An alternative to Saab Central

[nordwulf]

Thanks photousa, glad to see you joined this place. There are a few major differences from SC as far as I am seeing them. The missing Search feature SC was only one of the reasons SaabWorld was started.

Saab Talk and Tech Talk boards so all those topics are not mixed in with other stuff like it is in The Lounge on SC. There still is The Clubhouse for all those other topics that need to be discussed.

A comprehensive tutorial/FAQ section for each model with an index so it is easy to find stuff. Many of the FAQs on SC are not categorized very well and I don't want to read to 100s of posts to find that one step-by-step tutorial I am looking for. Also, the same questions are being asked and answered over and over again. We may not have a lot of questions here yet but perhaps that's because all visitors can actually find the info they are looking for?

The Archives with official brochures, press releases, pictures, ads, videos from Saab. The brochure PDF downloads from previous years seem to be popular.

Available Search to search through the entire forum and individual threads....! What a concept.

Social networking link with Facebook and Twitter.

Latest vBulletin software with a crisp color scheme. SC is looking a bit drab and out-dated imo. I like the CMS features so we can have a front page with the most important and interesting content from the forum. The nice thing is anyone can contribute so it becomes a blog by and for all of us.

A global forum trying to unite the non-English speaking countries and share news/events with the primary English speaking countries GB/US/CA/AU. This is difficult but I think one of the more interesting goals. At least for me. SC seems to be a US/CA forum with a few GB/AU members these days.

I don't care for the attitude of the SC admins. The moderators and members are a great group of people but many longtime members and mods already left the site. Paul hasn't even logged on since June... Even if Search returns, SC won't be the same. I believe a public forum should not be run by a commercial company with conflicting interests. Blocking other websites just because they are a competitor is just wrong. The moderators and members should decide how a forum is run, not the admins who pushed a few buttons many years ago and don't have any interest in site contents and their members/moderators.

[photousa]

Thanks Wulf, it's interesting to see a summation of most of the SC frustrations in one post. It looks like it comes down to the creators of SC just being burned out & disengaged. SW will be a welcome departure from "business as usual".

[nordwulf]

Another thing that SaabWorld offers is easy picture/file sharing on the site itself. We have 150GB of free space on the host and I have been using this feature very often.

Share a picture file you have on your computer



Find a picture online and automatically transfer/save it locally on SaabWorld. No more missing/dead picture links.



Share other files like PDFs



Try that on SaabCentral.

[SpecialTool]

Not missing SaabCentral, the lounge anyways -- seems to get more puerile by the day.

Still like to check out the C900 workshop.

[Peregrine]

WE WANT PIC SIGNATURES!!! Let's REALLY be different then the 'other' place.
Come on man!!!!

People can turn them off if they don't want to see them... set it as a forum default to be OFF.... I want to be creative!

[nordwulf]

The forum can default to not displaying images (on the entire site) and/or signatures but images in signatures can not be turned off separately. So it's a choice of:

1. not displaying signatures and allowing images
2. displaying signatures without images

My preference is #2. I'll ask on the vBulletin forum to see if there is some kind of mod available.

[Peregrine]

If you just allow HTML in signatures we can make them and host them elsewhere.

I know a lot of people don't like sig images but I've always been a fan of small tasteful ones.

[Burnsside42]

A nice forum you have started here - best of luck! I know as a TSL member it's a great thing. Our forum has grown so fast since 2003 that we tend to dominate ALL US based Saab events now. We are the young, fun, drinking crew who love to both modify (within taste) and restore new and old Saab's. Makes for an awesome social life and a new reason to travel. TSL was started by original members (including it's founder) because we were all young Saab enthusiasts on SC and they just didn't like that and that we were American's - well, we solved that much as you have here. Have Fun and Keep Driving Saab's!

[nordwulf]

Welcome Burnsside42! Glad you took the time to check out the site. I visit TSL occasionally and it seems you have a loyal member base. Each forum has its own strengths and it will take some time to build a large community. SaabWorld is just a few months old and it turned out pretty good so far. I am curious to see what it will look like a few years from now. It doesn't necessarily have to be the largest, as long as the members enjoy being here.

[Chris 9-5]

Paul hasn't even logged on since June... Even if Search returns, SC won't be the same.

Don't even get me started on that one............and the day after I resign - it comes back and a new 9-5 forum to boot (where's the really pissed off icon)

And breathe..........