Lotus 7 Club - is it worth it?
Discussion
e21jason said:
If I was in the UK I would probably join for discounts/meets/blats but being overseas the forum would be the main benifit.
I think it is clear from all the comments in this thread that we all put different values to the benefits provided by the club. I have found the help from blatchat invaluable when working on the seven, so I am a happy member even though I don't live in the UK. Also, many of the club discounts are still of value seeing as most seven bits I buy are from the UK.framerateuk said:
Toaster, you referenced that post about liabilities - that was dated back to 2003. How do you think other online clubs get away with it? It sounds like a pretty old-fashioned view to be honest.
Not really - my favourite motoring website closed for this reason. You would be surprised how many people throw around libel claims re site forums - PH is big enough to cover / defend / insure but not so the smaller clubs.Given the amount of personal handbags stuff around the L7 club I am not surprised this rule is enforced.
I would not take a position of responsiblity attached to any online forum.
Currently, anyone with Internet access can view postings on the club form, www.blatchat.com.
Only club members can post new topics, or reply to existing ones.
Club membership gets you a monthly magazine (entitled Low Flying) delivered to your home. There is no electronic or on-line version of Low Flying, although there is a truly hilarious long running gag about PDF versions of the mag being available to certain "inner circle" members.
Some technical articles from the magazine have been turned into PDFs and are available in the members-only area of the website.
There are also some discounts available to members. The list of these is occasionally in the club mag, but is also available in the members section of the website.
The club arranges 7-only track days and sessions. Current mag has arrived with a day at Cadwell for £165 - seems reasonable to me. Feedback I have read is very good re. track time and numbers of cars on track, etc.
There are also regional meetings, normally held in a pub. My local meet was a good bunch of people, but has been moribund for some months now. Whether you can/should turn up to these if you aren't a member has already been discussed at some length on here...
Some of Arnie's points are interesting. I would support Blatchat returning to allowing non-members to post and an electronic version of the club magazine.
However, the club has a new Chairman and a new General Secretary so they should be given time to get their feet under the table and set out their stall before commenting upon the make-up of the management and moderation (something I have had issue with in the past).
I have no intention of volunteering my time to assist the club, so I don't feel that I have the moral right to criticise those that do. As Arnie is coming from a different position (he's up for it) then that's a different matter. And quite entertaining to read.
Only club members can post new topics, or reply to existing ones.
Club membership gets you a monthly magazine (entitled Low Flying) delivered to your home. There is no electronic or on-line version of Low Flying, although there is a truly hilarious long running gag about PDF versions of the mag being available to certain "inner circle" members.
Some technical articles from the magazine have been turned into PDFs and are available in the members-only area of the website.
There are also some discounts available to members. The list of these is occasionally in the club mag, but is also available in the members section of the website.
The club arranges 7-only track days and sessions. Current mag has arrived with a day at Cadwell for £165 - seems reasonable to me. Feedback I have read is very good re. track time and numbers of cars on track, etc.
There are also regional meetings, normally held in a pub. My local meet was a good bunch of people, but has been moribund for some months now. Whether you can/should turn up to these if you aren't a member has already been discussed at some length on here...
Some of Arnie's points are interesting. I would support Blatchat returning to allowing non-members to post and an electronic version of the club magazine.
However, the club has a new Chairman and a new General Secretary so they should be given time to get their feet under the table and set out their stall before commenting upon the make-up of the management and moderation (something I have had issue with in the past).
I have no intention of volunteering my time to assist the club, so I don't feel that I have the moral right to criticise those that do. As Arnie is coming from a different position (he's up for it) then that's a different matter. And quite entertaining to read.
angusfaldo said:
Was it a club event?
It was certainly bantered around thus. The strictly correct answer to the question, and the one that plays right on to the hands of the "yes, it's worth it" camp is no, it wasn't a club event however, attending gatherings like that on Sunday is precisely the kind of thing which is cited as a benefit of club membership when the uncomfortable truth is the club had no real part in it.I struggle to see how "the Club" actually supported CC on Sunday.
Final text from Caterham Cars website news item:
"Caterham Cars is expected to vacate its current premises by the end of February. A final farewell and autojumble event will be held at the Station Avenue showroom, in conjunction with the Seven Owners Club, on Sunday, February 17"
"Caterham Cars is expected to vacate its current premises by the end of February. A final farewell and autojumble event will be held at the Station Avenue showroom, in conjunction with the Seven Owners Club, on Sunday, February 17"
Crossflow Kid said:
It was certainly bantered around thus. The strictly correct answer to the question, and the one that plays right on to the hands of the "yes, it's worth it" camp is no, it wasn't a club event however, attending gatherings like that on Sunday is precisely the kind of thing which is cited as a benefit of club membership when the uncomfortable truth is the club had no real part in it.
I struggle to see how "the Club" actually supported CC on Sunday.
There was four separate threads on Blatchat about this. As a member I was aware. I attended - again as a member. I did not care one jot whether all who attended where members or otherwise. All I know is that they were Caterham enthusiasts. From my perspective the club keeps me in touch with these things.I struggle to see how "the Club" actually supported CC on Sunday.
The slogan should be:
"You don't have to me a club member to get the most from your Caterham - but it helps."
framerateuk said:
Toaster, you referenced that post about liabilities - that was dated back to 2003. How do you think other online clubs get away with it? It sounds like a pretty old-fashioned view to be honest.
As Irish mentioned, this is still a threat. Another large forum (not car-related) that I am a long term member of was recently 'threatened' (as in "received solictor's letters from a member") and steps had to be taken to mitigate that risk to the 'club'.WRT Blatchat, I think a moderated 'new members' forum that anyone can post in is a good idea. I think selective Google indexing would work well e.g. index everything but 'ChitChat', maybe.
WRT the club in general, I've been a member for just over a year and joined before getting my car. My thinking there was £45 (or whatever) is small change relative to the size of the purchase I was making. Since then I think it has been good value for the local meetings, the couple of club organised drives I've done, I currently enjoy reading Low Flying and reading/posting on BlatChat etc.
EFA said:
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.
.......
Open up Blatchat to non members. Verify identity using a more modern method such as Paypal.
Agree 100% .......
Open up Blatchat to non members. Verify identity using a more modern method such as Paypal.
angusfaldo said:
Was it a club event?
Not as far as I could see. It was organised by CC. If it wasn't for the club with Blatchat though I wonder if the numbers would have been the same? There was very little about it elsewhere apart from a few regular posters here who mentioned it in one thread. framerateuk said:
Toaster, you referenced that post about liabilities - that was dated back to 2003. How do you think other online clubs get away with it? It sounds like a pretty old-fashioned view to be honest.
I don't think its an old fashioned view I was just high lighting how the club got to were it is, any club or even sole trader for that matter can be sued and loose everything, now I am not a solicitor so legal advise you would have to go elsewhere, A club can protect themselves in several ways and is why in recent years more and more clubs are becoming LTD or LLP, in fact anyone in business should consider protecting themselves. You may even want to look at what is involved in starting a sports club and options it is no different to another business consideration.http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...
Do I think BlatChat should be open yes I do but its just an opinion
Edited by Toaster on Tuesday 19th February 21:09
Toaster said:
framerateuk said:
Toaster, you referenced that post about liabilities - that was dated back to 2003. How do you think other online clubs get away with it? It sounds like a pretty old-fashioned view to be honest.
I don't think its an old fashioned view I was just high lighting how the club got to were it is, any club or even sole trader for that matter can be sued and loose everything,
(Sorry for the thread drift, but really, I think we need some of that stuff where cows get smaller the further away they are....perspective is it?)
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