Community Announcement - Immediate Release - (April Fools)

[Trail X]

For immediate release:

As a team of automotive and powersports enthusiasts at AutoForums.com, we are pleased to announce that we have joined forces with James and the OffroadTB.com web site.

AutoForums.com is excited to help unify the family of TrailBlazer forums into a larger conglomerate. Being that OffroadTB.com fills a niche that is missed by Trailvoy.com, AutoForums.com realizes it's significant contribution to the TrailBlazer market.

Relieving site owners of the burden of administrative tasks and hosting issues, AutoForums.com brings experience from running more than one hundred enthusiast sites on the Internet. Our role here is to support the forum Moderators technically and help put in place features that would grow the community. We also understand that each community is different and work to accommodate those differences.

Successful sites quickly grow to the point where the founder will struggle to keep up with administrative and technical maintenance issues, leaving little or no time to participate in and enjoy the topical discussions that are fundamental to the site. It is those fundamentals that we have learned to preserve in our process of transition. Having said that, this is still your community and we are here to support the leaders of the community.

My name is Don Roy and I am your contact for any issues related to the transition and future of these sites. I look forward to your questions and your input. I am particularly interested in any outstanding issues or new features that you feel would help grow the community. You can reach me anytime by emailing don.roy@autoforums.com

We will go through a transition period where we will upgrade OffroadTB.com to the standards set by AutoForums.com and will be transitioned to the newer, faster, and overall more reliable servers here at AutoForums.com. You may begin seeing some ads appear on the site, but it's just there to annoy you and help us pay the bills.

The history and knowledge of these vehicles contained in this forum needs to be preserved and enhanced. That was James' mission and now it is ours. Please join us in making it happen on this truly historic day, April 1, 2010.

Don Roy
Sr. Community Director
April Fools
Autoforums.com

I appreciate your support during the transition period.

[irishboy02]

I first read this on my cell phone, now im on my comp and understand...got me

[Gordinho80]

DUDE! Are you f*cking kidding me????? Isn't that the same company that took over the OS??? Weren't they one of the reasons this site was started in the first place??? Wow... well, ORTB was fun while it lasted...

[bgwolfpack]

Could be interesting.
I've heard that they push for very high fees from all parties involved. Not sure how you'd pay these fees James. I'm pretty sure the most of us aren't going to be willing to pay their connection fee for each login either.
I ran into this in another forum a year ago, that forum is gone and the owner was sent to a mental institution not too long after.

I hope you'll reconsider what you've done.

[Philberto]

Being that running this site is not free, and all of our admins are unpaid, it only makes sense that we try to alleviate some of our costs and give our founders time to actually... well... offroad.

We should look at this as a sign of our site growth, and I for one am very interested to see what changes this brings.

[Trail X]

Just to keep you guys in the loop, this is the proposed new ORTB logo.

AF-ORTB.gif

(5.83 KiB) Downloaded 361 times

I'm not sure why they wanted to use purple, but it's now their call, apparently when I signed the legal paperwork I relinquished all decision-making.

They said the new site should be uploaded tonight at midnight and that the transition period should only take about 30 seconds of down-time. Talk about efficiency!

[Gordinho80]

Are they planning on keeping us on as Mods?

[muddy tires]

On another forum that I am on they push to standardize their offerings across the web. Starts by changing the logos on the sites. As their biggest forum is dedicated to toyota prius that would likely be the image on the masthead of ORTB. Then they contact members and start the body swap process. Usually small by addind decals to rear windshields but then body panel by body panel. After the body is done they focus on drivetrains, reducing rediculous mods like lifts and converting V8's to hybrids. They've done it before, just check out the title of the Autoforums guy who made the announcement!

[bgwolfpack]

That's all fine and dandy but have you really looked into this company?

I'm not willing to be involved with a site that charges for posting. What's the point?

I'm so glad you, like me, have left the OS. Once this company gets enough info on the posters it starts backlogging the amount of logins and posts for each member and then contacts them via their personal email. At first they ask for a credit card acct. If you don't supply one they start harassing you until you either pay or go elsewhere. On that last forum I choose to leave. I do still see the original guy who started it all the time though. He and I often get seated together at lunch.

[Trail X]

Are they planning on keeping us on as Mods?

Possibly... we don't have a lot of members, so they were considering making the Moderator process completely automated. Apparently it's some sort of program that runs in the background and acts like a human... kinda like an Agent Smith (off of the Matrix). They said it's in the Beta phase, but our forum was a good place to test it.

[Gordinho80]

Well that's nice! We're beta testers??? James, I'm disappointed in you...

So much for TECORE3

[bgwolfpack]

Are they planning on keeping us on as Mods?

... They said it's in the Beta phase, but our forum was a good place to test it.

Test it? I know for a fact if you can't spell or type fast enough it kicks your posts out!


This is really too bad and sad James. I thought in the beginning you were only out to make money from this site. Now we know it's true.

[Philberto]

In response to this recent announcement, and seeing no safe haven for Trailblazer offroaders, I have decided to trade in the TB (my dealership is taking stock today) and purchase the following vehicle:



a 2001 Land Rover Discovery 2.

I am sure the good people on ExPo and Dweb will be more than happy to help me out where you all are abandoning the cause.

[Gordinho80]

I would join you, Phil, but seeing as how I have a shop working on my TB as we speak, I unfortunately have no other place to go...

[Trail X]

Don't abandon ship! They're here to save us!

[Philberto]

No they're not

[bgwolfpack]

Don't abandon ship! They're here to save us!

Too late James.


Phil can you send me the info on your new truck? Can you get me a good deal on one too? Send me a PM please. Thanks

Glad I didn't put a bucket load of money in my TB.

[janesy86]

April Fools??? I hope...

[Philberto]

Phil can you send me the info on your new truck? Can you get me a good deal on one too? Send me a PM please. Thanks

Glad I didn't put a bucket load of money in my TB.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=p&car_id=276125406&dealer_id=65103325&car_year=2001&rdm=1270144066335&lastStartYear=1981&model=DISCOV&num_records=25&systime=&make2=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=1998&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=both&distance=100&marketZipError=false&search_lang=en&showZipError=n&make=ROV&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=1&drive=&default_sort=priceDESC&seller_type=b&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceDESC&address=93012&advanced=&end_year=2011&doors=&transmission=&max_price=12000&cardist=98&standard=false

Just did an Autotrader search... Land Rover Disco I and II's are pretty cheap to come by, just make sure you get a maintenance history, as preventative maintenance is key. If you get a disco I, get a '98, if you get a II, best to get either a 2001 or 2004. I could order one through our LR dealer, but the cost of delivery to your spot would likely undermine any deal I could get.

[Philberto]

April Fools??? I hope...

Oh, it is that day huh?

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SHIT!

I wonder if I can get my TB back... will keep you all posted.