About charter memberships... - Page 2

Kap142 · 09-16-2007, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backyard Mechanic

This is so easy to solve,Just give the it to the one who is the funniest,most handsomeist,not sure if that is a word

and who has the SHINIEST corvette and the winner is .........................
ME

Rob you are not well!

I'll send you a duct tape badge made 'specially for you.

Might just make one for Rick and Gordon and Ray and Mark too.

But seriously ( I hate doing that)

Rich I'm with you regardless. This forum is great. You do an unbelievable job juggling all of the work and manipulation required to keep us "sillies" smilin.

My friends are here, advise is here, smiles are here. I'll be here.

Ken

2Vettes · 09-16-2007, 09:40 PM

Man Rich,
What seems to have started out as a fun thing has appeared to turn into a lot of extra work for you

You're right about thinking about the folks who initially signed up then disappeared. I guess the previous suggestions would take care of notifying them but I don't think you need to give them a month to respond. If they're around and interested they'll check in every few days I'd think, or a direct email would make it even faster. Then, once you see how many are going to return you can go from there with the count. It seems like the only thing to do if you decide you need to give them the option. Or, you can just scratch the "charter" membership altogether. If you know who the first 100 members are then you must know their registration number. If you want to give the distinction of membership why not just add a line under the avatar with their membership number listed. Folks can already figure out the "old" members by the month/year they joined. I think people would be interested to see where they fall in the registration process. Just another suggestion and maybe less work for you

coolassbrad · 09-16-2007, 10:13 PM

i think its a great gesture ive been here less than a year and only met a few members in person,work family and life keep me from getting to events.i check the forum 3 or 4 times a day just to see whats going on,i dont always post cause sometimes i have nothing to say.i do like the idea of something for founding members,

98 softtail · 09-16-2007, 10:20 PM

Rich,
Heck, I've only been a member since Jan 07 and I have met some great people, made some good friendships and I already feel like an "ol'timer" with all the newbies coming on daily. I go out of my way to tell other Vette owners about this site and always let them know that this is a great bunch of folks here. I know I will hang in here, and I believe those of us that are regulars to this site will also, whatever the decision on membership.

Keep up the good work, we all appreciate it everytime we log on.

Joe B.

**Rich Z** · 09-17-2007, 01:50 AM

Thanks for all the thoughts. I'm still not sure what way to bounce with this. Maybe I need to rethink things and start back at square one.

How do I thank everyone for pitching in and helping to make this site something we can all be proud of? Heck, how do you thank a friend for being your friend?

The absolutely last thing I want to have happen is to have anyone feel I slighted them or in any way cause them to feel that I have overlooked, ignored, or worse, PURPOSELY slapped them in the face with anything I do here. It is SO easy for people to mistake intentions on the internet.

Really, the more I think about it, I think I MUST honor the first 100 members here, regardless of their current presence here. That, realistically is the only FAIR way to do it. As for the people currently "regulars" here, well what is the criteria I should use to give them some sort of honorarium for their help? Length of time here wouldn't work because we would be right back where we started with the first 100. Number of posts? Well that sounds reasonable, since that probably is a pretty good yardstick of their involvement. The toe stubber on this is when someone might bring up the issue of QUALITY of the posting. In other words, are 1,000 "Yep, I agree..." messages more deserving of recognition than 10 well thought out detailed help oriented messages?

But wait a minute! We already HAVE something here that might help. The "reputation" system. Where any one of you can give a member's post that is exceptionally well thought out, helpful, or just downright witty, a pat on the back with the reputation system. I can set it up so that when a certain level of "reputation" has been reached, that member can be promoted to a new user group level. Hmm, I need to think about this.... There already has been a post made in this thread where someone indicated that a member having a long string of those graphics might be somewhat detracting. Or would it? Kind of like merit badges. Yeah, it's kind of corny and such, but heck, they WOULD mean something....

So OK, this is out on the table for discussion. What do you all think about using that reputation capability? YOU all then would be in charge of determining who would get the recognition deserved for their participation here. That gets ME off the hook of having to try to decide which of the many of you would be so deserving.....

And if I can avoid additional work and a possible headache, well heck, I'm going to do it.

Rich427 · 09-17-2007, 07:43 AM

Rich,

I think I joined in the first 60 days, yet I am not sure whether I am in that 1st 100 members, and to be honest, it is not a big deal to me. I came to this site because I was in the planning process of moving from Maryland to Florida, which by the way, the final move takes place next week, FINALLY! Since I have been active with a Corvette club for almost 20 years, I was looking to find something that would replace the friends that I had developed in Maryland. This site has helped me do that!

Through this site, I have met 2Vettes, which she has helped my wife and I and introduced us to other members of her club (SW Florida Corvette Club), which we recently joined. We also met Electra, and she also helped us by introducing us to her club (Corvettes of Naples), which we also joined.

So, I took a chance on an upstart forum to try to get us involved with Corvette people in SW Florida, and I could not be happier with the results. But in addition, I did not realize that I was also going to find a bunch of people that I also enjoy just BSing with on the site. And this I have you, Rich, to thank and I don't need any recognition for participating on our forum.

It is also not surprising to me that you have found an apparently high turn over of the first 100 members. I would be willing to bet, that you will find the same sort of turn over in the second hundred, and third hundred as well. I have always believed in the 20/80 rule, and it really does apply to most things we do. 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. And this will apply regardless of when people joined the site.

I guess this was a long winded way of saying, I don't think you need to go to the extra work to place icons above or below our avatars. If you feel you really need to acknowledge the people that helped you keep this forum going in the early stages, then I personally like Linda's idea of just listing the date they joined our forum. This way, you can see who the older people are and by doing this for everyone, we also can see how long any member has been involved with the site. I think this would not upset anyone.

As far as recognizing the quality of the posters, the site is already taking care of that through the recognition points. Please do not take on anything that will require more effort. The site is fine the way it is. Just my opinion.

Rich

PS: Sorry for lack of involvement the last couple weeks, it has been difficult traveling back and forth to move, and staying active on any of my forums.

Shadow · 09-17-2007, 08:16 AM

Quote:

What do you all think

I think, you're thinking too much

Momma needs to expand her "to do" list

**Rich Z** · 09-17-2007, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow

I think, you're thinking too much

Momma needs to expand her "to do" list

Don't give her any ideas........ I've still got those pictures to hang for her that she got in Cedar Key......

But i HAVE to think this stuff through. It's too easy to make mistakes that will unwittingly chase members away. I realize I will never be able to please everyone, but there will come junctures in the development of this site where even doing NOTHING at all will cause it's own problems.

SteveK · 09-17-2007, 11:32 AM

Rich,

I like the idea of just adding the membership number. That number is what it is. There is no favoritism or slighting someone. The member since date and number of posts shows who is involved and that's what I looked for when I first came on board. If I wanted to know who to go to for an answer, I generally looked for that active member.

I also like the idea of simply different colored 1 liners for acknowledgement. It is less clutter, thus a cleaner more professional appearance. Too mant badges can be almost as distacting as my flasing avatar that I once had.

This all came about because we as a group want to help support this site with monetary donations. PLEASE don’t lose focus on that. You have a special indicator for a SPONSOR. Now just add a SUPPORTING MEMBER line and figure out how much and let’s get it done!

Shadow · 09-17-2007, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveK

Rich,

I like the idea of just adding the membership number. That number is what it is. There is no favoritism or slighting someone. The member since date and number of posts shows who is involved and that's what I looked for when I first came on board. If I wanted to know who to go to for an answer, I generally looked for that active member.

I also like the idea of simply different colored 1 liners for acknowledgement. It is less clutter, thus a cleaner more professional appearance. Too mant badges can be almost as distacting as my flasing avatar that I once had.

This all came about because we as a group want to help support this site with monetary donations. PLEASE don’t lose focus on that. You have a special indicator for a SPONSOR. Now just add a SUPPORTING MEMBER line and figure out how much and let’s get it done!

Amen!

One liner with member number in a "special color maybe (1st 100) then move on...K.I.S.S.