Site Happenings - December 7, 2005

First and foremost, I wish to thank all of you for the hundreds of emails, blog entries and letters you sent with words of comfort after the death of my only and dearest sister. Her ashes are in the ground now and the "final good-bye" (the Memorial) is this coming Sunday.

It's been a real rough time but we're moving forward now and concentrating on raising the three beautiful children that she left behind. It will be a family effort and they are well worth the time spent doing so. The children will be raised by my Mother and Stepdad, who are in their seventies, and we hope to have a new home soon on the property that will be large enough for everyone.

On to Site Happenings - I could talk forever about my sister and what the words from the people at YT have meant to me - but I want you to know that I'm doing fine so we're going to move on now to a new subject: The Forums again! We've had to make some small changes to the forums, one is the way messages are viewed. They automatically "expand" now if you click on the thread starter, and a few other small changes.

Apparently some people are not able to see links change color (the "visited link" color) after they have clicked on a reply. I've only heard that from a few people though so I'd like some comments on your experience with the most recent change. I'm finding that when I use Firefox as a browser, the links do not change color after I view a forum reply or message. But if I use Safari, the links DO change. I'm on a Macintosh so haven't tried it on my PC. I'm thinking it must be working on Microsoft Explorer, one of the more popular browsers, because out of the thousands of people who read messages each day only 2 or 3 have written about the link color not changing as it should. It is important that the link change color after you've read a message, so that next time you come back to the forum you know you already read that one.

So please leave your comments here, or in the Site Comments Forum.
Our antique tractor forums are a "work in progress" - we must continue with our updates but we'll do them a little at a time - then test the water, adjust or modify - and then move forward again slowly.

The forums are for you - and my most important mission is to keep them as easy to use as possible. The changes we are making are primarily for server and operating system performance, not because we have the "itch" to change things. So feel secure in the fact that I'm always here watching, listening, and caring.

Thanks again to all for your kind words these last two weeks.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

The day before Thanksgiving, when most people were planning the family celebrations and stuffing the traditional turkey, my sister Cindy Mae suddenly and unexpectedly passed away at the young age of 39.

My little sister, my only sister, was one of those rare individuals who only saw the good in people. She seemed blissfully unaware of any animosity towards her, or if she saw it, it was quickly forgotten and replaced with feelings of love and goodwill.

Cindy was chubby as a young girl and suffered the taunts of other children all during her school years. As an adult, she got heavier and heavier until she was finally classified as morbidly obese by doctors. I always wondered what that meant... I guess the "morbid" part means you are so overweight it could cause you to die. Anyway, it seems society thinks that when you are a few hundred pounds overweight you are no longer a worthy person. At least that is how my sister was treated by doctors, store clerks and others who were in the position where decency should have been freely offered. We are so much more than our outward appearances.

I know I may seem biased, but my big beautiful little sister had the biggest heart of any individual I have ever known. Because of her own size, she had absolutely no rigid standards of what others should look like. She loved us whether we had a spot on our shirt, or our hair was a mess, and wouldn't even mention it if we had a giant mark on our face. She wasn't trying to be nice or anything - she simply did not see our faults.

I don't want to go on and on about my sister, my beloved baby sister who is now gone from this earthly life. I know most of you, if not all of you, have lost someone close to you. I know you have felt what I am feeling now. I guess the point of this blog entry is that life can change in an instant. Reach out to those you care about and always be kind. You don't have to tell every person you know that you love them - just treat them with respect and common decency. And if you love them - heck yes - tell them so.

My sister and I saw each other several times a month, usually weekly - for the last twenty years. Every time we parted one of us said "I love you", and the other said "I love you too". I saw my sister 3 days before she died - and those were the last words I ever said to her... "I love you too". That is the memory I choose to carry forward.

I'd like each and everyone to consider all of this in context of the YT website community. Sometimes people say things that make us want to lash out and say words that can never be taken back. Remember that when we talk to each other in the forums we are only showing one side of ourselves. There is so much more to the human spirit than what might appear to exist outwardly. On the outside, my sister was an overly large woman who was treated poorly by the general public because she had issues with her weight. Yes, she had a problem with that. But she was more than her weight, much more. She had the purest love I have ever seen in a person, and it saddens me to think that I may never be loved as deeply and unconditionally by another again.

Be kind to one another. Let people know you appreciate them. Here today, gone tomorrow. Life can change in an instant. Sister, I love you and I'll miss you.

P.S. For those more familiar with the site - Cindy has been the one who has typed in the data for the Tractor Show Guide for many years. She spent hours and hours each year getting the Show Guide ready for the YT community. Now you know why the 2005 show guide was missing... Cindy wasn't herself for the last year and has left us now. But she always enjoyed typing in the tractor show directory data, she loved helping me and was impressed that so many people read the information on the website.

Sister, I love you. Good bye for now. Sisters Forever - Kim & Cindy

Cindy Mae, 1966 - 2005

Searching for Answers - Your Input Requested

Some serious time this week has gone into improving the search function of the Yesterday''s Tractors website. Our search engine, which was custom written in-house, searches more than 1.8 million files of tractor info to find matches to your request. For the last several months (especially in the evening) the search utility slows the whole site down to a crawl when just one or two people start searching. Others, who are posting messages in the forums, have to sit and wait for the server to finish performing it's search for someone else, before their message will even post. Frustrating, to say the least!

The first thing I've done is move the entire search function off of the main YTmag server, which is where the forums are hosted. It is now on it's own powerful server, located several miles away. The new address for the search utility is search.yesterdaystractors.com - don't worry you don't have to memorize all that - the main website will automatically take you there.

The first step of upgrading the search utility has been accomplished - it performs the searches faster now, and doesn't damper the surfing experience of people perusing the main antique tractor site.

From here I would like to take requests from the YT community for additional modifications to the search utility. The interface, the results, how things are displayed, etc. Chris will take care of keeping the guts of search engine on the leading edge - but we need input from the "end user" (that's you, in geek speak) to make it as useful as possible.

It would be best to enter your comments and requests for the search engine improvements here in the blog comments, rather than email me directly. Either way is fine though - the important point being I would like to hear from you.

P.S. Here are my own ideas for improvement so far: a) include matching photo's and their comments in the search result, b) include archived photo ads and classified ads (these would be marked as such and could be an option), c) put the description back in the results, instead of just links (google-like), d) allow a date range - default would be all.

P.S.S. My promise to you - any changes we make to the search utility will be done in such a way as to not make it complicated. You'll be able to just type stuff in and hit the button, or you could choose to select a bunch of parameters to narrow down or improve the results.

Okay, let's hear from you!

About that Old Forum Software ...

I've been having an internal battle with YT's old forum software for about 4 or 5 years. The rest of the internet world has moved on to the more modern software with all it's bells and whistles. But the problem with the new forum software available these days, as I see it, is the registration process. Oh, it's painless at first glance, but when you happen upon a forum and get the urge to express yourself or ask a question, you find that you have to jump through hoops to fill out a form, register, wait for a password to be sent to you via email, then click a link, type in a secret code and finally become a registered user. By that time I've forgotten what I want to say!

I would venture to say that YT's discussion forums are the most highly trafficked on the internet that do not require a person to register. Sure, there are a few other sites out there in www land that use the older forum software. But they don't have a huge amount of traffic and it seems no one is bothering to remove the spam and advertisements.

What YT has (thanks to our background in computer programming) is the option to register your "handle" or name in the forums. What happened is our forums were so open and friendly that once in a while a "ne're do well" would post a derogatory message and say he was "Joe from Illinois". Well the real Joe from Illinois would never say such a thing and is appalled that all the world attributes the derogatory message to him. So... YT made it an option that you can set a password on a particular "handle" or name and no one else can ever post as you. For example, I have voluntarily registered and password protected "Kim". Only I can post using that name.

People who are new to the forums though can post a message if they want without registering, waiting for a password to be sent via email, etc. Just today I received an email from a fellow that was requesting my help in the forums. He has never posted a message in any discussion forum and hadn't a clue what to do. Luckily, I was able to tell him what link to click on and told him to just type a message and click on the "Submit" button. The fellow didn't even need an email account to receive a "secret password".

We have quite a few members in our community that like the simplicity of the forums. On the other hand, we get quite a few complaints from the younger folks who think us old farts must be living on Mars. They are looking for all the bells and whistles and the "bumping" newly replied to message so the top of the list etc. I hate to lose their interest but DARN it's real hard to please everyone. Old-timers (sorry for the terminology) may remember that I've tried to do that twice. Twice I've tried to migrate the forums to the newer software. The first time it was darn-right mutiny. People complained, packed their virtual bags and left. That was an eye opener for me and I wasted no time bring the old forum software back.

The second time I tried to upgrade the forum software it was received a little better, but still about 50% said "stop messing with a good thing". Again, for a second time, I scraped the new forum software and went back to the archaic but comfortable "wwwboard" software that has been around for 10 years and outdated for at least 5.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. Do we just keep using the old software, patching it when it breaks, and ignore new technology as it moves on without us? I'm worried about losing the young people. Who will look after our tractors when we are too feeble to post forum messages? The young people have spoken and say they want the new forum software. The older set (yes that includes me) prefers the old software. Part of the purpose of the YT site is to keep these old tractors going from generation to generation. How do we bridge the two, software speaking?

I have a few ideas but will have to present them later. I think we are going to have to compromise on both sides. Meanwhile, I'm actually proud to see that we are still able to have such a vibrant virtual community using our old software. And I see people in their 70's and 80's being able to post messages because the process is simple. No registration, no password (unless you choose to have one).

Part of my responsibility though is to make sure YT doesn't die off with the generation that founded it. I'd like some opinions and comments on how to move into the newer technology without losing the confidence of the older crowd.

What's in Your Shed, Beside Old Tractors?

The people in our antique tractor community have spoken. Sure, they like their old tractors. But they have other interests too. I found the following discussion, gleaned from the Tractor Talk Discussion Forum, fascinating and it gives us a little peak into the lives of our comrades. What follows is the original question as posted to the forum and many of the replies:

QUESTION:

Just curious what you other tractor "Folks" have in the shed to play with when the seasons change and the tractors are tucked away like sardines for the winter? I have met so many tractor folks that also have a deep love for old cars, pickups and trucks of varying tonnage. I used to be into cars and pickups and was working on the winterization this week so had to , of course, take them for a little spin and get the cobwebs out, pump the tires and check all the fluids and gas line antifreeze and a little stabilizer. Currently I have a 65 Impala SS 327 300 hp with camel back heads, a 67 Olds Toronado with 425 (front wheel drive of course), 71 Chevelle with 350 Edelbrook 4 barrel, and 79 Gmc Cabellero with 267 v-8.

So what's in your Shed?

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Just one: 90 GMC 4x4 dually with the 454. Yee haw!

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Doing a ground up resto on an 82 Silverado short stepside,nearly finished. . 10. 5:1 468 bigblock, motor dyno'd at 565 hp so should come in just over 700hp with the nitrous I got on it,full manual TH400,9" ford rearend with lincoln disc's etc. . 98 Jeep Wrangler with lift and 33x12. 50 mud slingers. . My dads 48 8N(torn down), 1938 JD unstyled A on round spokes(almost finshed) and a 51 JD MT,(just got),the MT is stuck and is for sale in the classifieds.

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1914 American LaFrance
1917 Republic
1923 Stutz
1927 Ahrens Fox
1929 Mack
1931 Seagrave
1936 Chevrolet
1942 Seagrave
1965 Kenworth

All of these are fire engines. We also have a 1927 Ahrens Fox ladder truck but it's not been delivered yet. There's a bunch of other stuff out there also. I'm not sure when we lost our mind!

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'48 Chevy 2 door Fleetline Aerosedan, '40 Buick Special Straight Eight 2dr. , '41 Chevy Pickup with 14600 actual miles, '59 Ford F100 292 V8 w/factory four wheel drive, '72 Dodge Polara, '68 Chevy pickup with 327, '67 Plymouth GTX 440 with factory 4 speed and Dana 60, '68 Plymouth Satellite, and a few others.

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1965 Chevy Subrban with a warmed up 350 V8 still in the early stages of rustoration. Just got done putting a new set of plugs in er' this afternoon. Edelbrock 4bbl carb and intake, mild cam bored . 030 over, double roller timing chain. Dynoed @ 275HP.

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My tractors are actually used all year (2 JD A's '50 & '52, '55 JD 70D, '53 70gas & '49 TO20 fergy) but my toys are '38 plymouth coupe '40 plyouth 2dr sedan '47 int truck '52 reo big truck and a 67 chevy 4wd pickup

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'm MOPAR 63dodge Polara max wedge,64dodge golden aneversrie,65dodge 426 Polara 500,69dodge super bee,70dodge 440 six pack chalenger. 64 plymouth sport fury 426,64 plymouth belvedere 426 max wedge. 68 baracuda,67 plymouth 440 gtx,69 ply 440 gtx,65 valient slant six,67 ply sport satelite 383 and a 61 dodge pioneer the most ugly. Tractors IH 22-36,Reg,f20,h,m,400,460,560's,706,806,1206's. OLiver 66, 88,770,880,1650,1750,1855's one with fwd. MH 44. case 700,930. Two jd that I farm with.

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My main toys other than the three tractors are a 1961 5000 lb capacity Hyster forklift model HE50 and a Model H Scoopmobile loader, probably late 40's. There's a picture of the Scoopmobile in the galleries under Tractor Photos. I recently got rid of my Adams road grader with the old IH diesel for power.

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Tractors include a '49 Farmall Cub with belly mower, a '50 Farmall M with model 31 loader, a '50 Farmall MD, and just welcomed a '55 Farmall 400 Diesel to the Family. Cars are a '65 Pontiac GTO with 4spd, 389 CID, Tripower, 3. 55 posi and a '66 Pontiac GTO with 4spd, 421 CID, Tripower, A/C, and 3. 23 Posi. Also play with three-'89 Arctic Cat Cougar 500's. Great to hear about other 'toy boxes'. Keep 'em coming!

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1945 Farmall M, 1968 Camaro RS 327/4 barrel, 1980 Chevy 3/4 ton 4X4, 1970 Subaru 360 micro car, 1992 full size Blazer, Cub Cadet 1512 Diesel, Grasshopper 721D with snow blower, Yamaha Grizzly 600, Yamaha G1 golf cart, and 2002 Trailblazer (wife's).

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Well, I have a restored 1952 John Deere A wide-front, a 1955 JD 70 Diesel standard undergoing restoration, and a 1955 Ferguson TEA20 that needs work. Those are the ones under cover. Outside I have whats left of a '48 John Deere D, a 1953 50th Anniversery edition Mercury M-600 truck in beautiful original condition (been in the family since new), a 1951 Maple Leaf 1700 3-ton truck, and lots and lots of implements. I'm going to be busy for a while, restoring this stuff.

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A 52 Stage I Super M factory LP. Probably next falls a project. A 50 model Farmall M we are the original owners of. My Moms old 1949 oldsmobile convertable that need to be restored (frame off) It has the flat head "Big Six" with the Hydromatic automatic tranny. Huge chrome front and rear bumpers. Red too. This is a project that will take a major commitment. one that I don't have the time and energy or resorces to do at this point in time.
Later,

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79' T-Bird one owner, last year of the big boats
76' Power Wagon Clubcab, one owner
70' Dodge 400 2-1/2 ton

T-Bird on the list to be restored. Power Wagon is heading out the door. Dodge 400 makes a great trailer.

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LOTSA(too many?) toys: '79 'Vette, '79 Shovelhead, '46 flathead Trike, Starduster bi-plane (in the works), trail bikes. . . . . . . . . I need to build a BIG building or have a sale! ps. . . . my wife ain't laughing.

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My toys are a 68 BSA Mark IV Spitfire and a 71 DT1 Yamaha 250 Enduro. Fun and fit between the tractors.

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95 440 xcr snowmobile, 1975 120# blue eyed farm girl( the only thing here that'll I'll never pay off) 1986 Chevy cheyenne,. . . . . Hmmmmmm. . . . . Boy I need some more toys for the winter.

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'73 Vette, '98 Mustang Gt, '04 2500 4X4 QC Ram PU, '05 Scion XB

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52 Chev Delux 3/4ton PU and 41 Piper J5 Cub. Helping friend restore 46 J3 Cub.

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69' Plymouth Roadrunner, original interior, hot 383, six pack hood, 3:55 limited slip, BFGoodrich Radial T/A all the way around, candy apple red.
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1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL convertible, 1967 Mustang, 1952 Ford club coupe, 1947 Ford Super Deluxe, 1915 Overland model 80 touring car.

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In addition to the old green tractor, I've got a 1937 Buick Special, 1940 Cadillac Sedan, 1956 Chrysler New Yorker, 1964 Dodge 440, 1976 Harley Davidson FLH, and 3 Case/Ingersoll Garden tractors. Pretty much all of these except the Garden tractors are used in the same seasons as the JD, so they all rest in the winter. My wintertime driver is a 1986 El Camino.

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Along with my tractors I have an interest in old Motorcycles. I have a 37 Indian chief, 47 Indian chief, 36 Indian 4 cyl. which is in the process of being brought back to life. when I can find the time and money. Also a 68 Yamaha DT1. Stan in calif

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'66 Olds Cutlass convertible, '28 Model A Special Coupe (bone stock), '52 Hudson Hornet Club Coupe


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'46 White WB-22 flatbed (tractor hauler), '69 Dodge D-600 (old work truck), '72 Corvette (350, 4 spd, headers & 4" side pipes) sweet little car :-)

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64 GMC 1/2 ton, 39 Ford 4 door sedan, and a 71 Yammaha RS1 350. Just sold my 34 International 2 ton.

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Putting up a 30 x 40 shop. Got a 1976 Corvette Sting Ray, a 1980 Camaro Z-28 and a 1965 MG-B to play with as well as spruce up the 8N and the 861D.

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1948 Harley FL chopper. Hoping to build a decent "77-"79 F250 this winter.

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I've got a '68 Camaro and a'70 Opel GT which have been in storage for nearly 30 years. Both were in excellent condition when I put them away but I'm sure need a little TLC now. I also have a '70 Triumph mototcycle. It is 100% factory except for tires and exhaust. It was just ridden last week. I also have a vintage bicycle. Lots of other little odds&ends. I try not to collect too much as time is SO limited.

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'78 Yamaha XS750E Triple, with "issues". Debating whether to make it a winter project or cut my losses and re-"cycle" it.

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Girlfriends 70 chevelle that she bought brand new. Looking at a 46 dodge military panel truck.

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1979 Ford Bronco. 351M, C6 Auto w/manual valve body, twin sticked NP205 transfer case, 6 inch lift and 38. 50x15 Super Swamper Boggers.

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95 Impala SS, 68 IHC 3/4 t Pickup. Both get used, need brakes lines on IH so is sitting right now.

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Not much, a 1962 Corvette, ground up restoration, 327-360 plus hp, the Harley was stolen some time back, never did get another one. Oliver 1855 restored and used to pull a 10 shank chisel plow.

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So, What's in Your Shed?

Old Trucks

A rash of spam just had to be removed from the Truck forum. A
dozen ads were placed simultaneously - advertisements like Payday Loans, Acne Treatment (?), Poker, etc. I don't know why they pick on that particular forum but a lot of these ads have been showing up lately. They are posted as a reply to a question so that you can't tell it is an advertisement until you click on it.

A few people might not know that we even have a truck section. The Classic Truck website was created because a lot of people who had old tractors had old trucks too. They needed a place to talk so the truck forum was created. Then their own classified ad section, etc which eventually grew into a whole new website, called appropriately YesterdaysTruck.com or YesterdaysPickups.com

There are more than 600 old trucks in the photo gallery there. Wow! I just love looking at them and I love old trucks. We had an old Ford when I was a kid. It was red and just a big old farm truck that probably never got a bath in it's life except when it rained.

Here is a neat picture that Dave from Illinois posted in the gallery. A 1946 White truck pulling a 1945 Farmall H. Cool! It proves my point that old trucks and old tractors go well together:



The trucksters who hang out at the Yesterday's Truck site have asked for their own Photo Ads, so I'm working on that. I'm going to use the same software that's on the antique tractor site but it's been heavily modified for use there and I'll have to go over it with a fine tooth comb to make it fit the truck site.

If anyone has any other requests or has ideas for the Truck site just let me know. If you have knowledge or interest in these old machines maybe you could help answer questions in the Classic Truck Discussion Forum.

A Day in the Life of a Moderator

What does it take to maintain a site like YT? Like I said in an earlier blog entry, the day starts at 5:30 with content review. There are an amazing number of places on the site where visitor comments or messages can be entered. For example, in addition to the discussion forums there are photo comments, classified and photo ads, the guest book, tractor town mini-sites, etc. Content entered into these areas are reviewed for appropriateness.

Beyond virtual fist fights in the forums which I have already mentioned, the 13+ photo galleries can get some pretty dicey comments. For example, if a photo has a female in it, whether it's your mother, your daughter or your wife, inadvertently someone will make a sexual comment about it which doesn't pass the Yesterday's Tractors website morality meter test. We also occasionally get people who post pornographic pictures in the tractor galleries which causes instantaneous combustion of the site's morality meter. (Don't worry, I've got a whole box of them :)

Another thing that concerns me is when people post comments about a photo that is simply unkind. For example, someone posts a photo of a tractor they just spent 6 months restoring. Someone may enter a comment like "That's the worst %&*$?@ paint job I've ever seen." or "Why did you bother? Go get a real tractor!". Sorry, but I don't consider those comments considerate or constructive. I may be old fashioned but I took my Grandma's words to heart (God Rest Her Soul) when she said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all.". I just think there is a constructive way to get a point across and some comments are just plain unnecessary. Take your anger elsewhere, please.

I suppose it wouldn't be so much work maintaining the website content if I wasn't so picky about keeping the site neighborly and above board. But I DO care, and I wouldn't know how to begin to look the other way when these things happen. Here is a list of the monitoring activities that begin at 5:30. It can take up to 2 hours to complete, depending upon what I find:

Classifieds: Approve dealer or featured photo ads and publish, review existing photo ads and remove non-tractor items, approve regular classified ads that got caught in the filter and approve, review existing classified ads in five different ad areas (we get a lot of spam attempts here).

Forums: Review posts that have been flagged, scan through new posts (usually about 1200 per day in 28 different forums) for problems, spammers, scams or concerns, then do the same for the KountryLife.com forums, the Truck forum and the Today's Tractors forum. Answer questions in the Site Comments forum as needed.

Photo Galleries: Review photos for appropriateness. Besides what I already mentioned about pornographic pictures, sometimes there are just simple mistakes like putting a new tractor in the "Vintage Photos" gallery, or placing a photo of yourself plowing in the "Vintage Ads" gallery. Review photo comments.

Spam: Review the Safemail logs for spammers and scams like these. This has been a huge effort but a lot of people have been hurt by scams so I take trying to keep them away from the site very seriously. I'm happy to say we're seeing less and less of these at YT and I like to think they've given up due to our vigilant attempts to block them and our buyers / sellers ignorning them.

Miscellaneous: Review article comments, chat room problems, TractorShed.com photo comments, regular guestbook and Tractor Town guestbook comments.

Links: Review and approve new links submitted to TractorLinks.com

Visitor Supplied Content: Review stories entered into "Your Stories", Collector Profiles, plus KL's "How-To DB", the Humor DB, Memories DB and Recipe DB.

Well I'm sure I forgot a thing or two but that gives you a good idea of how the day starts at 5:30 am. When I'm done, I wake my son up for school and get his day started. Then onto the YT Warehouse as required to manage the retail side of things (that's another blog entry in itself). There is also time spent fixing broken programs, server performance, adding new features, etc, which will also be covered in another blog entry.

The site monitoring is repeated two more times during the day, usually in the afternoon and then again in the evening. Thank goodness for laptops and wireless networks!

Back to Work

I'm back from my vacation in Southern Utah and was very impressed with the natural beauty there. Time was spent at the Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Lots of hiking and a lots of ooh's and ahh's. These places are real gems so if you get a chance to visit, I highly recommend them!

In-between site seeing there was some play time, including both horseback riding and a jaunt through the Ponderosa Pines on an ATV (pic below).



This was my first time on an ATV, but I've spent some time on two-wheeled machines. People may be surprised to learn that I'm not only interested in Antique Tractors, I also like motorcycles! I got my first motorcycle at age 18 and back then it was the only thing with an engine I owned, taking me back and forth to work during good weather and bad. Currently I have a 250cc Rebel street bike, a 100cc dirt bike and an NS50 cafe racer. They're all small bikes but perfect for me at only 5'1. I like my feet to be able to reach the ground!

It's back to work now and I've been working on the Yesterday's Tractors website and fixing a problem with the search engine. Looks like it is working now but certain searches really slow down the rest of the site. I'm considering moving the search engine to it's own server. As of today, it has to search through 1,838,359 pages to find a match for what you enter. That takes a lot of CPU power!

The YT Story - Part One

How it All Began

I'd been living in town only a short time when we started talking about getting a place with acreage. I was born and raised on a farm and several years living in the city left me with a hole in my soul that kept getting bigger and bigger as time went by. Oh, living in town was exciting at first, the hustle and bustle was an endless source of things to do for this self proclaimed "do-a-holic". But after late night parties next door kept us up all night, and my favorite cat got squashed by a car after venturing only 20 feet from the front door, I began to crave the rural life once again.

Finding a place was difficult. Here in the most northern part of the Pacific Northwest acreage is covered with towering firs that don't let in much sun for gardening or crops. Land that has been cleared has to be re-cleared on a monthly basis or the alders, blackberries, nettles and ferns take over before the tractor engine even gets a chance to cool.

That's the kind of place we ended up with but it seemed like paradise to us. In short order we decided we needed a tractor to help shape the land to match our dreams and keep those alders at bay. Chris, having lived in the city his entire life, thought there couldn't be much to this tractor buying business and found himself at the local saw shop where Jim Storey sold everything from chain saws, weed wackers and lawn mowers to tractors big and small.

I remember well the day the tractor was delivered. Here it comes bouncing up the long dirt driveway behind a truck, a large mass of faded orange and rust chained to the trailer like a prisoner of war. Chris had a grin so wide I thought his face might split. This was a kid at Christmas, plain and simple, and the fact that his new toy had been around the block once or twice - okay - so many times the rubber was worn off the tires, was of little consequence. The ancient tractor was home to stay.

Little did I know that this moment would change not only our lives, but the lives of many others in a very big way. [to be continued]

There's No Vacation in Cyberspace

Sitting here in a remote cabin high in the hills above Utah's Zion National Park, I'm on my first vacation in two years. Vacations to me are highly over rated... I know they are suppose to be fun, but I miss my daily routine. I miss my son and the cats, I miss the familiar creaking of the floors in my tiny house as I walk to the kitchen to make my morning coffee. I guess I'm suppose to be relaxing up here in the thin air of the 6500 foot elevation. But what does that mean, relax? Am I suppose to forget about my responsibilities and not just care any more? I guess so, say the vacation experts. But I don't know how to do that and I'm convinced that if I were to get to that state the world would collapse and it would be my fault. I'm the kind of person who needs people and things to care for and the thought of leaving everything near and dear to me so I can "relax" just seems absurd. Vacationing is stressful!

Much to everyone' s dismay, I brought my laptop. Being a computer geek out of necessity, I have an iBook G4 Macintosh laptop computer that is maxed out with every possible option and shines like a freshly painted Farmall. (A Farmall "demonstrator model", of course, because it's white). It may shock people to know that I'm sitting here now with the laptop and it is 4:30 in the morning. And I'm on vacation. That's not a typo, it's 4:30 a.m.

I don't know how many people get up that early when they're on vacation (unless they're going fishing), but I get up at 4:30 a.m. every morning no matter where I am as I have for at least a dozen years. After padding to the kitchen to start my coffee, I settle in with my laptop and start checking the Yesterday's Tractors Website and it's sisters (KountryLife.com, YesterdaysTrucks.com, TodaysTractors.com, TractorLinks.com and Tractorshed.com). It takes about 2 hours and I use a monitoring program that I wrote last year. In one of my next blog entries I'll journal what gets monitored and what doesn't and why it takes so long. There are several more monitoring sessions throughout the day and on into the evening with a constant peek at my email to look for your "reports to moderator". These let me know that a brawl has broken out in the forums or someone has posted a distasteful photo in the tractor galleries so don't be afraid to use them. They are completely anonymous and I keep the information between you and me.

Well I've got to get to work... oops, I mean I've got to get on with my vacation. I hope I survive!

In closing, I want to say that I'm overwhelmed by your letters of support and encouragement and wish to send out a big thank you. You're a big part of helping me stay the course.

Woman in a Man's World?

I'm off to Utah this morning but I wanted to share an email I received from a gentleman who is a long time visitor to the Yesterday's Tractors website. Apparently he'd like me to stay away from the discussion forums. He says:

"I've said before and I say again, a woman should not be moderating a website primarily intended for men. They just don't get it."

Apparently he's upset that I don't let men swear, post nude pictures of women and have pornographic conversations in the antique tractor forums. An earlier comment I recevied, after I deleted something akin to the aforementioned subjects, was that "men will be men and this is what men do" and I should go away because I "don't belong".

I just wanted to say publicly, sorry, that isn't going to happen. You're stuck with me! As a reminder, my long standing policy is that ladies and gentlemen both are welcome in the discussion forums and should wipe their feet and remove their hats prior to entering. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Guarding the Antique Tractor Site

Every day for several months now the YT website has been under "attack" by an overseas company attempting to post hundreds of advertisments for "Nokia" phones and other mobile phones. They post ads in the KountryLife.com site, the Truck site, TodaysTractors.com, the YT site, and everywhere else possible. They've even put ads in the Tractor Town guestbook!! I've written filters to keep them out but they keep finding ways to exploit the software we have. So each morning I go through all of the ads and delete the ones that have managed to get through. I'm thinking that maybe someone from the YT online community bought one of these mobile phones and now this company in China thinks we all want one!

There are two additional exploitation attempts that are currently attacking our site, and it's been going on for at least two months. One is a "Texas Hold-em Poker" exploit where a gambling company has attempted to post thousands, yes thousands, of messages per day to the forums. They have a program or software that goes through our entire archives and attempts to reply to each post with a "go to this online poker site and gamble" garbage. The other exploit is doing basically the same thing but the theme is "Home Loans". Maybe it's the same company? Hmmmm, I get it, they want us to take out a home loan, then spend it gambling online!

It may be obvious that I'm fairly angry about these exploitations. They're all over the internet so I don't take it personally but I have to stand ever vigilant at the doors of this great community and fight them off. Once and awhile something gets through to the forums or ad areas but as soon as I'm alerted I chase them out with my broom. Or the skillet, whichever is handy.

Antique Tractor Virtual Communities

Folks interested in antique tractors are some of the nicest people I know. Honest, trustworty and always willing to lend a hand. In the past 12 years of selling parts and tractor related merchandise I've only received 5 bounced checks and had one stolen credit card. In twelve years! And out of those 5 bounced checks, all were recovered except for one. Unfortunately it was a $600.00 rebuild kit, but as I look back I like to think it was my contribution to his Save the Tractor fund.

On-line communities are somewhat of a reflection of our off-line society. I say somewhat, because it seems people will say things to each other on the internet that they would never say face to face. Maybe it's the lack of eye contact, or we feel that our computer monitor is akin to a Darth Vader mask and some other persona temporarily takes us over.

But for the most part, on our own on-line Antique Tractor community at the YT Discussion Forums people are pretty darn helpful and kind to each other. For example, out of 1200 new messages posted each day, there might be 20 that have resorted to virtual fist fighting or name calling. If you think about it, that's less than 2% of the discussions. Looked at it that way it conjures up thoughts of the town of Mayberry.

Unfortunately that 2% or so of unkindly discussion ends up primariliy in one of the forums, Tractor Talk. The complaints I hear from others is endless. Most of the discussions in question start out as a political comment, or sometimes just the price of gas. People on each side of the political fence join in and you can almost sit there and count down the seconds to a complete conversational meltdown. I've asked that these conversations not be started at YT, for that very reason - the forum is like a little neighborhood cafe and right in the midst of it are people standing up and screaming. It makes everyone in the middle of their virtual sandwich want to walk out and not come back for a few days. So I delete those discussions, after all, it was made clear that these were unwanted and we have zero tolerance for disharmonious communications. Arguing is fine, but don't start bashing each other.

After deleting these types of discussions I see an onslaught of hate mail towards the site moderator (*me*), everything from threatening to sue me for violating their Freedom of Speech, to calling me a dictator and everything in between. And I get an equal onslaught of email thanking me over and over again for keeping the boards harmonious. I live my life in between a rock and a hard spot, if you will. I'm the kind of person who likes to make sure everyone is happy and having a good experience on the site. But it seems impossible to do that with so many people and it's disheartening. Of course I keep on trying.

To that end, last evening I stayed up late into the wee hours and created a new "OH Tee" forum. That's OT, or "Off Topic" for those lost in internet lingo. It's a place for Politics, Tractor Wars and other Controversial Conversations. I'm hoping that by making a place for people to talk and argue a bit about current events and such, that it will keep them out of the regular tractor forums where friendly folks, women, kids, grandma's and grandpa's just want to talk tractors and not politics. I hope it works out and keeps that 2% happy without disturbing the other 98% of the community.

The forum is unmoderated, and there is a disclaimer enouraging people to keep kids away and a good warning of what it's all about. I won't allow pornographic related conversation or anything close, and there is a "Report to Moderator" link on each post for people to alert me. If you're brave enough to take a peek at the new forum, here is the link. You've been forwarned! If you want to talk tractors just go to the regular forums.

Welcome to the Antique Tractor Blog

Welcome to the new antique tractor blog. I've resisted this for a long time as I'm very content with the same old software that has served us well for 12 years. But the computer world and technology is advancing around us and if we are to keep interest in the old tractors alive, especially for the younger generation, then I think we need to reach out into the deep dark void of new technology.

So here we are. What is a "blog", many of you are thinking. The way it works is the blogger (me) posts a message about a particular topic and then the bloggees (you) post comments. Very similar to a discussion forum but, well, a different format and it is more topic oriented. This is my first blog so I'm afraid I don't have a lot of valuable insight to pass on regarding what it is and how to use it.

Feel free to post a topic suggestion in your comments. I'll be reviewing them each day. Okay, here is my first topic. Just some conversation and insight into my world.

It's mid-morning but darkened outside by the heavy cloud cover. It's raining, sprinking, raining, sprinkling. My broken down 1959 Allis Chalmers D14 sits alone and waiting in the darkness of the shop. It's been 5 years now since it served any useful purpose. I think it's kind of like that saying, "the housekeepers house is always messy", because they are so busy cleaning everyone elses house that when they get home they are too tired to clean their own. Maybe that is what happpend to Miss Allis D. One day she broke down and all good intentions of getting her going again fell by the wayside as time was spent helping thousands of other people get their tractors running and working on the website.

I always feel guilty when people ask what kind of tractor I drive. In my dreans I drive a perfectly restored Minneapolis Moline 335. She sparkles, she shines, and she's all mine. But in reality I have a broken down tractor that has so much dust on it I can't even sit on her. The D-14 overheated while working at the top of the property. It ended up opening a passage between the water jacket and the oil sump and pumped all the antifreeze into the crankcase. It was very disheartening. At least she's under cover and not degrading further while waiting for someone to come fix her.

I have a pretty good excuse now, one that may allow me to rise above the 24 hour a day maintenance requirements of such a large website and community. I've got 40 acres of raw land with a 5 acre clearing that is trying to become jungle. I'd like to turn it into a farmette with pasture. Quite a tall order, but the Miss Allis D could be readied for the job. I've got all the snap coupler implements, plus a three point and she's got enough power to pull the bush hog.

I love bush hogs. They are so destructive in a useful sort of way. I could spend hours in a 10 x 10 foot area trying to hand pull and chop vines, weeds and small saplings. But it takes the bush hog about 20 seconds!

Anyway, I need to get the '59 Allis D-14 running again. Advice and enouragement (most enouragement!) is most welcome!