500Eboard Status & Philosophy (w/regard to 500Ecstasy)

[szvook]

alter ego..??;-)

Naw, just want a new t-shirt and to "plug" our slice of heaven.

 

[CB500E]

I am a member if several Internet car clubs/forums and this is by far the most informative, organized and welcoming of them all! After discovering this forum and restoring my 500e I have become less apt to selling my "project flip" 500e and I now think it will be a part of my stable for the years to come. I have you guys to thank for that!

 

[szvook]

NEEEEED ART !!!

I'm not at my computer right now, so for now I'll try to describe the t-shirt design I have in mind and will have one t-shirt made as a test run in about two weeks and show it here. I can get a deal on (ironically enough) 36 t-shirts which I also intend to be made and maybe give them away here for free, or maybe offer them for a low price. The idea is to have the shirts shipped directly from the shop to each person who wants a t-shirt so I don't have to ship the shirts myself, so I would need to know who wants one for sure. The shirts are in 6.1 oz cotton type, for longevity.

First design -

1. A solid black t-shirt with a pocket.
2. Front view: the pocket will have a white circle and within it the number 036 in a black font (font type TBD) see picture of my 036 track sign bellow for an example.
3. Back view:
> A centered white circle (11"x11" size) with the 500eboard.com lettering in an upwards arch at the top of the circle (either in black lettering inside the circle, or white lettering outside the circle).
> A lager 036 number in the center of the circle, in black lettering.
> America or Canada or Europe lettering in a downwards arch at the bottom of the circle (either in black lettering inside the circle, or white lettering outside the circle).
> Outside the circle lettering would most likely reduce the circle size to 10"x10", or so.

Second design -

1. Front view: same black t-shirt with the same pocket, white circle and 036 number within.
2. Centered, is an image of an 036 in white (8"x6" size) that's been slightly washed out (see the picture of my blue t-shirt as an example) with the 500eboard.com lettering in black above or bellow the image.
> one option is to show the car's image from the back view (1/4 angle view to capture the fenders flair), to skip the 500E vs. E500 difference. See the picture of my car as an example of the angle view.
> second option is to show the car's image from the front view (1/4 angle view to capture the fenders flair) with 500E or E500 face - OEM and Euro headlights are factored in.
> we would need to vote on which car to use as a model between the 500E and E500 versions - owners of their own car would not vote for their own car to make the votes fair.
3. Rear view: same as design one.

I like a simpler t-shirt design, so the first design would be my first choice, but based own how the second design looks on paper I might consider both designs for the test run.

Or...we could get button down shirts, the picture of my other car themed shirt. But those "bowling team" shirt types are not cheap to make.

 

[Roma_500E]

I will begin working on a 2014 calendar. If anyone has any STUNNING photography they'd like me to use, please let me know via PM. I'm looking for top-notch stuff. Car show photos are OK. Close-ups of interesting elements of the cars are also OK.

PM sent

 

[gerryvz]

A few weeks ago, I got together with the Daddy of the 500E online community ... Mr. Run.exe ... Scott M. Shell himself ! We had some yummy deep dish pizza and beer at the Blue Line Pizzeria in Burlingame, CA after work one night.

Here are a couple of photos commemorating the occasion.

Scott sends his regards to the 500Eboard community and especially all of his friends from the 500Ecstasy days. He does come onto the site here from time to time he says, and definitely is intending to get back involved in the community in the future. His car is still owned by Benny Lui, Scott's mechanic, who he sold it to some years back.

He moved out of San Francisco not too long ago and is currently residing in San Mateo, CA. Despite the ring on his finger, he is not married but is "taken" (i.e. off the market, if you know what I mean). If you know Scott and want to reach out to him, his email address is: scott.shell@deem.com

 

[195910]

Good to hear he is OK ! its 10 years since the start of the 036 Online Community and it would be nice to see him contribute again...

 

[gerryvz]

its 10 years since the start of the 036 Online Community

Yes, it was the end of August, 2003 when 500Ecstasy first ramped up.

Also, a little news tidbit .... Scott still owns the 500Ecstasy.com domain, and has agreed to "point" it to this site.

 

[gerryvz]

Another small record just now broken .... I happened to log into the site and noticed that we had just broken the record for the number of different users who had logged in during a 24 hour period ... up to 168 users.

 

[Maui]

Did anything ever come of the shirt idea? I'd love to have E500E shirt.

 

[gerryvz]

2014 Anniversary calendars first ... then shirts.... first things first....

 

[KarlC]

Did anything ever come of the shirt idea? I'd love to have E500E shirt.

Saw this on another board .....

 

[gerryvz]

I want to do a shirt that is nicer and more reflective of the quality of the cars. But an amusing shirt to see

Separately, from time to time, I monitor the Google rankings of this site using common search terms. Over the past 5 years this site has steadily risen in the rankings. Now, when you type "Mercedes 500E" into Google (at least in the US), the 500Eboard.com site is the fourth search result that is presented, which is really cool to see.

I also see more and more this site showing up in searches for technical and how-to information, even for the generic W124 models.

All good to see, although there (as always) is no "monetization" strategy to take advantage of the search traffic, etc. This site will remain a hobbyist and not-for-profit site dedicated to the 124.036.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[Roma_500E]

Any updates on calendars ? 2014 is coming pretty soon

 

[elbeik]

Gentlemen of the Force,

I just stumbled on this thread and as it happens I run an advertising agency in these neck of the woods.

I'm all available to help in artworks for calendar, stickers, badges and why not some 500eboard merchandising (mugs, caps, t-shirts..).

Maybe an official logo / emblem to start with?

Hit me with your ideas

 

[clarkz71]

I like that idea.

Especially coffee mugs.

Sent from my SPH-M930BST using Tapatalk 2

 

[elbeik]

Saw this on this board ....

 

[Ron500E]

I like that idea.Especially coffee mugs.

+1

 

[clarkz71]

I like this, but with 1 E
.

Either 500E (1st choice) or E500

 

[gerryvz]

Today, we passed the 3,000-member milestone. We had crossed 2,500 members back in July. I was thinking it would be much later that we would hit 3,000 members.

We are very close to hitting the ~3,300 member level that 500Ecstasy.com had at the time of its final demise in 2010.

 

[Maui]

Today, we passed the 3,000-member milestone. We had crossed 2,500 members back in July. I was thinking it would be much later that we would hit 3,000 members.

We are very close to hitting the ~3,300 member level that 500Ecstasy.com had at the time of its final demise in 2010.

That is pretty amazing considering they only built a little over 10,000 E500E's.

 

[gerryvz]

That is pretty amazing considering they only built a little over 10,000 E500E's.

Although this site started out mostly as a haven for the .036 owners, we've seen quite a number of folks who have registered from other forums, who find this site to be a good reference. In particular, the HOW-TO articles, as they continue to proliferate here, are of interest to folks. There is no better resource out there than a high-quality HOW-TO article. Honestly, I have seen very very few HOW-TOs that are as good as the ones here.

The good thing is that just about all non-powertrain-related HOW-TO articles posted here are applicable to the late-model 124 models, and of course the 126 HOW-TO articles speak for themselves for all of the Gen 2 (1986-1991) C126/W126 models. A fair number of .034 owners have found this site useful, and quite a few more of those cars were made than our .036 models.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[500AMM]

Although this site started out mostly as a haven for the .036 owners, we've seen quite a number of folks who have registered from other forums, who find this site to be a good reference. In particular, the HOW-TO articles, as they continue to proliferate here, are of interest to folks. There is no better resource out there than a high-quality HOW-TO article. Honestly, I have seen very very few HOW-TOs that are as good as the ones here.

The good thing is that just about all non-powertrain-related HOW-TO articles posted here are applicable to the late-model 124 models, and of course the 126 HOW-TO articles speak for themselves for all of the Gen 2 (1986-1991) C126/W126 models. A fair number of .034 owners have found this site useful, and quite a few more of those cars were made than our .036 models.

Cheers,
Gerry

I am not participating much, if any, on other forums, but I randomly stumble across different forums when doing open internet search, and my main impression of this forum compared to others is the high quality. The proper HOW-TOs is one thing, further on the WIKI, the parts vendor/producer rating is very helpful, historical information, the classifieds... just to pick some. But the main red line through the entire site is the overall quality due to proper organizing, proper admin supervision, supported/maintained by the participating members. Just see all the good images posted to visualize topics, 1000 times better than words! Other forums can run pages of technical discussions with no pics, maybe some blurry, useless mobile pics here and there. 500eboard is more like a company dealing with technical issues where the success criteria is to solve all matters - and most topics here say 95% are solved, or at least concluded to its best if possible, that's a high score IMO.

Forum calendar, T-shirt, coffee mug - great initiatives!



-a-

 

[texas993]

Driving both extremes of the W124 - the E300D and the 500E - demonstrates how different a "same" car can be. Every time I drive the diesel (I love it), I laugh in comparison to the 500E. Everything is different from the MBTex seats, the steering wheels size, the noise, the softer ride of the D, power!!, etc. To most uninformed folks, both of the cars are just old Mercedes sedans.

 

[500AMM]

Gerry & Admins,

Is it possible to bring this thread back on topic?

The later 29 posts is totally off-topic. That stuff itself is interesting for what it is, but I simply don't see the point to continue here.

Just my 2-cents, thanks.

 

[gerryvz]

What post # do you think it should be cut off at and moved to another thread?

 

[8899]

Post #73.

 

[gerryvz]

Post #73.

OK, I cleaved off the 400E vs. 500E posts and sent them to the appropriate thread.

Folks, I **do not** like the arguing. Healthy & vigorous debate is fine, but when the tone takes a downward turn, things are going to get moderated pretty fast, and repeat violators are going to take a vacation for a little while.

This is a COMMUNITY of owners and interested parties, and the focus of this site is on the cars, how to have the best ownership experience, and how to enjoy them to the fullest. Personal agendas where people are flexing their muscles and trying to out-do one another will not be tolerated. Keep that stuff over on Banzworld or PeachParts, where the sandbox is much larger and you will have plenty more playmates to do this with.

This site has really grown in the past year, and we are starting to see more of a reflection here of the world at large. This site welcomes & embraces members of all types ... newbies, old hands, any nationality/color/creed ..... even BMW & VW/Audi owners. But things need to be kept civil. If you have something to contribute, GREAT. Please contribute it in the form of factual and friendly responses, or create a new Wiki entry, or do a HOW-TO article.

I am getting more and more "WTF?" types of PMs from folks and I agree with them ... trust me, BS is not going to be tolerated here. If you have a beef with someone, take it to PM or email, but not here on the board.

Thank you!
Gerry

 

[clarkz71]

A fair number of .034 owners have found this site useful.

Cheers,
Gerry

I agree, as they share the M119 engine, 722.3 transmission and R129 differential.

 

[clarkz71]

But things need to be kept civil. If you have something to contribute, GREAT.
Please contribute it in the form of factual and friendly responses,

Thank you!
Gerry

I agree with your post completely, but would ad,

I believe all my post's were factual based on my knowledge as a technician
with clear knowledge of both cars.

None of my posts were "unfriendly" and certainly no attack was made.

 

[jmgoehr]

Just my 2 cents, shutting down the ATF thread a couple weeks ago was a travesty. That was a very informative and in-depth thread on a very misunderstood topic. I would have liked to have heard more.

 

[gerryvz]

Just my 2 cents, shutting down the ATF thread a couple weeks ago was a travesty. That was a very informative and in-depth thread on a very misunderstood topic. I would have liked to have heard more.

Oil threads are dangerous territory and can go off-track easily.

It is perfectly fine to start a new ATF thread, but things are actively moderated here and when they get out of hand, they are handled appropriately.

There are PLENTY of good discussions on this topic on the BITOG forum, so that may be a better and more appropriate place for them.

 

[M104-AMG]

FWIW- my buddy owns one of the largest silk-screen shirt companies. He supplies major theme parks, and resorts. He has access to very high quality shirts, and his silk screening operation is TOP NOTCH. Depending on the design, I've seen him do 4-color silk screens. His work is top notch, and all done in California.

 

[400Eric]

Oil threads are dangerous territory and can go off-track easily.

Yeah, people do tend to be quite passionate about their oil.

Regards,
Eric

 

[gerryvz]

It's been another year since I updated the stats on the site, so thought I'd provide a brief update.

From mid-July of 2013 to the present time....

The numbers for the 500Eboard during 2013-2014 continue to be very strong as 500Eboard has continued to proliferate -- quite dramatically in fact -- in terms of membership numbers, total thread and post count.

• 500Eboard has now been on the vBulletin platform right at three years, having transitioned in early July, 2011
• The document/photo database for 500Eboard is now 9.3 gigabytes in size (it was a bit over 5 GB at this time last year)
• The size of the 500Eboard post/thread database is now nearly 149 MB (it was a bit over 100 MB at this time last year)
• The member avatar database is just over 3 MB (it was nearly 2.5 MB in size last year)
• With the exception of the recent 4-5 day hosting problems -- not a problem with this site's software -- the site has retained a relatively high level of up-time and reliability during the year

More importantly, during 2013 the 500Eboard achieved a top-three search result ranking in Google search engines when you type "Mercedes 500E" into Google (and I wrote the article that is the #2 result ... and help curate the #1 result Wikipedia 500E page). This search ranking has really helped the site achieve important growth and awareness among potential new owners and interested parties, and is an original, personal goal that I had for the site to achieve.

I think another notable achievement is that the worldwide 500E community conducted gatherings on two continents during 2014, in part catalyzed by this site. This too has been a personal goal that I have always held for the site -- for it to help foster ever-stronger communication and goodwill among members around the world.

It is a pleasure to operate & maintain this site. Thanks to all of you for your continuing support.

Cheers,
Gerry

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 800, align: center"] [TR] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]Total Members[/TD] [TD]Threads[/TD] [TD]Posts[/TD] [TD]Unique Hits/Day[/TD] [TD]Avg Users/Day[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2012[/TD] [TD]1312[/TD] [TD]2810[/TD] [TD]26000+[/TD] [TD]3000+[/TD] [TD]180+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2013[/TD] [TD]2460[/TD] [TD]4250[/TD] [TD]46800+[/TD] [TD]3500+[/TD] [TD]250+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2014[/TD] [TD]3580[/TD] [TD]5770[/TD] [TD]73200[/TD] [TD]4500+[/TD] [TD]400+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]% Increase
2013->2014[/TD] [TD]~45%[/TD] [TD]~35%[/TD] [TD]~55%[/TD] [TD]~30%[/TD] [TD]~55%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Ecstasy
December 2008[/TD] [TD]3284[/TD] [TD]5985[/TD] [TD]49575+[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Comparo
500Ex v. 500Eboard[/TD] [TD]500Eboard +300[/TD] [TD]500Ex
+225[/TD] [TD]500Ebrd
+23600[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

 

[texas993]

That's amazing. And the number that pops for me is an average of 400 users per day! Thanks for being our host, Gerry!

 

[gerryvz]

Thanks! The 400+ number of daily users is deliberately conservative and includes both registered members who log in, and non-registered folks who are regulars and/or who come in via search engine or other link referrals.

The number of folks who find this site through search engine results is quite large (though whether they become members or not is another story). I think a lot of folks come to the site through search engines because they have W124 and W126 problems they are looking for answers to, and they register so that they can get access to the photos for HOW-TO purposes. Which is fine ... hopefully they come back again and/or get interested in the .036.

The more quality information this site provides, the better the search engine rankings and relevancy will be, and the more the site will continue to grow.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[gerryvz]

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 800, align: center"] [TR] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]Total Members[/TD] [TD]Threads[/TD] [TD]Posts[/TD] [TD]Unique Hits/Day[/TD] [TD]Avg Users/Day[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2012[/TD] [TD]1312[/TD] [TD]2810[/TD] [TD]26000+[/TD] [TD]3000+[/TD] [TD]180+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2013[/TD] [TD]2460[/TD] [TD]4250[/TD] [TD]46800+[/TD] [TD]3500+[/TD] [TD]250+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2014[/TD] [TD]3580[/TD] [TD]5770[/TD] [TD]73200[/TD] [TD]4500+[/TD] [TD]400+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
May 2015
[/TD] [TD]4600
[/TD] [TD]7400
[/TD] [TD]99250
[/TD] [TD]5100+
[/TD] [TD]520+
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]% Increase
2013->2014[/TD] [TD]~45%[/TD] [TD]~35%[/TD] [TD]~55%[/TD] [TD]~30%[/TD] [TD]~55%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]% Increase
2014->2015
[/TD] [TD]~29%
[/TD] [TD]~29%
[/TD] [TD]~37%
[/TD] [TD]~17%
[/TD] [TD]~33%
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Ecstasy
December 2008[/TD] [TD]3284[/TD] [TD]5985[/TD] [TD]49575+[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Comparo
500Ex v. 500Eboard
[/TD] [TD]500Eboard +1316
[/TD] [TD]500Ebrd
+1415
[/TD] [TD]500Ebrd
+23600[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
It's time for my annual "state of the board" post. I am doing it a couple of months early this year (mid-May 2015 vs. mid-July as typical) because of a heavy summer travel schedule.

I have added a couple of lines to the previous table, that indicates year-over-year growth in the number of overall members, threads, post count and unique hits/visitors to the site. Please keep in mind these numbers are averages. By mid-July, the member, post and thread counts will be significantly higher (probably by 100 members or more). I have also attached the growth rates year over year.

2014->2015 was a significantly slower growth year over the 2013->2014 period, which was probably caused by a number of factors. It is likely that a majority of folks who have strong affinity for and interest in the E500E have already found the site, so it is getting closer to the point of saturation.

Also, given the rapid increase in HOW-TO articles posted during the 2013-2014 period, the site attracted a lot of new members from other sites (such as Benzworld, MBWorld and PeachParts) who were keen to check out and utilise these articles. This influx of new members dramatically changed the demographics of the forum over the past couple of years over the more "pure" E500E demographic that the site has enjoyed in the past.

Lastly, the substantial increase in "drama" on the 500Eboard during calendar year 2014 and early 2015, largely due to a few (now ex-) members, also likely served to turn a significant number of people off of the site. It seems that we largely have that issue "handled," thankfully.

In any case, it is also interesting to note that the 500Eboard finally and fully eclipsed its' parent "500Ecstasy" site during 2014-2015 in terms of the total number of threads, having surpassed 500Ex in 2013-2014 in the total number of members and actual posts.

As you can see, growth rates -- though diminished a bit -- are still quite healthy year over year. July 2015 will mark the fourth full year that the 500Eboard has been on the vBulletin platform. I anticipate that the site will remain on this software platform through the late fall time frame. Much work remains to be done in terms of exploring and practising the migration before any such actual migration is accomplished. Certainly I will keep folks closely up to date as progress occurs. Unfortunately I am going to be completely out of pocket from now through mid-July with domestic and international travel, and my presence on the site will also be notably lighter than has been typical.

A few "fast facts" ....

• 500Eboard has now been on the vBulletin platform nearly four years, having transitioned in early July, 2011
• The document/photo database for 500Eboard is now 12.3 gigabytes in size (it was 9.3 GB last year, and a bit over 5 GB in July 2013)
• The size of the 500Eboard post/thread database is now nearly 204 MB (it was 149 MB in July 2014, and a bit over 100 MB in July 2013)
• The member avatar database is nearly 3.2 MB (it was just over 3 MB in July 2014 and nearly 2.5 MB in size in 2013)
• With the exception of the recent 4-5 day hosting problems -- not a problem with this site's software -- the site has retained a relatively high level of up-time and reliability during the year

December 1, 2015 will mark the seventh birthday of the 500Eboard.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[gerryvz]

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 800, align: center"] [TR] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]Total Members[/TD] [TD]Threads[/TD] [TD]Posts[/TD] [TD]Unique Hits/Day[/TD] [TD]Avg Users/Day[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2012[/TD] [TD]1312[/TD] [TD]2810[/TD] [TD]26000+[/TD] [TD]3000+[/TD] [TD]180+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2013[/TD] [TD]2460[/TD] [TD]4250[/TD] [TD]46800+[/TD] [TD]3500+[/TD] [TD]250+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2014[/TD] [TD]3580
[/TD] [TD]5770[/TD] [TD]73200[/TD] [TD]4500+[/TD] [TD]400+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
May 2015
[/TD] [TD]4600
[/TD] [TD]7400
[/TD] [TD]99250
[/TD] [TD]5100+
[/TD] [TD]520+
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2016
[/TD] [TD]6060
[/TD] [TD]9210
[/TD] [TD]125530
[/TD] [TD]5500+
[/TD] [TD]1190+
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]% Increase
2013->2014[/TD] [TD]~45%[/TD] [TD]~35%[/TD] [TD]~55%[/TD] [TD]~30%[/TD] [TD]~55%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]% Increase
2014->2015
[/TD] [TD]~29%
[/TD] [TD]~29%
[/TD] [TD]~37%
[/TD] [TD]~17%
[/TD] [TD]~33%
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]% Increase
2015->2016
[/TD] [TD]~30%
[/TD] [TD]~25%
[/TD] [TD]~26%
[/TD] [TD]~9%
[/TD] [TD]~120%
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Ecstasy
December 2008
[/TD] [TD]3284[/TD] [TD]5985[/TD] [TD]49575+[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Comparo
500Ex v. 500Eboard
[/TD] [TD]500Eboard +2776
[/TD] [TD]500Ebrd
+3225
[/TD] [TD]500Ebrd
+75955
[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

It's time for my annual "State of the 500Eboard" post.

As you can see, overall growth of the forum (key statistics including membership, post count, thread count, etc.) remains robust and generally in keeping with past years. This growth is remarkable, primarily because the forum's year-to-year numbers continue to increase ... the increases are building on an ever-growing base!

I have updated the previous table, that indicates year-over-year growth in the number of overall members, threads, post count and unique hits/visitors to the site. Please keep in mind these numbers are rounded, but slightly conservative (i.e. rounded downward to the nearest whole number).

As I mentioned, 2015->2016 was a robust growth year. It is likely that these numbers are being driven by the ever-increasing indexing/cataloguing of the site via search engines such as Google and Bing. I am seeing various posts on the site getting referred to on a lot of other MB-related forums, which helps increase the search-engine rankings and also drives a lot of non-E500E traffic to the site.

The HOW-TO articles for the E500E and W126 models continue to drive a lot of traffic to the site from non-E500E people (for example regular W124 owners). This is gratifying and notable. From what I have seen, however, the majority of active posting to the site continues to be from E500E owners. Other folks come to the site & register in search of solutions to their maintenance and repair problems, which is just fine. Our goal is to provide the highest quality HOW-TO articles and factual information of any MB forum on the Internet.

Another gratifying thing from the past year here on the forum, is a significant decrease in "drama" and disruptive activities. This is a welcome and positive change -- although this has not ever been a major issue for this site, with the exception of 1-2 points in years past.

This month (July 2016) marks the fifth full year that the 500Eboard has been on the vBulletin platform. Certainly by this time in 2017, we'll be well past the migration to the new XenForo software platform, which continues its steady march forward in maturity and functionality. The new forum software is so cool, that everyone's going to get laid !!

A few "fast facts" ....

• 500Eboard has now been on the vBulletin platform five full years, having transitioned in early July, 2011
• The document/photo database for 500Eboard is now 16.54 gigabytes in size (it was 12.3 GB last year, 9.3 GB in 2014, and a bit over 5 GB in July 2013)
• The size of the 500Eboard post/thread database is now 256.4 MB, up from nearly 204 MB in May 2015; 149 MB in July 2014; and a bit over 100 MB in July 2013). The latest database backup I ran last night, which compresses the database into a "zip" file, was 79 MB
• The member avatar database is 3.62 MB, up from nearly 3.2 MB last year; just over 3 MB in July 2014; and nearly 2.5 MB in 2013
• As far as I can tell, the site has remained fully up and running during the past year, with near-zero reliability/availability problems

December 1, 2016 will mark the eighth birthday of the 500Eboard.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[lowman]

Straight up awesome!

Cheeers to everyone

 

[Bogeyman]

Great on the HOW-TOs.
Now if we could just get one on the lower wiring harness.....

 

[lowman]

Great on the HOW-TOs.
Now if we could just get one on the lower wiring harness.....

donate a harness to me..and ill do a HOW TO

fyi...just kidding

 

[nocfn]

There is one and I added to it, it was rather simple

 

[jhodg5ck]

Great on the HOW-TOs.
Now if we could just get one on the lower wiring harness.....

it's really pretty easy...do it along with your engine mounts is really the Ideal...even if the mounts are Good we still undo the lower bolts to get the engine out of the way.

Don't be surprised when you find the oil level sender leaking while you're down there..but that requires you to remove the oil pan etc to replace those orings. When you DO do that, use some extra sealant on said orings. They fail w/ utter/predictable regularity.

jono

 

[FCPEuro]

"Our goal is to provide the highest quality HOW-TO articles and factual information of any MB forum on the Internet."

I'm unaware of a site that does it better, you guys are an awesome group.

 

[gerryvz]

It looks like we're going to hit 7,000 registered members by the time I get to my normal July, 2017 "State of the Ship" post about the 500Eboard.

 

[gerryvz]

Well, it's the July 4 weekend here in the USA, so it's about time for the annual "State of the 500Eboard" address....

I've updated the table below with the latest stats on the growth of the site. We didn't hit the 7,000 member level that I'd predicted back in April, but we're not that far off, and I expect we'll hit it during August, if not before.

This month marks our sixth full year of being on the vBulletin platform.

More subjectively and culturally, we had pretty much ZERO drama on the forum this past year, and only one significant/notable site outage due to the hoster's database server being down. That outage resulted in spotty service for several days, but as expected was fortunately resolved by the hoster.

This "database outage" seems to happen about once every year or two, when the database server's memory leaks build up to the point where it runs out of memory and fails, requiring a full reboot.

One other item of note was that in May, 2017, we had a site attack by spammers, who exploited a security "hole" in the vBulletin software (that I had not completely closed through configuration settings) that allowed them, for a couple of good weeks, to use the site's e-mail system to send out hundreds of thousands of spam messages as an "open mail relay."

While unfortunate, I was able to work with the hoster to get this problem solved after the hoster alerted me to the situation. The attack didn't affect the operation of the site and its data -- it was just exploited as a "free" e-mail server by the spammers to send their crap to people all over the world.

As expected, as the site continues to grow, we saw a steady 14-15% increase in almost all relevant statistics across the board: total members, post count, and thread count.

Key Statistics:

• 6,938 members -- up 15% from 2016
• 10,540 threads -- up 15% from 2016
• 143,063 posts -- up 14% from 2016
• 23GB document/photo database -- up from 16.54GB n 2016
• 302.4MB post/thread database -- up from 256.4MB in 2016
• 97.4MB database backup -- up from 83.6MB in 2016
• 4.01MB member avatar database -- up from 3.62MB in 2016

As vBulletin upgraded the software twice during early 2017, I updated the software to version 4.2.4, although the current version is 4.2.5. vBulletin officially announced the "end of life" for the version 4.X of its forum software -- a move that has been anticipated for at least the past 4-5 years. Version 4.2.5 doesn't have any real functional or bug-fix improvements over 4.2.4, and was only created really to incorporate current and future versions of the php language and mySQL database, thus giving the software probably another 5-6 years of life for those who retain it in a static hosting setting.

Lastly, I just recently (as noted in another post) renewed the contract with the hosting company, and the 500Eboard.com domain, for another three-year period. This contract renewal cost $323.64, or $107.88 annually, and comes out to about USD $9.00 per month. Coupled with software licensing fees and other miscellania, I'd say that the forum costs around $15 per month to operate.

I hope this update was interesting to y'all. Thanks for your patronage and support for the site.

Cheers,
Gerry

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 800, align: center"] [TR] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]Total Members[/TD] [TD]Threads[/TD] [TD]Posts[/TD] [TD]Sessions/Day[/TD] [TD]Avg Users/Day[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2012[/TD] [TD]1312[/TD] [TD]2810[/TD] [TD]26000+[/TD] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]180+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2013[/TD] [TD]2460[/TD] [TD]4250[/TD] [TD]46800+[/TD] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]250+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2014[/TD] [TD]3580[/TD] [TD]5770[/TD] [TD]73200[/TD] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]400+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
May 2015
[/TD] [TD]4600[/TD] [TD]7400[/TD] [TD]99250[/TD] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]520+[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2016[/TD] [TD]6,060
[/TD] [TD]9,210
[/TD] [TD]125,530
[/TD] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]1,190+
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Eboard
July 2017
[/TD] [TD]6,938
[/TD] [TD]10,540
[/TD] [TD]143,063
[/TD] [TD]1,600+
[/TD] [TD]1,350+
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]% Increase
2016->2017
[/TD] [TD]~15%
[/TD] [TD]~15%
[/TD] [TD]~14%
[/TD] [TD]
[/TD] [TD]~14%
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]500Ecstasy
December 2008[/TD] [TD]3,284[/TD] [TD]5,985[/TD] [TD]49,575+[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Comparo
500Ex v. 500Eboard
[/TD] [TD]500Eboard +3,654
[/TD] [TD]500Ebrd
+4,555
[/TD] [TD]500Ebrd
+93,488[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [TD]Unknown[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

 

[M104-AMG]

Thanks again Gerry for this resource! Can you remind us where/how to give donations ?

Thanks,
neil

 

[gerryvz]

As expected, we passed the 7,000 registered member mark in the past 24 hours. That's a pretty big milestone.

As you can see from the table above, that I posted earlier this month, back in 2015 at this time we were at roughly one-half this number, and last year we were just over 6,000 members. So our growth continues steadily.

A significant number of our "new" members are registrants who are referred through links from other MB forums, or who find our site via Google when researching how to complete various 124 and 126 DIY jobs. But certainly the site has attracted a lot of new members who have turned into E500E enthusiasts, as well. Heck, just look at the number of E500E owners here who have jumped onto the C126 bandwagon ... a bandwagon that isn't slowing down !!

Our forum is very very active compared to a lot of "niche" MB model forums out there.

One similar forum, by general comparison, is the Classic AMG forum, which started up in April, 2012 (about 3.5 years after this forum started). Since that time, the Classic AMG forum has acquired just under 2,000 members, 12,000 posts, and around 2,500 threads. That level is not quite double where this forum was at the same point in time in terms of the number of members (we had just under 1,100), and around the same or slightly behind this forum in the post and thread counts.

Another similar forum, for comparison, is the M-100 Group forum. This forum started up originally around 1997 as a text-based web forum, and evolved into into its current form around November, 2005. After 11.5 years of operation, this forum has 1,202 members and nearly 81,000 total posts.

I think there is a fair bit more overall/industry interest among enthusiasts and collectors in pre-merger AMG models, given their variety/diversity/overall collectability, than there is in E500E models. But yet, our forum continues to attract significantly more members.

What sets this forum apart from others is the depth and strength of knowledge here in terms of the HOW-TO tutorials, and general accuracy of diagnostic and information available. We have a lot of members who are do-ers and creators and contributors, not just passive consumers of information.

Another thing that sets this site aside is its organization -- how information is categorized and placed. Most forums don't categorize technical information to the granular level that we do, rather choosing to put it in very general/broad "buckets" such as "engine" or "technical info" or such. We can thank our site's godfather, the illustrious Scott M. Shell of 500Ecstasy fame, for the foundation of this site's organization, as I used his site as a template when I first created this site. However, we continued to evolve and refine the organization, making improvements and tweaks along the way.

For comparison, here are screen shot examples of how these other forums I mention, were/are organized. So, you see why our forum is more user-friendly and easier to use.

First, the M-100 Group forum, as it sits today:



Next, the AMG Classic forum, as it sits today:



And next up, the current MBCA forum, which IMHO is a serious mess:



The "Banzworld" W124 V-8 forum, as of this morning -- again, zero organization to it (give it up, guys.....):



And lastly, the "legacy" 500Ecstasy forum, from 2007, from which this site drew its inspiration:


As I've learned over the years, Forum management is a bit of an art and a bit of a science. But one thing is for sure -- it requires CONSTANT care and feeding to maintain successfully, and a crack team of moderators is a "must-have". Y'all have no idea how much regular work that Dave, Glen, and yes Klink do behind the scenes to keep things going.

I'm proud of what we've achieved together, and each and every one of you make contributions large and small every day. For that I thank you.

It is with some frequency that I do get compliments and comments from folks who "discover" this site (after being on other MB forums) and after perusing it a bit, are quite overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of information here, and the knowledge and enthusiasm of our members. We get very high marks for the overall usefulness, user-friendliness, technical depth/breadth, and most importantly the great CULTURE of this site. We don't take ourselves too seriously, yet we are indeed a serious site that is all about the E500E. No other forum on the planet is even close to this site in terms of being THE resource for our cars.

Thanks to all, for all you do to "MAKE 500EBOARD GREAT AGAIN!"

#M5GA

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[nocfn]

Don't forget this is a GVZ funded enterprise. No corporate sponsors, ads or member user fees.

 

[Rouven036]

Thanks for this detailed info and insight! And yes, this board is/has the best profound knowledge base available for the E5E