The future of this Club/forum?
Discussion
Deffo retain the existing site and the name.
Paul.....the earlier conversaion was aimed at generating ideas in which to maintain the current community and not in ANYWAY break it up, but to broaden the format to include all aspects of HSV ownership. Hope that makes sense. Along the same lines as what the folks over on ls1.com.au have and the way it is formatted.
However, am fully aware it is not easy to create a format such as this without having to move the whole thing over to another provider.
Just hope we havent opened up a massive can of worms by making the suggestion.
Paul.....the earlier conversaion was aimed at generating ideas in which to maintain the current community and not in ANYWAY break it up, but to broaden the format to include all aspects of HSV ownership. Hope that makes sense. Along the same lines as what the folks over on ls1.com.au have and the way it is formatted.
However, am fully aware it is not easy to create a format such as this without having to move the whole thing over to another provider.
Just hope we havent opened up a massive can of worms by making the suggestion.
My ideas:
a) Maybe have a CV8 section and a HSV/VXR section for ease of finding technical data
b) Regional sections so it is easier to organise meets etc.
c) an 'off-topic' section where jokes etc. can be shared to increase activity on the forum
d) perhaps a racing section where know-it-alls can give advice on track days, drag racing techniques etc.
Just a few off the top of my head, keep 'em coming guys.
a) Maybe have a CV8 section and a HSV/VXR section for ease of finding technical data
b) Regional sections so it is easier to organise meets etc.
c) an 'off-topic' section where jokes etc. can be shared to increase activity on the forum
d) perhaps a racing section where know-it-alls can give advice on track days, drag racing techniques etc.
Just a few off the top of my head, keep 'em coming guys.
Another good example is ls1-australia.com
I think the volume here is a little too small to populate a large forum.
I guess we could split the forums up into;
Appearance
LSx Engine and Drivetrain
Forced Induction
Events
General Chat
Only problem I can see is the massive administration that goes with this.
1 You need hosting, 2 you need some admins to keep the posts in the right place etc.
3 Backups and maintenance of the site. Paul has some nice domains registered. But we cant expect him to do all the work.
I think some more frequent meetings would be good. I always seem to miss the planned ones, either out of the country or working etc.
Maybe each meeting can have a speaker. (eg) Tom Walkinsaw, Stuart from Vauxhall, Paul from Wortec, Mike from Boost Perf, they can tell us whats new, whats coming, or demo some technology or product etc.
Thats my 2p
I think the volume here is a little too small to populate a large forum.
I guess we could split the forums up into;
Appearance
LSx Engine and Drivetrain
Forced Induction
Events
General Chat
Only problem I can see is the massive administration that goes with this.
1 You need hosting, 2 you need some admins to keep the posts in the right place etc.
3 Backups and maintenance of the site. Paul has some nice domains registered. But we cant expect him to do all the work.
I think some more frequent meetings would be good. I always seem to miss the planned ones, either out of the country or working etc.
Maybe each meeting can have a speaker. (eg) Tom Walkinsaw, Stuart from Vauxhall, Paul from Wortec, Mike from Boost Perf, they can tell us whats new, whats coming, or demo some technology or product etc.
Thats my 2p
I have been thinking about a change in direction for a while now to allow for the growth of the forum.......
But I have some concerns.....
1. at the moment we have equal exposure for HSV, Monaro and VXR owners
if we split the forum people might know about VXR Monaro but not realise
where the origins of the car are.
2. there have been a few new forums set up recently which will try and poach our members but this will only dilute the knowledge base we have and mean some new members to those forum will not get the best advice.
3. As we use pistonheads for our forum, setting up a separate forum would mean our hits and exposure would be greatly reduced and many potential new members might not find us......
4. Admin of the site has started to get on top of me...."Petrol Ted "takes car of most of the forum but I get lots emails each day from people who dont post on the forum but want answers to questions on HSV/Monaro etc. and I have a fear that on my own I cant look after the club to the standard I want or expect..........
But I have some concerns.....
1. at the moment we have equal exposure for HSV, Monaro and VXR owners
if we split the forum people might know about VXR Monaro but not realise
where the origins of the car are.
2. there have been a few new forums set up recently which will try and poach our members but this will only dilute the knowledge base we have and mean some new members to those forum will not get the best advice.
3. As we use pistonheads for our forum, setting up a separate forum would mean our hits and exposure would be greatly reduced and many potential new members might not find us......
4. Admin of the site has started to get on top of me...."Petrol Ted "takes car of most of the forum but I get lots emails each day from people who dont post on the forum but want answers to questions on HSV/Monaro etc. and I have a fear that on my own I cant look after the club to the standard I want or expect..........
Thanx for sharing concerns Paul.
Although there are several other sites materialising, mainly the two VXR sites, I personally find them unusable as it is only split into car categories (ie Astra, Monaro, Zaffira etc) and the odd one for meets etc. To me it is very bland, although I put my hands up and admit it is early days for the site, so things might improve. I have only ever been on the Vaux site once. And that is chiefly due to the fact that you are leaving one community base for another, which to be honest I dont like doing.
The comment about new owners actually finding the site is a valid one and something I cant offer a resolve for, the fact that PH host the forum means finding thread and links to HSV/Monaro etc a hell of a lot easier. Its how I stumbled upon this site and am sure many others have done so as well.
Regarding the amount of emails, administrating the site....I do have one suggestion which might make things a bit easier, but it is largely down to ppl's time and devotion to this community. I would suggest maybe splitting the moderation between car variation. Meaning, a moderator for all things HSV, all things VXR and all things CV8. But I suppose something on that scale cant really be set up unless there is a change in format.
The one important factor to me and main concern is that the current community base is not split or damaged in anyway, it is by far one of the best communities IO have come across and enjoy reading everyone's input. A site the size of ls1.com.au is way too big for me and I would only read maybe 2% of things that are posted on there.
Although there are several other sites materialising, mainly the two VXR sites, I personally find them unusable as it is only split into car categories (ie Astra, Monaro, Zaffira etc) and the odd one for meets etc. To me it is very bland, although I put my hands up and admit it is early days for the site, so things might improve. I have only ever been on the Vaux site once. And that is chiefly due to the fact that you are leaving one community base for another, which to be honest I dont like doing.
The comment about new owners actually finding the site is a valid one and something I cant offer a resolve for, the fact that PH host the forum means finding thread and links to HSV/Monaro etc a hell of a lot easier. Its how I stumbled upon this site and am sure many others have done so as well.
Regarding the amount of emails, administrating the site....I do have one suggestion which might make things a bit easier, but it is largely down to ppl's time and devotion to this community. I would suggest maybe splitting the moderation between car variation. Meaning, a moderator for all things HSV, all things VXR and all things CV8. But I suppose something on that scale cant really be set up unless there is a change in format.
The one important factor to me and main concern is that the current community base is not split or damaged in anyway, it is by far one of the best communities IO have come across and enjoy reading everyone's input. A site the size of ls1.com.au is way too big for me and I would only read maybe 2% of things that are posted on there.
It certainly would be a shame to change it too much, but I can certainly see your concerns. Regarding the workload Paul, would it be possible that to fend some of the questions you receive back onto this forum you could set up an automated response directing the person to Pistonheads? Another idea is to maybe have a seperate section for overtly technical/engine questions as it appears to be taking over somewhat,(not a criticism of anyone), and already on Pistonheads there is an "engines" forum. I wouldn't personally like to see it split into various CV8/VXR/HSV bits, as after all thats what has made it successful in the first place. A victim of its own success eh?
I definately think it needs to stay Holden based forum.
That means, Vauxhall CV8/VXR as well as any future potential Chev Lumina's from South Africa or middle east etc.
I dont think the forum needs splitting down hsv, cv8, vxr lines, in most cases the driveline is exactly the same and parts can and are mixed and matched. For example is a VXR an hsv or not? What happens if I put a set of hsv brakes on a cv8? etc. Just gets messy.
I think if its kept the way it started, primarily a Holden forum then the information, knowledge and so on will always gravitate to this forum.
I agree Pistonheads is a good home as it attracts a wide audience. A dedicated UK Holden site would be very small. Maybe Ted can chop the forum up like he does the TVR and Lotus stuff? That could then be linked under Pauls site to make it appear seemless.
That means, Vauxhall CV8/VXR as well as any future potential Chev Lumina's from South Africa or middle east etc.
I dont think the forum needs splitting down hsv, cv8, vxr lines, in most cases the driveline is exactly the same and parts can and are mixed and matched. For example is a VXR an hsv or not? What happens if I put a set of hsv brakes on a cv8? etc. Just gets messy.
I think if its kept the way it started, primarily a Holden forum then the information, knowledge and so on will always gravitate to this forum.
I agree Pistonheads is a good home as it attracts a wide audience. A dedicated UK Holden site would be very small. Maybe Ted can chop the forum up like he does the TVR and Lotus stuff? That could then be linked under Pauls site to make it appear seemless.
I quite like the idea of a HSV, VXR and CV8 'moderator' or 'admin' as quite often questions about one car (i.e. what exhaust should I get for my VXR/HSV/CV8) would be better answered by a person or persons with actual experience as opposed to people who are just loyal to one company and therefore reccommend their product regardless of its comparison to other companies in quality/sound/performance. That is just an example, I'm sure their are many other situations where it could apply; this would also take quite a lot of the work away from Paul as he could just forward any emails he receives onto the other 'specialist' guys who could advise them and hopefully over time and with enough advertising the forum would be able to attract enough attention to build up a wide fan base...
I'm not sure we have enough members to split it up too much, maybe just a Holden/Vauxhall section and a VXR/HSV section for ease of use. I don't know, it's a difficult one!
I'm not sure we have enough members to split it up too much, maybe just a Holden/Vauxhall section and a VXR/HSV section for ease of use. I don't know, it's a difficult one!
uk hsv said:
Ok what do you want to do?
Leave it as it is IMHO. Not broke - no need to fix it.
I bought my car thanks to this forum, and found this place extremely helpful in making that decision largely because all the information was in one place. I don't see any value at all in splitting up the tens of posts that we get per day into sub-sections.
It's been pretty quiet at times of late, and sure there have been a number of threads that saw tempers flare, but there are new people on board thanks to the Monaro coming into the UK and hey, this is not a clique, is it?
Maybe adding a FAQ to the forum giving some history of the Holden and HSV marques, the UK HSV project, explaining the difference between Holden, HSV, VXRs that are really HSVs, VXRs that are not HSVs, etc would be an idea. Perhaps that would mitigate the effects we seem to see of newbies posting rashly without lurking for a period to get the flavour and feel of the group, as was once the norm on public fora. Other than that, it's fine as it is.
I'd have to say I find the forum generally very good and helpful though at times I also find it very technical with some postings assuming a certain level of reader knowledge I simply dont have. Now I dont think thats a bad thing because clearly the forum has to cater for all levels of expertise and its clear there are owners on here like myself that use their cars as a weekend hobby while others are serious committed petrol heads with budgets to match. I wonder though if it would make stuff easier to find if the forums were categorised - ie meets, for sale, faqs, technical, general chat, spotted type of thing. There is an amount of admin work associated with that format but that could be shared around with moderators for each keeping an eye on things. Wouldnt go changing things just for the sake of it though - I still reckon this is one of the better forums, if not the best that I'm currently a member of. While I'm at it I'd just like to take the opportunity of saying thanks to the guys running this site for such dedication and their hard work.
Paul, if your getting a lot of emails asking questions which is not related to your business, why dont you just have an automaic reply saying please direct your questions to the forum......
Will, it seems you started this thread off with some comments in another along the line of the community has changed since more monaro's owners posting here or at least that's how I read it, maybe you can clarify and give an idea of what you would like to see change or not change?
my 2p
Will, it seems you started this thread off with some comments in another along the line of the community has changed since more monaro's owners posting here or at least that's how I read it, maybe you can clarify and give an idea of what you would like to see change or not change?
my 2p
This is all a bit reminiscent of when the LS1 powered cars showed up in Australia! Most of the people I know where on www.LS1.com They provided a section for the OZ people. After about 2 years, it got too big or maybe I should clarify that, there were now a lot of Holden/HSV owners using one section of a forum. I think a couple of extra moderators were recruited from the home area. Then the forum was split in two; Technical and the rest (meetings,chat). A year later, sidewindr started up a seperate Aussie forum as more categories were being asked for again.
I haven't really explored pistonheads that much, but do the other car marques have more than one section? Maybe that would be the first step.
motomk
I haven't really explored pistonheads that much, but do the other car marques have more than one section? Maybe that would be the first step.
motomk
Most of the FAQ's and historic info, links, events, photo's etc are on the club site.
www.hsvdriversclub.co.uk
Info there, discussion here.
www.hsvdriversclub.co.uk
Info there, discussion here.
The very biggest problem in this place is something that Paul cannot fixed.
The place is becoming deadly dull and boring.
Too many "spotted" posts, people only interested in bickering about whether a supercharger or cams or turbo or whatever is best i.e "my car is better than your car", willy waving from the VXR owners, a bit of snobbiness from the "genuine" HSV owners, preciousness from everyone (look what happens as soon as any outsider dares criticise the mighty Holden god) and a touch of cliqueyness.
Ok, the cliqueyness I can live with 'cos you get that everywhere but you can pick the bones out of the rest of it 'cos it's all true.
Anyhoo, I ain't perfick, never said I was but if the forum were to diversify it should go down General & Techy routes only.
That way all the Techy stuff can stay in the Techy area which will make thngs easier to find and the rest can play in General.
Oh and some decent forum software like vBulletin as well 'cos this stuff is a bit poo tbh.
The place is becoming deadly dull and boring.
Too many "spotted" posts, people only interested in bickering about whether a supercharger or cams or turbo or whatever is best i.e "my car is better than your car", willy waving from the VXR owners, a bit of snobbiness from the "genuine" HSV owners, preciousness from everyone (look what happens as soon as any outsider dares criticise the mighty Holden god) and a touch of cliqueyness.
Ok, the cliqueyness I can live with 'cos you get that everywhere but you can pick the bones out of the rest of it 'cos it's all true.
Anyhoo, I ain't perfick, never said I was but if the forum were to diversify it should go down General & Techy routes only.
That way all the Techy stuff can stay in the Techy area which will make thngs easier to find and the rest can play in General.
Oh and some decent forum software like vBulletin as well 'cos this stuff is a bit poo tbh.
Will, it seems you started this thread off with some comments in another along the line of the community has changed since more monaro's owners posting here or at least that's how I read it, maybe you can clarify and give an idea of what you would like to see change or not change?
my 2p[/quote]
For me, seeing a post lifted from the other site for Vauxhall VXR owners not allowing HSV attendance at Donnington got me somewhat irritated, mainly as it appeared on our HSV site.
This somewhat influenced my response in that thread, obviously that post has now been edited accordingly by Chris and with further comment by Stu Harris over ruling that fraternity as Vauxhall are in fact paying for the event, so now all HSV, Holden & VXR Marques are welcome to attend Donnington which in my opinion is the way it should be.
I also hold my hands up to using wooden eating implements
In all honesty I seem to be out of kilter with the main community over the stance I have taken on being proud of HSV ownership and in particular the 4 door variety and know I am in a small minority compared to our 2 door friends.
This site is great, why else would I be such an avid poster but feel that the sites main function currently is to introduce enhancements to the VXR range with no real interest anymore in bringing things of interest to the 4 door fraternity. I have other issues with commercial concerns but have no intention of airing my thoughts publicly.
So to conclude I will apologise without reserve to Paul for shaking the foundations of the club and wish everyone continued enjoyment of the forum and feel I must silence myself for now.
Will
>> Edited by V8HSV on Tuesday 11th April 09:04
my 2p[/quote]
For me, seeing a post lifted from the other site for Vauxhall VXR owners not allowing HSV attendance at Donnington got me somewhat irritated, mainly as it appeared on our HSV site.
This somewhat influenced my response in that thread, obviously that post has now been edited accordingly by Chris and with further comment by Stu Harris over ruling that fraternity as Vauxhall are in fact paying for the event, so now all HSV, Holden & VXR Marques are welcome to attend Donnington which in my opinion is the way it should be.
I also hold my hands up to using wooden eating implements
In all honesty I seem to be out of kilter with the main community over the stance I have taken on being proud of HSV ownership and in particular the 4 door variety and know I am in a small minority compared to our 2 door friends.
This site is great, why else would I be such an avid poster but feel that the sites main function currently is to introduce enhancements to the VXR range with no real interest anymore in bringing things of interest to the 4 door fraternity. I have other issues with commercial concerns but have no intention of airing my thoughts publicly.
So to conclude I will apologise without reserve to Paul for shaking the foundations of the club and wish everyone continued enjoyment of the forum and feel I must silence myself for now.
Will
>> Edited by V8HSV on Tuesday 11th April 09:04
I think the Piston heads bit certainly helps exposure - but the forum itself (technically) is bit old and busted.
You guys, however, are fantastic. Paul and Brian have been a great help and I wouldn't own my Monaro had it not been for your help and guidance.
What to do? Nothing wrong with we have here really. People won't change no matter how pretty the site is.
You guys, however, are fantastic. Paul and Brian have been a great help and I wouldn't own my Monaro had it not been for your help and guidance.
What to do? Nothing wrong with we have here really. People won't change no matter how pretty the site is.
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