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Well if you go to http://www.superbeetlesonly.com/ it is clear that the new sponser is German Look Tuning at www.germanlook.com that is the domain name from our Germanlook community. It now says an oline store is coming soon with tuner parts for 1302 and 1303 VW's as well as some Porsche models. It looks very clear to me.
Alex, Sandeep, Zen and everyone else who has put time into, uploaded pix to, writen tech articles for, germanlook.com should be pissed off about what has happened with it. I know I am.
And what is up being hacked off that TopLine Parts is selling a strut that looks just like the one that he copied from Kerscher. Do you know how many companies have put threaded collars on a strut so it can be adjustable. WTF.

All in all, it doesn't look 'nice' and certainly isn't s/th I feel comfortable with.
Very frustrating to see this...

I have dealt with Jon at TopLine and he was nothing short of honorable.

SBO (James) and TopLine had at least a nine or ten year "business relationship" (as it is being referred to on the attack message against TopLine). Now all of a sudden, this attack coincides with the "JMD fully adjustable strut" -- coming soon (with three exclamation marks).

I don't know what is going on between these two. I don't care what is going on between these two. I can easily draw a conclusion or two, though.

My loyalties will continue to be with TopLine as this classless act doesn't have me swayed one iota.

If James, SBO or anyone else has a proper complaint against TopLine, get a stinking lawyer and engage a cease and desist order immediately against whatever copyrighted doo-dad is being copied.

This comes off as somebody not really being in the right but is going to bang his rattle from his high-chair anyway -- nothing new from my experience and perspective which dates back to 2002, and turned 180º about when things weren't to his liking two years ago.

- oasis (at most other sites)

I believe these guy's might have something to say too!

http://www.kerscher-tuning.de/kaefer/in ... efahrwerke

I for one could care less what sort of squabbles are going on, I'm just trying to figure out why those issues are interfering with a freaking forum. It's just a group of people expressing their ideas and getting information.

The "new" struts I would imagine would most often be associated with German Look type cars, so why mess with the community? I guess the main thing that's really chapping my hide is that there was no warning, explaination, or update to let us know what the heck is going on.

I visit the site almost every day, I contributed $200 when the site "needed" it to cover costs of operation, so I feel like we deserve a little update as to where it's gone and what the heck is happening.

Jason

Super just called me as the domain name had not been transferred out of my name to date and he needs to make a change to point it to the new servers. As today is the first I heard about these issues and rumor mill (I'm not on the forums much anymore and one of the primary reasons I had to give up GL.com), I asked some questions based on what I see on the current landing page. I had made many of the same conclusions that I see here.

I will leave it to Super to provide you what details he chooses, but he tells me the GL forums will be back just as they were and he is just adding a store for parts to the site (there was already a store there, but parts were never sold). So no significant change. He is changing the landing page today to clarify this. I will be doing my part to see that the domain name is transfered to him ASAP and he should have things up shortly after since the domain name change is one of the last steps.

While I don't get on it much lately, I will be glad to see the site back as well. Nothing against STF, which I love for different reasons, but GL.com has that needed niche and info (Tech Articles, etc) for that group of people. Ensure you equally support STF if you are using it. They deserve the support as well. Admining is not cheap and is EXTREMELY time consuming. Show all of the admins some love.

I love admins!

Admins Rule!!!

I totally respect these guys for all the time they put into maintaining these sites and the hassles they have to deal with. Just wish they could keep in mind all the people that are affected when there are the dreaded CHANGES!!! Good news that it will be back as normal, can't wait.

Jason

I know what it takes to administrer a system, I administer an Exchange server and a Domain controller for a company with three employees, and that can be overwhelming sometimes...

When it rains it pours!

I am glad to know that the forums will be back. Things did not look like the site will be back I hope the all of the pix, tech articles and info that was kept on the main page will be kept too. Lots of information lived there. It would be a shame to loose it. It would have been great to know how the transfer was going to be handled.
I have always had great service from John at Topline too. He has been a great help to us on a few projects.

I'm going though serious Germanlook.com withdraw. I check it often, even from my phone......

I hate to see this happen as it will lose some members. Every other forum that has issues is often down for maybe a couple days. GL has had big downtime since Zen let it go.

So Zen, thanks for all your efforts when you were admin'ing the site, as i don't remember any bumps along the way. We now see all your efforts!

I never understood why the site needs to be moved. It is or was rock solid with Zen.

I totally agree with Dave. Those "hacked" pages were disappointing to see. I hope Superman posts up what has happened over the last 6 or so weeks.

Plus, our local club uses the Boxer Autogruppe section to communicate. We managed to meet this week and talk VW's and germanlook.com over some beers. We did that with emails/text messaging/calls.

Pete

SBO is up.............waiting on germanlook.......

volkdent wrote:Tell me about it!!! What is weird is that SBO! is down too, and that's Supe's bread and butter site...

Jason

I think you'll find that many forums do not make a profit and that they are created because someone wanted to share their interest in something with other like minded people. SBO has never been a for profit forum and all the memberships and donations only help to offset the operational costs of the forum, Supe is making no money from the site and when you consider the amount of time he puts into keeping the site up and running, it is very generous on his part and he should be thanked for all his efforts, not put down because you missed out on a few days of posting. SBO and GermanLook were not taken down on purpose but the delay in getting them running again was necessary to fix some things and implement some changes. Think before you gripe and have a nice day!

Bugorsh wrote:

volkdent wrote:Tell me about it!!! What is weird is that SBO! is down too, and that's Supe's bread and butter site...

Jason

I think you'll find that many forums do not make a profit and that they are created because someone wanted to share their interest in something with other like minded people. SBO has never been a for profit forum and all the memberships and donations only help to offset the operational costs of the forum, Supe is making no money from the site and when you consider the amount of time he puts into keeping the site up and running, it is very generous on his part and he should be thanked for all his efforts, not put down because you missed out on a few days of posting. SBO and GermanLook were not taken down on purpose but the delay in getting them running again was necessary to fix some things and implement some changes. Think before you gripe and have a nice day!

There is a business relationship between SBO and super beetle parts, and SBO is James' baby, I should have used a different term than bread and butter. I'm not griping about the whole system in general, I'm griping about the site being offline for weeks with no information as to why or when it would return. I'm always impressed with administrators ability to keep things going for very little reward whether personally or financially and I appreciate James' efforts wholeheartedly. Though I know it didn't go into James' pocket, I donated $200 to GermanLook recently and to have it just disappear made me feel uneasy.

Jason

Click on the link:

www.germanlook.com

Bugorsh: do you know what is going on?

Pete