If only it was true....

[MarkH]

Both KF Facebook groups state they're public. Once my wife logged onto her Facebook page she could access both groups, and is a member of neither, or the club.

You are correct - the "Kaiser/Frazer Automobile Page" and "Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Mfg Fund" page are public pages. Anyone may join/post.

"KFOCI Official - Kaiser Frazer Owners Club International" is restricted to club members only.

 I'm a member of two but wasn't aware of the third KF Facebook group. I searched your exact title, found it, and it is indeed a private group.
Why, I don't know, it has 88 members where the other 2 open groups have 714 and 1,279.
Obviously my suggestion to merge/join/co-opt with existing groups a few months ago didn't make the cut.......so......now the new club page needs to overcome the public momentum the other two already enjoy.

[Gordie]

While recently talking with our Secretary she mentioned that the club was going to do everything possible to save the information in our Forum.  After culling out the hundreds of superflous blogs the actual saved material would be a great idea for our Quarterly by putting all of that good material in booklet form and it would be saved like all of the Quarterlies are.  I hope it can happen.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Gordie, what you suggest has a number of questions associated with it?

1.  Who will be the great decider who determines what should remain?  Along with this, who's going to take the time to go through everything and take out the unimportant material? 
2.  Many of the good answers are along the lines of "I'll send you one".  If the item is not currently available (not on repro parts list, not on NAPA list, etc) the information is useless in my opinion just like the old stuff in prior club publications that haven't been produced for many years if not several decades.  I hear from people on this sort of thing telling me they can't get it locally to them.
3.  Remember back in 2007 we had to dump EVERYTHING when we had to re-loacate the Forum due to hacking issue.  Nobody on the Forum was concerned about it then.  What's differeent?
4.  I've noticed more and more of the people looking for parts/fixes do NOT feel they have to have the Factory Shop Manual or the servicing information covering their car and/or the parts lists.   My 45+ years with the club indicate to me that these are MUST HAVE documents if you're going to work on one of these cars.  The MoToR and Chilton books don't have the room to go into the detail and diagnostics that the factory books do.  Remember, you can't plug in a diagnostic computer into an Allstate or a Frazer.

[Fid]

Remember back in 2007 we had to dump EVERYTHING when we had to re-loacate the Forum due to hacking issue.  Nobody on the Forum was concerned about it then.  What's different?

Thirteen years of good information is one thing.

I've noticed more and more of the people looking for parts/fixes do NOT feel they have to have the Factory Shop Manual or the servicing information covering their car and/or the parts lists.

While these are great resources, and I do consider them 'Must haves', they cannot make up for the 50 years of experience I (and many others) have had working on these cars.  Shop manuals cannot tell you the typical things that go wrong 15 years after the car has been out of production.  They can't tell you which parts will sub for which parts etc.
There is simply no substitute for experience. I search these forums often and now that I'm in the process of restoring another car, it has been invaluable.  There is no shop manual specific to an Allstate.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Fid is true about no Allstate shop manual; Sears felt it was an unnessary expense.   Their participating Auto Centers got Kaiser-Frazer service information on the Henry J coupled with Allstate Service Bulletins that K-F issued; the great majority of them were the same information as K-F issued for the HJ but went out on different letterheads.  If you have the 1951-1952-1953 Henry J Shop Manual, the K-F Service Bulletin with the list of Allstate-specific part numbers and the Allstate Service Bulletins (which will be in Version 6.1 of KFOCI HANDBOOK, the first update after the new club website comes on line for general use) you should have what you need (oh yes, you also need the illustrated 1951 HJ Parts list as well as the March 1953 supplement to that list covering all 1952 and 1953 model year Henry J automobiles).

[Fid]

True the HJ shop manual covers most, if not all of the Allstate maintenance/service info. I do have the Allstate parts list of what you mentioned too.
What I have found in working on this car are the quirky little things - should it have pearlite or rubber escutcheons on the door handles?  Should it be Autolite or Delco Remy electrics? It would appear Autolite on this early '52, sans voltage reg, coil, battery and plugs which should be Allstate branded.
There are a number of other little things but I've found a lot of answers here and as an IT employee I am willing to donate my time to assist in moving the data if a decision is made to do so.  But as you pointed out, who has the final word on that decision?  Regardless, I offer my help.

[konrad]

...and as an IT employee I am willing to donate my time to assist in moving the data if a decision is made to do so.  But as you pointed out, who has the final word on that decision?  Regardless, I offer my help.

I'd be more than happy to collaborate with you on that Fid, and I can write SQL like a badass mofo. 

[Gordie]

It should not be difficult to cull out the blogs that have no value regarding information relating to the cars.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

None of these things are blogs; they are threads and each item has to be read and "Great Decider" whoever that person is (and has responsibility for result) has to decide if the item is worthwhile or not.

There is a better way to do this that does not require the Forum at all.

More on this after I discuss the idea I have with others.

[larryk]

None of these things are blogs; they are threads and each item has to be read and "Great Decider" whoever that person is (and has responsibility for result) has to decide if the item is worthwhile or not.

Just pick a date, freeze the current Forum, and make it available as a searchable, read-only database.
No "Great Decider" necessary.

[Roadmaster49]

Well I guess this is goodbye.   There will be quite a few of us that do not transition to the new forum / website format.  I no longer own any old cars and I am resisting the urge to buy another one.  I enjoy coming on here.  I enjoy finding interesting old KF cars in the marketplace.  I know Mike does not care for me, but I think he is a good guy and I have always welcomed his criticism.

So let me say goodbye to all of my forum friends.  I have learned a lot and enjoyed the past 10 + years. 

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

It was stated earlier in this thread that the plan is to keep the forum as READ-ONLY after the new platform goes into service.