Getting more people

I don't disagree even a little. I just don't enjoy drama. I don't even enjoy soap operas.

I think we need to give this forum time to develop and not worry too much about where we will be in a couple of years time. I find the people here laid back and knowledgeable. I like coming here. I don't think we should try to compete with CTX700. There is a lot of great info there, but yes, the drama is annoying. That's why I am glad you all are here. I am no expert either at riding or motorcycle mechanics, but I promise that anything I learn that might be helpful to the community I will share.

Woodswoman said:

Good discussion.

The forum owner should have a say. Indeed, practically the say, since I think he's the only administrator/moderator. And I'll bet that he's footing the bill to keep the place running.

I've got opinions about what I feel is an appropriate 'tone' for a bike forum, but I'll keep them to myself for now, waiting for the forum owner to chime in. His house, his rules.

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The owner has all the say, now and forever, but I think his interest is in building this site up with a larger membership. He's welcome to correct me if I'm wrong. Besides, everyone here now is very well behaved.

advrider is an interesting forum. Whatever subject I put in it's search box, people are talking about it, even the CTX700. And yep!, religion and politics. After all that it seems to be one of the most active boards I've seen.

Agreed, Steven, advrider is a remarkable forum. I've learned a lot from it over the years.

The best way to grow this site is the way we have been doing it, although very slowly. Everyone who wants this site to succeed needs to post a trip report,
technical expose, camping thread, or whatever, that will generate traffic. Once the population hits critical mass, this site will have a life of it's own. It isn't enough to just reply to other people's threads.

No site will ever match AdvRider. I believe AdvRider's membership is around 200,000-300,000 registered users. Counting non-registered users I'll bet it is in the Millions. I have often thought to myself that "Old Baldy", the founder and owner of the site, is a bonafide genius. He also founded a Photo archiving company called Smugmug which is second to none for people who are doing ride reports.

On the "other side", after the ABS fiasco thread Rebel should fall on his sword and resign. Statements like the one below scoffing the members he's supposed to take the high ground and help and nurture... he belittles them calling them hypocrites. When he is so wrong and told by "his" members, the man can not, will not admit it... that type of arrogant demeanor should not tolerated by the web owners.

Rebel13
I'm done in this thread, way too much self-righteousness in here! Only one member here admits that sometimes they fault causing ABS to kick in. Everyone else has no faults, they are the best riders, yet ABS is kicking in for them, hypocrites~

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I think the pressure from members jumping ship, filing complaints to the owners of the web site, having to take down his "non political" avatars and icons... etc. has got to him. The members are now the enemy. The ABS thread will be a part of his legacy for ever. However it doesn't say much for the integrity of the owners of the web site either. Why do they still put up with him? It looks like the owners have dug their heels in and won't let the members fire one of their mods... too bad.

I read Rebel's thoughts on ABS and he doesn't seem to understand how it works. He is also the one who caries two gas cans on his bike, like the ones for the lawn mower, which is a very dangerous thing to do. On another forum a member complained about a crack in his handlebar risers and Rebel told him it was fine and to keep riding it. I figure that some day I'll be reading about him in the news,... motorcycle bust into flames, more at 9:00....

As for Vertiscope, they've received a number of complaints against themselves about their business practices so I don't expect much from them.

randy1149 said:

However it doesn't say much for the integrity of the owners of the web site either. Why do they still put up with him?

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Just my opinion; please don't think I am trying to be argumentative.

Vertical Scope is a for-profit company. It owns and operates dozens, possibly hundreds, of enthusiasts' forums all across the world.

The 'other' forum is a commercial enterprise. An advertising vehicle. If VS is still selling ad space for it, and new members are joining and old members visiting who will see those ads, the moderators could probably threaten to pull knives on the membership and VS wouldn't intervene. VS didn't buy the forum from its original owner to have the joy of moderating it, that's for certain.

Opinions are very welcome. We know about Rebel but take my word for it, don't trust jfc either.

Steven said:

Opinions are very welcome. We know about Rebel but take my word for it, don't trust jfc either.

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The big word here is "TRUST". You can not trust many things you read on that other forum to be true. I hope no one gets hurt taking what they read on that forum and doing things to their bike. Maybe after someone gets killed the owners will care about what goes on in their forums they own, maybe a nice big lawsuit will help them see that bad info and not allowing other members to say that info posted is out right wrong and should be corrected will only get you banned. And the post will be closed so no one knows that the info posted could get you killed. "Opinions" are welcome on the other forum has long has you agree with the moderators, nice to be told what your opinion is before you write it................But yet, that other forum still grows and the members who left still go back to see what is going on.....people love to see a train wreck! At least here we can talk about what is wrong with the other forum, wait...I thought we where talking about "Getting more people".....
I may go over to the other forum and post about this forum, about how no one has the same opinion and how members have no moderator to make this forum great.....just maybe the members there will just come here to see whats going on......I think I will need your help, lets make a day and time for me to start the tread over there, then (you) follow up and post about how bad things are, just make sure you reply with quote, this way the mod (rebel) will not be able to delete it (my post will for sure get deleted, but a mod can not delete a quote). So who is in? When should we start?

Woodswoman said:

Just my opinion; please don't think I am trying to be argumentative.

Vertical Scope is a for-profit company. It owns and operates dozens, possibly hundreds, of enthusiasts' forums all across the world.

The 'other' forum is a commercial enterprise. An advertising vehicle. If VS is still selling ad space for it, and new members are joining and old members visiting who will see those ads, the moderators could probably threaten to pull knives on the membership and VS wouldn't intervene. VS didn't buy the forum from its original owner to have the joy of moderating it, that's for certain.

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No Woodswoman I'm not taking this in any manor or shape of argumentative & I hope you don't take offense in my replies. It's nice to have a discussion without egos and threats in the process.

I agree with your assessment of the situation. Peeling back the onion to examine how VS is in the business of making the money is what I'm concerned with. WE are the customers in the process of making the money for VS. I would think though that moderators who are chasing members/customers away would impact their bottom line by reduced traffic. It also troubles me they (VS) seems to really NOT care how their mods treat the people who are generating the traffic and the money.

In reality at then end of the day the 15 -20 of us who jumped ship really don't have any impact on VS bottom line, but in most of the capitol free world customer satisfaction is companies goal... albeit that is not always the case, when demand of the product exceeds supply, companies become aloof to the customers... and I think that is what we have here. This is no different as a waiter in a restaurant treating you badly and the owner take the waiters side and tells YOU to leave. That is exactly what VS is doing by it's tacit approval.

No need to post on the other site. As more leave (like me), we'll talk to others and slowly bring them over...

Glad to have you here Dan. Your posts and knowledge are appreciated.

Done with the other site, getting told I'm a fool for lane splitting by those who never do it, and have never lived with it...

I've noticed that some people always look at the worse side of everything. When they think of lane splitting they think of those youtube video's of people doing 100mph between cars. I don't think that is what most people do when lane splitting. I ran into the same thing when I brought up riding in the snow. It can happen when you least expect it and it's good to know how to deal with it when it does. Welcome...

Well I visit three different forums at least 20 times a day and post everywhere...haven't really ruffled anyones feathers that I know of yet...

http://www.ctx700-forum.com
http://www.ctx700forum.com
http://www.nc700.co.uk

Haven't found others yet...but always looking and listening...
I hope I can be of value to anyone here...
I have been riding 50+ years...
I am known to be knowledgeable in electronics, computers, photography, and motorcycles
But the older I get the more I learn to speak when spoken to....
ciao

burdicda

But the older I get the more I learn to speak when spoken to....

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I need to keep my mouth shut at times, but I never open it with ill intent. Sometimes it just comes across wrong and I find myself apologizing. I should learn from you. By nature, I tend to like everyone, even people that don't like me. How's that for odd? Anyway, I feel everyone has a valid viewpoint or should I say a different perspective. The older I get, the more I realize how much I don't know. It seems that there's always new things to learn.

A lot of people don't seem to know when there's a good time for them to shut up!

My favorite quote and my signature line on ADVRIDER.com
"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure about anything." Richard Feynman, Cal Tech Scientist,Challenger Disaster Panel member.

That sounds just about right.