Site Upgrade - Finally!

[Frank Bullitt]

36 minutes ago, Noz said:

Well we have the new forum. Which is way cooler and I'm super happy with it.

But all of the other stuffs you talk about. How would YOU do it differently.

You know my Aspy/OCD attention to detail dude, not giving anything away and certainly not doing the mods job for them. If they lack the gumption and foresight that isn’t my problem. 

27 minutes ago, Josh42 said:

I

In answer to your question of “how hard is it to spend time looking for new traders”, surprisingly hard.

 

We’re not looking to open the gates to anyone who’s once wielded a spanner. It’s about finding the right people, who offer something to the forum. Look at the likes of SRD as an example. Committed to delivering impeccable service and engaging on a technical level with the member base.

You also need to take into account the impact of COVID on people’s finances and therefore their ability to justify spending money to take on trader membership.

I took on the responsibility for traders during the reform of the structure. That meant weeding out the deadwood, along with reaching out to those still supporting the club to see what could be done to further support their business and in turn provide our member base with added benefits.

if you have any suggestions of trusted traders who I can approach, by all means, send them my way, but otherwise, I feel it’s unfair to criticise.

On the point of moderators not being around, we have the ability to view in ghost mode, which a lot of us do. So just because you can’t see us, does not mean we’re not here.

Sorry Josh but those are the same excuses that have been peddled out for years and being perfectly blunt, it’s bullshit that we are all tired of reading as that excuse wore thin years ago.

I don’t believe anyone was suggesting new grease monkeys and no offence intended to Harry but replacing Heckler is hardly an amazing feat. If you have been doing leg work you claim you have then maybe try interacting with the member base by giving the forum feedback on a regular basis with regular updates. This would be a good start rather than playing your cards so close to your chest and hiding in “ghost mode” which is yet another excuse from days gone by when lack of mod presence has been noted.

Impact of Covid! How long do you need? This has been ongoing since ‘18 as that is when this change was first muted. As for falling back on Covid, phone calls and email were heavily effected weren’t they.

Weeding out the dead wood?! There wasn’t any in the first place which is why the revamp happened as this place is a shell of its former glory and still is. Nothing has changed.

Finding new trading blood for the forum should be about thinking outside the box, looking at what is going on the Supra world and listening to members. If you can’t do that then maybe it’s time to hand over the reigns to people who can and who are willing to spend their free time being proactive and showing gumption rather than falling back on old excuses.

Why sold anyone be giving you suggestions is beyond me. So you can take the credit for their ideas? Tell you now, that ain’t going to happen.

You can feel what you like about a situation but feelings don’t change facts. Why would I or any other of the ten members who stepped forward and offered up free time, who JB listed, continue down this path when no courtesy was ever afforded one of us.

[Josh42]

1 hour ago, Frank Bullitt said:

You know my Aspy/OCD attention to detail dude, not giving anything away and certainly not doing the mods job for them. If they lack the gumption and foresight that isn’t my problem. 

Sorry Josh but those are the same excuses that have been peddled out for years and being perfectly blunt, it’s bullshit that we are all tired of reading as that excuse wore thin years ago.

I don’t believe anyone was suggesting new grease monkeys and no offence intended to Harry but replacing Heckler is hardly an amazing feat. If you have been doing leg work you claim you have then maybe try interacting with the member base by giving the forum feedback on a regular basis with regular updates. This would be a good start rather than playing your cards so close to your chest and hiding in “ghost mode” which is yet another excuse from days gone by when lack of mod presence has been noted.

Impact of Covid! How long do you need? This has been ongoing since ‘18 as that is when this change was first muted. As for falling back on Covid, phone calls and email were heavily effected weren’t they.

Weeding out the dead wood?! There wasn’t any in the first place which is why the revamp happened as this place is a shell of its former glory and still is. Nothing has changed.

Finding new trading blood for the forum should be about thinking outside the box, looking at what is going on the Supra world and listening to members. If you can’t do that then maybe it’s time to hand over the reigns to people who can and who are willing to spend their free time being proactive and showing gumption rather than falling back on old excuses.

Why sold anyone be giving you suggestions is beyond me. So you can take the credit for their ideas? Tell you now, that ain’t going to happen.

You can feel what you like about a situation but feelings don’t change facts. Why would I or any other of the ten members who stepped forward and offered up free time, who JB listed, continue down this path when no courtesy was ever afforded one of us.

I would tend to disagree. Having only been involved with the trader memberships since July last year, I have not “peddled out” the same excuses previously. I’ve certainly not sat on this for years, as you so eloquently put it.

Had you bothered to read my initial post in full, rather than selectively reading it, you will see that I justified my comment regarding COVID by explaining that companies (in some instances) are not prepared/are unable to part with cash when their own finances are unstable/their business has seen unprecedented levels of disruption. This is nothing to do with phone calls and emails.

Regarding my comments on weeding out the deadwood, It’s interesting that you claim there was none. I therefore call into question how much attention you actually paid to the traders section, prior to our significant prune. There were a number of non-active traders who had not been engaged for some time. There were also some who no longer offered a benefit to the forum and therefore were removed by mutual agreement. 
 

Finding new traders is also about finding people who are prepared to pay to advertise their services via our forum in return for increased visibility, custom and engagement. I can assure you, there’s plenty of “thinking outside the box” going on, with consideration to what’s going on with the market and the type of owners we are likely to see moving forward. There are no excuses here - I don’t see I’ve made any?

It isn’t about keeping my cards close to my chest, there is plenty of dialogue that goes on behind the scenes and as and when things look to be in a position to move forward, the member base is told. What would you prefer? Notification every time I email an organisation and request support?

I find your last statement somewhat hypocritical. None of the moderation team here takes any credit, reward or gains anything from ensuring this forum continues to operate. Myself included. I certainly do not look for a pat on the back for doing what I volunteered to do, for the love of the marque.

My point being, if you are happy to criticise, while offering nothing in the way of constructive support (whilst masking it as a love for the forum), you’re actually just moaning for the sake of it and I don’t see what you’re hoping to achieve?

If you wish to discuss further, feel free to PM me.

[rider]

35 minutes ago, Frank Bullitt said:

You can feel what you like about a situation but feelings don’t change facts. Why would I or any other of the ten members who stepped forward and offered up free time, who JB listed, continue down this path when no courtesy was ever afforded one of us.

That was a bit unusual and you'd, well I'd imagine a bit demotivational for those who did step out of the shadows to volunteer their services freely to then not even be told why it turned into a false prospectus. Or maybe some were told away from the gaze of the forum, I like the sound of this ghost mode - its a creeping reality.

Edited May 6, 2021 by rider (see edit history)

[Noz]

1 hour ago, tayr said:

@Noz has mkivsupra.net set as his homepage.. so not a bad idea

lol it is actually that embarrassing. Bet they can see it too. Now I feel like teachers pet.

I'd make a great mod. I ban so many of you moaning little buggers right away.

[Mo Reviews]

I’d like to ban myself sometimes...

[Noz]

Just now, Mo Reviews said:

I’d like to ban myself sometimes...

You aren't on top of the list.

You've got your own list.

LOL

[Mo Reviews]

27 minutes ago, Noz said:

You aren't on top of the list.

You've got your own list.

LOL

I like the sound of that!

[tayr]

51 minutes ago, Mo Reviews said:

I like the sound of that!

"special" list 

[Mo Reviews]

29 minutes ago, tayr said:

"special" list 

You’re only jealous.

[Tyson]

5 hours ago, Frank Bullitt said:

@Tyson It’s not just events. Apart from you there is a complete lack of moderation from the Yellow to Red team. Again!

I guess we should be happy that the swap to the new forum has stopped the Viagra spammers and Rolex watch sellers. Some you win, some you loose.

No input, no posting, no interaction and no new traders to name a few. How hard is it to spend time looking to find new traders and new services to advertise on the forum...

It comes as no surprise you have trouble keeping on top of things (despite the lack of spammers) doing it alone. This is with members reporting posts.

There is no-one keeping an eye on the for sale sections to make sure all threads meet the forum standards/rules for posting.

This promise of injecting new life into the forum has been ongoing since July ‘18 - https://www.mkivsupra.net/topic/240875-mods-and-events-orgs-refresh/?tab=comments#comment-3479016

Which had a brief resurgence in August ‘19 - https://www.mkivsupra.net/topic/243597-new-mods-and-events-orgs/?tab=comments#comment-3503013

Followed by a gentle reminder in December ‘19 - https://www.mkivsupra.net/topic/244364-new-mods-and-events-orgs/?tab=comments#comment-3508724

That’s coming up three years of inactivity and empty promises...

 

 

There is input from all of the team, not just me. @mawby @Steve are always in the background fixing technical things, @Josh42 is working with hobbyists and traders to inject more vitality into the forum and the rest of us are on here and doing things that aren't visible to everyone. There's the club email to monitor, there's the contact us section of the forum (The new home viagra spammers), some manual account moderation still has to happen and more. Which based on the fact we all have full time jobs, families, hobbies, some of the team run their own businesses, means that we can't be on everyday and spend endless hours trawling every single post on the forum. Post edits don't appear in the activity feed, so would the expectation that someone looks at every post every day in the classifieds to see if there has been an edit?

You mentioned that mods don't add much regular content to the forum but we shouldn't just be adding content for the sake of content. If your activity feed is just full of "I had beans for breakfast" added just for the sake of posting, people will just stop coming. I'd rather have a dozen interesting posts than 30 posts of pointless drivel.

[Noz]

Those viagra spammers need to get in line and apply for hobbyist status like the rest of us.

[Frank Bullitt]

1 hour ago, Josh42 said:

I would tend to disagree. Having only been involved with the trader memberships since July last year, I have not “peddled out” the same excuses previously. I’ve certainly not sat on this for years, as you so eloquently put it.

Had you bothered to read my initial post in full, rather than selectively reading it, you will see that I justified my comment regarding COVID by explaining that companies (in some instances) are not prepared/are unable to part with cash when their own finances are unstable/their business has seen unprecedented levels of disruption. This is nothing to do with phone calls and emails.

Regarding my comments on weeding out the deadwood, It’s interesting that you claim there was none. I therefore call into question how much attention you actually paid to the traders section, prior to our significant prune. There were a number of non-active traders who had not been engaged for some time. There were also some who no longer offered a benefit to the forum and therefore were removed by mutual agreement. 
 

Finding new traders is also about finding people who are prepared to pay to advertise their services via our forum in return for increased visibility, custom and engagement. I can assure you, there’s plenty of “thinking outside the box” going on, with consideration to what’s going on with the market and the type of owners we are likely to see moving forward. There are no excuses here - I don’t see I’ve made any?

It isn’t about keeping my cards close to my chest, there is plenty of dialogue that goes on behind the scenes and as and when things look to be in a position to move forward, the member base is told. What would you prefer? Notification every time I email an organisation and request support?

I find you last statement somewhat hypocritical. None of the moderation team here takes any credit, reward or gains anything from ensuring this forum continues to operate. Myself included. I certainly do not look for a pat on the back for doing what I volunteered to do, for the love of the marque.

My point being, if you are happy to criticise, while offering nothing in the way of constructive support (whilst masking it as a love for the forum), you’re actually just moaning for the sake of it and I don’t see what you’re hoping to achieve?

If you wish to discuss further, feel free to PM me.

You're moving the goalposts so much I don't know where I'm aiming anymore but I'll give it a go.

Pot, kettle, black Padawan. I read your post, thoroughly dissected it, then replied to each point in turn. There was nothing selective about it.

If Covid was detrimental to traders, which in turn will have a knock on effect on forum activity, why weren’t they being offered a deal? A sweetener to get them onboard during harder times knowing their business could do with a cash injection. Knowing full well their service would be appreciated and used by members so when things were back to normal they could pay a normal rate. Covid was the excuse you made.

By your own admission there were a number of non-active traders, some whom no longer offered a benefit to the forum. Well no shit Sherlock, tell us something we didn’t know. It’s the main reason the forum was dead, which is one of the things everyone was complaining about. So you are crediting yourself with what exactly. Prettying up the forum?

It’s not about what I want, it’s what is good for the members and the forum. Something that should be at the forefront. After all, forum does mean a public meeting or lecture involving audience discussion. So yes, a section in the paid members part of the forum letting us all know what is going on behind the scenes would be a great way to interact. It would help keep interest alive. Or just stick with “Ghost Mode” and letting us know when decisions have been made on our behalf, the choice is yours.

I didn’t say anything about the moderation team, my comment was about PMing ideas to the mod who is in charge of organising the trader section. Essentially doing his job for him. I would hope any members doing this are publicly credited and thanked for doing so.

You say I am happy to criticise, while offering nothing in the way of constructive support whilst also masking it as love for the forum. Maybe you need to go back and look at the links I provided to JB’s threads.

You don’t see what I or any of the other members that use this forum are hoping to achieve? To keep this place alive and kicking, that’s what.

With regards to your offer of a PM, no thanks. I know what messages can be like and perhaps it’s the use of message platforms and other nefarious practices that are causing issues when trying to find traders who want to deal with our forum.

ATB it’s great to have a healthy discussion

[Frank Bullitt]

2 hours ago, Noz said:

lol it is actually that embarrassing. Bet they can see it too. Now I feel like teachers pet.

I'd make a great mod. I’d bum so many of you moaning little buggers right away.

What is it with you lately? Not getting any

[Frank Bullitt]

7 minutes ago, Noz said:

Those viagra spammers need to get in line and apply for hobbyist status like the rest of us.

Wouldn’t they be stiffer competition?

[Frank Bullitt]

2 hours ago, Tyson said:

There is input from all of the team, not just me. @mawby @Steve are always in the background fixing technical things, @Josh42 is working with hobbyists and traders to inject more vitality into the forum and the rest of us are on here and doing things that aren't visible to everyone. There's the club email to monitor, there's the contact us section of the forum (The new home viagra spammers), some manual account moderation still has to happen and more. Which based on the fact we all have full time jobs, families, hobbies, some of the team run their own businesses, means that we can't be on everyday and spend endless hours trawling every single post on the forum. Post edits don't appear in the activity feed, so would the expectation that someone looks at every post every day in the classifieds to see if there has been an edit?

You mentioned that mods don't add much regular content to the forum but we shouldn't just be adding content for the sake of content. If your activity feed is just full of "I had beans for breakfast" added just for the sake of posting, people will just stop coming. I'd rather have a dozen interesting posts than 30 posts of pointless drivel.

I understand that Mike. I get what the old guard (red) do behind the scenes. My gripe is at the lack of change, lack of moderation, lack of consistency, lack of input, lack of progress, lack of interaction, lack of enforcing basic forum rules. I could go on but we have heard this all before.

No offence intended but this “working” behind the scenes has become an intrenched patter that is rolled out along with full time jobs, families, hobbies and own businesses. No one is asking for you guys (yellow) to be on 24/7 365 but if a rota and simple moderating duties can’t be worked out between you to maintain a decent forum presence and these reasons are constantly being bought up as a defence, then perhaps people need to stand aside, pass the torch on and allow the forum to flourish rather than continue to add to it’s decline. But some of us love that power just a little too much.

What I find amazing is that it is the same mods defending the lack of change and progress and the same mods perceived to not be pulling their weight defending their lack of progress, change and input.

No one cares about what you ate for breakfast unless it was a homemade curry from Dunk but how hard is it to pop on and post relevant news stories, scour the net for videos to post. It doesn’t have to be Supra related just automotive.

Examples below.

https://www.mkivsupra.net/topic/241370-speedhunters-wider-is-better-trd’s-3000gt/

https://www.mkivsupra.net/topic/243604-rebuilding-a-flooded-supra-youtube-series/?tab=comments#comment-3507283

https://www.mkivsupra.net/topic/244448-toyota-built-a-mini-nurburgring-replica-in-japan-for-itself/?tab=comments#comment-3510587

https://www.mkivsupra.net/topic/246142-mk2-jaguar-quotproject-utahquot-by-retropower/?tab=comments#comment-3525342

 

[Mo Reviews]

I wonder if a simple RSS feed would help nudge things?

[Thorin]

20 hours ago, Frank Bullitt said:

Finding new trading blood for the forum should be about thinking outside the box, looking at what is going on the Supra world and listening to members. If you can’t do that then maybe it’s time to hand over the reigns to people who can and who are willing to spend their free time being proactive and showing gumption rather than falling back on old excuses.

Wow sounds so easy, just think outside the box! Why didn't anyone else think of that!?

So, any suggestions then? No?

[Guigsy]

Oh please.  Your complaining about lack of events? Have you been living under a rock for the past year and a half?

 

Before covid there were road trips and events. The Dragonball was the main one.

We had ace cafe meets too. I'm pretty sure there was a nurburgring trip each year. But that not my kind of thing.

Then we have had the s club party thing. The anniversary meets. The meet when the Mk5 launched.

I forget which show it was but it was held at the NEC we attended each year too. And several others.

Many of these. Dragonball and the sclub party are, as far as I know subsidised by the club, and the organisers take a lot of time doing things from car graphics. To map routes, to welcome packs. As well as coralling a bunch of idiots arround Europe.

The reason there are less people using the forum than 5 years ago? Supra prices. These are not £2k Na's any more.  They are 10k Na's.  People who have even 7k for a rough na auto are gonna buy something else. Something newer and something faster.  And the people who REALY want a supra have the money to wait and buy the car they actually want. More people are selling cars and less people are buying.  It's got nothing to do with the structure of the club or those running it.

 

And all these positions like executives and it managers and social media people etc. Where are we going to get them? (We have some of them already, but whatever) From this forum that apparently doesn't care and has no activity? At that rate nyone who uses the forum will be a board member in some way. Branners is our chief. Manages a lot of the club stuff. Has done for many years and does the social media. And I think does a damn good job. Mawby does some of the IT stuff and is the reason we have this new forum.

 

In my opinion the club shouldn't be a business. I don't want your endless email and Facebook posts about membership or events. The forum is somewhere I want interesting posts. Knowledge articles.help posts. Posts about meets. Facebook is fine. But it's shit and a great number of things. I hate selling or buying on there. Nobody puts up a fucking price and if they do it's £2000 for a 3 spoke steering wheel. Or 500 quid for a dash panel.

It's ok to announce meets and stuff but bad at other things unless you create a separate group for the meet.  

And God forbid this club ever gets a fucking ticktock account...

If I see "is that a supra" on any social media anywhere. I instantly downvote or angry react or whatever. It's so fucking annoying.

Facebook is also crap at help articles and knowledge things. Because once any time passes you can't find them.  Same for pictures.  Just the other day I was looking through my posts on here grabbing pictures of my old cars I didn't have from 10 years ago.  

A post from 8 years ago made me realise my alternator was gone. You don't get that with Facebook. 

The post about brake lines rotting through (happened to me) people also occasionally post in and that's been there god knows how long. Again. Something Facebook can't provide.

And what happens if for some reason Facebook goes away. Without the forum we wouldn't have anything.

Facebook is important. But so is this site.  I think the site runs fine.  I don't use it as much as I did. But it's because I don't need to. Announce events on Facebook. Link people to the forum for more info and discussion.  I'm sure the mods and people running the site would like some help. But we don't need to wipe the slate. Or restructure everything or run it like a business. This is a place of community. Not a business. I think that would be a bad route to take.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Guigsy (see edit history)

[rider]

5 minutes ago, Guigsy said:

This is a place of community. Not a business. I think that would be a bad route to take.

You make a very good and impassioned case for the status quo. How is that working out? Direction of travel? Interaction levels? Ghost mode? 

[Josh42]

1 hour ago, rider said:

You make a very good and impassioned case for the status quo. How is that working out? Direction of travel? Interaction levels? Ghost mode? 

Barry, I’m not sure what your obsession with the ghost mode is - you realise it’s not mod specific and you can also do it, don’t you?

[SPG]

i can’t lie, I’m in it for the power and status. 

 

 

[Tyson]

10 minutes ago, SPG said:

i can’t lie, I’m in it for the power and status. 

 

 

Doesn't surprise me to be honest. 

[Tyson]

12 minutes ago, SPG said:

i can’t lie, I’m in it for the power and status. 

 

 

Damn, did we get the rota mixed up? I thought I was doing the graveyard shift?

[SPG]

1 minute ago, Tyson said:

Damn, did we get the rota mixed up? I thought I was doing the graveyard shift?

I was trying my best to reinstate the NSFW section, some of my best posts are in there. 

[Tyson]

2 minutes ago, SPG said:

I was trying my best to reinstate the NSFW section, some of my best posts are in there. 

Well it is past the watershed....