting this very very valuable source of information and gathering of knowledge.

Great work !

Jos

Doug Sainlar · 03-23-07, 11:14 AM

Great job on all the forum updates, Ron. It's obviously one of the reasons the forum has so many users, registered or not.

I'm curious, though, about the user infraction icon--I see one of my posts was used as an example. Did I do something wrong with that post to cause it to be marked as a user infraction?

Just curious--I wouldn't want to do anything inappropriate--I much prefer to play by the rules.

Thanks for whatever insight you can offer.

Doug

Ron Earp · 03-23-07, 11:25 AM

Hey Doug,

No, you are fine. I just happened to be looking at that screen when I hit "Print Screen" to make the image. Sorry to have worried you.

Where the infraction thing will come in handy is for problem users, people who are actually vendors but don't want to admit they sell wares on the forum, infighting, etc. - most of which we don't have here and why the system will probably get no use.

We've got more features in store so stay tuned. The store is getting set up but it might be a few more weeks/months. It is installed and running, but not active. Some more picture/video featues, and maybe a trader rating system as well as a "real" chat room, not that mess we had eariler.

Best,
Ron

Doug Sainlar · 03-23-07, 12:05 PM

Thanks, Ron. I feel much better now.

I'm looking forward to the store and the other new features!!! I always look at the list of current users and the chat room might be a very convenient way to communicate--more immediate than PM's.

Lookin' Good!!

Doug

frank beuker · 03-23-07, 01:03 PM

Hi Ron,
I find the forum a great help with al the fellow builders and owners of this dreamcar (and offcourse all the people who'd like to have one ).
When i first came to the forum i did find it to be a easy to use and good looking site, and you kept on improving it
Please continue with all the good work you're doing

Frank

Ian K · 03-23-07, 05:23 PM

Heh, it's hard to imagine it's been nearly 6 years ... and what a joy it has
been to see this forum grow. It has become an invaluable resource for
my technical as well as historic knowledge about such a wonderful car
(OK, cars, since we now have Lola T70s, Porsche 917s and others). And
I have met some great people as a result (Northern California contingency
how I miss thee).

Helps me pass the slow times at work (of which there hasn't been much lately).

Everyone deserves kudos - not just Ron and everyone else working behind the
scenes, but the community as a whole for sharing their experiences and tales.

Ian