Clarks-Garage (The Web Site) Porsche 944 - Follow Up To Clark Fletcher's Passing & The Site

I think I posted here a while back that Clark Fletcher, the owner and site master, at Clarks Garage passed away.  I have been an admin for the web forum for more than a decade (not sure how many people knew that) Clark had to step away from Porsche things due to other things going on in his life quite some years ago.  I along with another board member continued to admin the forum. However we did not have admin privileges to the actual site/domain so what we could do was limited.  

I know his site had become "the answer" when it comes to 944 problems. It has been a huge resource to me personally.  I even collaborated with Clark on some of the "shop manual" pages back in the mid 2000's.  I have sent people there thousands of times when they have questions or problems with the 944. His website has become a mainstay in all things 944. 

After letting things settle with the family I approached them about the possibility of me taking over the site and keeping it alive for the future as a sort of memorial to Clark.  This is when I found out that his family really had no clue about the site and its impact on the 944 community.  After I explained things and giving them my background with the site and my internet friendship with Clark and the history I knew about the site and how well known it was in the Porsche community they were thrilled with my idea of keeping it up and running as a memorial to Clark.  So after some sorting out of some things I am now the owner of the clarks-garage domain and have full and unrestricted access to the site. 

My intent is two fold.  First is to go through it and update or delete many of the links that are dead or out dated. Clark had not been keeping the site up to date for at least the last 5 years due to him stepping away from the 944 world.   

The second thing I had to do was fix the web forum.  It had been down for quite some time.  I had done this and ti is now back up.   

Now comes looking forward with this. I would like to update the resources part of the site. Make it more useful to the 944 owner in 2018 and beyond.  Venders of parts and other 944 related stuff. Other help full sites etc.   The problem is how to do this.  I don't want to add just anyone because they give me a name but on the other hand it has come to my attention that there are allot of places out there that are great resources that are not linked to from the site that I think should be (GRM being one of them). I also don't know the legality of this. 

Additionally I am not opposed to adding content that I have not thought of. If anyone had any ideas I will listen.  

Now for the web forum.  It has been down for a while.  That is now fixed.  The issue I have had with it is that Clark had closed the forums so only those there were "members" of the forum could see the forums.  This is a problem because if you can not see the content of a forum why would you want to join it?  There is also a lot of very good information in the forums that I think should be made public.  The other part of this was the registration was a manual process that required the domain admin to do it.  With Clarks stepping away from the site I think that many requests were never followed up on. All of this lead to the forum slowly becoming very quiet and shortly before Clarks death stopping working. 

At the time I was only an admin for the forum not the site. I had nothing to do with the membership to the forum.  However now that has changed and I will be looking in to the process that was used to add members.  Since the automated process was disabled I assume that Clark was doing it manually by editing the actual data file for the forum.  I have not looked in to this yet.  BUT what I have done is make some of the forums visible to the public. The hopes that it may make people more interested in the site and in the future maybe a few new people.  But the real reason is also so that others can access the information that is in there and there is a ton.  

Anyway this is really just an informational post from me.  I know that there are some 944 owners here.  The bottom line is even though Clark has passed his site will live on.

When I bought my first 944 turbo,  almost 20 years ago,  that site was a life saver.  Thanks for keeping it going.

Good to hear that it will carry on. Clarks-garage has been an invaluable resource for me over the past year as I restored my 924S. It is literally the first bookmark in my "Porsche Bookmarks" folder, because it has the most common-sense and straightforward how-to's out there, hands down. I think I requested an add to the forum a year or more ago, but of course didn't ever get it. But now I will make sure to go in there again and try to contribute some content as well.

Minor thought: Since domains and servers and stuff cost money, but nobody likes a "pay to play" site/forum, maybe do some kind of fundraisers to help keep it going. I always think the best thing is STICKERS. Make some Clarks Garage die-cut vinyl decals, and send them to people who donate to the site. The stickers can both memorialize and carry on Clark's work at the same time. Could problaby even just set up some kind of auto-mechanism to do it off cafe press or something.

Anyhow, happy to hear it's still up and that it's in good hands!

In reply to irish44j :

Hold off on requesting a user name and password.  I still need to figure out how that was done. 

Infact I need to figure out how to edit the header in the forum software to re direct user requests to my email.  The list gets bigger  LOL

lol, will wait til you're ready :)

Wow.  I do not own a 944 but I've visited that site a lot of times.  Thanks for keeping things going.

One thing that is disturbing about the Internet is how ephemeral things can be.  Last year, a few of my favorite sites just disappeared.  Gone.

Dean, first I want to say THANK YOU!  And if there's anything I can do to help, shoot me a note.  I was literally just on Clark's a couple of hours ago as I was pulling the crossmember on my car:

In reply to dean1484 :

Awesome Dean!

Knurled. said:

Wow.  I do not own a 944 but I've visited that site a lot of times.  Thanks for keeping things going.

 

One thing that is disturbing about the Internet is how ephemeral things can be.  Last year, a few of my favorite sites just disappeared.  Gone.

just like everyone's photobucket photos in their build threads :(

Dean;

Thanks! Never knew you worked on it behind the scenes. Great site. Has helped me more times than I can count

BBC

What forum software does it use?  I stepped back from running a forum a few years back but if I can help let me know. 

I raise my glass to you tonight. There is a word for historians of the internet. I don't know the word, but it's a recent science. you sir, are a pioneer.

Regarding money and the cost of keeping a site up. Don't take this like I am rolling in it but it really is not a problem for me. I appreciate the thought. Maybe instead put something together like the stickers but have the funds go to his wife? It would not really raise all that much but it would show the family that Clarks little corner of the internet really did touch a ton of people.

Another thing to put on my list to look in to.

I am glad to hear that you were able to get ahold of his family and let them know the impact he has made to so many in the Porsche community. You have just taken on a big responsibility. Be sure to get help when you need it and put a plan in place to have others help you run it.

Great job! Let us know if you need help.

Thanks for this.  I used that site when I had 944's back in 2006-2009.  I would gladly donate to a family fund.

Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for saving the site! I've been learning a lot from Clark's as I go through my LS swap project. It's a wonderful resource that has done a lot to ensure that my 944 will make it back on the road and function properly. Not sure if there's much of a way I can help as I'm not all that fluent in running websites, but I would be glad to help with proofreading/writing/pre-85.5 information if there's any need for that.

Clark's Garage Shop Manual has helped me understand the factory manual so many times that eventually I went to it first instead of the factory manual.  If he wasn't a technical writer he should have been.  The instructions were very clear and step-by-step instruction made every job easy.  HIs voluntary dedication to an unknown group of 924/944/968 owners was incredible and his family deserves to know how he helped these enthusiasts.  I suggest a page on Clark's Garage dedicated to his memory and effort with comments from users that will undoubtedly be long and appreciative.  Sorry to add to your list.

Thanks Dean for taking on the task and letting the community know the background.  Please let us know how to contribute or help.

I don't own a 944 and have never heard of this site but thanks so much for taking it on. I love these model specific sites and I know they can be so useful to so many people. Thanks again for taking it over so that it may live on for others to use.

dean1484 said:

Regarding money and the cost of keeping a site up. Don't take this like I am rolling in it but it really is not a problem for me. I appreciate the thought. Maybe instead put something together like the stickers but have the funds go to his wife? It would not really raise all that much but it would show the family that Clarks little corner of the internet really did touch a ton of people.

Another thing to put on my list to look in to.

I think stickers are a great idea.  I'd be proud to put one on my car.

Heck i sold my 944 15 years ago i'd still by one

My biggest priority was getting the site back up. This weekend is out but in the next following weeks I hope to start sorting through the pages. The biggest thing now is figuring out the forum software. It is old and dated. 

Keep us posted on your progress. I am down for a sticker or two as well.

Since the forum isn't up yet I didn't post it there, but when I was posting this little Porsche 924/944 hint, I was thinking about Clark's forum...I'll repost it there when the forum is up :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/989616-here-solution-oem-924-944-heated-washer-sprayers.html

In reply to dean1484 :

I run linux servers at home and work, would be glad to help out with web/email/admin stuff if I could be of help (I was the first admin of the Datsun 510 "bluebirds" email list in the early '90s, so have had some experience).

If you end up as a moderator for the forums, remember it is OK to be a benevolent dictator ;-)