Major Vca Website Announcement

[Vipergtsbob]

The Viper Club of America is extremely pleased to announce that we are taking the club web site in a new direction. As you have undoubtedly seen by now, we have converted the forums to new feature-rich software to benefit both our members and our guests. We will continue to upgrade our site throughout, including new classifieds, home page, and much more. Even these forums will continue to be upgraded on an ongoing basis. Among some of the new features we will be introducing are online membership signup/renewals, a new site for exclusive VCA merchandise, and online payment options for renewals, advertising, etc.

We would also like to announce that Jay Herbert is stepping down as administrator of this site effective immediately. He will be focusing his efforts on the International Viper Registry, an informative site he founded several years ago. We greatly appreciate everything Jay has done for the VCA over the years and look forward to seeing him continue on as an active VCA member. Thank you Jay on behalf of the VCA.

Lee Stubberfield, with the support of the web committee and moderator team, will be our general administrator for the site during this transition. We greatly appreciate the time and effort that he and the rest of the moderators continue to devote to making this the best Viper site in the world. Be sure to stay tuned as we will be making more upgrades and more announcements in the near future.

On a more personal note, I would like to especially thank VCA National Treasurer Chris Marshall and the entire website committee for their outstanding efforts in making the monumental improvement in our internet programming. These tireless members give so much for so many and they richly deserve the respect and gratitude of all the VCA Nation.

We appreciate your support, and much, much more to come from your VCA 2007-08 leadership team!

Bob Carroll
National President

 

[kcobean]

Thanks for all your hard work Jay!!! What's the URL for the IVR? I'd like to see it.

And to Chris and the upgrade team, you guys have done an absolutely amazing job on the upgrade and rectifying all the little issues with incredible speed. Absolutely first rate job guys. Kudos to all of you!

 

[JGK95]

Congrats Guys on the new direction and new site layout!

Looks Great!

Jay K.

 

[big-n-italian]

i too would like to thank jay. i can really appreciate all the time and effort that goes into this site, and i would like to thank him for giving me the opportunity to be a major part of it or such a long time. i am having a BLAST - THANK YOU JAY!

 

[RichieSRT10]

I can already see the changes that are happening are positive. Let me tip my hat to all of those who have changed the direction and attitude of this board.

 

[CitySnake]

Seriously, THANK YOU ALL!

I'll probably take some heat for posting this, but speaking my mind is the only way I know how to lead.

It took years, but finally we've got a complete set of national officers that not only put the club's interests ahead of their own, but have the fortitude and moral "fiber" to see and deliberately evade the easiest path and pass the buck on to future boards. That's not to suggest for a moment that all former officers were not interested in the same result, but obviously and to a certain extent understandably, not to the selfless extent necessary to move forward.

I’m THRILLED that our club is finally ridding itself of the politics of cronyism and self interest. Sadly, it should have ALWAYS been this way. But it’s taken a strong group of decent and driven folks to bring it back. Once again, I’m proud to be a part of our extraordinary club.

My sincere gratitude to Bob, George, Chris and Jeff!

 

[slaughterj]

Good to see some changes.

 

[mad0953]

Looks great so far. My question is: when will I be able to join the VCA using this website? I have hesitated before mostly because of the horror stories from other people who tried to join and it took a long time and they were unhappy with the whole procedure. Thanks in advance.

Mark

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Looks great so far. My question is: when will I be able to join the VCA using this website? I have hesitated before mostly because of the horror stories from other people who tried to join and it took a long time and they were unhappy with the whole procedure. Thanks in advance.

Mark

Call 800.998.1110 with your vin and credit card in hand. Option 1 on the voice mail is the VCA, but the same people answer option 2 and 3 which are the magazine and the srt experience. Option 1 is often busy. Hint, hint. Tell them Lee said to use option 2 or 3 to get through and you want to join
Please pm me if you have ANY problems.

 

[Jay Herbert]

I'm glad y'all are enjoying the upgrades. I was asked to put together specifications back in January, and so far it appears that all are enjoying results as they are being implemented by the web site development company the VCA hired. What Bob forgot to mention is I'll still provide consulting to the new programmers on an as-needed basis during the transition to vBulletin and the remaining site conversion..... after all, I wrote the specs

In nearly every issue of VCA notes over the last two years it was mentioned the clubs finances were tight. Luckily, the funds the site was bringing in helped the VCA through that tough time, but unfortunately, that meant that funds were not available to hire programmers for upgrades.

Now that the club is on solid financial ground, it has hired a great web services company, Diversified Programming: http://www.divprogram.com/. They are highly capable, with programmers, graphics people and a strong support team, they'll do great. They have been fantastic to work with and proved to be a talented well-oiled team, as the upgrades show.

The web site address for the International Viper Registry is http://www.theviperregistry.org. Look for many changes as I transition my time from the Viperclub.org site to the Registry site over the next six months. the Registry was started in 1992, it's original site went on line in 1995 and is dediated to the care, history and preservation of the Dodge Viper.

 

[Warfang]

uhhh... who's Vipergtsbob?

I'd like to see more interaction from a National President. 173 posts in 7 years? Chuck does that in 3 days!

 

[mad0953]

Thanks Lee.

 

[KepRght]

uhhh... who's Vipergtsbob?

I'd like to see more interaction from a National President. 173 posts in 7 years? Chuck does that in 3 days!

silent but deadly?

 

[kcobean]

silent but deadly?

(in my best Bill and Ted impression) Dude, you just called the National President a FART!!!

 

[CitySnake]

I'm glad y'all are enjoying the upgrades. I was asked to put together specifications back in January, and so far it appears that all are enjoying results as they are being implemented by the web site development company the VCA hired. What Bob forgot to mention is I'll still provide consulting to the new programmers on an as-needed basis during the transition to vBulletin and the remaining site conversion..... after all, I wrote the specs

In nearly every issue of VCA notes over the last two years it was mentioned the clubs finances were tight. Luckily, the funds the site was bringing in helped the VCA through that tough time, but unfortunately, that meant that funds were not available to hire programmers for upgrades.

Now that the club is on solid financial ground, it has hired a great web services company, Diversified Programming: http://www.divprogram.com/. They are highly capable, with programmers, graphics people and a strong support team, they'll do great. They have been fantastic to work with and proved to be a talented well-oiled team, as the upgrades show.

The web site address for the International Viper Registry is http://www.theviperregistry.org. Look for many changes as I transition my time from the Viperclub.org site to the Registry site over the next six months. the Registry was started in 1992, it's original site went on line in 1995 and is dediated to the care, history and preservation of the Dodge Viper.

God please give me strength! (doesn't that big grin smiley make up for just about everything?)

 

[Vipergtsbob]

Glad to hear that most everyone is enjoying the web site upgrade. I would like to just add a few comments. The conversion here was spearheaded by our dedicated National Treasurer who personally put in near 20 hour days working with our new web consultants to get the site up and running. So there is no mistaken impression anywhere, this upgrade was the result of several persons/entities VERY hard work, but Chris and his new team deserve the most credit by a wide margin. Nuff said.

To all our members, we truly hope the website will usher in a new era of intra club communication and information sharing that will enhance your membership experience, make friends among like thinking viperholics, and simply be a place to gather that provides enjoyment for all. We do not gain from negative conduct and while it may from time to time be interesting, our considerable experience has shown that we lose visits and indeed members, by a nasty and pointless exhange of posts. Lets all make this a place we can't wait to get back to as a refuge from everyones busy and hectic schedules.

Bob Carroll

PS-NOTE TO WARFANG

Sorry about your post count issue. I would love to exhange a little keyboard time for the THOUSANDS OF ACTUAL UNCOMPENSATED HOURS I and the other dedicated National and Regional officers expend doing the VCA's business. Have you volunteered to help your club out lately? Please don't worry about my "interaction". Our results speak for themselves........ BTW, you can add this to my post count

 

[mike & juli]

I totally agree that a more wholesome approach in response to people being more positive instead of negative on the VCA forums is most enjoyable. The people who have worked on this renewed VCA site have done extraordinary work, and all that work is greatly appreciated. Hopefully we'll keep positive posts on the forums...and I already see how helpful everybody has been to those of us who have had problems navigating the site. MUCH appreciated and great job to all of you. (yes this smiley says it all, Scott!) ~juli~

 

[So. Florida Blue Devil]

Having been an owner/member for less than a year and seeing the changes, I'm thrilled. Jay, didn't know you but from what I've been told "you were the man". Lee, I've interacted with you and KNOW "you are the man". As for post counts, it's not the quantity but the quality. Anyone can post just to post. It's when it means something that counts. I for one am proud to be associated with you all at VCA!!

 

[Warfang]

Glad to hear that most everyone is enjoying the web site upgrade. I would like to just add a few comments. The conversion here was spearheaded by our dedicated National Treasurer who personally put in near 20 hour days working with our new web consultants to get the site up and running. So there is no mistaken impression anywhere, this upgrade was the result of several persons/entities VERY hard work, but Chris and his new team deserve the most credit by a wide margin. Nuff said.

To all our members, we truly hope the website will usher in a new era of intra club communication and information sharing that will enhance your membership experience, make friends among like thinking viperholics, and simply be a place to gather that provides enjoyment for all. We do not gain from negative conduct and while it may from time to time be interesting, our considerable experience has shown that we lose visits and indeed members, by a nasty and pointless exhange of posts. Lets all make this a place we can't wait to get back to as a refuge from everyones busy and hectic schedules.

Bob Carroll

PS-NOTE TO WARFANG

Sorry about your post count issue. I would love to exhange a little keyboard time for the THOUSANDS OF ACTUAL UNCOMPENSATED HOURS I and the other dedicated National and Regional officers expend doing the VCA's business. Have you volunteered to help your club out lately? Please don't worry about my "interaction". Our results speak for themselves........ BTW, you can add this to my post count

hehehe... I was TOTALLY yanking your chain.

This is the best I've seen the VCA, and I'm optimistic for the first time about its future, and don't feel so bad now about volunteering my $100.

So hats off to you for directing on top, and kudos to Chris and Lee for busting their @$$.

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

You did get one thing right....Chris did a bang up job!

 

[Vipergtsbob]

Warfang,
No offense taken; Besides, this is another post for my total!!!!!

Bob

 

[XXX BLK]

Seriously, THANK YOU ALL!

I'll probably take some heat for posting this, but speaking my mind is the only way I know how to lead.

It took years, but finally we've got a complete set of national officers that not only put the club's interests ahead of their own, but have the fortitude and moral "fiber" to see and deliberately evade the easiest path and pass the buck on to future boards. That's not to suggest for a moment that all former officers were not interested in the same result, but obviously and to a certain extent understandably, not to the selfless extent necessary to move forward.

I’m THRILLED that our club is finally ridding itself of the politics of cronyism and self interest. Sadly, it should have ALWAYS been this way. But it’s taken a strong group of decent and driven folks to bring it back. Once again, I’m proud to be a part of our extraordinary club.

My sincere gratitude to Bob, George, Chris and Jeff!

Scott, I second that and good to know MEMBERS will be FIRST it will only get better. Adrian