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First, let me welcome you all to the British Car Forum!
It's really great to have you all here. I have written many of you personal welcomes, but frankely, the Healey registrations have been coming in so fast and so many the past couple of days, I'm not sure I can keep it up (but I'll try)!
At first, I was at a loss as to why all of the sudden we were getting such a flood of new Healey guys (and gals)
, then I learned that Reid Trummel, who has been messing around here for a while now, had basically invited you all over from the Healey list!
I started this forum about a year ago for a couple of reasons. First, I belonged to a number of lists and, while I found them very useful, there were also some aspects I didn't care for (like not being able to easily follow a thread or conversation) and getting my inbox flooded with emails. Long before I started BCF, (maybe two years ago) I had joined a new "forum" for another make of car I own (doesn't matter what it is, its not British). They had been using mailing lists, but had changed over to this forum format, which was something new. After hanging out on this new forum for a while, I soon realized it was a far far superior way of communicating; in so many ways it would take pages to list them all.
Anyway, I started looking around for something similar for British Cars and, while there were a few small message boards around for specific marques, there was no "British Car Forum" which frankely surprised me. So I started checking and found (again, much to my amazement
) that the domain name Britishcarforum.com was available. Well, being a computer geek from way back (I used to run a very popular "BBS" before the internet came along), I decided, why not give it a shot myself? Afterall, I love British cars, I've run forums (well, BBSs) before, I like playing with web design, I enjoy people, etc etc. So, I purchased the domain name and several hundred Megs of server space, plus the UBB software for running the same kind of forum for the other car I mentioned earlier. Then I spent several months thinking about and designing the forum before officially putting her online on Christmas day, 2000. Since then I have been continually trying to upgrade and improve the BCF. I welcome constructive critisim and honestly try to be responsive to the needs of the forum community. Obviously I can't implement every single suggestion I get, but I do listen. I'm sorry to be so long about this, but I just wanted you all to have a bit of history as to why the BCF exists.
That being said, I know that this forum format may be alien to some of you, especially if you are used to mailing lists. But, give it a fair chance and I'm sure the newness of it will soon fade and you will soon realize the beauty of this forum format. Just posting and replying to messages is only scratching the surface - this forum format is very powerful and flexible, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask [You can post questions (about the forum operation) anywhere, but in the "Forum Happenings" forum would be the best place]
So, welcome to you all
- I do hope you will find the BCF a valuable resource that serves your interests and needs well. If you made it this far - thanks!
Basil
[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Basil ]</p>
At first, I was at a loss as to why all of the sudden we were getting such a flood of new Healey guys (and gals)
I started this forum about a year ago for a couple of reasons. First, I belonged to a number of lists and, while I found them very useful, there were also some aspects I didn't care for (like not being able to easily follow a thread or conversation) and getting my inbox flooded with emails. Long before I started BCF, (maybe two years ago) I had joined a new "forum" for another make of car I own (doesn't matter what it is, its not British). They had been using mailing lists, but had changed over to this forum format, which was something new. After hanging out on this new forum for a while, I soon realized it was a far far superior way of communicating; in so many ways it would take pages to list them all.
Anyway, I started looking around for something similar for British Cars and, while there were a few small message boards around for specific marques, there was no "British Car Forum" which frankely surprised me. So I started checking and found (again, much to my amazement
That being said, I know that this forum format may be alien to some of you, especially if you are used to mailing lists. But, give it a fair chance and I'm sure the newness of it will soon fade and you will soon realize the beauty of this forum format. Just posting and replying to messages is only scratching the surface - this forum format is very powerful and flexible, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask [You can post questions (about the forum operation) anywhere, but in the "Forum Happenings" forum would be the best place]
So, welcome to you all
Basil
[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Basil ]</p>