who, how and when?

[gf]

Hey does anyone know who, how and when this website started? This site is just so impressive with so many good and helpful things in it. With out a site like this many w116 owners would be helpless!(especially me!)

[s class]

WHEN :

At the bottom of the main forum page is a link "more stats".  You can see month-by-month stats on how many posts were made.

WHO :

If you go to the searchable members list you can list members by "join date".

HOW :

Admin?

[Mforcer]

This site and forum are older than the forum stats reveal; 8:54 AM, 26 March 2004 was when this forum went live. The site went live a couple of days before that before that.

The site started as an idea on a Yahoo group and I Admin took it upon himself to bring everything W116 together as a way to give back to the W116 community. Many of those Yahoo group members are still around today.

Creating this site and forum were taken as a personal challenge to see what it took to create a "real" website. Pulling all the content together was the biggest initial challenge, especially manually re-typing all the W116 articles for the library At the beginning  there was no thought given to how far this forum would grow.

Without this site, I too would be lost

[s class]

Well, admin, let me take this opportunity to thank you for this place that so many of us call home.  I certainly appreciate it. 

[Big_Richard]

Without this site, I too would be lost

Just a question for El Capitan,

What happens if/when you loose interest in w116's or sell yours ? 

[flutes]

MT the terms and conditions of the site are in the community's interest - copyright is remained by the poster - so all this valuable content we've been creating isn't locked up in one person's hands.  If Admin ever loses interest, or becomes unable to support it for whatever reason, it would be a pretty simple job to migrate the site as-is to a new host.  I, and I'm sure a lot of other forum members also, could help out here.  Hosting is dirt-cheap these days, especially for a site this size, which I'd imagine to be only a couple of hundred megabytes.

It does raise an interesting question about the legal structure and funding of the org long term.  Perhaps any lawyers or accountants here could advise on how other community-based sites are structured.  All the ones I'm aware of are ultimately owned either by a person or by a business.

[oscar]

Just a question for El Capitan,

What happens if/when you loose interest in w116's or sell yours ? 

Can you imagine???
  "Sorry guys, I'm moving on, sold the W116 to make way for a Kia"..  Admin   

[Mforcer]

Flutes is correct in that if anything happened to Admin, this site would easily be transferred to some like minded person to keep things running. Nothing is going to happen to Admin!

The ads cover some of the expenses but otherwise I Admin covers the costs out of his own pocket and will continue to do so as long as the site is appreciated.

[flutes]

Michael have you thought about putting a PayPal donate button up somewhere?

[gf]

Ive always wondered what it takes to make a site like this! a lot of dedication initially! well done and many thanks! ive just fowarded this site onto a new w116 owner Im confident all his christmases will come at once!

[nathan]

the m-100 site is pretty darn useful for m100s. there are some very knowledgeable people on that one. no other aussie site compares to this one and you will not find a more useful 116 site in the english language on the web, thumbs up to admin for his efforts!

[foss]

i agree with Nathan, this is a great site. I have had a lot of help with with my 6.9 and probably saved a lot of money by being able to tackle some jobs myself instead of paying a mechanic.

Foss.

[nathan]

GF. 31 posts. its about time you put up an avatar picture thingey!

[Big_Richard]

GF. 31 posts. its about time you put up an avatar picture thingey!

Who died and put you in charge, champ ? 

[koan]

the m-100 site is pretty darn useful for m100s. there are some very knowledgeable people on that one.

While a good resource, I do urge a bit of caution in accepting everything said on the m-100 site with regard to 6.9s.

no other aussie site compares to this one and you will not find a more useful 116 site in the english language on the web, thumbs up to admin for his efforts!

Agree with you there.

koan