The End of Ordertrack - Explained

[AndIAreSo]

Hey all,

Unfortunately I bring some sad news: Ordertrack can no longer function the way it was intended and will kind of be obsolete.

You will still be able to access your vehicle information, but the order status and shipping information will be unavailable.

---

Ford recently made a change to their web API to require a ReCaptcha token. Unfortunately It would take considerable effort and cost to defeat this protection and the cost/benefit doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Ford wasn't the only one to lock down their public API and transit/delivery information was also no longer available.

---

I created the site in good faith to provide a better tracking experience than what Ford had/is currently providing. I did so because I saw a need and believed that Ford could do better! Unfortunately, Ford's reasons for adding the extra layer of security is unknown. Ordertrack throttles transactions to Ford in order to reduce the strain Ford would incur on their API. This was intentional as Ford's tracking system is/was unreliable.

Ultimately my goal was to not circumvent anyone's security mechanisms and to use APIs that were accessible to the public. It is clear that Ford does not find Ordertrack to be an acceptable use of their service, which is unfortunate not to me, but to all of you.

Even if I was financially able to circumvent the ReCaptcha, I would not.

Ethically, it is a gray area of software engineering. On one hand, computers are programmed by people to do a task that a person shouldn't have to do. Having a computer solve the ReCaptcha would be no different than a person doing it. On the other hand, it is clear that by putting up the ReCaptcha Ford is signaling that they don't want Ordertrack or other projects accessing their API.

It's unfortunate that so many Ford buyers have to suffer through such a miserable experience when it should be nothing less than exciting! I wish that Ford saw Ordertrack as an opportunity to do better and as a demonstration that people are unhappy with the current process.

---

I'm a firm believer in open-source software and I do a lot of things for free! I love working on random projects solely on the basis of making things better. I don't care about money or fame because ultimately it's my hobby and I get to learn and grow as an engineer. I get to do things that no one will let me do at my day job. I'm too young or not "experienced" enough [insert corporate rant here]. Anyway It's all for fun and I have an endless list of projects I help with or work on on my own.

With some of the money you donated on the site, I was able to buy a couple more cheap used servers to improve the production cluster and a new firewall. I can't thank you all enough for that!

---

Nevertheless It's been a really fun experience all around and I'm glad that you all had a chance to share it with me.

I really wish this didn't have to be the end as I feel for all of you. Luckily I was able to follow my Explorer ST through the whole process as we took delivery in September. Maybe down the road Ford will make a change that makes the experience a little bit better, but for now I guess you'll have to bug customer service some more

---

While this project was completely personal, if you ever have a need for a software engineer or someone to help build a project of your own, please reach out to me at my company email [email protected]

[EDIT]
I forgot to add:

Over the last year, over 35k vehicles were searched on Ordertrack. Roughly 5,000 people would be active a day. It's such an insane number to me. I can't think of a project I've worked on that has reached so many people!

Here are some fun website metrics:
analytics.brilliantmonkey.net

Sponsored

 

[69rancherogt]

Thank you for the great ride!!!

 

[Jason]

Ford should hire you.

 

[brentutk]

I checked your site 10 times a day for many months. I really appreciate your efforts, great development work, and communication. Thanks for improving the order tracking experience!

 

[Big Barney]

i was fortunate enough to be able to track my build via Order track, I found it much more reliable than than Ford’s poor excuse for a tracker. I tip my cap to you for making this available, wish it was still available for my future Bronco brethren.

 

[AndIAreSo]

Hey all,

Unfortunately I bring some sad news: Ordertrack can no longer function the way it was intended and will kind of be obsolete.

You will still be able to access your vehicle information, but the order status and shipping information will be unavailable.

---

Ford recently made a change to their web API to require a ReCaptcha token. Unfortunately It would take considerable effort and cost to defeat this protection and the cost/benefit doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Ford wasn't the only one to lock down their public API and transit/delivery information was also no longer available.

---

I created the site in good faith to provide a better tracking experience than what Ford had/is currently providing. I did so because I saw a need and believed that Ford could do better! Unfortunately, Ford's reasons for adding the extra layer of security is unknown. Ordertrack throttles transactions to Ford in order to reduce the strain Ford would incur on their API. This was intentional as Ford's tracking system is/was unreliable.

Ultimately my goal was to not circumvent anyone's security mechanisms and to use APIs that were accessible to the public. It is clear that Ford does not find Ordertrack to be an acceptable use of their service, which is unfortunate not to me, but to all of you.

Even if I was financially able to circumvent the ReCaptcha, I would not.

Ethically, it is a gray area of software engineering. On one hand, computers are programmed by people to do a task that a person shouldn't have to do. Having a computer solve the ReCaptcha would be no different than a person doing it. On the other hand, it is clear that by putting up the ReCaptcha Ford is signaling that they don't want Ordertrack or other projects accessing their API.

It's unfortunate that so many Ford buyers have to suffer through such a miserable experience when it should be nothing less than exciting! I wish that Ford saw Ordertrack as an opportunity to do better and as a demonstration that people are unhappy with the current process.

---

I'm a firm believer in open-source software and I do a lot of things for free! I love working on random projects solely on the basis of making things better. I don't care about money or fame because ultimately it's my hobby and I get to learn and grow as an engineer. I get to do things that no one will let me do at my day job. I'm too young or not "experienced" enough [insert corporate rant here]. Anyway It's all for fun and I have an endless list of projects I help with or work on on my own.

With some of the money you donated on the site, I was able to buy a couple more cheap used servers to improve the production cluster and a new firewall. I can't thank you all enough for that!

---

Nevertheless It's been a really fun experience all around and I'm glad that you all had a chance to share it with me.

I really wish this didn't have to be the end as I feel for all of you. Luckily I was able to follow my Explorer ST through the whole process as we took delivery in September. Maybe down the road Ford will make a change that makes the experience a little bit better, but for now I guess you'll have to bug customer service some more

---

While this project was completely personal, if you ever have a need for a software engineer or someone to help build a project of your own, please reach out to me at my company email [email protected]

I forgot to add:

Over the last year, over 35k vehicles were searched on Ordertrack. Roughly 5,000 people would be active a day. It's such an insane number to me. I can't think of a project I've worked on that has reached so many people!

[EDIT]
Typo

 

[Chelada]

From one engineer to another, thank you and nice work on developing this. It certainly served a great purpose for the time it was alive. Good luck on your upcoming projects!

 

[Broncoblk23]

Can’t thank you enough for the work you did!! I was on that app an absurd, unreasonable, abnormal, and unthinkable amount of times tracking my order. So much so that my wife referred to me as a psycho several times over the last month while I was awaiting delivery. It was so addictive lol…Ford would be stupid to not hire you and put you in charge of redeveloping their build trackers. Thank you again!!

 

[TP1]

Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in!

 

[vrtical]

Unfortunely, security has become more prevalent in reducing rogue bots from finding holes hence why your seeing ReCaptcha, two factors, and end service user tokens implemented on what use to be open service APIs. Thanks for the cool tool as it provided a wealth of information, it is definitely a testament to open source and Ford should, but won't take notice.

 

[bstoked]

Ford has such an opportunity to make the buying experience more exciting and educating. I've done enough digging on my own through this mess to be fascinated by the process of assembly and shipping. How cool would it have been for Ford to be able to bring a public face to the work that goes into building our Broncos and allow us to track each step in some sort of interface. Your work got us one step closer to that and it amazes me that Ford misses such an easy opportunity. Of course they waited until my Blend Date to shut you down. but thanks for your work that allowed us some hope that we would actually get our Broncos some day.

 

[HotdogThud]

If only @Ford Motor Company could see threads like this and comment in a deep and meaningful way as to why they force customers to deal with a sub-par dealership network (that consistently has no information, or worse, intentionally false information) that they know is so bad that they are flatly refusing to have it be the model for their EV line of vehicles.

If only.

 

[A51Bronco]

Your site was great! I was lucky enough to take delivery right before the shut down. Thank you for the hard work and maybe fords will be as reliable one day lol.

 

[Itsdchz]

Hey all,

Unfortunately I bring some sad news: Ordertrack can no longer function the way it was intended and will kind of be obsolete.

You will still be able to access your vehicle information, but the order status and shipping information will be unavailable.

---

Ford recently made a change to their web API to require a ReCaptcha token. Unfortunately It would take considerable effort and cost to defeat this protection and the cost/benefit doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Ford wasn't the only one to lock down their public API and transit/delivery information was also no longer available.

---

I created the site in good faith to provide a better tracking experience than what Ford had/is currently providing. I did so because I saw a need and believed that Ford could do better! Unfortunately, Ford's reasons for adding the extra layer of security is unknown. Ordertrack throttles transactions to Ford in order to reduce the strain Ford would incur on their API. This was intentional as Ford's tracking system is/was unreliable.

Ultimately my goal was to not circumvent anyone's security mechanisms and to use APIs that were accessible to the public. It is clear that Ford does not find Ordertrack to be an acceptable use of their service, which is unfortunate not to me, but to all of you.

Even if I was financially able to circumvent the ReCaptcha, I would not.

Ethically, it is a gray area of software engineering. On one hand, computers are programmed by people to do a task that a person shouldn't have to do. Having a computer solve the ReCaptcha would be no different than a person doing it. On the other hand, it is clear that by putting up the ReCaptcha Ford is signaling that they don't want Ordertrack or other projects accessing their API.

It's unfortunate that so many Ford buyers have to suffer through such a miserable experience when it should be nothing less than exciting! I wish that Ford saw Ordertrack as an opportunity to do better and as a demonstration that people are unhappy with the current process.

---

I'm a firm believer in open-source software and I do a lot of things for free! I love working on random projects solely on the basis of making things better. I don't care about money or fame because ultimately it's my hobby and I get to learn and grow as an engineer. I get to do things that no one will let me do at my day job. I'm too young or not "experienced" enough [insert corporate rant here]. Anyway It's all for fun and I have an endless list of projects I help with or work on on my own.

With some of the money you donated on the site, I was able to buy a couple more cheap used servers to improve the production cluster and a new firewall. I can't thank you all enough for that!

---

Nevertheless It's been a really fun experience all around and I'm glad that you all had a chance to share it with me.

I really wish this didn't have to be the end as I feel for all of you. Luckily I was able to follow my Explorer ST through the whole process as we took delivery in September. Maybe down the road Ford will make a change that makes the experience a little bit better, but for now I guess you'll have to bug customer service some more

---

While this project was completely personal, if you ever have a need for a software engineer or someone to help build a project of your own, please reach out to me at my company email [email protected]

[EDIT]
I forgot to add:

Over the last year, over 35k vehicles were searched on Ordertrack. Roughly 5,000 people would be active a day. It's such an insane number to me. I can't think of a project I've worked on that has reached so many people!

Here are some fun website metrics:
analytics.brilliantmonkey.net

I run a very large Data Engineering team. Our organization is countrywide, and we are acquiring many smaller companies over the next 2 years, as we have done this last year, already. We are owned by one of the largest private equity firms in the USA. I applaud your hard work, and the continued support to our community. I was probably a #1 click user for the last 90 days. After seeing your post, you bet I will be in contact for a resume, that way I can have you on hand for either consulting work, or a remote position….. please DM me…

 

[swooshdave]

If only @Ford Motor Company could see threads like this and comment in a deep and meaningful way as to why they force customers to deal with a sub-par dealership network (that consistently has no information, or worse, intentionally false information) that they know is so bad that they are flatly refusing to have it be the model for their EV line of vehicles.

If only.

That has nothing to do with the order tracking information that Ford provides.

The Ford Tracker has everything you might need.

Now was it fun watching the modules get populated? Sure. But it wasn't the end of the world if I couldn't.

But between the two Ford pages you get a lot of info.

Sponsored