Love the meter Barry!!!!

 

I like the meter. Seen it a few times. Never found it to be annoying LOL

 

I bet somebody got butt hurt about a signature someone had. I was going to start 2009 off as a supporter, but now I'm going to wait and see if this BS passes. A clear message would be for a few of you supporters to demand a refund because this is "not what you signed up for." You know avatars are next, and I bet I'm on the short list. I don't know maybe I'm just pissed.

 

I think what screams loud and clear is the fact that we're FORD owners on a FORD site and PAYING members, yet we constantly get barraged by Hummer ads .. duh ..

 

Hey guys - I just want to try to answer some of your questions as best I can Actually Obama doesn't run FTE, in fact I think if you suggested such a thing to the moderators, they might be more than a little bit upset The concern isn't actually bandwidth or server space, nor are we attempting to infringe on your personal rights to having a signature.

I recall when I came to FTE as a user, a number of years ago, unless you were a Club FTE supporter your signature didn't get displayed at all.
Over time the rules have relaxed a lot, in fact, a lot of things have been relaxed with regards to rules, and I don't say that to try to justify this announcement, but more to place it in perspective.
I am sure anyone that was here a long time ago will say that FTE was a different place, and it did have some more restrictive rules.
The reason for these rules, wasn't to curb your signatures, your posting experience etc. but it was there because FTE has always been a site centered around technical information about Ford Trucks.
The sites moderation and administration team have always seen this site as being about Ford Trucks first and foremost

We have for a long time, had a guideline regarding signatures, which stated:
We never said what this meant to users, but it has been no different than what is mentioned in the announcement.
We had a "rule" that we would ask users that had an image larger than 150x450 for example and ask them to downsize it, if signatures were overly large we would ask them to downsize it.
Since doing some software upgrades, this is now able to be controlled by the software and since the site has grown so much, us mods and admins miss 90% of them!
Hey Dan - If you upload a picture through the signature picture feature (at the bottom here):
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...=editsignature
It shouldn't resize it to be larger!
Thats what we are trying to do here by utilizing the software (as opposed to us coming across your sigs and PMing you) make the system a lot fairer and easier!
To answer your question as best I can.
Based on our (mods and admins) experience of what works and what doesn't on FTE, the guidelines have been created.
If you come across something that you feel is inappropriate, each post has the report post button next to it, and you are more than welcome to report it.
If we either have something reported to us, or we come across something, if it is clearly "appropriate" we will leave it, it it is clearly "inappropriate" we will remove it and notify the poster, if whoever comes across is unable to determine whether it is inappropriate or appropriate, the mods and admins will have a discussion about it, and make a verdict.

What is determined to be inappropriate is based on what we have found to "work" on ford-trucks (and what hasn't too!).
This site is a big forum, for example it has the largest amount of users of any vehicle specific forum, so unfortunately we won't always make everyone happy, but we try our best to accommodate everyone.
Supporters do get a number of privileges - we do care about you supporting the site, and the privileges you get on here, hopefully in someway thank you for that!
To be honest, it was all of us moderators and administrators, although I am not going to throw Jim under the bus here, as he is really new to the team, and he didn't get an opportunity to be involved with the process, but as mentioned, some limitation on signatures have always been with us as we have always tried to keep the site reasonably clean and focused on posts associated with fixing peoples trucks!
If thats the case, I am incredibly sorry.
Please e-mail me with your shipping address and shirt size!
adrian.harris@internetbrands.com

Thanks!
I am not going to sit here and say FTE is perfect, because it isn't... but I do sincerely think it is far and away the best truck site out there.
I am certain there are sites out there that might provide you with a larger mail box (or whatever else), honestly I don't really know, I don't get a chance to really visit many other truck sites, but I will say, I don't think you will find an FTE, anywhere.
And I don't say that trying to sound arrogant, I say that because I have strong belief that there are no better people out there than those people on this site.

 

That is what was missing ....

 

If you figure that out let me know. Barry was kind enough to un-animate my GIF for me, but I'll be darned if I can get the stupid thing back over on the right side like I have it now.

P.S. Thanks for stopping by and offering some explanation Fred

 

I don't know if you're going to keep up with this thread or not Adrian, but one of the things that keeps me coming back is that folks here are FRIENDLY and don't mind a little OT banter sometimes. The 99-03 7.3L forum is different than any forum I've been a part of. Some of the other sites have a lot of in-fighting, bickering, and I think just get too serious sometimes! If all I wanted to do was come here, find out why my truck isn't starting very well now that it's cold, or makes the "funny jet engine noise and idles up", I wouldn't give a rat's *** about sigs. You all need to realize this place is different, again, in particular, here in this forum. The folks here are much friendlier than some of the other sites, and don't ever seem to mind answering a question for the thousandth time instead of replying with "Go do a search, newb". With VERY few exceptions, this site, and definitely this forum pretty much runs itself. We are proud of our trucks, and it's nice to be able to be a little creative with our sigs. Yes, we have a little fun with them sometimes with quotes. Is it your (as in all mods, not just you) intent to take that fun out? Because that's how it's being perceived, Adrian. You never did answer the question specifically about why this is being done. Instead of selectively picking quotes, why don't you just spill the beans!! Tell us what is offensive, and we'll take care of it. We're not elementary school kids, and have proven over and over that we can police ourselves. Between this and the little stunt with our OT, I hope you all can at least understand our frustration here. This has the appearance once again of a solution in search of a problem. If there was a specific problem, TELL US!! Last time I looked, we don't punish everyone for the actions of a few toilet ticks in this great country (although, from some of the responses, you can see that a lot of folks are expecting that very mentality soon).

 

Guys, I will accept the rules that FTE gives us. I do pay for this great site (I think someone payed for my supporter badge) I would like to know who that is. . But back to the what this about, I sometimes get pissed about some of the things happen here, but I don't belong to another site.

I will SUPPORT FTE till there is something better. I can't believe there is better people on another site.

EDIT: Joe you have a great point. That was a great post. Reps to you. But I still stand my ground. FTE is the best.

 

Joe, all I can say is

 

I agree, I have read a few threads on other sites. It is rather disturbing the amount of bickering that goes on. Questions usually go un answered or supported. At least here, you will always get a friendly response to any question.

 

Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe

 

All I can say is one should consider who is posting here. Of the top three forums, a puny 4 year run of truck model (engine specific) has the most posts. The other two encompass a lot more users, yet we have more posts here. The SD/HD forum not doubt includes posts from here. So this is without question the most active forum here on FTE, hands down. What I cannot compare is our Supporter status VS any other forum users but I bet we have a higher percentage compared to the others.

This is your most active forum. We are the reason this site exists, along with the other forums. Now I depart from we and say I would like to see this sig business go away. I am a customer (paying supporter) asking that this silly sig business be reviewed and perhaps revised. I don't see the harm since you said there is no bandwidth issue. We police ourselves and know how to report offensive posts/sigs, or whatever. He!!, surprised my offensive tail hasn't been reported more than it has.

Here's a look at the forum activity here:


<table class="tborder" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody id="collapseobj_forumbit_5" style=""><tr align="center"><td class="alt1Active" id="f30" align="left"> Super Duty And Heavy Duty (88 Viewing)
</td> <td class="alt2" nowrap="nowrap"> </td> <td class="alt1">49,972</td> <td class="alt2">442,433</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table class="tborder" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody id="collapseobj_forumbit_7" style=""><tr align="center"><td class="alt1Active" id="f28" align="left"> 1987 - 1996 F150 And Larger F-Series Trucks (53 Viewing)

</td> <td class="alt2" nowrap="nowrap"> </td> <td class="alt1">51,792</td> <td class="alt2">348,581</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table class="tborder" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody id="collapseobj_forumbit_167" style=""><tr align="center"><td class="alt1Active" id="f31" align="left"> 1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel (114 Viewing)
SPONSORED BY:

</td> <td class="alt2" nowrap="nowrap"> </td> <td class="alt1">45,057</td> <td class="alt2">488,080
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

Damn. Maybe *I* should run for office.....

 

My only question was, Why?. My signature was one of the larger ones. I think it was done in good taste. I don't know how anyone could find it offensive. It was fun to make and I was planning on doing some up for others that wanted. It was colorful and oversize, but I did use a hosting site and it for that reason I could use it. It's not that big of deal, and whatever else is determined unacceptable and removed, it won't change the fact the this is a truly great bunch of guys. That being said, it's that great bunch of guys and gals that make the site great, not the other way around. Without the the knowledgeable folks here that would drop everything to help a friend out, it would just be another truck site. So, as long as the great people that make this place what it is, I will stay and continue to learn and help when ever possible.
Thanks Adrian for trying to help us understand these changes. We are just a bunch of Ford truck and more specific 7.3 nuts that want to help and learn, but also like to have a little fun on the way.
I plan on renewing my Supporter status when it comes due, if for no other reason, it looks good beside my avatar, which I'm sure it's time is limited as well.
I think all we are asking it don't take the all the fun away and try to make this a pure technical forum, those techies are so freaking boring.