The T1 line on which we are hosted (Matt's) is in the process of being deprovisioned, so this as good a time as ever.

I have decided to shut contour.org down.

At least for a while anyway. The forums for the last few months have deteriorated into squabbling, insults, bickering and general chaos. The technical discussions are mainly rehashes, with little or no new information being shared. The main section of the site seems to be regularly ignored even though this is where most of the really good information is.

If/when the site goes back up, the forums will likely not return. If they do, they will be seriously scaled back to encourage the sharing of pertinent information. I know many of you enjoy the other aspects of the forums, but it was never my intent to create a grand, online social experiment. The forums today appear mainly as that: social. When off-topic discussions consume a majority of the traffic, it is hard for me to justify the amount of time, energy and abuse I have to put up with.

Many of you will be bitterly disappointed, but after five years of putting up with a frequently unappreciative online community, I'm done with it. I may change my mind after a break, but we will see.

I intend to put around 80% of the main site back up, but I don't know when. It depends on hosting or how much my DSL line will handle.

Comments are welcome, of course.

-Lance

There is an effort underway to save the site.

--perry

Sorry to hear that Lance,but I understand how you feel.Thank you again ,....

wow, sorry to hear about this. i've only been here shortly but i have gotten a lot of good information. thanks for the oppurtunity, hopefully after the break things will be better. thanks again.

Wow, As I have to agree with you that a lot of people flame everyone and never talk about cars, I am going to miss the forums. It has been very helpful to me and hopefully they will return.

Will the forums/site be archived so users can still search/read information?

Thanks.

Lance,

Thanks for all your effort man. This site has been invaluable to me through 2 of these cars. It?s a shame the forums have to go, but I certainly understand your stance. I hope to see the main page (sans forums) up soon!

-burgman

Despite the apparent abuse of the Forums, I do find it interesting to hear the general talk of those who own Contours and Mystiques. I've been rather enlightened by some of the topics posted since I've been a member.

I don't think removing the forums is the answer, but do feel that they need to be scaled down as you noted. I make visiting the CEG site a part of my very busy day. Furthermore, I find the technical support freely shared by the members therein priceless. I have personally saved hundreds of $$ by following the suggestions and do-it-myself directions given by the members. To them, I thank you.

Thanks Lance for all your hard work, diligence and patience. It would be interesting to do a demographic survey which would include ages of the CEG members.

Lance,

this is a sad news...

Unfortunately I have to agree with all that you said, so it's a welcome news at the same time.

Thank you for all your efforts. I hope the site will come back online.

There is always the mailing list... We used to get around w/o forums just fine.

Part of what is happening should be attributed to the naturally changing demographics of contour owners, so no matter what will become of CEGthe maturity level of the group will not be the same.

Thanks again,
--al

There is a lot of good information in here. I hope that archives and how-to's at least can be made available somewhere.

This site truly was a gold mine for me, who still has a lot to learn... but I've caught the bug.. need $ for another mod! And someplace to find out how to do it right!

Thanks (sniff) it was good while it lasted.

hard pill to swallow, but you won't get any whining from me. I hope you have a good break. thanks alot. (five years is a looong time)

Unfortunately, the forums consume an incredible amount of bandwidth. To pay for such bandwidth is on the order of $200/month. The make the site affordable without constant donations or starting a business, most or all of the forums have to go.
We use 3-4GB a DAY right now.

-Lance

Bummer, but I see your point.

Any chance of archiving and selling all the main site info onto a cd for sale?

Goodluck and thanks for all the fish....

When is this happening?

i'll miss yall

We'll need to set up forums for the regional areas and come "visit"!

NE-CEG has a domain but nothing's up currently.

Sad to hear the news. I hope the FAQs and other "more important" areas of contour.org can stay up once a new line is available. They do come in handy (although updating is slightly necessary). Thanks for all your work, Lance. Hope everything works out. Half my day is going away!!

Ironically enough, the timing is good for me too. I have no idea exactly how much procrastination I would be doing in college this fall by surfing CEG... Oh well, at least I got my goal (thousand posts) in...

Lance,

Thanks for all you've put into the site, it's been great!

Is the mail list on Dan's m/c going to remain up?

{I remember when american.edu dissapeared and we went back and forth on list or bulletin board. Looks like those favoring mail list were the ultimate winners.}

What's ths tentative shut down date - I may want to archive some relevent stuff for personal use before the plug is pulled.

Maybe now I will be able to concentrate on work. My boss will be happy. I am sad.

It's been fun guys/gals. I'm sure I'll see most of you again though.

Unsure how to respond to this announcement.

Disappointed, Hurt, Scared Even

the ceg was/is everything that is right with the internet. i have been here everyday for a very long time and i am sad to see this part of my day go by the wayside. i hope to see you all again sometime. this will be my last post. 1614. later.

WAIT WAIT! we can keep the ceg alive!

Wow...I don't know what to say. This place has really been a part of my life, and the people here too. I'll miss all of you....and Sway, don't worry, I know who y'are on off-topic.net!

nooooooooooooooooooooooo.................... i wonder if fordcontour.org is still operating... no time to check now

Lance... Thank you for the past 2 1/2 years of advise and assisting us with all of our questions... I appreciate your honesty and pry the site will come back. I think about 50% of us on this site are actually mature enough to enjoy this site.... With all the information you have made available to us, I wish I had a way to pay you back... Thank you once again... Our site has saved me many times over... Just when I thought I was gonna sell the tour to get a newer one I seen someone here has the same problems and many times have a cheap or easy fix...

Anyone (including Lance)who would be interested in getting in touch with me feel free to drop me a line 407-852-5776 Home John

I understand. Thanks for everything everyone
Hope you can streamline to a few critical forum areas...
1) Performance mods
2) Problems
3) General mods?

The Dow below 8K and now this!

Good luck and godspeed to everyone.

Thanks Lance.

All I can say is damn. This site is/has been so helpful to me. Lance and the rest, thanks for everything. I think I'll go home and cry now...

damn...
Do what you have to Lance, it's unfortunate, but I see where you are coming from. I've leanred a lot, and found my lifetime hobby thanks to some of you...
*sniff sniff*
Everyone take care, and be well!
Thanks Lance for all your unappreciated hardwork.
-Andrew

The mail list is up and will remain up to the best of my knowledge.

The T1 is in the process of being shut down, it could blink out at any time. Grab stuff while you can!

-Lance

Well Lance its been a great run.....

and just this weekend I used the How-To's to install my new clock in my 99.

sure the majority of forums have turned into bickering crap but the local forums are invluable as well as the front page links to sources and the how-tos.

Hate to see it go but will welcome it back.

What about starting (or taking over) an internet newsgroup? I don't know what's involved in that, but it would fit the bill. Maybe somebody has the time to moderate, as well.

This site has been worth its weight in gold to me. Everytime I have a problem with my car whats the first thing that pops in my head? Let some of the guys in the problems forum help me. 99% of the time I have gotten the help I was looking for.

I do understand where lance is coming from though.

What about all of the businesses that sell/service contiques. I would think some of them would look at buying the site and keeping it running. So much business is brought their way through contour.org

This really is sad though...how are we going to be able to keep with with developments in the new turbo kit? And things like that.

Truly sad.

The mailing list is staying around. When contour.org comes back up, I'm sure it will be announced on the list as well as on www.coldair.org.

Hey Lance, you said that most of the posts were at the off-topic form, why not take that one down, and mabee take general down too?? Just a thought, cuz I love this board, and ever scence I got my car this is the place I've learned about EVERYTHING! I appreciate the near year this board has helped me out. Hate to see its possible extenction.

MMARFAN

If the forums ever do make it back, I'd like to see Group Buys return with it. It seems like CEG is responsible for at least half of the aftermarket products available. Other than that, Lance, thanks for making this site in the first place. I never would of got my car if I hadn't stumbled upon this site and did some research. Enjoy the time away from having to babysit everyone that made this site a headache. But I hope you put the site back up for those of us who use it as it was meant to be used.

One question: How do you join the mailing list?

www.coldair.org click the FAQ at the top of the page.

I would have to say that I saw this wretched day coming. I use the site every single day as a resource and a friend. When I purchased my car I had no idea its potention and have since transformed her into a beautiful being.
One thing is for certain... I love CEG and all of its members and I can not help but get emotional thinking of its departure. Terry, Chris H, Thank you for all you have done and the people you helped. There is many others I can not mention. Sway ...You are my bestest Pal on the furoms ..thank you =o)
Oh man ...
Thank you everybody and I wish you all good luck in the future and to your Ford Contours, Mercury Cougars, Escort zx2's and Mercury Mystiques.
So long and God Bless

Daniel Jay Tressler
ContourConcepts, Ohio Chapter
Caraudioconcepts@hotmail.com
Ford Contour Online

just want to echo some thoughts:

Lance, it certainly is a big, scratchy, uncomfortable pill to swallow but your position is definitely understandable, so thanks again, you've helped out a whole lot of people.

It's tough to see it go. I can't imagine where I would be with this car if hadn't been for this site and its members...not to mention how much more $$$ (or less when it comes to mods ) I would have spent.

My last smiley:

WOW!

I don't know what to say

Thanks a million Lance. Hope the sour taste in your mouth from contour.org goes away quickly. Look forward to whatever you decide to do with the site.

Lance,

I don?t personally know you and yet I am indebted to you. You have unselfishly provided myself and many others with an enormous amount of information on contours, mystiques, and a number of other topics.

My decision to buy my contour was because of this site. No other car that I looked at boasted this kind of support and information. It was in late ?00 when I started looking at the site, right before the purchase of my car in early 2001. Since then I have checked the site more and more frequently, not wanting to miss anything about the car, developments / group buys, and to reap the knowledge of the many resident smart-people.

I think your dedication and the members of the site make CEG as great as it is. Chris, Brad, and Terry have always been there, sometimes within minutes with a reply that would ultimately save me time and money. There are many others too that have contributed to my experience here and I apologize for not giving you proper recognition.

I think there is a very mature and professional atmosphere @ CEG that I have come to appreciate and find lacking other places I go. I will miss many of the people I have come to rely on for information during my ownership of #147.

I hope to see CEG in the future, in whatever capacity possible. I will think of you all every time I fire up the duratec.
No amount of adulation will do justice after the benefits that I have receive so I simply say thanks.

Aaron

Thanks Lance and to all who have helped me with stuff over the past 20months or so.

If anyone wishes to keep in touch, my email is marko@neceg.org

Good luck to everyone if the site doesn't make it back.

I dont know what I would have done without the info on this site. Saved me time and $$ many times. Thanks Lance for everything you have done. I will miss this site, and I wish I could have met a lot of you guys (and gals) in person.
Damn...now I gotta go to work....
Its been fun.
Anyone is welcome to add me to their MSN list. Email is at the bottom.

IS ANYONE ELSE EXCEPT FOR ME REALLY ANGRY??

One quick question ... how do you archive the entire site (minus forums)? I've been saving under Favorites and "offline favorites" but is there a better way?

Thanks Lance, I enjoyed much of the discussions on all the forums. It was great while it lasted, sorry it couldn't have been easier for you to operate the site. I can see it getting annoying with the maturity level decreasing rapidly and then bottoming out. Old people don't use the internet, and young users shouldn't take it and the effort to maintain a great site for granted. I hope the site can return, minus the BS, via subscriptions, donations, banner ads or whatever.

Best of luck to all!

Now I will have to work more too dammit!

lance, thanks for your free service for the past 5 years. when you take into it, almost everything everything i know about cars, not just contours, i learned from this site. it has helped me appreciate the automobile 400 times over than what it would have been.

the one thing i love more than my access of knowledge on this site is the fact that i have met so many funny, helping people. CAP CEG, FL, everywhere... THANK YOU ALL!!!

Yes thanks Lance.

This certainly is disappointing, but I'm not blaming you.

It will be sad to see contour.org go, even if for a short time.

I certainly would like to see an archive of the technical threads, but off topic can go directly to /dev/null as far as it I am concerned.

I do appreciate the hard work from Lance and the moderators on this site.

I'll see you on the list-serv.

TB

I've enjoyed a great number of you and have learned much from many who post here. I wish to offer my thanks to Lance for this as well as those who have contributed.

I've also riddiculed, insulted, cajoled or ripped a fair number of people here, too, thoughtout sopradic and even sometimes incessant lurking here. For that privelidge, I'd like to thank those with ideologies and beliefs different than mine. I'd also like to thank the bare-faced morons and idiots who also allow for such easy pickings at times.

The "gotchas" on contours and the prevention of such leaves me much indebted to many people here, so another thanks to the techical gurus and die-hard mechanics that populate this site as well. Another profound thanks to them as well (you know who you are).

So, with that, I'll close this final post with a final quote:

"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."

-T. S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"

Darn I hate to see the forums go. Contour.org has the best layout of any car forum on the web.

Now I have to go grab the DMD install instructions before the disappear.

Thanks for everything, Lance.

Please stop with all the negative and sad comments... IT'S NOT OVER GUYS!!! WE ARE A FAMILY HERE!!

Lance:

First thanks for creating our club, and you deserve a long vacation from all of this! If you are totally burnt out, there is hope here!
I AM VERY INTERESTED IN TAKING OVER THIS SITE!! I SENT YOU A PM WITH MY INFO! PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP!!!

Wow.....Thought this would never happen. This site is great for peopel that actually use it for it's INTENDED use. I do agree with Lance that the BS is too much. I would hate to lose all the technical info and contacts though. No time to talk....I have drive space to free up....

Can you say WGet?

Lance, I'd just like to say Thanks for running the site. I can understand the frustrations you must have been having, i've been having a few of my own! :rolleyes:
This site when I joined way back in 2000 was the inspiration behind my site!
Thanks for that. Without out this site, there probably wouldn't be any MEG today!

I can certianly understand your frustration Lance. Seeing something that you created become something you had no intention for is heart breaking.
I'm sorry to see the site go and I for one will miss it alot!
If I EVER had a problem with my car I always knew I could turn to CEG. The How-to's and FAQ are a great help! at least to me they have been. Thank you for everything you have done and good luck with your future endevours.

Of course, you are appreciated here Lance. Is there anyway we can beg you to reconsider? If not, would others be willing to take over the site?

I firmly beleive this site is a HUGE necessity to contour owners. Regardless of the BS on here, we NEED this place!!! Im willing to get involved

Email is JVitolo27@yahoo.com

Lance, and all the boys and girls at contour.org

I'll be sorry to see you go - you were a great help when I first got my Mondeo, and it has always been interesting to see how two cars with such a common development can differ in so many ways.

You filled the breach until fordmondeo.org came along and for that I thank you.

I suspect you were the inspiration / model for a *lot* of car related boards.

Hope to see you back in one form or another.

Regards

Shawn

Ditto lance. I hope you decide to put Ceg back up. Just take some time for yourself and relax. For all my fellow CEGers take care of your self. It was fun and i had a great time. My AOLIM name is in my profile. Matt i also want to thank you for everything you did, we wouldnt of been on this long with out you.

Please, everybody, this is not the end!! Someone, if not myself, will take over this gem! WE CANNOT EXIST AS A CLUB W/O THE FORUMS!! It would be just all too difficult. This is a priceless commodity to us all...

It can't end like this... This is too harsh!

Lance, please recosider, or let one of us take over the site. I already mentioned that I will do all I can to continue this thing! PLEASE DON'T KILL THE C.E.G!!

Milan not to Dis you or anythinig but in order to keep this site running we need a T1 line. And that my frnd is $$$$$$.

milan, lets see what you can do!

Kevin, remember our discussion. When there is a will there is a way!

I mean, what are we supposed to do now, just disband? This can't happen...

Whatever, you really think this site is so bad huh? I really appreciate this site and all but come on! please! this site is one big group hug compared to most other forums. I guess i dont understand.

Don't want to start anything, but keep your comments to yourself. This post is about the future of this site, not about your personal thoughts... If you don't like it, the door is wide open!

i have the means to continue, not the $.

a company mine works with very closely, and does all of our hosting, has 2 t3's a backup t1, co-located servers and all the goodies, i could get bandwith at cost but not free.

We'd have to do a membership type deal because i know too many of the CEG are tightwads and a donation system wont hold up.

IN B4 DA LOCK! hehe - just kidding...

i'm amazed that things have gotten to this point, i frequent this site at least 3-5 times/day and i feel that most of the CEG organization will suffer from not having this service around... there have been uncountable instances with my car that i wouldn't have understood or learned about without this site...

i wouldn't have the SVT Roundup without this site...

hopefully things will even out and maybe someday Lance (or someone else) can revive CEG and all the enthusists (sp? - haha Rara) that are here enjoying the online community of CEG...

I'm on a pathetic dialup here at my sister's and only have time to read the first few posts.

To everyone I've conversed with: Thanks.

To everyone I've argued with: Thanks.

It's all been fun. I sincerely hope some of you will be able to stay in touch.

It's a sad day...

Isn't that the truth. I guess there's greener pastures elsewhere, or so the thinking goes.

The above polite temper-tantrum aside, the bandwidth usage here is co$tly, to say the least. We need to find someone with high-speed dedicated access, a server for hosting, and $$$'s for bandwidth (the hosting account won't be cheap due to the bandwidth utilization).

...Not to mention Lance's explicit permission and approval to turn the keys over to this site, due to it being a copyrighted work of his.

So, any takers?

Matt, if we charged even a single, measly, stinkin' Dollar a month, there would never be any problems... With that kind of money, we could buy our own Race Course!

But seriously though, to continue the CEG, membership fees would be an option. If a T-1 line costs around 600-700$ a month, a dollar from each person would more than cover these expenses.

Then, go ahead and have your flame forums too...

I'd do up to $10/month. You get 20 other people, and your in business.

Lance,

Thank you for giving all of us, a place to meet and make our discussions and piss matches.

I understand your decision.
After all, you should have a life too.
I only wish that I lived near you so I could at least help you out,
and give you the needed break you want.

Good luck to you, and enjoy whatever endeavors your future holds for you.

To everyone else here at CEG...

It was good while it lasted...

milan why do we need a website to be the chicago ceg come on car clubs long existed without a WEBSITE.. we all still have email and PHONE numbers right?? and lance thanks for the site and good luck to ya

To continue this thing going is not that hard guys! All that we need is a few CEG fanatics such as myself, and many, many, many others that are on here.

Of course, we will always have at least a penny a month on donations...

why not split sections across different DSL accounts? spread the bandwidth so it isn't such a large chunk. sure it'd be slower but considering the alternative...

Thanks Lance and everyone else here!
The info in these forums have helped a lot and I hope I was able to assist others here as well.
Be well y'all!

So Milan,

What do you propose we do ???

PM me.

Joe, totally agreed, but this is local. We must preserve the National connection here. Otherwise, the CEG is dead.

Anything besides this site will be inadequate to keep us together. Phone# get lost, people lose addresses, or simply do not wanna hassle anymore.

If this is how it's gonna be, then I see this place falling apart in mere days. Regional chapters will remain for sure, but the national won't...

Joe, I know that you expressed interest in taking over the Chicago CEG from Deane, and I expressed my interest to help. So at least we know that Chicago CEG will be safe.

However, that is not enough if you ask me. WE NEED A NATIONAL CONNECTION!!

So, not to be a pessimist (sp?) but with time being limited, where do we go from here?

Can Fordcontour.org handle the bandwidth of all of us jumping on there at the same time? That is the only alternative I can think of for everybody. Yeah there is the SVTPerfomance.com, but that is manily for us SVT people, and i know more than 1/2 of the users from here are not SVT owners.

Like it has been said before, Lance, thanks for everything, I have met so many people and learned so much that it is hurts to see this site go. It will be missed

We haven't even heard if he is willing to hand it over. If he isn't, then we are wasting our time asking. I fully understand if he isn't willing... It is his creation and he should do what is right in his eyes.

I would think that companies like THM/SHM/BAT/StreetFlight/countless others would be down with kicking a few dollars down to keep us alive. The more corporate sponsors, the cheaper it would be for each sponsor. Whomever takes the responsibility to Mod the board, would stand a small chance at turning a minor profit, should they choose to. I would kick in a few dollars... I am sure that that has been said in the past... The other Contour site is just not as good. Lance, do what you will, but think about letting one of those interested take it over. How about a member sales promotion where we send checks to Lance to buy the site from him? Some lucky schmuck could be the proud owner and corporate sponsorship could keep it alive.

Wow. This is truly dissapointing for a selfish standpoint.

Lance, I am glad you are cleaning your hands with this forum. I agree that the past few months has been very rough for this site. I also want to Thank You for everything you've done to and for this site. The information I got from here was and always, as long as I own either one of my Tours, be priceless in my eyes.

To all on this site who have helped me out in the past and persons that I have met through this site - 'Thank You'.

It's a sad day - But I also COMPLETELY understand the decision made. Hopefully, the main site is still available after a while. There really is a ton of awesome information there.

Later.

Lance,

Bye.

CEGers,

Thanks for the entertainment and info over the last 2 years, it's been fun. Got to meet a lot of good people and hope to see you down the road sometime.

If you want to contact me for any reason you can do so at dnewma04 at hotmail.com

Thanks.

Lance, thank you for all your hard work and patience.

Yes..I agree that there has been a lot of squabbles of late, but that's what happens when people come someplace everyday and get to know each other fairly well.

Should you seriously consider keeping it going, I'd pay to belong. $30 a year or something reasonable. Obviously it would depend on the amount of members and bandwith used.

I thought that there could be a two week "free" period for new members, then after that they would have to pay.

For all those in Florida, remember...the Florida site is still up and I will be keeping on top of it now since the forums (our main source of communication) will be gone. I will update it soon. www.geocities.com/flceg

Also, my email is rpaunovich@attbi.com

Maybe it would be a good idea for someone, who has the time of course and cares a lot, to mirror the forums onto their computer, or search for any good info then post it on their local site. I'd love to do it except I'm currently working a lot of overtime, including weekends.

Good luck everyone!

Ryan Paunovich aka Sharky, owner of the Shark!

I'll say it again: THIS IS THE BEST SITE OUT THERE GUYS!!!

Just look at all the options we have, and the tremendous organization! I can't even think about not having it all around anymore...

Whether I am going mad, or whatever it is, I'm gonna fight to the end to keep us alive. So many friends I met on here, so many great memories and moments. Can't let it all go... Can't do that.

Lance is a great person, and I am totally conviced that there will be a solution that is beneficial to all of us. PLEASE HAVE HOPE!!!

we just had a quick meeting here at work, we can do it, we want to do it.

specifics to come but we need details and we need them fast from lance or matt, we need usage stats, log files, any information about the site that we can get ASAP

if someone has lances phone number, or lance, if you get this, contact me at matt@electricshoes.com, i'll be sticking around the office for a while, lets save this big fish from drowning!

Alright Matt! That's the ****ing spirit!! All this fraternatization over the years and now the end!!! HELL ****ING NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

WHOEVER WANTS TO CONTACT ME:

MilanF07@Hotmail.com

Matt as i was telling you online i am willing to pay to keep this going.

As I said before, all we need is the hardcore members to step up to the plate. If we all give a little something, this great place can be saved. So please don't say good-bye, but rather keep your head high, and think of ways to help each other to save the CEG.

And remember:

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going..."

I will pay. Milan if you need any help let me know kjgolf09@msn.com if you need a hand with anything we need to keep this piece intact.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted --Good God, this is rediculus! Lance, you are the most abusive, powerhungry website owner I have met, this may be YOUR site, but without OUR viewing and OUR donations, this site WOULDNT be here, GROW UP! You decide to lock, delete, and so on any post YOU dont like, one day people will realize that they have had ENOUGH of you and leave, then you can sontrol "your site" however the hell you want, because noone will be here to care, as of now, I'm never coming back here. It WAS helpful at first until you got your chip on your shoulder and had to screw the whole place up. CARS arent the only thing we have to talk about on here. I just hope everyone registered on here will see what your trying to do and leave, and leave you with NOTHING on here. As for me, Ive been pushed around on here long enough, bye
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bye! I hope you are a man of your word and never come back.

What I have tried to establish is a site that anyone can visit (like children). Common decency is the key here.

You can talk about women all you want, I just don't want to see pictures posted. Since I run the site, anything posted here reflects on me, and I don't want any part of that.

If that makes me abusive and powerhungry...

And I don't recall receiving a donation from YOU.

-Lance

These are the reasons The all powerfull 8000 Strong United States CEG is being revoked to leave all Contour owners who live off of this info astray. all though many of you may know the person who left this post it will remain anonymous and the poster shall note that in no way am I trashing or blamming him completely.

I am not gonna post much more on this.

All of you which are interested in keeping it going have my Email in my sig. Hopefully Lance will either keep it going, or let one of us take it over.

If this is my last post (before re-birth), than I would like to say that I love all of you the same, and I sincerely hope that this is not the end...

I will pay 100 dollars to keep it alive!

Lance. Thanks for a great site. Being one of the old-timers, this site has bee a great source of entertainment and information for about 5 years. I agree that the Off-Topic section could probably get cut. Come visit us at www.neceg.org if you get bored.

Also, I owe you money. Consider it my well overdue membership rights.

Thanks again everyone. I trust we will all be chatting in some form or another very soon. And like someone else said, maybe I can get some work done for a change!!!

Peace,
Brian Salazar

baco99@excite.com
baco99@neceg.org
baco@alum.dartmouth.org

AOLIM: BacoDart99

It def. has been great and a place where every one of you were family to me, I have spent countless hours here in front of this damned computer on this site, and I will def. miss it. But thanks to everyone who had made all this possible, God bless you all.

This site doesn't have to go down in flames. Every post I see here shows how much we all love this place, and how much we will be effected if this site is gone. The latest model Contique is only two years old, guys and gals! We've still got some life in this model of car yet, and I know there'll be people that keep their 'Tours and Mystiques for many many years to come!

Milan, if you need a donation, I'll be the first one to step up to bat. Any other help ya need, let me know.

Email me at rames@erie.net if you need me, anyone!

I'm in for the paying thing as well. I think all the best contributors to the site will pay, weeding out those who just bring garbage. Matt, if there's a way I can help, let me know.

I'll sacrifice a pizza or two a month, heck even a college textbook (well maybe not) to help contribute ... to either Milan, Matt (Speed Demon) or whoever else can help host ...

Sorry, I can't stay away from this...

I am supposed to be on a date somewhere about this time, but **** it!!

Lance, if you read this, please give me all the specific behind running this place.

We need an estimated time of this site being put back up so that all of us will know when to come back.

To keep this site offline, will have similat effects of a stroke or a heartattack on a victim: The longer it is off, the more people will leave. That is why it's imperative that this site be kept on here as long as possible, and in the inevitable event of it being shut down, for it to be off for as little time as it is possible...

Once again, running this place is not easy, and therefore it will take a sort of committee to see its existence.

All of us have taken this site for granted one time or another. I think with the backing of the most die-hard memebers and the businesses that are tied to this site, there should be no problem to continue it going...

All we need is a good coordinatior or coordinators to see us through these difficult times. No hero was ever made in peace time...

Ive been here a couple months and i know what you mean about the whole social environment and everything , but i really enjoyed this website. I used it anytime i needed to know any info. Thanks for all of the effort you have put into this site and I really appreciate it.

In addition:

I recommend that all those who are interested in helping use E-mail exclusively!! Sending PMs may not be beneficial, for once this site is down, there are questions whether the messages will still be available...

Stay away from PMs!

Sorry to hear about this, this really sucks. I havent even done the throttle hang fix yet! Im a pretty big loser and I dont have much of a life without my car and internet. Sometimes I even prefer being on the CEG site then cruising for porn. Anywho, Ill chip in some money if it isnt an insane amount, make it enough though to keep out the riff-raff.

This site has been a great help to me and my CSVT for almost 4 years. I will sorely miss it. Thanks for everything and good luck to everyone! All good things come to an end. No more CSVTs and now no more CEG. Sigh!..........sniff!

First Lance,Thank you!

Second, to all CEGer's, Thanks you!

And to whom it may concern regarding saving this site. Please let us know what you need in the way of help or money. I don't post alot but I'm here everyday and I wouldn't know what to do without the people on this site! (I'm pathetic )
If you want to get in touch my email is
rustytaylor at usfamily.net
Again thanks everyone!

Private Message Notification

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What a great way to show how self centered you really are.

what the hell does this pm mean sir ??

all im saying is car lovers can go on without a website damn this is why this place is the way it is , i am glad lance is gonna get this long overdue break i know this stuff would drive me nuts and thats why i never posted much esp in the last few months

I find this site invaluable...lmk if a subscription fee will help....

Dan in Vancouver
604 618 0211
danb@bcaa.bc.ca

Lance, thanks for the effort you and the others have put into this site.

I'm not a frequent poster, but I do check in about once a day. The how-to and problems sections have proved to be worth their weight in gold for me, and there are a few diamonds in the rough (the autocross and some regional forums are great),but I agree with you on the other forums.

I plan on keeping my Contour for at least a few more years, and would love to have the technical stuff available somehow.

Cheers

Well, guys, I think the reality is just hitting me...

I am starting to be very depressed right about now. I can't stand to read all these good-byes, it's too much...

Lance, please contact me on this if you can man! I know this is your baby, but please don't end it all like this...

I think I'm gonna drive downtown to Lake Shore and remember the night I joined the CEG, last June. I was a proud owner of a CSVT, and did not even realize where the journey of CEG would take me...

This is truly a sad day for all of us. However, I firmly believe that the CEG is in for a mere bump on the road, and not in the wake of its demise...

Im sure we all understand, but it is with great sadness that the site will have to leave us...

I hope that we can all stick together, so if something pulls through, we have a place to go chat and share the information!

Thanks Lance for the great website!

please stick to pm's ... this topic doesn't need a conversation ...

This is the worst news I've heard in a while. This is the best forums location on the internet, hands down. The site is great, but the forums section is like a hidden gem in a web full of crap.

But I can't say I didn't see this coming. This couldn't last for ever, especially with some of the morons lingering around here with nothing better to do than bag on "newbies" and people's spoilers.

God rest Contour.org's soul. May it be reincarnated soon, scaled back or otherwise.

I would like to thank everyone on the site. More importantly to Lance for the site, secondly to all the people that help with the after market aspect of the car. If it wasn't for the time, effort and money that they donated to this car we love so much we would have nothing. And to all the people that post different things on this board thank you as well, if it wasnt for all of you i would have dumped the car a long time ago! You made me realize that i have a diamond in the rough. Once again, thanks to one and all!

I wish I had something eloquent to say about the people I've met over the years. The common threads we all share are the joy, laughter, pain and frustration experienced in the CEG.

Thanks Lance.

Thanks Ray.

Thanks to those of you I know well. Thanks to those who helped or offered support when I needed it. Thanks to those who spoke intelligently, even when differing in viewpoint. Thanks to all who contributed positively to what has been, and what shall remain known as, the very best model for an On-Line community.

Slainte!

Mark Whalen

Although I have not been here too long like most of your guys, I have grown to love everything about this site and the people. I think Ford deserves a round of applause. Heck, with out Ford makign the Contour and what it is, there would be no CEG. And we would not be who we are today. The people on this site are truely wonderful. Everyone or you. I am going to miss you guys and your character. This site definitely has character.

I love you guys. And sorry for having contour.org my homepage. Even though I browse it everytime I start IE, I am probably taking up more bandwidth. Anyways, thanks again.

One more thing, with a monthly membership or something nominal fee of maybe $1, heck make it $2. You could retire. You could live the life and keep this family together. I know yo are probably sick of hearing about how it could work, but I just couldn't not say this. Or we could work up some money and send you off on a saweet vacation. Hm? That sounds nice.

Relax guys, we'll all pull through. Besides, we'll always have Oprah.

Great site, Bad news it was a lot of fun I just hope it really doesn't have to go. and to think about a month ago i bought CEG stickers and now when people go to ceg website it's gonna be gone!
thanks a lot lance I've learned a lot about my car.

You quoted me TWICE. I am happy now. But it seems its only temperarary. www.fear.net and the computer nerds on that form seem like they are going to have to keep me company now.

How about just like it was said before we will stat paying like $5 a month, just don't shut it down, I think I speak from all of the CEGRS. Please let's try our best to keep this going.

this cant be happening on such short notice, at least give people to the end of the week so interested parties can work together and create a solution. can you do that lance?

i will be willing to design a new Contour website and take on responsibilities as webmaster. if anyone would like to work together on this and help get bandwith, contact me at hellahydro@hotmail.com. I will take whatever steps I can to keep this site alive.

Terry

Could advertising be the answer?

Cool !! Somebody speaking a bit of Irish. !!

13 years of it and I can barely remember 2 sentences....

Thanks for everything Lance. You know I rarely speak up in the General and Off-Topic forums so I'm not the most well-known person here, but I've been around for a long time. I know you've been taking a lot of crap lately and I'm sorry it's taken this kind of toll on you and Christy.

This "social experiment" however, is like losing a part of my family. While I don't PM everyone or jump in on jokes I'm always happy to see familiar faces on this board. On my days off I check the boards every few hours and have trouble imagining a day without them. I suppose it's another plea, with different words but the same meaning.

To Brian and Chris whom I've pestered more than most, I wish you both the best with your endeavours. I've learned a lot from both of you and would do so again. Lance, you've brought something to all of us and thanks for doing so. Christy, sorry about startling you on ICQ.

Somehow I doubt I'm the first person that springs to anyone's mind as a loyal member of CEG. But I'm here and always will be should anyone need anything or want to visit the GTA CEG / Toronto Cougar Club.

My email is the-ghosst at rogers dot com if anyone wants to get ahold of me. I will also once again be a regular at [url=news://rec.sport.billiard][url=news://rec.sport.billiard][url=news://rec.sport.billiard]news://rec.sport.billiard[/url][/url][/url] should you share that interest.

To the Kinleys, I don't think this is a wise decision, but it's not mine to make. I hope all of you find a new home somewhere together. Such a tightly knit group of people should never be parted. Since we are being forced apart however, I have many, many of your personal websites saved in my favorites and I'm sure I'll visit from time to time. If anyone finds a new home, leave a note for the stragglers.

Matt, email me for donations if you need them.

Tis strange, I never thought I'd have to loose so many people in one day. It's sad to think of all the things I'd like to say to honor those people I never said a word to. I'd write it all down but I'm afraid the longer I take to write this the more likely it is no one will ever see it.

Good bye all.

My day has just gone from bad to worse

Lance, thank you for everything, hopefully we will see the CEG back soon.

CEGers in General, don't want to lose touch with you guys, my AIM name is PDoten69 and my e-mail is pdoten@nycap.rr.com

Anyone interested in taking over the site; I don't have that much money but I could easily spare $20 or $50. I also have some excess hardware (SCSI hard drives) if we needed to construct a server...

-Pete

Certainly not what we wanted to see, but I understand and appreciate what you have done for us all. I'm glad I got to spend a good year+ here. Ta Ta!

Well, what can I say that hasen't already been said? Lance, and everyone who forms the structure of the CEG, thank you. This truly has been my virtual home for almost 2 years now. The benifits from this place are countless, and I really appreciate that it was formed to begin with. So if the CEG is to really ride off into the sunset, I wish all of you good luck.

But really, I think we'll all stick around. I really appreciate those who have the resources for this site willing to put their time on the line. Let's see if this ball can't keep on rolling!

I didn't expect this when coming on the site tonight. All I know is that I'm still willing to pay for a membership is it is needed. I hope fordcontour.org will be able to fill the wants and needs that CEG provided. Thanks Lance and sorry for making this a big social meeting place, but it sure was fun.

None of the data is being lost, it's all backed up in multiple places. Do not worry about that.

The site will come back, in one form or another, in the future. The mailing list will still be there, its existence pre-dates the site, and we have no plans of taking it down now. Updates will be posted on www.coldair.org periodically, regarding the status of things.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

To Lance and all the other people who have worked hard on this site,

THANK YOU!

I do understand your plight Lance, however, I hope that after all the pleading you have seen that you might reconsider. Please do not be put off by money concerns. There are obviously enough people willing to financially support the site to keep it running, NO MATTER THE COSTS.

If it is the uncivil manner in which some of the forums have become. Then maybe you could appoint a few new moderators so that your "job" in policing them is not as time consuming as it has been. I know I would be willing to give some of my time, and I am certain you will find others ready to help.

If you do not change your mind, however, I wish you and everyone else that has helped me and countless others the very best in all your endeavors

MLK

Damn! Just when i was about to tear into my Tour. But things, and people change and there isn't much that can be done about that.

Well, it's been great guys! I have learned a lot from you all. Thanx for the info!

Are there any other Contour site that are as informative as this? I need all the help i can get.

Thanks for the fun!

Good bye to everyoen...i feel like i am breaking up with my gf... I have been on this site for 4yrs now. I got my contour svt on july 31 1998. Its been great having this as a resource and i hope we can find a way to get over this. i luv u all.

Hey all,

at first i wasent going to say anything.. but i think i will

i just got back from the US (was there for a month), where i spent a good portion of time with CEGers (thanks solefood, bigmoneyracing, chris and kelly, svtblood)
first for the national meet, which was totally awsome and then just hanging out with freinds, the people i met down there really put a stamp on me, and made me feel like i was at home.. to take someone into your home who you barely know from the INTERNET.. i was awed by some of the people that took me in.. and helped me out when i got in sh*t, the point of what im saying is..

for the last year and a half i have been reading (for hours on end) and posting, just like everyone here. brought together by of all things, a car. when i traveled i realized that this board has some of the most incredible people that i have ever met.. and wether this board goes down or not im glad i got to meet some fellow CEGers before it does.. i know that i will miss the problems/performance/group buy sections

thanks for everything.

I've been a regular visitor here since Ray McNairy posted some of his last in these forums... and I've never had much of any great import to say until this evening.

Heartfelt thanks, Lance, for a job well done.

All the best.

I'm hoping the domain will still be registered. It would be a shame to see this turn into a porn site ... if anything please don't let this happen ...?

Wow.

I knew this day would come.

Hopefully we can pool our resources to keep it going some how.

...or maybe Lance will be able to dedicated his much appreciated time and effort for a little while longer.

Nope, it'll stay registered.

THE SITE IS NOT GOING DOWN FOREVER. NO DATA WILL BE LOST. IT WILL FIND ITS WAY TO A NEW HOME.

How much would it cost (if possible) to keep CEG alive @ Matt's house for one more month? I think it is clear that most users want to see the forums stay up somewhere, anywhere. But short notice will not allow the next place to get setup as well as let the user community know where it is/status/infomation. I have not donated a dime to CEG and for that, I am disappointed in myself. But I'm willing to pay a good chunk to keep it alive at least until another palce has been organized.

atiedje@comcast.net

I really just got here, but I have met some great folks, learned a lot, and had a few laughs.

Good luck, Lance, fair thee well, wherever thee may fare...

As my quote below sez: Hey! I was!

Hey Lance, I read the thread in the "Off Topic" and all I can say is I am sorry that you have to deal with some of that. A friend of mine was running a site with a chat and MB, and she basically got sick of people whining and bickering and questioning why she did things, so she shut it down. BUT, before you do something drastic, think of all the people you have helped. I have learned SO much about the car, and even this weekend when I was installing my audio gear, I ran into massive problems, I was sitting at my computer until 3am searching archives and printing threads/pics. So, if you really get fed up, try to keep some of the info because it really is invaluable.
;}Heather D.

Lance, again, thank you. I have met some great people here. If anyone EVER comes down to New Orleans, email me xphilerhd@aol.com!! It's been fun. LOL And I you have to get this site back up in some way..I just bought the darn stickers! :p

Everyone, I'm sorry this is happening.... I wish it weren't happening, however, my job has decided to lay me off after all. They are unsure about the office in MD and don't want to keep me around if it's going to close. My last day at Genuity is July 31st. However, I don't when the T1 will be shut off. If I could afford $300 per month, I would happily get a 1.5Mb up/1.5Mb down SDSL connection to my house and keep up the site. Again, I'm sorry.

--Matt

Thnx Lance this site has saved my 98 Mystique, it's been 5 years now it still runs great and still looks like new. Where Ford tried to cut corners we as a group have been able to share and help each other.
I'm still trying to get on board with this OBD II stuff
ntaceng@sprintmail.com
Paul
hope somthing works out, should be interesting going it alone.
Matt best of luck finding new employment, I got early/forced retired from the phone company 1998
it's no fun out there anymore.

Mark, do you have a paypal account? I'm sure people would donate a yearly subscription price.

I am really sad to hear this! I have followed Contour.org for about 3 years now, and would hate to see it go away.

Wow, this is a shock to my system. This site has been an excellent source for information to me and many others. It was great talking with you all. I hope that everything works out. Hope to see everyone again...whenever contour.org 2.0 comes out!

Cheers

Mike

Thanks Matt for keeping it going as long as it has. It almost went away before, until you stepped in. Sucks to hear you are losing your job

Wow, this is a shock to my system. This site has been an excellent source for information to me and many others. It was great talking with you all. I hope that everything works out. Hope to see everyone again...whenever contour.org 2.0 comes out!

Cheers

Mike

Thanks to all, I'll miss the sight.

Keep your stick on the ice.

later everyone! its been fun many times

OMFG! I don't usually log on at night but I almost wished I didn't. Won't sleep well tonight. My Contour and the CEG have been a big part of my life for 4 years! I have a LOT of friends because of it that I will know for probably the rest of my life. Jesus I just stood up at another CEGers wedding this past weekend if that doesn't say a lot right their! I wish I had enough computer knowledge to handle it all myself. THIS SITE AND IT'S MEMBERSHIP/FRIENDSHIP CAN NOT DIE! Drop the Off-Topic as much as I like it and let stuff roll of your back. 14 year old kids that like to talk smack should just be dropped like the plague. I feel that someone will take this over. I pray that someone will take this over. You don't think I can actually work when I get in in the morning do you. My boss will think I lost my mind.

Thank you for everything guys, expecially Lance.

GODSPEED

I am so sad to hear this, almost shocked. This is part of my everyday. Great way to meet contacts, and talk cars. Thanks Lance, and I hope you decide to bring it all back one day so we can all reunite. I have taken so much information from this site, and i'm glad I could be part of it.. sniffle, teer :rolleyes:

I can't say I've been here a long time, but as another fellow CEG'er has said, it's been a grand time. Heck, I don't even own a Contour myself right now, but it's been fun. I always hoped it'd be here for when I'd get my first Contour, and I still do, but I do understand where you are coming from Lance, and I would also like to thank you for keeping it up for so long, and without any donations from us. If you ever need a montly membership from us though, you can count me in.

Time for me to say tata, good-bye, and thanks Lance for everything. It's been fun.

I'm crying as we speak

Lance, Matt, Admins, and fellow CEGer's:
Thank you. I would like to thank you all personally for all you have done, the insight you provide and services rendered.
There may be other Contour sites on this great big internet that Al Gore invented, but none will beat the CEG. From the technical insiders, to the trolls, this site has felt more like a place, than little bits o' data floating about.
Yes, I will move with everyone else to another site, but I will be one of the first back when Lance or someone can restart the CEG.

Once again, thank you and goodnight.

And Lance, this is for you...
Page 7 OWN3D!!

Its still here...
This is such a shame..
If money will help, email me at DNixon@hsc.vcu.edu

signing out.

Well, this stinks.

Thanks to Lance and all. Everyone's help with my car before I traded it Monday has been very appreciated.

CEG has been the first place I visit online since I discovered it. Unlike how some feel, I have really enjoyed the off-topic forum, have met some great people online.

If CEG is ever back up, I'll be around. Until then, take care everyone. It's been a blast!

this has been a matureing experiance for me and i hate to see it go but you gotta do what ya gotta do.sorry for any disrespect we all may have caused to you, it's unselfish people like you that make this world a berable placeand i hold you in highest regards ,i geuss what i wan to say is "thank you"

It seems to be the fate of most good and positive services on the net to become too expensive to maintain once they reach a large audience that actually benefits from them. If there was some way to set it up so that the costs were spread over all users, as a tiny part of their normal net access bill, then something like this could thrive forever. But when one person gets stuck paying for it, everybody is hosed, despite some who make voluntary donations. (This is why the government doesn't run on charitable contributions.)

I will really miss the Zetec forum. It has certainly been financially valuable to me at times... but then, without contour.org I would never have caught the mod bug, so financially I'm probably no better off.

Thank's for the time and effort Lance.
You were always appreciated (although we may not have shown it).

I will miss many of you. I would have loved to have met more of you.

(and a question, does this kill off everything associated with ceg? i.e. spring zing '03 national meet '03)

Although I don't post often ... I have always appreciated all the great info available on this site.

I really appreciate those who have hosted and ran this for the past few years and I look forward to the revamped (downsized) site.

Best wishes and best of luck to Lance and esp. Matt!

If this is the end, my friend,.....

VERY SORRY to see this place go...

The only place on the web where contour owners are represented....

I am very disheartened....thanks Lance.

Good.

As part of the un-vocal minority, thanks so much for all that you have done Lance. I think I was one of the first 100 members when the Contour List-Serv was started up on the American University site. I had been seeking Contour enthusiasts on the Car & Driver site when Ray McNairy and Nick Dinatale recruited me to the mail list.

Then you came on board Lance, with tons o' questions regarding your Tour (of which I'm still partial to midnight blue '95 SE's being a former owner). Ray, OF Emeritus, was there to guide all of us in his own special way - damn do I miss his quips.

I've never been one to post much and hope that things don't fall apart in the time it takes for Contour.org to (hopefully) reappear. It's been a lot of hard, thankless work on your part to keep this up and running, and I'm sad to see it go.

It's been an invaluable source to me when I needed Terry's help to rebuild my tranny. I would have never known Terry existed, let alone thought of shipping my tranny out to MI rather than having it fixed here in NJ at some schlock-house repair shop. As recently as last week, the Problems section came to the rescue when my clockspring went on me. This site has saved so many of us countless repair $$$'s, on top of the comeraderie and friendships that have come about.

So to all, best of luck. I hope our Tours don't fall into disrepair without this site. To Lance and the moderators who have made this site possible, thank you even though I have never met you.

Best regards and ta for now.

Jim Harris
'98.5 Silver Frost E1 (87,800 miles and 2 payments to go)
'95 Midnight Blue SE (sold at 66,000 miles)
(153,800 total miles at the helm of a Contour!!!!) :p

Wow this is soo weird! I have been on here since 1999. This has been such a great place where I meet tons of new friends far and near! Lance thanks for all and everyone else inbetween! There is soo much knowldge here that it's crazy!!! Sad to see other ruin what could be others great experiences

Soo Thanks all and I will around...

Lance, Matt, and Admins,

Thanks for organizing, running, and maintaining a place for us all to gather. I truly have enjoyed my car that much more because of this site. Thanks Again

We can save it!!!!!! Everyone, just send me as much money as soon as possible...

Guess ill sell my computers now!Dont have a need for them.............unless we take over clubsi.com!!!!!!!!

Was just browsing this forum at midnight prior to logging off for what seems to be the last time.

Enjoyed the site, learned a lot and hopefully assisted some of the members.

Thanks for your efforts in operating the site.

This sucks

I just now got a chance to read this through. I'm disappointed that the site is shutting down, but at least it'll be backed up; it would be terrible to lose so much great information. I want to thank everyone; this site has been a great source of valuable information and entertainment. See you all when CEG comes back!

Oh, for those who suggested membership fees... it's been brought up in the past, but I think the issue was the paperwork and possible taxes.

YOUR BROKE :| :p

Hey lance I respect what your doing, CEG has gone down hill and the last thing we want is a bickering sight like club si

But catch yah later CEG

My turn to chime in. I have been a member for a long time, and only recently an active one. This site has been my regular daily diversion, and I have enjoyed it oh so much.

It represents so many of the best reasons why the internet is so great.

I've realized that people sometimes are able to recognize that mass-produced gem that comes along every once in a while - in this case a car. The Contour really is greater than the sum of its parts and this is the best place in the universe to appreciate/maintain/upgrade/mod/troubleshoot our beloved CDW27s.

If the NW-CEG guys I met are any indication, we're a diverse yet really cool group of enthusiasts. This is a great community and I'm sad to see it go.

Thanks Lance, the admins, and Matt for all that was involved in providing this wonderful corner of cyberspace.

Best wishes and I hope we all meet again in a similar place not too far into the future.

Kerry

The "social experiment" that Lance spoke of is interesting. This could be the second web family I have lost. I started out on the web with a Star Trek chat room that Paramount ran, about 1998. As the room(s) grew larger and older, cliques formed and there were more arguments, the "Family" theme of the site went down the drain. Eventually, Paramount, who hosted the chat room, shut it down for "maintainance" we were told. We all knew the real reason, the moderators "hosts" could no longer control the discussion and Paramount wanted out of it, this was in early 2000. It was only this year that it came back with lots of rules. I checked it out a couple of months ago, but I have been spending that time here. Can't do both. I would still rather spend time here that there because the discussions, for the most part, are more mature and as bonus, you learn about cars!

I have contributed before and will again to help this site continue. To Lance, once again, THANKS!!!

I'm in total disbelief. I can't believe this is happening. Thanks to Lance, thanks to all the CEGers that have helped me and those I didn't know that well. I said it before and I will say it again: This was one hell of a site.

hectik79@yahoo.com if any of you want to get a hold of me

Hector

GOODBYE CEG!!!!

Still up as of yet, shoot, I'm going to be bored at work all night now...

Thanks Lance for the all the work you've put into this site...

Thanks for all the work you have done to this website. Thanks to all the cegers that have been helpfull. I'm going to miss all the info and meets.
Well I wish you all the best of luck.

Looks like everyone is going to have to go over to Blue Oval New's contour forum for now.

Well, I will miss all of you. It has been a very neat experience. I too have noticed the difference in attitudes lately, and it has gotten annoying. I think it will be good to give everyone a break.

I will still be able to keep in contact with a few of you through IMs. If anyone wants to talk to me, my s/n everywhere else (except ICQ) is ExDelayed, on ICQ I'm 25511759. If you see me around, say high.

Again, I will miss all of you, I hope to see the forums, or at least the site, come back up, at least in some way.

Thanks for hosting it as long as you did Lance!

Well guys, it was fun. I learned so much about the CDW27 platform and cars in general over the time I was registered here. Can't forget the farting around we did with our arguments over such trivial crap, either!

I hope that everyone migrates over to fordcontour.org so that all this information isn't lost. It would be a shame to see someone like Terry Haines go to waste!

Thanks for the community Lance.

I wish you all the best of luck.

thank you so much for having this site. I only wish I knew about it when I first got my tour, and not a month ago, I have gotten so much help and information here, along with spending all of my nights and mornings looking for things that I could do next.

thanks again, and I hope that the site comes back.

Johnny jhennessy29@yahoo.com from Nor cal

Well Lance,

all i can say is that over 8000 people have registered into this website. When i registered almost 2yrs ago we barely even had 2000. This place has helped us with our cars and each other. Honesly speaking for all of us, the other car sites don't do what we do here. No national meets or spring zings, no member get togethers, they just don't have the *family* type atmosphere that we have here. I totally understand where you come from and wish the site comes back. With all the information that passes through here, its just a gold mine. You did a great job here and 8000 people are here to prove it. Hope the break helps

Hope this hasn't been discuseed already, as I skipped from pg 5 to here, but....

1. Lance, wouldn't eliminating the bandwidth-consuming portions of the forums allow us to keep the site up. If it still can't be afforded...

2. $200 a month seems easily feasible for lets say 500-1000 members who will actually cough it up to keep the site alive. I mean come on, less than $1 a month for members....? Should be possible...

3. If indeed the site goes under, heres one suggestions. Time to buy a Haynes manual! (even that isn't close to the advise given here).

4. Post whores - Hahaha, time to reset that count, eh?

Lance, thanks for everything. As many have said, the info, meeting fellow CEGers, etc was great. Best wishes to all, no matter what the outcome.

Well what can i say...to help with the cost of running the site can we not pay a membership fee? as for the running could there not be moderators? I use this site every day. It is a VERY VALUEBLE site to me here in the uk.Performance parts etc are very hard to come by in this country and the information is invaluable. I it is helping me change my can into something great. This is what the internet is all about. So many usefull sites have been closing down. i have a 1 mb 24/7 connection to the net and a spare pc sitting here doing nothing. maybe we coulkd move some of the forums to here or clabrate with fordmondeo.org in the uk. Come on PEOPLE THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY i am and others in the uk are just begining to modifiy there car shm headers etc. i might not post here as much as some of you but i do read alot of the fornums. if i do manage to get a fornum site up and runing i will let you all Know. everybody email me with contact information....

it will be a sad day to see the usa sister of MEG shutdown... surely out of all you guys here you can sort a server/bandwidth out???

Lance- As a former Contour owner and one of the first members of this site, I can only say thanks for all the effort and help thru the years. Hope to see you in the future..........can you say www.i-club.com

Idea...perhaps the FAQ could be assembled somehow to be downloaded? It would be a shame to lose that valuable info. (PDF file?)

For the serious Contour owners I will still be around if you have my mail adress feel free to ask...,.Lance if you want some business interest to maintain part of this site for tech info etc drop me a line, I'll support it....TH

I do appreciate this site and the hard work that goes into it.Great club with great people.It's sad that the geed will pay for the bad.It will be sad to loose the contacts,and set up future meets.Some have forgotten that this is a car club,and sure we have some gripes to air out,but like everything today,some just have to go to far.

I like many do not want this site shut down,alot more good goes on than bad.If a member cant police him/herself then leave!The main thing is the preservation of the contour and the freindships that develop.

Maybe it's time to start a dues membership,a yearly club fee,if you violate the forums,your membership is revoked.I'd do it.Let's do something rather than kill off a good site.
That is my thoughts.

chris

How will we find you, again, if the site returns to a different location, etc?
I added my name to the AIM/EMAIL list..
but still..

Either way.. Thanks for helping me overcome some of the most difficult problems I could have, with my Tour... You guys are a wealth of knowledge..
Thanks, Lance, and Matt, and Rara, and all..

Hopefully, see you again..

Ray..

Watch www.coldair.org (and if you'd like, subscribe to the mailing list), and, of course, periodically check www.contour.org.

well all i can say is that stinks. and then again i understand. i know iam like the sea of "oh my god why". but if you think of it this site as helped more that you really expect. and if you think what you have created is an insult to you. i've been a member for a short time and not once did this site come to me as stupid in anyway or off subject. believe me it helped me a whole lot. what i say now i know isnt going to influence your decision in anyway but. it is sad to see it go.look at your replys....well loved it.

The site is still up??? Please tell me it was all a dream???

Sorry to hear this... but it makes sense.
Having been a long-time member, I agree the forums are no longer functional, except as a form of entertainment. See....
The Contique is out of production now, going on three years, most of the original new car owners either have learned and said all they have to say, or moved on to other things.
The questions are always the same old, same old.. and since no-one wants to use my "130mph brake cleaning method" anyway... :rolleyes:
Thank you Lance, for the chance to share some car interest with a whole lot of folks.
Hope the main page Contour.org can survive... but I saw this coming....
Good Luck,
Best Wishes,
Elizabeth

Lance,

I have only been a member for about a year now, and have gotten a lot of good information from this site. I appreciate all of your efforts you have put into the CEG, and understand your frustration. I would like to thank you for everything you have put into this site, and the time you have taken out of your life to keep it going. Thanks to you, a lot of us have learned a lot, and met new friends and people. What ever you choose to do with the future of this site, will be appreciated and supported.

Thank you again, and everyone here at CEG, and i hope to speak with you all on this site some time in the future again.

Nis

Everyone is welcome at NECO since we are basically driving the same car. Think of the Cougar as the Contour Coupe Besides, the message board that we run has an import utility for UBB ... Lance, maybe you should contact me and we should talk about this.

This sucks!
Would there be a way to store the archives some where for easy download. We can't just turn the switch off and that's it. Lance, even if it was not your intention, you have created a large community that counts on this site to survive. And I understand your view about contour.org and what has become but with all communities there are good things and bad ones. I just hope you reconsider and fire up this site again with a new mentality but don't just kill it like that. If you feel you can't handdle it anymore, hand it over to someone that can. We all suferred when the contour was discontinued and we will suffer even more when our only true source of information about our cars is gone as well. We have accomplished a lot on all these years and it will be very sad to select everything and hit the delete key. Lance, dont' take this in a bad way, you have done an excellent job keeping this site up and I thank you for that.
Good luck and I hope I can one day come back and see this site with a green light.
Take care.

I don't even know what to say

I'm so sorry to hear about the future of contour.org. I've been visiting this site since February 2000, when I found it on a search for "Ford Contour" on Yahoo. I was looking to buy a new car and wanted to find opionions on Contour ownership. Needless to say, I made my decision to buy a Contour based on the info gained from this site. That was February 23, 2000, and have no regrets. With nearly 68,000 miles, the car has been a pleasure to drive and own.

I will miss my daily visits to the contour.org forum and the personalities contributing to it. I have learned a lot about these great cars thanks to the forum.

An interesting idea, perhaps to seperate wheat from chaff, would be to entertain the idea of a yearly subscription with associated fees (is that why I felt bad not donating a while back?). I for one would buy into a year's access, for a nominal fee, if the site lived on. Wonder how many others would go so far...the 'tours deserve this sorta site.

This is a cop out.

With all the members here and all the pledges to send money, it makes no sense for this site to not be able to find hosting elsewhere.

None. This site kicks a$$ and is absolutely worthy of being saved. Who cares if theres a little squabling? It's human nature...if we all got along all the time, things would be kinda boring.

Here's to hoping this isn't my last post...



EDIT: let me also say that I am extremely appreciative of the CEG Gods that have brought us this wonderful & amazing site. It has truly taken on a life of its own...and enriched mine as well. I've made alot of friends here...and that is a special thing.

Thank you.

How come some of you are willing to let it go?So what if the contour is out of production big deal,so isn't austin healy,truimph,amc car's etc.They still have clubs that are going strong!The info we exchange is nice but this is a car club.A Ford Contour club,a way to show off and talk about out tours,and cheerish the short life off an awsome car.KEEP THIS SITE!

this to me sounds like the baton needs to be passed and someone else should take over.
and I mean take over everything.
the rights to the site, the hassles of finding a T1 or appropriate connection, hosting the actual server, everything.
I appreciate all that Lance has done for this site, he's made it such an amazing resource, but so many have expressed the want to take over for Lance and relieve him of the abovementioned hassles he has to deal with.
Let someone else deal with the hassles, Lance, and let you get back to your own life and free time.

i agree:)

Page 9...Own3d with a capital 3!!!

Lance and other contributing CEG members. Thanks for your information, and knowledge on the Contour. It has helped me out of some jams and also made me want to modify my car. To me, it seems sad that you want to just shut down this site. It has been mentioned in many well-known articles in magazines sold worldwide, and I think that means a lot. It shows that people want to be part of this site and that it is full of knowledgable information that people like to share with one another. Lance, if you don't feel like dealing with everthing that this site puts on you, thats fine, very understandable. I just think that before it is just shut-down, see if someone else will take it over. I have seen this site change over the years, and I will agree it isn't always for the best. However, people still come and check it out from time to time even if they don't have their Tour anymore. I guess I would just narrow down the topics in the forum, and keep the archives. Just my 2-cents on this. If you decide to shut it down, that is your choice. It will be missed greatly by CEG members around the world.

Keith Lennop

I WILL PAY!!! lets get sponsors or something. with 8000 memebers and how much crap we by and that i wouldnt of even known about if it wasnt for CEG.

Lance and his team made an excellent and time consuming job and should be thanked for that. We all benefited from this site.

I wonder however why everybody is excited. If this site is shut down, it will come back, with a registration fee!

Maybe we can get some hosting off of Superford.org I believe that is where some clubs are run off of... I believe The Taurus Car Club of America is run off that server space Maybe a possiblity??? I will check into a couple of things... and others feel free to check out also

Agreed! KEEP THIS SITE. Like others that said, i'd pay for a yearly subscription, and i know there are a lot of others that would too. I don't want to give up this site (although, my boss would be happy since i'll get more work done), i'd like to see it stay too.

I would pay.... Let me know.... jscully@vol.com
At any time...

John

contour.org has become bigger than you lance and if you think that you can just shut it down at your own shelfish wims well then we all dislike you very very much

wimper wimper wimper wimper

Out of the 8000 or so registered members, I bet only about 1500 post regularly.

So I ask who shall be willing to take over control of this CEG forums please step foward be thine able

Hey guys! I am MORE THAN WILLING to have you guys come over to our site www.fast4doors.com and join our forums. I can do regional forums, if you guys need one just post a request over there. Please come over!!!! Right now it's kinda set up as our local site, but I am going to change that. We would love to be the next Contique site!!

I have really appreciated the opportunity to receive and share knowledge about my Contour with others on this site. It has been a great help to me in maintaining and troubleshooting problems with my car.
Thanks for providing a great site and.... Please Reconsider!

God this is depressing, I don't even own a Contour anymore but this has been my go-to site now for almost a year.... I only hope it comes back

I would pay.... Let me know.... jscully@vol.com
At any time...

John

To Lance and his family... Thanks for the great site. Sorry to hear that your hobby turned into a nightmare. I know I would pay for a yearly membership to this site if that was the only problem.... but it's not. Enjoy some free time.

Shutting down the site is not the answer. It's a cop out...I mean, what do you need? More money, moderators, someone else to manage the site...These are all feesible things that can and should happen. I am willing to help with any way possible.....I have gig's of data storage available at my house as well as SOME bandwidth.

Lance, how much drivespace does the site take up? How much bandwidth, 3-4 gigs???

We can find space, or pay for it. I hate paying for information but turning the site into more of a "club" might be the answer. Yearly dues that include a login to ceg, meets, t shirt or some kind of artifact are things that will draw members.

From Lance's tone I beleive there might be more to the story other then what we know. Just because the T line is going away doesn't mean the site can't be moved. People bickering is not a reason to shut down your site. People will post/say retarded sh*t all the time anywhere. Read any of the other "car" boards. Check out www.gixxer.com, they even have a froum titled "anything goes" for bickering and mindless babble. They also have a man section (hairy palms) that keeps all the little "women picture" posts that CEG like to lock down. I think the site needs "help" not an escape route!

..and I am fully willing to help with that!

I would gladly pay as well. Most of us Cougar owners who are into performance rely *heavily* apon Contour.org for performance mods and help with problems. We have some really great gear heads over in NECO but only a handfull. NECO as a class is younger more cosmetic minded bunch. I *NEED* this board and it's people!

Let's see: 8253 members @ $25 per year membership fee, that's a potential $206 325 per year ! And the membership is still growing every day !

Not so bad for a small business. Somebody must have thought about that ...

Thanks for everything you've done, Lance. Looking forward to the next iteration of contour.org. Drop me an e-mail if you need help with any website-oriented grunt work in the future.

I can't say anything that wasn't already said. I've been a member for over a year now and have been to this site at least once a day. I've learned so much information from all the gearheads on this site...myself not being too mechanically inclined. This was a great place to learn about Cars in general, the Contour specifically. I think it would still be a great place without the forums and would LOVE to pay a fee to keep it up. If that can't be done, than thank all of you for your knowledge, and everyone who put an effort into making new mods for our cars...e.g. Turbo's, pre-97 bumpers, Carbon-fiber hoods, etc...
Thank You all
P.S. This site was my excuse to take a break at work...now i guess i'll have to take up smoking.

Sorry to see it go.

well, heck. i've been out of the country for a week and a half and come back to find this stuff going on.

i have to admit, if i still had my SVTC and if this was still my primary home, i'd be a lot more disappointed. as it is, though, i've transitioned more over to www.clubrsx.com and only visit here once a day or so, instead of several times a day.

part of my transitioning has been helped along by some of what lance is talking about - the overall tone of the site seems to have regressed a little and lost some of the sincerity and "mickey-mouse-club-ish-ness" that made it so appealing for so long. i've been a member of the CEG since the fall of '98 and have followed some of you folks all the way from the inlink.com SVT forums to the mailing list to the many bulletin board forms that these forums have taken over the years. i don't post that much, but i've enjoyed watching the CEG grow....

without it, i never would've enjoyed my SVTC as much as i did, and i never would've met several of the friends that i have.

but before i break down and start singing kumbaya here, i'll end this by saying thanks to lance and to matt (mmars) for all their efforts. mmars, sorry to hear about your layoff - hope you find new work soon. methinks that's a bit more important than hosting a website.

i'm gonna keep my eyes open for what develops, and i'm still on the mailing list and will remain there just so's i can keep up w/ you folks.

catch ya on the flip side.....and i'm out.

Several other worthy forums that I frequent are advertising supported. Definitely something to think about for CEG's rebirth.

In the mean time, I can be seen wading through the rough seas at 20vturbo.com, as well as the local euro scene at Montrealracing.com...

Later guys and gals!

Less than 24 hours and there are 9 pages of dialogue. That says a great deal about this site and its members. I will also pledge $$ to help secure a future for the CEG.

Mark

I love this site and it has become my primary reading site on the web!

To Lance and all that have helped keeping this site up and running, thank you so much. I do hope that it does come back!!!!!

Thanks Lance. Finding out new info and meeting new people was great.

Page 10

I dont know who the dude is...but what'll Infurium (sp?) think??

thanks lance for starting this site and keeping it running so long, helped a ton with my old mystique!

best of luck with the future of ceg.

mark

good luck to all and i will miss the help but i do unerstand hope it comes back soon and i would be willing to help anyway i could

take care all

Sam

oh man this sucks, i just found this site. so much useful info. now it's going to be gone. talk about a bad day to have bad news. this is the only place that i have found support for the contour, every one from where i am from just laughs, but here you see people, proud of thier machines and the results of thier blood and sweat and hard work are seen in the pics and stories. this is just so unfortunate

Dennis you have a PM. (if you're new to forums: on the top right of your screen, click on "my profile".)

ok after calming down for a sec. and reading most of the post. i have come to relize that you are right. it's a shame that i found this site too late, and it's unfortunate that i will not be able to enjoy this site like the members that have been here for years. but i do understand, and for those that i have not had a chance to meet or talk too, good luck with your cars, and lives, if your fixing them up like i am or if they are fixed up, i hope they kick ass and turn heads

and lance your one hell of a person who can bring this many people together, now don't freak people out by walking on water

You need not concern your little head over him.

ERR! Why so many people ignore Lance's post about he'll bring the site back? He merely said that he need to find another place to host the server, but it won't be something he'll quit his job to do right the way! Maybe the forum will not come back in full like it is now which actually might be a good thing, but it'll come back. He even said that he'll archieve all the FAQ's and stuff. Now quit your bishing about "Lance is selfish to shut the site down" and crap like that!

Well, I've been frequenting the CEG in its various forms since the spring of 1998. 4 years of invaluable information and entertainment. Thank you Lance and all the others too numerous to mention. I don't say much but I listen hard and I pray that I will see the CEG in good form years from now. Besides, my tour has at LEAST 8 or 9 more years on her. All of you saying you have a solution, my hopes and dreams are with you. Good luck.

I'm gonna miss this place. Thanks Lance for many, many, MANY hours you have put into this place. Good luck in your travels.

lance and all the admins.
thank you for your hard work
to all the cegers thanks for all the great info
im wiling to donate $$$$ to help the site out.
latinonly@yahoo.com

Later

Thanks to everyone for the help over the past year. You have made owning a Contour alot easier. I hope this is just temporary.
Terry Haines,. I hope you can help save contour.org- even if its down for a while.
Will there be anyway to get a notification when the site comes back up?

Yup It's getting close cause I tried to open Forums in another window and wouldn't take.... Love ya'll if we drop soon... Drop me a line if you would like ..407-765-0280 John... I'm ridin it until I get kicked out..

Hey Lance, thanks for your efforts. I never contributed too much to the General or Problems forum obviously, but I enjoyed talking about the CSVT and being a Nissan resource for the people who were asking.

BTW (since this'll likely be my last post here), for anyone who cares, my Altima was totalled by a big stinkin' truck last week ( story here ). I'm okay, bro-in-law got bad whiplash and is still suffering. Fighting with their insurance co. now to get a fair settlement, and now I've gotta figure out what to do for 4 months until my G35 Coupe comes in November. Considering getting a Countour ('95-ish) cheap for the interim, but I might be able to borrow a neighbor's car till Nov.

Anyway, take care guys! Thanks for the dialog...

like alot of otthers im sure this site helped influence me to buy my car....i had in mind a tour along with a few other cars and stumbled across this site and the rest is history

i agree that the site has deteriorated over the last several months and for any part i may have played in that i appologize....for the most part i stayed out of the drama but posted often in the off topic section (sorry didn't have enough car problems to stay more relative to the site)...some things i posted just to blow off steam and again i appologize

when i had problems or questions with my car someone was always able to step up with if not completely the right advice at least the right suggestions that helped to diagnose any problem

i still cant pull an engine but i feel that i've learned alot from all the members real world issues and resolutions and learned more about the contour than i ever would have otherwise

and the expertise on this site makes others come to it for general info....for that i thank terry and chris brad...all the 3.0 conversions guys...i had no idea the car was upgradeable in this way til i came here...i cant name all the people here that i have learned from but i'll just say thanks to u all

socal guys....we can still meet up on sites like duratecperformance.com and thru hangouts around the way

finally to lance.....all i can say is thanks man....this site helped me more or less find my car and was there when sept 11 wrecked me and scared the hell out of me....and was there when my tranny went out giving me advice on what to look for when getting my car back from the dealer....im sorry this site has become too much for u to the point that you are taking it down

you personally have offered me top notch advice that has dead on correct and for that i also thank u

if its something doable for you i would love to see the site come back even if under new ownership i just hope that u would still be part of it in some way

u've offered a service to a group of 'forgotten car' owners that has been immeasurable

enjoy your break man, u've earned it....im gonna go get drunk now so i'll have an excuse for why im crying

Well throw my name in the hat that feels extremely sad that it has come to this. Thanks to all for the advice on going halfway across the country to buy an SVT. It was scary, but all of you who responded with good wishes to me, I thank you.
There will be a big void in everyone's life for a while. I guess we will carry on and do the best we can. Isn't it funny how these types of forums, this means of communication that has woven it's way into our daily routine? What will the scientists of future generations say of how there were these 8000 people that mostly never met. How everyone looked forward to reading comments about cars, their wives, husbands, families everyday. ANd then somehow something happened. People started bickering, immature statements started creeping in people's replies. How people were hurt by snyde remarks, again from people who mostly-never met.
Very sad.

To repeat what I said on pages 4 & 5: THIS PLACE IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE! SO PLEASE TRY TO REMAIN POSITIVE!! Someone will take it over, if not me. There is no need to think the world is over.

All we need are the following:

1) Lance's approval of a takeover
2) A T-1 line
3) A few able and willing people to manage the site
4) Your support

Of these four, only the first one can be a problem. If Lance isn't willing to let the site out of his hands, then we would have to find other alternatives.

So stay tuned, give us your email and other info in my thread in the General forum (here) and stay hopefull!

ALL RIGHT THERE IS HOPE!!! GO TO THE HOW TO SAVE THIS SITE THREAD AND DONATE MONEY!!! PUT YOUR MONEY TO ACTION!!!

Thanks Lance! It has been great!

DARN and I just found the place ! And I'm not even a Forums kinda person, just someone else with questions and looking for help and answers....oh well at least I found the important ones for this month right here -- thanks to all!

I understand your point all too well, tho since I also spend my days discussing gig usage etc and what to do about it all.

I will miss this and wish you all the best of luck
with whatever endeavors you follow from here - at my company they refer to departures as "leaving to pursue other career opportunities" - May your
opportunities overflow!

I'm just curious....Seems that one of the main reasons Lance was considering shutting down the site was more of a content issue.

Now all of a sudden its a money issue.

Just curious what happened to what you originally said about the site being reduced to squabbling and OT discussion.

I love this site and I don't want to see it go but at the same time I agree with what Lance said to begin with....You planning to keep the forums running even if you raise the money. (Wish I could help, broke right now )

Anyways Later

Thank you for his site lance. it has been extremely helpful snce i have got my baby. thanks everyone for the help.

Peace Out

What a way to ruin my vacation !!!!! These past 4+ years have been great !! Thanks to ALL involved & to all of my fellow CEGers . I hope this site will survive this setback , or else I might as well sell my computer , because that's the main reason I log on at all !

I will donate as soon as I'm back from vacation and on my home computer (where my PAYPAL info is) .

GOD BLESS THE CEG !!!!!!!!!

to tell you the truth though this site has gone to ****, most of the people are complete morons, its childish to continue these silly scwables, so for those of you who were cool i`ll miss you, but for the degenarates go find some import site to hang out at........ besides a good majority of ya are`nt at the track anyway, i have contacted you to tell you how much i liked the site and what a good job you`ve done, but its your ballpark bud, and i guess you choose who gets to play regardless, personally i think someone needs to take a nap and stop crying, the world is full of **** you just have to weed it out

The main reason is Matt is losing his job, along with his connection. And if Lance didn't really like the way parts of the site were, why should he foot the bill to keep it going?

page 11 own3d

I wasn't going to post in this thread, but since I got all the way through to page eleven, I figured it may be a good spot to just say thanks .

I found the original site while car shopping/researching on the web. I knew a few things about cars before, but now I know much more.

I'm looking forward to the return of the site (but not all of the fighting in the forums).

Take care everybody (and if the forums come back, stop fighting :rolleyes: ).

Mike

Everyone seems to be worried about loosing the forums. Why? Just go to Yahoo Groups and set one up for free, or join one of the many Contour groups (some already set up by CEG members) that are there now. The tech info from this site will be archived, so I don't see where all these tears are coming from. Just move on. Someday Lance will look back at this and kick himself, but that's not our problem. I think all of us should suggest and agree on a group name, then go to Yahoo and set it up. All of you out there who have been so gung-ho to keep this site going, well, now it's time to step up and volunteer your services as moderators. We can set up a group (or a series of related groups that reflect how the forums are broken down now) and move there at least temporarily until the situation with this site gets resolved.

Hello people!

The forums are not going down! Read the other threads!

-Lance