That's a fine line ATST...but since Ken Payne (operates FTE) and I have become friends and were going to have lunch today (until something more vital came up), I don't think it's a problem.

Mumbly (and others), you might want to consider contacting Ken/FTE about his organization.

Steve


[This message has been edited by webmaster (edited 08-11-2000).]

 

ATST, will you marry me? ... Oh, that's right, I'm already married! Sorry Christine!

 

Mumbly,
I did say a few. (maybe should have said a couple?) I understand what you say needs are at this time. I think what started as an effort to push Steve into a quicker decision backfired as others jumped in the fray.
A couple of statements by persons (I refuse to go re-read that thread just to find out exactly who) sounded to me like "I brought the *****, and if you don't change your rules to play with me, I'm takin my ***** and going to play on another team."

Quite frankly I wouldn't want any new members if they are only joining to spite another group. Duke has a decent site and deserves better than that. What happens if he can no longer please a few people?

Besides I have ***** too, as do plenty of other members, so we will never run out here.

 

LOL Steve. You do know I don't change my own oil don't you? But I do do carburators, throttle bodys, and experimentation with the air intake. Oh yeah, and I change my own tires too.
My record for shortest job? 45 min for complete rebuild of carb and plug and wire change.
Longest job? 14 hours to re-do a tranny seal, with only a couple of jack stands and a poormans dolly (big cardboard and some 2X4's) for tools. The Monte Carlo had headers (6 hr job yearly) and I was too lazy to remove them first. I remember I was so tired, I went out to eat imeditately when I was done. Covered with grease and tranny fluid and didn't even care who saw me.

 

To quote SteveO...
"Steve,
Instead of typing it all over I just want to say that I feel the same way that Firezapper and Dunbarton does. I was here before the whole chapter thing and I will be here when the chapter thing is gone........steve "

We are not going to go away... The Chapters are here to stay.

What the Chapters are is a BUNCH of US, yes, US, we the people who have all met & are members of www.f150online.com
We got together because of this site & had a "meet"... which started happening more & more & are referred to now as "Rallies".
We saw this was going to be a regular thing & so we decided to call our fast growing group by a name. A "Chapter"...

We are indebted to Steve E. for starting this site & if not for the site & Steve E. we would have not all met...

I remember a little bit of emailing back & forth with Steve E, Mumbly & maybe some others...Davensa, etc... about us calling ourselves "Tx. Chapter - F150onlinen.com"
We went through quite a few other names I think that Steve may have said no to or were just shot down by us all ? Anyway, it was back in Feb. 00 or before that...
I thought it was cool for us to use the name but now it looks like it is not ? (I see the same thing in SteveO's sig. but for the N.J. Chapter ? )

Anyhow, we, the Texas Chapter have & are getting more & more people in it all the time & wanted to have something like a section/page(s) on this site for "Chapters"... We have all met here to discuss the Rallies & get togethers & events that we all attend just as all the other chapters have out there & that has been great.

Steve E. doesn't want the name affiliation of www.F150online.com with the chapters though now. I'm still trying to figure out the legal aspects Steve of the name on the sticker ? You used the accident thing as an example. I asked what if we all just had the stickers you made & sell on our trucks & the accident happened ? What's the difference ????????

We are right now & have been, just a group of F150onliners who get together & have fun.. We are from Texas & therefore call ourselves the "Texas Chapter" as do the rest of the chapters.

Bottom Line is this... We like meeting new members & F150owners who live in our area/state(s) & would love to welcome them into our "Chapters". We do & have done this & will continue to do so.
We just wanted something like a new section/pages on the site so people who live in the areas/states that already have "Chapters" can find us more easily & "JOIN" up with us at these meets/rallies.
www.F150world.com is willing to do this. Steve E. is not. At least not right now ?? Or ever ? I saw your other topic/thread just now Steve, but I will go read it when I'm done posting here... limited time these days...
Chris Duke is the owner of F150world.com & started out here as a member. I remember Chris emailing me last year asking questions aobut things I did to my truck. He is just another "F150" enthusiast as we all are. He is not trying to take away from Steve E's site. He happens to create/run/manage websites for a living & LOVES his F150. Alot of people here have their own sites now due to this site & their F150ownership.
Steve E. even wished Chris & www.F150world.com good luck & said it's a good looking site. You see, since Chris Duke does this for a living & is into the rallies/chapters, so he made up a site because he, just like us likes to meet & talk to other F150owners & especially ones in his area that he/we can all meet up with in person.

Since Chris is willing to "Promote" our chapter & ANY other States "Chapter" on his site, we all felt that is the best place for the "Texas Chapter" to do our "Chapter" business/recruiting/promoting... We are not ALL leaving I don't think... Just some of the more perturbed members... And I don't mean just "Texas" members...

Like I said, Steve E. is the reason we have all met/hooked up in the first place & we will always be thankful to him for that. We wanted to use Steve's website name on our stickers, etc... for our promotion & welcoming of new members that will/have seen us on the road & said, "Hey, I own an F150, that's a cool truck, wonder what that's all about" ? ... so they see the www.f150online.com on the "Texas Chapter" sticker or whatever states "Chapter Sticker" & come HERE to www.f150online.com to check it out... WE ALL meet them here then & us "Chapter"/Group people talk to them & they come to one of our get togethers... This is alot of fun & we make more "in person" friends.

But Steve doesn't like this idea, because there could be a legal liability in our "meets" ? I still don't see the difference in us having just the plain old black/yellow www.f150online.com stickers on our trucks as opposed to the "Chapters" stickers w/the same web addy... If something happened, the website addy is still on the vehicles... No difference.

We the "Texas Chapter" don't have laws, dues, or anything like that... We have FUN getting together & want to bring in more F150owners to our Group ! As well do the other states that are doing this same thing...

But, from one of Steve's posts, he says, well, your free advertising & promotion of your chapters & the use of www.f150online.com just costs me more money due to bandwidth traffic... I don't get it Steve ? I thought you liked seeing the site grow ? We have all offered to "pay" you money to help out in the costs, only to be told no thanks or to be told nothing at all. You even asked me if I'd take over the owners gallery & you'd give me access to update it & post the members pics/info. that they sent in. I told you SURE WILL !!! But you never got back to me on that... I even emailed you but you just dropped it ? How come ?

I know this site is alot of work for you & it started out as a hobby which is Great, but it's more than that now. You even said so. I just don't understand. We chapters just want a place to be seen & use to help us get more local people involved in our rallies/get togethers... that's it. We don't have a problem of paying $ for it. We have all offered $ before just to help the site...
Paying the "INSURANCE" costs that is... If there were to be any ??

I'm not bashing you Steve, just trying to clear things up.. This site is & has been alot of fun ! We all met here, you saw & were amazed at seeing 20 F150's roll into the Texas Motor Speedway when you were in Dallas in January.. You SAW first hand what this "Chapter" thing is all about... You seemed to think it was awesome. You saw what YOUR website had started & turned into... I would think that if anyone would understand this whole "Chapter" thing & want to help promote it, it would be YOU ?

We the "Texas Chapter" are now using to promote our "Chapters" as well as some of the other chapters are...
It's a great looking site & I feel it will grow BIG & be another place to meet great people, as does Steve E. from his post.

I'm not downing F150online at all here... Just bringing up a few points & explaining what's going on with us...

I see alot of pretty "NEW" members here talking alot of CRAP about www.f150world.com site & how people are leaving THIS site...
I Truly don't think you know the history of this "Chapter" thing & understand..
Well, I have been here from the get go... just after this site opened... I've seen it ALL & have been involved in ALOT of it.. It's sad to see things get like this, but we just want to meet up & get involved with more people/f150owners in our states/towns/cities, etc... We need/want a page/section/site that will help this in the way that www.f150world.com is going to. A dedicated "State Chapters" section just for this. Steve doesn't want to do this, so we are doing it there.
This site is a GREAT site with lots of Great info. & people on it.. It is just not going to do the "Chapter" thing for us, so that is why we decided to leave for F150World. That and the fact that one of our own F150online members created it & runs it.

This will be a great site as well as www.f150world.com will be...

We're all F150owners that like to talk trucks & meet others with the same interests... That is what we're doing... Always have... Always will...

SS http://www.f150world.com/ss97ford/



[This message has been edited by SS97Ford (edited 08-11-2000).]

 

ATST, Yes you are right there was frenzy of posts that did push Steve into quick decision. Steve and myself had many talks last year on the subject of Chapters and the future. If we would have nipped this then, we would not have seen this at all. Basically what happened was everything came to a boiling point and exploded. We all should have seen this coming. I too feel that your statement

[quote] A couple of statements by persons (I refuse to go re-read that thread just to find out exactly who) sounded to me like "I brought the *****, and if you don't change your rules to play with me, I'm taking my ***** and going to play on another team."[quote]

is true. I my opinion also think not only the members took this point of view. Without the members playing with the ***** they wont bounce will they. (I think we should have picked a better analogy, this one is kind of weird).

As for the your statement:

[quote] Quite frankly I wouldn't want any new members if they are only joining to spite another group. Duke has a decent site and deserves better than that. What happens if he can no longer please a few people?[quote]

I have talked with many of the hotter headed people about this. I believe that since things got hot more harsh word were said. They have all stated they want what I have stated above in this thread. Maybe if this was handled off line it would have gone better. I believe the result would have been the same though. I have also been in contact with Duke, he is very enthusiastic about all of us building the site around the Chapters. If I remember right many people were not please about things on f150online such as the chat room. It was brought up to late apparently thus everyone went to ohter sites for chat line. Kinda of interesting huh??

As for *****. I believe we have many as well and I think this has proven it.

 

Final thoughts here from me to clarify this for Sean and the thread is closed.

1) Having a sticker on your vehicle that promotes a site is COMPLETELY different from having an event that lends its name to that event. You can question it all you want, I'd recommend you talk to an attorney if you'd really like to know the difference.

2) The overuse of the term "*********.com" in your post is exactly what I referred to in my statement on chapters. That site is a competitor and for obvious reasons (online shopping, advertiser support, features, functionality, rotating image on front page, etc.) I'd have strong feeling that it not be promoted here.

3) ATST, you're turning me on.

Thread closed.

[This message has been edited by webmaster (edited 08-11-2000).]

[This message has been edited by webmaster (edited 08-11-2000).]