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Stangfix history lesson

FordDude

FordDude

Well-Known Dude
Staff member
Moderator
So how did "The Stangfix" get started? I see that Randy and Dave are the founding daddy's, then we have 4 Administrators and some more staff members. Oh I know there are some parts to the story that cannot be posted ymca :scar and others that just liked to speak their mind without holding back. :craz Most of us know about this other place that was started because the former owner needed info on how to restore a Mustang. So can we post about the genesis of the Fix or is that classified? I am sure that no laws have been broken (not counting laws of nature) and many butts have been hurt, surely they have healed a little bit by now. :sad Comeon inquiring minds want to know. :amaz fd
 
"FordDude" said:
So how did "The Stangfix" get started? I see that Randy and Dave are the founding daddy's, then we have 4 Administrators and some more staff members. Oh I know there are some parts to the story that cannot be posted ymca :scar and others that just liked to speak their mind without holding back. :craz Most of us know about this other place that was started because the former owner needed info on how to restore a Mustang. So can we post about the genesis of the Fix or is that classified? I am sure that no laws have been broken (not counting laws of nature) and many butts have been hurt, surely they have healed a little bit by now. :sad Comeon inquiring minds want to know. :amaz fd
Click to expand...

I was not around...I'm a relative newcomer to the fix. I will try to fill in a couple of facts about the "4 Administrators"

I was made a "Super Moderator" not to "moderate" the board, but to be a technical assistant to Sluggo. I am a Web Programmer by trade, and while I don't specialize in the software we use for this site, I am a quick learner, and unintimidated by computers. As evidenced by the time I locked the site up for almost a day. I was only made an Administrator because we couldn't figure out how to configure the software to let a "Super Moderator" do certain tasks, and Sluggo got tired of trying and was like "forget it, I'll make you an Admin." I do not vote in administrative decisions, though I will let my opinions be known (when I have any) when a topic comes up for discussion on how the site should be moderated. I consider my position here purely technical, though I have been known to change a dirty word or two (outside the password forums) when I was the first to see it. I feel my position as Administrator should not be seen as me being one of the driving forces behind this site, but rather just the byte jockey.

Caspian65 is an admin as well, but he was given his position because he was getting ready to start concoursmustang.com, and Sluggo wanted him to have some practice time to get familiar with the software on this forum, since both sites are hosted on the same servers, and are running the same software. Charles rarely speaks up on many issues pertaining to this forum. I believe (not trying to speak for him) that his focus is ConcoursMustang

So for all intents and purposes, there are two admins, Sluggo and Rick.

Hopefully more details come in, as I wasn't around to see the dawning of this site.
 
I forget who contacted me, but I was invited by e-mail to join the forum a few days after it was formed. There was some discussion as to who to make moderators, and I stated it would be best to have those who have "light fingers". I was promptly named a moderator, much to the chagrin of those in charge. They have regretted it ever since! J/K.

I am not privy to how or why StangFix was started, but I sure am glad it was.
 
This place was all my idea, I turned it over to Sluggo cause he needs the attention.
 
Its been over a year, I cant remember Shart......

IIRC, it started with a phone call from Randy. We both noticed that people were either no longer posting or being banned for what seemed like insignificant issues on the other board. I probably have as many post over there as I have here, Randy, the busy man that he is didnt post over there a lot, but could still see what was goin on and the direction things seemed to be heading. I tried to talk him out of the idea since I assumed there would be a lot of overhead....I was wrong, it was more work than overhead.

Once we (mostly Randy, he's the geek) had a basic layout, we invited a few people to check out the site, Dave, Craig, Randy, Duane. To my knowledge, no one has ever actively recruited from any of the other sites, if I got a PM on the other board I would reply that it may be easier to find me on Stangfix. Things were very slow at first, there were a number of times I would get a text from Randy said the board was dead, but then we would see a spike in posts or we would try and come up with ideas to keep people interested, contests (craigslist!), cookies, etc....

[admin]How the heck did I forget about CoTM??[/admin]

Since we have an awesome gallery over here I moved a lot of pictures in there, I think the StangFix.com watermark perked some interest as well. The watermark was to protect peoples pictures, nothing more. That was until someone got their panties in a wad and did not allow the images to be used, but it was only Stangfix that was banned, which seemed odd and much like those that were banned without being given a reason, no one would step up and explain that to anyone. We have gone through a number of growth spurts. The biggest and most recent I believe is when StangFix became a MCA approved site and the link was posted on the MCA website.

We have always tried to keep the site pretty open and free, but as things came up we realized no place can be run without any :rulez. We realize this site isn't for everyone, we have had a couple users delete their profiles because they did not like certain aspects of the site, like the political post that we allow, in a password protected board. We tend to only edit posts with foul language, a lot of us have kids and wives and if they are reading over your should or you leave your computer on while you walk away, you shouldnt have to worry. If you walkaway and your in one of the password protected boards, well then your on your own.....

I know Randy and Steve work their butts off keeping the site up and constantly improving things, I for one appreciate all they do.
 
I'm just glad it started.
I got the feeling at the other place that all the cool kids had gone and only the nerds and the ugly scrubbers were left, so i came looking and found you all over here having a party
 
I've been here a year back in Sept, it's been a party the entire time!! Jeremy told me about it at a local GTG of the Kansas contingent, I've been verbally abused since.

Really do appreciate all the work that Randy, Rick, Steve et-al do to keep this place going and also let us speak about things that others could only wish for.


You guys Rock.
 
I should clarify, Dave (Sanborn) made a comment a while back about the E car forum and that the site wasnt being maintained and he was worried about the site folding so we did suggest pointing users over here and we started up the All about E cars board. Other than that, we have never asked anyone to recruit for the site. I know "1497" was member number 200 (after a cleanup of members that had not posted in 6 months), currently we are at a little more than 275, so we are still growing.
 
I for one really like the atmosphere here. I found the place after J. posted a pic with the water mark on the other site, and one of the mods were bothered by the mark. I was tired of all the mods bickering, and decided to see if this place was so bad, what it was all about. Been here ever since!
 
Rick pretty well nailed it.

His CRS kicked in bit though.

There were two iterations of the board prior to it going full blown.

I had a small personal web space that I mainly used to host pictures. There was a cheesy forum there and only Rick and I were members, and we did not even use it. Then I decided I wanted more space and bought an actual hosting package. With this came a content management system that had with it a slightly more advanced forum.
When I upgraded yet again, the new host offered all kind of possibilities. That was about the same time Dave, Craig and Mid(the other Randy) were all looking for a home.

I don't recall exactly what order they came in. Pretty sure it was Dave, Mid, Craig. These three plus Rick and myself were pretty much the genesis of the site.

Moderators were chosen not because of where they came from but because of their opinion for heavy handed moderation.
I trust everyone of them and their decision making processes.

There may seem to be a heavy population of "officials" but the plan all along was to have seasoned people in place if and when the board became popular.
 
I think Randy needs to "Get out more".......well if I'm not banned for that statement then I guess I like this place. :lol

Thanks to ALL for StangFix.......and to those who are here but haven't....SF is sure grateful for donations. :)
 
"Fast68back" said:
Other than that, we have never asked anyone to recruit for the site. I know "1497" was member number 200 (after a cleanup of members that had not posted in 6 months), currently we are at a little more than 275, so we are still growing.
Click to expand...

Those numbers are pretty real numbers too. We go in and delete people that have not logged in for 180 days. We need to do that again pretty soon.
 
"KBMWRS" said:
I think Randy needs to "Get out more".......well if I'm not banned for that statement then I guess I like this place. :lol

Thanks to ALL for StangFix.......and to those who are here but haven't....SF is sure grateful for donations. :)
Click to expand...

Careful with that Randy term. :vic There's more than on you know.......
 
I'm a big fan of the SF! I joined after talking with Dave a lot on the Eleanor forum. I have been a member of VMF for a long time but didn't post much. Not much support for the E cars you know! Even coupes don't always feel the love!!! So I have the Mustang everyone on forums hate, a red Restomod Eleanor coupe! Anyway, I love this place and the members have been great! Money has been tight with Xmas coming, the house (water leak) and the gas money I spent to go get the POS 67. When things get a little better I will donate to the site. Thanks for having me (or putting up with me).
 
Since my name is Randy, I'll take all the credit for StangFix, even if I don't deserve it.

I expect every one of you to :wor
 
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