A DECADE OF AWESOMEToday, July the 18th, 2012, marks our
10th Anniversary! Yes, that's right -- we've been up and running for
TEN YEARS now, and things couldn't be better!
So how did all of this begin? Some of you might be interested in a little history, so here it is. I'm one of the two best people to tell it, so I will do just that.
Ten years ago, there was a small email group that supported people with older "200SX" cars, called the "Classic 200SX Group". It covered everything older than the S13. I found this group when I was searching to see if the 200SX had any internet support. I had been originally involved with DSM's, and wanted something different. Something lightweight, and rear wheel drive... and because I had ALWAYS loved that decade, SOMETHING 80's! I was trolling through a junkyard when I encountered a hatchback that had "TURBO" badges on the sides of the spoiler. I looked inside... very 80's cluster. Very 80's shift boot. And under the hood... an engine that was NOT transverse! When I walked to the backside, I saw it: "200SX". And on the other side of the rear... "NISSAN"! So began my search for information on the internet. What was this car? Did other people support it? Was there a community?
After finding a number of "200SX" forums, I began to realize that nobody really cared about anything earlier than the North American 240SX. It was like there was this huge void. At some point I found this "Classic 200SX" email group, with a lot of S12 owners mingling with a handful of S110 people. But most of the discussion was about things S12. I began to ask questions, mostly technical... at first. Very few people had the answers, although Sterling Picton stood out as one of the more knowledgeable people of the time.
The DSM world I had come from was centralized at that time around a strong organization called "Club DSM", and one of its chief benefits was a very extensive archive of discussions. Within those discussions was a wealth of technical information, shared experiences, and advice. While there were regional email lists and local DSM clubs, for a long time people would turn to the Club DSM archives to understand and develop their cars' potentials.
I liked the idea of this centralized effort, and I could see that there were people on the "Classic 200SX" email list that had this knowledge. But times were changing, and the email groups were just beginning to be replaced by discussion boards... which we now all know as "forums". I saw the writing on the wall, and began to promote the idea of organization. I felt that the S12 deserved to be given its own unique community. Others started to respond well to my suggestions, and at some point I suggested a name for it: Club-S12.
The hyphen, interestingly enough, was because "clubs12" seemed more like "clubs 12". I wanted the obvious division of the S12 term from "club". The name was met with approval by other S12 owners. One of these was Dan Aho, who was himself a former DSM tuner who ran a smaller website called "The Talon Temple". It was his attempt to take the information in the Club DSM archives and make it more of a webified version where you could find information easier. Unfortunately, Dan fell out of DSM's and into his S12, and the Talon Temple was defunct not long after I left the DSM world. I personally remember using some of the resources on his site when tuning my DSM.
Dan decided that my ideas merited further action, and he took it upon himself to purchase server space and erect a website. This was a forum software, which was the new trend across the internet. He went with the name I had coined... thus, Club-S12 was born! He emailed back and forth with me to develop it before it went live... setting up the sections and sorting out other details. We went live on July 18th, 2002... although I was at lunch when he tried to get ahold of me. By the time I got back, 17 people had already signed up (this is why I'm #18). By the end of the week... over 100. A few months later, over a thousand, of which almost 200 were actively logging in daily. It was taking off like wildfire! We discovered that people from all over the world were jumping into this newly-born community. Most of the earlier members were from Canada and Australia, however we saw people from Europe, Asia, South America, and many other parts of the world.
Dan took on the task as our first Administrator, and set me up as his right hand moderator, along with one other longtime member. We managed things that way for a number of years. Almost immediately, the information began to collect into the proper sections, and there was even a section for a number of technical articles I had written on tuning and other basic information. Things were going good!
Unfortunately, too good. The servers were maxing out, at a time when failsafes weren't a common part of host company's tech. Our bandwidth started to crash these servers, and eventually our first host pushed us out. And our second host was not much later deemed as insufficient. We switched hosts a handful of times, each time upping the horsepower to accommodate an ever-increasing user base.
In 2004 there was a server crash, and we lost a significant amount of data. Some of it was recovered, but much of it was lost. In order to provide for easier backups, new software was instituted. Since then, we have not lost any significant data in all that time. And our user base has continued to grow!
Eventually, Dan found his personal life was coming into conflict with the time and expense of maintaining Club-S12, at a time when webserver space was still not very cheap, and our particular server needs were similar to a larger business. I had also taken a hiatus due to my own personal life's burdens, and was not around for almost two years. In that time, Dan had decided that he could no longer carry the torch on for Club-S12. Two users agreed to shoulder the financial burden and responsibilities of time for Club-S12: Tim and Travis. Dan had come to trust them, and eventually he did indeed hand the reigns off to these two.
Tim and Travis took the time to remanage things, where Dan had not been able to effectively in his last year. Tim and Travis cleaned up posts, and cleaned up whatever lawlessness had been cropping up. They were the new sheriffs in town. Along with their own efforts, they also "deputized" a few new moderators who were just as tenacious at cleaning things up. Tim and Travis also revamped the forum with new software, new logos, and a new look. They put a lot of work into refreshing the image and quality of Club-S12! This was also around the time when more regional-focused S12 discussion sites began to crop up... first in Australia and the UK, and later in a number of other regions around the world. These would become part of what Tim and Travis would call the "Affiliate Program", which was intended to keep all of these communities linked together. Club-S12 had links to all these communities at the top, and by virtue of this became a sort of centralized hub. Later on, these communities would do the same, linking back to each other and to Club-S12, and keeping enthusiasts tied together around the world.
In 2007, Sterling contacted me to tell me about some recent technical developments in the S12 community. He was urgently trying to get me to return to see these. Eventually I did just that, and found that there were indeed some really cool developments in terms of both engine swaps and suspension options. I also noticed that there was a substantial lack of moderation, both with message cleanliness and with drama regulation. I also noticed that there was an absence of Tim and Travis.
It seems that at some point, Tim and Travis both found their own lives, and as is proper and understandable, these things should always take priority. Unfortunately, it left Club-S12 without the strong, iron fist of justice that Tim and Travis both wielded when necessary. I still had moderator status, and I couldn't stand to see this place fall apart, and people fighting over stupid things -- especially in the face of new discoveries and options for the S12! I spent the next six months laying down the law (at the expense of my popularity), and making sense of things. This isn't me bragging. It wasn't pleasant. There are still people to this day who will hate me for the toughness I had to show, but it had to be done.
Tim checked in and saw what I had done. He saw how I had rallied the other moderators to the new cause of regulating and caring about this place. He approved. The way he showed this approval came by means of a long private message to me here, telling me so. He understood how much I cared about things here. He told me that Dan had wanted
me to take over, but I wasn't around at the time. Tim's final statement was to offer me the job. And I accepted.
As the new (and third, because I see Tim and Travis as like one Admin with two heads lol) administrator, I brought in other moderators, a co-admin, and continued to shape up things. I revamped the structure of the sections further to accommodate new information. It was tough going, and surely I made haters hate me sometimes... I even had to ban someone once in a great while, but it was worth it.
Since then, I brought in yet another co-admin, who came with his own level of experience with web and forums. He brought with him the technical knowledge to fix many code issues that had plagued us since Tim and Travis left things, even fixing not one but a few within the first day. What he did not bring with him was ego, or ulterior motive, or a desire to boast himself as someone important. If anything, he enjoyed the backstage work most. Ben Maere was just glad to be able to
help in ways that only he could.
At some point, I realized that Ben shared an understanding of my original vision for Club-S12, much the same way that Dan did. It was because of this that Ben was eventually promoted to the position of a full administrator, with the same control and consideration to the direction of things that I myself carried. With that, we both were able to keep things tight and clean, despite a few rough moments.
It was at this point that Member #1 had taken notice of all that hard work. Dan Aho had not been in active control, but he had been maintained as a moderator and had access to all the moderator discussions about forum management. He saw what had been done. He approved greatly! And in a similar fashion to Tim, he felt that the best way to show this was to hand over the final key piece of control. I was offered the ownership of the actual domain registration for club-s12.org. Dan had held onto it for the entire time, even during Tim and Travis, in the hopes that one day he might return. My acceptance of this was a symbol that Club-S12 was something larger than Dan or myself. It was something to be appreciated as a great responsibility.
In the last few years, Ben and I have erected an entirely new site, with our own highly-customized forum software based on a very advanced system. It proved to be far more effective than the expensive and restrictive Invision software that was in place before. With the help of my friend Greg, I designed a new logo, and the new look and feel of Club-S12, and Ben took those design ideas and made them reality. This marked the change to "Version 3" of Club-S12, and it was well-received! A completely new look and many new features were available for all. A new garage to display your car and its modifications... new ways to search for information. Better improved sections for posting, and more posting options. And the one thing that had been requested by many for years: a live, real-time chat feature integrated
directly into the website! This change to Version 3 marked a huge leap into new territory, both from a technical standpoint and from a useability standpoint for visitors.
Today we celebrate
10 years of service, support, and fun, and to celebrate our 10th anniversary we have erected
Retro 4, the newest version of Club-S12! As the longest-running, largest, and most advanced environment for S12 discussion and enthusiasm, we want to ensure that we provide you with the most current tricks up our sleeve. Retro 4 gives you even more posting options, an improved search, and a newer Garage with streamlined features. It retains the chat environment that you all enjoy, and it also is 100% XHTML and HTML5 compliant... we noticed that the other communities have not made this improvement so we urge them to update as well! What this means for the patrons here is that regardless of what computer, operating system, web browser, or even mobile device that you choose to use, Club-S12 will WORK THE SAME, ALWAYS. It also means that the website is streamlined to maximum code efficiency (Thanks, Ben!)... meaning it downloads to your computer or device faster, cleaner, and error-free. Again, we hope that this sets the example for other communities to follow... even beyond S12 interests. It ensures that the experience is as good as it can be for the user base, and lets us all enjoy what we come here for: S12's!
Over the next few days, there may be some minor tweaks or changes. We would rather get things up fast with very little downtime and make adjustments later, rather than keep you waiting for days or longer while we "sort out" trivial items. As some of you have already noticed, Club-S12 was down for less than an hour before the new Retro 4 was in place and live. The dust will settle within a week. And also keep posted for new features and other promotional events. The new software allows us far more flexibility and we have MANY great ideas which we would like to implement!
So enjoy the new Retro 4 experience at Club-S12, and
THANK YOU FOR TEN YEARS OF AWESOME!