I don't post many new topics. Come to think of it, I've probably clicked the new topic button 3 or 4 times.

Here's a link to the FTE list. It's not really long, about a page and only covers a month or so, but it has some neat info for those willing to go through it. A "Must Read," for the hard core FTE addict. The test is open book.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/archives/FEB1-15.html

 

Here's some history:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/history.html

 

Ken you dont have the day we hit 100k users on there. I remember that day. I was online when it happened.

 

That's some amazing info. I didn't realize all of the computer server nightmare it takes to keep this site up and running. There's been a lot of work put into this site to make it what it is.

 

This is an amazing site!!!

 

Agreed, an AMAZING site!! I have visited many ford truck and especially Ranger sites but none come close to the organization, ease of use and, most importantly, knowledge of the members. The creation and maintanence of this site is a stroke of pure genius! I am extremely thankful that I stumbled on FTE and have been accepted into it's family!

 

Thats really cool how the site has grown. Good job ken!

 

Ken-

When is the "Ken becomes a millionaire" part?

JK

 

I believe a good reponse would be "not soon enough" ha

 

I was here that day also

 

This is an awesome site. I love it and I have leaned and got a ton of ideas from it.

Thanks

 

I'd been online for a long time before I came to this site, (actually the email group.) I was used to, "Webmasters," that fell into two groups: Teenagers that seemed to only work on their sites on weekends after Saturday Night Live or the Corporate types that worked six hours a day and sometimes returned emails.

One early Sunday morning I was having problems logging on, so I fired off an email and went out to work on the truck. I figured it would be Monday before a reply. Within the hour Ken had responded and fixed the problem. Wow! At the time he was working full time and doing the email/site stuff nights/weekends.

The email group had just a few simple rules.

Posts had to be polite. No cussing, no flaming, no such thing as stupid questions. Politeness to the point that you didn't have a wife or girlfriend, you had SWMBO (She Whom Must Be Obeyed.)

Things had to be Ford Truck related. If it started to get off topic, most of the time it was self moderated by the members, trying to steer things back on topic. There was no editing after the fact. If you had a bad day and posted something offensive and wrong, well, you lived with it - apologizing to the group later. A good rule of thumb was to type what you had to say, take a break and think about it, then hit enter. (Most people put their email addy's right on the post - bad idea now days.)

This was before DSL and Cable were popular and it was email. If you posted a question, the answer might come the next day and if you were in digest mode you would have to scroll through all the text to find it. (I usually just read it all - the learning curve got pretty steep!) A person couldn't just quote someones entire long post or get off topic too much - it would slow everyones download time and you would have to wade through a bunch of repeats to get to the new stuff!

Unlike a lot of the internet, Kens' site was a lot of fun and still wholesome, (still is). You could leave a thread on the screen, walk off and not care if your kids or your mother wandered by and looked. There's not many discussion sites you can say that about. I think Mil1ion and the Moderators do a great job keeping it that way. (Mil1ion and the Moderators, Dennis on vocals?..)

The online forum without email group was a great idea, even though not everyone agree'd at the time, with the constant growth the site has had - I don't think there can be an argument about it. There is no way, logistically or financially, to run emails to everyone and do the website. It was running Ken ragged - I wonder if his current avitar is really a morphed Ernie?

I'm really excited about the next change. I don't know what it is and I never do. It just always comes to this site, and it's always a blast when it does.

Thanks Ken

Scott
85 Bronco