Polls: Tell us about new forums

[EffBee]

There are two items (four questions) we’d like your feedback on. The first is about the new Where To forum that we instituted recently. The second is about a possible Do-It-Yourself forum where members could submit step-by-step procedures, with photos, on how to do some of the basic servicing on BMW RT motorcycles. Please help by answering honestly.

[Twisties]

w/r to the how to questions:

 

M/C FAQ

 

It hasn't been maintained. There are lots of how to posts existing in the forums, but no one has pinned them, or archived them in a usable manner. I see these on other forums, and find them useful. Today I learned how to replace spark plugs and valve cover gasket on my Maxima. Mechanic wants $500 labor to do that.

 

w/r to the Where To forums... destined to become hopelessly cluttered and effectively useless, IMHO. But I would love to hear your view.

 

w/r to a question you did not ask, I am finding the expansion of the site into many more forums to be a negative, personally. I really liked the clean simple design of the past.

[EffBee]

MC FAQ hasn’t been maintained for the past 10 years. We’ve deemed it terminal and are looking at other solutions within the forums, “Where To” being one of them. Eventually the FAQ page will disappear as will other main page links, to be restructured and resurrected elsewhere. As for Where To eventually becoming "hopelessly cluttered," the same situation would have befallen an FAQ page had it been front-and-center and continuously updated but not maintained. Our goal is to keep Where To current, keep the members involved in its growth and evolution, and to prune dead links as we learn of them.

 

Nope, no one pinned previous DIY discussions, although many are still searchable. At one time we had a group of members assigned “Tech Mod” status, and for a variety of reasons (no blame) their total contributions were pretty much zippo. We’re looking to see if there's a member desire for DIY forum. If there is, we intend to keep it front and center and see how much the membership wants to grow it. Certainly links to older discussions or photo-filled how-to posts are valid contributions, barring newer and better contributions. So are links to videos that many dealers have created (usually posted on You Tube) that will help BMW owners with basic procedures. And, of course, new member submissions are always welcome. As you can see from your Maxima example, you can learn a lot and save quite a bit. Members who save money by being on this board tend to share when we ask for contributions to help cover the website's hosting fees. BTW, that's coming up Jan.

 

The number of forums has not increased by much, but it does come about through analysis, Admin Team discussion, member suggestions and a desire to expand the appeal of the board. The UnRally forum was always at the top. The next one about Future Unrallies came about from your personal suggestion that we lay out the UnRally proposal submission criteria. That and asking members to keep an eye out during their travels for potential UnRally locations both east and west, brought about that forum. Thank you.

 

Dealer Events needs tending. We will, and if the dealers don't respond, it will get axed. (paraphrasing) You can lead a dealer to the free event promotion forum, but you can't make him post there. Possible reduction of one forum.

 

Rider Needs Help came from member requests. It has humanitarian and possibly life-saving potential, is out front and immediately noticeable as well as providing a location for rapid and centralized communication in case of an emergency, and I don’t think anyone wants to see it go. It may never save a life. But if it saves just one, or creates quicker response and gets a member to medical care faster, it will have been worth the little empty space it currently occupies.

 

Trailering used to be a full forum, while Product Reviews was a subforum. They’ve just changed positions is all. Net change here is zero.

 

With the growing number of members who own both an RT and a GS, Gelande Strasse was added to provide a place for their dual-sport discussions.

 

Moto Photo offers a place for our members to show off their photographic skills. You’re quite the accomplished photographer and we’ve all seen your work. Outstanding. Of all our members, this forum probably suits you better than anyone.

 

Classified History was where the Admin Team was storing completed transactions. We thought it best to make these visible as a reference, in order to let members search an unknown seller’s sales history prior to committing to a transaction. Kind of an added safety feature.

 

So there it is. I'm sure opinions differ. But this is what the current Admin Team feels is a good mix of forums. Still, we're not done looking for ways to make the site better, to offer members more value, to bring the community closer, and to ensure the website's continued growth.

 

 

 

 

[Mister Tee]

Question #3 is a bit odd.

 

"I think a DIY forum is a great idea" and

 

"I don't think many members are interested in doing their own work"

 

are not mutually exclusive. I think a lot of members ARE interested in doing their own work, but that seems to be already addressed mostly in the bike model forums. Not that having a quick ready reference is a bad idea.

 

Same with a Where To forum. The Concours board has one of those, and it doesn't get as much use as the setup and update time justifies.

[EffBee]

Thank you for your input. I understand where you're coming from.

 

For clarification, the Where To forum is structured in a way to preserve the formatting integrity, so that it doesn't become a collection of haphazardly structured links that can't be easily searched. Therefore it is Read Only and when it is accessed, there will be no trail of it having been used. However, it can be used, referred to, linked to, etc. all to help out a fellow member. Case in point: this morning I responded to a new member who just purchased a used RT and thinks he might ride it from CA to FL for the winter. In suggesting that a custom seat might be in order, I created a link to all of the custom seat makers listed in Where To. I hope he uses it, but we'll never know if he did or not. It's one of those things that you have to believe helps, unless you create a poll like the one above in order to see whether the members believe it has value. As for the setup and maintenance time, when we get a member submission of a product or services link, it takes about 30 seconds for us to add the link and give the member a little credit in the Forum Updates thread.

 

A DIY forum, if we decide to create one, will be populated by direct member submissions. The development of the forum's parameters is in the early stages of Admin discussion (thus the poll asking for member input), and we don't know if we'll limit each procedure to one post deemed most accurate, or whether we'll allow 14 different posts on how to check your oil. There are pros and cons.

 

No forum is completely sacred. We just want to make sure that the ones we have provide value, are routinely used (except for the Rider Needs Help forum) and make this website someplace you want to visit because your friends are here and it enhances your motorcycling knowledge and experience.

[Dave_in_TX]

w/r to the how to questions:

w/r to a question you did not ask, I am finding the expansion of the site into many more forums to be a negative, personally. I really liked the clean simple design of the past.

 

+1

[Heyfrank]

Possible DIY forum, contributions. Some people are not to teck savvy. Pictures would be great but unless we try successfuly to post them we can't contribute accurately. The MOA. has a great forum for this. If we have the same that would be great. Sort of like the links on top of forum page were you have brake bleeding by Lesly.

[BFish]

responded and thought they were all good questions and topics.

[Twisties]

MC FAQ hasn’t been maintained for the past 10 years. We’ve deemed it terminal and are looking at other solutions within the forums, “Where To” being one of them. Eventually the FAQ page will disappear as will other main page links, to be restructured and resurrected elsewhere. As for Where To eventually becoming "hopelessly cluttered," the same situation would have befallen an FAQ page had it been front-and-center and continuously updated but not maintained. Our goal is to keep Where To current, keep the members involved in its growth and evolution, and to prune dead links as we learn of them.

 

Nope, no one pinned previous DIY discussions, although many are still searchable. At one time we had a group of members assigned “Tech Mod” status, and for a variety of reasons (no blame) their total contributions were pretty much zippo. We’re looking to see if there's a member desire for DIY forum. If there is, we intend to keep it front and center and see how much the membership wants to grow it. Certainly links to older discussions or photo-filled how-to posts are valid contributions, barring newer and better contributions. So are links to videos that many dealers have created (usually posted on You Tube) that will help BMW owners with basic procedures. And, of course, new member submissions are always welcome. As you can see from your Maxima example, you can learn a lot and save quite a bit. Members who save money by being on this board tend to share when we ask for contributions to help cover the website's hosting fees. BTW, that's coming up Jan.

 

The number of forums has not increased by much, but it does come about through analysis, Admin Team discussion, member suggestions and a desire to expand the appeal of the board. The UnRally forum was always at the top. The next one about Future Unrallies came about from your personal suggestion that we lay out the UnRally proposal submission criteria. That and asking members to keep an eye out during their travels for potential UnRally locations both east and west, brought about that forum. Thank you.

 

Dealer Events needs tending. We will, and if the dealers don't respond, it will get axed. (paraphrasing) You can lead a dealer to the free event promotion forum, but you can't make him post there. Possible reduction of one forum.

 

Rider Needs Help came from member requests. It has humanitarian and possibly life-saving potential, is out front and immediately noticeable as well as providing a location for rapid and centralized communication in case of an emergency, and I don’t think anyone wants to see it go. It may never save a life. But if it saves just one, or creates quicker response and gets a member to medical care faster, it will have been worth the little empty space it currently occupies.

 

Trailering used to be a full forum, while Product Reviews was a subforum. They’ve just changed positions is all. Net change here is zero.

 

With the growing number of members who own both an RT and a GS, Gelande Strasse was added to provide a place for their dual-sport discussions.

 

Moto Photo offers a place for our members to show off their photographic skills. You’re quite the accomplished photographer and we’ve all seen your work. Outstanding. Of all our members, this forum probably suits you better than anyone.

 

Classified History was where the Admin Team was storing completed transactions. We thought it best to make these visible as a reference, in order to let members search an unknown seller’s sales history prior to committing to a transaction. Kind of an added safety feature.

 

So there it is. I'm sure opinions differ. But this is what the current Admin Team feels is a good mix of forums. Still, we're not done looking for ways to make the site better, to offer members more value, to bring the community closer, and to ensure the website's continued growth.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the detailed insight into your thoughts and the direction we can expect. It is good see some energy going into the board. I find the moderator attitude has changed for the better, and this kind of inclusiveness is a huge change, and most refreshing. We'll have to talk next time we are both at the same event.

 

 

[g_frey]

I like the FAQ forum as an introduction for newbies.

[Mike]

I find the moderator attitude has changed for the better....

 

We're gonna have to work on that.

[Bud]

A little off topic but.....

 

In the Info and Sharing area, why isn't Riders Discuss Other Topics at the very top? After all it has the most threads and the most posts. Seems like it is #1 and should be first.

 

At least I think I recall you saying that was your method when rearranging topics.

[Matts_12GS]

meh, not a fan of the new layout...

[EffBee]

A little off topic but.....

 

In the Info and Sharing area, why isn't Riders Discuss Other Topics at the very top? After all it has the most threads and the most posts. Seems like it is #1 and should be first.

 

At least I think I recall you saying that was your method when rearranging topics.

 

Took a look at it, Bud, Kind of agree with you, although given that Product Reviews is more motorcycle related than Other Topics, I decided to keep it first and move OT up to second. That should work out better. Thank you for the suggestion.