RamCharger.net

Sorry guys, didn't mean to get everyone stirred up.  ProjectM880, I knew you were joking about the Kool-Aid and I don't blame anyone for coming and going at their will.  We all have our own ideas about what makes a forum "ideal" for us and if anyone feels the need to move, so be it, regardless of the reason.  I just want to know the reason, or more importantly, I was VS to know the reason.  If VS is not doing anything to support our hobby, then tell them.  If you don't like the look of the new forum, even though that's totally flexible, tell them.  If we serve cheese with no crackers, tell them.  Things will not change for the better unless we guide them.  While they do own the forum and can do whatever they want with it, we are the lifeblood of the forum and if they drive us all away, their investment means nothing.  It's akin to buying a condo to rent out the rooms and then running off all the renters.

Also, Over The Hill, I am sorry if I took your post above seriously, but text is flat and lifeless while speech is more dimensional and we can tell from your tone and inflection what your meaning is.  With text, we take it at face value and first impression.  Since VS bought RCC I have been a bit paranoid about people leaving and I knew the idea of the software upgrade would be a good excuse for people to leave so naturally since that was what was on my mind, that was the conclusion I jumped to.  It's not big deal, like I said above, I don't blame anyone for leaving or staying wherever they are most comfortable.  But again, I just wish people would voice their concerns.

So far VS has been pretty much "hands off" with RCC which is both good and bad.  Good that they haven't come in with a trillion ads and crazy demands but bad when trying to get problems fixed and them taking any sort of productive interest in the forum.  I'm a little worried that they might just swap the forum over and just leave it however they want it.  If enough people voice their concerns about the forum keeping the same look and feel, they should listen.  I'm not entirely sure how VS operates but judging from what I've seen it seems they don't really seem to babysit any of the forums.  Everytime I have contacted VS needing help, I have gotten a different person.  This makes me think that the support guys at VS that act as forum Admins are just a pool of workers who just take a support ticket and go try to fix the problem on whatever forum it is on.  Similarly on Pirate there were some changes made that were not made by the person VS made initial contact with and were making changes that were not "part of the deal".  Seems these people have a job to go around the various forums and put up certain advertising or features and they just go from one to the other regardless of the forum topic.  If that is the case, then we probably won't ever get anyone from VS that likes Ramchargers or even drives a Dodge anything so it's up to us to shape and mold what happns on RCC.  To them it's just another forum, to us it's the place we hang out, we chat about various topics and trade tech tips and knowledge about the trucks we love.  There is no way to make everyone happy but I like to think that we can at least keep things on a pretty even keel.

Again, I'm not here trying to keep people from leaving and coming to RC.net.  Hell, I'm here and while RCC keeps me pretty busy I try to check in here and on BombedCummins a couple times a week when I have the time just to see what everyone is up to.  All I'm saying is if you love RCC like a lot of us do, don't give up on it just because we have a headless driver at the wheel.  Grab the wheel and help steer us in the direction we want to go and maybe, just maybe, we can keep RCC the place that's it's been for many of us for years.

Oh and um, the ads.  ::cough:: AdBlock Plus and NoScript take care of all that stuff, regardless of what forum you are on.  ::cough:: 

Not trying to start anything but I do have to point out that no changes have been made on RCC as of yet and I am merely trying to gauge the membership's opinion of a software update.  Everyone has their chance to voice their opinion on the proposed change and if you don't like it, I would much rather you post up and say so and why rather than just cut out and leave.  If the update does happen, it's a fairly routine for a forum as most update their software every 5 years or so and I'm sure many of us remember the last one Sam did a few years before the sale.  I also can't help but point out the irony that you don't like a change in forum software on RCC but you are now on a another Ramcharger forum that uses different software.   

Again, not trying to start an argument or anything but if you have concerns post them up in the thread I started and let's hear them.  RCC is for the members and if VS decides to make changes no one likes, it will be the members that will have to tell them it's not happening.  I'm not saying you have to stick with RCC either as we are all free to go wherever we wish and we can all be members of as meany forums as we choose but if you are truly leaving because of VS, I would like them to be able to read that themselves so they know that members are leaving due to changes, or proposed changes or whatever is coming down the line.  In the end we may all end up leaving and finding a home here or on Sam's new site but I'm not jumping ship completely until it's actually going down.   

Most of us are still on RCC and it will probably stay that way until things get unbearable for one reason or another.  A few seem to have left or at least are spending equal amounts of time on either RCC and Bombed Cummins, RCC and here or all three.  I'm just floating around all three but since there is more activity on RCC, that is where I spend the most time.

Lol, I don't think I would be a moderator much longer if I stickied a post like that.  Under the guise of the site going down and wanting everyone to regroup somewhere to exchange news on the site I think you guys can get sway with putting the word out.  As a moderator of RCC, I sort of represent the site and I doubt the owners would enjoy me promoting a competing site on their forum.  Now maybe one of the other mods might sticky it for you but I sort of doubt it for the same reasons I stated.  With RCC going down for a few days I think you can sort of slip in under the radar with a post but until RCC is really abandoned i don't want to jeopardize my position there.

It's up for me now so it should only be a matter of time until everyone can get on RCC.  If you haven't already, it might be a good idea to clear your RCC cookies and cache so that doesn't cause any problems.

I didn't either.  I knew the company that bought RCC was one name or another under Vertical Scope but I couldn't remember the name "Autoguide" to save my life.  Since the VS homepage listed RCC as one of the sites they own, I just took it to the top.

Yeah, Sam said it's a DNS problem with the various ISPs.  Some take a while to update.  The site is apparently back up and running, but it may take some time for everyone's ISP's to update and recognize it.

Still down here also.  I just received this email from VS concerning RCC being down:

Quote
We have received your email about Ramchargercentral.com being down. Our technicians are working diligently at getting the site to be operational shortly the latest ETA is end of day today. We apologize any inconvenience this has caused, due to unforeseen issues we have experienced an extended downtime on this site. Please let us know if you have any other questions or anything we can assist you with, again our apologies for this inconvenience.

Sam said on BombedCummins that they have renewed the addy but he's not sure what the hold up is on getting RCC back online.

Actually this situation is a good time to make a post in the open board on RCC.  Just put it under the guise of this is where we can meet up if the forum goes down again.  I don't think that sort of post would be frowned upon, at least I won't do anything about it.  Also be aware that many of the guys are already over at one of Sam's other sites, bombedcummins.com.

Who is bringing the beer?