I think he was implying that our group is very "rock centric" and somewhat limits us to a smaller base of participants. If we look at expanding our focus beyond the rocks to other types of events with other groups that support additional interests, we could potentially draw more site participation. His suggestion certainly holds merit, but I think our core issue may be elsewhere.
This subject has been at the forefront of my concerns for a few years now and I doubt many are going to like what I have to say, but I feel it my concern must be voiced for the sake of the club.
This site has seen many ups and downs over the years and the current lull is, without a doubt, the worst we have experienced. I agree with you Chuck; if something does not change, the site will die and, subsequently, the club.
What has changed to cause a drop in participation? I feel we have always been focused on trail rides and rock crawling. Even at the pinnacle of the CB4x4 existence, I cannot recall when we were involved in show-type events. Sure, there has always been a minority of participants who are building Broncos for other purposes and many have found groups elsewhere so as to receive the type of tailored experience that suits their individual tastes.
Personally, I find myself frequently going directly to Classic for technical issues for two reasons. First, I receive a significantly faster response from a larger number of people. Second, I feel there are a lot more folks on Classic that are able to help solve my issues. That is not to say, of the few folks who participate on this forum, CB4x4 members are not knowledgeable and competent. On the contrary, I feel we are some of the most knowledgeable and experienced Bronco lovers in the country. I am merely looking for immediate solutions that I do not typically obtain here. For a long time, I posted in both forums. Once it became clear I could find effective and efficient solutions elsewhere, I ceased to post my technical issues on CB4x4.com. Am I guilty of being part of the problem? Absolutely!
This site sees a significant increase in participation twice a year; centered on the spring and fall events. Outside the two weeks before and after those events, this site almost non-participatory with the exception of the occasional input to the âWhat have you wrenchedâ thread and a few lingering build threads.
Chuck, you and I have the highest post counts of anyone on this site, but how many of those posts have you and I generated over the past two years? As leaders in this organization, how can we ask others to participate when we are not doing so ourselves? The days of our major builds are since gone and we have little to post on a regular basis to help keep the ball rolling. When members see this, I can only assume they too begin to slack on participation as well. I am not trying to say we are necessarily poor leaders, in fact, I think we do one hell of a job managing events and I thank you for all your time and effort to do so.
Frankly, I do not see a way for this site to recover and gain more participation. All things, including forums, have a life span. I think CB4x4.com is well past its life expectancy and we are struggling with the decision to keep it on life support or follow through with the DNR and pull the plug.
Letâs talk hypothetically for a moment. What if we pull the plug on the site? How can we do that and still maintain the integrity of the group (club)? My suggestion is to find a way to integrate into Classic with Jonâs help. Hear me out before anyone fires the first shot and tells me to go F my couch.
Do we all agree that our events are always an amazingly fun time and we have one of the best groups of people who mesh extremely well? I know I do. This group does trail events and, occasionally, local meetings. Why canât we do all of our correspondence and coordination through Classic? They have the infrastructure and the exposure our club needs to continue to maintain the integrity of the group well into the future. Further, I know we can rope in new recruits from the Classic ranks if we can get more club participation on that site.
I see some major issues by making such a bold move and would like to provide solutions instead of just stating the problems. First, how can we, as a group, continue to differentiate CB4x4 business from the sea of threads on Classic? I can imagine if one of us posts on Classic, there will be a high probability none of us (CB4x4) folks will see it unless we are combing through the plethora of threads on a daily basis. This is a huge problem, as I think what makes us unique is the local aspect of our group. We have the incredible resource of folks who all live close to one another and can help if needed; especially with swapping parts or helping turn a wrench. How can we integrate into Classic and still keep our membersâ posts visible? I wonder if there is a vB function that can allow us to track one another and receive notification whenever we post? Alternatively, I wonder if Jon would be interested in creating a sub-forum for CB4x4, as well as other small groups, that may be experiencing the same issue. This could be like a miniature CB4x4.com subset in Classic.
Think about it for a moment. No more site issues. No more running off to another site for answers and contributing to a lack of participation here. We will all still be on the same site but will significantly increase our exposure as a club as well as have a much larger pool of resources from which to pull. I can think of nothing we, as a club, cannot do on Classic that we currently do on CB4x4.com.
The second major issue that concerns me is what to do with the site. We have years of valuable information, posts, technical documents and treasured pictures on CB4x4.com. I strongly feel CB4x4.com should remain up and running in an archival capacity for reference well into the future. The contents of this site are much too valuable and we have ALL worked too hard to contribute only to see it disappear at the click of a mouse button. Like Chuck said, items on our site are linked in numerous places throughout the internet and to destroy them would be a huge loss that will have an effect well beyond our club. Further, I am sure we can find a way to upload our build threads to Classic for easy reference and exposure. If not, it is simple to link back to CB4x4.com while posting on Classic.
In closing, please let me be absolutely clear on my position. I am passionate about Carolina Broncos and our members. I want this club to continue to exist well into the future. I am not willing to allow this club to die at the hands of a failing website. If that means trimming the fat and changing how we operate from a communication standpoint with regard to our online presence, so be it. No, I am not over the moon about my suggestion, but I see no other tangible options.
What say you?
This subject has been at the forefront of my concerns for a few years now and I doubt many are going to like what I have to say, but I feel it my concern must be voiced for the sake of the club.
This site has seen many ups and downs over the years and the current lull is, without a doubt, the worst we have experienced. I agree with you Chuck; if something does not change, the site will die and, subsequently, the club.
What has changed to cause a drop in participation? I feel we have always been focused on trail rides and rock crawling. Even at the pinnacle of the CB4x4 existence, I cannot recall when we were involved in show-type events. Sure, there has always been a minority of participants who are building Broncos for other purposes and many have found groups elsewhere so as to receive the type of tailored experience that suits their individual tastes.
Personally, I find myself frequently going directly to Classic for technical issues for two reasons. First, I receive a significantly faster response from a larger number of people. Second, I feel there are a lot more folks on Classic that are able to help solve my issues. That is not to say, of the few folks who participate on this forum, CB4x4 members are not knowledgeable and competent. On the contrary, I feel we are some of the most knowledgeable and experienced Bronco lovers in the country. I am merely looking for immediate solutions that I do not typically obtain here. For a long time, I posted in both forums. Once it became clear I could find effective and efficient solutions elsewhere, I ceased to post my technical issues on CB4x4.com. Am I guilty of being part of the problem? Absolutely!
This site sees a significant increase in participation twice a year; centered on the spring and fall events. Outside the two weeks before and after those events, this site almost non-participatory with the exception of the occasional input to the âWhat have you wrenchedâ thread and a few lingering build threads.
Chuck, you and I have the highest post counts of anyone on this site, but how many of those posts have you and I generated over the past two years? As leaders in this organization, how can we ask others to participate when we are not doing so ourselves? The days of our major builds are since gone and we have little to post on a regular basis to help keep the ball rolling. When members see this, I can only assume they too begin to slack on participation as well. I am not trying to say we are necessarily poor leaders, in fact, I think we do one hell of a job managing events and I thank you for all your time and effort to do so.
Frankly, I do not see a way for this site to recover and gain more participation. All things, including forums, have a life span. I think CB4x4.com is well past its life expectancy and we are struggling with the decision to keep it on life support or follow through with the DNR and pull the plug.
Letâs talk hypothetically for a moment. What if we pull the plug on the site? How can we do that and still maintain the integrity of the group (club)? My suggestion is to find a way to integrate into Classic with Jonâs help. Hear me out before anyone fires the first shot and tells me to go F my couch.
Do we all agree that our events are always an amazingly fun time and we have one of the best groups of people who mesh extremely well? I know I do. This group does trail events and, occasionally, local meetings. Why canât we do all of our correspondence and coordination through Classic? They have the infrastructure and the exposure our club needs to continue to maintain the integrity of the group well into the future. Further, I know we can rope in new recruits from the Classic ranks if we can get more club participation on that site.
I see some major issues by making such a bold move and would like to provide solutions instead of just stating the problems. First, how can we, as a group, continue to differentiate CB4x4 business from the sea of threads on Classic? I can imagine if one of us posts on Classic, there will be a high probability none of us (CB4x4) folks will see it unless we are combing through the plethora of threads on a daily basis. This is a huge problem, as I think what makes us unique is the local aspect of our group. We have the incredible resource of folks who all live close to one another and can help if needed; especially with swapping parts or helping turn a wrench. How can we integrate into Classic and still keep our membersâ posts visible? I wonder if there is a vB function that can allow us to track one another and receive notification whenever we post? Alternatively, I wonder if Jon would be interested in creating a sub-forum for CB4x4, as well as other small groups, that may be experiencing the same issue. This could be like a miniature CB4x4.com subset in Classic.
Think about it for a moment. No more site issues. No more running off to another site for answers and contributing to a lack of participation here. We will all still be on the same site but will significantly increase our exposure as a club as well as have a much larger pool of resources from which to pull. I can think of nothing we, as a club, cannot do on Classic that we currently do on CB4x4.com.
The second major issue that concerns me is what to do with the site. We have years of valuable information, posts, technical documents and treasured pictures on CB4x4.com. I strongly feel CB4x4.com should remain up and running in an archival capacity for reference well into the future. The contents of this site are much too valuable and we have ALL worked too hard to contribute only to see it disappear at the click of a mouse button. Like Chuck said, items on our site are linked in numerous places throughout the internet and to destroy them would be a huge loss that will have an effect well beyond our club. Further, I am sure we can find a way to upload our build threads to Classic for easy reference and exposure. If not, it is simple to link back to CB4x4.com while posting on Classic.
In closing, please let me be absolutely clear on my position. I am passionate about Carolina Broncos and our members. I want this club to continue to exist well into the future. I am not willing to allow this club to die at the hands of a failing website. If that means trimming the fat and changing how we operate from a communication standpoint with regard to our online presence, so be it. No, I am not over the moon about my suggestion, but I see no other tangible options.
What say you?
'77 351w- Explorer EFI, 4R70W, 4-link, lockers, 4.56, 35" MT/Rs with a severe rock addiction.
mokin:
Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
![[Image: sig2.jpg]](http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/mchuzie/sig2.jpg)
mokin:Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.