New & Improved!

About ten days ago, we started a beta test by adding two new and intensely focused forums – one for traditional hot rods and one for traditional customs. The result of which, as you might have guessed, returned a lot of feedback from some very passionate users. On one side, we had the guys that loved it. They are die hard traditionalist who’ve been burning for a period perfect environment for years and these new focused forums seemed to be the ticket to their happiness.

On the other side, we had the guys that loathed the changes (or any change at all it seemed at times). They like the fact that by viewing one forum on the H.A.M.B., you could see every thread going across the forum wire. Plus, many of them thought that such a narrow focus on period perfect cars left too many great cars out of the picture and put the H.A.M.B. in some sort of elitist colony where they were no longer wanted or needed. They felt evicted with no warning and no compassion. “Utter disaster,” they screamed.

So yeah, I got a lot of feedback through both email and private message – some of it fun and informative and some down right unpleasant. But, by removing the expletives and ignoring the tone I was able to extract a general idea from even the most vile of responses and it became quite clear pretty quickly that it was gonna awfully tough to make both sides happy.

So, I got selfish.

I got out a sheet of plain white paper and laid out the H.A.M.B. exactly how I would have it if I had no audience at all to consider. My first draft was focused entirely on period perfect traditional hot rods and customs. It was beautiful and I loved it.

I then took my plans to some of my pals here in Austin and all of the guys in the Speed & Power Society (otherwise known as the best god damned moderators in the world) and told them to let me have it with no regard for feelings and no eye for anyone else. The feedback was good, but my pals helped me realize that regardless of my love for the period perfect, there were plenty of worthy cars that would be left out if I kept up with my narrow view of our world.

“Hey man, this is great in theory,” they said. “But what about Eddie and his ’39 coupe with the t-5? He drives the shit out of that thing and that’s gotta be worth something, right? Relax your ass and think about some of your favorite project cars on the H.A.M.B.. Not all of them are period cars.”

They were right. And, at first, I gave up my dream of having a truly period forum for both hot rods and customs and began thinking about compromises and a way to unblur the blurry. Frankly, it was sort of depressing. I felt like I had created a monster and now that damned beast was turning on me with a viscous snarl and a vengeful hunger. I went back and forth between stabbing the monster in the heart and continuing to feed him with hopes of holding him off for just a little while longer. I didn’t know which was the best option.

And then, it hit me like a truck. Why can’t I please them all? Why can’t I provide a forum just for period guys, another for the traditionally “inspired,” and yet another that hosts em all? So, that’s exactly what I did. And you know what? I think it’s gonna work.

Starting today, there are now five general discussion forums on the H.A.M.B.. Here’s an index and idea of how each forum works:

1. Traditional Hot Rods – The Traditional Hot Rod forum is reserved for threads and posts pertaining to period correct hot rods only.

2. Traditional Customs – The Traditional Custom forum is reserved for threads and posts pertaining to period correct customs only.

3. Traditionally “Styled” Hot Rods, Customs, & Production Vehicles – The Traditionally “Styled” Forum is reserved for threads and posts pertaining to cars that might not be “period perfect,” but are traditionally styled. This is not a forum for modern street rods, rat rods, or anything else…

4. Traditional Discussion & Happenings – This forum is reserved for threads and posts pertaining to event coverage, art & inspiration, and other discussions surrounding the traditional hot rod world. This, however, is not an off topic forum or a forum for Facebook type vanity posts.

Note: This forum is actually the old “General Discussion” forum from the H.A.M.B. before we split into multiple focused forums. Over time, we will be moving many of the old threads from this forum into the appropriate forum listed above, however, this will take some time and frankly, I don’t ever expect to get them all moved. Please don’t ask us to move any of these threads personally – we aren’t quite ready to do that yet.

5. The Hokey Ass Message Board – This forum hosts every thread from every forum listed above. In that way, it’s exactly as the “old” H.A.M.B. in that you can get a read of the entire forum from one place. It’s simply an aggregate.

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So, what have we accomplished with this? I think we might have just created a structure that does a damned fine job of appealing to a lot of different people with different interests and concerns. For guys like me, there are two really focused forums for both period correct hot rods and customs. For guys that like a few subtle modern conveniences in their traditional hot rods and customs, there is a place for them as well. And for the old farts that don’t like change at all, there is a forum that holds every thread from every discipline just like before… just as if we hadn’t made any changes at all.

Cross your fingers gentlemen. Mine are.

Of course, this isn’t the end of the changes coming. This is just STEP 3 of a 5 or 6 step process that I am right in the middle of getting dirty with. The future, I think, is really damned bright fellas…

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