Is much of the old crowd here?

[Drummerviper]

I just joined. The reason it took so long was that I had Viper fatigue, and did (and do) have some concerns about folks here who were drinking the Kool Aid for a damn long time. Anyway, hope springs eternal and maybe they will fall into line.

I see Jon B, Janni and, obviously Maurice --are there other old timers (like me) who were on VCA from day 1? Remember when it was just one scroll of threads?? How about Tator--is he here?

[Fatboy 18]

VCA from Day 1, wow that's some history! Must have been fun times then?

Chuck is here and has been working getting the Vendor section up and running

If you don't mind me asking, what is this term ' Drinking the kool Aid' I'm not sure what it means?


Welcome to the VOA
Mark

[City]

It's a reference to James Warren "Jim" Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) the leader of the Peoples Temple, best known for the cult murder/suicide in 1978 of 909 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana, and the murder of five individuals at a nearby airstrip. Over 300 children were murdered at Jonestown, almost all of them by cyanide poisoning placed in a vat of Kool Aid.

Lot's of the "old crowd" here.

[Fatboy 18]

It's a reference to James Warren "Jim" Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) the leader of the Peoples Temple, best known for the cult murder/suicide in 1978 of 909 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana, and the murder of five individuals at a nearby airstrip. Over 300 children were murdered at Jonestown, almost all of them by cyanide poisoning placed in a vat of Kool Aid.
.

Bloody Hell! I had no idea

Thanks City.

[plumcrazy]

tator is kicking around

[City]

tator is kicking around

Barely ... he's got the flu

[big-n-italian]

checking in.

since 2004 or 2005. about nine years.

[J TNT]

Not an original , but 2004 till last week ......lol ! Onward and upward !

[Martin]

I think I was around since almost Day 1 - but I was so young, I can't remember it other than vague images of HTML 1.0 pages and something called a BBS that wasn't a wheel...

It would actually be interesting to have people like Jon, Maurice, Jay, Dean, Fred, and all the other old fogeys give a history of how things evolved over the years. I think back to the mid 90's, and the board was one scrolling page of links (much like Yahoo! v0.1). When they split it up into sections, I got aggravated because I liked to just follow the random stream of consciousness posts that popped up constantly.

Then there are all the stories of the dramas that unfolded over the years (Hennessey, Wilkes, and a few others). Interesting times then, and interesting times now.

[99ACR]

What's a "Tator"?

Dennis B

[City]

Chuck Tator AKA The Viper Wizard. Tator's Garage (formerly Tator's Dodge) in South Salem, NY. One of the more renown and respected Viper techs who's word is as good as a contract. Great friend of mine and the Viper community (among others on this site).

[ViperSmith]

Where in VA/MD are you?

[Janni]

I am not OLD dammit!

[Drummerviper]

I am not OLD dammit!

Apologies. Janni joined while in middle school.

[Janni]

Apologies. Janni joined while in middle school.

Thank you for that clarification. I was a bit of a Viper prodigy.

[Late Apex]

I just joined. The reason it took so long was that I had Viper fatigue, and did (and do) have some concerns about folks here who were drinking the Kool Aid for a damn long time. Anyway, hope springs eternal and maybe they will fall into line.

I
see Jon B, Janni and, obviously Maurice --are there other old timers (like me) who were on VCA from day
hen it was just one scroll of threads?? How about Tator--is he here?

Just trying to keep with ole Dave 6666 and I am one of the old ones here too. Yes my man Tator is still with us.

[steve911]

Is 11 years long enough to be called old? If so, I am here and NOT there anymore.

[ViperGTS]

1998/1999 - cant remember.

[pastohio]

Just looked in the mirror, guess I am also one of the day 1 people that did a lot of reading and limited posting....a lot of meetings and discussions to get the club going, my ONE hope is that eventually both clubs would merge and get going in the right direction, seems that really both now want the same thing...how about a committee later this year from both clubs to see why there is a need for 2 clubs ??!! The only thing I can think that keeps from blending is EGOS and POWER,,.....could this be ??!! My $.02

[Schen]

Hmmm...

Not a member by any means, but I guess you could say I'm 'hardcore Viper' for the last 13 years this upcoming May and I've gotten to know quite a few different people that have supported my enthusiasm regardless of owning one or not but it's evolved into so much more than that.

If it wasn't for that enthusiasm, I wouldn't be interested in Mopars. If it wasn't for that enthusiasm, I may not have had an interest in photography. If it wasn't for that enthusiasm, I might not have interest in cars at all.

But with a little help, I've met Ralph, Chuck, Maurice, Dick Winkles, Herb Helbig, Mike Stephens, Mark Trostle, and got blessings and advice from Graham Henckel...that stuff to me is just awesome, I could write a book on everything I've done up to this point.

It's been an interesting 12 years honestly. When I started posting on the 'forums', I didn't have anything else to contribute except for video games and die cast models. Someone with a black and silver Viper HATED that. I could tell when I met him at VOI12. My english, my typing rather, was atrocious and it's funny to look back on that kind of stuff and at the same time it's pretty cool to see how far I've come. I was told when I first joined the forums that there were going to be some people that may not like my posts, so just take it with a grain of salt. I did, never looked back.

So I gotta thank guys like Maurice, Joe Houss, Bobby, the NJ and Ohio Viper clubs, list goes on.

--RS

[Drummerviper]

don't mean to be a smart alec, but i sometimes wonder where folks have been the last 3 years.

There is a better chance of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger getting back together as long as the current folks are in place at VCA. Have you noticed their attempts at wooing members--same old, same old. The BS about being back with SRT, magazines on their way in December, and on and on.

I will say it because he won't but Mr Liang wanted nothing more in the world to maintain one club and he tried his damndest. But like Ralph and others he was vilified. And, if you believe certain folks are gone from over there, I have some time shares I would love to show you.

Ok, enough. Just trying to explain.

[big-n-italian]

well, i can tell you where i have been - away. far away. after leslie and i became moderators, we saw alot of things behind the scenes that we werent comfortable with. we werent sure what was going on, but we knew something was going on.

i remember when Chris was moved ("elected") from one position to another. (cant remember the exact details now). from president to something else i believe? anyway, written notices would come out from "other people", but i could tell it was Chris writing them, even though it had some elses name on them, i knew better.

because the marshalls hated johnb, we were asked (told) by chris to specifically target him. not from leslie and i, but Jonb always had a target on his back and never had a chance no matter what he did. chris' problem was i have always liked Jonb and consider him a friend, but i wasnt about to target anyone on the boards.

if we werent on the boards 24/7, we would get nasty pm's about it. i guess it was our fault that we had a job, or a life, or something besides the VCA. lee apologized once for his little nasty gram, but it went in one ear and out the other because we knew he meant it. and if you havent figured it out by now, lee has a very bad habit of doing that - saying or doing something stupid, then being forced to apologize for it later.

mary was relentless with pm's about do this, do that. i think she had an even bigger hand in the clubs activities than we all think. IMO, the comment "my presidents" was a good indicator of her mindset within the club.

i also never did like the whole VPA/Parts Rack conflict, especially knowing about most of the whole marshall/jonb history. but we were always told to heavily promote the VPA by Chris. i assumed part of it was Chris' hate for Jonb and chris probably wanting the hurt Jonb financially, but now we know Chris also benefited financially from the VPA.

i could go on and on. leslie and i are good friends. she is a wonderful person. we talked alot back then and still do occasionally today. but after a ton of emails, we both decided we had enough and quit the club about same time to save our good names. IMO, about the time the VPA was formed, is about the time the VCA was no longer fun for us and everyone else and started its downhill slide.

i came back, out of curiosity, to see what was going on after i got an email that basically said the HMS VCA-Titanic had hit an iceberg and was starting to sink. the "letter of doom" and everything that has happened after that, proved to me my gut suspicions were right all along.

why did i stay? because of alex. i have casually known alex for a long time, and i think i have a very good idea what he is all about by now. even though the VCA accuses him of being a member of "the last regime", he was not a DISHONEST part of that regime. big difference. a corrupt and dishonest few does not mean everyone else is corrupt and dishonest too. alex's (and other peoples) frustration can be heard in that phone recording that was made when lee was making a fool of himself again. janni, city, and a few others were just the icing on the cake for me. i know alot of us (especially the old timers) still have our guards up right now, but getting a club back under the control by the right people is a great start, and i think given a little time, we will be able to let our guards back down and have fun again real soon.

[ViperGTS]

well, i can tell you where i have been - away. far away. after leslie and i became moderators, we saw alot of things behind the scenes that we werent comfortable with. we werent sure what was going on, but we knew something was going on.

i remember when Chris was moved ("elected") from one position to another. (cant remember the exact details now). from president to something else i believe? anyway, written notices would come out from "other people", but i could tell it was Chris writing them, even though it had some elses name on them, i knew better.

because the marshalls hated johnb, we were asked (told) by chris to specifically target him. not from leslie and i, but Jonb always had a target on his back and never had a chance no matter what he did. chris' problem was i have always liked Jonb and consider him a friend, but i wasnt about to target anyone on the boards.

if we werent on the boards 24/7, we would get nasty pm's about it. i guess it was our fault that we had a job, or a life, or something besides the VCA. lee apologized once for his little nasty gram, but it went in one ear and out the other because we knew he meant it. and if you havent figured it out by now, lee has a very bad habit of doing that - saying or doing something stupid, then being forced to apologize for it later.

mary was relentless with pm's about do this, do that. i think she had an even bigger hand in the clubs activities than we all think. IMO, the comment "my presidents" was a good indicator of her mindset within the club.

i also never did like the whole VPA/Parts Rack conflict, especially knowing about most of the whole marshall/jonb history. but we were always told to heavily promote the VPA by Chris. i assumed part of it was Chris' hate for Jonb and chris probably wanting the hurt Jonb financially, but now we know Chris also benefited financially from the VPA.

i could go on and on. leslie and i are good friends. she is a wonderful person. we talked alot back then and still do occasionally today. but after a ton of emails, we both decided we had enough and quit the club about same time to save our good names. IMO, about the time the VPA was formed, is about the time the VCA was no longer fun for us and everyone else and started its downhill slide.

i came back, out of curiosity, to see what was going on after i got an email that basically said the HMS VCA-Titanic had hit an iceberg and was starting to sink. the "letter of doom" and everything that happened after that proved to me my gut suspicions were right.

why did i stay? because of alex. i have casually known alex for a long time, and i think i have a very good idea what he is all about by now. even though the VCA accuses him of being a member of "the last regime", he was not a DISHONEST part of that regime. big difference. a corrupt and dishonest few does not mean everyone else is corrupt and dishonest too. alex's (and other peoples) frustration can be heard in that phone recording that was made when lee was making a fool of himself again. janni, city, and a few others were just the icing on the cake for me. i know alot of us (especially the old timers) still have our guards up right now, but getting a club back under the control by the right people is a great start, and i think given a little time, we will be able to let our guards back down and have fun again real soon.

[City]

well, i can tell you where i have been - away. far away. after leslie and i became moderators, we saw alot of things behind the scenes that we werent comfortable with. we werent sure what was going on, but we knew something was going on.

i remember when Chris was moved ("elected") from one position to another. (cant remember the exact details now). from president to something else i believe? anyway, written notices would come out from "other people", but i could tell it was Chris writing them, even though it had some elses name on them, i knew better.

because the marshalls hated johnb, we were asked (told) by chris to specifically target him. not from leslie and i, but Jonb always had a target on his back and never had a chance no matter what he did. chris' problem was i have always liked Jonb and consider him a friend, but i wasnt about to target anyone on the boards.

if we werent on the boards 24/7, we would get nasty pm's about it. i guess it was our fault that we had a job, or a life, or something besides the VCA. lee apologized once for his little nasty gram, but it went in one ear and out the other because we knew he meant it. and if you havent figured it out by now, lee has a very bad habit of doing that - saying or doing something stupid, then being forced to apologize for it later.

mary was relentless with pm's about do this, do that. i think she had an even bigger hand in the clubs activities than we all think. IMO, the comment "my presidents" was a good indicator of her mindset within the club.

i also never did like the whole VPA/Parts Rack conflict, especially knowing about most of the whole marshall/jonb history. but we were always told to heavily promote the VPA by Chris. i assumed part of it was Chris' hate for Jonb and chris probably wanting the hurt Jonb financially, but now we know Chris also benefited financially from the VPA.

i could go on and on. leslie and i are good friends. she is a wonderful person. we talked alot back then and still do occasionally today. but after a ton of emails, we both decided we had enough and quit the club about same time to save our good names. IMO, about the time the VPA was formed, is about the time the VCA was no longer fun for us and everyone else and started its downhill slide.

i came back, out of curiosity, to see what was going on after i got an email that basically said the HMS VCA-Titanic had hit an iceberg and was starting to sink. the "letter of doom" and everything that happened after that proved to me my gut suspicions were right.

why did i stay? because of alex. i have casually known alex for a long time, and i think i have a very good idea what he is all about by now. even though the VCA accuses him of being a member of "the last regime", he was not a DISHONEST part of that regime. big difference. a corrupt and dishonest few does not mean everyone else is corrupt and dishonest too. alex's (and other peoples) frustration can be heard in that phone recording that was made when lee was making a fool of himself again. janni, city, and a few others were just the icing on the cake for me. i know alot of us (especially the old timers) still have our guards up right now, but getting a club back under the control by the right people is a great start, and i think given a little time, we will be able to let our guards back down and have fun again real soon.

Thanks for that effort Big!

There was so much manipulation and deception for so long that it becomes difficult to believe half of what you actually witnessed after a time. Time should heal most of this, but as I mentioned, it is VERY difficult for some (myself included). So those that want only "peace" on this forum are certainly entitled to it, as are all of us. Vindictiveness resulting from the past is no fun for any of us. But I think some need to better understand just how disingenuous a small group of leaders were and how so many Viper enthusiasts were negatively effected by their greed and complete lack of ethics. Speaking for myself, it doesn't make it any easier to "move on" when the "new enlightened group" is STILL acting underhanded.

[Shooter]

well, i can tell you where i have been - away. far away. after leslie and i became moderators, we saw alot of things behind the scenes that we werent comfortable with. we werent sure what was going on, but we knew something was going on.

i remember when Chris was moved ("elected") from one position to another. (cant remember the exact details now). from president to something else i believe? anyway, written notices would come out from "other people", but i could tell it was Chris writing them, even though it had some elses name on them, i knew better.

because the marshalls hated johnb, we were asked (told) by chris to specifically target him. not from leslie and i, but Jonb always had a target on his back and never had a chance no matter what he did. chris' problem was i have always liked Jonb and consider him a friend, but i wasnt about to target anyone on the boards.

if we werent on the boards 24/7, we would get nasty pm's about it. i guess it was our fault that we had a job, or a life, or something besides the VCA. lee apologized once for his little nasty gram, but it went in one ear and out the other because we knew he meant it. and if you havent figured it out by now, lee has a very bad habit of doing that - saying or doing something stupid, then being forced to apologize for it later.

mary was relentless with pm's about do this, do that. i think she had an even bigger hand in the clubs activities than we all think. IMO, the comment "my presidents" was a good indicator of her mindset within the club.

i also never did like the whole VPA/Parts Rack conflict, especially knowing about most of the whole marshall/jonb history. but we were always told to heavily promote the VPA by Chris. i assumed part of it was Chris' hate for Jonb and chris probably wanting the hurt Jonb financially, but now we know Chris also benefited financially from the VPA.

i could go on and on. leslie and i are good friends. she is a wonderful person. we talked alot back then and still do occasionally today. but after a ton of emails, we both decided we had enough and quit the club about same time to save our good names. IMO, about the time the VPA was formed, is about the time the VCA was no longer fun for us and everyone else and started its downhill slide.

i came back, out of curiosity, to see what was going on after i got an email that basically said the HMS VCA-Titanic had hit an iceberg and was starting to sink. the "letter of doom" and everything that has happened after that, proved to me my gut suspicions were right all along.

why did i stay? because of alex. i have casually known alex for a long time, and i think i have a very good idea what he is all about by now. even though the VCA accuses him of being a member of "the last regime", he was not a DISHONEST part of that regime. big difference. a corrupt and dishonest few does not mean everyone else is corrupt and dishonest too. alex's (and other peoples) frustration can be heard in that phone recording that was made when lee was making a fool of himself again. janni, city, and a few others were just the icing on the cake for me. i know alot of us (especially the old timers) still have our guards up right now, but getting a club back under the control by the right people is a great start, and i think given a little time, we will be able to let our guards back down and have fun again real soon.

Bingo.

So far though, this club is a breath of fresh air. I look forward to a strong and fun club, one that gets back to what it's really about. These great cars and the people that drive them.

And how grumpy JonB is on a Monday morning.