really? so by that rationing...you 'hide' the lounge from potential members...fearing they wouldn't go for the 'bs' (as you say) that goes on it the lounge, they become members (not knowing about the 'bs' since its 'private', they see the 'bs' for themselves once they become a member, and leave the site shortly after joining...yep, that makes a whole lot of sense :scratch:

look at the member list, over 2500 registered and maybe 300 active.

Maybe the site is rationing active members?

or they have a chance to see tech forums and regional forums and just decide to stay out of the lounge...

its a pointless argument, as it is done...

what does that mean?

No idea, playing on the poster above me and his lack of grammar.

oh. ok, carry on. :)

You should make all the forums private even if you sign in, and you have to pay a fee to see them, and then 10cents per post.

You'd be broke in a day.:lol:

not trying to change the fact that its done. just stating the logic behind it isn't well thought out...

you say members would 'stay out of the lounge' as if the lounge is some place drug pushers and street walkers hang out...its just a bit 'much'.

at the end of the day, them not seeing the lounge without logging in does nothing to gain more members, if anything, they will see the lounge when they sign up, and if its as much 'bs' as you say, they wont come back, regardless of what else the site has to offer - thus, all you end up with is an inflated number of members..maybe thats what you are looking for.

The powers to be are trying to balance shielding the nonsense that is the lounge from future members while at the same time trying hard not to lose the current members. Its a tough call, but I think setting the lounge to private won't hurt either side, if you really think logging in is such a hassle, well I dunno what to tell you. Seems like making a mountain out of a mole hole or whatever that is.

A new member, or potential new member odds are will be joining or stumbling across the site via a search that turned up something tech wise, not based on the awesomeness of the JSFBOA section or lounge. However, if they do then look around and see that the place is just full of whiney, nonsensical little kids... well, its adios.

I dunno, its a tough act to do, you wanna attract older, mature members who know their stuff, but at teh same time not push away the little kiddies with 4th gens.

But hell, what do I know.:|

wow matt, that is one of your better posts!

:clap:

Yeah, the PAK is growing up!

Matt:

You know a lot, as you basically wrote out what I wanted to say...

You guys want a good explanation? Even though we don't owe anybody anything, here we go. Hold on to your butts.

It is incredibly sobering to have guys laugh at the mention of this place at cruise nights. We work hard to keep this place a friendly atmosphere. A lot of the "joking among friends" is not viewed that way to a lot of members. It comes off as being a 55 gallon douchebag in a public forum, and it drives people away. We recieve complaints from people you would never expect to hear from about the behavior on here. This isn't a college frat house. It's a car club's online forum. You want porn- go get it somewhere else. It's a billion dollar industry, you don't have to go far. You want someone to stroke your ego about your manly man street racing escapades- go to a street racing site. You want to talk politics? Have a ball with the bloggers. Got a problem with the word filter? Well, go pound sand. I curse with the best of them, and probably can't even describe a newborn puppy without using the F bomb 5 times. Your buddy runs a shop and will cut discounts? Well, that's nice of him to offer but you can't use this place as a free online billboard. Tell him to man up and become a sponsor. He isn't going to make money on our dime here. It's not like sponsorship for a year even costs that much, and we appreciate and respect our current sponsors.


As for the membership demographics:

The balance between kiddies and old guys is an extremely hard one.

On one hand, the younger crowd is much more adept at technology and the Internet and as such are much more prone to being frequent visitors and up on the latest 'net happenings. However their biggest questions are usually about tires, mufflers and other "entry level mods", and they offer little to no help to other people with ramblings and post whoring in the tech section. They also have little money to put towards club fundraisers such as shirts and calendars. Most of them will not be in the hobby in the next 5 years, and that's being generous. But they boost the site traffic. Places like this can't survive without fresh content.

On the other hand, the older guys aren't as necessarily adept at the Internet or care what the latest Facebook app is. They don't come by nearly as often as the younger guys do. They are here for the cars and some discussions about whatever. Which is good and bad. Good because, well, this is a car club and these guys have typically have been at it for a while. Bad because site traffic from them is low, and some can take the "go away kid I've been doing this since before you were born" attitude- even when they are wrong. But they have knowledge to share, and a few bucks to spend if they like the place.


Somewhere in this madness is a balance we need to meet, to allow younger guys and older guys to frequent this place. Part of finding that balance is through making changes.

We are not trying to be bloodthirsty with our moderating or rules changes. These are rules changes that the members asked for. Maybe not in the pure verbal sense via PM or other message, but sometimes in behavior and member retention.

Also, this is not a government subsidized message board. It's private, and all of its content is property of the site owners. If they don't like it, then it doesn't have to be here. This is also a FREE site, not a paid service. Nobody has ever had to pay membership dues or anything else to be a part of the club. This place is provided totally free to almost everyone on here, and all you have to do is abide by the rules that were posted- which are not even that restrictive if you compare them to other message boards.

We make decisions as a group, to better the club. Contrary to popluar belief it's not to push our own personal beliefs on you. Not all decisions are unanimous, either. We are car guys and girls just like you all are.


So go ahead and say it aloud as a group- F you WBT you arrogant Nazi bastard.

Annnnnnnnnnd.... F you WBT you arrogant Nazi bastard!!!!


:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

bastard.

Haven't we been down this road before? I seem to recall a certain poll and I raised some questions about it.....

Here's the link:

http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthr...favorite+drink

Note how I was given the beat down by lots of the same people who are now trying to clean the place up. My how times have changed or have they?

Chris

I see your point, then and now, but I don't see any beat down in that link, just a conversation. If a similar poll (say favorite beer) were put up today it would stand as it does not break the rules. Albeit it might get moderated a bunch more based on the rule clarifications. Your point on the home page was good, but that was more of a timing thing.

I'll be the first to tell you things here got put on hold or auto pilot or allowed to slide or however you want to view it here for a while, for various reasons that are no longer an issue or worth talking about now. But there is a renewed sense of action as you can see by the rule clarifications and infraction system that makes it easier for mods to do their jobs.

Who the hell is laughing at us? **** them, how about that.

A bunch of old bastards that have first gen Camaros?
I understand the point of hiding the lounge area to passers by, but to anyone that laughs at the site, they can bite my ass. Im surprised that some of them figured out what the internet is, some how figured out where to type in "google", and then again to proced to type in "new jersey fbody clubs".
If they made it that far, then they shouldnt laught at this site. To the passers by, they see a tight knit, very active, and friendly atmosphere.
The people that have stayed on this board are not the guys handing out tons of technical advice. Its the guys and gals that have a damn soul and can actually communicate with people.
Wana hunt down NOS tire valve caps for your 67 SS 396 Camaro? Find somewhere else to go.
Want to talk and develop friendships, then come join this site.
Ive had my problems with this site, but at no point did I lose a friend from it.


BTW, no disrespect to all first gen guys.

Nice edit Al :lol:

And your response is exactly why people laugh at this site. That's a typical pompous reponse. And 90 percent of the people here just want to curse, insult, attack each other and never show up to a meet anyway. How hard is it to communicate in a normal manner, get together to work on cars or discuss cars and not turn every thread into a crapfest? Drop the attitude and maybe we can bring in some real car people. Otherwise we might as well call this place the NJFBOA Romper Room.

i do like the romper rooms

some of us met up yesterday and were touched by the graces of an ls1. al was not one of them :| freakin haters

Thats what facebook, myspace, AIM etc etc are for.. not this site for the most part.. its a car club site, supposed to be full of tech and what not.

And yes, Al didn't show to the baptism by LS1 blood yesterday... :rofl:

You know what they say about assumptions....