IB Tim

Disappointed is something I did not think of....and not very observant on my part..sorry, because it is a feeling I have had when seeing hard work and love go down ...not a good feeling.

What I and IB and members is get some of the things that are not correct from "members" point of view straightened out.
You know we got back 200k + posts, I have no clue the amount of work that went into that...but I am happy they pulled it off.

I am making a list of the top ten items we need to look at....I know you have more ideas then just this...
I will work to get thread that gives us an area to get more members talking.

Tom I greatly appreciate you stepping up, at the end of the day we are both just car guys...

Raunchychips

The dragon is not my buddy Rey. what is your evidence, IP address? Ray comes over all the time and uses my computer so what's next you're going to ban me or accuse me of being Rey? I'm here and there on his site. It's time for you and IB to just move on forget about Rey, like he has done about you all and TR. I know the dragon is our buddy Chris and he joined like 8 month ago when Rey was trying to drum up traffic and he signed up at Reys house. Again, IP is to vague of a reason to call concrete proof. I wish you all the best but I find it hard to restore this site to anything profitable. I guess time will tell. Cheers!

Alex

elitist

Marshall I know you remember the golden glory days lmao

David48

Trophy Quest 2014

Empire

sorry guys, but I gotta do it....

Does it really matter who it was? All that seems to show is that IB is either scared of one person, threatened by them in some way, Or otherwise using that person as the scapegoat for a very very long list of screw ups since IB took over. So its one user, get over it and as you say, move forward. It doesn't take a genius to see that Rey, while not always on the same page as everyone else, loved this site more than most.
i do find it funny that now IB is taking the "lets get it done" approach.
I'm curious though... who is the IB rep that is going to talk to the local shops? arrange an official TR presence at meets and events? organize meets? you know, do anything local? You can make all the tweaks you want to the forum itself, but without the local community, the site has no back bone to stand.
IB had volunteers that were doing all of that local work, and IB didn't do anything to support them, and in turn, drove them apart, and drove them out.
So what is IB going to do about it now.

Let me get this right. You're asking a favor of the members to spread rumors around about someone that was driven out of the site? And some how that is going to help fix TR? Is IB really that shallow? Are they really in the business of gossip? Is this some kind of business strategy? There is another site in town that is going to offer some competition and IB first move is to spread rumors? Not offer a superior product, but to gossip about former users? really? Can't own up to your own screw ups, instead you have to try to blame someone else. wow.
I hate to do it but I told you so. I don't know how many times I voiced this very concern. lots of time and effort and money was getting pumped into bringing TR back to life just to turn a profit for a faceless internet company that wouldn't step up and support the site, or the people that were trying to turn it back around and keep it going. I was denounced because of such "negative" comments about it. I had hoped that TR would turn around, but it wasn't hard to see the lack of support we had from IB. We can talk about improvements all we want, but if IB isn't going to step up, then nothing gets done. Every sticker printed, every banner made, everything spent on TR was for the benefit of IB and they were just going to keep letting you spend more and more on the site with no plans of ever repaying you for it.
I really hope IB steps up and does the right thing, but given their actions lately, I'm doubting it.
very eloquently put.
WTF? seriously? In what world is a response like that ok? It is possible that i skipped that class, but I don't remember any business or management professor saying that condescending remarks with underlying tones were proper in any situation, let alone when discussing the state of the company, or in this case, the forum. So what this little comment tells me is that A) those in charge have no experience and no natural talent at managing anything greater than an e-mail inbox and their lack of experience and lack of knowledge are major contributing factors as to the state of affairs around here and B) that general lack of experience and knowledge is supported and enforced by an even greater lack of maturity and it is IB's objective to eliminate anyone that doesn't fall inline with what they believe to be their superior views.
When in a position of authority, you are held to a higher standard. You want to come in and not only be "in charge" of the site, but also a representative from the company that owns the site, therefore speaking on their behalf. You would think there would be someone higher on the food chain that wouldn't condone such ill advised behavior and recognize the opportunity for learning and advancement on your behalf. Unless of course, this is IB's stance in which case, I retract my statement about you acting in such an ill advised manor and congratulate you for expressing IB's lack of maturity with excellence
driving away a following that has held out for a very very long time. a following that used to call TR home.
That seems to be a major point that is missed on IB. "expecting push back and dissension from those whoes bones you pick but ultimately are supposed to advocate" I don't know how anyone could look at TR and think that everything was ok and it would be fine to crack jokes with the users. I don't get why IB is just now starting to talk about forward progress. I don't know why IB let TR fall apart, and now want to turn around and expect the users to be openly supportive of bringing the site back. You know what this seems like to me? Someone is getting pressure from a higher up that TR isn't meeting its sales quotas from ads, and this is some last ditch effort by some sales person to get the troops all rallied up to get the numbers back up where they are supposed to be.
Rhart, you aren't in the minority at all. You're one of the last ones holding out for TR. The majority have long since moved on. It is sad when they drive away quality people like yourself.

Did you read that in your "how to run a forum for complete idiots" handbook? The users banter. You know why? because the users have that kind of relationship. It is a community and within a community, there is an acceptable amount of banter. Having someone like you come in and try to force yourself to "fit in" with the community and offering some kind of banter regarding the steaming pile of rotten dog shit that TR has become is ill conceived at best. We aren't buddies. We don't even like you. As a matter of fact, there is quite a lot of general resentment towards IB as they are the ones that drove TR into the ground. The place many of us called home. A once great community. A place that brought so many of us together. It needed help. It needed support. IB came in and kicked its legs out from under it and let it sprawl on the floor til it finally just laid their as twitched. Some of the users tried to pump life back into it and all IB wanted to do was, well, nothing. IB did nothing. And now that the twitching has stopped and the only thing that is happening is decay, you want to spread rumors and gossip and blame others and attempt friendly banter about the situation. I don't know what training you have, but you either A) need to go back and try it again or B) realize that what ever fool did the training was just that, a fool, and find someone else to attempt to train you how to run a forum like this.
amazing. years into it and you're just now starting to give a shit about what the users are saying. The part that blows me away is that you did know. IB knew exactly what TR needed. Hell, when IB bought TR, there was an entire section devoted to concerns and suggestions. That section was full of issues that TR needed addressed. From there, numerous threads were made in and out of the Admin/Mod section stating numerous issues and suggestions. Many of which the IB rep at the time posted in and acknowledged with the typical IB response "it is being worked on, we'll see what we can do..." Simple changes that would have taken minutes to accomplish never happened because of one reason or another. Its funny, when TR was sold, we were told that IB was going to be able to offer TR the attention and support that TR deserved, that the previous owners were no longer going to be able to provide. A big company with lots of forum experience and their tech department can't figure out how to put ads on a page without screwing everything up? And when it is screwed up and the users are complaining about it, it takes months and months to get any sort of resolution?
If IB cared, they would know what needed addressed.
I'm really really hoping that what you were trying to imply was that even though you know it will get back to Rey, you are going to speak honestly about the situation and admit that you have no idea what got beyond the Admin forum indicating that is was Rey's fault that issues never went beyond that. Not that you are trying to belittle another user because of a possible association to Rey implying that we are just making things up to make Rey look good because we are all buddies. I really hope that was your intention. If it was, then I would highly suggest taking a moment to step back and re-reading your posts before you submit them and consider your audience. An audience that, as it has been pointed out time and time again, isn't happy with you, and by you, we mean IB, and you are IB to your audience. A little bit of advice, when working with a touchy subject like this, find the most tactful way possible to say something, and if it can't be tactful, then seriously consider its value and determine if it is worth even saying. Someone with some maturity, knowledge and experience would have recognized that half of that statement didn't even need to be said, if your point was that you weren't sure how much actually got pasted the Admin forum. All you needed to say was, "I'm going to be honest with you, I do not know how many things/requests/issues ever went past the admin forum" And if you wanted to add your positive spin onto it you could have furthered with "Whatever the reason was, it isn't going to be a problem now. Moving forward, please express your concerns and suggestions and we'll get TR turned back around" See, that wasn't so hard. You didn't have to push any gossip, imply any wrong doing, or otherwise belittle any one's actions, and the best part, you didn't even have to accept responsibility for past actions, or the lack there of, and, you got to push the "lets move forward" agenda.

see what I mean? One very poorly worded post and your audience turns on you. A sign of maturity is to consider your audience when you address them. Perhaps this was a good example as to why.
This is a point that IB should take very personally. They bought an already successful website that was in need of some support, and instead of supporting it, IB drove it into the ground and a significant number of users have left the site and moved on to a different site. I don't know about where you come from, but in my world, they call that a failure. A big one. The kind of failure people loose jobs over. Not something that is taken lightly with some casual banter, but something that has weight, something that has impact, something that changes the way things are done. So instead of harping on about Rey and all of that drama, is IB going to mature from this and change the way things have been done?

Man, so close. I understand and appreciate the "lets move forward" attitude, but at what point is IB going to acknowledge what has happened here? At what point is IB going to level with the users it so desperately needs, letting them say their piece, accepting some kind of responsibility and going from there? I don't know any organization that has been able to completely turn a blind eye on its history and move forward successfully. Seriously, we are talking management 101 here. Acknowledge the issues, make the corrections, and move forward. You've never going to get a group of people that is this upset about how things have happened, to just forgive and forget and move forward without at the very least acknowledging them. Blaming someone else, brushing it off, and sticking to the "move forward" script isn't going to work.

Yeah, I agree. Disappointed is a great word to describe it. The site took a down turn when the previous owners couldn't devote the time and attention the site needed any longer. IB was supposed to come in and save the day, instead, they assisted with the death of TR. So lets think about any business transaction you have ever had in your entire life. If things went the way they were supposed to, you were happy and all was well. But if you were disappointed, you wanted to tell someone about it. Probably got a manager involved, and they acknowledged your concerns and apologized for the experience, took some responsibility. corrected the issue, made it right and moved forward. The only way anything was going to get better is if the manager did something. IB is the manager here. the users are the customer. What could the customer possibly do to make things any better? We didn't screw up. IB did. So what is IB going to do to fix it?

well I see you are capable of acknowledging it and accepting some kind of responsibiltiy. So that's a step in the right direction. This just goes to prove the point further. IB hasn't cared for so long, they don't realize how bad the issue really is. It shouldn't take 3 pages and users telling you what the problem is. The problems are as clear as day to anyone who's head isn't in their ass. So now that you have some kind of understanding of the feeling your audience has, are you going to communicate differently? Are you going to do something about it? I know if I was trying to turn the site around, I would have a sticky on every page talking about the things IB did wrong, and how IB is going to fix it and the changes that are already in the works (because I would take the time to find some of those suggestion threads that were already made) and open the door for further concerns, suggestions, criticism and create a new forum section for all of that. I would keep the users up to date with what was going on so they could see that progress was being made. But that's just me. What are you going to do? What is IB going to do?

wow, so you really don't know what you're doing. Or maybe you do, and you're hoping that we don't know what it takes to recover some files. I can tell you that if it was me in your shoes, I would be working to find out what happened, why it happened, and what was done/is being done to prevent it from happening again. I would be advocating my ass off for this site because I would recognize that the only way to get any of the members back, let alone keep the last remaining few, is for them to see that IB really is on their side and things are changing.
What you and IB needs to be doing is putting in the footwork and seeing what has already been discussed over and over and over and over again. That's the beauty of a forum, all of the information is right there. Conversations don't go anyway, its all right there. Do the foot work, find the issues and turn it around. stop expecting the users to do the work for you. You have long since missed out on that chance.
seriously... a top ten... and you're working on it so it can get looked at.... yeah. That inspires a lot of hope. That's the same line of bullshit IB fed us what, a year ago? So. You posted this 10 days ago. Where are you at with that list? What ended up on that list? What is getting looked at? What is getting fixed?
The thing is, these aren't just ideas. We've had flat out complaints and issues since IB took over that have been ignored over and over again. An idea would be to change the coloring some. An issue is the fact that there are so many damn ads all over the place that are still causing lay out and functionality issues. Come on. You can do better.
Or maybe you can't. Maybe you can't do any better and that's why this has failed.
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elitist

Amen Empire

There is so many things I would like to add but I will say this, TR was great it was a place that brought the Tampa Bay area car scene together. No one had any problems with TR and everyone was for the most part happy with the site, if you want it to succeed turn it back into what it once was don't try to make it into something you think will work. This I will say however, IB Tim as someone with whatever status you possess your spelling and grammar make it hard for me to take anything you say seriously, or even comprehend what you are saying for that matter.

IB Tim

Good to read what people are thinking, as for grammar and spelling sorry I type fast and to the point...short I should say to make it grammatically correct.
YES we want it to succeed. ...simple enough to type and comprehend for me, more difficult to implement success and that is well recognized.
Never did "we" want to turn it into something we think will work. We recognize this is NOT about us it is about members.

elitist

The people on TR that you should try to keep around are those members that have been on here for years, the one that actually know a thing or two. Personally I have done just about every "jdm swap" there is then went on to work on Rolex race teams, worked on World Challenge race teams, formula teams, run race shops, rebuilt everything from RS200 rally cars to Super Taikyu R34 race cars. I currently own a bike shop and still do a few cars here and there. I'm not trying to sound cocky or arrogant, my point is this. Young 16-17 year old kids have nothing to offer the site but questions, without experienced people to answer those questions they will go elsewhere. Get some knowledgeable members on here, people who can actually give some help and advise and the site will once again succeed. People join TR to learn, if there is no one to learn from they aren't going to stick around. That is what this site once was, it was a place to bounce ideas, a place to get advise, a place for members to come together to help each other. The TR sponsored events and meets were ok I guess but let's face it a very very small portion of the members from TR would actually go to them. Lastly my final suggestion would be to make the site easy to use, time effective to navigate through, if you're 16-17 years old you have all the time in the world, those of us that are a but older don't have the time to waste trying to navigate the site, such as the Nissan for sale section no longer being attached to the Nissan tech section, that just makes it take longer for me to go through both and to be quite honest I'm not going to because it's to much of a hassle, if I come on TR I am now going through one or the other. The reason I felt the need to comment on your grammar and spelling is this, this site is filled with uneducated ignorant people take the time to literately type things out and people will take you more seriously.

I know that was a bit long winded, read it or don't, take my advise or don't, after the years TR has given me I felt the least I could do is give my input.

Tom N

How many more times is it going to be mentioned that vehicle specific for sale sections should be put back in tech sections where they belong before nothing is still done to about it?
Just wondering.