Site Status Update

[ScottHalliday]

It's late and I am tired so I will make this as short and sweet as I can.

I have been slow to respond to the feedback/support issues this past week or so because (1) I was extremely busy wrapping up all of my project work before my contract ended last Friday. Did'nt want to join the unemployment lines with things still outstanding. (2) In the past two weeks my wife had to undergo emergeny surgery, and if that was not bad enough, there were serious complications which we are still working through. Irregardless I will do my best to take care of any site maintenence and support issues as they come up.

New Moderator Team ....

It seems pretty clear to me that we need a moderator team to help manage this site and help set it future direction. I have already received several pms from members expressing their interest in becoming a moderator on the site and any other members who are also interested in becoming a moderator to please send me a pm as well.

The new Moderator forums and tools have already been setup, implemented and ready to use.

Forum Navigation Menu Changes ...

Several weeks ago, a number of changes were made to the forums navigation bar to add additional features, provide better integration and remove clutter. So far only about 50% of the changes have been completed and more are planned over the next few weeks to make even more improvements.

New Gallery Integration with Member Profile Pages and Members Forum Posts .....

In this area, there are a number of improvements planned lincluding integrating our new Gallery section so that the latest gallery photos from the members photo gallery, are automatically displayed on their members page. Similar to the current photo albums, icons will automatically display in the members forum posts if they have photos in their member gallery.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, its late, I'm tired and I am ending here to keep it short. Based on the responses or lack there of, to all of my posts todate, it probably makes no difference either way.

Thank you all for your continued co-operation and support.

Regards,

[CrazyCanuck]

Thanks for the update

[320Colin]

is your wife ok?

[applecran]

Dude. Don't worry about this site for now. Take care of your wife.

Please, unless this helps you take your mind off things, we really can deal with waiting while you take care of your family.

I hope she is doing better and you guys are ok. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

[E30M20B25]

Family always comes first, the site can wait!

Let us know if you need anything!

We're pulling for you buddy!

[320Colin]

See Scott we're not all insensitive assholes... Just Andy

[bimmer_adam]

**** off colin keep this thread to the point at hand.... Take a break scott get everything in order thats most important.

[ScottHalliday]

Thanks everyone for asking. Cathy was released from the hospital several days ago and is now home in bed recovering for the next few weeks. After her surgery (a female thing which I know she would not want to mention), her bladder stopped working and she had to be rushed to emergency three times after the surgery. Two of those times were after 2:am in the morning. My nerves are shot. Now her bladder is once again working but now she is battling a bladder infection. We are both hoping she is now on the mend to a full recovery. Did I mention, Cathy is a BIG Bimmer fan and has been after me to purchase one for quite sometime. I was actually actively combing Craigs List for a BMW to purchase just before all this began. Problem is Cathy would like us to by a newer BMW and I am kinda set on buying one like Poon's 1976 2002. Oh well either way looks like we will have a new Bimmer in our family real soon. Hoping I can count on you guys to give me some direction and advise on what to buy and when I find one, whether it is a good buy or something to stay away from. I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Have to find one first.

Again, thank you all of your nice comments and concern. I will do my best to make sure I get any site issues resolved. Plan I taking a look into addressing them tomorrow so hopefully I can report back with some good news.

Cheers,

Scott

[G-rex]

Hey Scott,

Sorry to hear your family is going through such turmoil. Hope Cathy gets better soon. If you haven't heard already, 100% pure cranberry juice (usually sugarless, so very sour) are good, though not as effective as antibiotics, but every little bit helps. They also sell them in capsules if she can't put up with the taste.

Take care,
G

[ScottHalliday]

Thanks guys! Appreciate all of your support and patience as I work through this situation with my wife. Certainly doesn't help losing my job the same week. Guess the positive side is once my wife recovers, I'll have more time to be on the site and helping out where I can. G thanks for the cranberry recommendation! Her mother beat you to it. Cathy has already picked up a stash which she has started drinking. Much appreciated!

I am taking care of any reported issues today and uploading alot more BMW pictures to our new gallery today. Last night I installed a new "Site Rules" section which our new moderator team will be reviewing and updating for our site. At least then when new members join our site they will be required to read and agree to follow our site rules in advance. If we do not stipulate what our rules are you, it is hardly fair to expect new members to follow them. One example of this would be to make it clear to new members that we do not permit posting of the same thread in multiple forums. An issue I have seen raised here by our members. With our Site Rules published and in plain view, our moderator team can then remind new members when they fail to follow our rules and inform them it is important they do so, as they agreed to when they joined our site.

Here are a couple of other items in the hopper or under consideration:

1.) A real iTrader system where you can leave positive or negative feedback directly on a sellers member profile, for items you purchase from them. This is far more efficient and effective than having a separate "members feedback" forum because the buyers comments are left directly on the members profile and therefore much easier for potential sellers to find and review.

2.) New member's "Garage" section where you can add and share details for one or more of your rides with fellow members. While the base package is much like the one you find here, once installed Chris and Nathan (our tech support team) will be able a number of programming changes so that it better suites our site and whatever you guys would like to add or remove.

3.) A "Help Desk" module, which is by no means critical to the site, will make it much easier for any of you to report an issue and equally important, easier for our new moderator and tech support team to respond. Please trust me on this, it works.

4.) A new Donate system for Supporting Members which will better recognize your contributions to the site.

5.) An "About Us" section which will provide new members and visitors with information about our site and about who we are as an online community. This is a section which should really be defined by input from all of you, the members of this site, and I am asking for your participation in helping define our community.

How do you define and consider what this site is all about. Who are our members and what is the focus as a community. uWho do you think d This is something I hope our new moderator team will head up and

1.) Is this an online BMW community or a club? The difference is significant so what are we?

2.) Are we local and if so, what does this mean? By local, do we mean by location and if so just how local? Is it the Starbucks on the corner of Main and 5th, or is it Vancouver Island? or Vancouver? or Greater Vancouver? or British Columbia?, Canada?

3.) If we are local then are we [A] open to all, [B]local and closed or [C] or local yet open to all. In other words, are we open and welcome fellow Bimmer owners and enthusiasts to join our community or are we more closed and only welcome BMW owners and enthusiasts who are local to us? If so, it is even more important to state this up front to visitors of our site before they decide to join. Would we as a community like to do both, be local and local to the members in our location and still be open to others as well. If so, that can also be easily achieved. By defining our community purpose and focus, it will be much easier to achieve.

These are the kind of questions an "About Us" should answer and which will also help define the future direction of BimmerClassics.

Anyone care to comment, or better yet, send me a PM with your thoughts on what you think this community is and what it should be. If you would like to have a say in the future direction of this site then there is no better time to speak up and have your say than now. Looking forward to learning all of your opinions.

Cheers,

Scott

[Poon]

Originally Posted by bimmer Problem is Cathy would like us to by a newer BMW and I am kinda set on buying one like Poon's 1976 2002.

Oh yeah! 2002 FTW! Scott, when winter is over and the 2002 is back on the road, I'd be more than happy to let you take the '02 for a spin! Really make you want an oldie.

I just realized you're in Connecticut, but the deal still stands if you ever come up here!

Btw, what are the thanked/thanks function?

Best wishes to your wife!

-Andrew Poon

[direction88]

Bimmer you have a PM. How about the idea of a "Services" section as well (mentioned in a different post) where capable members can post their specific skills and such? Can you also give specifics on club VS community?

[ScottHalliday]

Hi guys, this is just a very quick update because I am working on the site and Chris just joined me about 15 minutes ago. I will post back with more details once we are finished and direct88 I plan to go thru my pms as well when I finish so I will reply then. Would love to hear what you are proposing regarding a "Services" section. Could you post a link to the thread and/or provide a little more information how you guys see it being setup.

As for some of the new features already installed:

The new "Thanks" button that appears in every post is a quick and easy way for you to pass along some apprectaion to another member for any for any help or assistance they may provide and this way it they get recognition because the number of "Thanks" a member receives is listed in the left hand column of their post.

The iTrader system is now installed and I believe setup and operational. I still need to post a thread in the Classifieds section with instructions on how to to as to how it works. You will notice a new tab in your member's profile labeled "Feedback". You will also see it on the left hand side of each members post, under the avatar, where it says "iTrader: (?)" where the question mark represents the members iTrader rating. Double click on the number between the ( ) and the members iTrader page is displayed. To see your own iTrader profile, you can either go to your member profile and click the Feedback tab or click on the drop down box forums main navigation bar for "My Quick Links". You will see an option for "My iTrader Profile".

More changes were also made to our forums main navigation menu to make room for the new "Members Garage", "Donate" and Help Desk sections. I have already purchased all three products and am hoping we can get them all installed over the next few days. You will now find all of the My ProfileS, My Contacts, My Posts and My Threads links all listed under "My Quick Links" in the forums navigation menu. The idea here is to organize links specific to you under this section and list site wide links under the "Quick Links" drop down of the nav bar. ie: Members list, FAQ, Who's Online.

Last but not least you may have noticed there are two rather colorful bars appearing in the left hand column of everyone's post, under their member name. This is a very nice plugin which graphs each member's activity level on the forums and displays them in two bars. The first one is based on the total posts a member has since joining the site and the bar below it is based on the members recent activity. It too adds a new tab to your member profile page where you can see your detailed activity level. There is also a new "Members Activity" link in the "Quick Links" section where you can see the activity level for all members on the site. I know this was not critical or something that had to be done but added it anyways to see if you guys like it or not. Figured it might make the forums a little more interesting and at least would add a little color to the forums. Besides did not see the harm in letting you guys take it for a test run to see what you think. I can easily remove it, as well as any of the other sections, if you guys prefer.

I know many of you are long time members here on the forums and may not be comfortable with all of these recent changes to the site. All I ask is for a little patience and the opportunity to demonstrate how many of these changes and new features, when fully implemented, will make visiting this site a more enjoyable experience for all.

With regard to Google ads and our Hosting account, I'll include my comments when I post back.

Cheers,

Scott

[E30M20B25]

I like my Health bar, but I am getting low on Mana... ^_^

Perhaps I can drink a blue potion? (I know there is other D2 people here.. come on...)

As for changes and being old... I would just like to say that I enjoy my Admiral vacuum tube compression AM radio and my Westinghouse Black and White TV just fine, Thank you very much! ;-)

If it is not in a 300 pound all wood chesterfield, it is not worth having in the house!

Joking aside; I like the changes actually, new apps and new features always adds a level of fun to the site.

Nothing has drastically changed nor has anything been disabled, so thank you for keeping her going.

Cheers!

[redhatpat]

I want to know how E30M20B25 got a community award? I want a galaxy award!