Mark (smokey mow) Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 All of them manage to run PMs, replies to FS items, and a search free of charge. Only WSCC hampers non members in this way. If you can name me another car forum that does this, i'll be impressed! Blatchat... You can't even use their forum without being a fully paid up member of the club. FWIW I think the ballance is right on here at the moment. I have no idea how much/little revenue advertising brings into the club, but I have no desire to see pages over-run with commercial advertising or pop-ups when I'm trying to read other stuff. There needs to be a good incentive for people to contribute to the club and I think we have that at the moment. If you want to send PM's and use the search feature to obtain information then the option is there to contribute and enable these functions. If you want it for free then use google as posted above. Remember that paid up club members are also able to contribute and vote at the anual AGM if you want change. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket_rabbit Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Putting blatchat into google gave some interesting results Well, you have one. Lancerregister, s2ki, passionford, locostbuilders, pistonheads, sxoc, civiclife... And it's nice that there is an AGM, but again it's a bit last millennium in terms of deciding something on a web forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest harv Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 FWIW there are many forums that are as good that have full functionality at no cost , sorry but not having a search is a step back and if you think newcomers who a researching buying a car will pay you first your mistaken , that's something i think you will find is very rare . But its your forum and your club .... and you may run it as you wish , but i would not mind hazarding a firm bet your forum user numbers will be deminished in 2012 dispite what is a fine forum and fine new software . the change of forum itself will have culled a few . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Well... I joined to get a nice magazine, get discounts on products and insurance, but most of all, to support the club. I am a member of several other car forums, some of them I have paid for, most not. All of them manage to run PMs, replies to FS items, and a search free of charge. Only WSCC hampers non members in this way. If you can name me another car forum that does this, i'll be impressed! If you move to forums other than cars, I get everything for free!! As for revenue streams, this site advertises so you have your main one right there. In a day where pretty much everything on the internet is 'free', people will simply not join up to a site that doesn't offer up basic expected features. After all, you don't pay for facebook, you don't pay for twitter, you don't pay for google etc etc... Like you said, we both have our opinions, just that it is my opinion that your opinion is stuck in the last Millennium. As a paid up member, I would carry on paying if these features were free. I'm also willing to say that over 95% of paid up members would not be put off from continuing paid up membership if these features were free and the other 5% would have an initial moan about it, before carrying on as normal. I don't give a monkey's hoo-haa about other lesser forums, or about how they run them. As a paid-up member, let me tell you what those restrictions mean to me: > PMs from members only means I don't get dodgy, stupid, hurtful or pointless communications from anonymous imbeciles and faceless companies or spammers. If you're not a member and you want to communicate with a member, you can still do so publicly and on the boards - it's up to that member whether they wish to communicate back. If there's something that needs to be said privately, then again the non-member can post up their email address or phone number (or allude to it), then take the post down afterwards. So non-members not being able to PM is no hardship whatsoever. > Not being to do a search means you have an incentive to become a member to access a huge wealth of information and experience gathered from years and in some cases decades of experience. Now, I've shown you how to get around that using Gadgetman's Google method (which would work on other member-only forums as well), so that isn't an issue, is it? > Not being able to post in the For Sale section - again, there are ways and means around that, mainly either posting a request in the Chat area or the seller posting email / phone contact details in their ad. But it does stop tyre kickers and day dreamers from wasting the time of the seller, which is entirely the point. Last time I checked, you had to pay to advertise your car for sale in AutoTrader - members get to post ads for free, and it's targetted at the right audience too. The restriction is to stop non-members taking advantage and selling cars for free. You look at it as what others can't get for free - I look at it as what value I get for my money. If you think that the notion that there's a difference between cost and value is quaint; that I'm wrong when I disagree with giving away something of worth for free and I don't think it's right that it should be acceptable and desireable to encourage people to come through the door and add little or no value in return; and that my thoughts are from the last millennium, then I'm guilty as charged, but they are of just as much value in 2012 as they were in the 20th century or at any point in the history of free enterprise. I think your viewpoint of why it can't be free is quite naive to say the least. The reason this forum works is because it's for Westfields owners and enthusiats. Frankly, the only reason anyone would come into these forums is that they either owned a Westfield and wanted to discuss Westfields with fellow owners, or becuase they wanted to own a Westfield, in which case if they were truly serious about ownership, they would pay to join to enjoy the extra benefits therein. I don't want a free-for-all boardroom where people who have nothing to do with Westfields can crap in the sandbox. I've been on many of the other boardromms you mention, and frankly they are a mixed bag of pearls and poo. At least this boardroom has a single focus, not trying to be all things to all people and just being a maze of twaddle. How on Earth you can compare a database of knowledge, experience and advice to Facebook, Twitter and Google is a mystery - it's certainly inaccurate. Those few restrictions are no real hardship to anyone, and act as a protective screen to true owners and enthusiasts, and I for one as a paying member, enjoy them. Those time-wasters, day dreamers, Internet tough guys, basement dwellers, and tightwads who feel that because of these slight restrictions they are being hard done by can always choose to post elsewhere and deprive us of their "wisdom". Of course, members also have one other advantage - they can go into their Settings and Ignore people like me if they disagree with them... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenh Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I dont want to be drawn into a debate about whether my subscriptions should fund a webpage for the benefit of others who dont want to contribute but still wish to have the benefit of it, but one thing I will say: if the alternative is to have advertising to meet the cost of supporting the website then I would be dead against that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Of course, members also have one other advantage - they can go into their Settings and Ignore people like me if they disagree with them... Hmmm, maybe I should go and pay the membership then! Frankly, the only reason anyone would come into these forums is that they either owned a Westfield and wanted to discuss Westfields with fellow owners, or becuase they wanted to own a Westfield Yeah right. Time for Mr Pot to meet Mr Kettle me thinks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I Think there should also be a cap on where GUESTS can post IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Hmmm, maybe I should go and pay the membership then! Yeah right. Time for Mr Pot to meet Mr Kettle me thinks... I don't get into debates with people who hide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonsko Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 After all, you don't pay for facebook, you don't pay for twitter, you don't pay for google etc etc... Just as an aside, to raise this. There's a reason you don't pay for facebook etc. - YOU are their product. They make money from you by selling your details and browsing habits to advertisers. Don't think for a minute that they're free - you pay in other ways - with your personal data. For this reason I don't use FB, use a 'privacy' google index (startingpage.com) and am anonymous on twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I'm all for restricting non-members, but I don't think I'd go so far as search. It's surely quite useful for potential owners who would most likely join the club if they became an owner. Otherwise, we risk having the same questions asked over and over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I Think there should also be a cap on where GUESTS can post IMHO The irony is strong in this one! I don't get into debates with people who hide. You are contradicting yourself - therefore there is no debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Arthur Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 For this reason I don't use FB, use a 'privacy' google index (startingpage.com) and am anonymous on twitter. FWIW. But despite your background in IT security (and now camp sites), 5 minutes with Google and I probably know your name and where you live... Just making a point, I think I can hear the helicopter overhead, no malice intended Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonsko Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Haha! The helicopter is coming for YOU! I know this, because I phoned them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippydave Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 There's a work around for non member search as previously posted on this thread..... what the devil, do you need someone to hold yer ******' hand while you do it? Anything that's really free is usually worth exactly what you pay for it..... Soo, guests CAN search the forum, they just need to use a little initiative... They can't PM, fair enough I think, and they can't reply to For Sale adverts.....Big Deal...! If I post a for sale advert and I want non-members to have the option to respond it's hardly difficult to include an email address or telephone contact number in the body of the advert is it? ( I do it as a matter of course personally), but If people choose not to do this, maybe they are electing to give other members first dibs at the parts they are offering for sale. Again isn't that normal within the confines of a club or association? When I first bought a Westie, I came on here, looked around, figured out that it was a very worthwhile investment and joined up. If it's THAT IMPORTANT to you, it's hardly expensive to join.... If it's not that important, what the devil are you whining about beeetches? :laugh: 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matta Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 When I first bought a Westie, I came on here, looked around, figured out that it was a very worthwhile investment and joined up. If it's THAT IMPORTANT to you, it's hardly expensive to join.... Couldn't agree more with this. Dunno what all the fuss is about. Either you decide the forum is for you and pay up, or bu$$er off. Matt 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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