Jamie

Let me just add a couple of spoonfuls to your rather copious helping of "forum behaviour" food for thought:

1. Whatever one EXPECTS from people (who are supposed to read his posts), he ought to GIVE it to them in the first place. "Whatever" meaning: attention, respect, empathy, humor, etc.

2. The STRONGER one's opinion or the HARDER his facts, the more he should SOFTEN them when putting them forward on a forum.

Aye. Jamie

The Prophet

+1 on all that Jamie.

I'm going to stop now (finally), as I'm starting to (starting?) sound like a whiney Tool.

Point is/was: I'm so tired of seeing what seem like nice guys come onto these various forums and ask a simple question, then the "you-know-what's" have a field day braggin' about what THEY have done to their bikes, and how he should clone his bike just like theirs. Aaaarrrgghh! Not surprisingly, these nice guys soon disappear.

Done.... no wait... one more...

Question:

"What is the greatest bike in the world?"

Answer:

"The one you currently own, and are riding on."

Now I'm done.

Ride Safe!

Bob

__________________

• A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu
• Motorcyles are not my whole life, but they make my life whole. ` me

Speedtrip

Don't let the bastards get you down Bob. The up side is you have huge forum here to fill with content.

motowebmaster

There are times that I wonder if it would have been better to not worry so much about the direction and started this site years ago. I've owned the domains for almost a decade but never did anything with it until I had the time to focus on it. On the other hand, being able to develop more effective ways to manage content and infrastructure has been fun.

As we've previously discussed, it seems that all motorcycle forums are experiencing a significant downturn. The active sites tend to represent interest groups that aren't as affected by the trend of manufacturing or racing.

However, the subject of content in general is a factor as well. People are online less and mobile-connected more. The result is an explosive growth in micro-blogging; it requires less effort and as do other social-networking avenues. While some users are still making decisions based on what someone posts, a growing number of users would prefer to post/read short strings of text.

Discussion forum software development has hit a major snag due to company acquisitions and organizational changes, causing hundreds of forum owners across any interest or topic to make tough decisions. Some forums, whose owners were technically challenged, haven't recovered (or died) when they decided too quickly. Many of the topics on this subject have been getting worse than motorcycle sites. Open-Source alternatives (which Rat.Net ran on in it's early years) aren't faring any better due to lack of enthusiasm in our global economy. It's bad.

I still plan on pushing forward and continuing to develop this site. Nothing's certain, but as motorcycling changes around us it's giving me new ideas that may help.

__________________
Shawn
My Photos

The Prophet

I know Speed... I know. It just irks me to no end. I decided yesterday to never again peek in on that old site - for once and for all. I did yesterday afternoon, and not only where my boring, droning remarks I posted here verified, the crap-toss was actually much worse. That said, no more will I sink to that low level trash. Done.

Yes, once again you are correct sir, there is a ton of opportunity to participate and share on this site, and hopefully raise the bar for internet bike forums.

I hope folks have noticed that in the "Innovation Center" threads, the content has been carefully screened for accuracy and sufficient background/provinence, and is presented for members viewing pleasure. My assumption is that folks have the ability to read, study, and make decisions for themselves. There is no "What I recommend is..." or "This is the only way to do it..." drivel.

Intelligent and inquisitive folks can decide these things for themselves. I feel people appreciate this much more than the force feed method.

I also sincerely ask that others comment on and submit information, based upon this principle. Studies by professionals, objective types, data and information from reliable, responsible resources, verifiable specifications, etc. Extremely careful use of the superlatives "Exhaustive" and "Finalised" when refering to any personal research or trials. "I've done "exhaustive" research. Really? Are you tired now? Hmmm, I would have thought "Exhaustive" meant more than ten minutes in the shed!

No "Conspiracy Theory" stuff either please, that's what "The Open Road" sector is for, and please never anything beginning with statements like: "I don't care what anyone sez, I did ...(blah, blah, blah)...and my bike is ... "

Looking forward to trading info and fun blarbs this year. We have a great group, whom I have no doubt will attract like-minded kindred souls, and continually grow and develop.

Thanks guys, looking forward to the new year!

Ride Safe!

Bob