Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

so...i was just thinking...im curious about how the foxtbirdcougar forums got started...who were the groundbreakers and who was around in the begining. how long was the old board around? obviously eric and the whole coolcats site thing. i was just wondering if there was a story behind it at all....yep...im THAT boared and cant sleep...again.

it started in wyoming....or so the story goes... just a man making tacos...now everybody knows 

oh wait thats taco johns sorry

The original board was started by Alex Ferlise (I think his user name was 84bird or 84tbird or something like that) back in 1999. I had originally joined it within days of its beginning as "Thundercat" but a year later joined again as "Thunder Chicken" and abandoned the "Thundercat" account.

As time passed, the board got too busy for Alex to keep up with by himself so he took Eric on as a co-administrator. The board continued to run very smoothly for years, but eventually everyone got tired of seeing popup ads and having EZBoard forcing us to pay vast sums of money every six months, so Eric and myself worked together to purchase some web space, bandwidth, a domain name and the Vbulletin software. We got Alex's blessing along with the blessing of most of the active members of the old board and moved the whole shebang in October of 2004.

Toward the end of the EZBoard (indeed, for a few years before the end) Alex did not partite much, scarcely ever posting or visiting. I'm not sure why, but I always figured he just sold his 'Bird and moved on. Anyway, he didn't come around often there, and I'm not even sure if he joined the new board. His lack of partition (or, more accurately, his lack of interference as an administrator) gave the old board its reputation for civility - there were no "cliques", no suck-ups, and people could post what they wanted where they wanted without fear of "board puppiess" moving, editing and deleting posts on a  whim. Members did a remarkable job of keeping things civil on their own. We like to think that spirit of community made the move pretty much intact, but as we grow obviously some problems will arise (spammers, etc).

Meanwhile, Eric, not feeling right without at least one Alex sharing admin rights, gave those rights to Baxo (just think, if your name would've been Alex it couldve been you :p**) and that's where we are today.

**Actually, Alex (Baxo) was given admin rights because of his PHP programming ability, so to all the other "alex's" on the board, it never woulda happened to you :flip:

Yeah...what he said. ;)

The only downside we've seen so far with the new vBulletin format is that it's easier for things to get out of hand. The EZ Board took forever and a day to load up, make a post, etc. and that kind of deterred instant battles. Basically we put up with a LOT of  from EZ but we were determined to not let that keep us down. Well, with vBulletin we are free at last, but with that freedom comes flame wars, spammers, etc., all the things you see on other boards. It's up to the individuals here to keep this place running as smooth as the old board. And generally it does...we're just on more of a knife edge now...hence the need for 3 admins. We aren't infallable either. But we're doing our best. I have to give a lot of credit to everyone here though, mostly behaving very well. And that's what sets this board apart from all the rest.

Tha end.

I was hoping for some serious History discussion. :( I know Tom's a history buff, since he's kind of an artifact anyway. Anyone else?

Heh,  Thanks:evilgrin:

Just went back and checked out EZboard for giggles.  Turns out I joined May 29, 2002 which would have been right around the time I graduated from high school.

hmm.. I can't remember when I joined EZ-Board. prolly.. around 2002. I was there for about a year and was a pretty active member annoying the heck out of everyone cause my car wouldn't idle right. hehe. (84 5.0 cfi) I had to sell the car (wedding.. man those cost a ton) and the apartment complex was getting ticket at me using thier parking lot for a maintenance garage. I am glad the board moved, (ez-board was pretty annoying) but the old board was probably one of the most friendly, civilized and helpful places I have ever been, and that spirit really has seemed to have mirgrated with the board.
Everyones enthusiasm and love for thier cars, and for each other's cars is one of the reasons that I came to really love my 'bird, and will most likely get another one when such an opertunity presents it self. (and that I am still around posting things that add no content to the board!! hehe)

.......

and that chuck w character and his wacky posts! hehehe.

just went and looked. joined the fox easyboard in feb 2000

...

27???? That's a good six months off, you s!

Here's some history for you:


:p

All this was followed by '[COLOR="Red"][SIZE="7"]!!!BANG!!![/SIZE][/COLOR], the end........... or is it the begining? :hick:

i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue

I forgot my password to login but I think I joined in Dec of '99. I had 2 accts (global and local) I joined with the global in Dec of '99 and again with the local in march of '00,

i joined in '02, but checked the board every day starting in mid '01. it took me a good 3 months to find that dam board. i found the tbird ranch and the turbo board first i think, wow, that brings back memories.... just think, if i hadnt found that board while researching tbirds, i would have probley bought a camaro, or monte

guess I post a little more here.....

Hmmm, I'm a little disappointed that none of the other seniors mentioned the MCMB (what has evolved (sorta) to Cougarnuts), I believe that was around before. I was reading coolcats.net and on the MCMB around 2000 and 2001 I registered and started posting.

Yes, Scott Felthousen's original MCMB sorta branched off from the original Fox T-Bird/Cougar message board and morphed into Cougarnuts - I don't know how David came to be the admin or what happened to Scott (nor what happened to his red fender), but perhaps David can refresh my memories.

The original MCMB is still there on EZBoard, BTW, but it has nothing to do with Cougars anymore (perhaps indicating that Scott and his red-fendered Cougar have parted ways):

http://pub63.ezboard.com/bmercurycougars (http://"http://pub63.ezboard.com/bmercurycougars")

And while we're posting screenshots, here are my two identities (Thundercat joined January 2000 and Thunder Chicken joined June 2000):

Here's mine!
(http://www.dnet.net/user/jkirchman/pics/ezboard.jpg)

I found Cool Cats way back in '98 when it was first created though.

Wow.....I didn't think I was on it that early..

I found cool cats when I bought my Cougar. The previous owner told me I could find alot of usefull info. I'm not sure if the guy was on the old board or not.

MCMB became Cougarnuts when David offered to provide a host spot for then then MCMB. I dont really recall how the name morphed however that is how David (who I believe at that time was a new(ish) member) became the Admin... Rightfully so if you host it.

July 21 2001 here

newfoundbird


Total Posts :: 340
Member Since :: June 12, 2003 (Global User)

November 28, 2001 - this was my second account after the first got lost (is there a member search function for ezboard?)

Im suprised ive been around as long as i have, i joined the board when i was 15

I remember when Scott to to revive the MCMB, and he had 75% of the posts on the board. Woops.