I was reading the threads about PMUM, and the thread about soup, and was just wondering, what led up to the Alley being formed, why, and how long has it been up?
It seems that since finding this site, I don't spend much time at the mORGue.
I was reading the threads about PMUM, and the thread about soup, and was just wondering, what led up to the Alley being formed, why, and how long has it been up?
It seems that since finding this site, I don't spend much time at the mORGue.
It flourished pretty much in reaction to the .Morgue when it had moderators that abused their power and tried to enforce their own standards of morality on the entire site. It's true that .Morgue is sponsored by Dodge (DC) and some of the things the members were posting were not family material, but the moderators censored anything that looked to them like a criticism and also started to ban individuals who didn't toe the party line. This site may have been here before .Morgue went Nazi, but most of the cool people from .Morgue came here when .Morgue was Nazi. Many still go to both sites, but anything more adult will be found here, unless it is strictly a tech posting.
I think it is worth noting that on DotOrg there is a difference between the Moderators and the Administrators. It is the Admins who set the policies for the site.
After several mysterious thread deletions the morgue finally banned "the usual suspects" and then all hell broke loose. Biggest coined the phrase "Viper Alley" and suggested a spot on the morgue for it, but to no avail. Steve's (Recoil) site was as good as any but fell off shortly after Pierce started this one.
The morgue still has the edge for technical info but this one is clearly site for fun.
The Alley was a term coined by Biggsie before the rash of bannings at the morgue. A group of us petitioned for a spot LIKE what we have here at the morgue. After we rallied a tremendous show of support, the moruge backpeddaled and gave every excuse in the book from formal proposal submittals to every other contrived reason not to approve such a area, even with a majority of club members in support. Shorthly thereafter, Kungfool was banned, and there was an uprising. Everything from fooleys banning to complaining about unilateral actions on their site admins came into discussions. We made semi-formal petitions for a coupe d etat at the admins over at the morgue. Brunton and I were talking to morgue officers about revamping the "web committee". Private conversations between many of the originals here started at that time about starting a new site. Then one night they banned 14 (? was that the number?) of us. We left the morgue but the alley was just an idea not put into motion at the time. Dotcom became too chaotic. We could do nothing about trolls, no one could be banned, and although it was the exact opposite of the morgue, complete chaos got real annoying. MP and I got on the phone one night and since the domain was already registered, we turned on Viperalley that very night. I went on recruiting missions, while MP started putting features onto this site. THe guidelines on which we operate, a true democratic process, was the basic principles that were discussed during hte bannings and at the moruge, we just put them into effect here. The members helped fine tune things, and now we have what we have...Viperalley. Generating more traffic than the morgue.
im not a historian but this place has the overall edge IMO. ive never really knew why or how or cared why or how it was formed so thnx for the heads up. i still visit both as only a fool would think one site offers all, but like i said, IMO this one is a bit better. it not only offers great tech info and is steadily growing in that area, but it definitely has the lead in the fun/ability to vent/kick your shoes off aspect. and thats sometimes (if not moretimes) as important as any tech shit.
The thing about the technical information is that its ALL Here too. The members that we have on board, are often more well versed than those at the morgue. One of the reasons I believe this place is "more fun" is that the guys here have done pretty much everything they can to their vipers, whether its road racing, drag racing, etc, theyve done it, they are pretty much done, and have asked and answered enough tech questions to get tired of talking about it ALL THE TIME. But when you do ask, and need an answer, I find the answers I need here. Questions about suspension, brakes, supercharging, turbocharging, rocker arms, heads, cam, etc, its all here. People will get their questions answered when they need it, and youre right, youll get to talk shit and laugh about it too.
Others already gave you the specifics on what happened, but I think on a more fundamental level, what happened is you got a bunch of guys who have often met at various events or at least talked on the phone or by email, etc. Some of these folks have been in the Viper scene for years and know all they care to know about the cars. The "which wax is best" or "what should I look for when buying a Viper" gets old, and so many of these old timers prefer the camaraderie and enjoyment of kicking back and BS'ing with one another more than they like the G-rated stuff on other sites. The morgue cracked down on any sort of fun or BSing or verbal jousting, and after a lot of BSing basically said right out they did NOT want it to be anything other than a technical site. And morons like fathead Ferguson and t.estes were too wrapped up in their perceived "power" to care what members wanted.
So, everyone moved to Viper nation - a totally uncensored site. But no censoring wasn't that good either - it became infested with trolls, porn, and personal flaming. The alley is a good mix of all facets of Viper ownership or like of Vipers. Good tech info, good friendship, and lots of humor.
I can tell you are working on getting that words per post count up huh [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] With any luck youll soon can drop into the single digits. If you try harder, you can respond to all threads wtih grunts and noses. Try these on for size:
"grrrr" "uh" "eh" "ya" or the casual smiley courtesy of Viperalley can suit you fine. [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]
DotOrg wasn't always so "up tight", back in the late 90's when it was just a single threaded board, the rules were much more relaxed. But over time the tone of the board changed and with it the "rules". The more restrcitive the site got, the more its members pushed back until in the end something had to give.
One of the first posts on ViperAlley summed it up perfectly:
DotOrg was too cold, DotCom was too hot, ViperAlley is juuuuust right...
Besides, I really enjoy working on a site that lets me "play"... [img]/images/graemlins/supergrin.gif[/img]
I can tell you are working on getting that words per post count up huh [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] With any luck youll soon can drop into the single digits. If you try harder, you can respond to all threads wtih grunts and noses. Try these on for size:
"grrrr" "uh" "eh" "ya" or the casual smiley courtesy of Viperalley can suit you fine. [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]
What happened to make the morgue so much more uptight? Was it when they switched to the new format? Did DC one day tighten their noose? Was it when testes took over or when fatty ferguson coulnd't keep his porky digits out of the pie? I feel weird posting over there now - like I'm expecting emails or phone calls about what I said or something. I don't even know most of the guys that post there anymore, and it seems most of them are nOObs and the old timers hardly ever post anymore.
DotOrg wasn't always so "up tight", back in the late 90's when it was just a single threaded board, the rules were much more relaxed. But over time the tone of the board changed and with it the "rules". The more restrcitive the site got, the more its members pushed back until in the end something had to give.
One of the first posts on ViperAlley summed it up perfectly:
DotOrg was too cold, DotCom was too hot, ViperAlley is juuuuust right...
Besides, I really enjoy working on a site that lets me "play"... [img]/images/graemlins/supergrin.gif[/img]
The single threaded board was GREAT :thumb:. I just remembered NT for no text.
