Howdy everyone,

As you might have noticed and been asking yourself during the recent server downtime, "How often are we going to see these server outages?"

Yes, we had just moved to our new server and vBulletin software about this time last year and things got a little better especially site speed, and the most recent downtime marked yet another move to a new home.

I have effectively transferred ownership of elcaminocentral.com to a new owner.

Elcaminocentral.com is now part of the AutoForums.com family of websites. We are actually joining the same family as Chevelles.com. This is a very good thing for us all.

You will soon be introduced to Don Roy, he will be logged in as the Administrator, "AF_Don".

OK, so you might be thinking about this and have many questions, I or Don will be glad to answer anything not covered here.
The first of these may be, "Why?"

For me, this was probably the most difficult decsion I have made in a very long time. I simply felt I was not enjoying the forum for what it is; a wonderful collection of people from many diverse areas, jobs, personalities, experiences, etc. and I was so bogged down with all the technical details of the site, like fixing code, backups, server issues etc., that I had no time to post, write articles and be part of our worldwide family. Being the "owner" of the site actually made me feel "apart from" instead of being a "part of" the community.

How does this affect you?

The beautiful part is it doesn't affect you at all! If you're an Admin or Mod you will remain an Admin or Mod, if you're a member of the forum just continue to enjoy the site. Nothing in regards to how we conduct ourselves daily will change. I will simply ask the AutoForums team to make any major changes updates, etc when required instead of me getting bogged down again. I will still be here, as a matter of fact I intend to be here more and more now!

Another question you may have is "How will this affect my membership with the National El Camino Owners Association?"
The answer is that it will not change.

El Camino Central and the NECOA have always been seperate entities. The NECOA is a group of people "us", and El Camino Central has been our worldwide meeting place on the web. When a new member joins ECC, they will still also be joining the NECOA and be issued a member number just like before.

I am rather impressed by the guys at AutoForums as they take an active interest in the forums they operate and take pride in what they do. These guys come from a diverse background, most in the automotive industry, from car magazine editors to automotive engineers. A prime example of their seamless transitioning, care and interest in their sites is Chevelles.com
Believe it or not, we are a taking a much needed step forward!

And the best part is 24/7 site uptime, no more hit-or-miss and "what's wrong with the site today?"

One of the exec's at AutoForums.com put it like this, "We are gonna do all the hard work, so you guys get to have all the fun!"

So please join me in this new endeavor while we make this place even better!

Sincerely,

Robert More

well i welcome it, are there any big changes that will happen at all other then 24/7 the site will be up?

Wow this is good stuff. Now maybe more people will join are site and we can become an even more active community. This is going to be great. :)

Also if you ever need any help I will do my best to help out when ever I can

well i welcome it, are there any big changes that will happen at all other then 24/7 the site will be up?

Not any that I know of, but I am sure Don will chime in to give us any updates/upgrades he has planned.

Wow this is good stuff. Now maybe more people will join are site and we can become an even more active community. This is going to be great. :)


I agree, this will be like shifting into overdrive!

Hope you made a good chunk for all your hard work! Glad to see you be around more.. Congratulations!:You_Rock::beer::bdaysmile:

Thanks for getting this site setup and all your hard work!

This good stuff. Thank you Robert for your time and energy you put into this great site. It's time for you to enjoy. Thanks again.

well i welcome it, are there any big changes that will happen at all other then 24/7 the site will be up?
Hi:

Hopefully, you have already seen or "feel" the results of the first big change and that is the transfer of ECC onto our network of high end servers.

One of the things that we have found that makes this kind of transition smoother is to listen to you folks about what you would like to see changed. We have not come with much in the way of a big agenda, in part, because things were going pretty well under Robert's direction. We respect and appreciate the things that make El Camino Central unique and do not want to lose them as we work together.

So, we open the discussion to you and the forum staff about changes, additions and enhancements for the future. If you do see any immediate changes, they will be done mainly for the purposes of security and privacy. There are a lot of low lifes out there that do nothing but try to make things harder for others.

Other portions of the site will evolve over time. Software gets updated when it has proven itself to be stable and secure. Some of you may know that VBulletin has just released a new version and we will be looking closely at it. That is likely to be a future change.

Beyond this, we are interested to hear from you on anything you feel will help make your experience here even better, or that will help to draw more enthusiasts to the site and help us grow the community.

Don

Thanks Robert for all you have done to make this site great, I'm a short timer and enjoy learning more than I sometimes want about our El Caminos and Sprints,Caballeros. I know you haven't been well lately and we wish you well. Now most of us who are new, know who the boss is and look forward to this new change. Take care.

Well,
If the same thing happens here that is happening @ Team Chevelle, I will be disappointed.
Have to wait until all of the ads load (animated too---need an updated flash player)
Before ANY text shows up.
Last couple of weeks, many users AND paid members were having to reboot
because of the new crap that keeps trying to load.

Sure wish "The Don" would address some of the issues over there.

I will join you in this new endeavor. This is good news for ECC and for you Robert! I could understand how the demands of the site can wear you down persuading to make the big change. Kudos to you for makeing it what it is. :beer:

So, we open the discussion to you and the forum staff about changes, additions and enhancements for the future.

This web site works great for me... I can't find anything that needs changing.

Bryan - you are right that there have been some issues on Chevelles, primarily due to a couple of rogue Flash ads that have shown up recently. The most recent one, from Cadillac, that was leading to reboots should be gone by now.

Both were found and eliminated within about 48 hours, but the last one was a major PITA for everyone. You'd think that Cadillac could afford someone to do it right the first time.

Thanks... Don

I always welcome new changes, however in my field of work new changes usually means (kinks) A good support staff and good leadership almost always overcomes!!! Adapt and grow or die!
Robert you were the first contract I made on this site and it will always be yours in my mind. I for one will never forget what you did and where you got with it. AutoForums has mighty big shoes to fill!!!
Thank You Robert for getting me and the site where we are today.:You_Rock:
Now post often and I wanta see pics>!!!!!!:poke::poke::poke:
Donny

I'm fairly new, so I just hope it stays pretty much the way I found it under Bob's direction.

i wish they woukd make it easier to upload pictures it is a major pain in the rear!!!:twisted:

So far so good. Now I know why the site got slow a couple of weeks ago. Things are speedy again now. If it was going to be handed off I'm glad it was to a reputable organization. I used to frequent another forum (v6fbody.com) but quit when the owner gave up on it. The poor guy spent all his time having to clean out porn and spam from the forums and finally just gave up on it and sold it. Now it's nothing but spam and porn and I don't bother with it anymore. Kind of sad because it had the same vibe for that community that this site does. Glad to see that's not going to happen here.

:nanawrench:

Since we are under new management how will all of the other feature work that we had to pay for like a gallery section and a classified ad? I just want to know becuase I was going to contribute and I want to see how that was going to work out with new management

thanks

Contributions....hmmm good point Tuggy! I didn't mind kicking in the little I could afford to help Robert keep it going and free of ads. If the new owner(s) are going to sell advertising that I'll have to sift through before being able to view/post, I don't think I'll be contributing in the future.

Sounds positive and hope that the friendly atmosphere continues, that is the thread that knits this thing together. Thanks for all your good work. Makes you sort of proud to be part of something that works!!:beer::texas:

I don't post much since i sold my elcamino last year, but still log in from time to time (and to look through the gallery and all the pics!) But i want to give a big thanks to Robert for all his hard work on this site over the years.
God, i just looked at my join date JANUARY 2003. I think the site went online in December 2002! I think i was user #3 right after bryan.

I remember loading every elcamino photo i had into the gallery just so there would be some content in there- look at it now! This is THE PREMIER ElCamino site on the net, hands down, and that is thanks to Robert, and all of the members here.

I hope that now that the burden of upkeep and maintainence of the server are off his shoulders he can relax and enjoy his creation a little more.

-Ben

I welcome change but i hope they keep this site clean of ads too!
I stumbled upon this site back in 2005 while doing a report on my favorite truck-car my el camino and i would hate too see our little forum here get messed up its very helpful!!!!
so keep up the good work:You_Rock:

I thank you Robert for all of your years of hard work.... glad to hear that you can now enjoy the fruits of your labor. This site has truly come long way from the early days. :You_Rock::beer:

Robert... you're the man for doing all the work you've done to get this site where it is today. Maybe now you'll find the time to come to Carlisle in 2010? Plans are in the works for another good weekend!

God, i just looked at my join date JANUARY 2003. I think the site went online in December 2002! I think i was user #3 right after bryan.



You're user #20.

Robert - I tip my hat and raise my glass TO YOU

I can imagine the work and dedication over the years and I am glad that you can now relax and enjoy.

WELCOME TO OUR CLUB

Kudos to Robert and the Administrators and Moderators for making the site what it is. The change explains why I was unable to log on for about a week I guess. The help I've received since joining is like the commercial says, "Priceless"!

AF_Don, yes I fully agree with "woody31", please make it easier to upload pics. Also please keep the "pop-ups" off our site! That's one of the best things about our site is no stupid "pop-ups"!

Hey how about showing us some pics of your 87 El Camino! :smileyb:

Robert, thank you for eveything! :beer: I just hope this is the right move for our site and it draws more El Camino enthsiasts and please God, no Chevy bashing low lifes!

Now the big question to the big new owners, will our membership dues go up?!

AF_Don, I forgot to ask in previous post; are we going to get a 2010 calendar or not and if we are, when? Thanks! :smileyb:

:???:I totally agree with Woody. Everything looks good to me so far except the uploading of pics.
GOOD LUCK ROBERT AND THANKS FOR THE GREAT SITE. I check it out everyday!!!:You_Rock: