Can someone fix this broken website please?

[patrickt]

And when you go to "Who's On-Line" you'll see just a handful of forum members on line but thousands of bots and spammers. But, there's really no point in *****in' because the owner doesn't care, won't address the problem and will not take any action. And Jamo's not to blame.

[767Jockey]

Last time we heard directly from Brent was over 8 months ago. His message was along the lines of "I'm aware of the issues and I'm working to resolve them." We haven't heard a word since.

Perhaps more than most, I have a huge sense of appreciation and gratitude to this forum and its members (and its owner), as well as a very deep appreciation of the immense depth and scope of the information stored within this site. This forum simply can't be lost to owner disinterest and driven to oblivion.

Again, and I say this with full respect for and appreciation of Brent and this forum that he developed, I just don't get the current state of affairs here. It's beyond crystal clear to me that for whatever reason, Brent has completely and totally lost interest in this forum. There are persistent operating issues that never seem to cease, members constantly pleading for repairs that never get made, ads for companies that haven't existed in years never changing, an owner who never even logs in to see how things are going and addressing the members, and the list goes on and on and on. These shortcomings as well as many more leave only one possible conclusion, which is that there is absolutely zero chance that Brent has any interest in maintaining this site anymore.

Given all this, I can't for the life of me understand why he doesn't engage with the members who have approached him and just sell the place to someone who's interested in more than just letting it die on the vine due to disinterest and neglect. I simply don't understand it. It's an "I don't want it, it's a hassle to me now, I have no time and interest in it anymore, but no one else can have it either" situation. It's very sad to see, and way beyond my ability to understand.

Has anyone actually physically spoken to Brent in the last year or so? I can't imagine what an owner similar to Ryan, the owner of the H.A.M.B, could possibly turn this place back into. Yes, I know forums are a so called "dying breed", I know we're all getting older, I've heard that Cobras aren't popular like they once were, etc. I've heard it all. And yet the H.A.M.B is absolutely flourishing in a market that they say the exact same things about.

There is hope, and there is absolutely a market. What's missing is an owner who shares that hope, and who believes in the market and has an interest in developing the market and this site. Brent once was a great example of that owner. Clearly, for whatever reason, that has changed. I hope he will step up and pursue a transfer of the site to someone else who will take this site to the next level.

[eschaider]

I seriously doubt Brent is going to do anything other than watch the site auger in, Doug. He has had ample opportunity to take corrective action and has deliberately chosen not to. That speaks volumes about his mindset and the site's final disposition.

I think that would be Cobra owners, and current Cobra owners would be better served by supporting a different Cobra-specific website and rebuilding a knowledge base there rather than hoping the obvious end-of-life event over here does not come to pass, because it is all but inevitable.

By switching to a new venue, you will have the use a site that actually works, where you can exchange ideas and make helpful suggestions along with many of the older members of CC who have already moved on. That particular scenario produces desirable results for literally everybody.

Brent gets to have the website silently disappear with no further demands made on him or his time. Members get a website that actually works, has knowledgeable membership, and can substantially rebuild the knowledge base that was left behind at CC because many of the members were, in point of fact, the actual authors of that knowledge base.

Make no mistake: Some information may be slow to reappear, and some may be lost to the passage of time, but even with those issues, a replacement website is a far better alternative than the current excuse for a website that CC is proffering. If this seems to be a reasonable fix for a member's Cobra-specific website needs/appetite, then you should check out TalkCobra.com. You will be pleasantly surprised.

[cfmistry]

I’m new here so I have no idea who Brent is, but is he a Cobra owner? I would hate to lose the wealth of knowledge provided from this site. I’ve been reading lots of old posts from the early 2000’s, information I haven’t found elsewhere.

[Ron61]

Brent owns this site and another one or two also. And yes, he has some really great cars including a GT-40 but right now he is playing with his Ginetta G57 LMP more than the others I think. I would hate to see all of the great information on here lost too so hopefully the site will continue to work although it is very slow for me.

Ron

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Brent owns this site and another one or two also. And yes, he has some really great cars including a GT-40 but right now he is playing with his Ginetta G57 LMP more than the others I think. I would hate to see all of the great information on here lost too so hopefully the site will continue to work although it is very slow for me.

Ron

Brent also has a polished Kirkham Cobra 427 S/C replica. Well I assume he still has it.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by 767Jockey

There is hope, and there is absolutely a market. What's missing is an owner who shares that hope, and who believes in the market and has an interest in developing the market and this site. Brent once was a great example of that owner. Clearly, for whatever reason, that has changed. I hope he will step up and pursue a transfer of the site to someone else who will take this site to the next level.

Sorry, but I disagree. The market for this forum is slowly diminishing. 20 years ago how many companies were producing replicas? How many are there now? [Edit: And I just saw that Mr. Bruce is retiring. See what I mean?]

How many NEW active members come here?

How long does the average car sit on Cobra Country compared to 15 years ago?

There are only a handful of regular participants here.

Now here comes the kicker. Brent is probably losing money on this forum (and all of them combined). You're assuming a much lower cost of ownership than is realistic.

You've got to find a new hosting company. Don't know what it costs. Other ongoing costs exists, just can't think of them. Domain name registration changes and lots of other one-time costs.

Who out there do you think is IT savvy enough to actually operate the site? It's non-trivial or trust me, it would be fixed.

Then you've still got root cause. I will assert until proven otherwise the problem is not servers and software, but the corruption of the data itself. New faster servers have been transplanted as a fix and nothing changed. Hosting companies have changed. Not fixed. The forum software is old, but software doesn't rot. New sotware may do better things, and yes there are bug fixes, but there is no evidence that this forum's problems are bugs in software. Everything points to corrupted data. The data is the only common thing all along. The problem follows the data.

I'd be glad to be proven wrong, but it will probably be the starting place that a professional would start and finding and fixing is going to cost a fair amount of money. I'll gladly accept and give a nod to whoever finds the real problem, but so far, noone with any experience has offered anything else. I spent nearly 40 years finding this kind of bug, and sometimes my initial gut feel diagnosis was wrong, but not many times, and in the end, they were much more insidious than what I initially though.

Where does all that money come from? Probably not advertisers. The Total Available Market for Cobra "stuff" is decreasing in real time. This forum is exposed to maybe 10% of the TAM. Every once in a while you see someone bought an exhaust, but that's the last thing I remember. The few parts suppliers are largely gone (or not reliable, we know who I'm talking about).

So lets say someone takes it over. Noone here is going to be around long enough to make a career out of it. And eventually, the new owner will tire of it, try to find a new home and go through exactly what this is going through now.

You have to turn this project into "move the house to a different lot as is", not "move it and remodel". You can't afford the remodel job and the "move" portion has an unknown but not zero cost. Who will pay that? I'll tell you, it's not me. While I get enjoyment from the site and the knowledge and even enjoy contributing to tech and fix-it discussions, it's not worth paying to continue. I spent 10 years on Team Shelby. Contributed much info. It's gone. I miss it, but I survived. If this forum and its data disappears, you'll survive too.

Also be aware that there are low visibility areas that are associated with the forum, notably the "for sale" section that would have to come along since the cost to excise them would be more than you'd want to pay.

And don't think you'll survive if you go to a paid site. Every paid site that I was part of (a few) and those that tried (a few) have failed. Noone really wants to pay for what is a low duty cycle hobby. Most of them moved to Facebook.

One site has partial pay. Paying an annual (or sizeable one time) chuck gets you write access to some areas, incluing the ability to advertise for sale stuff.

Facebook is free.

My personal assessment is that this forum is on life support. It gets a defibrillator shock periodically to get it breathing again, but the heart is still weak.

And, as hard as it sounds, the continual application of baling wire, duct tape and bubble gum that maintains the current unreliable nature is literally as good as it's going to get.

Sorry, but I had to say this since the whole "rescue it" thing seems to come up more and more...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

Sorry, but I had to say this since the whole "rescue it" thing seems to come up more and more...

Uhhh, maybe just a bit more cam lube will do the trick.

[sgianino]

Im still calling Keith Craft from the banner advertisement and no one answers....

[sgianino]

Im trying to call Keith Craft from the Banner but no one answers ?

[Blas]

"The inevitable has finally occurred: a mass migration of CC members to Talk Cobra. While I'm unsurprised by this development, I'm astonished it took so long. This platform, once a vibrant hub, is rapidly becoming obsolete and irrelevant. It now serves merely as an archive of historical information, devoid of any dynamic engagement. The unreliable connection issues and lack of meaningful responses from ownership have rendered it unreliable for seeking answers. This decline is a stark reflection of our times, where something once cherished by many is callously discarded by its owner, who ignores members' concerns and comments. The writing is on the wall – this once-thriving community is fading into irrelevance."

This platform has consistently upheld its standards throughout my membership, maintaining a refreshing atmosphere free from unchecked far-right rhetoric, homophobic tirades, soft porn, and persistently disrespectful remarks from a vocal minority. Notably, this site had also managed to keep technical discussions – ostensibly its core focus, given its dedication to a specific car model, striking a balance that fosters constructive engagement and civility. This commendable moderation (primarily by membership) had created a sanctuary for thoughtful exchange, shielding users from toxic discourse and ensuring meaningful interactions.
I can believe any vendor is still paying to advertise here, as vendor banners for long gone company’s still persist.
I only wish that Dan Semko was still here to perform the eulogy for the website.
Blas

[patrickt]

... and so it goes.

[Ron61]

Sad to say but I think Bas has pretty much covered the problems with the site. I got on Ok this morning but I seem to be having several different problems from day to day. Time outs while trying to access the site and the usual error when submitting a post which takes about 2 minutes to finally get in.

But don't give up on this site just yet. It is still far and away one of the best for information and getting answers. I think CHR is on the same server but I haven't been on it for a long time so I don't know if they are having the same kind of problems or not.

Ron

[Buzz]

I have a somewhat different take that I've mostly kept to myself. While I applaud and and support those like Tommy and others who have stepped up with offers to get involved in keeping this site going, as well as enjoy the technical insights from members like 2bjshelbys; I find it very difficult to have anything but appreciation for Brent and the fact that in spite of all of the difficult realities discussed and acknowledged in these threads; he actually keeps soldiering on, patching up the site and keeping it running.

Surely this must be one tiresome, costly and thankless pursuit with no obvious benefits that I can see other than the pure love of cars and dedication to the community of enthusiasts. Putting myself in his shoes, it can't be very encouraging to read some of the posts ragging on him for not being able to always keep the site in perfect working order and I'm just surprised (and happy) that he keeps it running at all. He could (and I'm sure most would) just say screw it and walk away.

I don't want to go as far as using the word "ingratitude" - I get that we all want a smooth-running site - but I believe some expressions of appreciation and gratitude for Brent and his efforts would go a long way towards keeping Club Cobra alive. After all - Brent doesn't owe any of us a Cobra community forum for us to enjoy and I for one am happy that he's done it and keeps on doing it in spite of all the difficulties and challenges.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Blas

"The inevitable has finally occurred: a mass migration of CC members to Talk Cobra.

No offense, but I do not see much relevant traffic there at all vs here. Not on a regular basis.




Bill S.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

No offense, but I do not see much relevant traffic there at all vs here. Not on a regular basis.




Bill S.

Not to step on Ron who does a great job of running a great forum but Talk Cobra has operated more as a club for group of regular members since I’ve been a member. Most, but not all, are Cobra owners and they are all auto enthusiast. But we venture off afield on other subjects too. I’m not sure it could support all the technical side that this forum used too either with its much smaller selection of sub-forums. But then it’s the members of any forum that provide the bulk of technical help and support. It does work reliably but I’m not sure how much capacity it actually has. That’s a question for Ron.

[patrickt]

It took me a good 20 minutes yesterday to answer my427stang's question about an ERA battery and get it posted. Even when I did the site responded with the usual Out of Memory or other garbage responses. Most car enthusiasts would have just given up. And when I checked who was on line there were was less than ten members on the site.

[kevins2]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Not to step on Ron who does a great job of running a great forum but Talk Cobra has operated more as a club for group of regular members since I’ve been a member. Most, but not all, are Cobra owners and they are all auto enthusiast. But we venture off afield on other subjects too. I’m not sure it could support all the technical side that this forum used too either with its much smaller selection of sub-forums. But then it’s the members of any forum that provide the bulk of technical help and support. It does work reliably but I’m not sure how much capacity it actually has. That’s a question for Ron.

Dan,

I'm sure Ron will chime in if he sees this but I can tell you that talkcobra can support any number of new forums/subforums as the need arises. The administrators agree that it would be good for the site to take a turn more toward the technical side. Do you think we should create some technical forums on the basis of "build it and they will come"? There are some very knowledgeable members over there and some who are very well connected into the original cobra community. Are there members here who would participate if there were more forums specific to their liking?

It's also true that the site has a "girls and cars" thread and a "politics" thread. There have been very few complaints about the girl thread (just keep scrolling if that's not your thing) and I find it amazing that the political thread doesn't devolve into chaos. Talkcobra may be unique in that there is absolutely no fighting or name calling, just some good-natured ribbing that's all in fun between members who know each other. I don't recall a single instance of an argument or disagreement turning ugly in years.

Thoughts?

Kevin

[Ron61]

First off we are NOT poaching members from this or any other site. If they want to come over that is great but don't take our posts as trying to lure members away from this site. Adding some Forums or subforums is no big thing and we are discussing a couple of new ones now. It was mentioned about making it a pay dues site but I am against that. I will take care of that part of it and if we need more then we can ask for donations. Also I am not in favor of having ads on the site as other sites I have worked on they were nothing but a pain in the ass.

And yes the site can handle additional traffic and posting with no problem.

Ron

[kevins2]

I don't see poaching members as a thing. Anyone who joins another site is still free to participate here so their activity likely won't change. Personally, I like having another site to participate in so I can get my "cobra fix" when this site is down.

Kevin