Serial Number Registry FAQ What is the Serial Number Registry? The serial number registry is a database that provides interesting statistics about what tractors still exist, how much they have been bought and sold for at various time periods, and even some very personal interest items like "who has the tractor that was built right next to mine?". If someone lists a similar configuration, it provides the opportunity to ask a question of an individual who has firsthand knowledge of the machine or option. Who owns this Serial Registry Database? While the service is provided by Yesterday's Tractors, the answer from an information standpoint is Nobody (or everybody). Each entry is owned by the person that put it in and password protected for maintenance by them alone. Yesterday's Tractors has copyrighted the collection only to keep data from being pulled out and used as part of a profit making venture. If the collection of information becomes a valuable research resource for other publications or clubs, this is probably a positive thing and promotes the hobby. Yesterday's Tractors will not provide extracts of this database other than what is seen in the menus and never for fee. What does "owner of the entry" mean? Whoever enters a record into the Serial Number Registry becomes the owner of that record whether they own the tractor it refers to or not. If there are conflicts between the owner of the entry and the owner of the tractor, they will have to be resolved through documentation and communication between the parties. We are not interested in this issue except as follows. Compilation of this historical data will often require that motivated enthusiasts create entries for machines that are not theirs. If one peruses the Internet archives for F3 Locomotives, one appreciates the fact that Railfans have spent considerable time documenting the existance, locations and conditions of these machines. Certainly few Railfans actually own these F3s but their input is of incalculable value. This applies to our hobby also. I can think of nothing more enjoyable than spending a Saturday afternoon poking through a tractor scrapyard recording serial numbers, interesting notes, etc and then including this information as part of the historical record. BTW... I will be entering my non-internet friends tractors. What do I need to enter my tractor? You will need to know your serial number, model, and the manufacturer. You also need to have your email address and a handle to allow contact from others. The last and most important thing is you need to make up a new (see next questions) password to protect modification of your entry. How should I pick my password? Do not use any password that you use anywhere else and especially not the same as you use with your ISP. When you use a password across the Internet, it is not protected unless the forms are SSL (this application does not justify SSL) plus this is a database and database security is not as tight as system security. Pick a new and unique password for this database. This is critical and cannot be overstressed. We cannot be responsible for your computer security so please follow this guideline. BTW this is true for any Internet passwords you may be using. What are the rules for the serial number? The serial number is obviously pretty important. If you look in the list and find out how others are entering theirs it will give you a good clue as to what will work. For example, many serial numbers start with the model. If some folks enter theirs with the model designator on the front and some do not, the sorting will be odd to say the least and later tractors will pop up earlier in the list. If you are the first to enter your model, you are in the position of starting a trend. We would prefer that the serial number be entered the way the manufacturer referred to it but if you see that everyone is doing "wrong", it might be best to give in and enter it the way the others are doing (it will sort better). We would prefer that you take this issue up with the appropriate discussion board (Tractor Talk, Farmall, N-board, etc) and work it out in a democratic style without any rules. What is a Handle? A handle is something that identifies you. It can be your name or it may be something you make up. This is what appears in the reports as "you". Whether you use your name or not is entirely up to you but Yesterday's Tractors takes no responsibility for personal information that others might use for their own intents and purposes. What is a Casting Code? Some manufacturers used codes cast into various components that give away valuable information. For example you may be able to tell things like Year, day, even shift that the component was made based on the codes cast into them. What is a Special Option? If you have a Cub with creeper gear, an N with a Sherman Transmission or Funk Conversion, a Kerosene tank manifold, an Super A with a one armed loader... You have a special option that may be interesting to people. Some options were part of the model and thus needn't be listed. For example, some Hi-Crops fall into this category and some don't. Use your judgement here. How do I add my Manufacturer (or Model), it's not in the list? If you are the first one to enter your Manufacturer (or your Model), you must use the "Other (Specify)" option and enter the Manufacturer (or Model) in the "Other" text box. These lists are self-creating, after you enter yours, the next person with the same Manufacturer (or Model) will see that choice in the list. What do I do if I don't have a serial number? There are many machines that no longer have the serial number for a variety of reasons. Use N/A-xxx where xxx is the next available "N/A" for your model. To find the next available number, do a query of your brand and model and look at the "N/A's" that show up. Pick the next number and use it. (yes it should do this automatically but it takes time). Be sure to write down your newly formed "serial number" so you can modify your record at a later time. What should I do if I don't know my Brand or Model? In this case your entry will be of no value to the database. Go to the discussion boards (Tractor Talk is a good place to start) and seek the advice of others. If you have an electronic picture online (or often even if you don't), your tractor can usually be positively identified. What is a Picture Link? If you have a file on the net with a picture of your tractor, enter the hostname, directories and filename here and people will be able to click on the serial number to see your tractor. BTW, this is a great way to help get identification information but primarily lets you show off your machine. An example would be myhost.uow.edu/~joe/pictures/8N.JPG. What do the condition categories mean? Scrapped - Junked and most likely melted down into a Saturn or fridge :-(. Parted Out - Still exists in part but is missing major components. Complete - All there but may not be actively used and definitely not restored. Working - Not cosmetically correct but still earns its living. Older Restoration - Not show ready but has been restored in the recent past, usually also a Working tractor. Restored - Ready (or close) for show. Note: please don't infer from this list that we endorse the idea of only showing perfect machines. We derive as much and often more enjoyment from viewing working machines as we do perfect restorations. Why do you show "Scrapped" and "Parted Out" as categories? It is nearly as valuable to the historical record to know if a machine is gone as it is to know that it exists. I keep some records on the machines that I have purchased in pieces for parts. These machines may no longer exist but I can document what happened to them. How many tractors can I list? How much disk storage do we have? ;-) There is not a limitation on your entries and we encourage you to document as many machines as you have the motivation for. I put in my email address but it doesn't show up? The email address is there so people can contact you and give you the choice whether you want to give them your address. The reports don't actually show your email address. I forgot my password? There is a function that allows you to recover your password through email. If you have changed email addresses, this won't work, it can only send to the last address you put in the database when you knew your password. If you plan to forget your password ;-), keep your email address current in the database. If it happens, contact us with a electronic picture of your serial number. I received an email with my password in it, but didn't request this? Anyone can execute the "forgot my password function" but it will come to you. It is quite innocuous though if frequent may become irritating. How do I contact the owner of an entry/tractor? If you want to contact an owner, simply perform a query, select the manufacturer and model, enter the serial number and the returned form will have a place to send a quick message. Once you have done this the first time, you and the owner will have one another's email addresses and can communicate normally through your private email. Why are you so paranoid about giving out information? We aren't but many are. For those that are, we want to make sure that this system doesn't keep them from entering their information. There are a very few number of instances where club registries with real names and addresses have caused the removal of rare parts by Midnight Tractor Supply Inc. The design and execution of this registry as implemented should keep this to a minimum. What if I want a new statistical report or think there should be more data fields etc... changes to the system? It takes time to modify the programs and database but we will be glad to listen to ideas and implement what we can. Click here to contact us. Will my email address go on any mailing lists as a result of being in the database? Not if we can help it. Database access is presently limited to the menu and queries. Unless we mess up on security it should be safe from those searching for spam sources. Is my data safe from loss? No. Though we would like to have perfect backup capabilities, we can presently only cover portions of our site with frequency. If this resource looks like it will be important to our users, we will reevaluate this. For now, we can't take responsibility for catastrophic data loss and frequency of backups. I can't make the forms display correctly? We can only support browsers made within the last 2 years. Since browsers are free, we would suggest you research the possibility of upgrade. We are extremely conservative about developing forms and pages with the latest technology so most of our pages tend to work on less than current browsers. If our form is not working, you are probably experiencing far worse failures at other sites. All that said, if there is something we can do, we will try so let us know. Return to Registry