So....

[Steve Webb]

...its been about 4 years since I paid this website and forum any great attention. Thats far too long, I know, I'm sorry.

Things have stopped working, I've missed too many emails and its generally fallen into a state of disrepair.

I'm going to be looking to change all this and bring the website up to date, make sure all the bits and pieces of the forum work, and generally give the place a spruce up.

So before I get started, what sort of things do you guys, assuming there are still some of you out there, do you want to see happen?

Answers on a postcard, via pigeon, PM or just maybe post up a reply.

Thanks and Hello again!

[AlfaJack]

Hi Steve,

Welcome back (again) ;)

Q4 owners don't appear to be the chattiest of people these days!

For me, just a simple, functional forum where there is some discussion with easy photo uploads.

I don't need or use the garage feature (currently car of the week is Mini Cooper!), or the news feed at the top. The bookmarks under your post for FB, Digg, Twitter etc can go too.

The biggest problem is the registration process and spamming.

I think after spending so much time moderating and deleting spam users I put the registration of new users is currently on an Admin authorisation basis.

I am sure this can be remedied with a software update and introduce the Google reCaptcha feature.

https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/

[elCrillo]

Im here looking once a week...!

[Steve Webb]

Hi Steve,

Welcome back (again) ;)

Q4 owners don't appear to be the chattiest of people these days!

For me, just a simple, functional forum where there is some discussion with easy photo uploads.

I don't need or use the garage feature (currently car of the week is Mini Cooper!), or the news feed at the top. The bookmarks under your post for FB, Digg, Twitter etc can go too.

The biggest problem is the registration process and spamming.

I think after spending so much time moderating and deleting spam users I put the registration of new users is currently on an Admin authorisation basis.

I am sure this can be remedied with a software update and introduce the Google reCaptcha feature.

https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/

Hi again Jack,

I think thats the way forward, slim down the forum and site, but make whats let nice and clear and efficient. The add-ons etc did get out of hand with things appearing because they could rather than because they were needed.

Seems like the first thing to sort out is slimming down the forum, bringing it upto date and making it secure.

Cheers!

[AlfaJack]

I would love to see this place active again as there are some hugely knowledgeable members. Saying that, even 155.org is getting a little dormant. Some members have migrated to FB but not sure how many actually have 155s these days - i'v lost track. Wrinx will have a better idea.

I would be curious to know, how many member have their Q4s on the road. Mine was there then I started hacking bits off it again and again, its nearly road worthy again.

It still serves as a good resource and this is where Facebook falls down - it is a day to day discussion/chat thing and as far as I know does not have an easy way to get the history/archives.

[Steve Webb]

Seems like a good idea to give this place a more technical focus and leave the social side of things to the like of facebok etc.

Its been a while but if I can remember how to, I'll see about sending out a bulk email to all the members, see if I can stir up some interest and get some ideas about what people want and what would bring them back.

[Evodelta]

Some openness and honesty would be good, why you took money from people and vanished with it etc (or as was reported on here).
You can't expect to come back and everything just to carry on as normal, people are owed an explanation, some kind of closure to previous events before even trying to carry on.

[Steve Webb]

Hello all, and Martin in particular, your response was one of the reasons that I posted up my original post in the first place, so thankyou for raising those points.

Things have been particularly testing for me over the past few years, its only now that I've actually been able to be reunited with all of my possentions, and hence one of the reasons why it is only now that I'm able to start getting the automotive \ fun part of my life back in order.

As far as I am aware all monies that were sent to the shop during the period that I didn't have access, and before I was able to shut it down correctly were returned to the senders. If anyone knows any different then I would be keen to hear about it so I can refund people. Obviously this would be far better done either through a PM on here or direct to my email address.

I am keen to resurect the website etc, just the running costs, registration of the site have cost me a large sum of money over the years so I'm unwilling to throw it all away now. However, given past events and just the stress and strain of running a multi-threaded presence on the internet means that I'm not so keen on doing it all myself again. Things are going to change here, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse, but they will change. If people don't want to be a part of that then fine, close the door on the way out, neigh sayers stood in the corner won't be tollerated in any form, but people wishing to join in, lend a hand, help out where they can, will be welcomed with open arms.

Once again thanks for bringing these points up, these things need to be out in the open, if anyone else has any questions then fire away, anything personal or about specific cases however would be best dealt with in a private setting.

Thanks for your time.

Steve

[Speedy]

I would love to see this place active again as there are some hugely knowledgeable members. Saying that, even 155.org is getting a little dormant. Some members have migrated to FB but not sure how many actually have 155s these days - i'v lost track. Wrinx will have a better idea.

I would be curious to know, how many member have their Q4s on the road. Mine was there then I started hacking bits off it again and again, its nearly road worthy again.

It still serves as a good resource and this is where Facebook falls down - it is a day to day discussion/chat thing and as far as I know does not have an easy way to get the history/archives.



I use my Q4 on a daily basis

[AlfaJack]

I use my Q4 on a daily basis

So do I....as of the last two days!

[Speedy]

Last two years for me