Hi folks,
As Ted has stated, there is already a forum for Formula 500 set up and
running for the class at www.eformulacarnews.com. I pay a full-time
moderator and we support F500 more than any other motorsports media
source in the work. If we need to adjust our F500 forum to include
different headings and sub-section etc, that's fine with me. I can also
give anyone you see fit with moderator status for the F500 alone.
That stated, anything I tread of starting a separate for really upsets
me. If you guys head off and start your own forum, you can kiss any of
my support good-bye. I bust my ass running a business to support
formula car racing, I attend events, and I pay money out of my own
pocket to pay my staff to publicize this sport. The forums out there
(Spec Miata / Apexspeed) are done by enthusiasts, and that's great, but
we are the ones who cover the events, spend time on the road away from
out families covering racing and work our asses off to produce a
publication. Our website relies on traffic to sell advertising and we
need forum traffic to supply our advertisers with the value they are
looking for. We need the support of the F500 community.
To be honest, FormulaCar Magazine and eformulacarnews.com have made very
little money yet....it's going to have to change soon.
Take care,
Rob Howden
Publisher / Editor-in-Chief
- eKartingNews.com
- eKartingNews.ca
- eFormulaCarNews.com
- FormulaCar Magazine
Ph: 519-624-2003
Fax: 519-624-0053
P.O. Box 580
Cambridge, Ontario
Canada N1R 5W1
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Ted Rudolph
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 10:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [F500] Class survival. - losing vs. gaining
-anoutsider'sviewpoint.
No money, Jay - the phpBB software that most folks use is free & Eric
probably has it on his site already for other clients. We use it for
PhillySCCA.com & I use it for numerous other things as well. vBulletin
is nicer, but it costs money. We use that at champcarfanatics.com
because that's what we started with. For the volume on this list phpBB
is just fine.
The only 'cost' factor comes from moderation (in terms of time). For the
most part the discussion is civilized, but I know of one member here
that would be a moderator's nightmare.
And consider this a "third" (4th?) endorsement for forms. Some folks
have seen this below from an off-line discussion about F5. But since
it's relevant I'll copy it here:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Ted_R:
The current mailing list - while somewhat adequate & very comfortable
for the participating members - is an archaic concept that does not
market the class well to outsiders. Let me repeat that - the Mailing
list does not market our class well to outsiders.
The modern on-line world revolves around the discussion forum. There are
numerous sociological reasons for this (and I can post links if you
really want to argue this point - I had to do that for PhillySCCA when
we transitioned from their various mailing lists). Suffice to say
mailing lists are not considered to be Newbie friendly by the Online
experts. There's far greater development work being performed in the
realm of forum software - that, in itself, should be an indication of
the perception of mailing lists to the online world.
One example I can give is the transition we saw in the Philly Region.
The Region itself began experimenting with a forum to supplement their
general-use mailing list. Two years after the forum was established, the
number of members was 4 times greater than the mailing list, and the
posting volume was 5 times higher. Likewise, the participation at Solo
events has, on average, doubled in the Philly Region.
The marketing angle isn't the only reason to move to a forum. The
ability to separate threads into various topics is a huge help in
sorting & organizing information.
Likewise, the Permissions / Group / Membership functions of a forum can
allow private areas where more volital discussions can take place
without scaring away the folks who are simply browsing for 'newbie'
information. Additionally, a private subsection of the forum can be used
by the Leadership folks as their primary method of communication -
speeding up the discussion process of any new topics.
After significant arm-twisting we were able to move the Leadership of
the PhillySCCA from mailing lists to a forum discussion. This allowed
the team running the Solo events to hash out plans and ideas in a much
quicker fashion. They could also sort out the various discussion &
improve the Solo program to be able to handle the increased loads. Face
to face meetings, conference calls, and other functions quickly
disappeared.
The only grey area would be the involvement of Rob Howden's forums.
Rob's forums could be a useful tool for F500 (if utilized correctly),
but their current format isn't quite enough to fill our group's needs.
Rob could, however, interface his forums with a subset of our own
forums. This "portal" from his site to ours would relieve the load on
his site while still providing the needed information to his
subscribers. Rob's portal would provide another marketing venue for us,
and we'd provide content for him - if he were willing to do this on his
site (an example of this system can be seen at AutoRacing1.com's forums
- their forums are actually a selected subset of Motorsport.com's
forums. MarkC simply provides a window from his site).
The class needs to attract new, fresh, competitors and we need to
improve the interactivity of our class. If we want this class to seem
current and attractive to others - esp. those not currently racing
and/or under the age of 35 - we need to dump the mailing list in favor
of a forum.
-Ted
#98 NEdiv driver (and occasional F-First cushion)
PS. Louie, I'm back on-line....
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jay Novak
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 10:10 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [F500] Class survival. - losing vs. gaining -
anoutsider'sviewpoint.
This is a great idea Flash, I suspect it takes a huge amount of work to
keep
a forum going as well as some $$$. How do we get something like this
going.
Thanks ... Jay Novak
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of
Flash.
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:57 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [F500] Class survival. - losing vs. gaining - an
outsider'sviewpoint.
thanks for your kind words, which add detail to the comments i made in a
generic sense. I would further consider the specmiata.com forum
software
outdated, it's about 5 years past its prime with VBB and phpBB replacing
it
in almost every other venue. But getting "old guys" to change their
ways is
not a trivial task.
I started on the f500 forum too, for a kid of my age (18-25 demo),
forums
are our first source of knowledge of a particular topic. Look at the
success of Wikipedia which is basically a fan-supported
encyclopedia/forum.
fwiw (an aside):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F500
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spec_miata
both resources anyone that feels they might like to add to are welcome
to
I dont want to go too far down this comparison path, because I don't
consider SM an equal to f500, I think they are very different animals.
My
choosing SM over f500 has a lot to do with presentation of the community
and
all the components together have made me forge my way into amateur
racing.
WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF MAZDA, MY FRIENDS IN THE COMMUNITY,
SPECMIATA.COM,
MIATA.NET and MAZDA'S REVITUP I would have NOTHING to do with amateur
racing
in any way, even with regard to Mazda. I would be fumbling with my
civic's
stereo still. And to leave SM, well I am making a decent second living
in
miata parts, so it won't be soon. (race sunday, sell monday).
SM is a great first step. Perhaps f500 or others should align
themselves
with illustrating how they can become the "next step" or...
fund or support a "first step" in open wheel, even if that means a
fendered
car, or simplify f500 to be that first step.
I might make an unpopular statement here but I feel that fvee and f500
are
too similar, they should be seperated further...or somehow combined
(:ducks:).
I have batted around the idea of a succession tree for club racing, I
think
it's something SCCA out to consider formerly supporting at the corporate
level.
On 3/14/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I second the motion.
> Louie Schultz
> Philly Region
>
>
> > The excerpt below from Flash's post is a very important observation.
> >
> > When I first began looking at formula cars, I didn't really take
notice
> > of F500 because there wasn't any readily available info on the cars.
I
> > happened
> > to stumble across this mail list and also a very nice modern forum.
I am
> > an Internet fanatic so I immediately began posting on the
"forum-style"
> > message board. I didn't get much response to my questions other than
to
> > use the mail list. Although I have come to appreciate all of the
help I
> > have received from the mail list, I must say it is the biggest PITA
to
> > use and read. Young folks who have grown up with the Internet have
come
> > to use modern forums for anything and everything.
> >
> > This may seem trivial, but groups that use modern means to foster an
> > Internet-based community of information sharing certainly have a leg
up
> > on our group. I don't want to have to weed through 200 emails to
find a
> > post about tire mounting. And you can forget the search function. I
want
> > to go to a tech area, or off topic area, or events area, etc. I want
> > pictures in my messages. I really feel that moving this community to
the
> > more modern forum would increase the amount of folks asking
questions
> > about the class.
> >
> > In fact, lately I have been reading the specmiata.com forum just to
see
> > what the class is about. The feeling of comraderie and ease of use
found
> > on that forum has inspired me to explore adding a spec miata to my
> > stable. Again, it has nothing to do with not liking my car (I love
it!);
> > it has more to do with feeling like I am part of a community that is
> > pulling in the same direction.
> >
> > I know I haven't contributed to this community much only because I
know
> > just enough to get in trouble. However, I do have a background in
> > Internet services ( manage a major government multimedia and
Internet
> > services division) and would be happy to assist in getting us
> modernized.
> >
> > Thanks for "listening",
> >
> > Lee
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Subject:
> > > Re: [F500] Class survival. - losing vs. gaining - an outsider's
> > > viewpoint.
> > > From:
> > > "Flash." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > Date:
> > > Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:02:52 -0500
> > > To:
> > > [email protected]
> > >
> > > To:
> > > [email protected]
> > >
> > >
> > > Take a look at your community for a moment. As a spec miata
driver we
> have
> > > the obvious specmiata.com to support that angle, and we have
miata.net
> .
> > > Both have extensive memberships, huge aftermarket and manufacturer
> support,
> > > and they easily advertise themselves. Where is f500's simple,
generic
> > > resource on getting in and getting the wheels spinning. (think
about
> other
> > > specific examples, i.e. vw vortex for some of the production
classes,
> > > bimmerworld for those guys, etc, etc). Also, where is SCCA
magazine
> and GRM
> > > magazine support? I don't think I've ever seen an interesting
write
> up on
> > > what an f500 is or what the class is about.
>
--
http://beatracing.com
97 STS2 CRX & 97 SpecMiata
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