Garage projects forum

[cfaber]

I like the idea but can it be made public? Maybe only allow member posts? My recent build thread was moved into this area. Cutting off access to my friends who are not members.

[Eamonn]

The club endeavours to provide information and facilities to club members for the benefit of the club members, examples being the spares scheme, Jampot magazine, technical helpline, etc.

When setting up the "Garage Projects" it was seen that this was almost a step by step guide book on how to carry out a restoration/rebuild and so is a tremendous help to someone working on their bike. By putting the "Garage Projects" area in the members only section, we are ensuring that the work involved in documenting and publishing the information is available to those people who support the club by means of their membership.

In effect, it is seen as a benefit to joining the club that you can watch other people's restoration progress and learn from it. The same would be true of a restoration project published in the Jampot.



Is this the "right" strategy?
Please contribute with your opinion to this thread.

[bob121]

Wouldn't be better to feel inclusive if you want to encourage new members. Being able to view without the ability to post would work for people.

[Mick D]

Hi Eamonn

When I initially proposed this forum my idea was to create an area where non AMC projects could be documented, (AMC projects already being recorded under their model headings in existing areas). I saw several interesting projects in the 'What Did You Do In The Garage' thread becoming more and more disassociated by the 'Twitter' nature of the thread and recognised there was nowhere on the Forum where projects which may be of interest to members could be posted as a topic and thus be more readily available for future reference.
It didn't cross my mind that existing AMC projects would be migrated, (but I see your reason for doing so).

Regards Mick

[1608]

I agree with you Mick.

[Group Leader]

My view (for whatever it's worth) regarding Public v Private forums is that, in general, a forum (whichever one it is) has everything to gain and little to lose by visitors having access to the threads and the photographs.

Pros
- Members can show their efforts to friends etc who have absolutely no intention of joining because they simply are not Jampot fans (hard to believe I know), Vauxhall Corsa owners, fisherman, stamp collectors or whatever else the forum might be about.
- Visitors who have an interest might be tempted to join when they can actually see the kind of work, information, material on offer
- It might actually trigger a visitor's interest in our marque if, say a Triumph or BSA man stumbled across such a garage thread via Google (that's the reason I keep getting new interests, flippin Google! )

Cons
- Some one might actually get a tiny nugget of information from the forum, use it and make no contribution to the source. Is that really such a problem, it's hardly shop-lifting? Looking at the wider picture, it could be considered to be a low/no cost public service. When I was getting my Chronometric going again, shock horror, I got some useful information from another marque forum that helped but I'm not a member and unlikely to join (although I did join the Chronometric Facebook Group and yes, there is one!).
- I can't really think of any more

Just my 2p worth.

Alan

[cfaber]

Yes, I think limiting information this way is not great. If people want to post in the forums they can register, but they should be open and freely viewable by anonymous users.

I specifically avoided posting my build thread in a private area because I wanted to allow my non club friends to be able to view it and follow it's progress and now without notice, discussion or consent it was moved to a private area.

If the decision is made to keep this area isolated from public view then please move my thread back to it's original location or here in the general topics area.

Thank you

[Eamonn]

The majority view of the Committee is that the Garage Projects area should remain within the "members only" area and not visible to guest users of the Forum.

Colin, your thread mas been moved back into the G80 specific area, and a link has been retained within the Garage Projects to ensure others can still find the thread in the future.

[56G80S]

Well done Eamonn.

Johnny B

[cfaber]

The majority view of the Committee is that the Garage Projects area should remain within the "members only" area and not visible to guest users of the Forum.

Colin, your thread mas been moved back into the G80 specific area, and a link has been retained within the Garage Projects to ensure others can still find the thread in the future.

Thank you Eamonn! Much appreciated

!