AMCA Forum is a backwater of the internet

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Hmm, that is interesting.

Before we pass judgment on the plan -- let's see what Mike and Keith have to say.

I can just as easily read this as affecting only the junior membership section of the existing forum.

Our club minutes are "interesting" at times with regard to clarity. In this case, the word "forum" seems to refer to this forum and a new junior forum with the two intermixed in the sentences. It's sorta like using pronouns instead of names to describe a conversation (eg I talked to him and we talked to her but no one talked to them). You convey information but the intent is easily obfuscated.

[HDSmitty]

PLEASE leave this forum where/what it is. Thanks....Smitty

[Steve Swan]

Hopefully all the threads of invaluable information can be migrated to the ClubExpress platform.

[BoschZEV]

I've been tied up for a while but wanted to respond to a post from a day or two ago that since has been deleted. That post referred to the attached item from the October 2020 Board minutes. Taken at face value the Board intends for the current forum to fade away, to be replaced by a new forum operated with the Club Express software the AMCA uses for its accounting, membership records etc.

While switching to Club Express for the forum is fine in principle, unless there is a way to port all the posts, photographs and attachments from this forum (operated with vBulletin software) to Club Express, anything further written here is destined to disappear.

It's not as simple as someone saying the posts will be transferred, since it's by no means clear that's even technically possible. I'm a member of another club going through this right now and after many assurances that nothing would be lost, it now seems pretty clear it is impossible to port their current forum and its extensive information to Club Express.

So, those of us who post here on a sinking ship?
AMCAboardminutes.jpg

[exeric]

Sounds like your penny loafers are a bit too tight, Tom

[T. Cotten]

This has been a great read, and I am so impressed by all the different viewpoints, and well expressed opinions. I've never started a thread that went viral like this, so it must feel good, BoschZEV DEEDAY, I too miss the CAIMAG forum as there was an atmosphere there that made it a less stuffy than the AMCA forum. The history, and personality of motorcycling has always been an 'outsider' passion that was/is often in conflict with most conventional lifestyles. Trying to make bikers into clean-cut, sensitive, penny loafer wearing citizens isn't what attracted many of us to this thing we consider a big part of our life. . . . And, I think that's all I've got right now

Screw that stuffy History crap, Folks!

Gimme Lifestyle!

(Gonna miss motorcycles.)

....Cotten

[exeric]

This has been a great read, and I am so impressed by all the different viewpoints, and well expressed opinions. I've never started a thread that went viral like this, so it must feel good, BoschZEV DEEDAY, I too miss the CAIMAG forum as there was an atmosphere there that made it a less stuffy than the AMCA forum. The history, and personality of motorcycling has always been an 'outsider' passion that was/is often in conflict with most conventional lifestyles. Trying to make bikers into clean-cut, sensitive, penny loafer wearing citizens isn't what attracted many of us to this thing we consider a big part of our life. . . . And, I think that's all I've got right now

[joe fxs fxr]

What is a Junior Member Forum?

[BoschZEV]

Interesting item from BOD's meeting in regard to the potential future of this forum...

That is a interesting item. It happens that there's an ongoing discussion on the Vincent Owners Club forum about whether or not to close down the current forum and move to Club Express at the same time the club moves its business and membership activities to Club Express. Unfortunately, the best judgement of people who have looked into it in some detail seems to be that a lot of content, including photographs, likely could not be ported from the existing site to Club Express. Also, speaking only for myself, the current AMCA forum that uses Club Express leaves a lot to be desired.

I am a little puzzled though, since my understanding is this current version of the AMCA forum actually uses Club Express, so I don't understand what is meant by "phase out the existing Forum" and use the one on Club Express.

[DeeDay]

I've been a member of this board since 2014, but have not posted in quite some time.
(... And was not that active here, as I was more active on the CIAMAG site, and really miss it).

CAI was a great site, and what made it great was that you got to know the active posters. It was a casual discussion with a lot of Shite that flowed along with the great informatin.
The "Expert" class was open with facts and opinions.
They were invaluable to me (Axeric, Cotton, Bosch, Rubone, And too man others to mention, etc... This means you.)

...Of course, for a number of reasons, my bikes have been in storage for 2 years, so I have been admittedly dormant with my hobby of late.
So with Buzz's shutdown, I just have not been motivated to reengage.

But they are finally coming out of hibernation this spring, and - honestly - this thread has been an eye-opener for me.

So I am going to familiarize myself with the new format, and see if I can contribute.

Thanks to all whom add value on the site (Moderators, contributors, etc).
Looking forward to some fun here!
DeeDay

[HDSmitty]

The biggest reason that I do not post any more than I do is because God gave me 2 ears and 2 eyes but only one mouth so therefore I watch and "listen" twice as much as I "speak". I am very grateful for all the knowledge that is so freely shared here. Thanks, Smitty

[BoschZEV]

The biggest reason people do not post on any Forum is too often the negative feedback they get when they do.

That's where the moderator will earn the vast sum he's being paid since the tone of any site is set by example. It only takes a few posters getting away with being jerks to poison the well, and no matter how gently the moderator chastises people for bad behavior, a few are bound to get all huffy and claim their First Amendment rights are being trampled on by a despotic moderator.

Bringing order to 2000 separate parts on the garage floor is simple by comparison with riding herd on even a few bad actors. But, it's essential.

[Keith Kizer]

Keith, thanks for taking the time to comment, since this is an important issue. Unfortunately, with only 0.1% of current AMCA members posting, the Forum presently isn't much of a selling point to current members, let alone a selling point for attracting new members. ChuckTheBeaterTruck's suggestion to feature the Forum much more strongly in the future is an excellent one that definitely could spur more activity here. I'm happy to read your positive response to that.

For the short term, the best option is to promote traffic to the Forum and we can start doing this through the magazine and Facebook. But just because we drive more traffic to the Forum does not mean they will post. The biggest reason people do not post on any Forum is too often the negative feedback they get when they do.

[BoschZEV]

Since they cannot post without being a member, hopefully the content they see will soon entice them to join. ... suggestion of opening the forum up to non-members, but that would take away one of the main selling points of being a member. ... we (National) need to do a better job of promoting the Forum in the magazine. Point taken and we will resolve.

Keith, thanks for taking the time to comment, since this is an important issue. Unfortunately, with only 0.1% of current AMCA members posting, the Forum presently isn't much of a selling point to current members, let alone a selling point for attracting new members. ChuckTheBeaterTruck's suggestion to feature the Forum much more strongly in the future is an excellent one that definitely could spur more activity here. I'm happy to read your positive response to that.

[Ross]

Gentlemen, If I may offer a few options and ideas. First and foremost the most important component to any forum is its moderators. And in our case, that is just one person, Mike Love. Without Mike and those before him, none of this would be possible. Even though I'm the only paid employee, excluding sub-contractors, of the club, this club could not exist without its volunteers. Any Board member can tell you, I put in 65-80 hours a week and work seven days a week. Without people like Mike we would be in trouble. I only offer the aforementioned as my excuse for not visiting the Forum more often. Lately my weekly reason for posting on the forum is to update this year's obituaries.

In regards to the Forum converting visitors to members, that is tricky. Since they cannot post without being a member, hopefully the content they see will soon entice them to join. One brand new feature you will read about in my column in the March/April issue of the magazine is a downloadable searchable spreadsheet that allows Members Only to search any of topics of the digital copies of the magazine going back to its existence in 1960. This is exactly the answer that Jim D was looking for and it's now here. Regardless of the information members find on the Forum, most will benefit from the hundreds of stories and thousands of photos over the last 60 years. Good incentive to join. You can check this out now by logging into the AMCA Website and going to the Document Library's Archive Magazine section.

I appreciate Max's suggestion of opening the forum up to non-members, but that would take away one of the main selling points of being a member. It would also require having a dozen more moderators to keep the spammers away. A Free AMCA forum for everyone could end up with no forum for anyone. Too risky. Our Facebook page takes six moderators to keep up with it and keeping it from turning into something other than it's original intention. Promoting the Forum on our Facebook page is a good idea. We can work on that.

ChuckTheBeaterTruck makes a good point that we (National) need to do a better job of promoting the Forum in the magazine. Point taken and we will resolve.

I only temporarily hijacked this conversation to give you guys a sneak peak at the new Magazine archeology. Thanks supporting the forums and thank you for your continued loyalty to AMCA membership.

Thanks for the input Keith...For those who know Keith...he's a little shy on the hours he puts in each week to keep this Club Humming...To Keith and of course Mike...many thanks...and remember folks...this is a hobby not a Country to run...