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Early Christmas Gift for SU Commenters

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It’s the holiday season, and we’re all a little busy. I have about 60 emails left to get through for work, I have two unfinished in depth articles I need to polish up for SU, and I have a lot of traveling in my 9-3 to do before Christmas next week. Yet I figured out how to do something that has been requested on this site for a long, long time.

I just installed editable comments on the site. Starting about 5 minutes ago, if you have an AJAX capable browser, you now have up to 5 minutes to edit your comment, or request deletion. We may in the future change this, possibly install Disqus (probably not because we’re exploring our options using our current format to expand SU as a true Saab hub). Anyhow, consider this an early present for anyone who has been itching for a way to edit your comments.

Happy Holidays, and I’ll be in touch.

It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn

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Just when we thought the situation couldn’t get any more complicated, one of Saab’s greatest allies who enabled the sale to Spyker in the first place was arrested and charged with siphoning assets. While he’s of course innocent until proven guilty, his bank will now be liquidated and it’s safe to say his life as a high flying financier is about to change dramatically. The timing, to put it mildly, couldn’t be worse.

So how does this affect the sale of Saab? Fortunately, Latvia’s Financial Services Authority FCMC isn’t going to pursue the money loaned from Antonov to Victor Muller’s company Tenaci over a year ago.  In an email to TT reported by di.se, they wrote that it’s not part of their mission to recover funds in a case like this. Whether that means Tenaci is now free of debt to Antonov is dubious, merely that Antonov if found guilty would be on the hook for the money that is missing.

Amazingly, most of the parties don’t seem to be deterred by the news, aside from making sure that the sale isn’t encumbered by any legal challenges by the developing Latvian situation. We’ve heard that even GM isn’t terribly concerned about it, much more about conditions necessary for a transfer of ownership (and who they’re willing to allow to own it). Though negotiations continue in all directions, there are signs coming to us that progress is being made on multiple fronts. All parties understand the urgency given that salaries are past due, and they’re simultaneously trying to protect their own bottom lines while preserving the deal. It’s as if they’re juggling while walking a tight rope. The news that the FCMC isn’t pursuing Tenaci’s debt should help ease at least one possible path to Saab’s rescue, which at this point appears to be the path of least resistance. Whether or not all sides choose that path is anyone’s guess though (edit: sources in the know say the structure of a deal that GM will approve is near).

Read moreIt’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Sunday Morning Quick Snippets

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Gotta be quick. Plane leaves very soon.

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I want this!!!!

Thanks to Sytze for the tip!

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One of the comments I just approved…. from ‘Djup Strupe’ (the name used by the commenter, not a DS I can validate) and written in regard to the tail lamp tinting for the Saab 9-3 Aero Griffin:

It is just wrong image rendering. It is the same rear lamps on all 9-3 SportCombi.

Interesting. It seems there could be an error then, on the Saab Sweden website. Either that or an error in DS’s comment. I’ll let Saab sort that out.

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Another comment I just approved, from ‘Kris’

ps. I want to see some test between Subarus AWD and Saabs XWD. Is that XWD a real four wheel drive?

The test would be welcome, but no magazine seems to have seen it to be appropriate. But in answer to your question in the second part – Yes it is, and it’s far more sophisticated than most. Do your own research, though. You can search for “Saab XWD” and come up with all sorts of stuff.

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The brief descriptor for the Saab Design Concept to be shown in Geneva:

World Premiere: Concept for Future Saab Design
Taking center stage is an exciting concept car showcasing design features and technologies to be seen in the next generation of products from Saab.

Conceived by a team under new Saab Design Director Jason Castriota, the concept´s sleek visual execution introduces styling themes drawn from Saab´s unique Scandinavian and aircraft-inspired design heritage. Cutting-edge technologies include all wheel drive with an electrically powered rear axle and a ground-breaking car communications platform using the AndroidTM operating system.

Get it into your heads – this is not the next Saab 9-3 you’re about to see. It’s not the re-birth of the Saab 99T or the Saab 900 you’re about to see.

This is Saab’s Aero-X statement for the future.

Thanks Ryan F….

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It perplexes me a little that Saab (Sweden) get blamed by some people because their local dealer wasn’t up partying for Independence Day.

Saab (Sweden) put on a massive party and made plenty of noise about Independence Day. Whether or not something happened in your country is primarily up to the group that controls Saab in your country. And even then it’s up to your dealer to be switched on enough to make Independence Day a presence at their particular venue.

Moral of the story – don’t fire a rocket at Saab if your local isn’t partying and offering you a smorgasboard. Fire it at the local, or national group. A solution might even come down to you (or your car club) taking the initiative and getting some local action happening.

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Places where Independence Day was being noted with either a function, or some great deals……

New Salem Saab battled 8 inches of new snow (man, they are doing it tough this winter) to hold their Independence Day event yesterday. I don’t have much of an idea as to attendance, etc, but the food sure looked good 🙂

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Stratstone Saab in Birmingham had offers going as per the Saab GB directive. Our mate Elli went along for a look…..

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Some brochure info for the Saab 9-3 Independence Edition Convertible. This is Saab GB markets only (as far as I know).

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OK.

My next writing will be either from an airport somewhere, or from Geneva. I’m off!

SW

Housekeeping: Comments (again)

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I got an email from a Saabs United reader earlier today, which included the following:

I don’t read all the comments nowadays as there is so much negative talking in there.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen this. It’s not even the first time I’ve seen this in the last three days.

People seem to think that just because they can comment here freely, that they should. Comments become a place for throwaway lines, online comedy auditions, needless over-reactive negativity and/or the idea that “Saab will die if they don’t [do what the commenter thinks is important]”.

There have been a few other transgressions recently that have necessitated action. A number of racial comments have seen one regular relegated to a moderation queue. And a visit from someone whose sole purpose was to declare that Saab Is Dead has seen the same action.

This is an enthusiast’s website. I don’t mind discussion or polite, considered argument. I don’t mind disagreement. But the purpose of this site is to support Saab and document current events happening with the company and the ownership community. It’s not to prognosticate or prophesy on what could be the direst possible consequence of any given action.

I want this site to reflect positively towards the Saab brand. I want people who come here to see the picture that I see – an innovative company in a tough position, but working as best they can to proceed, and making progress towards that goal. I want it to be a positive experience for people who land here.

Some guidelines to commenting here:

  • Read the comments policy.
  • Read the comments policy again.
  • Consider whether what you’ve got to say actually adds to the discussion.
  • Be prepared to accept the viewpoints of others. They might well know a lot more than you do about a given situation.
  • Don’t look at a story in isolation (e.g. the recent, small recall on fuel pumps). Consider the big picture.
  • Recognise your own limitations. If you don’t know the circumstances surrounding a decision (i.e. the big picture), admit it. If you don’t understand the consequences of, or obstacles to your proposed idea, either hold it, or if you proceed to share your wisdom, admit it.

Saabs United is not all about you. It’s not all about me, either. It’s all about Saab. Please consider the ramifications of what you want to say before you say it because it might well have a negative impact on the experience of others here.

Another mini-milestone for Saabs United

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From my WordPress dashboard today…..

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“100%Saab” was the one who brought us to this magical all-9’s comment milestone (thanks!), which in some Saaby way feels every bit as important than the one that came after it…..

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Thanks to “74Stingray” for providing the first 6-figure comment here at SU.

It’s nice to see two regulars here fill in some important milestones. I feel like I should get a set of steak knives for both of you 🙂

Thanks all for your ongoing contributions to the life of Saabs United.

Housekeeping – how to post a link in comments

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A few weeks ago, I added some functionality to comments whereby people could make comments bold, with italics and even add a link to their comments if needed.

I’ve noticed, however, that people are having problems with the linking function from time to time, so I thought a quick how-to might be useful.

Many of you would be familiar with making things bold or italic through your use of word processors – you select the text you want to highlight and then press the bold or italic button to apply the formatting to the text you’ve selected.

Linking follows a very similar routine.

Step 1 – Write your text

In this instance, I’ve written “This is the Saabs United linking demo” into the comments field.

Step 2 – Select the text you’d like to apply the link to

This is the step that people are missing out on. For this example, I want to make “Saabs United” the piece of text that’s used to link to somewhere. In this example I’ll link it to the site’s homepage.

So what I have to do now is use my mouse to select “Saabs United”, which is where the link will attach to.

Step 3 – Enter the URL you want to link to

Once the text has been selected, you press the “link” button on the comment form and it’ll bring up a dialogue box. In that dialogue box, you enter the URL you’d like to link to. Remember that it has to start with http:// or it won’t work (tip – copy and paste the URL from the address bar on your browser).

Once you’ve entered the URL, press OK on the dialogue box.

The monkeys behind the scenes will apply the appropriate code your comment so that it shows up as a link.

Here’s my comment with the code applied.

Step 4 – Finish your comment and admire your new found geekiness

Once you’ve finished your comment, done your linking and applied any other formatting (quotes, italics, bold), you can click “submit” and your comment will appear on site – properly formatted and with the link appearing according to the text you selected.

You’ll look like a pro and the comments section won’t have any hellishly long links appearing in their raw form – they look hideous.

Beware

OK, so now you know how to link. My advice is to use it sparingly, however.

If you enter too many links into one comment (like, more than one) there’s a very high chance that the system will think you’re trying to spam the comments section. If that happens, your comment may go into a queue for moderation, or even worse, into the spam filter itself.

I clean out the spam filter everyday so there’s a good chance I’ll catch it, but some days there are too many there to observe every one of them.

Bottom line – use linking appropriately and everything should work Ok.

Comments policy in action

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Last night’s entries, quite naturally, attracted a lot of traffic in comments. When that happens, there’s a chance that people can forget this site’s comments policy. Such a thing happened whilst I was asleep, and the comments from that conversation have been removed.
I’d like to remind people that descriptions of individuals that seriously call into question a particular individual’s character are not welcome and will be removed. We can all reconise and accept a joke, but this was not the case in this instance. The descriptor used for a respected member of Saab’s workforce was a descriptor that should never be used in a glib for less than serious manner.
For the record, the individual who began that particular discussion is someone I’ve had contact with in the past and is some who I respect and is welcome here. I believe he showed poor judgement in his choice of words on this occasion and copped his right whack from others.
The conversation is now removed and considered to be over.
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Another comment series that I had to deal with involved a torrent of negtive comments from one individual.
Again, as per the comments policy, expressing a negative opinion about something is fine. I only stepped in after four or five negative comments about the same issue were made by this person.
You don’t like something? Fine. Make your point and leave it at that.
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Comments are closed on this entry.
My thanks to everyone for what was largely a good discussion of a good time in Saab’s history.

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