Accessing the Roaring Forties section posts?

[Jerry]

Hi,

Noticed that the Roaring Forties section has gone from the replicia manufactures corner,and was wondering if the old posts were still accessable?

Thanks, Jerry

[Ron Earp]

Hi Jerry,

they are not gone, still here. I'm planning on taking the unsupported factory sections and dispersing the threads to their proper categories. The forum has had a few unsupported factory support forums and that isn't fair to the companies that pay to have factory support forums. For instance the old RF hasn't paid for a support forum since November of 2005, then went bust in March 2006.

I'm open to other suggestions of how to manage these forums. Since we starting the factory support areas way back in the day I never contemplated what to do with them when the factory no longer wants them, doesn't support them, or goes out of business.

Simply have forums for all marks? - tried this one but ended up with a lot of posts that should simply be in the appropriate category and really weren't mark specific. Guy figures since he has a GTD he needs to ask his GTD transaxle question in the GTD forum, when the question is really more general in nature and should be in the Transaxle Forum.

Have forums for all marks that only forum supporters can post in? Never tried this one, not sure I like that.

Only have forums for marks that will actually have a company representation on the site and pay for the privilege (current system)? Current system, works great with SPF, RCR, and CAV where the company reps/owners actually come on line and interact with customers, builders, or potential customers. Didn't work so well with MDA that have their own closed forum elsewhere, or GT40 Australia who don't interact with customers here.

Ideas?

The goal is to have a forum that meets the needs of the users, is easy to navigate for new users, and above all else has a high signal to noise ratio while preserving GT40 information.

R

[Mark Charlton]

I'm very happy with the way it is now. The search function really allows one to find old posts that may be relevant. I use it all the time. Keep up the great work Ron! Thanks,
Mark

[HILLY]

I agree with Mark.
The way I see it, the manufactures area is there to support the owners of a particular make. In the case of the RF section the only people that will be affected will be the current owners of RF cars and not the manufacturer. Even though the manufacturer has not had any input into the RF section for quite some time now, it has still been utilised by RF owners who often have make specific issues. Just my 2¢

[Peter D]

Ron, I'm sad to see the disappearance of the RF & GT40 Aust sections in the Manufacturer's Corner.

I partially understand your reluctance to provide separate sections in this area for manufacturers who do not actively support the Forum, but, who suffers now ? - the car owners.

These were threads that provided a simple "drill-down" to quite brand-specific issues. Since the demise of Robert L, I can't remember seeing any overt promotion of the RF by the new owners. Peter Ransom (GT40 Aust), as you mentioned, has almost never participated on the Forum, so probably won't know or care about his company's exclusion.

End result : Neither manufacturer will be materially affected, as neither of them appear to have used these threads for their own advantage. It seems to me that the only people affected by the changes are the poor old RF "victims", & a bunch of GT40 Aust owners. We used to know where to look/contribute first, but now we need to adopt the "shotgun approach" - look everywhere !

Sorry to sound a bit critical, but one of my favourite sayings is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" !!

I can understand why you would not like to have non-supportive manufacturers in this section of the Forum, so why not just ban them from posting until they cough up some $ ? That way, they don't get a freebie ride, & the owners get to retain their brand-specific threads & topics ?

Just some ideas, but then, you did ask for some !!!

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

[Peter Olliviere]

Ron,

As an RF owner I use the section all the time and would think that the world holds enough RF owners to make that section valuable to them. I cannot spaek for others but I would contribute to the continued support of the RF section after all it is to my benefit. Just because the old RF is gone and the new RF has not put in an apperance the Forum should not orphan the owners who are out there, and who also support this venue.

Peter

[Ron Earp]

Fellows,

Thanks for the ideas, suggestions, and thoughts. I do agree with all of them. In the end the forum is for the users and the users want these areas, regardless of what the respective manufacturers do.

For the time being what I have done is made it so that the forums are available. They indicate that they are not supported by the factory but are for the users of a specific car.

I'm still not "happy" with the way it works. Essentially I created the problem by having factory supported forums. But never thought far enough ahead about what to do when the factory no longer supports the forum in question. For now I'll think on the question some more with input from members.

One thing I do want to do is move the threads that are build threads to the Builder's Forum. There are a couple of MDA build threads nested in there, and a couple of GT40 Australia build threads down there. The Builder's Forum is one of the most visited forums on the site but I imagine these threads have been overlooked since they are not part of the Builder's Forum.

Ron

[Peter D]

Thanks Ron - we are back !

You mentioned that "They indicate that they are not supported by the factory but are for the users of a specific car."

Perhaps this could be made much more obvious - a flashing header, or something ? If it was made very obvious that a manufacturer was not supporting the Forum, and that questions by owners go unanswered (other than by other owners), this might motivate such manufacturers to pull their fingers out & get on board. It might also provoke a whole host of owners to give these manufacturers a private/public poke via phone/email/etc ?

PS : Its been a while since we had a "pass the hat around" for contributions to help you run this most brilliant of Forums - please let us all know if more funds are required.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

[Ron Earp]

Hey Peter,

The forum is fine for funds at the moment but I appreciate the thought. I know that a lot of people look at this and go "no issue, leave it alone" but I'm always trying to make the forum "perfect" for lack of better word that that all parts of it fit with the other parts. At least this solution makes it fit better for me, at least for the short term.

Ron

[BenL]

Originally Posted by delaneyp

Perhaps this could be made much more obvious - a flashing header, or something ? If it was made very obvious that a manufacturer was not supporting the Forum

How about splitting "GT40 Replica Manufacturer's Corner" and create "Orphaned GT40 Replica Manufacturer's Corner".


p.s. I think it should be "Manufacturers' Corner", if Manufacturer is plural.

[John Lowe]

Ron

Being a recent user of GT40s I have no new comments to make. Except to say that this is far and away the best forum of its type I have seen and I was happy also to be an early subscriber on the basis that if you take stuff out you put stuff back. You seem to balance the need for openess and free speach with both business acumen and fair play. Truly excellent work, well done to you and the team.

Regards and thanks John

[Pete.]

I wondered where warts and all had gone. Thanks for the heads up.

[Ron Earp]

Yep, that is one of the most viewed threads on the forum but I think it'd have been viewed even more if it was in the Builders Forum. That forum accounts for most of the off line / not logged in browsing.

Ron

[StuM5]

Hi Ron

As a new user of the forum I found the GT40 Australia section to be invaluable, if you see my thread regarding getting into a DRB GT40 the information & advice provided in that thread could/should probably used to formulate a Q&A thread on "ICV" vehicles in Aust. Without that section I may not have got the responses I did. I agree with Peter D on his points.

Congratulations to you and your team on a great forum!

happy to throw into the "collective" hat

cheers
Stuart

[Bill Hara]

Ron

Despite the new RF's limited participation on the forum, I have found the RF section to be of incredible help to me. I have also from time to time jumped in and helped out the odd RF builder that needed some info that I was in possession of as I am personally more likely to offer help in this section due to my familiarity with the product. There are others far more experienced and knowledgeable with other types of 40s that have given advice in other forums that may not apply to RFs and this can sometimes make it difficult for a new builder to sift through what applies to them and what doesn't. This would probably also apply to some DRB builders too.

During my build I would look at the build pages of all the different manufacturers eagerly so as to get ideas and information however it was always the cars most like to mine that gave me the most information and confidence with my own build. This avenue of info will ultimately be lost(or a lot harder to find) for those many RF builders that are working through to final completion on their own projects if you ultimately decide to immerse this forum into other technical forums.

Another great feature of the specific manufacturer forum is that you get to know the people that post on it and can PM them directly to ask those stupid questions about your own project. This was confidence building for me and gave me the drive to push my car through to completion.

One last thing, I recall you and other moderators (in the early days) used to copy threads with technical merit from manufacturers forums into the general technical forums so that they got wider coverage and benefitted more members. This doesn't really happen any more but was (i think) one of the strengths of the manufacturer forums.

Bill.