Mods/Admins - New Postings

[Z Factor]

Originally Posted by Z R 1

Being one of your newest members I was very put off reading the original post.

Though I can understand you being somewhat put off by the suggestion, I think you are going a little overboard in your reaction to one persons idea.

I think you will find that there are many different points of view regarding how people go about things regardless of where you hang out. The common bond of our forum is the love of ZR-1's. Among us there are no doubt many different perspectives politically, spiritually, and varied ways of living our lives. That does not mean you should take such an extreme position by wanting to leave based on one opinion/view. The CF has many more posters and given time you will no doubt find some of them will also put you off. It is unlikely that you will find any forum that exactly mirrors your point of view, so to consider leaving over such things will probably result in you not finding a place to feel comfortable in.

As you can see if you read the responses, most of your fellow posters do not think it would achieve the results the OP would like to see come about. I would suggest you reconsider leaving with the understanding that the OP's suggestion regarding paid membership is not something we are planning to do.

Any suggestions you might have on how to increase participation on the forum will be welcome.

[guinnessdood]

Originally Posted by Z R 1

As far as only "paid members" being able to post yeilding better quality posts, well learn from this: As a result of this thread I am going to stay over at CF. You not only lost a fourm lurker/poster you lost any chance of a future paid member. I would think twice before you let your "paid" members post insulting proposals of the such! Please feel free to remove my profile as I will not be back!

Understand that it was ONE members post...and it was just his opinion. He is not making the rules he is merely suggesting some changes based on some recent posts that he has seen and didn't particularly care for. It is highly unlikely that the ZR-1 Net Registry Forum will ever become "exclusive" to members only. In most cases we welcome the posts of those seeking to uplift the ZR-1 or to find out more information about the ZR-1 or to get technical answers. If you are easily offended by posts from people...I guarantee you will find a much rougher crowd over on the CF. I'm a member there as well and I can definitely tell there's a difference between the way people post here (pretty polite) compared to there (pretty blunt).

[WB9MCW]

ZF I was gonna pm him to tell him I thought he took it the wrong way but he has his email blocked maybe u can let him know that it was just and idea and not an actual change. Good luck!

[Hammer]

Well gang here I am again, just like I said.

I must say the reaction to my OP was varied and one was quite unexpected. Sorry about that to all, I didn't mean any harm. As far as the explanations against "membership only" posts that several offered, I can certainly appreciate your points and they are well taken and understandable.

Maybe some of you that have been here awhile could give me (as well as other newbies) some reasons why the CF is the preferred forum. Seems this should be the logical place to reside if you own a ZR-1, but I see posts on the CF from people that do not post here. They are well known in the ZR-1 Community and I would be interested to hear their story on why they go to the CF. There must be a reason (or several).

Anyway, I hope this thread continues. Thanks

[Z Factor]

There is no need to apologise as you were only making suggestions. I think once Z R 1 has a chance to think it through he will realise it was not something that should cause him to leave. We all have tough days and maybe he had a lot of other things going on at that time.

Regarding your question about CF's popularity compared with ours, it is a complex problem that does not have a simple solution. For starters the volume of people posting in all sections of CF make it one of the busiest car enthusiast forums on the web. Believe it or not many people don't even own a vette yet post in the OT and PRC sections because of the volume. There is also plenty of bleed over from other Vette sections into the ZR-1 section which accounts for some lively discussions/arguments about who's Vette is better/faster. All that coupled with long term ZR-1 posters makes it place to get more responses (informed and misinformed), but also with a decent dose of attitude.
For the most part our forum has a much narrower focus with only ZR-1 enthusiasts making up the bulk of posters. While CF does have posters who do not come here, we also have exclusive posters who do not like the atmosphere over there, be it the restrictive rules, heavy handed moderation, or the cliques with their pompous attitudes. As to the dual citizenship posters , many of them are in the habit of going to CF first. If they either post questions or answer threads there first, they are much less likely to then duplicate it here. Believe me when I tell you that I have asked many forum members why they post more over on CF and what could be done to increase their participation here. Even when we have implemented some of those changes some still wind up posting over there more than here. If we can get them in the habit of coming here first, it would go a long way to solve the dilemma.

Our goal is to increase participation here as much as possible, but I suspect CF will continue to have it's share of ZR-1 posters no matter what we do.

[DaveK]

I see no reason for an apology either. I think I understood the intent of the original post and saw no harm in raising it for discussion - I think someone leaving on the basis of that is a little extreme. I have a great deal of respect for people on the forum and have recieved numerous useful hints, tips and assistance from so many people (John included) I couldn't thank everyone enough - and all this before I even own a Z!

Oddly CF probably gets more posters also because it has a high black colour content - that always seems to be taken by people as a site with 'attitude' regardless of whether the content/moderation/posters actually allow or display that. One of the odd quirks of people psychology I guess. Plus if people have been visiting somewhere for a while it's very hard to get them to switch. The best way is to give them something they want but can't get anywhere else.

I'm one of the guys with dual citizenship. If somebody has a question here and on CF. I'll answer in both places, or I may answer here first and then on CF say I posted over here. You forget there are about 6 Corvette boards that are pretty well surfed. The registry forum is different, we try to be good citizens, we have our moments for the most part we get a long because we realize we are here due to the LT5.

Getting people away from the CF will be tough, as the amount of content in the other sections is what keeps people over there.

[flyin ryan]

i'm taking the 5th & staying out of this. i got out of the local corvette club because they were having meeting's to decide when they would have the next meeting , after a while i was like...do we ever get to go for a cruise or...i thought this was supposed to be about enjoying the cars. i'm going to keep it that way. no need for ruffled feathers.

[rkreigh]

the forum has been open just like the listserve and free since the start

we don't really want to restrict it as folks that are interested in learning about the ZR-1 and then potentially joining the club might not do it. sure I want more folks to join, we have more fun, but we're not really about forcing anyone who doesn't want to and sharing experiences shouldn't require the membership IMHO.

thanks for the suggestions, it's something that we've thought of. we also just discussed just merging over to corvetteforum, but to be honest, I want to be able to offer deals on parts and group buys and all kinds of stuff without all the "supporting vendor" costs and hassle that is in place over there.

plus, we don't have as restrictive a rules, just play nice and nothing you wouldn't show your mama (but it can be a hot mama)

as for getting more postings, YES!!!! I'll do my part as prez to encourage it. I'm more of a forum guy than a list serve but I do both.

what I will do is announce (push) things with the listserve, so plz sign up, it will continue to be free, and then also post static content (pull) over here so we can reference material without having to keep the mail or search archives.

both technologies have advantages so I vote we keep em both, free and public.

good topic. thanks.

[Peaven]

As one who has recently started to frequent both boards again (long story), I think that this board should remain open to non members. We don't have nearly as much traffic here, and the more participants the better IMO....for now anyway.