Keeping the forum private (or not !)

I must admit I only ever look at the forum, never at the rest of the site.

I also joined the Club as soon as possible after aquiring 'Burt' so I could access the various meets and Forum as I remember how useful the ideas and information was in the Club Magazine when I last had a Exx (before the days of WWW). Having ready access to some experienced Exx owner/maintainers has been worth every penny of the membership, and I have another good reason to go to North Wales!!

Judging by this thread, this seems to be a typical story, but as you had already bought the car, you were in a sense a captive audience. I've just sold mine, and I've been looking around to see what else to buy. If I go to an owner's club website, I look at the forum to see what it's like, and I also look to see if there is a page or an easy-to-find thread "what to look for if you want to buy one of these". It's surprising (to me, anyway) how few clubs have a page/pinned thread like this. Tiff's ebay topic or something similar should be on this site, easily seen and available to members/non-members. If someone is equipped with this sort of knowledge, they will be more confident in buying the car, and once they've bought the car they're much more likely to join the club. In other words, tempting people to join the club is a little too late, we need to do as much as possible to tempt them to buy the car. That's my theory, anyway Maybe the club already has something like this, and I haven't seen it because I only look at the forums: if so, apologies!

Jon

Hi guys

As a new member to the club, world of X1/9's etc my feeling are;

The forum should be kept private to the members of the club because we make the club/forum what it is today. Every club you want to be a member of from a model railway to a rugby club has a membership fee which allows you certain privilages and this forum is one of those. I take it that it costs money to run this website and forum? If we allow the general public to view the information on this forum without paying the (very cheap) membership fee the forum just would not exist as there's no incentive to join the club.
As regard the homepage area. Yes I agree with Jon that we need something that temps people to buy the car like Tiff's Ebay guide. Just look at all the brochures that car companies produce to get you to buy one of their cars. we're no different, we want people to buy the car, to enjoy it etc and of course join the club.
Some information about the origins of the car, details of Mr Bertone prehaps and yes definately keep car of the month going! Its great to see other peoples cars especially if they are the other side of the world. Prehaps a front page showing a car so people know exactly what car/club they are looking at? The different models made so a prospective buyer will know what he's looking at etc.
The one thing I have found extreamly useful are the past issues of the club magazine on the site. Ive downloaded a few of these because have loads of information about the car so I can print them off and use while I'm doing whatever service on the car.

Sorry to go on, been here before.... :oops:

When I eventually was in a position to buy an X1/9 I came to the OC website via a Google search and I was able at the time to view and print the FAQ of which I did (I still have it actually in the now tatty ring file pockets I 'borrowed' from work). Not long after I joined the club I noticed that this was no longer possible and thought myself quite lucky to have ben able to get hold of that article. I found it very useful to have when looking for one. That said I bought the first one I saw :roll:
I think a buyers guide such as Tiffs would be a great way to introduce people to the X1/9 and avoid buying a 'nice looking' POS.
A way to show casual browsers/future owners and members the benefits of joining the club and accessing the forum without the club 'putting out' for nowt would be good.

Jon,

I think you are right in that we are also looking to tempt people into the pleasures (don't mention the pain) of owning an Exx as well as those like myself that were already converts but want to gain experience from other users. I have also already suggested in the Ebay Guide post that perhaps Tiff's efforts should also be available for public view in the Website.

Taking Dave's comments about the FAQ, could we (that's the Royal we as I mean the webmasters!) take selected old posts and put them into a public access area so they can see the sort of stuff that is available in the Forum?

I would say the magazine is the heart & sole of this club........you don't realise that most members don't use the forum so first contact is mag but that's another issue :roll:

First thing to spring to mind was....no don't do it.........
But, if some of the forum were to be opened for viewing by non members with the prime reasons/ gains by the club of advertising, then so be it....
Personally I don't believe the net gains are worth the 'loss' of even displaying key technical data.
However, thinking of the club.....which is about the car afterall.....issues become a little more complex.

I think there are others things on the club website that are more suited to properly promoting the club to the outside world.

I know this question has been raised time and time again....it'll be raised for as many times as new faces come onto the committee. I don't think it being raised is a bad thing. In fact, it's a healthy thing. a very healthy thing for the committee to re evaluate key aspects from time to time.......

just dont do anything daft on committee meeting day and go and loose the plot for the sake of making a decision on that day please. :roll: ....there must be other things as well that need sorting