An update for you....what are we up to?

[Garlick]

I did promise to write an update for you on a monthly basis and failed out of the box, so here is my update albeit a little bit late.

Firstly it’s fair to say that I haven’t been ‘around’ as much as normal since Nathan (eybic) started here as that has freed me up to go and see clients and partners as well as thinking about developing the site moving forwards. Nathan now covers the forums and moderation on a day-to-day basis as well as looking after events such as the Sunday Service calendar, but I am still kept up to date when I am in and (of course) still keep my nose in on the forums.

Speaking of Sunday Services, the calendar is now full and I’m pleased to say that we will be visiting some old favourites but we have also secured some great new venues too. We look forward to promoting them soon. Also, while on the subject of events it’s great that our Le Mans private campsite has already sold out, thanks to all PHers who rushed to pay deposits to take all the available spaces, can’t wait to head over.

Few new things going on in my world. I’m getting out and about to investigate the possibility of enhancing some of the great tech that Ted put into the site all those years ago (ahead of its time in all fairness). Things like readers garages, video uploads (remember PHTV?), member maps etc. PH had all of this many years ago and I’d like to see if we can bring that back. In addition I will be looking at more member events and incentives and we might even look at a few new areas to reinforce our significance within the sports car arena. I really look forward to developing that area over the next few months and while it will keep me away from the forums at times I know it will make the site better long term.

Development wise we continue to tweak the classifieds (mobile and desktop) and we are also enhancing our affiliate offerings (the likes of our warranty, insurance etc) to make a more complete experience. Aside from the classifieds we are looking to launch a more uniform navigation across the site as at the moment each page has a different top nav and that needs sorting ASAP. The PH Board continues to be a great way for us to do early testing and we’ll be sharing some new nav options with them soon, in rough form, before tweaking them and sharing here.

Ad formats have been a bit of a pain (to say the least) of late and we will be meeting with the advertising team next week to get that sorted. Revenue is important (naturally) but not at the expense of usability so I can only apologise at the intrusions we have forced upon you of late. It’s in hand, I assure you.

That’s about it for now, editorially we are looking to introduce some new formats and features (with the PHer at the forefront) and areas like merchandise continue to perform strongly too. Thanks so much for all of the support in these areas.

Google ads have now been removed from most of the site and have been replaced with Taboola (seen along the bottom of these pages). We took the decision to remove Google as a result of their strong demands on what content we could and (more importantly) couldn't run. It took a while to tweak that to mutual satisfaction but we got there in the end. The amount of clicks we now receive on promoted content shows that it works well, so thanks for helping us to get that right.

Feel free to email me at any time if you need me, many of you already do and it’s probably the best way of getting a quick answer to any questions you might have.

Have a great weekend
Paul

[madbadger]

Any SS planned for oop North?

[0a]

Thanks for the update. Are you seeing more article traffic as a result of the spots at the bottom of the page. I have to say they never really bothered me; the masses would probably complain furiously if you removed them and put Google ads back on!

[Roy Lime]

Garlick,

Answer my bleeding email...

[eybic]

madbadger said:

Any SS planned for oop North?

It depends what you call North but they certainly aren't all on the south coast, we will be taking trips up the motorway, keep your eyes peeled

[paulrussell]

eybic said:

madbadger said:

Any SS planned for oop North?

It depends what you call North but they certainly aren't all on the south coast, we will be taking trips up the motorway, keep your eyes peeled

I think Coventry Transport Museum would be a good place to hold a Sunday Service in a few years time, once BLOODHOUND SSC has broken the land speed record.

[Kiltie]

Thanks for the post Paul.

Has the "PH Board" idea been developed?

Will there be any effort put into policy regarding acceptable behaviour on the forums and consistency of moderation?

[Shaw Tarse]

Kiltie said:

Thanks for the post Paul.

Has the "PH Board" idea been developed?

Kiltie said:

Will there be any effort put into policy regarding acceptable behaviour on the forums and consistency of moderation?

For this, I'd say pm Paul or Nathan, or use the report button

[Kiltie]

Shaw Tarse said:

Kiltie said:

Thanks for the post Paul.

Has the "PH Board" idea been developed?

In that case, I'd have thought it worthy of mention.

Shaw Tarse said:

Kiltie said:

Will there be any effort put into policy regarding acceptable behaviour on the forums and consistency of moderation?

For this, I'd say pm Paul or Nathan, or use the report button

It's not unusual for me to report posts and nothing is done.

This is fine as, I guess, it means that while I might not like the post; it fits within the range of defined acceptability.

It would just be good to get an approximate understanding of what that range is. If I did, I'd know what to report and what not to. I'd also know when I might be justified in feeling grumpy over specific moderator actions; or lack thereof.

That's all.

[e46acs]

eybic said:

madbadger said:

Any SS planned for oop North?

It depends what you call North but they certainly aren't all on the south coast, we will be taking trips up the motorway, keep your eyes peeled

Yes. This. Would be great to have a SS in the North East, or at least north Yorkshire!

[Shaw Tarse]

e46acs said:

eybic said:

madbadger said:

Any SS planned for oop North?

It depends what you call North but they certainly aren't all on the south coast, we will be taking trips up the motorway, keep your eyes peeled

Yes. This. Would be great to have a SS in the North East, or at least north Yorkshire!

Suggest a location?

[Shaw Tarse]

Kiltie said:

Shaw Tarse said:

Kiltie said:

Thanks for the post Paul.

Has the "PH Board" idea been developed?

In that case, I'd have thought it worthy of mention.

Shaw Tarse said:

Kiltie said:

Will there be any effort put into policy regarding acceptable behaviour on the forums and consistency of moderation?

For this, I'd say pm Paul or Nathan, or use the report button

It's not unusual for me to report posts and nothing is done.

This is fine as, I guess, it means that while I might not like the post; it fits within the range of defined acceptability.

It would just be good to get an approximate understanding of what that range is. If I did, I'd know what to report and what not to. I'd also know when I might be justified in feeling grumpy over specific moderator actions; or lack thereof.

That's all.

Once again, I'd say contact Garlick, or eybic

[madbadger]

Shaw Tarse said:

e46acs said:

eybic said:

madbadger said:

Any SS planned for oop North?

It depends what you call North but they certainly aren't all on the south coast, we will be taking trips up the motorway, keep your eyes peeled

Yes. This. Would be great to have a SS in the North East, or at least north Yorkshire!

Suggest a location?

Harewood House and Newby Hall have both hosted big meets. I'm sure there are other suitable places.

[Garlick]

Roy Lime said:

Garlick,

Answer my bleeding email...

Roy, nothing in my inbox from you. Want to resend?

[Garlick]

0a said:

Thanks for the update. Are you seeing more article traffic as a result of the spots at the bottom of the page. I have to say they never really bothered me; the masses would probably complain furiously if you removed them and put Google ads back on!

Very much so, I have some stats...will dig them out. Nice to point traffic to ourselves and it means we can highlight particular articles like the M3 comp too.

[Garlick]

Kiltie said:

Thanks for the post Paul.

Has the "PH Board" idea been developed?

Will there be any effort put into policy regarding acceptable behaviour on the forums and consistency of moderation?

Board is in operation.

I have asked Nathan to look at patrolling the forums more to give more pro-active moderation where possible.

As I see it three things need to happen. More reports (definitely less than we used to get a few years ago), more self-policing where possible, and a less tolerant approach from us for those who seek to cause trouble. Many problem posters are reported, and many have been banned as a result, but perhaps we need to be more strict, I'm happy to do that.

It's a worthy discussion though so I may throw it to the board in the first instance.

P

[Silent1]

Garlick said:

Kiltie said:

Thanks for the post Paul.

Has the "PH Board" idea been developed?

Will there be any effort put into policy regarding acceptable behaviour on the forums and consistency of moderation?

Board is in operation.

I have asked Nathan to look at patrolling the forums more to give more pro-active moderation where possible.

As I see it three things need to happen. More reports (definitely less than we used to get a few years ago), more self-policing where possible, and a less tolerant approach from us for those who seek to cause trouble. Many problem posters are reported, and many have been banned as a result, but perhaps we need to be more strict, I'm happy to do that.

It's a worthy discussion though so I may throw it to the board in the first instance.

P

I'll volunteer to be a mod, again... And you can all take the piss in the mod forum like you did last time

[Garlick]

madbadger said:

Any SS planned for oop North?

Not really in the 'true' north (my parents now live in Yorkshire so I realise Silverstone isn't The North) but certainly outside of the M25

I'd like to extend/ increase the clout/ power of the regional PH groups as I see on the forums, and Facebook, that these are going really well with curry meets, pub meets and drives. It's unfair for us to say that we'll be running meets up north/ in Wales/ in Scotland as we have no immediate plans to do so as we rely on manufacturer support for free venues.

Nissan Sunderland and Bentley have been approached but we don't have news on that right now and as a team of 2 (who organise the meets at least) we can't scout for locations or visit many places that sees us away from the office for long periods of time.

Ideal solution is for us to support regional groups with banners and maybe use our clout to help you secure venues for free. That needs some thinking (as we cannot be there to manage the meets we need to consider how we deal with matters like insurance and on site behaviour) but I think we could make it work sooner or later. Maybe we could offer clothing, stickers, coverage etc.

If any regional PHers want to contact me to discuss please feel free.

[Kiltie]

Garlick said:

Kiltie said:

Thanks for the post Paul.

Has the "PH Board" idea been developed?

Will there be any effort put into policy regarding acceptable behaviour on the forums and consistency of moderation?

Board is in operation.

I have asked Nathan to look at patrolling the forums more to give more pro-active moderation where possible.

As I see it three things need to happen. More reports (definitely less than we used to get a few years ago), more self-policing where possible, and a less tolerant approach from us for those who seek to cause trouble. Many problem posters are reported, and many have been banned as a result, but perhaps we need to be more strict, I'm happy to do that.

It's a worthy discussion though so I may throw it to the board in the first instance.

P

Thanks for that. Good to know it's on the radar.

Seems like Gaz has been making a one mod crusade lately.

[paulrussell]

I haven't seen Februarys update yet.