What I DON'T like about the new board

[luc]

On the banner at the top of the page we have 3 different pictures of a Viper.
Why do that have to be 3 pictures of the same GEN 3?
Isn't that the VIPER Club and not the GEN 3 club?

Let's also put a picture of a Gen 1 and of a GEN 2

Luc 00GTS

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

It is the 600hp best ever Viper and the best color combo and you will like or you go sit in a corner and think about the consequences you have brought onto yourself.

 

[KepRght]

agreed the banner is WAY too big. but they are working on a new one.

 

[big-n-italian]

On the banner at the top of the page we have 3 different pictures of a Viper.
Why do that have to be 3 pictures of the same GEN 3?
Isn't that the VIPER Club and not the GEN 3 club?

Let's also put a picture of a Gen 1 and of a GEN 2

a different banner is coming. smaller and with other gens on it.

i dont like all these new VCA members. my monthly giveaway odds are not getting any better.

 

[DVS_V10]

I like the banner and would love to use it as a sig on other forums. but I can not wait to se a gen 1 at the top of the page.

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Did you guys not notice that Mr. Sneaky Pete has ALREADY made a re appearance in the banner? Is there any prouder representation of Gen1 and 2. than Mr Pete?

 

[viper spray]

Waaaaaa......


The new board is light years ahead of what it was..................................
good job!

 

[plumcrazy]

i agree, get over the stupid gen1 or 2 pics in the banner. (they'll fix it anyway) its a forum for crying out loud. stop whining. the sites been back up for less than a week. give them a few minutes to get it going and tweak it.

 

[DAMN YANKEE]

Dude, that is a Miata with vents....

 

[viprvenm]

The Sneaky Pete/Fangs is way cool!

Thanks again for all the hard work to all who contributed!!!

 

[Knight Viper]

Keep up the good work guys, I LOVE IT!

 

[CitySnake]

There are several major steps involved in such a material changeover. All these website "tweaks" are excellent to list and discuss, but let's make allowances for some time to make and integrate the major changes. They'll be plenty of time to fight over the details later.

 

[ViperGTS]

Thanks for bringing back Sneaky Pete at the TOP of this website!

 

[jimandela]

This board looks much different from what i remember..
Cheers
Jim

 

[Y2K5SRT]

They have been designing a NEW header with the links built in and all FOUR generations of the Viper alternating with each page view (not changing as you watch). As noted above, it takes a little time...

 

[big-n-italian]

They have been designing a NEW header with the links built in and all FOUR generations of the Viper alternating with each page view (not changing as you watch). As noted above, it takes a little time...

jeesus chris, you've had a WEEK! whats the holdup?

 

[Hostile]

Do we have any update on when this
will happen?(more than a week later)

Skeeter

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

..........

 

[Leslie]

last time I checked it was free to be posting on here

 

[Y2K5SRT]

You tell 'em Leslie!

The deal is this my friends: Our hired gun has been working on the Classifieds as our next big project. What? You haven't looked at them today? Well here you go:

http://classifieds.viperclub.org/index.php

Click on any of those categories and see how the Classifieds are shaping up. Oh, and check out Nathan Rose's cars for sale:

http://classifieds.viperclub.org/showcat.php?cat=500&ppuser=22149

Go to any of his ads and then click "supersize" under any of his pictures and see what you think. We have been working on this for the past two weeks - our hired gun and your VCA volunteers. Had to hand draw each one of those pictures too.

Seriously, this was a fairly complex thing to build and had several "tweaks" our programmer did. We have had to move each ad over individually, and we are still moving over the accessories and other stuff one ad at a time. Kind of a pain, as they aren't listed by username, whereas ALL of our new software works in harmony: Your single forum login now works for the gallery, forums, and the classifieds. Pretty slick!

Also, non-members and dealers can now pay for their ads online with any major credit card using PayPal. It's built right in. They can even add things like bold face type, highlights, and other "eBayesque" styles to their ads. For a small fee, of course. Programmers aren't free.

We have another guy, a VCA volunteer, who is working on the header. This was actually our original request: Make it smaller (much) and incorporate the "buttons" for the links into it. We haven't seen the final results yet, but I am sure he is working it.

Sorry for the slight delay on that portion of the project, but rest assured it WILL get done - and hopefully very soon! We are hoping to have the rest of the site redesigned (main page, etc.) by the end of the month. A tall order to be sure, but it is our main goal right now. We also have numerous surprise "upgrades" in store for both our members and visitors alike. Stay tuned!

Your humble servant,

Chris

 

[Hostile]

"Chris our humble servant"
Thanks for the update, you also answered my next
question about where the classified ads went to.
Leslie if no one requests an update we will not
get one,so free or not I asked for some information.

Skeeter

 

[Y2K5SRT]

Leslie if no one requests an update we will not
get one,so free or not I asked for some information.

Actually not quite true: We try to provide updates when we have them. We figured you would get tired and use this icon if we posted "we are working on it!" all the time:

Rest assured we will provide updates as we finish certain parts of the project - nothing has been forgotten, of that much I can assure you!

Always a pleasure,

Chris

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

To Hostile's point, though.....the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease. Sadly, HISTORY has proven that point here for years. Just a stigma that will always be remembered by people who have been here longer than a year or three.

Leslie is free to do detailed research into THAT history. Suffice to say that things are said, promises made, deadlines set....request for financials sent......and the months/years that were supposed to be days/weeks tick by.


Classifieds look great...what a great time to do a little clean-up in there, too. I noticed some ads didn't make the change-over....likely because they were old, sold or dead.

 

[Y2K5SRT]

And much as I would like to disagree, I really can't. But to feebly defend it I will echo what I said earlier: We are giving as much grease as we can under the constraints we are under. Rather than post updates that say nothing ("we are working on it!"), we have been kind of silent. So, in order to grease Hostile's squeak and even throw some Tony's way, here is the full update:

The Discussion Forums​

• While we have a fantastic programmer we are using/abusing (and paying), he is not much of a graphics guy. We have an excellent graphics guy too, but he is 100% volunteer at this point and runs a very successful business full time. He is aware that the banner is a hot button and is undoubtedly working it. We just have a difficult time pressing him for it as he is volunteering his time and efforts. We had a previous offer of $3200 for the graphics alone, and free is much better considering our rather tight budget.
• The forums look and function well, but we are working to make them even better. One of the key things we want to do is provide customized "skins" for each generation of Viper. Because this too involves graphics (not to mention some coding), it is on our list behind the banner. We may still provide a secondary skin choice or two on an interim basis to allow users to customize their visits here. And no Tony, we won't restrict it to VCA members only.
• We will better organize and "classify" the individual forums and subforums. For example, if all of the main forums are "expanded" like the Regional Forums, you have to scroll past a football-field of forums to get to this one. Ideally we would have those "subforums" show up on a horizontal list or something similar - or be able to hide all the forums you don't normally view - like 35 regions or so.
• Silly things like the smilies can be improved. We already expanded it from around 14 to over 200 now (click that "more" button under the main grid and be amazed). We can change and add post icons and other things that our visitors would like to see. People asked for flags for their respective countries and we obliged.

The Classified Ads

• We put 'er on the road on Friday (forced by a couple unforseen circumstances) and it still has a ways to go to be perfect.
• There are a number of ads that didn't make it over because either we didn't have the original advertiser information (no contact info), they were outdated, or we simply haven't gotten to them yet (most of the parts/accessories). Unfortunately, the old software was so funky that there was no way to simply import it into the new format. Tony, if you are bored we could use some help...
• We are working the way the "information grid" appears on the top left - hopefully all of the information can eventually be in that single grid (mileage, etc.) without appearing separately below. Not a big deal, but just to give you an idea of what kind of detail we would like to see. We will also be adding fields for names and phone numbers - some folks don't see the "contact seller" link and some sellers don't think to put name/phone number in the description. The old system had fields for that info.
• We have requested a list of the current "revolving" advertisers (dealers, etc.) so that we can get them on the new billing system. One of the cool things is that they can pay their accounts (or for individual ads) with any major credit card right there. We set up a PayPal account and separate VCA bank account to track it.
• As mentioned before, individual ad buyers (non-VCA members) can not only pay online when they post it, but can even "upgrade" their ads with bold type, highlights, etc. VCA Members are able to post their ads without ever seeing a prompt to pay. No longer do paid individual advertisors need to send a check to Detroit and wait for it to show up before their ad is posted.
• Which brings us to this: One of the biggest complaints from both users and administrators like Tony was that you had to log on with different names/passwords for each section of the site: One for the forums, one for the gallery, and one for the Classifieds. Not any more! Your single log-in on the forums (or either of the other two) will get you into the other sections without having to sign in. Your single "account" covers all three sections. Even better, a VCA member can simply post their ad and never see a prompt to pay - the system knows their classification and prompts them accordingly.
• And finally, and also very important: We have three different people reviewing/approving ads. The previous system had only one and while he did a great job with it, there were times when he simply couldn't get to them fast enough to please some people. Three people increases the coverage considerably.

The Galleries

• For the most part these seem to be where we need them to be. We have had some requests to host different file types and will determine just how practical that really is. We don't want to host file types that are more likely to be trojans or viruses, nor do we have unlimited disk space to host a six hour video of somebody installing an ABS system on a Gen I car.

Viper Chat

• Our programmer has this up next on his "to do" list. His work has been great so far, so I don't think the wait will be long.

Online Renewal Forms and Payment

• This has been a BIG deal for us and something our members have been requesting for some time. This would be for both new and existing members. Fill out an online form and pay your $100 (or whatever it is for a new member for that quarter) right there online.
• This is a more extensive programming and also involves a different way to handle the funds. Currently JR Thompson collects 100% of the renewals and new member fees and then disburses a portion to the regions. The National VCA never sees a single solitary penny from those funds. As such, the PayPal payment would need to point to a JRT bank account so that they could continue to handle that income. We are working with our programmer and JRT to do just that, but we are not targeting it immediately as it is a BIG project and it will be more critical later in the year when we start pushing for 2008 renewals.

Online VCA Merchandise

• I am not going to say anything on this as it is a BIG announcement that will be coming from Bob Carroll, your National President. It's all good!

Online VCA Member Auctions

• No, not selling off members (some we can't even give away! ), but actual auctions exclusive to paid VCA members. For example, an original signed print with Bob Lutz and the 1996 GTS Pace Car straight from the SRT vault in Detroit. Don't know if it exists (probably), but SRT has offered to provide us with some pretty incredible stuff to help raise funds for the club.
• We have a couple auction software solutions, but the priority isn't high on this just yet. Things like the banners and basic site design are our first priority.

And now, the Rest of the Site

• We want the site to have a uniform look and feel: Each page carefully integrated with the next and no more Courier type set. It need to be modern with modern functionality.
• We have set a soft date of June 1 to try and have most of that completed. Not only for us, but because DCX would like to link to us as well. In order to do that we need to present a professional-looking site with professional set ups that reflect not only the VCA, but what DCX would look for in a "partner". You won't get a multi-billion dollar corporation referring people to a substandard organization or site.
• Again, the challenge is graphics for the most part. While we have a coding genius working with us, he can barely draw a good stick figure. Like any good, no, GREAT site, quality graphics are critical. It can function like a Viper but if it looks like a Yugo people will walk away. It must perform and look like a top-notch site. Heck, I could probably whip up some decent stuff myself, but it wouldn't be to the standards we have set for ourselves.

Whew! Okay squeakers, there you go. For those that want the Cliff Notes version, "we are working on it!"

Thanks for your support,

Chris

PS. And besides those "hurry up" suggestions, we would welcome any others you might have. This site is YOUR playground and we want it to be what you want it to be. Well, most of you anyway.

To Hostile's point, though.....the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease. Sadly, HISTORY has proven that point here for years. Just a stigma that will always be remembered by people who have been here longer than a year or three.

Leslie is free to do detailed research into THAT history. Suffice to say that things are said, promises made, deadlines set....request for financials sent......and the months/years that were supposed to be days/weeks tick by.


Classifieds look great...what a great time to do a little clean-up in there, too. I noticed some ads didn't make the change-over....likely because they were old, sold or dead.

 

[Hostile]

Board is getting better but we still have the gen3 cars marking the
Gen1&2 forum banner??

Skeeter

 

[Y2K5SRT]

Board is getting better but we still have the gen3 cars marking the
Gen1&2 forum banner??

Skeeter

The banner doesn't and cannot change by forum - sorry. But we are working on other options and hope to get them done this year.

The good news is that the car pictured is a red & white Gen IV - a car that doesn't exist outside the show circuit!