A little RRT survey

[enjenjo]

I voted for change, but I'm not sure what either. I have this feeling that we are losing people because of bordom, or because they don't think their opinion counts. I'm here to say they do matter.

I didn't, and don't have the knowledge to build or run this board, that is Fatcat's baliwick, and he has been pivotal in the success we have had. And the many people that have supported us over the years have been vital too.

I don't want this thing to get so big it loses the personal touch that we have, but without new and interesting things happening, we slowly lose participation.

Give me some ideas, and we'll see what we can do/

[Rayvyn]

Being as how I was one of the original 10 when this board started up over 11 years ago, I've witnessed that it's had a few turmoils and twists and turns, but the diligent work of a select few has kept this one of the more successful boards running. A few others have failed, and a couple of others have grown by leaps and bounds.

But as others have said, I think the most important ingredient in keeping this forum the best one out there is the people on it. Spending time together at shows, or helping each other with one project or another, or participating in the trials and tribulations of fellow members, or by just posting in a friendly jousting way, everyone seems to be friends to one degree or another.  

One knows that by posting here, he or she isn't going to get chewed up and spit out by smart alecks with attitudes for not following the "rules", or be chastized by a bunch of self important know-it-alls that look down their noses at beginners or non-conformists. Being a member of this forum is like putting on a pair of slippers, sitting by a warm fire on a chilly night and sitting back in your favorite chair while reading your latest car magazine...It's relaxing and comfortable. And informative.

I've always been behind the folks that run this board, and have supported whatever they wanted to do with it, because it's been a winner in my book for years now. But a few points that others have offered do stir my interest a bit.

An off topic section would be good to look at. And another suggestion would be to put up some kind of flashing icon when a new post is put in the OT, Tech or Classified section. This way everyone would know there's a new entry, and the listing wouldn't get buried or forgotten about as quickly. I'm the first to admit that I don't look in those listings very frequently, but would be inspired to if reminded to. And one other idea I had was maybe a Gallery or photo album section like the "members rides" listing. A collection of photos showing the members at events, building their projects, helping each other, etc., would be fun to look at, and the photos wouldn't get buried in the archives after a few days. I would say give the pictures a week or two on the regular board, then move them into the "gallery" for easier finding.

Whatever you Big Kahuna's decide to do is okay with me. But I'm still going to pick on Dave and Vance, even if it's in the OT section...

[Dave]

Whatever you Big Kahuna's decide to do is okay with me. But I'm still going to pick on Dave and Vance, even if it's in the OT section...

Thank You..
I dont really care my self. Lets face the facts were all friends here and its a close nit group> I dont ever see this board being the HAMB style board. Sure they got tons of people over there but they or i should say Ryan puts a lot of time into it.  Maybe you should tell us what your thinkin instead of asking us to vote for a change :?: Im with wzjunk. change if you must and ill go along but  :?:  :?:
Dave

[Fat Cat]

And one other idea I had was maybe a Gallery or photo album section like the "members rides" listing. A collection of photos showing the members at events, building their projects, helping each other, etc., would be fun to look at, and the photos wouldn't get buried in the archives after a few days. I would say give the pictures a week or two on the regular board, then move them into the "gallery" for easier finding.

There is a Gallery on the forum. It is located here http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/album.php it was added with the last round of forum updates.

[Rayvyn]

And one other idea I had was maybe a Gallery or photo album section like the "members rides" listing. A collection of photos showing the members at events, building their projects, helping each other, etc., would be fun to look at, and the photos wouldn't get buried in the archives after a few days. I would say give the pictures a week or two on the regular board, then move them into the "gallery" for easier finding.

There is a Gallery on the forum. It is located here http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/album.php it was added with the last round of forum updates.

Why am I always the last to know these things... :?:
Maybe if we had a flashing icon or something I would've known this...

[phat46]

I voted that i don't care either way. I would like to see more participation  and members here but i have no idea how to do that. I have noticed lately how slow things have gotten. Maybe now that it's coming into winter people will have more time to post. I also think that there is a lot of folks lurking, one i know has a huge amount of knowledge and experience. (You know who I'm talking about Fred) Maybe a post in the forum from time to time to encourage lurkers to at least introduce themselves; that might spark some good discussion if they tell us about their vehicles and experiences.

[Fat Cat]

One suggestion I've got would be to expand the Index  by adding topics like "Off Topic", "Build Progress", "Hot Tech Tips", "General car talk", specific ones for engines, transmissions, suspensions, ....whatever.

I am all for any additions that would make things more usable. My biggest reason for not making those sorts of changes in the past have been that for all the information we have here there are many people that don't even know it is here. Out of the thousands of page hits this site gets every month only 100 or so go to the tech section on the site. And most of those come to the article on building the E-Wheel and then go back to whatever forum they came from to ask questions. It is not uncommon for someone to ask a question about calculating something like tire size and gear ratios and have someone send a person to another website when there is a perfectly good calculator in the Tech section that I spent many hours on creating for them to use. The top 10 hits on this site are all related to the forum. Even the index page that I have spent many hours redesigning to welcome logged in users to the site and make more dynamic only ranks number 7 on the list of most traffic. Overall 60% of the traffic on site is directed straight to the Rodding Roundtable forum. only 12% of the overall traffic even look at the forum index at http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/index.php I would be hard pressed to see them looking at any new forums much less even knowing they are there.

Given all I have said I would like to see more participation form the users here. We have about 400 users that have signed up and never even posted a message. I would like to hear from them.

[Pep]

I think the OZRodders forum has worked it out fairly well, as a few have mentioned. You know what to expect when you venture into a specific area. "The Pub" has cleaned the general areas up a lot. The buy/sell sections have worked out well. In practice, it's just about right in all respects. Guests will only see certain sections, but full members have access and visability of all. The pub posts fade away in a couple of weeks. I think if the RRT emulates that, it will certainly re-vamp its past glory.

[Fat Cat]

And one other idea I had was maybe a Gallery or photo album section like the "members rides" listing. A collection of photos showing the members at events, building their projects, helping each other, etc., would be fun to look at, and the photos wouldn't get buried in the archives after a few days. I would say give the pictures a week or two on the regular board, then move them into the "gallery" for easier finding.

There is a Gallery on the forum. It is located here http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/album.php it was added with the last round of forum updates.

Why am I always the last to know these things... :?: :

I don't know I posted a announcement about it http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5377 You even replied on the thread

Maybe if we had a flashing icon or something I would've known this...

You mean like this http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/templates/subSilver/images/folder_new_hot.gif which indicates that there is a new reply unlike http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/templates/subSilver/images/folder_hot.gif

[Pope Downunder]

I like it just like it is.

My only problem, is my problem; that, I do not participate more.

[OldSub]

I've been reading posts here almost every day, but haven't posted anything in a while.  I wanted to vote for change and then suggest that very much change is probably a bad thing...

Forums with lots of choices aren't as friendly as those with only a few.  ChevyTalk with 50 or more forums isn't a place where you get to know very many people and it has less a feel of community.  

I've watched one forum make that kind of change and it basically disappeared.  It was a small group and once everyone was broken into smaller interest groups people hardly every interacted any more.

A smaller number of forums, like the HAMB where some things are segregated out, but most the interaction happens in one place, is my preference.  

I like the community here, and breaking it up would be a shame.

[Beck]

I used to be regular at posting here. I kind of fell away for a bit. I seemed to spend too much time on the PC and not enough time in the garage. The time I was spending here moved to the garage. Then I ran out of time for the garage too. Just to many hours at work and keeping up with life.
When I have a problem this is the place I come. I try to search for the answer before posting, but normally just can't find it. When I ask the question here some of the regulars are quick to respond with good information, which is always appreciated.
I can see the OZ folks wanting a little more local information, which would be fine. I don't think I would ever wind up in that section. I have replied to a few of the OT posts that interested me. That is fine also, but I see no reason to keep an archive of the OT posts. This is a sight set out to be automotive related so archiving the OT posts isn't a priority in my view.
I enjoyed the salt flats posts. Congratulations! I was not a part of it and am stupid about it, but I would love to go and am sure I would be hooked. (I am interested in Sumner's lakester project, how about an update ).
To many forks in the road make it easy to get lost, and hard to get back.

[ONE37TUDOR]

I voted for some changes just because I like some of the things other boards do to help get people to participate.

I see things a little differently than others that have replied to this topic in that I do not see this as one big happy family! And I also believe that that attitude is one of the things holding this board back some.

Now that I have * off most of you let me explain where I am coming from here. I am one of the outsiders and quiet often am made to feel that way. It is not anyones fault and no one here has done anything to intentionally make me feel that way. It is just that there is a large group of you that know each other and are able to associate with one another throughout the year and that is a good thing, especially for that group. However when someone new looks at the board and many of the posts appear to be full of "inside information" for lack of a better term. You can quickly loose interest and move on. That is in my opinion the downside to the "family" aspect of anything you are trying to grow with outsiders. After all you will only be able to grow your close family at a slow rate?

Having said all that I still think this is the best board I visit! Has the best group of people and as was stated earlier you usually get an answer to your question.
As for the changes I would like to see; It appears the HAMB is able to get user participation by having a "TECH WEEK" from time to time, that may work here? Also on another board each member is asked to post an update no what they have been up to every so often and replies do not have to be about their ongoing project they can be about anything. It is just something to help get more people involved. I have seen posts on here where people are asked what they do for an occupation? Or to show photos of their shop or home, anything to get a response and more importantly to make everyone feel more a part of the "Family"
Please do not separate posts into individual categories! two or three are ok but when you have separate areas for engine, body, glass, tailpipes and on and on it gets to be way to much for me.

I will go back to sleep now.

Scott...

[40]

I've been around a while and quite honestly haven't had the time to check out most of the features Frank has added this last go-round....As my business slows down for the Winter,I fully intend to explore it completely.I think segregating the Classifieds and Photo Gallery are fine but I hope the forum doesn't get broken down into too many segments so that it's hard to follow. As someone said in an earlier post,Chevy Talk is a good example of a site being broken down into so many different areas that each section has developed it's own following and is almost like separate message boards.Personally,I like the posts of various topics displayed on the same page....A little car info and a little BS! It really does make it more fun when you can put a face to the screen name.....I have met many wonderful people on the RRT and would encourage anyone here to try and attend our "get togethers" whenever they can....you'll be glad you did! I'll certainly adjust to whatever is in the best interest of the RRT....I plan on hanging around for the long haul!

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I think a "for sale" forum and a "wanted forum" similar to the HAMB would be something to consider. The current ads area is somewhat cumbersome to use IMHO.

Maybe a tech forum - might encourage the how-to type posts.

Just a couple thoughts.

Charlie

interesting.

I feel our classified section here is tops. Different sections that cover most automobile items........  The HAMB has 2 sections : " For sale & Wanted"

A few  cliks here and you have the ad placed.... with photo too.