PRESS RELEASE: July 19, 2007


Dear Members,

We are pleased to announce that LS1Tech.com, PerformanceTrucks.net, ModMotorTech.com, and ModernHemi.com have been acquired by Internet Brands, Inc., a leading provider of automotive, travel and home-related sites and communities. We have been under the new ownership since March of this year, it was just not the right time to announce it until now. We will become part of a much larger and still growing family of websites, which now include CarsDirect.com, CorvetteForum.com, Ford-Trucks.com, Audiworld.com, and MustangForum.com.

As part of a larger organization, with more than 500 employees and a solid technical infrastructure, we have access to the additional resources, support and business expertise which ensure that we will continue to grow and flourish. The websites will continue to be actively developed and fully supported, and as time goes on you will begin to see noticeable changes and improvements that are made possible by being part of a larger organization.

Internet Brands' intention is to focus on improving what we are doing at the moment, and that means significant investment in new hardware and software development, customer service and sales and marketing processes. Internet Brands also recently acquired Jelsoft, the developers of the VBulletin software that the majority of popular message boards currently use. This is further proof that Internet Brands is committed to developing and improving the software that we have all been enjoying for years.

The day-to-day management of our websites will continue largely unchanged. The current Administrators and Moderator staff will continue as before, and work alongside the executive team at Internet Brands. Together, we will have a much larger team, as well as financial resources to handle any technical or marketing challenges.

We are really excited about this news, and feel strongly that it was a great decision for the websites and our members. Our websites have achieved significant success since 2001, becoming the most active GM performance community on the internet. Before we officially move into this new era, we would like to offer our sincere thanks to all members and vendors who have supported the sites - It is your continuous support and loyalty that has enabled us to become a market leader. Rest assured that, with the help and resources of Internet Brands, we will continue to work hard to make these communities the best that they can be.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email them to us. There is an FAQ about the acquisition below, and we’ll be discussing the topic on the message boards. Also, beyond any questions you might have, we would enjoy hearing any ideas you might have for how to better serve the communities going forward.

Thank you,

The Site Administrators & Staff

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Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Why did Internet Brands buy the websites?
A: Internet Brands’ mission is to empower consumers to make better decisions about buying and maintaining their most important purchases, such as cars and homes. The website users in this community offer outstanding advice and support for GM owners and shoppers, newcomers and veterans alike, which should be a very good fit with the rest of the Internet Brands Automotive sites.

Q: Will the websites become part of another Internet Brand site?
A: Internet Brands plans to keep each site a separate, thriving community and to continue expanding its content, resources and traffic.

Q: Are site owner(s) and moderators going to continue at sites?
A: Yes. Everyone will continue their current level of involvement on the site and in the community.

Q: What changes can we expect to see on sites?
A: It's hard to predict far into the future, but for the time being, each site will remain essentially unchanged. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The main near-term addition you’ll probably notice is that Internet Brands will figure out with the site owners, the most logical places to put links to relevant content on other IB Automotive sites. We will also be migrating soon to a brand new set of high-end servers, as well as updated VBulletin software. Beyond that, Internet Brands plans to brainstorm with the administrators and moderators of each site about improvements that would make the site more useful.

Q: How will the acquisition help the sites?
A: The main benefit will be having more infrastructure and technology resources behind the site. Better servers and hardware will mean better performance for the site and admin tools. And more technology resources will mean faster bug fixes, quicker turnaround on site changes and more frequent updates in site software, like vBulletin or photo-posting applications.

Q: Will my log-in username or password change?
A: No, you will still access the websites as you always have.

 

Congratulations to both parties.
Please don't overload the "Tech Sections" with irrelevant ad links and Flash. These are boards for auto enthusiasts, foremost. If it becomes overly commercialized, it's members will find another board.
.02

 

Big company feeling here will not be welcome by enthusiasts.

Congratulations none the less, the admin of this site have earned a high level of respect among the internet community.

 

I dont think it'd be in the best interest of any management to cause a drop in circulation....no worries

 

Trust me when I say that IB knows this and does not want to disrupt the normal flow of the site or for it to lose it's identity.

They actually are going to be helping make the site better for everyone.

We will be getting set on MUCH faster servers in the near future. Along with this migration to new hardware will be an upgrade to the latest version of VBulletin which will include some nice new features for the users of the site(including a working search on Tech ).

 

Sooooo will we get to push the "search" button as many times as we want with these new servers?

 

Once the new software is all in place....YES!!! The search button may even push back.

 

 

houston we have a problem here...

i dunno what im gonna do not having to wait 30 seconds between searches

 

SO.... no more of this?

"INTERNET EXPLORER CANNOT DISPLAY THIS PAGE"
or
"SERVER TIMED OUT"

And your whole post gets deleted