JohnCh

More like a thread migration, but it's mostly my fault. And I'm sure the last four words of that sentence will eventually end up as part of @Vovchandr's signature

I've added a new T-shirt design to the store and also started a new thread where store items can be announced or requested. This thread has gotten a bit off the intended topic

Just a reminder that official USA7s swag is available in the Store via the link in the top-level navigation or by clicking here: https://usa7s-shop.fourthwall.com/ A new T-shirt is now available that features the USA7s logo on the front and Chapman's famous mantra on the back. Whether or not he actually uttered those words is an ongoing debate, but it's hard to separate that statement from the man's legacy.

See the Help Guide section in the top-level navigation. Various functions and workarounds are outlined there: https://usa7s.net/ips/articles.html/forum-help-guides/

You aren't being shunned, you are simply being asked to play by the same rules as everyone else. Let's look at the facts. On February 22, you posted several photos of the car in the General forum asking for price suggestions. As a new user your initial posts are moderated. After visiting your dealer website and finding this car listed with an asking price, I sent you the PM below Hi, I saw your post asking for pricing suggestions for your Stalker that included a number of photos. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that this wasn't a blatant end-around to avoid becoming a Paid Club Member to post a car for sale ad (see thread below), but I won't approve your post as-is. It's far too close to a make-me-an-offer ad and simply not fair to those who pay the $20 to post their car for sale. If you want to ask the question with no photos and don't let this bleed into an ad, I'll allow it, but as you have zero history here and your email address sounds like you are a dealer, there won't be much leeway. You never responded. Yesterday you attempted to start this thread with the initial post above. I replied to the original PM thread with: I thought I was polite in our last exchange about attempting to sell this car on the forum without being a paid club member, but I see that since it didn't sell on Bring a Trailer, you are trying again. Before I ban you and anyone from your business, would you care to offer an explanation? You responded, and although I have no problem posting my comments from the PM thread in their entirety, for privacy reasons, I won't do those for yours, but I will paraphrase. If you wish to post them, that's fine. You stated that you didn't list it for sale and were only sharing it with the community. You then made comments about the BaT sale in keeping with your post above, then asked if because you once tried to sell the car here if you're not allowed to become a member and asked for an explanation. I responded with the following It certainly reads like a planned work-around to us given someone will ask if it is the car on BaT and if it's still for sale. However, we've discussed it and will approve the post and won't ban you yet, but we will keep your posts in moderation until we are convinced you have joined because you wish to be part of the community and not to sell your cars or promote your business. You responded stating the above "sounds good." If you truly want to be a part of this community, you're welcome to stay. If, however, you wish to use the site to sell your cars or promote your business in those ads, then become a paid club member. But end arounds to the $20/year membership fee -- particularly for a dealership -- won't be tolerated. As for this specific conversation, it's over. Further responses that keep it going or misrepresent the truth, whether unintentional or not, won't be approved, and your account will be terminated. We've built a fantastic, and supportive community here over the past 20 years. I have neither the time nor the will to support the direction this conversation is going.

There is a history with this car and @FloridaLivin21 that I don't wish to go into at this time. He told me via PM today they have decided to keep this car -- i.e. it is no longer for sale -- and this is not intended as an end around to the policy explained in the thread linked by @Slonie. In light of that statement, I expect the listing on his site will soon be removed. He understands that if this thread or any others evolves into an attempt to sell the car or advertise his business, the posts will be deleted.

One interesting thing about the mugs; they can only supply the white version with the smaller logo, and the black version with the large logo. No mixing and matching. Given my indecisive nature, I did the only logical thing and bought both

Do people really do that? I thought it was an urban myth.

The 20 oz mug has taken over primary morning coffee duties for me. Although I don't think @wdb will like his given it's been very accepting of a splash of milk. Sorry Dave...

Based on the orders I did, it appears the mugs (and likely the post-blat beer glass) ship from a different facility than the apparel.

Long sleeve Tees have been added.

@CBuff sorry that wasn't clearer. I meant logoed merchandise. Although you can go through fourthwall directly, you need to create an account, create the item, create a store front, and need access to the logo. A long sleeve t-shirt seems like a good idea, so I'll add that later when I have time.

Would it make you feel better if I told you it was Baileys?

Thanks @BirkinBernie, please share with feedback on the items and end-to-end process with me after they arrive. The items in my orders looked fine but good to get a second opinion.

Apologies for the delays. The day before things were set to go live last month, I discovered the order process for anyone wishing to buy more than a single item (e.g. sticker and shirt) was horrid — each item required a dedicated order with separate shipping and shipping charges. This kicked off a new search for a different printer with a payment and distribution process that worked for us, followed by two more rounds of sample orders to get the printing right. It also meant building a store front with that printer's (limited) software. But it's done. Finally! To keep prices low, they are set to cover the item cost, plus the printer's fees for credit card processing, then rounded up to end in a 7. USA7s does not profit from these sales, so please only buy an item because you want it—not as a way to financially support the site. If there are additional items people would like to purchase, please let me know and I'll add them to the list of possible additions. The full catalog is available here. To aid discoverability, the link to the new store has been added to the top-level navigation between Articles and Club Membership, or you can access it below. Thanks again to @Slonie for his design! https://usa7s-shop.fourthwall.com/ -John

Starting last night, the forum was down for several hours due to an issue stemming from a CloudLinux update, which is an operating system used by our hosting provider. For the technically minded, below is the statement they provided affected customers after closing my ticket. The issue has been identified as an issue relating to a recent Cloudlinux Update: https://cloudlinux.statuspage.io/incidents/36vgtnlfpqdq A possible known workaround is to switch affected sites to use nd_* extensions within the PHP Selector area in cPanel: mysql to ndmysql mysqli to ndmysqli pdomysql to ndpdo_mysql

I've moved the discussion about Steelbro sevens and a one-off S4 clubman to a dedicated thread in the General section. That discussion may be of interest to someone contemplating purchasing this car, but it had strayed too far off topic to remain part of this ad. Apologies to @achova for not catching this sooner.

For the low, low price of just $777, we can do a personal version of the logo for an individual that meets their aesthetic. But wait, that's not all; for a limited time, we'll also include not one, but two stickers featuring that logo! Place your order soon as this offer will end without notice.

For the site logo, it's irrelevant if the .net is legible because the person seeing that logo is already on the site. Rather than do a version without the .net for the site, we decided to leave it there to give people something else to complain about.

Surely my earlier response to @Timothy Keith-Lucas already answered that question I was responding from the perspective of me doing the work and making them available for purchase.

The issue with the stickers I mentioned above was specific to the printing vendor I've chosen for shirts. A different vendor who offers more sticker options may not have self-ordering capability or have decent shirt options. Although we could use different vendors for both, I think most people would want to bundle a sticker with a shirt to save on shipping costs. Most of these places have a minimum shipping charge that will far exceed the purchase price of just a sticker. I'll look into it later when I have time to see what options exist that won't require me to go into the fulfillment business. Of course, if one of you wants to volunteer to become a logistics engine...

Their sticker options aren't great: square rather than rectangular, which creates massive top and bottom borders. I could add them provided people don't mind cutting them to size themselves; however, I have no idea if the adhesive is paint safe. They are likely fine for roll bars and tool chests. A one-off is fine for the time being, provided it's clear that the copyright stays with the club, and there's no form of monetization; however, since the club may opt to monetize merchandise in the future, we'll likely add a restriction that the use can't duplicate an official club item. e.g. if there is no sweatshirt available, and you want a sweatshirt, make a sweatshirt. But if there is a sweatshirt, support the club and buy the official version. Bottom line, we don't want to unintentionally spawn a sanctioned knock-off market

Uh...no. As @pethier noted above, it's brand agnostic. You're welcome to interpret it as an homage to Caterham, or Lotus, or Westfield, or even Lamborghini, but I don't want to create a false backstory on its intent. This should be an apocryphal-free zone.

It's time to announce the winner of our contest and share the new logo. @Slonie has spent the past several weeks making tweaks to his winning design, including developing different color combinations to work with backgrounds other than white, and vectorizing the logos to provide scaling flexibility. In recognition of his contribution, he has been elevated to the newly created Lifetime Member user group, which is similar to the paid Club Member group, but with increased limits, and no expiration date. If you like the new logo, please thank him for his efforts. If you don't like it, please internalize your feelings, silently count to ten, and thank him anyway. There is one downside to the new logo; it doesn't work well with the current site color scheme. As a result, the site will receive updates this weekend. Don't worry, it's not radical. It's simpler, and cleaner, and the navigation and layout are unchanged. Below is a large image of the primary logo designed for white backgrounds, and smaller versions of other color options that will work on various darker backgrounds. I've also included a screenshot of the new site color scheme to assuage the concerns of those with a primal fear of change. You know who you are. Provided the printed T-shirts and embroidered polo shirts pass a quality check, those will be available for purchase in the near future. Rather than increase the price by managing our own storefront which takes a cut of the profits, we've opted to let you purchase directly from the printer via dedicated links that will be published on the forum. Thanks again Slonie!

Quick follow up. The contest end date was yesterday, and we were fortunate to receive a design that @Croc and I both like a lot. The winner has been notified and is cleaning up the design now to get it ready for printing. It should be ready in another week or two, at which point I'll share the new logo and announce the winner.