So far, I like your idea the best.
Again?
ā¦ā¦.
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Interesting. I didnāt realize this was originally part of SOL. I also didnāt realize J-Lās history was that convoluted. If the when matters Iād say when a web site names Jag-Lovers first appeared on the internet. I mentioned the date only because the time of year might affect what kind of events, either virtual or real, one could participate in. For example, I imagine a motor tour in January in North America would draw few participants while it might maximize participation in OZ and NZ.
I suspect fall or spring would work best for most, Late March to mid May or mid September to early November.
I like Jeffrey Crosbyās idea, but I also like the idea of simultaneous multiple regional motoring tours.
Iāve no idea how much J-L management would be willing and able to contribute to a 30th anniversary celebration, but if they were to issue 30th anniversary J-L window stickers Iād proudly display one on Lola. Iām thinking about the kind that sticks to the inside of a car window. Something maybe no larger than a deck of playing cards with a design unique to the anniversary and inclusive of all Jaguars. The J-Ler sends in a self addressed-stamped envelope and gets a sticker by return mail.
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I like this idea, and itās also an opportunity to get rid of the massive pile of regalia taking up a corner of my storage!
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Even that isā¦ complicated. Nick created the first J-l web page, but under his personal web site on his (then) ISPās server. He called his pages the JagWeb though. The WayBack Machine has a copy, albeit from as late as 1999, after the move (see below) to my server.
On December 23, 1996, Nick posted this:
Subject: Yuletide greetings
Dear Jag-lovers,
just a short note to wish all subscribers a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New YearAs this time of the year traditionally is a time of few postings
to Jag-lovers you are hereby invited to think back over the year
that is coming to a close and put down in writing any nice memories
you might have of life with your Jaguar. A story posted is a story
sharedIāll also take this moment to plug JagWeb.com again. Plenty of
new material to look at, with 5 articles from Jaguar World, the
XK Newsletters from Guy Broad and new pages from renowned author
Philip Porter, including details of his books and his collection
of interesting cars. The JagWeb is at http://www.jagweb.comIāll hopefully find time to do some work on the JagWeb - home of
the Jag-lovers - over the Christmas too, so please mail on any
material you would like included. For those that may have forgotten,
the URL is http://www.sn.no/home/nick/jaguar.htmlThats all from me for now. Iāll be keeping a watchfull eye on things
over the holiday as always.Nick (admin)
I got involved in 1996 and later registered the jag-lovers.org internet domain name. The whois registry says the domain was registered on April 24, 1997. That was the first time the internet web address www.jag-lovers.org appeared.
Looking for more data, I found this old email from me to the J-l admins list on August 1, 1998 (ābedrockā was the name of my server):
I thought perhaps some of you might enjoy some statistics.
During the 14 months bedrock has been running the Jag-Lovers.org lists,
the following amount of mail has been processed:Incoming messages: 368,977 messages, a total of 1.86 GB received.
Outgoing messages: 10,215,909 messages, a total of 39.38 GB sent.
Not bad for an old warhorse. The number of subscribers to the lists as I
shut down sendmail on bedrock:concours: 90
concours-digest: 78
e-type: 275
e-type-digest: 426
lumps: 82
lumps-digest: 142
modern: 171
modern-digest: 396
policy: 102
policy-digest: 105
pre-xk: 31
pre-xk-digest: 50
pub: 182
pub-digest: 219
racing: 115
racing-digest: 131
saloons: 140
saloons-digest: 284
xj: 238
xj-digest: 665
xj-s: 180
xj-s-digest: 398
xk: 183
xk-digest: 215
Total subscribers: 4898
Total (more or less) unique subscribers: 3336
Number of people on more than one list: 877Gunnar
Gunnar Helliesen | Bergen IT Consult AS | NetBSD/VAX on a uVAX II
Systems Consultant | Bergen, Norway | '86 Jaguar Sovereign 4.2
gunnar @ bitcon .no | http:// www. bitcon .no/ | '73 Mercedes 280 (240D)
Doing the math: going back 14 months from August 1998 puts the time of the move to my server to June of 1997. I guess that makes sense. I got the domain in April and it took a while to move the list (there was only one) over. I found a āfirst testā email from May 11, 1997, sent via bedrock, so it all tracks.
And then we pretty quickly split the one jag-lovers list into 12 lists, as per above.
The website may have been moved over before the mailing list though, Iām not sure. Maybe @Nick remembers?
The WayBack Machine doesnāt have the earliest iterations of the site, but try this for a trip down memory lane. From November 11, 1998:
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Totally lost in the mists of my mind, Iām afraid.
Slick. The links, at least some of them, work.
Iāll second that idea!
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Iāve celebrated by looking up my earliest post in the archiveā¦ (Iām MGMagnette back then)
Fixing brakes with Teflon tapeā¦ an idea only a 19 year old could come up with. Somehow Iāve made it to 45 without dying by Jaguar.
The ancient archives are fantastic. Iām so glad it was dragged along to the new site.
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That was Andrew Waughās doing. As I recall he managed to get a fair bit of it done, though not all. Any formal tribute to Jag-Lovers should acknowledge his contribution to bringing the site into the 21st century.
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Lots of great ideas, Paul. The problem is, as you mention, itās all work. If there is anyone that wants to take the lead on doing new stuff, please get in touch, weāre totally open-minded and keen to do new stuff.
I agree on the Facebook point. Iām stunned by the number of groups there, with a goldfish-like span of topic retention, and super-specific areas of interest. Itās clear that there isnāt really a decline in interest, itās mostly that a lot of people donāt find their way to the forum format.
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Gunnar, thanks for moving this post. I tend to think small, I guess. I was envisioning something along the line of a 30th anniversay T-shirt, glass / mug, window decal, fender cover - something like that.
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I would happily buy a T-shirt, with the Jag Lovers logo on it, and some way of indicating the 30th.
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Fascinating history, about which I only knew the barest.
What is now this forum was as I understand it was started by a couple of university people with interest in Jaguar cars one of which lived here in Western Australia and my book coauthor john elmgreem was instrumental getting the XK bit up and running.
Sample Pages at The Jaguar XK120 and XK140 in the Southern Hemisphere | Book Contents
Visit: www.jtpublications.com.au for full details
Just an observation about the logo:
It bears .org, the predecessor to the current .com. Attempts to access the .org site are not redirected to the current .com site; rather, there is a banner advising of the current site:
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Yes, true. I tried updating it, but unfortunately I donāt have the graphic design skills. And the original file has long since been lost to the mists of time, so Iād have to start from scratch.
If you (or anyone else reading this) have the skills and would like to try to update the logo, weād be very appreciative.
Thatās on purpose, as there is information on the old site which still hasnāt been moved to the new site. That work has been stalled for years, unfortunately.
I donāt have the chops for that, but Grooveman from the XJ40 forum may have, I have seen some of his work on the forum. Groove, are you listening? 