Author Topic: Is our Forum Growing?  (Read 22884 times)

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Offline brider

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #15 on: April 22, 2014, 10:13:06 PM »
 ;D

I am deeeply offended.   :'(
Ok guys, some of you will take this the wrong way but understand I am trying to make you see the situation clearly...

 
I know better than to ask, but why is Bill offended?  ???
Just to give you grief.   ;D   No other reason. 
 
 
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Offline Patmo

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #16 on: April 23, 2014, 06:43:35 AM »
;D

I am deeeply offended.   :'(
Ok guys, some of you will take this the wrong way but understand I am trying to make you see the situation clearly...

 
I know better than to ask, but why is Bill offended?  ???
Just to give you grief.   ;D   No other reason.


Jay.....you should know better by now..... ::)

 ;D
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Offline Patmo

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #17 on: April 23, 2014, 08:44:48 AM »
The question of why or why not is this forum growing is directly tied into why do we even have this forum?  What is its purpose?  Why club membership has continued to slip is the other question that feeds into the first question.


If I remember correctly, one of the reasons suggested for needing a forum like this was that it would help with attracting new members to the club.  By making this an open forum, potential club members would be able to get to know the club via this forum, even if they had no other interaction with any club members.  We've seen some people join this forum that are not club members, so that has certainly happened, even if only in a limited manner.  Making this grow will not only help this forum, it will help our club.


Another reason presented for having this forum has been it's ability to enhance communication between club members, AND between the club leadership and other members.  I've seen several of the state officers posting here, but I haven't seen much posting by national officers.  I'm not sure that is a big problem however, since they do communicate through the STAReview to all members on a monthly basis.  I would suggest that ALL state directors NEED to be ACTIVE members of this forum, AND do all they can to promote it to all of their members on a consistent basis.  I don't think that it is any random chance that the states with the biggest and most active memberships have state directors that use this forum, and other means, to do a great job of communicating with the members. Looking through the BlueBook, the vast majority of current members have e-mail.  I think that would indicate that the majority of our members have Internet service.  I'm willing to bet that ALL of our potential members ARE Internet savvy. We have some members listed in the BlueBook that have no address or phone number listed.  I doubt that we will ever get any of those members to become active forum users.  But I would think that any members that have an email address ARE potential forum users. The question then becomes, how to reach them and intice them to become active members?


My suggestions.....


State directors must contact all members and INVITE THEM to become forum users, and they must keep inviting them on a regular basis.
The STAReview goes out to all members.  It should be used as a way to promote forum usage.
A class on the forum should be offered at Star.
ALL forum supporters must be willing to invite other members AND potential club members to visit the forum.  If you have MSTA cards you pass out, make sure they have the forum address on them.





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Offline Brick

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2014, 09:51:53 AM »
Pat... You are the man! I agree completely! Now... who is going to make it happen?


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Offline Patmo

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #19 on: April 23, 2014, 10:33:03 AM »
Pat... who is going to make it happen?


Brick


As we say here in the country.....ALL Y'ALL... ;D




Seriously, no ONE person should be expected to shoulder the burden, it will take a team effort of all.
I did take some time after posting this and sent an invitation out to all the Kentucky members, but since Ky is small in numbers, it was pretty easy for me to do this.  Larger states will take more time, but perhaps more volunteers could be inticed to help out.  I've found that once the initial email list is put into a computer, it's pretty easy to send out group communications.


I'm not attending STAR this year, so I can't do the class,
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Offline Woovis

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #20 on: April 23, 2014, 06:43:04 PM »
Jay probably won't say it but I will...   This has got to be one of (if not the) fastest, easiest to navigate forums I've ever been on and if you need a class on how to navigate it you're probably phuqued and beyond help anyway!  Granted I haven't found all of it's features and settings yet, but go ahead and poke around in it and you'll find your way. 
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Offline stevegrab

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #21 on: April 23, 2014, 07:04:58 PM »
Pat, you make some great points particularly about the proposed purpose of the forum and increased web site presence (to attract new members). I know I can do more to try and convince our members to use the forum.
One thing I don't plan on doing though is shutting down our current communication through a Yahoo group (primarly email about rides and other stuff). It works for what we have, and if I force that to move to the the forum I'll lose about 75% of our group in the process for a multitude of reasons.

Yes I know the forum has listserv capability now and we may be able to use that to act like an email list, but even that would probably result in some people not moving over.

Look at any other form of communication this group has had, the national or other local email lists are often dominated by a handful of people, with a small percentage of members being involved at any level. I think that is all just human nature.
PS  Woovis is correct, this is a fast and easy to use forum. But again he is willing to poke around and try things. Some are too afraid, others are not interested or don't have the time to spend on it (or don't want to spend time on it).
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Offline OldButNotDead

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #22 on: April 24, 2014, 06:44:13 AM »
Jay probably won't say it but I will...   This has got to be one of (if not the) fastest, easiest to navigate forums I've ever been on and if you need a class on how to navigate it you're probably phuqued and beyond help anyway!  Granted I haven't found all of it's features and settings yet, but go ahead and poke around in it and you'll find your way.
+1, What he said!!!   Love your way with words  ;D
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Offline STDocLizard1

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #23 on: April 29, 2014, 01:08:28 PM »
Pat has a point as we are still communicating via email with various accounts.

The MSTA Facebook Page has 529 members. How many are registered on this forum?

I know that multiple shutdowns, and reincarnations have taken it toll on the number of forum users, but we need to get the word out that the forum is the place to be for information and communication between members.


Just my $0.02
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Offline DirtFlier

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #24 on: May 17, 2014, 07:34:04 PM »
Quote
[...I know better than to ask, but why is Bill offended?  ??? ...]
A semi carrying Old Milwaukee to Tipp City (aka Bill's house) overturned before it reached the OH border and all the contents were lost.  There is a huge brown spot on a grassy shoulder of I-70 where that caustic swill poured onto the innocent and unsuspecting grass.  Thousands of blades of grass died a truly terrible death.  Bill will be holding memorial services for the lost beer next week.     
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 05:10:10 PM by DirtFlier »

Offline touringman

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #25 on: May 18, 2014, 09:20:39 AM »
Ha-Ha-Ha-Whoop-Whoop Whoop! I'm dying here Tosh!! ;D
Touringman

Offline brider

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #26 on: May 18, 2014, 10:25:14 AM »
[...I know better than to ask, but why is Bill offended?  ??? ...]

A semi carrying Old Milwaukee to Tipp City overturned before it reached the OH border and all the contents were lost.  There is a huge brown spot on a grassy shoulder of I-70 where that swill poured onto the unsuspecting grass.   
:'( :'( Now I'm just sad.
 
 
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Offline Brick

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #27 on: May 18, 2014, 10:19:07 PM »
Tosh... Bill's beer is Keystone not Old Milwaukee.


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VersysRider

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #28 on: May 18, 2014, 10:37:42 PM »
Tosh... Bill's beer is Keystone not Old Milwaukee.


Brick
Bill considers Old Milwaukee "Premium" beer.

Offline DirtFlier

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Re: Is our Forum Growing?
« Reply #29 on: May 19, 2014, 07:53:21 AM »
Quote
[...Bill considers Old Milwaukee "Premium" beer...]

Is it 35-cents more per 12-pack?