:(

Im glad we have ya Lou!

^^x2 on that one.

Nice write up Lou. I always wondered about that whole spacerider/kidspace thing. I would also like to add we are very lucky to have all of our great volunteer staff that keep things neat and tidy around here. There is a totally different attitude on this site than there are on many other forums.

I remember and I survived the forum crash of '08 as I was here in '07.... I remember we had to stop using apostrophes as any post using one looked a like lot this if it used words like don''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''t or won''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''''t.

It's a much different forum now than it was then. Back then, a guy called z34phoenix who's name was David knew a lot about the engines and building these cars... he was about the closest thing to bumpin96monte today. Then there was GPD, Solara Slayer, Grandpa Dave, who jokingly yet lovingly adopted KidSpace as his nephew, Garrett, godbot, was around. I know I'm missing a lot of them, and there were many great legendary members who have moved on in their lives and more legendary members in the making came along to replace them...


I went on a bit of a hiatus in '09 from the forum. I have seen many great members slowly being posting, and slowly go away. I was here long before the members blog run by Todd or any of that. Yet through it all, it has been a great forum. There was a brief patch in there in early '08 when we had two members who kind of got rowdy with one another, but hte moderating staff dealt with everything quickly, maturely, and efficiently. There have been very few members on this forum whom I didn't like or respect (refer to previous sentence and guess who the exceptions were)

It's a much different forum... the Montes are getting older. The owners are different and go about the cars a little different as a different group of people own them now... yet they have always been great members. Many have come and gone, yet through it all, Taz, RJ, Wayne, and myself have been holding this fort for a while.... it would be a sad day if the MCF were to be be shut down and this thing fades into oblivion.

But I don't focus on that. right now, the forum is a great place, we all like each other, and we still have many days left to share the web together.

Duane, thanks for your take on history. I think you forgot Space in your list of people holding up the fort. Especially during the crash of 08. There were a lot of days when MCF was only populated by Space and I.

2008 was a year I'd like to forget on the forum. The year started with a ton of drama from a few people who WILL remain nameless. Which lead into the server being hacked.

A lot of people thought the hack/virus attack was caused by the affore mentioned, nameless, banned members. One of them even tried to take credit for it. But I know for a fact that the virus attack originated from another forum that happened to be hosted on the same server. The successful hack helped the owners make the decision to bring all of their forums up to date with the latest software. The tech department had to re-build about 100 forums. :eek:

People come and go on forums for various reasons. That's just how forums are. Sometimes it was my fault for not acting soon enough. Sometimes I wasn't able to do anything. Which was the problem on the old forum.

The old forum software was very outdated and didn't allow moderators to do much of anything. Moderators could delete posts, delete threads, close threads, and move threads. That was about it. Moderators couldn't ban or do much of anything else. And the problem people knew that. Me being a moderator at the time, all us moderators could do was PM the lead admin. And wait until he checked his PM's.

That is a thing of the past now. On the new MCF, moderators have the abilities they need to immediately deal with problem people.


But another reason for people leaving forums (in general), is selling the car. Since I got rid of my Grand Am, I've only been back to visit GrandAmGT.com a couple times.

When MCF started in 2004, the people that were joining up were the original owners. The people who bought them new from the dealership. As these people sell them off, and get into other vehicles, they tend to leave the forum. Most people joining up now are not the original owners of the car. No matter what generation the Monte is.

With Monte Carlo's being discontinued, it's more important now than ever for all Monte enthusiasts to stick together and show GM that the Monte Carlo name deserves to be brought back!

It's really important to try to get out to meets, gatherings and shows. And get together with your fellow enthusiasts! There's plenty of regional clubs that have meets. Plus don't forget Monte Nationals. NMCOA does an excellent job of putting together meets every year. NMCOA is an international club for Monte owners. And I'd encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to get out to one of them if you can. If you're really into cars, it's well worth it! :thumbsup:

There's also the "Carlisle All GM Nationals" on June 24-26. You may have seen their featured ad here on the forum.

Remember, the Camaro got discontinued at one time also. The Camaro enthusiasts kept the pressure up to bring it back. And GM finally brought it back.

Now that GM has paid off their debt to the government. We Monte Carlo enthusiasts need to do everything we can to tell GM to bring the Monte Carlo name back. Again. :thumbsup:
Take pride in your Monte and show it off at meets as much as you can. You know what they say, "out of sight -- out of mind". Keep all generations of Monte Carlo in people's mind by showing pride in it, and showing it off as much as you can.

Wow. I kinda went off on a bit of a rant there, didn't I?

Sorry. :D

^^ I liked it :thumbsup:

I've been here a while. I also went on a hiatus for about a year but I came back and here is where I'll stay. If it wasn't for the Mustang forum that I joined I wouldn't have thought twice about joining a Monte forum. When I bought my 06 Mini Cooper I didn't bother joining a Mini fourm.

I think Taz should be warned for making a political banter trying to get people to go to Carlisle... ;)

And I thought I had mentioned Space... should have mentioned Amy too. Space is the true leader of the MCF, no matter what banner is under Taz's name.

Another problem in the forum crash days was when you'd type a nice, thoughtful post, hit "post", and it didn't go through and you got a message about a server error I believe it was... then you're whole post was gone. Those of us who stuck it out saved our posts on a notepad or something before posting them. The longer the post, the worse your chances were of it actually going through.

:rolleyes:
Hi `Duane,
I appreciate your words, but you are so wrong...I am not the leader of the MCF 4-Sure...I'm just part of the team.
If I were the Leader, EveryOne would get lost in Cyber `Space : )or end `up on some X-Rated site...:)

Lou is our Leader, my Leader & I have the utmost respect for him as a Leader & as my `friend. He is one of the main reasons why I'm still here & have not departed to another `space :). We are all very fortunate
to have him as our Leader on the MCF.

His knowledge & dedication to our forum is exemplary.
Our world would be a better place `if there were more people like him upon it.~>4-Real

I do make many posts or create many threads to create activity on our forum to give member's something to check out when they visit our forum.

There are so many member's/Mod's, past & present that kept our forum running smooth, but `Lou is the Leader I shall follow faithfully to the `End or new beginnings. :thumbsup:

`Duane, I respect your words, post(s) & opinions, but I strongly disagree with you on this one 4-Sure : )

Thanks everyone for your posts & contributions, but more importantly, I thank our Leader Administrator `Taz....aka `Lou...for his tireless dedication to constantly improve our forum & make it better for all members.


Peace/Happiness to the reader of my words.
`Space
The leader of the most crazy & weird posts/threads on the MCF 4 Real-Sure : )