Are we happy with the forum?

[kirstein]

When we made the switch from the mailing list to the forum there was some strong opposition to the change. Just curious, after several months of getting used to the change what's everyones opinion. To paraphrase anyone who has run for president in the last 20 years...."Are we better off now than we were a year ago?"

[00 SS]

My email server is certainly better off, and I think I am too. Good job on the site Dale, Kevin and crew.

[gary]

I like the forums, but I'd wager this poll is going to be a bit biased, as many of the people who don't like the forums are likely not going to be watching them.

Maybe you could have one of those oh-so-scientific "clap/whoop if you love the forums" polls at the next event. :)

-Gary

[baysinger]

"Are we better off now than we were a year ago?"


I personally liked the mailing list better. Easier to scan new messages, read the ones you want to read, delete and don't bother with the ones you don't care about. Filters and sorting made easy work of organizing everything. And, of course, it was much faster. Even with a pretty newish machine running on a very high speed connection, a web page (unless text only) will always load slower than opening an email in a local client. If it doesn't, you must be using Outlook.

All that said, the forum does offer us many more features than the mailing list, some of which I like, some of which I don't care for, some of which I'd use, most of which I'll never touch. But people do like it for the additional tools, people like the format over maling lists, people like the rich content, etc., and that's fine.

As far as where we are from a year ago? I'd sum it up as maybe a little less convenient, but with more features at our disposal. It's a trade off, and I'd say probably a wash.

[tronic]

*love* the forums, but I think they've gotten a little disorganized. one solution would be to have more moderating to make sure subject lines are appropriate and that posts are in the most relevant section.

take the General Autocross Discussion for example. there are official-esque announcements in there, local event info, all the tour and pro info, photo postings, personal messages, car classing ?'s, etc..

I might suggest renaming the Novice Help section "Novice Help and Car Classing Questions" also.

[LoCore]

I agree with Kelly. We could probably do with fewer forums total, in addition to Kelly's other suggestions.

I much prefer the forums over the mailing lists, due primarily for one reason: I can "see" the individual postings much easier. Email lists *can* work for this, but requires users to edit their responses, which didn't happen consistently.

[pcharles]

I think the forums are great, also agree that there are almost too many sub-forums to sift through.

What if the following forums were combined?

classified + business community -> Goods and Services
gallery + novice + general -> General Autocross Discussion
forum/website + bench racing -> Bench Racing (offtopic)

For example, this thread is sitting in Bench Racing (because it is off topic), but it could have just as well been posted to the Forum/Website forum.

-pat

[lundgren]

I just have one forum.

http://www.rmsolo.org/forums/search.php?do=getnew

[LoCore]

I just have one forum.

http://www.rmsolo.org/forums/search.php?do=getnew

I use the same "forum" as well for reading.

For posting though, I have to think about which forum is appropriate for the posting. The fewer the better, IMO.

[lundgren]

I use the same "forum" as well for reading.

For posting though, I have to think about which forum is appropriate for the posting. The fewer the better, IMO.

I agree on that.

[Clay Turner]

Thanks for posing the question, Dale.

Though I suspect the question is moot, I think we should analyze how the forums are working and suggest some change, where appropriate.

Gary's right; people who don't like forums will tend to not see this poll. However, we do have three other data points to consider (the first one admittedly anecdotal, not scientific):

1. I hear consistently from members at events who are missing information because they don't participate in the forums. But we don't have any way of measuring the people who never made it to the forum party.

(However, our numbers of unique forum participants is encouraging: 342 members, 164 active members, 6191 posts in 1093 threads. I don't know what constitutes an "active member," though. Help?)

2. Event attendance is down at both venues this year. Of course, we instituted price increases over the last two years to accomplish this very thing, so part of the credit must go to that. I think we have to watch our numbers, though, and use that as a gauge of our "accessibility."

3. Another number to watch is Novice participation (Novice/Total entries):
Event 1: 46/194 24%
Event 2: 72/226 32%
Event 3: 40/147 27%
Event 4: 33/123 27%
Event 5: 44/172 26%
Event 6: 42/155 27%
Event 7: 44/144 31%

Historically, our novice numbers hover around 33%, so we're down; But this was also the goal of our price increase: to reduce the number of one-time-only-and-never-return novices at events. However, how many people don't try us because we've become more ... opaque?

I do think we have too many threads hanging around too long, or too many forums. It's kind of a blizzard when you go to the forums if you're new to us.

What do we think about a "Welcome to the Forums!" page with forum instructions? I know we had one at one time, but I don't know if you automatically go there as a first-time user...

Anything to demystify the online experience is good. However, I think we have one of the best web experiences in SCCA.

Way more than my .02...

Clay

[ianacole]

Clay,

I feel that part of the attendance issue may stem from advertising, or a lack there of. I would have never known about autocross if it weren't for a friend that forceably dragged me out to an event last year. If not for that action, I would not have come across the RM Solo organization, and eventually this website, on my own. I don't know what the advertizing budget or activities for the region are, or who is in charge of the effort, but I do have some recommendations (other than the sticker on the back of my car ;) ).

[Clay Turner]

So that we don't hijack Dale's poll, I'm starting a new thread on attendance:

http://www.rmsolo.org/forums/showthread.php?p=6353#post6353

[26STX]

Mailing lists were cool in the mid-ninety's, but I really prefer forums like this now.
:cool:
I think the one we have is pretty good. I agree that we could use some clean up on the topic areas, but with the amount of traffic here it still isn't bad. I would like to see a more obvious way to know when you have a new Private Message when you are logged in. On the awdpirates.net site when you have a new message there is a red box towards the top of the page in the middle saying "2 new private messages" that is hard to miss.

Also, I would like to see more people using them. Is it possible when someone creates a new account for registration that they are prompted to setup an account for the forums too? Might bring a little more exposure.

[kwenzel]

I think the one we have is pretty good. I agree that we could use some clean up on the topic areas, but with the amount of traffic here it still isn't bad. I would like to see a more obvious way to know when you have a new Private Message when you are logged in. On the awdpirates.net site when you have a new message there is a red box towards the top of the page in the middle saying "2 new private messages" that is hard to miss.


You can set an option in the User CP (user control panel settings) to have a box pop up when you receive a new message - you'll see appear on the next page load after receiving the message if you're logged in, or the next time you log in after being logged out when the message arrives.

As for the forum being more obscure than the mailing list, I doubt it. A good deal of our new blood over the last few years has been via a population segment that is generally much more comfortable with forums than with the (seen as older and crustier, although I still personally prefer it to forums) mailing list format. This community seems to be fairly aware of what we do, but I wonder if interest from the tuner/drifting crowd has tapered off this year. Dale and I had to excise a large number of reserved numbers that had shown up in blocks some time in the last 12 months, but were never actually used at an event. This pattern suggests that there have been posts on other boards saying "hey, I'm going to the local SCCA autocross and you guys should come out with me" - a bunch of guys in similar cars then reserve numbers, but (for whatever reason) never make it out. Personally, I'm not sure that this is a bad thing - I agree with the comments stating that we're at a good average event size, and I'd really prefer that the people who are autocrossing are doing it because they want to be good autocrossers, not because it's the latest in-thing to do in their marque community.

[Proxenus]

6235 posts here since the forum opened. That would be quite a bit of email to sort through. I think a mailing list would work for a lower message rate group, but our volume is too high to make it serviceable.

I like the forum. I also agree with the more moderation to keep forum threads within the topics on topic :)

[JonathonBarton]

One thing that would be *GOLDEN* would be a "New Member" forum that's parked at the very top of the page that screams "START HERE"... and contains that collective repository of knowledge that is important for the New Person to know... Like this:

http://coloradoairsoft.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=1

This has become an INVALUABLE resource on the COASG site - Fast Noobs read everything that's there and don't ask "What Gun Am Best/Are Walmart BBs Good?" questions, and Slow Noobs get pointed to that forum, and their "What Gun Am Best/Are Walmart BBs Good?" questions are locked for 48 hours (so they can see their responses - "Email me when someone replies in a thread I have posted in" is ON by default), then summarily executed.

Clearly, there would likely be fewer FAQ items here, what with the helpful and generally self-explanatory list of links on the lefthand side of the website, but there are other things that could go in the FAQ, that come up all the time...
"What Street Tire Am Best" kinds of questions...

I also agree that Annoucements belong in (only) Announcements, and not in General Autocross Discussion. Perhaps it could be "cleaned up" to "Event Announcemnts", and that's where everything "This Weekend" related goes - Early Worker Assignments, etc.

Something else that probably translates fairly well from the Airsoft World is an After Action Review/No Shiznit, There I Was... forum. After an Airsoft Event, we create a thread in the AAR/NSTIW forum, and that's where all the "Lessons Learned", Pictures, and Cool Stories all go, stored all together on a Per Event Basis, so that we can review periodically and see if the same issues are coming up in the AARs after each skirmishing day...(and there are a few related to event setup and signin...imagine that...what with a somewhat-similar-to-SCCA-signin being done...but being done 18 miles into the Pike National Forest, with no tables, no chairs, no truck, and no budget for any of that...*grin*)

Overall, I'm happy with the forum. My biggest issue was that I couldn't access the site from work, and I already spend at least 2 hours every night catching up on Airsoft, 2 different rFactor online racing leagues, random email, etc. But we got a big fat pipe at work, so "Sports/Hobbies/Recreation" sites have been unblocked, and I'm a happy camper.

Jonathon

[kirstein]

One thing that would be *GOLDEN* would be a "New Member" forum that's parked at the very top of the page that screams "START HERE"... and contains that collective repository of knowledge that is important for the New Person to know.

Jonathon

Hmmm..... That was the point of the first link on the left of the page called "Getting Started". Maybe the name isn't clear enough. It's not part of the forums but it is the general FAQ and all the stuff we thought a novice needed to know. Any new articles are welcomed, I'd be glad to add them.

[lundgren]

I think the http://www.rmsolo.org/help.html page is a bit outdated, maybe it should be streamlined

1) ...

2) ...

that sort of thing.

[blrmotorsports]

6235 posts here since the forum opened. That would be quite a bit of email to sort through. I think a mailing list would work for a lower message rate group, but our volume is too high to make it serviceable.

I like the forum. I also agree with the more moderation to keep forum threads within the topics on topic :)

I think the frequency of posts/emails and responces have reduced since going to the forum format. I remember deleting 100+ emails every couple of days in the past. I also thing the quality of post/responces has improved as well. It's really simple for someone to click reply, and email a responce before thinking.

On the topic of too many threads, I belong to another forum that has 45 main areas with 121,000+ threads. Now not all of the threads are active, but thread I go to most has about 5000 post and 25,000 views. All this with only about 6-8 active posters. So the threads here are nothing to navigate.

I like the forums. It keeps the clutter out of my inbox.

[JonathonBarton]

Hmmm..... That was the point of the first link on the left of the page called "Getting Started". Maybe the name isn't clear enough. It's not part of the forums but it is the general FAQ and all the stuff we thought a novice needed to know. Any new articles are welcomed, I'd be glad to add them.Dale...

The "Getting Started" link is clear enough (which is why I suggested that a Noobie's FAQ section would have MANY fewer articles than the ColoradoAirsoft site has), but, truthfully, the Getting Started articles have a lot of redundant information, a lot of missing/inobvious information, and most importantly, that section just has a scattershot feel to it.
Like, what's the VERY MOST IMPORTANT THING (you know, that thing that you'd put at the top of the page, so it's the first thing a noobie will read) is?....
...not "What is this "Autocross" stuff, anyway?",
...not "Really? Can I drive my street car?",
...not "Isn't it dangerous?"...
It's...


"RMSOLO Car Numbering Requirements"...Followed by...

"Join the SCCA Today!"... Followed by...

The NEW 2004 RMSOLO Newcomer's Guide to Solo II. New for 2004...ya don't say... :)

Yeah, it's got all the information you need as a first timer...but it's *not* organized in a manner that's helpful for a first timer.

...and how the heck did I wind up at the top of a new page...AGAIN? Darn forum software hates me. (Not this forum software - ALL forum software!) :)