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Mart
02-09-2012, 07:57
Committee members arguing.
Committee members leaving.
Negativity surrounding events at Blyton/ND.
ND 2013 concerns.
Little interest for today's Pod day.

It's been a relatively happy vibe on the good ship rtoc for the past several years, but seems a bit 'edgy' at the mo.

Any particular reason why?

bod 182
02-09-2012, 08:05
Must be a magnet stuck to the compass or stevie wonder is the captain ships off course atm

Big Steve - Raider
02-09-2012, 08:45
:goodpost:

Don't know what's happened recently? Bad grog? Scurvy?

bod 182
02-09-2012, 08:53
No MOJO BABY:)

Alex
02-09-2012, 09:08
Constant moaning by members? Members not turning up at events? Lack of smaller events? No appreciation of the effort that goes into the running of the club? Financial climate? To name but a few! :D

Tony Walker
02-09-2012, 09:36
Theres still love around just a bit gay to post that and easier to moan i geuss :)

bod 182
02-09-2012, 09:52
I love you all big hugs and kisses all round:)

TNT ANDY
02-09-2012, 10:47
You can all have my northern sausage:cooter: as I love the RTOC

But Alex - you've hit the nail on the head. You can't, nor would you want to force people to to to events. If the wrong events are not attracting the members then it must be that the event is not necessarily wrong, but it doesn't matter what the event is - the current RTOC members would not attend to anything at all. Big Steve and the committee have done an amazing service to the club and should be commended for it, but if members don't or can't do events, then it's time to make an intelligent look at it and say, well ok we will offer this event or that event but there will be (in some cases) limited numbers. As for whining, I've been on here long enough to see my fair share of ungrateful children come and go and tbh, you're always going to get that, so don't waste your time worrying about it, you can never keep everyone happy.

Big hugs to all

kentraider
02-09-2012, 11:54
You can all have my northern sausage:cooter: as I love the RTOC

But Alex - you've hit the nail on the head. You can't, nor would you want to force people to to to events. If the wrong events are not attracting the members then it must be that the event is not necessarily wrong, but it doesn't matter what the event is - the current RTOC members would not attend to anything at all. Big Steve and the committee have done an amazing service to the club and should be commended for it, but if members don't or can't do events, then it's time to make an intelligent look at it and say, well ok we will offer this event or that event but there will be (in some cases) limited numbers. As for whining, I've been on here long enough to see my fair share of ungrateful children come and go and tbh, you're always going to get that, so don't waste your time worrying about it, you can never keep everyone happy.

Big hugs to all

:agree::agree:

bod 182
02-09-2012, 12:53
Thing is where is the happy medium i dont like santa pod type events but would attend if its was a National day and wouldnt moan about it,i like trackdays but others on here don,t fair enough the commitee are never going to keep a club full of rtoc members happy unless you give Hugh Hefner a ring and ask him if his pad free next year for a car based event of sorts:D

Alex
02-09-2012, 16:33
You can all have my northern sausage:cooter: as I love the RTOC

But Alex - you've hit the nail on the head. You can't, nor would you want to force people to to to events. If the wrong events are not attracting the members then it must be that the event is not necessarily wrong, but it doesn't matter what the event is - the current RTOC members would not attend to anything at all. Big Steve and the committee have done an amazing service to the club and should be commended for it, but if members don't or can't do events, then it's time to make an intelligent look at it and say, well ok we will offer this event or that event but there will be (in some cases) limited numbers. As for whining, I've been on here long enough to see my fair share of ungrateful children come and go and tbh, you're always going to get that, so don't waste your time worrying about it, you can never keep everyone happy.

Big hugs to all

Yep. My spin on it is there isn't enough smaller events going on these days. ND is great and I think we should keep doing it, but at the end of the day it's expensive for people. Add that and Pod day and its too much for a lot of people.

I agree, whinging and moaning has and always will happen in RTOC but it's become persistant recently for some reason? :scared::)

robx1r
02-09-2012, 16:39
Constant moaning by members? Members not turning up at events? Lack of smaller events? No appreciation of the effort that goes into the running of the club? Financial climate? To name but a few! :D

it is the same all over the place! here in ireland one the most prominant car forums (dar i say the biggest) the same is happening, peoples opinions are changing with the times money is scarce and everyone weather they admit it or not is worried about money

Haz
02-09-2012, 19:44
Maybe too many committee personal opinions instead of traditional views of the club?
Maybe the status of committee members has gone to some heads?
Maybe majority of committee prefers track days so appears biased although does get better turn outs?
Maybe not many members can compete at pod now the goal posts keep getting moved and 12's are no longer deemed quick.
Maybe not many members want to take their mint oe, low mileage, 1 owner cars on trackdays?

Maybe we're just gettin old and grumpy?

Tony Walker
02-09-2012, 19:55
Maybe :agree:

JRP
02-09-2012, 20:45
This vibe happend years ago, it will pass. All will be ok... Positive mental attitudes will prevale.

TNT Tricky Nicky
02-09-2012, 20:55
Maybe too much is happening on the committee boards behind closed doors. Obviously some stuff should but why not have it open to watch what is being talked about for the benefit of the club so people can see, have it set as read only unless you're a committee member?

I 'm nearly on here every day but I missed that the pod day was today, thought it was next week. My fault as I look at last 24hrs, comment if anything takes my interest then check back later. Wouldn't have attended as I'd rather do a track day and couldn't afford both, not that I could afford that either at the knock down price offered. :(

Jonny5
02-09-2012, 21:02
Maybe too much is happening on the committee boards behind closed doors. Obviously some stuff should but why not have it open to watch what is being talked about for the benefit of the club so people can see, have it set as read only unless you're a committee member?

Couldn't agree more :agree:

We all have the same common interest after all.

philr5t
02-09-2012, 21:46
Just got back from pod and really enjoyed the whole day Christ those Hondas just get better and better but how I feel about all this is I have always enjoyed pod more than track days But I will always try to attend the track days as I just love anything to do with 5's and I love the friendly social/banter we all seem to have but the Rtoc scene just looked completely out of place today and I think without upsetting anyone is it was put on the wrong day it was great watching some super quick cars but the vibe was missing as normally we would run/watch on a Friday and pretty much Have the whole of Santa pod to ourselves then it would be back to the campsite for a great drink a laugh and a BBQ with our own music then watch or race again on the saturday again dont want to upset anyone but I do feel others who enjoy pod may agree

Cheers Phil

dangerous dave
02-09-2012, 21:56
Maybe we're just gettin old and grumpy?


we're not getting any younger and the average age of members must be higher these days..

Mart
02-09-2012, 22:10
So is the crux of the problem simply that there's a lack of events? I personally don't buy into that, as upto a couple of years back we only had one club-organised event (ND), yet the vibe was still a happy one on here.

I've been around this club since the mid 90's, and yes, there has been a few bad spells since, but there was usually a reason for that; eg, the President at the time, people getting bored with ND at Pod, members moaning their yearly membership fee wasn't exactly great vfm, etc etc.

However, as said, I don't understand why it's all edgy at the mo? Dawn has just stepped down, and that's a major loss to the Committee/club whichever way you cut it. Steve's p1ssed off, Shopboy left on, what appeared to be, bad terms, and I believe Clee is only tieing the Club shop over until someone else takes it on full time.

That's all within the space of a couple of months or so.

At this rate we'll have no-one left on the Committee come Xmas time...

chris
02-09-2012, 22:13
i joined the club in january this year and the amount of help and advice i have had off different members has been great. i went to santa pod today and had a good time and its also the first event i have been to. my car isnt finished yet but thought i would go along to watch the racing and hopefully meet some of the members. i did meet a couple but being a new member i could only speak to someone if they were stood right next to their car because i dont know who is who. maybe if there was an agreed place that everyone parked under (a rtoc banner for example) when they werent queing for the strip lol then it would make intergrating new members easier and give the club more of a united feel. i am not criticising the club just making a suggestion :)

Jonny5
02-09-2012, 22:26
Agreed chris :agree: its not exactly the easiest club to be part of from the point of view of being a new member at your first club event :crap:
I spoke to a few members at ND but only because i made the effort, i dare say apart from the few i actually went with, no-one would have spoken to me or my dad all day if i hadn't.
Just out of interest how many of the actual committee attended ND?

Tony Walker
02-09-2012, 22:30
One of my regrets was not getting round more people at ND, the evening before i managed to speak to alot but the majority of the next day i was on track :S

Penfold aka The Dealer
02-09-2012, 22:47
Committee boards are really boring... believe me...

We dont have secrets, just easier to talk to one another without getting shot down on the boards or having a thread messed up... or divereting from the main subject (which stil happens anyway)

Sparkie
02-09-2012, 23:37
i'd personally say it's down to a few factors:

as has been touched on earlier, most of us are getting on- as are our cars.

the number of 5's has rapidly decreased in the last 10years- we are now a smallish club, rather than a medium sized club.

the cost of fuel has really put a dampener on just travelling across most of the country to meet up with a few mates for an evening. - it does go on, but it certainly used to be alot more widespread.

if people think that an event isnt going to be well attended, then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, as people can't be bothered to travel to stand on their own somewhere.

events seem to need a 'draw' - back in the day at the Pod it was GT Tunings car, then it was Ktec's car, then glen tuffnell, then DD autosports, then Mike Spencer. every time people knew they were going they would turn up. - now its Scoff or Glenn pulling the crowds, be it at a rolling road day or drag strip. - i can guarantee scoff's RR day will be very well attended.
as has been mentioned before, the goalposts have been moved along way from what the average gtt owner can afford, so power tussles dont seem to occur now. - which was another reason for people to go to 'competitive' events.

i'm sure i could come up with other reasons off the top of my head, but i'll clear off back into the 'website editor' corner.:cartman:

Ashy
03-09-2012, 00:11
Mart - You always seem to be spearheading these type of threads, do you have any constructive suggestions to inject the much needed va va vroom back into the club?

Ashy
03-09-2012, 00:21
Just out of interest how many of the actual committee attended ND?

Steve
Dawn
Ashy
Blunty
Alex
Miller

so 6 out of 10.

Bunje
03-09-2012, 06:55
like someone said above i joined last year and without rtoc i would not have got my 5 to the stage it is now i have never attended any shows or meets due to my car still being on axle stands but i will. the way i see it you carnt alway please everyone and thats just a fact of life. i think the club is great and i am gald i found it. ive been a member on a few car forums and this one is the most friendly. sometimes people dont realise how much effort other people put in so they can have a good time looking from the outside in is always different to the visa versa. and just imagine what it would be like without a comitee. but like sparkie said fuel is a big factor in peoples lives nowardays and as a whole so is money and every penny counts.
theres my few pennys worth anyway but say keep up the good work guys and girls

Jonny5
03-09-2012, 08:41
Steve
Dawn
Ashy
Blunty
Alex
Miller

so 6 out of 10.

Im sure Blunty didnt attend! :scratch:
So thats only half the driving force of our club present at the biggest club event of the year!

Haz
03-09-2012, 08:57
Regards events, I think the majority, myself included, usually will only attend if their 5 is working/road legal. If its not then the day isn't the same and the cost could get the car one step closer. Once you have the car to a decent spec it tends to get the same results at pod and rollers events so after a while it can feel a little pointless as you have to spend more between events to improve making rollers more of a social event and more cost effective between tune ups. Once at the stage where your happy with the tuning attention then usually goes on the looks, bodywork etc which can then put people off giving it everything on track days.
Maybe the club should just offer one nd and leave others to organise smaller events thus not getting the blame ;)

GT Josh
03-09-2012, 08:57
Why is everyone arguing? Who really gives a ****, the politics are stupid. Alot of points are valid. I enjoyed myself this weekend. It could of been better. If the committee don't like 'moaners' then call it a day. That is one job where you have to be fair, almost certainly thick skinned. Never goin to please everybody. So if we all join together matromony and stop firing daggers at one another maybe we will get somewhere. Cause this is ridiculous.

car.crash
03-09-2012, 09:34
I enjoyed national day and pod. Any day out with your pals is fun. The forum is well run and funds are up. Happy days. Just need some fresh blood to replace the committee who have stepped down.

JP Racing
03-09-2012, 09:42
There just doesn't seem to be any local events like there used to be. When I was an area rep I would organise 5-6 meets a year and pm every local member to try and drum up interest. It don't seem to happen now :(

Like mentioned before its expensive to have a ride out to a meet and only 2 people turn up. I still meet up with friends who are rtoc members on a weekly basis which is all good but most cars in our area are having upgrades and are rarely on the road at the same time so that affects meets too even thou I would still take what ever car I had at the time :)

Everyone who has been here for a long time has changes in there life and time can be an issue like myself got a busy job and a little one due so I only go to meets that are worth while now. Rtoc will continue and has some fantastic members but it's going to be on a smaller scale so like mentioned before we need smaller local events with one big ND maybe we could change area reps more often and they should be chosen on a yearly basis maybe to try and keep ideas fresh, include the local member with a voting system. Keep everyone interested :)

clee
03-09-2012, 10:00
Im sure Blunty didnt attend! :scratch:
So thats only half the driving force of our club present at the biggest club event of the year!


And your point being ?

Mart
03-09-2012, 10:02
Mart - You always seem to be spearheading these type of threads, do you have any constructive suggestions to inject the much needed va va vroom back into the club?

Mate, none of this is having a pop at the Committee or anything like that. If you read my 2 posts in this thread, I'm asking just a simple question - Morale seems a bit down, and certainly within the Committee (ref' the number of people who's stepped down in the past couple of months), and given we don't see what goes on behind Committee closed doors, I think it's a valid question to ask.

I'm sure none of us want to get to the stage where we have no Committee members, and/or club events that have all pretty much dried up due to Committee people feeling generally peed off & having the 'can't be arsed' attitude.

As an aside, how's the rtoc coffers looking? Did we break even/make a profit from ND? No-one has commented on that yet.

Alex
03-09-2012, 10:06
Why is everyone arguing? Who really gives a ****, the politics are stupid. Alot of points are valid. I enjoyed myself this weekend. It could of been better. If the committee don't like 'moaners' then call it a day. That is one job where you have to be fair, almost certainly thick skinned. Never goin to please everybody. So if we all join together matromony and stop firing daggers at one another maybe we will get somewhere. Cause this is ridiculous.

No ones arguing dude, just giving their opinion which I think is positive :agree: the problem with committee people leaving their roles is......... They'll be no one to replace them which would mean next to no events and no one to keep the website running, ultimately no club! :(

So, more smaller local meets needed?

Mart
03-09-2012, 10:23
Why is everyone arguing? Who really gives a ****

I don't see any arguing in this thread?

So you won't give a **** if we end up with next to no Committee, no ND, no events per se?

Jonny5
03-09-2012, 10:23
And your point being ?

That if members are of the general opinion that the committee are pissed off and cba then everyone else will most likely have, or end up with the same attitude too and not bother attending future events.
Im not having a go and i appreciate how much work is done behind closed doors.
I enjoy this club and the people, information and expertise avaliable are second to none, but im the same as everyone, i dont want to lose that :)

gtmatt
03-09-2012, 10:37
Like sparkie said

Money plays a big part into things
Fuel
Running costs
Parts are not cheap any more
Everybody is resorting them to persevere them.
The cars are getting fewer and fewer by the day and so will the members.

We will all stick together in the end.

Everybody has an opinion.

GT Josh
03-09-2012, 10:45
Not saying I don't care if we lose the club. Wrong end of the stick. There is underlying issues. I for one think people who are keen should join the committee like Nottswoody he's a good lad. Think the national day should be 1 day and someone should organise a rwyb pod day for those interested. Cause people were turning up and paying @ pod yesterday. I thought we had some exclusivity?

bigbadboytank
03-09-2012, 10:47
Like sparkie said

Money plays a big part into things
Fuel
Running costs
Parts are not cheap any more
Everybody is resorting them to persevere them.
The cars are getting fewer and fewer by the day and so will the members.

We will all stick together in the end.

Everybody has an opinion.


:agree:

DaveMayGTT
03-09-2012, 10:51
I think the nail has been hit on the head already. Driving the length of the country with fuel prices the way they are isn't easy especially with the rising age of owners. It's harder to do once you have kids and responsibilities and also harder to keep the cars on the road all the time.

The only way if people aren't willing to travel often is to have more local meets. Phil has done an awesome job organising the monthly meet down here. I am guilty as I haven't attended as its a week night and a little far but maybe take a leaf out of his book? Or if we at least try and get 1 kind of event in each area each year be it a RR, track day or something and dress it up a bit. The RTOC southern annual RR day might attract a bit more than a mesage on the boards saying anyone up for a RR day down x. Is this something the club can help area reps with more?

Overall I have not done much with events but I will say every person from RTOC I have met has been very helpfull and friendly. My car would be even worse than it is now without RTOC and my membership fee I have paid for the last 6 or 7 years has been worth every penny and more.

Anyone up for a RR day down south? :laugh:

Bigfoot
03-09-2012, 10:53
Not saying I don't care if we lose the club. Wrong end of the stick. There is underlying issues. I for one think people who are keen should join the committee like Nottswoody he's a good lad. Think the national day should be 1 day and someone should organise a rwyb pod day for those interested. Cause people were turning up and paying @ pod yesterday. I thought we had some exclusivity?

From what I heard there was a muck up with the tickets, there was only supposed to be 100 people who had track tickets, but they forgot they had sold us 40 tickets, so they sold 100 and we sold on or sold to members the 40 tickers or there abouts. so there was 140 in total on track. As for attending, people who have got the 5s off the road of repairing them could still turn up and support the club. I attend the meets for the people and atmosphere not if I can drive my 5 there or not, even though its nice having the 5 there its not that essential.

Well all in all the day was a good day for those who turned up, did glenn manage to get into the 10s in the end? and weather held off, had left by the time it had started raining.

Mart
03-09-2012, 10:55
There is underlying issues

Exactly why I started this thread asking what are the issues?

I don't see the link between the price of fuel, cars becoming more rare, expensive parts, etc causing people to leave the Committee/morale to be low?

DaveMayGTT
03-09-2012, 11:40
I think somewhere along the way it was decided morale is low because people aren't attending events? So that makes the question why are people not attending? Sure there are more reasons for low morale but that is 1 possibility

Ashy
03-09-2012, 11:55
Mate, none of this is having a pop at the Committee or anything like that. If you read my 2 posts in this thread, I'm asking just a simple question - Morale seems a bit down, and certainly within the Committee (ref' the number of people who's stepped down in the past couple of months), and given we don't see what goes on behind Committee closed doors, I think it's a valid question to ask.

It is mate, but you know all to well where this thread will end up after posting "A simple question" on the open forum. Some things never change and threads like this, no matter how genuine the reasons are for posting, always end up making the situation worse.

A number of CM's have stood down, thats correct.

Miller - was a missive driving force behind the Committee for a number of years but he has other priorities now and can't give the time required.
STU used to push "All" events and attend them sort out tickets etc etc and has been a big miss since standing down.
Dawn - although it wasn't her role gave up huge amounts of time to work behind the scenes and get the finer detail of organising events sorted. She also helped to pull the CM's together and keep us on the right path when we lost our way.
Clee - Ran the shop single handed and thats not a task to be underestimated.
Lomo - was making good progress with the Area Reps.
Blunty - Was making good progress picking up from where STU left off.

Steve - Sorts out ND, and did a very good job and then gets a a load of unnecessary grief, over the show and shine event, making him think twice about bothering the next time.

So with those CM's standing down or moving to a non-active roll we are going through a difficult period but it doesn't have to mean the end of the RTOC.

Life goes on, RTOC will roll on regardless, perhaps some new blood will step forward and offer help not criticism?

At the end of the day, we are all 10+ years older than we were in the good old days, that means mortgages + wives + more responsible positions at work + children = Less time for the RTOC.

I wish I was still 20 years old I'd be up to my elbows in it but I'm not and I can't.

clee
03-09-2012, 12:11
I think that's the main point .I don't understand this us and them thing about CMs .
We are just a bunch that try to put more in than we get out and that's it .......
If a few of the professional whiners spent more of their obvious energy helping rather than pointing out where we're always going wrong :rolleyes:

Mart
03-09-2012, 12:56
Life goes on, RTOC will roll on regardless, perhaps some new blood will step forward and offer help not criticism?

At the end of the day, we are all 10+ years older than we were in the good old days, that means mortgages + wives + more responsible positions at work + children = Less time for the RTOC.

I wish I was still 20 years old I'd be up to my elbows in it but I'm not and I can't.

:agree:

If new blood is required, maybe a thread should be started asking if anyone's interested, which roles are available/required, etc?

If you don't ask (or if members aren't aware), you don't get :)

No doubt that it is a thankless task, but one that's certainly (or at least should be) appreciated by all members.

Mart
03-09-2012, 12:57
and threads like this, no matter how genuine the reasons are for posting, always end up making the situation worse

That defo wasn't & isn't the point of this thread.

clee
03-09-2012, 13:20
I had a grand total of 1 for the shop role .

Mart
03-09-2012, 13:29
I had a grand total of 1 for the shop role .

:( Is that an end to the Club shop?

bod 182
03-09-2012, 13:45
going back a few years i used to attend cold sunday meets at santa pod rwyb,rtoc stands at Trax,monthly local meets good old days i would be willing to take on a more active role there is to much sniping after events Steve and Dawn did well with Blyton all considering recession etc etc:)

Phoenix Autosport
03-09-2012, 20:27
i think its more a case of people in general being less contented with their lot in life at the moment, for many people life is getting to be a day to day struggle and that angst and downbeat feeling is bound to spill over once in a while.

r5_scotty
03-09-2012, 21:08
it seems a shame things aint working out. i love going to places and seeing a five!:D. im still a newbee on here and only know alot of people on here by there user names and from talking on the phone etc. my point is i think theres alot of members on here that are new and dont really know the older members? i think there needs to be some smaller meets here and there to actually meet people and get the fives together. no mater what the car looks like etc everyone has different tastes.i know theres alot of people who like o.e fives but we need all kinds to come together just to have a giggle and bring the fives out :). seem to see less and less of them and would be a shame if the club goes down hill after all the work thats gone into it:agree: as soon as my five is sorted i will get out as much as possible to meets,events:D

car.crash
03-09-2012, 21:16
The south east have 2 meets a month at different locations. The TNT crew have regular meets and I'm sure they have a few up north too.
If there's not one near you then start one, it takes 5 mins to write a post with a date and venue. Don't expect a massive turnout immediately but keep the locations close and dates consistent and word will travel.
Phils meet is in the crappest club ever but it has off street parking and beer. Nuff said

andybond
03-09-2012, 21:33
Interesting seeing this from the other side of the coin so to speak.

I help run the 21toc.

There are two of us. There used to be more but dwindling numbers doesn't necessitate large committees.


Is the RTOC dwindling in size in terms of memberships ? I suspect so - not based on the events or due to events, it is more likely to be due to dwindling cars on the road ( as already pointed out )

I for one don't know who the committee are and what they do. Is this information publicly available ?

I have noticed in my tenure helping with the 21toc that things seem to go round in cycles , bitch , moan , events , happy , status quo , bitch , moan , repeat till fade.

You can only organise events and if noone wants to attend then try something different ? 1/4mi used to be the rage around these parts from what I read, but there seems to be a select minority of people doing that now ? ( Briggsy ? Glenn ? ) More guys seem trackdayers or just good old fashioned OEM drivers.

Personally I find the RTOC quite a stale environment with the same questions beings asked on the boards ( normally by me ! ) and quite a clique of people. If you havent been in RTOC since the 5 GT was a concept then you are not from round these parts and can be shunned

Certain members however in its defence have been superb ( to name a few : Briggsy, Robbo, Big Steve, Blunty , Glenn ) but its taken me a number of years to try and break in.

I honestly dont know how to make it easier for noobs to break into the club / spirit / scene , but I do know I am not the only one who finds the place hard to break into. For me the RTOC is slowly becoming more of a community than a resource. Might be due to the time I have been on here.

I think the only thing I can say in certainty is the RTOC is shrinking in size because of less cars on the road and less people willing to take them on.

personally I think The Good Ship RTOC needs to realise its not the all conquering behemoth it used to be and maybe find other events, interests, or even possibly realise that you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink.

Heaven knows I tried hard on the 21toc.

( as ever there are exceptions to this - this post isnt meant to offend. Just trying to help )

I have donned my flamesuit in anticipation :scared:

Ian S
03-09-2012, 21:47
I for one don't know who the committee are and what they do. Is this information publicly available?http://www.rtoc.org/club/?show=committee As it was a couple of weeks ago.
Lomo was SAR. Whether he'll return we don't know, his new business was picking up and leaving no spare time.
Blunty just suddenly left with no explanation.

andybond
03-09-2012, 21:51
http://www.rtoc.org/club/?show=committee As it was a couple of weeks ago.
Lomo was SAR. Whether he'll return we don't know, his new business was picking up and leaving no spare time.
Blunty just suddenly left with no explanation.

Thanks Ian. :)

Moggy
03-09-2012, 22:06
ooohhhhh i'm gonna post :eek:

I'll be honest, I don't have have time to play cars anymore. Sold my toys many years ago! and just have my 225 for fun now

but..... few things i've noticed, but maybe i'm wrong, if i am I don't care but...

a) the more boards/sections we have, the less people seem to want to write/read/look - the old RTOC had that box that we still get but there was only a small number of actual subsections so threads didn't get lost etc

b) we're very spread out, ok not as much as some EU countries, but I like many have forgotten how many times I've got up and driven across the country, but when certain CM members can't be bothered to turn up to events in their own areas.........

c) Miller has done lots behind the scene and kept the club going..... but if we can't see/hear/abuse him in public, well he's just a name on a hidden section that only a few can see; Mark, Rach and Bruce where always here, (sometimes too much) cracking the banter etc etc

d) People can't take a joke... god look back at the old (oh god I sound old like Sparkie!) days and we us'd to be ripping it out of everyone/thing/car and it was all a joke, everyone got one, we had a laugh...now everything is too serious...

god I can still remember a member asking me to open the bonnet on my Turbo 2 so they could see the engine.... Funny as FCUK when all they saw was a steering rack! :laugh:

I wish I had more time etc to come to events, as I really do miss them. Perhaps I'll drag my fat arse up to Scoffs if I can afford the petrol

Moggy

oh and btw - i must hold the record for pissing people off and getting banned, re-instated and banned again... or did Kenobi or TK finally beat me??? LMFAO

car.crash
03-09-2012, 22:10
Miller attends all majour shows.
6 hour drive each way aswell.

Moggy
03-09-2012, 22:14
Miller attends all majour shows.
6 hour drive each way aswell.

but how many members attend the shows??? this isn't ago at Miller he's a top bloke, but he, like the rest of us has his hands tied with lack of time, but he doesn't really post on the 'main' site, but is very 'active' on the 'committee' site, excellent, but you need to lead from the front, if people don't know you are here, they don't know who you are!

or if Marts in front, we'll all stand to the side as his farts still brings tears to my eyes!:wasntme:

Ashy
03-09-2012, 22:16
That defo wasn't & isn't the point of this thread.

I think the expression was "Same meat, different gravy"

http://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=13358


Positions are always advertised when required and current ones will be once the requirements are finalised. Some of the old threads below... Not much interest though... :crap:

SAR (http://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=22362)

SHOP KEEPER (http://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=28537)

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY (http://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=23715)

Mart
03-09-2012, 23:05
Ashy, not sure why you linked that thread of Steve's, but this isn't another 'shake up' esque thread mate, nor have I got any axe to grind.

If it was, you know me well enough by now to know I'd be blunt & to the point and say so.

As said, it's just a genuine question.

Ashy
03-09-2012, 23:12
Ashy, not sure why you linked that thread of Steve's

You have to admit it covers the same points that have been, or will be, raised in this thread.

Also, thinking about it, it might be good to hear Steve's thoughts on it as since starting that thread over 2 years ago now he's been on both sides of the fence.

Perhaps it proves the cycle theory that andybond mentions.

Haz
03-09-2012, 23:23
just another thought, newbie's take the club for what it is, they dont know any different. it seems to be the longer serving members that notice the change so maybe it should be them that offers to help get the club back to the 'good ole days'?
i do feel that members with a role should be more careful with what they post, after all, they are supposed to be the people that normal members should look up to. although they have opinions too, they shouldn't come across as being biased as this can reflect as being an opinion of the club so maybe that's why then dont post as much.
i dont see why miller etc should have to post, i've seen him at every event i've been to over the last few years, sometimes coming in both his and emma's cars. if he's only posting on the committee boards, then he's doing his job and may not have time for general banter or being dragged into repetative threads.
possibly another title could be added in the blue bar above with 'committee' detailing the heirachy so to speak.
back on topic tho, surely the committee should work as a proper hierachy. members relay what they want to area reps, area reps discuss amongst themselves and then pass on the info to the committee who makes the final descision for bigger events, possibly bring in poll threads with simple options that comments cant be added, or is that already used?.
imo area reps should be the ones that bring the locals together and organise the convoys working in with other reps on larger events.
i haven't stepped up for any roles in the past for the above reasons, i haven't attended many events lately but i am on the boards daily so if i can help out in any way on that side of things, i will ;)

GT Josh
03-09-2012, 23:40
Yes i met miller for the first time this weekend. A nice chap! Id rather attend than post anyways...

rs250nut
04-09-2012, 00:38
This vibe happend years ago, it will pass. All will be ok... Positive mental attitudes will prevale.

X2

Sparkie
04-09-2012, 08:11
just another thought, newbie's take the club for what it is, they dont know any different. it seems to be the longer serving members that notice the change so maybe it should be them that offers to help get the club back to the 'good ole days'?;)

i doubt it will ever be like the 'good ole days' - purely due to amount of r5's on the road. - reorganise and galvanise is more likely to succeed. :)

Mart
04-09-2012, 08:36
You have to admit it covers the same points that have been, or will be, raised in this thread.

Also, thinking about it, it might be good to hear Steve's thoughts on it as since starting that thread over 2 years ago now he's been on both sides of the fence.

Perhaps it proves the cycle theory that andybond mentions.

But has anything changed since Steve's thread? Has there been a shake up? Is one needed? There were some great ideas mentioned in that thread, but nothing ever materialised from them, so either all is good, or the 'can't be arsed' attitude was also evident back then.

Anyway, as I keep repeatedly saying, this thread is about club/Committee morale.

Alex
04-09-2012, 08:55
I don't think a shake up is needed but we need people to fill some roles for sure......

BILLY-R5GTT
04-09-2012, 10:01
I'm new to the club too, so far i've been made to feel very welcome even though I was the mechanic for PCS and many members don't like Mike Wilson for what ever reasons. I was expecting to be tarred by the same brush as Mike and I was abit worried about joining up to be honest but i've been treated fairly, thanks :agree:.

I have put my name down for a few local events, the meet for the young lad who is seriously ill, the RR day at EFi and the curry night to get to know people. I already know one person from the club in person who is a sound guy (Al Gresty, met in person) and I have messaged and had messages from others in my area to meet up locally and had a very good response which has made me feel alot more welcome in the club :agree:.

I believe this is the secret to any sucessfull organisation, if members can make good contacts in their local area you are more likely to get a bigger turn out to events, people are going to want to come as a group then it's alot easier to talk to others when they are there. (been there done it)

I now have my own workshop in the Poynton area just outside Stockport, I would welcome any member/new member to come and visit anytime to see whats going on with my 5 or 19 etc.. And if any committee members would like to point members/newbies in my area my way to get introduced they'd be more than welcome.

As with any club and organisation people will have their differences and as already mentioned fuel prices, children, work etc... plays a major part in people getting to meets these days but because they don't turn up this doesn't mean they don't care about the club it's just their circumstaces don't allow it sometimes.

I know not everyone is like myself, I'm just a really easy going person who like to meet others and have a bit of car chat.

Nottswoody
04-09-2012, 10:45
:bored:

Phoenix Autosport
04-09-2012, 13:30
with regards to the club shop it has been fantastic that parts like the dial overlays have been able to be reproduced and hats off to those who have got it this far but....
whilst i know its nice to have a not for proffit approach to keep prices down i recon it would be a lot more useful to people if it were run for a reasonable profit by someone like mike who could offer a lot more service and repair parts, and also used/refurbished parts, it would help him to sell his wares and help keep the club active as people would want to be part of it for the shop facility
maybe allow non members to purchase items but at a slightly higher price and put that money back into the clubs coffers

thoughts :scratch:

Red October
04-09-2012, 13:34
Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.

But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"

As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.

Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!

The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.

not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet:)

Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.

jesus in the seat of a 5
04-09-2012, 13:35
as with any club and organisation people will have their differences and as already mentioned fuel prices, children, work etc... plays a major part in people getting to meets these days but because they don't turn up this doesn't mean they don't care about the club it's just their circumstaces don't allow it sometimes.

I know not everyone is like myself, I'm just a really easy going person who like to meet others and have a bit of car chat.[/quote]

amen to that....:):agree:

THE MASTER
04-09-2012, 14:06
as with any club and organisation people will have their differences and as already mentioned fuel prices, children, work etc... plays a major part in people getting to meets these days but because they don't turn up this doesn't mean they don't care about the club it's just their circumstaces don't allow it sometimes.

I know not everyone is like myself, I'm just a really easy going person who like to meet others and have a bit of car chat.

amen to that....:):agree:[/QUOTE]

prase the lord .. even if it's just jesus in the seat

well said :agree:

djinuk
04-09-2012, 15:03
with regards to the club shop it has been fantastic that parts like the dial overlays have been able to be reproduced and hats off to those who have got it this far but....
whilst i know its nice to have a not for proffit approach to keep prices down i recon it would be a lot more useful to people if it were run for a reasonable profit by someone like mike who could offer a lot more service and repair parts, and also used/refurbished parts, it would help him to sell his wares and help keep the club active as people would want to be part of it for the shop facility
maybe allow non members to purchase items but at a slightly higher price and put that money back into the clubs coffers

thoughts :scratch:


This man, speaks a very good line..

Nottswoody
04-09-2012, 15:24
Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.

But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"

As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.

Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!

The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.

not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet:)

Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.

I hear you bud I came with two really nice guys with 5s to pod and I really tried and have been trying to get new members and they just don't want to know for this exact reason an the new members we have don't even wish to comment on posts because of worries being shot down by the other members.. As I said on the day to all the great guys I met feel free to pm me I will gladly help anytime.. Were all in the same boat so let's all keep it afloat.. Just mop..

andybond
04-09-2012, 17:11
Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.

But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"

As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.

Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!

The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.

not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet:)

Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.

Your not alone mate.

Happened to me too. I think you have to break into the groups. Ambush them with questions. Then you are good as gold with them

< waves at Robbo >

James5
04-09-2012, 17:15
Your not alone mate.

Happened to me too. I think you have to break into the groups. Ambush them with questions. Then you are good as gold with them

< waves at Robbo >


Everyone avoids you Andy standing there in your string vest and pink leather hot pant's:cooter:

andybond
04-09-2012, 17:24
You asked for my number big boy. I dont know what you wanted it for ? :confused::hump:

Bigfoot
04-09-2012, 17:38
As said a lot of the time most people are in big groups, its easy for a little group to come join in with a big group rather than getting a big group to move around the place, even though on previous events we have tried moving around seeing who is out there.

Red October did have a chat with you for a while, im sure I said who I am, apoligise if I didn't :ashamed: likewise with everyone else I try and chat to at events, think people recognise me more than I recognise them, but always have a good chat whoever they are. And then get told im too loud as well by some people :wasntme:

Trevhib
04-09-2012, 17:52
i doubt it will ever be like the 'good ole days' - purely due to amount of r5's on the road. - reorganise and galvanise is more likely to succeed. :)

Quite. We've gone round this loop a number of times over the years. We've got the opposite of growing pains. Incidentally, I think it's necessary to have these threads periodically as they are part and parcel of that cycle.

In any case, the lynchpin of this club is the website, if it went down due to lack of maintenance or lack of payment to the hosting company etc then we're fcked. If we lost all other club facilities/committee members (good as they are), it's imperative the website is the last thing to fail. Is there anyone in charge of safe-guarding that?

andybond
04-09-2012, 17:53
Ian looks after that part doesnt he ? ( and does a good job as well ! )

Big Steve - Raider
04-09-2012, 17:55
In any case, the lynch pin of this club is the website, if it went down due to lack of maintenance or lack of payment to the hosting company etc then we're fcked.

I would support some money being spent on the Website whilst we have some? :)

Robbo
04-09-2012, 17:56
really the best way for newbies to break into the rtoc groups is to turn up to the quieter local events and introduce themselves as when your at a bigger event many people tend to hang around with the people that they know, its not being ignorant or part of clique or anything to do with being in the inner circle.
We really should be looking after the new guys abit better not taking the piss when they lift the bonnet

Trevhib
04-09-2012, 17:56
I think so Andy, and it's a good job for us that's it's been him as he has been constant over many years as others have come and gone (or so it would appear from an outside perspective).

dangerous dave
04-09-2012, 18:00
i remember my 1st ND, i hate talking and meeting new people but i walked around with my beers chatting to everyone.. tricky, miller, rach, mart, billy, tom6'6, colin, dan, logg, french guys, lee bowman, babs, etc.. i think i talked to everyone but was pretty smashed in the end.. everyone was sound as a pound, apart from billy, he was a cnut:sad2:



and still is:cool:

Trevhib
04-09-2012, 18:01
Just wanted to add that any committee member past or present who was ever serious about their position has my full respect. It must be a virtually thank-less task.

Mart
04-09-2012, 18:11
The door swings both ways though - I walked around the campsite Friday night with the 'olympic torch', meeting & greeting new people, but some of those came across as ignorant sh1ts who couldn't be bothered to hold a conversation, and would've rather I fecked off.

Likewise, I was helping a couple of lads on the Saturday morning with signing on, trying to point out Dawn to them, etc, yet one of them thought it better to start being sarcastic about my help, so I left them to it.

I must be getting soft in my old age, as wind back 10 years or so & I'd have lamped the cocky little sh1t :D

Anyway, as I say, the door swings both ways - You get out what you put in.

The new Bill J
04-09-2012, 18:25
really the best way for newbies to break into the rtoc groups is to turn up to the quieter local events and introduce themselves as when your at a bigger event many people tend to hang around with the people that they know, its not being ignorant or part of clique or anything to do with being in the inner circle.
We really should be looking after the new guys abit better not taking the piss when they lift the bonnet


Bang on :agree:. I remember my first meet, shortly after I joined. I took a mate along with me to some car event at Brooklands, where there was an r5gttoc (as it was back then) stand. There must have been about 15 gtt's there, and I plonked mine on the end. I tried chatting to a few people, but felt like I was being ignored, and left with the intention of not bothering again!

Over the next few months I met a few local members, and when they invited me to the pod for a rwyb, I gave it another go. Because I knew a couple of people 'in the loop', I soon I got to meet more members, and before I knew it I was making some great friends :cool:


.....everyone was sound as a pound, apart from billy, he was a cnut:sad2:



and still is:cool:

:laugh:

Always was, always will be. Don't like it? Tough titties :D

Nottswoody
04-09-2012, 18:30
Just wanted to add that any committee member past or present who was ever serious about their position has my full respect. It must be a virtually thank-less task.

I slightly disagree Iv seen lots of thanks but it must be wiped out by the bad comments I just think we all should be a little less defensive at peoples comments as that is all they are just comments i don't pay £25 for a bad vibe and moans I have Facebook for listening to people's moans and groans and that's free.. I joined for like minded men and woman with coman interests were all successful adults and all have goals so let's reach them togeather.. No one in this group should be negative to another members ride just look at the VW crew this weekend they came from all over Europe and enjoyed there weekend.. We are an ever shrinking group and it's getting smaller everyday (mike put up a picture of another smashed 5 today) and I think that's sad as said before Iv tried to get new members and they didn't want to know because of past reputations and it just worries me that if they were to join today and read the past months comments on the pages would they have second thoughts? The guys Iv met so far have been great to meet and the help on hear is second to none and has saved me £££££ can we not just move forward instead of constantly talking about the past it's gone finished over with!! Let's look forward if forwards not away possible for you then surly it's time to call it aday? What's happend to that positive mental attitude guys? Just mop.. Moan all you like to me I have leather skin like that old bird off benidorm :)

Tony Walker
04-09-2012, 18:33
Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.

But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"

As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.

Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!

The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.

not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet:)

Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.

Sorry you had that experience i wish id spotted you, i didnt realise anyone blew up on the day other than the hungary guys waterpump, i helped the gordini guy a tiny bit with his black ts water leak but he was more than capable on his own, and most of friday night i spent helping Big Steve with his fuel tank leak. i didnt see anyone having that sort of trouble i would of offered a hand, we (alex and i) couldnt stay the sat night.

Phil W
04-09-2012, 19:56
The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.

Thirties!!! Couple of young members then!!!!!:):)

jamie_clioGTT
04-09-2012, 20:24
i dont believe this is an rtoc thing, i believe its the whole scene, the people who put the most in are now steping down due to other commitments etc and the younger blood just arent bothered. i dont/wont offer as its a massive commitment and i just cant spare the time, fair play to those that do :agree: and lastly if you modify a car your going to have people dissagreeing with your choice of modifications etc, especially of these old farts of rtoc :laugh: i am a believer in "if your going to critisise atleast make it constructive" but to be honest i dont give a rats ass what people think of my car, i built it for me and i love it. im sure the future of rtoc is safe due to the peoiple that still continue to put the hours in, and i for one applaude you and also say a big THANKYOU to the committe for keeping the club going and help with keeping my c1j running. :agree:

Ian S
04-09-2012, 21:06
I would support some money being spent on the Website whilst we have some? :)I agree and for some time I have been trying to, but no-one will take any!

I think it's that the people who know what they're doing are on such big money already they don't need more, it's time they're short of. And understanding Scoff's customised work will take some of that and does not interest anyone.

I've been in touch with the programmers of a couple of very big vBulletin websites and they both said the said about the problems they had with upgrading customised older versions of vB.

I have (or had) another programmer with a full working copy of this site, the new version 4 site, and the older backup site *. Alas, he ran out of time to do more, his main job expanded a lot, his wife is pregnant with twins and then his servers glitched. Three months went by..... He's sold his sporty car and bought and estate, a double pram and a shed load of baby gear, now mostly fixed his servers and plans to put ours onto one of it's own that can be left running for developers to poke at with sticks and not have any chance of damaging this live site. At least that's been the plan for the last few months.

It's been like this for the last four years. Hire someone. They make a good start then weeks go by and months and then strong words have to be used. Hire another programmer.....


* (not the even older asp site for which I might have hired the original programmer to de-infect it and make it available to developers for extracting ideas and data.)

Ian S
04-09-2012, 21:18
with regards to the club shopThanks for having some thoughts on this area and making suggestions.

The prices in the club shop as it is are making a profit. Members get a discount from those.

Would Mike want to do the RTOC stuff for free? Even a small fee per order might put some of the prices beyond the interest of members and from non members there'd nothing left to return to the club from the deal.

Mike already has a on-line shop. I don't expect he want to run a part of it for free as a service to RTOC members?

car.crash
04-09-2012, 21:24
He might do if he could use it to promote some of his own items?
Gotta be in his favour as well as ours.

Ian S
04-09-2012, 21:33
So perhaps he could operate the RTOC on-line shop as it is. Accept the shop emails, etc, deal with the ticket sales. Sell some of his own items from there with members discount.

There'd be some vested interests that clash with club members vested interests. Eg, the Raceland manifolds we did a that low low price. Sills, the carb kits, various other bits directly vie with Mike and other sellers who make their living from what they can make.

The members prices are at or near cost to us. So that would have to stop? We give new members and additional £5 off shop items.

I very much agree that it would be a good thing to have a professionally run RTOC shop jammed with loads of parts that members need. Might make it very easy for them to find what they want. But if we hire someone with their own shop, already doing all that for their own profit then they'd have to make less profit to sell out stuff for free + some kind of salary.

Big Steve - Raider
04-09-2012, 21:39
I agree and for some time I have been trying to, but no-one will take any!

Who creates the Forums for Cliosport & such like? Can we not just get a new on like that made & fill in the gaps with some copy & paste??

Tony Walker
04-09-2012, 21:44
i think the shop would do best from the group buys, shop maybe buys a few extra units on top of the organised group buy then puts a couple of pounds on top of the discounted price. Maybe we need someone to organise group buys more often? even day to day through my work renault offer money back on certain amounts of oil filters and things ordered, maybe a stock of service kits would be an idea, spark plugs are silly prices for good quality items.

It's finding people with the time and enthusiasm to make it work mate.

car.crash
04-09-2012, 21:45
Maybe drop him a pm or point him here and see what he makes of it? I should be seeing him tomorrow so I shall mention it :)

Scoff
04-09-2012, 21:46
In any case, the lynchpin of this club is the website, if it went down due to lack of maintenance or lack of payment to the hosting company etc then we're fcked. If we lost all other club facilities/committee members (good as they are), it's imperative the website is the last thing to fail. Is there anyone in charge of safe-guarding that?

Not as such Trev but as long as we're operating the current site code I'll do whatever it takes to keep it going. I think whichever developer or company takes up the role of creating a modern RTOC site will need to provide long term support for it also. This site is 5 years old already, a long time in the WWW and many more modern options are available.

Ian S
04-09-2012, 21:51
Who creates the Forums for Cliosport & such like? Can we not just get a new on like that made & fill in the gaps with some copy & paste??Sadly no. We tried that, more or less. Do Cliosport still use the older vB like we do? We really want the newer version it seems. To go for a blank version would be just that, not this site but just a blank bulletin board. It takes a fair bit of development to get a site to look like this or the other big sites. Not to mention work like this site does, some of which is Scoffs customising of the source code and that will not translate to a new version, we tried that.

THEN there's the things like the live window and much else.

Then there's the data, files, etc, which are not the issue as far as I can tell. Apart from the database being damaged during the migration a year ago leading to the missing photo albums and photos going to the wrongs places. That still needs to be repaired. And the 800 or so articles photos point to old/rtoc.org which does not exist at the moment.

Mart
04-09-2012, 21:55
Would be great to see more group buys, and/or a re-run (or copies) of old parts; eg, the 32 dis carb's or Steve's dial kits, etc.

Dale was looking into Valeo parts the other week, so good group buy potential there :)

Big Steve - Raider
04-09-2012, 21:58
If we start with a blank canvas, would there be more people willing to tart it up to a new. Website?

I can see that developers would shy away from trying to wrestle our site into something new, but if we ask them to build a totally new one then maybe there would be more takers??

Scoff
04-09-2012, 22:06
If we start with a blank canvas, would there be more people willing to tart it up to a new. Website?

I can see that developers would shy away from trying to wrestle our site into something new, but if we ask them to build a totally new one then maybe there would be more takers??

The problem is steve that we have 5 years of posts, articles and files in the databases so anything new will need to be vBulletin based if we're to stand a chance of importing the posts and PM system. Then even the modern vBulletin doesn't wont have the articles, files, live, wizard, contacts or tech sections since they're custom. My gut feeling is that a modern vBuletin will disapoint a lot of people, it'll be a basic forum compared to what we're used to. It'll be like trading in a 5yr old top of the range 5 series for a new base model fiesta. There's pros and cons to each.

Ian S
04-09-2012, 22:06
If we start with a blank canvasYes that's right.

And to that end I bought version 4 and Gordon tried to install and work on it but it didn't really happen on the old Windows server. Then we moved to this LAMP server and paid Global Gold to get it working, under Gordons orchestration, but that didn't happen either. I recently had someone look into it and looked like they started, stopped and partly deleted it.

But it was working on that man's servers and it was my intention to do just as you suggest as soon as he'd secured the server and made available access for people to go and start working on it. Hugely frustratingly, he just stopped and has kept me waiting again for these months.

I remain optimistic that Scoffs PHP pages can be retained. Until demonstrated otherwise.

Top of the list was trying to fix the album photos. I met my sisters previous ex in Sainsburys, he's now a big earning self employed programmer and said he could easily do anything with an SQL database. Remains to be seen but I intended to ask him first once the server side stuff was done.

Haz
04-09-2012, 22:30
whats wrong with the website? works fine as it is so why start fresh? surely making it new isn't always better, take fb for example, when i was on there i got fed up of having to re learn things that i was comfortible with when they change it to 'improve' it.

regards the club shop, i've just looked. there's tickets and dial kits. is that it? what happened to the usual merchandise like t shirts, key rings etc? do people still buy these? whats actually involved in running the shop as i get the impression that bulk buys are usually organised by an induvidual who bothers to get some interest?
i've noticed a few threads recently with people actually making an effort and starting to re-create things that are no longer availible, like the under bonnet sticker set. surely these are the items that should be there? could that person, sorry i forget who it was, not just offer these at the bulk price but make it only availible through the shop? i realise it could only be cheaper items to start with.
i'd be more than happy to start organising getting items that aren't availible re made, obviously minor differences would have to be done for copyrights.
i know a local sticker company that made replica series1 rs side decals, changing just one dot to a triangle. or would the oe folks only want the proper oe items?
there's a fabrication place that could make the suspension top hats, replicate jacking points when they run out, what about stocking the rear bumper mounts that ashy supplies?
what about header tanks that shakal supplies?
i could speak to carpet maufacturer's to get boot carpets remade?
what about the ph1 grilles and bumpers that are re created?
surely if all these items are supplied to the shop to be bought there at the same price and re stocked by mentioned people, even if the people offer to stock the shop with say 5 and the shop keeper deal direct with them?

or are all these items best being left to the induviduals to sort out?

Ian S
04-09-2012, 22:45
Probably other people could better answer these shop questions and suggestions, but I did 'speak to' Shakal and we couldn't reach an agreement over price and method of restocking. He wants to make his profit, like everyone does. As best as I can recall, by the time we pay for delivery, PayPal and postage we might charge more than he does so people may as well go to him.

The stickers thing has been rolling of years and I don't know why those involved couldn't make it happen and get some in the shop. Maybe it's lack of time and motivation to do it. I put quite a bit of time, effort and resolve into getting the Orange dials from Steve's group buy into further production and into the shop, even though Steve had already done most of the work in getting them made to begin with. I nearly gave up on it.

Getting the special head bolts costed, specified, made, delivered and advertised and into the shop took a couple of days work. Who's got time for that?

There's the issue of storage. Lee can't store bumpers, or loads of large stuff. I expect most people couldn't.

We discussed gaskets and stuff and decided it was better for members to just get them directly from GSF.

With the sills, Mike had ordered some so he had that covered and I stopped being interested in pushing to get those in the shop.

It worked well with Lee doing it as his Mrs runs a full time on-line shop and they have deliveries and collections all the time. That's a big problem if someone is not available all the time for deliveries and collections.

dangerous dave
04-09-2012, 23:13
i dont know how you guys put this stuff into words without offending people, i think alot of group buys are sh1t.. they involve people trying to make a quick ££ and we all aren't stupid and walk on.. you can often google a better price..

some are really good and members go way beyond the call of duty to sort out everyone else when you could just have a part made or buy 1 item and be done with it..

i do however like it when the club steps in and feel safer that we're all getting a good deal..

Haz
04-09-2012, 23:24
i'll have a chat with clee about the basics. storage is not really and issue. if someone has good condition/new rare items then things would be easier to replicate and i would assume members would be willing to loan them, but maybe thats why things havent gone ahead in the past.
the side decals for example, i could have a set scanned, slightly modified and have a set in every oe colour in stock, and any other colour scheme in a few days, same for rear screen 'raider', rtoc large or small, cup car sets etc to get the ball rolling.
rather than side tracking the thread i may just start another thread regards all this once clee's got back to me ;)

dangerous dave
04-09-2012, 23:28
the whole stickers thing does me in, was it Raj getting them made and selling them at £90 for something worth no more than £40.. he wouldn't do a group buy as he was making a load of profit.. he was in it to win it, which is fair enough but its a shame he didn't want to get a propper deal going.. rikki did them at 60 and in a group went down to 40..

that other chap had the phase 1's made didn't he? got his and then thats the end of it, which again is fair, but its a shame they didn't leave a contact number for the club so we could rattle off a batch of 30 for members a £40 a pop.. :(

this stuff can be done, has been done but it all seems black market hush hush..

Bigfoot
04-09-2012, 23:33
In the past I have tried saying about group buys going into the club shop and what items I can get from work without much interest as more than likely due to size. I have sorted out with Mike brake compensators and valeo rads. And once the local rep is back from Valeo I will chase up on valeo clutches which I can get hold of 15+ next day without any problem so they say and trying to get them to sort out the yellow fog lights, I have sorted out pearl engine mounts to the club shop (no longer available) but other makes can source, gasket sets, fuel pumps and service kits, plus many of other items as and when I get asked for them. The company website is in its next stage of development which will then mean I can put special pricing for all items which will be available for all people within the club and with enough interest I could persuade the company to stock more of these items before they run out from the suppliers so easily available next day at competitive pricing. This is what im hoping to do for this club within this year, hopefully with feedback a sticker supplier which I keep chasing them up on, dont want to pay out money upfront on something they might not be able to do so have to wait till they get time for it :(

Haz
04-09-2012, 23:42
i dont know how you guys put this stuff into words without offending people, i think alot of group buys are sh1t.. they involve people trying to make a quick ££ and we all aren't stupid and walk on.. you can often google a better price..

some are really good and members go way beyond the call of duty to sort out everyone else when you could just have a part made or buy 1 item and be done with it..

i do however like it when the club steps in and feel safer that we're all getting a good deal..

so should the shop just stock tickets for events and leave the traders/induviduals to deal with organising replenishing things that are no longer availible? i think some of the bulk buys probably arent worth the club getting involved with but if there are items that are exclusive to club members, that cant be bought elsewhere or too costly to have just one bespoke item made, surely thats a good thing?
i've tried to arrange bulk buys in the past, but trying to get 10 members to pay up front for a product that they cant see never happens. if the club funds, if approved by the committee, are used to get the ball rolling to get a batch made then there's more chance of things actually materialising?

i'll start another thread, as this one is going off topic ;)

Haz
04-09-2012, 23:47
http://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?p=289810#post289810

Shane P
04-09-2012, 23:57
I would just like to say that I myself am greatful for all the 'behind the scenes' work that goes on and i hope that we can all work through this unsettling time. I dont personally think that there is anything wrong with the website, its fast and has everything i need plus the 'Live' page is simply fantastic !

Is there anyway that Mike could become the club shop?, his primary outlet being what he already does to the general public and his secondary outlet being us ? Obviously making it worth his while plus supplying the club directly with a lot more parts that he already has storage for ?

I must say though it was nice on the old website where you could just click a button or two and see all the people registered in your local area :-)

Dont shoot me, its only an observation

Ian S
05-09-2012, 02:28
I must say though it was nice on the old website where you could just click a button or two and see all the people registered in your local area :-)We know :) and have lamented their loss since the old site was deleted in June 2008. :(

There was not time for Scoff to replicate all of that on this one. Though you can do a members search on location: http://www.rtoc.org/boards/memberlist.php?do=search

Trevhib
05-09-2012, 14:25
Those saying that the website is fine the way it is, there are so many reasons why sticking with an out-dated, unsupported, static-featured website is an extremely bad idea.

And the longer it goes, the worse it is. In the I.T. world, if you don't keep up, eventually you fall over and can't get back up. Waiting until that point to do something about it is not clever. I know this as I worked in the industry. When you see that the club can't even sort out basic issues with the site you know there's a problem.

Thankfully, Ian is continuing to try his best to secure some sort of resolution. I would be in favour of having a bog standard site that we were in control of and that was supported, rather than trying to hold onto all the custom/legacy stuff. As membership reduces, we may be forced into that anyway. Members would get used to it and if we could retain the articles data/pics then that's would be the main thing IMO.

Trevhib
05-09-2012, 14:37
I slightly disagree Iv seen lots of thanks but it must be wiped out by the bad comments I just think we all should be a little less defensive at peoples comments as that is all they are just comments i don't pay £25 for a bad vibe and moans I have Facebook for listening to people's moans and groans and that's free.. I joined for like minded men and woman with coman interests

Well I did say virtually thankless. You hit the nail on the head, there is both negative and positive feedback from members but the former can often far outweigh the latter. That shouldn't necessarily be a problem but unfortunately tact is not something that the RTOC membership is known for.

If you think letting poorly communicated negative comments wash off your back when you've bust your balls to get something right is so easy, then have a crack at one of the committee positions.

Also, a membership fee doesn't somehow guarantee you a moan-free environment, in fact it usually ensures the opposite I'm afraid. That's the relationship between life and money.

And just because most here have Renault Turbo's (i.e. the common ground), doesn't mean we're all like-minded. Our interests beyond cars will be wide-ranging.

Scoff
05-09-2012, 17:17
Those saying that the website is fine the way it is, there are so many reasons why sticking with an out-dated, unsupported, static-featured website is an extremely bad idea.

And the longer it goes, the worse it is. In the I.T. world, if you don't keep up, eventually you fall over and can't get back up. Waiting until that point to do something about it is not clever. I know this as I worked in the industry. When you see that the club can't even sort out basic issues with the site you know there's a problem.

Thankfully, Ian is continuing to try his best to secure some sort of resolution. I would be in favour of having a bog standard site that we were in control of and that was supported, rather than trying to hold onto all the custom/legacy stuff. As membership reduces, we may be forced into that anyway. Members would get used to it and if we could retain the articles data/pics then that's would be the main thing IMO.

We can upgrade at any time Trev. The site, or forum at least is support. It's vBulletin, so upgrading to V4.x brings it up to date (see Cliosport, etc.).

We would loose the custom pages though. So until we're aproaching a time where the latest browsers no longer support XHTML 1.0 an upgrade seems like a pointless operation. Sure, we'd have a modern front end, but we'd loose profile pages, files, wizard, contacts, the committee's area rep functions, the live page, the admin pages which control the banners, home page and other functions and possibly our membership subscription system. It's a lot to chuck away.

BILLY-R5GTT
05-09-2012, 18:09
HAZ has the right idea's and is full of enthusiasm, this is the sort of people we need looking into things to get the ball rolling on sale items.

I would quite gladly put some time into research for replicating items if it was helping out the club.

andybond
05-09-2012, 18:23
We can upgrade at any time Trev. The site, or forum at least is support. It's vBulletin, so upgrading to V4.x brings it up to date (see Cliosport, etc.).

We would loose the custom pages though. So until we're aproaching a time where the latest browsers no longer support XHTML 1.0 an upgrade seems like a pointless operation. Sure, we'd have a modern front end, but we'd loose profile pages, files, wizard, contacts, the committee's area rep functions, the live page, the admin pages which control the banners, home page and other functions and possibly our membership subscription system. It's a lot to chuck away.

But nothing is unsurmountable ? I appreciate that these things would be lost but can be added in again ?

There are banner manager plugins , profile plugins , rep thingies , all free with the Vbulletin license.

Personally, I would hang on to version 5 ( it must be due out soon as they have stopped releasing updates on the 4.x version ) and then restart.

We can then use standard plugins, which with the greatest of respect Chris dont need you to update and larry from down the pub can do.

phase i 16 v turbo
05-09-2012, 18:25
HAZ has the right idea's and is full of enthusiasm, this is the sort of people we need looking into things to get the ball rolling on sale items.

I would quite gladly put some time into research for replicating items if it was helping out the club.

I found replicating items not to be the problem, it was the costs and getting people to pay.

BILLY-R5GTT
05-09-2012, 18:52
I found replicating items not to be the problem, it was the costs and getting people to pay.

Are there any examples of this?

Just off the subject a little I spoke to Renault earlier about the OE side decals and they can still get them for all colour of GTT's and they are only £175 for a full set both sides.

How much are people expecting to pay for replica's? I thought people were only trying to get them made up because Renault had stopped producing them :confused:

steer from the rear
05-09-2012, 19:29
Could you imagine a club full of every repair part for a gt......all in one place not GSF for this, eBay for that, CGB for this ect

Service parts
Repair parts
Genuine parts
Refurbished parts
A complete gtturbo in bits :agree:

Tony Walker
05-09-2012, 19:38
Would it be expensive to run both types of websites maybe people could transfer all there things over to the new site saving the labour time of one person doing it? Then when the other site is comprehensive enough close the original?

BILLY-R5GTT
05-09-2012, 19:49
Could you imagine a club full of every repair part for a gt......all in one place not GSF for this, eBay for that, CGB for this ect

Service parts
Repair parts
Genuine parts
Refurbished parts
A complete gtturbo in bits :agree:

That would be good :)

dangerous dave
05-09-2012, 19:49
Could you imagine a club full of every repair part for a gt......all in one place not GSF for this, eBay for that, CGB for this ect

Service parts
Repair parts
Genuine parts
Refurbished parts
A complete gtturbo in bits :agree:

thats where i think you'll find the club not trying to step on peoples toes.. we have that available, mike pretty much has it all and has yards, barns etc full of cars that we all buy parts from, he builds up and sells or sells as projects.. it all costs money and for that to be available to us, the club needs to keep him and his bills paid for..

the club could try and take over but it would be our loss in the end as no one else its stopping this cars hitting the crusher, remove mike and cgb etc and all the oe second hand parts are going going gone..

if mike ran the shop like his own site and it was just easier for us to order on rtoc and he ships it, thats a win..

we need the shop for bigger deals and group buys that can sell for minimal profit..

rs250nut
05-09-2012, 20:40
Are there any examples of this?

Just off the subject a little I spoke to Renault earlier about the OE side decals and they can still get them for all colour of GTT's and they are only £175 for a full set both sides.

How much are people expecting to pay for replica's? I thought people were only trying to get them made up because Renault had stopped producing them :confused:

As what mike said, read it again. Getting people to pay for it, Renault pikeys dont like paying proper money:laugh:

BILLY-R5GTT
05-09-2012, 21:25
As what mike said, read it again. Getting people to pay for it, Renault pikeys dont like paying proper money:laugh:

Surely if you can afford to insure a GTT you can spend money on it... Or then again maybe its the opposite because it takes up all your money :laugh: been there myself, not the best place to be :crap:

Nottswoody
05-09-2012, 21:35
Surely if you can afford to insure a GTT you can spend money on it... Or then again maybe its the opposite because it takes up all your money :laugh: been there myself, not the best place to be :crap:

I'm hoping next year I can get classic insurance or the limited milage thing.. Paid nearly £700 this year hoping to get it alot less this year

phase i 16 v turbo
06-09-2012, 09:47
Are there any examples of this?

Just off the subject a little I spoke to Renault earlier about the OE side decals and they can still get them for all colour of GTT's and they are only £175 for a full set both sides.



No they don't, I stock all the ones available and they aren't for all colours and some aren't the same as the first batch when the cars were made, you need to check things yourself don't believe what Renault telll you. I had too order all to find out which ones are actually still available.

£173.73 + vat £208, Chris was willing to get a guy buy going :agree: but I don't think there was many takers.

djinuk
06-09-2012, 09:59
Why not allow mike to run the club shop, and push a larger discount onto club members, whilst at the same time we all promote mike/the club shop, to non members who dont recieve the same level as discount.

That way theres somthing in it for us all.

Stickers along the lines of..

'maintained by mikes RTOC club shop'

Ashy
06-09-2012, 10:06
***********
Thread moved to club talk so its not open to non members
***********

Tony Walker
06-09-2012, 10:19
£173.73 + vat £208, Chris was willing to get a guy buy going :agree: but I don't think there was many takers.


I wouldnt of thought there would be much interest in a "guy buy" at those prices :eek: lol

Mart
06-09-2012, 10:26
Rather than 'passing the buck' so to speak, has Mike actually been asked if he'd like to run the club shop?

The poor guy might be feeling a bit pressurised with the 'Mike FTW' esque comments about him running the shop, if he doesn't actually want to take it on :)

FWIW, he gets my vote though :D

phase i 16 v turbo
06-09-2012, 10:34
I wouldnt of thought there would be much interest in a "guy buy" at those prices :eek: lol

I should have been clearer.

£173.73 + vat £208 RRP,

Chris was willing to get a guy buy going with a discount on that price but I don't think there was many takers.

Tony Walker
06-09-2012, 12:39
Wasn't about the price sorry Mike the "guy buy" made me laugh.

phase i 16 v turbo
06-09-2012, 13:55
Wasn't about the price sorry Mike the "guy buy" made me laugh.

Been a long week sorry, should say group buy. :D

BILLY-R5GTT
06-09-2012, 14:49
No they don't, I stock all the ones available and they aren't for all colours and some aren't the same as the first batch when the cars were made, you need to check things yourself don't believe what Renault telll you. I had too order all to find out which ones are actually still available.

£173.73 + vat £208, Chris was willing to get a guy buy going :agree: but I don't think there was many takers.

I am just going off what Lookers Renault Stockport told me, they said they can do all colours.

So how different are they? Is there a big difference?

I could do with getting hold of some genuine old stock and getting them copied like most of us would like to do :)

Trevhib
06-09-2012, 15:18
We can upgrade at any time Trev. The site, or forum at least is support. It's vBulletin, so upgrading to V4.x brings it up to date (see Cliosport, etc.).

We would loose the custom pages though. So until we're aproaching a time where the latest browsers no longer support XHTML 1.0 an upgrade seems like a pointless operation. Sure, we'd have a modern front end, but we'd loose profile pages, files, wizard, contacts, the committee's area rep functions, the live page, the admin pages which control the banners, home page and other functions and possibly our membership subscription system. It's a lot to chuck away.

Hi Chris.

No worries. It's not your fault but it seems difficult to grasp exactly how the whole thing hangs together. I think the details that exist in between what Ian is saying and what you are saying above are such that it would take a long time for you guys to convey the exact situation.

Like what works on which platform, what skills are needed to support which parts of the current site, what we'd lose if we migrated, what can/can't be replicated on the other side, what versions of the database exist on which servers, who has access to them, what can be salvaged and what can't; it's like a giant bird's nest from the casual observer's point of view and the members are the eggs :laugh:

http://realmomsrealviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/birds-nest.jpg

What we want is a site that can be easily supported/maintained if the current team were to suddenly walk away. :agree:

phase i 16 v turbo
06-09-2012, 16:20
I am just going off what Lookers Renault Stockport told me, they said they can do all colours.

So how different are they? Is there a big difference?

I could do with getting hold of some genuine old stock and getting them copied like most of us would like to do :)

Agreed but you have to out lay nearly £600 to get them in to copy

Bigfoot
06-09-2012, 16:35
Or cut up a car and send them into the company and see if they can replicate it :wasntme:

Scoff
06-09-2012, 17:35
Hi Chris.

No worries. It's not your fault but it seems difficult to grasp exactly how the whole thing hangs together. I think the details that exist in between what Ian is saying and what you are saying above are such that it would take a long time for you guys to convey the exact situation.

Like what works on which platform, what skills are needed to support which parts of the current site, what we'd lose if we migrated, what can/can't be replicated on the other side, what versions of the database exist on which servers, who has access to them, what can be salvaged and what can't; it's like a giant bird's nest from the casual observer's point of view and the members are the eggs :laugh:

http://realmomsrealviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/birds-nest.jpg

What we want is a site that can be easily supported/maintained if the current team were to suddenly walk away. :agree:

Exactly, the club can't afford to rely on one or even 2 people to keep the site together.

We're in a much better place now than we were with the old site. The old site was 100% custom. At least now if the worst came to the worst and this site could no longer run then the forum database can be installed in a bog standard version of vBulletin and it'll work away without loss of membership information or posts.

Maybe a new tact would be to have an individual or company install version 5 when it's released and have them find modern plugins that do the jobs of the current custom stuff. The challenge there will be finding applications that give us the control people want. When I wrote this site the specification was very exact, there were no plugins that came close to what we wanted and what we had been used to with the old site. I suspect these days there would not be as much concern with the exact specification. There are less active CM to please :scared:

Ian S
06-09-2012, 20:42
When you have a look around internet and some of the other vB, or other, forums then come back to this one, you realise how much better off we are.

James_Surridge G1 5 GTT
07-09-2012, 13:34
Maybe too many committee personal opinions instead of traditional views of the club?
Maybe the status of committee members has gone to some heads?
Maybe majority of committee prefers track days so appears biased although does get better turn outs?
Maybe not many members can compete at pod now the goal posts keep getting moved and 12's are no longer deemed quick.
Maybe not many members want to take their mint oe, low mileage, 1 owner cars on trackdays?

Maybe we're just gettin old and grumpy?

:agree:

James_Surridge G1 5 GTT
07-09-2012, 13:39
i'd personally say it's down to a few factors:

as has been touched on earlier, most of us are getting on- as are our cars.

the number of 5's has rapidly decreased in the last 10years- we are now a smallish club, rather than a medium sized club.

the cost of fuel has really put a dampener on just travelling across most of the country to meet up with a few mates for an evening. - it does go on, but it certainly used to be alot more widespread.

if people think that an event isnt going to be well attended, then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, as people can't be bothered to travel to stand on their own somewhere.

events seem to need a 'draw' - back in the day at the Pod it was GT Tunings car, then it was Ktec's car, then glen tuffnell, then DD autosports, then Mike Spencer. every time people knew they were going they would turn up. - now its Scoff or Glenn pulling the crowds, be it at a rolling road day or drag strip. - i can guarantee scoff's RR day will be very well attended.
as has been mentioned before, the goalposts have been moved along way from what the average gtt owner can afford, so power tussles dont seem to occur now. - which was another reason for people to go to 'competitive' events.

i'm sure i could come up with other reasons off the top of my head, but i'll clear off back into the 'website editor' corner.:cartman:
:agree:

James_Surridge G1 5 GTT
07-09-2012, 13:45
It is mate, but you know all to well where this thread will end up after posting "A simple question" on the open forum. Some things never change and threads like this, no matter how genuine the reasons are for posting, always end up making the situation worse.

A number of CM's have stood down, thats correct.

Miller - was a missive driving force behind the Committee for a number of years but he has other priorities now and can't give the time required.
STU used to push "All" events and attend them sort out tickets etc etc and has been a big miss since standing down.
Dawn - although it wasn't her role gave up huge amounts of time to work behind the scenes and get the finer detail of organising events sorted. She also helped to pull the CM's together and keep us on the right path when we lost our way.
Clee - Ran the shop single handed and thats not a task to be underestimated.
Lomo - was making good progress with the Area Reps.
Blunty - Was making good progress picking up from where STU left off.

Steve - Sorts out ND, and did a very good job and then gets a a load of unnecessary grief, over the show and shine event, making him think twice about bothering the next time.

So with those CM's standing down or moving to a non-active roll we are going through a difficult period but it doesn't have to mean the end of the RTOC.

Life goes on, RTOC will roll on regardless, perhaps some new blood will step forward and offer help not criticism?

At the end of the day, we are all 10+ years older than we were in the good old days, that means mortgages + wives + more responsible positions at work + children = Less time for the RTOC.

I wish I was still 20 years old I'd be up to my elbows in it but I'm not and I can't.
:agree:

James_Surridge G1 5 GTT
07-09-2012, 13:48
:agree:

If new blood is required, maybe a thread should be started asking if anyone's interested, which roles are available/required, etc?

If you don't ask (or if members aren't aware), you don't get :)

No doubt that it is a thankless task, but one that's certainly (or at least should be) appreciated by all members.

I certainly recall the Accounts would be distributed online, this was said at National day.

Did we need an AGM at national? We did not have 1 and with regards fresh blood that would have been the opportunity to air new positions movement of CM's etc as now its all happened and we learn of it later:coffee:

clee
07-09-2012, 16:32
If you bother to look ......
http://www.rtoc.org/files/?path=Club%20files/Club%20Financial%20reports/

CM positions were advertised and/or CMs resigned after Blyton .

So no ,you don't learn of it later ,you just don't pay enough attention

James_Surridge G1 5 GTT
08-09-2012, 10:20
If you bother to look ......
http://www.rtoc.org/files/?path=Club%20files/Club%20Financial%20reports/

CM positions were advertised and/or CMs resigned after Blyton .

So no ,you don't learn of it later ,you just don't pay enough attention

Noted.:agree: Think things like this though should be circulated as a thread??

Ian S
08-09-2012, 10:42
They been on show there in the club files since about 2004.

They're not hidden away. It's been pointed out countless times.

It's the appropriate place for them. There are enough stickys at the top of boards already.

What you'd like is a way to find stuff on the website that requires no looking for it at all. It just appears in front of you when you think the question. Wouldn't we all.

Trevhib
08-09-2012, 11:51
Exactly, the club can't afford to rely on one or even 2 people to keep the site together.

We're in a much better place now than we were with the old site. The old site was 100% custom. At least now if the worst came to the worst and this site could no longer run then the forum database can be installed in a bog standard version of vBulletin and it'll work away without loss of membership information or posts.

Maybe a new tact would be to have an individual or company install version 5 when it's released and have them find modern plugins that do the jobs of the current custom stuff. The challenge there will be finding applications that give us the control people want. When I wrote this site the specification was very exact, there were no plugins that came close to what we wanted and what we had been used to with the old site. I suspect these days there would not be as much concern with the exact specification. There are less active CM to please :scared:

:agree:

Jonny5
08-09-2012, 15:09
They been on show there in the club files since about 2004.

They're not hidden away. It's been pointed out countless times.

It's the appropriate place for them. There are enough stickys at the top of boards already.

What you'd like is a way to find stuff on the website that requires no looking for it at all. It just appears in front of you when you think the question. Wouldn't we all.

:agree: