Lotus 7 Club - is it worth it?
Discussion
Agent Orange said:
As if to prove my point 
A little bun fight going on at another car club. In my defence I only joined because I my sister in law has a TT. Honest!!!
http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&a...
Bunch of hairdressers squabbling. What else do you expect? A little bun fight going on at another car club. In my defence I only joined because I my sister in law has a TT. Honest!!!http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&a...
Oh dear, does that make me a hairdresser who also drives a Caterham? Panic.
If someone can recommend another two sweater, 4WD diesel car that lets me afford to do my 25000 miles per year, I would be most appreciative. A Z4 diesel with AWD. Hmmm....
I could commute in my seven, but it takes 20 minutes to get in and out when the weather is bad...
Squabbling in car clubs is a horrible thing to hear about. The club should be about sharing experiences and enjoying one's car. You don't want verbal abuse, infighting and people causing others emotional pain. It should be about community. It is also painful because people serving on club committees are giving their time for nothing because they believe in the club and because they care. What a shame.
If someone can recommend another two sweater, 4WD diesel car that lets me afford to do my 25000 miles per year, I would be most appreciative. A Z4 diesel with AWD. Hmmm....
I could commute in my seven, but it takes 20 minutes to get in and out when the weather is bad...
Squabbling in car clubs is a horrible thing to hear about. The club should be about sharing experiences and enjoying one's car. You don't want verbal abuse, infighting and people causing others emotional pain. It should be about community. It is also painful because people serving on club committees are giving their time for nothing because they believe in the club and because they care. What a shame.
I spent some time discussing the Lotus Seven Club with two prominent members of the committee yesterday.
Membership numbers have dropped by nearly 20% on 2004 levels to a current 2500. The Club puts this down to the fact that you can buy a nice Boxster for the price of a cheap used 7. I would argue the Club actually fails to offer the same benefits it used to in terms of decent group events. Even yesterdays meeting at Caterham was not a Club event, but was the best attended event I have been to in years.
And so it seems they feel Blatchat and the quality of posting content has been impacted by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I wonder if this is because you can post what you like, and unless you ruin someone's life, you are not likely to have your post edited or removed. Furthermore if you did get your account suspended (I know of nobody to who this has happended), I am sure you can just rejoin.
I see Facebook and Twitter as a largely unmoderated sites, with the possible exception of criminal or terrorist activities, none of which occur on Blatchat. Defamatory and libellous posts are commonplace. Its odd that given both of these organisations have such huge financial resources, they don't get taken on over
the hosting of such defamatory and libellous posts, rather (if you thing about the whole SuperInjuction fiasco) they assist the legal process by providing the limited information they have of the offending party.
Low Flying. The production of Low Flying is to an extent funded by advertising, but I thing in the majority by membership subscriptions. Therefore if we print less, but produce a PDF, we still get the advertising revenues, but the membership cost can be reduced. Members can pay an additional fee if they need a paper copy of Low Flying.
Those not wanting the paper copy can download off the web in a "members only" section. It was put to me that a PDF can be mass recirculated to non-members and that is a concern of the Committee. I put it to the Committee that this does not matter as there is no tangible loss. In fact it advertises the Club.
Membership should have more benefits than a magazine, it should have proper track days run at a wider range of circuits through 3rd parties. It should do something to entice those who organised the large events into doing it again. It should allow AR's (or AO's as they should be) to do as much or as little as they like and eliminate the heirachy. For the privilege of this members should pay a fee - say £20 per annum.
To reignite Blatchat you should not need to be a full member of the Club, but you should be asked to verify your ID. Today there are simple mechanisms like Paypal which allow this.
So to reignite the spark, here is what I feel the new Chairman of the Lotus Seven Club has to do:
Open up senior committee selection to the wider membership. This is easy in this electronic age - I cite Club Scuderia who have a great way of doing this.
Open up Blatchat to non members. Verify identity using a more modern method such as Paypal.
Make Low Flying electronic, charge the Luddites who still want it on paper for the privilege.
Encourage the editorial team of Low Flying to do something to get interesting people to write interesting stuff. We don't all wear anoraks.
Diversify events, have them run by 3rd parties, give them semi exclusivity in exchange for risk.
Have the self appointed BC Moderators dismount from their high horses.
Just my 2p.
Membership numbers have dropped by nearly 20% on 2004 levels to a current 2500. The Club puts this down to the fact that you can buy a nice Boxster for the price of a cheap used 7. I would argue the Club actually fails to offer the same benefits it used to in terms of decent group events. Even yesterdays meeting at Caterham was not a Club event, but was the best attended event I have been to in years.
And so it seems they feel Blatchat and the quality of posting content has been impacted by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I wonder if this is because you can post what you like, and unless you ruin someone's life, you are not likely to have your post edited or removed. Furthermore if you did get your account suspended (I know of nobody to who this has happended), I am sure you can just rejoin.
I see Facebook and Twitter as a largely unmoderated sites, with the possible exception of criminal or terrorist activities, none of which occur on Blatchat. Defamatory and libellous posts are commonplace. Its odd that given both of these organisations have such huge financial resources, they don't get taken on over
the hosting of such defamatory and libellous posts, rather (if you thing about the whole SuperInjuction fiasco) they assist the legal process by providing the limited information they have of the offending party.
Low Flying. The production of Low Flying is to an extent funded by advertising, but I thing in the majority by membership subscriptions. Therefore if we print less, but produce a PDF, we still get the advertising revenues, but the membership cost can be reduced. Members can pay an additional fee if they need a paper copy of Low Flying.
Those not wanting the paper copy can download off the web in a "members only" section. It was put to me that a PDF can be mass recirculated to non-members and that is a concern of the Committee. I put it to the Committee that this does not matter as there is no tangible loss. In fact it advertises the Club.
Membership should have more benefits than a magazine, it should have proper track days run at a wider range of circuits through 3rd parties. It should do something to entice those who organised the large events into doing it again. It should allow AR's (or AO's as they should be) to do as much or as little as they like and eliminate the heirachy. For the privilege of this members should pay a fee - say £20 per annum.
To reignite Blatchat you should not need to be a full member of the Club, but you should be asked to verify your ID. Today there are simple mechanisms like Paypal which allow this.
So to reignite the spark, here is what I feel the new Chairman of the Lotus Seven Club has to do:
Open up senior committee selection to the wider membership. This is easy in this electronic age - I cite Club Scuderia who have a great way of doing this.
Open up Blatchat to non members. Verify identity using a more modern method such as Paypal.
Make Low Flying electronic, charge the Luddites who still want it on paper for the privilege.
Encourage the editorial team of Low Flying to do something to get interesting people to write interesting stuff. We don't all wear anoraks.
Diversify events, have them run by 3rd parties, give them semi exclusivity in exchange for risk.
Have the self appointed BC Moderators dismount from their high horses.
Just my 2p.
e21jason said:
For someone who is about to buy a Caterham, I thought I would ask a few questions on blatchat. Then I found out I need to pay 50 quid to discuss a potential purchase, no thanks.
That attitude puts me of joining even if I do buy the Caterham
I joined before I bought - it was well worth it.That attitude puts me of joining even if I do buy the Caterham
What do you mean by "that attitude". It is a club, and like most clubs requires a sub. The same has been true of every car club I have ever joined.
EFA
Good suggestions.
I think you missed one major point - we need to know who moderates the posts and have them justify why, to all posters, and what grounds they do so? - all this needs to be open for anyone to judge these removed & moderated posts.
Sadly we know all your suggestions are gonna get binned and quickly forgotten by the saddo's of the M team
Good news is we have PISTONHEADS
Good suggestions.
I think you missed one major point - we need to know who moderates the posts and have them justify why, to all posters, and what grounds they do so? - all this needs to be open for anyone to judge these removed & moderated posts.
Sadly we know all your suggestions are gonna get binned and quickly forgotten by the saddo's of the M team
Good news is we have PISTONHEADS
EFA said:
I spent some time discussing the Lotus Seven Club with two prominent members of the committee yesterday.
Membership numbers have dropped by nearly 20% on 2004 levels to a current 2500. The Club puts this down to the fact that you can buy a nice Boxster for the price of a cheap used 7. I would argue the Club actually fails to offer the same benefits it used to in terms of decent group events. Even yesterdays meeting at Caterham was not a Club event, but was the best attended event I have been to in years.
And so it seems they feel Blatchat and the quality of posting content has been impacted by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I wonder if this is because you can post what you like, and unless you ruin someone's life, you are not likely to have your post edited or removed. Furthermore if you did get your account suspended (I know of nobody to who this has happended), I am sure you can just rejoin.
I see Facebook and Twitter as a largely unmoderated sites, with the possible exception of criminal or terrorist activities, none of which occur on Blatchat. Defamatory and libellous posts are commonplace. Its odd that given both of these organisations have such huge financial resources, they don't get taken on over
the hosting of such defamatory and libellous posts, rather (if you thing about the whole SuperInjuction fiasco) they assist the legal process by providing the limited information they have of the offending party.
Low Flying. The production of Low Flying is to an extent funded by advertising, but I thing in the majority by membership subscriptions. Therefore if we print less, but produce a PDF, we still get the advertising revenues, but the membership cost can be reduced. Members can pay an additional fee if they need a paper copy of Low Flying.
Those not wanting the paper copy can download off the web in a "members only" section. It was put to me that a PDF can be mass recirculated to non-members and that is a concern of the Committee. I put it to the Committee that this does not matter as there is no tangible loss. In fact it advertises the Club.
Membership should have more benefits than a magazine, it should have proper track days run at a wider range of circuits through 3rd parties. It should do something to entice those who organised the large events into doing it again. It should allow AR's (or AO's as they should be) to do as much or as little as they like and eliminate the heirachy. For the privilege of this members should pay a fee - say £20 per annum.
To reignite Blatchat you should not need to be a full member of the Club, but you should be asked to verify your ID. Today there are simple mechanisms like Paypal which allow this.
So to reignite the spark, here is what I feel the new Chairman of the Lotus Seven Club has to do:
Open up senior committee selection to the wider membership. This is easy in this electronic age - I cite Club Scuderia who have a great way of doing this.
Open up Blatchat to non members. Verify identity using a more modern method such as Paypal.
Make Low Flying electronic, charge the Luddites who still want it on paper for the privilege.
Encourage the editorial team of Low Flying to do something to get interesting people to write interesting stuff. We don't all wear anoraks.
Diversify events, have them run by 3rd parties, give them semi exclusivity in exchange for risk.
Have the self appointed BC Moderators dismount from their high horses.
Just my 2p.
Interesting points here. I am surprised the membership is falling - I would have expected the opposite.Membership numbers have dropped by nearly 20% on 2004 levels to a current 2500. The Club puts this down to the fact that you can buy a nice Boxster for the price of a cheap used 7. I would argue the Club actually fails to offer the same benefits it used to in terms of decent group events. Even yesterdays meeting at Caterham was not a Club event, but was the best attended event I have been to in years.
And so it seems they feel Blatchat and the quality of posting content has been impacted by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I wonder if this is because you can post what you like, and unless you ruin someone's life, you are not likely to have your post edited or removed. Furthermore if you did get your account suspended (I know of nobody to who this has happended), I am sure you can just rejoin.
I see Facebook and Twitter as a largely unmoderated sites, with the possible exception of criminal or terrorist activities, none of which occur on Blatchat. Defamatory and libellous posts are commonplace. Its odd that given both of these organisations have such huge financial resources, they don't get taken on over
the hosting of such defamatory and libellous posts, rather (if you thing about the whole SuperInjuction fiasco) they assist the legal process by providing the limited information they have of the offending party.
Low Flying. The production of Low Flying is to an extent funded by advertising, but I thing in the majority by membership subscriptions. Therefore if we print less, but produce a PDF, we still get the advertising revenues, but the membership cost can be reduced. Members can pay an additional fee if they need a paper copy of Low Flying.
Those not wanting the paper copy can download off the web in a "members only" section. It was put to me that a PDF can be mass recirculated to non-members and that is a concern of the Committee. I put it to the Committee that this does not matter as there is no tangible loss. In fact it advertises the Club.
Membership should have more benefits than a magazine, it should have proper track days run at a wider range of circuits through 3rd parties. It should do something to entice those who organised the large events into doing it again. It should allow AR's (or AO's as they should be) to do as much or as little as they like and eliminate the heirachy. For the privilege of this members should pay a fee - say £20 per annum.
To reignite Blatchat you should not need to be a full member of the Club, but you should be asked to verify your ID. Today there are simple mechanisms like Paypal which allow this.
So to reignite the spark, here is what I feel the new Chairman of the Lotus Seven Club has to do:
Open up senior committee selection to the wider membership. This is easy in this electronic age - I cite Club Scuderia who have a great way of doing this.
Open up Blatchat to non members. Verify identity using a more modern method such as Paypal.
Make Low Flying electronic, charge the Luddites who still want it on paper for the privilege.
Encourage the editorial team of Low Flying to do something to get interesting people to write interesting stuff. We don't all wear anoraks.
Diversify events, have them run by 3rd parties, give them semi exclusivity in exchange for risk.
Have the self appointed BC Moderators dismount from their high horses.
Just my 2p.
I'm looking to buy my first Caterham and I've just sent off my application to join.
Yes it's going to cost me £50 but if it saves me making a mistake that costs me hundreds when buying a car then it's worth it.
As for long term benefits, and issues between members I can't comment.
Dave.
Yes it's going to cost me £50 but if it saves me making a mistake that costs me hundreds when buying a car then it's worth it.
As for long term benefits, and issues between members I can't comment.
Dave.
By attitude I mean charging to use a forum, I am memeber of a few car clubs and they generally do not charge to use the forum except for things like buying and selling which are sometimes resticted to memebers. So it comes across as a bit closed and cliquey.
If I was in the UK I would probably join for discounts/meets/blats but being overseas the forum would be the main benifit.
If I was in the UK I would probably join for discounts/meets/blats but being overseas the forum would be the main benifit.
Irish said:
Interesting points here. I am surprised the membership is falling - I would have expected the opposite.
Really ? I mean seriously really ? How does the club promote itself ? It has chosen not to offer up its greatest resource, the information in BC, to the rest of the internet. Google won't index at the club's request. So nobody looking for information will find it. Blatchat itself is hidden on the main page, and the calls to action are confusing. We are just starting to use Facebook, but not doing much to increase traffic. Twitter is maybe better...but doesn't generate much engagement.
If you want to see how you can promote yourself on a social media...have a look at what Carl is doing !
@E21 Jason, I can see that you may benefit from club membership more if you lived in the UK, although you would receive the magazine which has improved over the past year or two and is a good read IMO. I and others will happily help with the thread you started on PH, but you would find that you will have more replies on blatchat.
Dave
Dave
Actually, one of the reasons I haven't joined is the fact that Blatchat doesn't allow Google to index it.
I found it horrendous to search the site manually, using Google would have made it far easier, more accessible and would give greater visibility of the club.
Also, I pay £10 a year for my Meganesport membership. Frankly, I refuse to pay 5 times that amount for what is essentially the same thing.
I found it horrendous to search the site manually, using Google would have made it far easier, more accessible and would give greater visibility of the club.
Also, I pay £10 a year for my Meganesport membership. Frankly, I refuse to pay 5 times that amount for what is essentially the same thing.
EFA said:
I spent some time discussing the Lotus Seven Club with two prominent members of the committee yesterday.
Some very good and constructive ideas EFA.Anecdotally I've noticed a lot of us new Caterham owners on PH aren't joining. Something is being seen as a barrier to the club and I think access blatchat is it. It's a closed door you have to pay to get past to see the product you've already committed to purchase.
framerateuk said:
Also, I pay £10 a year for my Meganesport membership. Frankly, I refuse to pay 5 times that amount for what is essentially the same thing.
This is something the Lotus 7 Club or Blatchat (are they the same thing?) need to address.A large number of car forums are free. Granted some maybe support by site advertising or suppliers paying a bit towards the server costs.
Other posters have alluded to the fact that Low Flying is paid for by advertising in the magazine. So that is self financing.
£45 x 2500 members? £110K a year seems a decent slush fund to make the forum free and accessible to more members.
Do it right and you'd have members across the global joining and it would become THE definitive source for L7 globally. That's global demographic of mostly high earning punters for prospective advertisers to help sponsor the site.
I have to be honest too in that I'd question whether a "club" is even relevant today.
Magazines? Blogs, PDF etc.
Knowledge base? Forums
Club events? A post in forums
Track days? A post in forums
etc.
Edited by Agent Orange on Monday 18th February 15:10
Agent Orange said:
Other posters have alluded to the fact that Low Flying is paid for by advertising in the magazine. So that is self financing.
I know this not to be the case. In recent years advertising costs have helped offset the cost of LF, but they are a long way off financing it in full. Agent Orange said:
£45 x 2500 members? £110K a year seems a decent slush fund to make the forum free and accessible to more members.
I have to be honest too in that I'd question whether a "club" is even relevant today.
Mr Orange, going back in time the web site was open, the issue was anybody could post and the club feared having the pants sued off them for liable and it would be the committee members that would be sued I never agreed with the notion of a closed forum as it does restrict involvement, but then again I am not the one putting my house at risk. http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=41701I have to be honest too in that I'd question whether a "club" is even relevant today.
Edited by Agent Orange on Monday 18th February 15:10
However have a look here for a definition of a club http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club
Clubs by nature have a political element run by members Arnie was a prominent member and was a key member in organising several trips and put a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm into it and have to say they were very good, and thoroughly enjoyed them. I didn't necessarily agree with every element but that is the nature of a group activity.
£110K sounds a lot of money but its not when you are serving a whole membership running trips etc also this is the type of activity happens when you have a club .http://www.carrotland.co.uk/about-us so are clubs relevant I think so........
Edited by Toaster on Monday 18th February 20:37
So if the "Club" and BC are so good, why have Carrotland set up their own website? 
And I was there yesterday (and lived!).
Nice to see a fair few people, I got some bits and it was sort of significant being there, but how did being a Club member really improve the experience?
Where was the ESV for example?
And I was there yesterday (and lived!).
Nice to see a fair few people, I got some bits and it was sort of significant being there, but how did being a Club member really improve the experience?
Where was the ESV for example?
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 18th February 22:59
EFA said:
I volunteered to be Chairman, but the Chairman at that time found an old posting whihc was derogatory about someone and used this to ban me from BC, so he could slide his mate in as his replacement;). A Club this most certainly is, but no longer a Club I want to be a member of.
As a friend of yours I am sorry to see you posting the comments that you are. I know that you have differences of opinion with a few people. Not saying who is right or who is wrong ... But If you wanted to be on the MT there was nothing stopping you in all the time you have been a member, from there you could have worked your way up to being the Chairman...Edited by EFA on Monday 18th February 09:48
Do you have good ideas? Yes some are
Have you put a lot into the club in the past? Yes
Do you have friends on the MT? Yes
Have people/club members attacked you for the efforts you put in? Yes and often I have witnessed unfair comments made. That is why it saddens me to see you stooping to their level and unfairly attacking other people who have put in a lot of effort for the wider membership.
I am not sure why if you have a genuine issue, why you have not approached it in a more professional manner especially if your feel that you are chairmanship material.
e21jason said:
For someone who is about to buy a Caterham, I thought I would ask a few questions on blatchat. Then I found out I need to pay 50 quid to discuss a potential purchase, no thanks.
That attitude puts me of joining even if I do buy the Caterham
OK, Jason, it is more difficult if you are not in the UK but don't rule The Club out just because you can not post. What you can still do is search the database on Blatchat and, to be perfectly honest, most questions people have before making a purchase have been asked before.That attitude puts me of joining even if I do buy the Caterham
Alternative idea. As a non member you can still go to http://www.lotussevenclub.com/ and look at the Area Meetings page, scroll down and find the meetings outside the UK, there are several and there are several Lotus/Caterham Clubs abroad.
Edited by Golf Juliet Tang on Monday 18th February 23:44
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