Forum announcement - please read
- Thread starter letterman7
- Start date
letterman7
Honorary Admin
All input is welcomed and encouraged, Rick. If we can keep this forum going, that's fine. We just need to find a way to encourage the 100+ members that have signed up but never, ever posted in the past five years to do something!
Peter
Active member
If you can achieve that let me know, It would be great to maintain all three forums as they each have their own identity and caricatures and many of us are on all three or at least two but it will always be the case that just a few hard core members will keep things going, *very frustrated* I've even posted to myself at times things were so quite!*insane*
Hope I'm not out of place here; but I could see pruning the "member base", say, after a year. No other posts since joining-give a 30 day drop dead date notice & purge their membership. NO-I ain't kidding.
Seen it done on other forums. Hell, I even got canned from the S.C. fiero club & forum, was the 3rd to join it also. Butt-as it turned out, I was too frank about issues & just couldn't keep my yap shut. We
were supposed to be politically correct--sure--whatever.
Good point about a few hardcore members who will carry the burden of keeping things going. It seems to be that way whether in a club, on a forum or in a Friday nite beer bash @ some pukes "man cave",
hate that term. Well, hell, here I am being too damn frank. Again.
I can see where computer guru's would enjoy co-joined forums, less searching, etc. But wait-there's more. So as these forums are being hooked up; a members build thread gets dropped, for sure not on purpose, but that thread was loaded w/tech info that can't be retrieved. Whammo, buckaroo, that member is gone for sure. Nobody ever taught me how to field dress a squirrel anyways.
O.K. So I'm dummer than a tooth pick when it comes to this computer stuff. Click here, then click here, then in the drop down clic---sure, whatever. Rick, I'm serious, you, Warren & all please do for the masses. I'll follow along as I can. Not a pissy statement either. I enjoy learning from everybody, but just a slow learner of the processes. Thank God, my wife has the patience of Job. Peace.
Just an fyi-we've had over 11" of rain so far. Screw the Cimbria, I gotta build an Ark.
Seen it done on other forums. Hell, I even got canned from the S.C. fiero club & forum, was the 3rd to join it also. Butt-as it turned out, I was too frank about issues & just couldn't keep my yap shut. We
were supposed to be politically correct--sure--whatever.
Good point about a few hardcore members who will carry the burden of keeping things going. It seems to be that way whether in a club, on a forum or in a Friday nite beer bash @ some pukes "man cave",
hate that term. Well, hell, here I am being too damn frank. Again.
I can see where computer guru's would enjoy co-joined forums, less searching, etc. But wait-there's more. So as these forums are being hooked up; a members build thread gets dropped, for sure not on purpose, but that thread was loaded w/tech info that can't be retrieved. Whammo, buckaroo, that member is gone for sure. Nobody ever taught me how to field dress a squirrel anyways.
O.K. So I'm dummer than a tooth pick when it comes to this computer stuff. Click here, then click here, then in the drop down clic---sure, whatever. Rick, I'm serious, you, Warren & all please do for the masses. I'll follow along as I can. Not a pissy statement either. I enjoy learning from everybody, but just a slow learner of the processes. Thank God, my wife has the patience of Job. Peace.
Just an fyi-we've had over 11" of rain so far. Screw the Cimbria, I gotta build an Ark.
nbb350
Active member
I agree with purging "members" who either haven't logged in over the last year AND have a post count of 10 or less (assuming posts by purged members would disappear. if not, don't worry about the post count). They obviously aren't actively contributing to the site anymore. Not so sure about "lurkers" who may actively log in and read articles, but never post. There may be Noobs who like to read our posts, may not understand them fully and don't post themselves out of fear of sounding stupid (not that ignorance is anything to be ashamed of - we were all ignorant about cars at one time). I'd hate to "lock out" someone just because they're learning...
And the more members we purge, the higher our ratios will be for "posting members vs. total members"! *thumbs up*
And the more members we purge, the higher our ratios will be for "posting members vs. total members"! *thumbs up*
islandman
Member
Does the ratio of posting versus non posting Members really impact the forum ?
From my perspective it's the total posts that counts, and with a higher member base there is always a chance that some may post no matter how infrequently. Having said all of that, if a member has not logged on for say 18 months and never posted more than 10 prior to that I think they are fair game for removal
From my perspective it's the total posts that counts, and with a higher member base there is always a chance that some may post no matter how infrequently. Having said all of that, if a member has not logged on for say 18 months and never posted more than 10 prior to that I think they are fair game for removal
ratrog64
Well-known member
I don't understand why you would purge members. Does it cost anything to have them as members? Does it create extra work for the admins?
I'd say do a group email and let all the members know that there has been some great progress on several projects and some new cars added. Invite them back to check things out and encourage them to post something. Open a new thread and ask them to check in so you know who is still alive and interested or ask them if they wish to be removed. Ask them if they still have a car or if they still have a desire to own one.
So my thoughts are if there is no added expense or work, whats the difference if they remain members who are infrequent visitors. If there is added work or expense, then its just a business decision.
BTW my vote was to leave the site as is.
my2cents
Thanks
I'd say do a group email and let all the members know that there has been some great progress on several projects and some new cars added. Invite them back to check things out and encourage them to post something. Open a new thread and ask them to check in so you know who is still alive and interested or ask them if they wish to be removed. Ask them if they still have a car or if they still have a desire to own one.
So my thoughts are if there is no added expense or work, whats the difference if they remain members who are infrequent visitors. If there is added work or expense, then its just a business decision.
BTW my vote was to leave the site as is.
my2cents
Thanks
RangerBEH
Member
Things have been way more active the past 2 weeks it's great to see. When the poll forst went up there was 2-3 posts a week. If everyone stays as active then keeping the site up makes sense if at some point it drops or an easy way to combine sites pops up and the need arises then go for it. Either way we'll have access to each other's builds and resources.
Keep up the good works guys!
Keep up the good works guys!
ydeardorff
New member
It would be interesting to see the site statistics average for each month over the last few years.*hmmm*
Every forum, or fansite Ive ever joined or run has always had significant slow periods (usually starting around september and going through february), and active booming periods too (usually spring when the weather starts to get nice through the end of summer).
Most forums just place in the PHPBB settings a minimum activity level. Beyond that the user goes into an inactive, but still registered user status, and has to reconfirm the login credentials when they return to activity. They dont shut the site down over it. When I first came on the site, warren told me the posting level had shot up by 800%. Now, Brett and other peoples builds do that. After some recent activity, I have reduced my forum input to posts that are of a larger scale (showing things completed, and not hashing over opinions). There are many people that are not the forum types, they may, or may not register, and sometimes spend months reading through all our posts. to lose this US based resource would be a shame.
I would hate to see all the work warren and rick have put into this site just fall to nothing. We all have our differences, but we all share one common thing, and that is the love for these cars. Stock or modified, posting or not, this is our stomping ground. This forum was designed for us to come together, share ideas, answer questions, and sometime take a step back to answer a post in as politically correct a way as we know how. But agree or not we are a community of owners, prior owners, and those who dream of owning one. We should keep it alive and here...
If its a lack of interest, or just not enough time, then additional admins should be made to help share the load. If its a money issue from the site owner, then perhaps donations are in order. There are solutions that dont require dropping the site and all of everyones hard work into internet oblivion.
If merging with the UK site is the only way, then I guess thats where were going. But I cant understand why, with the afore mentioned as potential options.
I am a member of the UK site already, as many of us are here. But I hope its not necessary to. The sterling may have been designed in Europe, but it was made in america. We should keep whats ours, where it belongs.
The site migration should retain our stuff, Dan and the UK site is are great. But I personally like having a US based site, and the UK based site.
Purging members has no effect on the sites performance. Nor is it an admin nuisance. Perhaps, purging members that do not respond to emails, or actually say they are no longer interested, etc would be fine. But in reality thats a hell of a lot more work for the admin than just leaving it be. But many people do not post, they read, and learn from what we've done. Is purging them appropriate? I dont think so. Maybe Im wrong?
But no matter,... The site admins and owner will have the ultimate final say. I hope for all of us the site stays up and running.*thumbs up* The activity will return like it has every year.
Every forum, or fansite Ive ever joined or run has always had significant slow periods (usually starting around september and going through february), and active booming periods too (usually spring when the weather starts to get nice through the end of summer).
Most forums just place in the PHPBB settings a minimum activity level. Beyond that the user goes into an inactive, but still registered user status, and has to reconfirm the login credentials when they return to activity. They dont shut the site down over it. When I first came on the site, warren told me the posting level had shot up by 800%. Now, Brett and other peoples builds do that. After some recent activity, I have reduced my forum input to posts that are of a larger scale (showing things completed, and not hashing over opinions). There are many people that are not the forum types, they may, or may not register, and sometimes spend months reading through all our posts. to lose this US based resource would be a shame.
I would hate to see all the work warren and rick have put into this site just fall to nothing. We all have our differences, but we all share one common thing, and that is the love for these cars. Stock or modified, posting or not, this is our stomping ground. This forum was designed for us to come together, share ideas, answer questions, and sometime take a step back to answer a post in as politically correct a way as we know how. But agree or not we are a community of owners, prior owners, and those who dream of owning one. We should keep it alive and here...
If its a lack of interest, or just not enough time, then additional admins should be made to help share the load. If its a money issue from the site owner, then perhaps donations are in order. There are solutions that dont require dropping the site and all of everyones hard work into internet oblivion.
If merging with the UK site is the only way, then I guess thats where were going. But I cant understand why, with the afore mentioned as potential options.
I am a member of the UK site already, as many of us are here. But I hope its not necessary to. The sterling may have been designed in Europe, but it was made in america. We should keep whats ours, where it belongs.
The site migration should retain our stuff, Dan and the UK site is are great. But I personally like having a US based site, and the UK based site.
Purging members has no effect on the sites performance. Nor is it an admin nuisance. Perhaps, purging members that do not respond to emails, or actually say they are no longer interested, etc would be fine. But in reality thats a hell of a lot more work for the admin than just leaving it be. But many people do not post, they read, and learn from what we've done. Is purging them appropriate? I dont think so. Maybe Im wrong?
But no matter,... The site admins and owner will have the ultimate final say. I hope for all of us the site stays up and running.*thumbs up* The activity will return like it has every year.
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Peter
Active member
"The site admins will have the final say", I don't think so, I certainly have to listen to the members and what they want, be it only a dozen or so but it is a strange thing that in the last couple of weeks posts and interest in the EOC forum has increased and migration to the Nova forum is sill in single figures so staying the same is still a possibility between Nova and Eagle but retain cross links and dedicated areas for each others variation on the Oakes design.
Bear in mind we admins not only have to keep things in line and functioning but maintain and preserve the forums and if there is a REAL chance of the whole thing imploding then we have to take action to preserve that knowledge base.
The forums would not disappear but be put in 'sleep mode' so all posts would be saved and could be refereed to by a simple link, the ONLY way to destroy a forum is if the forum '0wner' goes to the board service provider and clicks and confirms, "delete forum" and that's not going to happen.
With reference to members, active or dormant, i have an annual clean up AFTER I post, message and email every member as to if they are going to continue, what the status of the car etc, IF I don't get a reply I look at each case and who it is and make a decision as to keep or not and if someone joined on the 30th may 2014, posts once on the same day and has not logged on since then that's a delete.
Rick, Dan and myself have this in common, the continuing good health of 'our' forums and happy(-ish) members, we have no vested interests, no financial gain and no political stance to make, just a deep rooted interest in the cars and a desire to see the forums flourish.
Bear in mind we admins not only have to keep things in line and functioning but maintain and preserve the forums and if there is a REAL chance of the whole thing imploding then we have to take action to preserve that knowledge base.
The forums would not disappear but be put in 'sleep mode' so all posts would be saved and could be refereed to by a simple link, the ONLY way to destroy a forum is if the forum '0wner' goes to the board service provider and clicks and confirms, "delete forum" and that's not going to happen.
With reference to members, active or dormant, i have an annual clean up AFTER I post, message and email every member as to if they are going to continue, what the status of the car etc, IF I don't get a reply I look at each case and who it is and make a decision as to keep or not and if someone joined on the 30th may 2014, posts once on the same day and has not logged on since then that's a delete.
Rick, Dan and myself have this in common, the continuing good health of 'our' forums and happy(-ish) members, we have no vested interests, no financial gain and no political stance to make, just a deep rooted interest in the cars and a desire to see the forums flourish.
letterman7
Honorary Admin
^ *thumbs up*
letterman7
Honorary Admin
Update 11/25:
Met with Warren this past weekend and discussed the situation. For the moment since the forum is held active with Brett's contributions, among others, we will keep it open. There will likely be an update to the forum software sometime around the new year which will impact the overall look, but should simplify some routines and add back in the automatic sign-ups.
Met with Warren this past weekend and discussed the situation. For the moment since the forum is held active with Brett's contributions, among others, we will keep it open. There will likely be an update to the forum software sometime around the new year which will impact the overall look, but should simplify some routines and add back in the automatic sign-ups.
chromecarz00
New member
For what it's worth, I'm in favor of keeping the current one open. The current decision to keep open, how long is that active for?
letterman7
Honorary Admin
We really hadn't decided that. Until it starts faltering again, who knows. With the advent of automated signups again on the horizon, we're hoping it will become a much more vibrant community once again. We just have to clean house a little bit and update the software.chromecarz00
New member
Have we thought about doing any marketing?
letterman7
Honorary Admin
Marketing in terms of what? Small niche group... search 'sterling kit car' and this pops right near the top.
ydeardorff
New member
Just a thought,...
T-shirts
Calendars
Coffe mugs
Posters
Key fobs
Similiar to the UK Site.
We have a much cooler logo than they do.
Frankly Im surprised no ones tackled this yet.
Ive bought two Euro-Nova shirts and two calendars already, but only because nothing is offered here.
Kinda hard to choke on 30-40 bucks for a t-shirt though (shipping). Im sure they could be offered here for considerably less.
https://www.discountmugs.com/dmlab/...97F942AE10B4D031E2&mm_keyword=custom t shirts
just to point out .01 seconds of internet searching....
T-shirts
Calendars
Coffe mugs
Posters
Key fobs
Similiar to the UK Site.
We have a much cooler logo than they do.
Frankly Im surprised no ones tackled this yet.
Ive bought two Euro-Nova shirts and two calendars already, but only because nothing is offered here.
Kinda hard to choke on 30-40 bucks for a t-shirt though (shipping). Im sure they could be offered here for considerably less.
https://www.discountmugs.com/dmlab/...97F942AE10B4D031E2&mm_keyword=custom t shirts
just to point out .01 seconds of internet searching....
letterman7
Honorary Admin
I don't think Warren even remotely considered it because a) he doesn't have time for marketing b) anything that is sold technically needs a tax revenue number and c) just never occurred that anyone would want something to do with the forum. I've got club stuff on CafePress, I'm sure we could come up with something for here if there was enough call for it.