Come on everyone - encourage a friend to join and let's break 1000

BlackLightning998

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Now at 974 - great news.....

Growing day by day, just 26 left to get before we break the 1000 mark, send a link to a friend, and remind them that the Spares Company new Black Shadow is up for sale next month at Bonhams Auctioneers if they want the best of both worlds - a real modern classic in every sense of modern and classic.

Stuart
 

VinParts

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Members or non members

Stuart, I am not sure if what you are asking is right for the forum or the VOC. I could pop down to my local and get 20 or more people to sign up to this forum but is this what we want?
As a member of the VOC I want to see more members joining the club but I don't want to see the forum turning into a place for non members to fill our screens and laptops with crap. Look at the postings and most of them are in the public access sites. OK, we should push more VOC members to put info on the forum but at the same time do we want people posting things on the forum when they don't own a Vincent? your mate next door might get the numbers up to 1000 but if he is not a Vincent owner then what is the point.
Pete Appleton started a thread about members and non members and I thought that it was going to last but it didn't. I am not about to say that we should ban non members from posting on the forum but at the moment we have more non members than members posting and by asking your mate to sign up to the forum just to make 1000 in my view is not what the forum is about.
With any luck this might just get people talking on this forum, if not then I might just go and get another tattoo done just to out do mick the vin, (yes I do have a tattoo) so should I be drummed out of the club?:D
As a side note it was a shame that so many people stayed away from the GCM. If I can do 150 miles to find out what is going on in OUR club then why the hell can't a few more members.
Hard hat is now on so take a shot if you dare:D and if you want to take me on face to face (not just you stuart but anyone) then buy me a pint at the winter welsh this weekend, details in MPH.

Russell Kemp
Parts supplier and Assistant Social Secretary
 
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Mickthevin

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Stuart, I am not sure if what you are asking is right for the forum or the VOC. I could pop down to my local and get 20 or more people to sign up to this forum but is this what we want?
As a member of the VOC I want to see more members joining the club but I don't want to see the forum turning into a place for non members to fill our screens and laptops with crap. Look at the postings and most of them are in the public access sites. OK, we should push more VOC members to put info on the forum but at the same time do we want people posting things on the forum when they don't own a Vincent? your mate next door might get the numbers up to 1000 but if he is not a Vincent owner then what is the point.
Pete Appleton started a thread about members and non members and I thought that it was going to last but it didn't. I am not about to say that we should ban non members from posting on the forum but at the moment we have more non members than members posting and by asking your mate to sign up to the forum just to make 1000 in my view is not what the forum is about.
With any luck this might just get people talking on this forum, if not then I might just go and get another tatoo done just to out do mick the vin, (yes I do have a tatoo) so should I be drummed out of the club?:D
As a side note it was a shame that so many people stayed away from the GCM. If I can do 150 miles to find out what is going on in OUR club then why the hell can't a few more members.
Hard hat is now on so take a shot if you dare:D and if you want to take me on face to face (not just you stuart but anyone) then buy me a pint at the winter welsh this weekend, details in MPH.

Russell Kemp
Parts supplier and Assistant Social Secretary

MUST BE SOMETHING ABOUT PEOPLE WITH TATTOOS - AN EXTRA ORDINAIRY AMOUNT OF COMMON SENSE (ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH A VINCENT).
I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE ANY KIND OF CENSORSHIP WITH REGARD TO CLUB/FORUM MEMBERS BUT I CANNOT SEE THE POINT IN ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO JOIN JUST TO MAKE UP NUMBERS - YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST LIST THE YELLOW PAGES AND HAVE DONE WITH IT.
I DID NOT MAKE THE COMMITTEE MEETING AT THE WEEKEND, OR THE PIONEER RUN DUE TO BEING SELF EMPLOYED ( I DIDNT EVEN GET ON THE BIKE ). I AM AWARE THAT A CLUB NEEDS SUPPORT TO EXIST BUT WHEN MR. BARCLAYS AND MR. ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND ARE IN EFFECT YOUR EMPLOYERS YOU DONT HAVE MUCH CHOICE. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL START TO CHANGE AND I WILL BE ABLE TO ATTEND SOME V.O.C. EVENTS THIS YEAR.
I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THE CLUB PERSPECTIVE WITH REGARD ADVERTISING CONFLICTING EVENTS BUT WE ORGANISE A LARGE FESTIVAL OF MOTORCYCLES UP IN SUNNY WHITLEY BAY IN AUGUST - I WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE VINCENT RIDERS TO COME BUT THE WAY I UNDERSTAND THE RULES I CANT BECAUSE IT IS A NON VOC EVENT - AS FAR AS I AM AWARE THERE ARE NO OTHER EVENTS THAT WEEKEND
IF ANYBODY IS INTERESTED YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ON MY WEBSITE - www.theavalon.co.uk
THE OTHER PROBLEM WE SEEM TO HAVE UP HERE IS THERE IS NO LOCAL SECTION WITHIN 100 MILES - I KNOW I COULD START MY OWN SECTION BUT ONCE AGAIN TIME COMES INTO IT
RUSSELL - WE MUST HAVE A BEER SOMETIME AND COMPARE DRAWINGS IN A NON GAY WAY

MICK THE VIN
 

Pete Appleton

VOC Hon. Editor
Staff member
VOC Member
VOC Forum Administrator
VOC Forum Moderator
Diplomacy

your mate next door might get the numbers up to 1000 but if he is not a Vincent owner then what is the point.
Pete Appleton started a thread about members and non members and I thought that it was going to last but it didn't. I am not about to say that we should ban non members from posting on the forum but at the moment we have more non members than members posting and by asking your mate to sign up to the forum just to make 1000 in my view is not what the forum is about.

Russell has expressed much the same view as I did in the earlier thread but he is clearly a lot more diplomatic than me. There is nothing wrong with having a Forum for everyone. If that is what you want to be a part of then fine.

I totally agree with Russ about the Forum becoming dominated by non club members. What I suggested, admitedly in fairly inflamatory terms, was a way for each member to choose whether to take part only in club discussion or the open to everyone setup that we have at the moment. In fact the 'free for all' aspect of Jtan may be one of it's main failings.
It would be usefull for any member posting a technical query to be able to know that the answers they get are from people who actually have a connection to Vincents without recourse to checking member profiles.

Graham made it clear that the Forum is 'his baby' and that it is paid for by sponsorship rather than out of club funds. As the Forum 'drifts', becomes less Vincent orientated and more random are the sponsors getting value for money?

I came in for some fairly 'spirited' criticism last time from people thinking that I was trying to exclude them. The fact that we were reading this in the members only section of the site means that we have all paid our dues to the club, why shouldn't everyone else? It seems to me that with only about 10% of members regularly attending rallies ( I would estimate), the club shop being taken over by a commercial enterprise (the spares company) and the Forum encroaching on the preserve of MPH there is reason for 90% of members to wonder why they are paying club subscriptions when non members are getting much the same for free.

Ok Hiding under the desk now :eek:

Pete
 
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John Appleton

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
MUST BE SOMETHING ABOUT PEOPLE WITH TATTOOS - AN EXTRA ORDINAIRY AMOUNT OF COMMON SENSE (ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH A VINCENT).

MICK THE VIN

The question I am asking myself is "can I get a tatoo before friday" . I rather fancy seeing what Tracey makes of a tatooed blue W.K.D. drinker ,who may or may not have body piercings , at her rally at the weekend .
On a more serious note , I am watching with interest the member or non member discussion . I hope the current influx of semi-literate non-members is due to their having nothing better to do in the winter months . I also hope that ,with the start of our own riding season , more of our active members will see fit to report their adventures on the forum .
Obviously I have close connections with both Pete Appleton and Russell Kemp , and they have both expressed views that I totally agree with . The only differance being they have persevered with the forum while I have voted with my feet and do not use it much any more . I wonder how that goes down with sponsors and advertisers ?
I joined the V.O.C. to further my lifelong interest in the marque , and meet like minded people . The forum was an extension of that aim but I find that of late it has failed to deliver . I must confess that I can see certain merit in Clever Trevors suggestion that non-members can read but not post .
Thats enough pontificating from me , now to get a tattoo to shock Tracey , get me onto the top table at Mick the Vin's rally , and to endow me with common sense . See you on the road Mick , see you at the weekend Russ .
John
 

BlackLightning998

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I take a different view....

Evening all,

It might appear that I was suggesting that you load the local telephone directory onto the Forum but twas something else in my mind when I suggested encouraging like minded individuals to join - goodness knows that one of them you rustled up might even have been an existing VOC member who had not used the Forum before.

Logic tells me that in order for someone to register for the Forum then they must have some reason for doing so. Moving to one side for a moment all the odd folks with reasons I might not be able to comprehend or agree with then my deduction is that people who register will largely have an interest in things Vincent. Personally I think that people using the Forum who have an interest in Vincents is a good thing. With luck (like at least 1 Forum member I have now been able to verify - and no it was not "Flatout" who it appears hasn't joined, gone to the York Section or submitted his bike details - Oops!) they may move on to join the VOC as a result of the way they are treated and the decent people they have met across the ether.

So I'm a big fan of making them feel very welcome and helping them where ever possible, and then encouraging them to join the VOC because there is a compelling set of reasons to do so, not the other way around where they are kept on the outside until they've paid their dues.

There is a view I've heard that VOC members are a strange and elitist band - that hasn't been my personal experience but looking to the future (and back to the objects of the club) we must bring in new members, and that will mean younger members too. Just what does the future look like for the guardianship of these wonderful machines otherwise?. From what I've seen since re-joining we don't appear to be very good at attracting new and/or younger members. Me, well I think the Forum has the potential to become one of the very best ways of doing just that as in today's world the internet plays an every increasing role in the way people do things. So I support it.

I can't think of a single website where I've gone for a look, seen I need to pay £28 to "get in" and subscribed.

Not everyone with an interest in Vincents is either fortunate enough to own one, or in some cases I guess would actually want to. Maybe they aspire to owning one, one day. I'd like to propose that there is space enough in the our world to accommodate them all.

Surely the Forum is about furthering the objects of the club - and I don't think membership of the VOC was one of them last time I had a read.

I think that having the Forum open to all is in perfect harmony with those objects - have a read and see what you think?

I'm biased, I'm a new member this time around, I'm mechanically inexperienced with easy access to a computer at all times of the day and night, I've joined the club because it offers me something over and above the Forum so I do both like a lot of people I guess - but I've found the Forum tremendously useful in a whole host of ways even though I've bought,devoured and digested a whole boxful of books and MPH backnumbers.

On the flip side - I've joined Jtan and not found it helpful or interesting (yet) - but I'm still reading.

What a great world we live in where having an opinion is encouraged and perhaps we should all manage to rub along together despite them being different.

Beyond the "blown vincent" thread that I never clicked on - what exactly is it that non-members have been having access to/posting or anything else that is causing problems?

Or is the issue that they simply don't pay?

Regards to all


Stuart
 
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