How did auscartalk become mx5cartalk???

Website · by **Guran** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:17 pm

This was before my time with the forum ... could some old timers please fill in the gaps "for those who came in late"?

With regard to closing down of all the "other makes" sections, this link suggests it happened in October 2007.

by **Caffeine** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:14 pm

Guran wrote:This was before my time with the forum ... could some old timers please fill in the gaps "for those who came in late"?

With regard to closing down of all the "other makes" sections, this link suggests it happened in October 2007.

Auscartalk originally had quite a broad range of cars. I remember ford probe / mazda 6, and alfa forums.

Eventually, those other forums withered, while the MX5 ones boomed, so it was changed to MX5cartalk.com

by **Okibi** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:45 pm

What Caff said. :mrgreen:

Back when Bob owned the forum it had a major technical problem and the database had to be archived, I suspect the Alpha stuff got lost then.

I don't remember them posting much or often but there were obviously 10 people upset by the changes.

by **Okibi** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:48 pm

Never been a huge fan of the "cartalk" bit, but I haven't been able to come up with something better, I did consider MX5Australia.com at one stage.

by **StanTheMan** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:14 pm

Car talk started sometime in June-July 2001. For car talking enthusiasts. Like Caff & Okibi said it had a few other sections or car brands which weren't real active. A few of the Ford Probe members eventually bought MX5s but the other car makes weren't all that active
Sometime in 2003 there must have been some fatal error as we all had to re-join the board to be members. I'm sure everything before that time was lost.

Stan's bus rant's since 2011. Now on 4S

by **corners** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:36 am

I remember it always being mx5 based but with the domain auscartalk.com

Given it had been solely mx5 based when I joined I suggested to okibi why not register and use mx5cartalk.com

and the rest is history...

Website · by **Guran** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:22 am

Thanks for the info, guys.

I see from the Whois details that the mx5cartalk domain was first registered on 27th Nov 2007.

Does the archive of the old forum still exist somewhere? Even as only an Excel or text file? I used to run a forum myself (Phantom comics), and had the same problem when I needed to do a major software upgrade in September 2003. I kept the archive on the server as an Excel file with filters so it was still semi-readable. Would this be an option Dave?

by **hks_kansei** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:54 am

Okibi wrote:Back when Bob owned the forum it had a major technical problem and the database had to be archived, I suspect the Alpha stuff got lost then.

Surprise, Surprise, that the Alfa Romeo forums is the one that broke

by **Caffeine** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:03 am

Guran wrote:Thanks for the info, guys. I see from the Whois details that the mx5cartalk domain was first registered on 27th Nov 2007.

Does the archive of the old forum still exist somewhere? Even as only an Excel or text file? I used to run a forum myself (Phantom comics), and had the same problem when I needed to do a major software upgrade in September 2003. I kept the archive on the server as an Excel file with filters so it was still semi-readable. Would this be an option Dave?

I don't think it is. I remember we've had a few catastropic failures over the years, where all of the data is wiped irretrievably

by **Caffeine** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:06 am

First appearance on the wayback machine for the forum is Feb 25, 2011 (bearing in mind it existed before then, but this was the first time the wayback machine archived it)

Not much to see : http://web.archive.org/web/20010225025908/http://www.aus-cartalk.com/

You can click through to later dates on the top header. Most of the dynamic stuff it unavailable.

First appearance in a form similar to what we have now (after the first crash it was rebuilt with phpBB instead of UBB) : October 2003

Website · by **Guran** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:31 pm

Thanks Caff. Gotta love the Wayback Machine. I always seem to forget about it when these sorts of questions come up.

Even back in 2003, MX-5s threads accounted for 97% of all posts. It's fascinating to see all the other makes represented at previous stages of the aus-cartalk forum.

Alfa Romeo in 2004-2007 (was increasingly active up to Sep 2007 when a dedicated Alfa forum was set up)
Astra Convertible in 2003-2008 (inactive after 2005)
ProdSports Racing in 2004-2008 (inactive after 2006)
Westfield in 2003-2005
Ford Probe in 2003-2005
Ford in 2003-2005
Chrysler & Holden in 2003
Sections for Mazda RXs, STI WRX and Jaguar appeared briefly in 2003
A section for classic motorbikes even appeared briefly in 2004!

by **93_Clubman** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:20 pm

Guran wrote:Does the archive of the old forum still exist somewhere?

Guran, there's actually few if any posts that pre-date late Nov 2005 currently on here, & it's been that way for a few years. From memory there was a crash in 2007 & that's we lost the 2003-2005 data.

by **93_Clubman** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:38 am

93_Clubman wrote:
Guran wrote:Does the archive of the old forum still exist somewhere?

Guran, there's actually few if any posts that pre-date late Nov 2005 currently on here, & it's been that way for a few years. From memory there was a crash in 2007 & that's we lost the 2003-2005 data.

Correction to above, crash was Sep 2006, not '2007'.