AMCA Forum is a backwater of the internet

[Steve Swan]

This post is an observation, not a suggested solution.

I've been paying attention to "data" from this site for several weeks. Seldom are there even a dozen members signed on (i.e. 0.1% of the AMCA membership), and I've yet to see as many as 18. A typical day will see 6-12 posts, i.e. only one every few hours. What this means is many people who check out this site are likely to conclude it doesn't have information they're looking for, or discussions of interest to them, and thus not bother returning to it.

What the very low visitation and posting rate means is many people are unlikely to post to this site since they will rightly conclude that very few others will read what they write. Similarly, other people are unlikely to come to this site because the very few posts means it is unlikely they will find the information or discussions of interest to them.

This is a classic chicken or egg situation which means, unfortunately, it is likely this site will remain a largely-unvisited backwater of the internet unless something significant happens to change the situation.

If I had a solution to suggest, I would have suggested it, but I don't.

Bosch ZEV, i would suggest your reality of AMCA forum being a "backwater" is in no small part due to the same reason you are much more active about your Ariel build on https://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbt...l-c#Post691207 is for the same reason i am much more active on https://www.facebook.com/groups/1693827977564678/ because these communities are more active and you get comments that are valuable to you. Same goes for Kevin's build of #97, his Cannonball bike; he's not been active and has gone to another site. Case in point is my "Frank" build here on this forum, if you were to look at that build, much of the posts are mine in attempt to keep the thread alive as well as i value what this forum offers, and i do very much appreciate the time the few others have taken to post their comments on "Frank." For the most part, in the cases of your '28 Ariel and my "Frank" builds contrasted with the content of other threads that get a lot more activity, it would seem that folks only post on what they're interested in... What's a backwater for one can likely be the fountain of youth for another.

[BoschZEV]

because these communities are more active and you get comments that are valuable to you. ... What's a backwater for one can likely be the fountain of youth for another.

That's exactly right. There have been enough valuable suggestions over the three years since I started that Ariel thread that the effort I've made in writing my posts has been well worthwhile to me.

Interestingly, the site where it's posted (Britbike) basically deals with British bikes from the '50s and '60s, and within that time range mostly Triumphs and BSAs, and Nortons to a lesser extent. The Ariel Forum has less than 1.5% the number of posts of the Triumph, and 1928 puts the bike well out of the age range of interest to most people on that site. Despite that, enough people (and bots) have found their way to the backwater Ariel Forum to generate nearly 1M views because, I have to assume, they stumbled across it and found the content of interest.

OK, if this means interesting threads can attract people even when posted in backwater locations, why are so few on the AMCA Forum? To repeat some of what I wrote a week ago:

all but the AMCA site allow me to see new posts in no more than one click after opening the site. The AMCA site forces me to navigate around the screen to click on four places (and, that's only after I figured out some of the non-obvious places to find them), at which point the use of excess white space only allows me to see five recent posts. Other sites allow me to see anywhere from 12 to 20. As a result, I can click on any one of those other sites, scan for new posts of interest, and if there are none be done with the site in no more than 15 seconds. That's not possible with the AMCA site. ...

Of the eleven sites mentioned above, the design of the AMCA's site is the worst. And not by a little bit. ... I'm afraid the present site design is too off-putting to attract a wider audience given that most people who frequent the web will be used to much more user-friendly designs. And, most people who don't frequent the web are unlikely to overcome the frustration of using this site. This might have been one of the better designs in 2000, but it is hopelessly outdated and clumsy in 2021.

p.s. I wanted to have just one quote box at the bottom of my post but no matter what I did the software insisted on breaking it into two. I even exited the site entirely, deleted previously saved content when I opened it again, but to no avail. Sigh... Software that refuses to let you do what you try to do is very annoying.

[Keith Kizer]

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.

[pisten-bully]

Same goes for Kevin's build of #97, his Cannonball bike; he's not been active and has gone to another site .

Steve, the only other site I frequent is ADVrider.com (382,000 registered users with 3k +/- on the site at any one time) and Kevin was a regular poster there on his builds, but he hasn't been on there either, since late October. So I think (and know for myself) that life gets in the way... and as you know keeping up with a build thread takes commitment, and time. Hoping the only reason we haven't heard from Kevin is simply because he's been busy!

[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...

[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.

[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]

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.

[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

[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

[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.

[joe fxs fxr]

What is a Junior Member Forum?

[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

[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]

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