Honestly how much longer should zx2ms.com stay running. It can’t stay open forever cause at some point I need to move onto new things. Thats just the way it is. So in your honest opinion how much longer should this site stay up and running. I have pretty much no ambition to update it at all anymore really. If I work on anything I would like to get some of my other projects off the ground. Other than that though attendance keeps dropping here allot. The ZX2 has been dead for about 4 years now. The after market for the car is starting to die and not much else s going on. Even if the New focus coupe is called the ZX2 there is not much hope for our site. Most of those people will be going to the major focus sites.
So… zx2ms.com will continue to run till next year 1/1/2008 I can’t guarantee how much longer after that though. I may change my mind but I will have no idea till that time. No I will not be selling/giving away the domain name or site. Thats just the way I am
Through zx2ms.com’s lifetime
$5,000+ on hosting and other costs associated to the site
Not to mention hundreds of hours worth of my time I have worked on zx2ms.com My estimate on the amount of time I have spent working on zx2ms.com in my life time… ~ about 5,000+ hours. Which is worth about… $200,000+ roughly. I am not stating these facts to make you think that I have wasted my time and effort on this site. I stated these to try to give you some sort of an understanding about what it takes for me to keep this site going. It goes way beyond installing some basic forum software and getting a domain name. Fact is I have not wasted any of my time on this site at all. I have enjoyed and still enjoy working on it. Its just that I have no ambition to continue to work on this site anymore. I
Whoo!
But this is understandable. Sometimes you must step back and look at the facts.
Perhaps the site can change? “Ford Motorsports”
That would fall back in the realm of the Mustang you now own. We all know the intrest is there. You already have the forum setup and it’s one of the cleanest I’ve seen anywhere. IDK, maybe I’m just beating a dead horse. But I don’t give up without a fight, otherwise I would have bought a Civic along time ago.
Hmm…Looks as though I should have added a few more zeros when I made my donation.
Again I’m just trying to somehow help you guys understand what it has taken me to run this site. Its not because I am pissed at anyone or the site in general. Just saying that I am tired and need to move on to other things.
That is understandable…I realy hate to see it go. But as for p[ostcount being down… It is winter. We all know that post count goes down in winterm thats because nuthing is happening. I would say give us at least a 30 day notice that thesite is going to shut down. So that we can all figure out were we are going to move to. So that we can avoid the confusion that happened when Riders closed and all we got was a, sarry, blah, blah, blah… been fun, blah, blah, blah… good by. That really sucked. So all i ask is that you give us the official 30 day warning.
That being said, thank you for your hard work and dedication. the siteis one of my favorites. I will miss it when it’s gone. But few things can last forever, and the things that do seldom are as nice as you would like to beleive.
I think you should do what you feel is right. Know that we do appreciate the work that you do, even though some of us are not always able to show it (post counts, financially, etc…). You have taken ZX2MS through many rough periods and I know that can take its toll.
I personally would hate to see the site go. I like Nicks idea of us evolving. Albiet there are a 1000+ mustang sites out there, but how many ‘all-inclusive’ ford sites are there? There are not many that I can think of or have even come acrossed.
I would like to think of this board as my immediate zx2 family. Here is where I felt the most comfortable to start out in asking questions and just getting being able to take the time to get to know everyone. Made possible because the history of this board was not tolerating jerks/flamers/etc. That went a long way to earning my loyalty. I may have by now branched out to other zx2 sites, but this is always home.
While I realize that the above isn’t much of an argument to keep zx2ms running, I just wanted to say it. I like mark’s idea for an all inclusive Ford site. Maybe even make it a full fledge car club, granted we are spread out over the country. Though it would be neat if the membership count could go up, thus giving each area a chance to get together as a car club. How many nation wide clubs are there anyways? Did that make any sense?
And as far as the ZX2 itself. Heh. I’m with Nick, I don’t give up without a fight. Since I owned my 02 I knew this car was something special, and regardless if the after-market keeps dropping off, I’m not done with this car. Even when she gives out after thousands of miles I’ll keep her till I can restore her. With out that kinda love, you wouldn’t been seeing AE86s, 68 Shelby Cobras, etc.
Then again, I’m a sucker for a cause that others give up on that is worth fighting for.
If your planns for the future include making a mustang site… then I would recomend adding to this one. But if they dont… It’s would be better to drop the site instead of dragging it on for us. That will just make you miserable. Then something will brake and you wont want to fix it, but you probably will. When it’s done and you just quit you will be angured for dragging it out as long as you did. At lease with you shutting it down, our leaving with good memories. But thats just how I look at it.
Think outside of just Mustangs. I think because I did mention it earlier, everyone jumped on it.
Taurus
Probe
Mustang (Chris’s new baby)
Focus
Fusion
Ranger (off-road, low-riders, enthusiast)
Explorer
Escape
F-150
The idea would be to have the site make enough money to sustain itself and some pocket money for Chris so he doesn’t feel it’s actual work. With the idea I have and if implemented right, Donations would be a thing of the past.
Zxtuner, Jayco, CTA and S&H Auto Trends don’t make parts only for the Zx2 because they would die off. Face it, the market hasn’t been good to us. But they do make parts in the Ford family. If it were setup that each time someone was linked to their store, Chris make $0.02 and $2.00 per part purchased as long as they put in their UserID. Do get them to do that, the UserID would give them a % off the items purchased.
Now, if we were to have other cars on the site, which would increase the chance of a purchase. Because this site is clean and there are no jerks/flamers/etc. people just like Darth go out and purchase items based on positive feedback from others.
I know this kind of deep thinking, but if Chis was thinking about a site like this, we might see an increase in patronage along with a site that will evolve into something like FuelEmpire.com but from a forum perspective. It could evolve into what FuelEmpire intended to be but from a different angle.
Ooh I like that. When it comes down to it, there are other cars in the Ford family that I’m interested in. I like the Rangers, and probably would like to own one someday. Melinda likes the new Focus coupe, and likes the accessibility of the ZX4 (shudder) for a family car but the point is (focus on the point Ray come on ) that even she appreciates the advantages to tuning a car past its stock points. For example she loves how Nova gets an extra 40 or so miles thanks to the JBA header (though I wish there was something I could do about hearing the sound of the exhaust valves, but I digress). Providing a way for us to mod Fords in general would promote the site’s longevity, give it something that separates it from other ZX2 sites or any other sites for Ford cars. We could still work in supplement to those sites, but we would maintain a unique purpose because we cater to those who still want to make any Ford awsome despite some of Ford’s effort to the contraty.
The day this site closes is the day my tuning spirit will fade away…
If it weren’t for this site, my car would still be stock. I can’t handle TeamZX2 because the member and post counts are too overwhelming for me. I can’t keep up. Plus with larger groups it’s harder to bypass all the gayness that insues with stupidity.
Whatever your decision Chris, I know it’ll be the right one.
Mirror, Darth… I do understand what you are getting at. To me it makes total seance, and in a perfect world the would rock.
Foos… unfortunatly the only rite or wrong awnser in this is the3 awnser that best suits ZX2MS. If your Anti-Team like me then your not out of hope. there are plenty of good little sites out there that are just as great as this one. Some are ZX2 derected, and other aren’t.
Like i said befrore, If he has no intent on building another car site, then he should let this fade away with dignity. I would much rather see him pop up on MyZX2 a couple of mounths after he shuts this site down with happy found memorise of us and his old site. Then never hear from him again because this site drug him into the ground.
Don’t missconscrude this, I would love for this site to stay open. I have met some good people on here and i hope to meet at least most of you in person one day.
I agree with what others have said. This is a great site. Very friendly and helpful. Thank you for all your efforts. I have never felt threatened about posting here as a noob.
I think that everyone else will be with me in saying that I will be in your corner whatever you decide to do.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. An evolution would be sweet, but if things do go, let it be that which we can reminisce about. That way one day at a track meet we can rise from the ashes for one last encoure tour in which we spank every civic, Evo, and STI out there.
I like the idea of going to an all-Ford site to bring in people. Even here, not all of us are just ZX2 nuts. I’ve owned an Escort GT, Probe GT, Focus, Taurus and Explorer previous to my ZX2. The only other Ford group that seemed to come even close to this site in togetherness was the Taurus Car Club of America.
For those guys who say that they wouldn’t stay involved in the ZX2 community if this site went down- Why? I know that TeamZX2 has it’s issues, believe me, there was an entire hate fest directed at me at one point. But if this site has taught anybody anything, it should be that in the end we are a community and our cars are fun to work on. If every ZX2 forum on the internet shut down, I’d still work on my car and still hang out with the local guys that I’ve met from the sites. We all should have known that a ZX2 group wouldn’t be that big from the go. The ZX2 was only around from 1998-2003 and didn’t recieve too much aftermarket support. It’s not like the Civic that’s been around since the 80s and has ton of aftermarket. Even if this site goes down, I think you guys should stay around in the community.
Completely understand what you’re saying, but I have to agree with everyone that this site is home. Riders was the first forum I really spent any time on, and the move over here was seamless. I would really hate to see the site go away. Having the site evolve into an all Ford site would be the way to go. The idea of making it a car club site is also not a bad idea. So what if we are all over the country. It could be a nationwide club with local chapters does work. (HRC3 is done this way) Whatever you decide to do in the end; we will all thank you for this site.
) that even she appreciates the advantages to tuning a car past its stock points. For example she loves how Nova gets an extra 40 or so miles thanks to the JBA header (though I wish there was something I could do about hearing the sound of the exhaust valves, but I digress). Providing a way for us to mod Fords in general would promote the site’s longevity, give it something that separates it from other ZX2 sites or any other sites for Ford cars. We could still work in supplement to those sites, but we would maintain a unique purpose because we cater to those who still want to make 
