I have seen some views expressed that the Forum is little used. It can't be that members are too old to be tech savvy, as so many things have to be done on line now, and the more mature tend to be quite active on Facebook and the like.Many car clubs have members who pay and just enjoy receiving their regular magazine. This doesn't engage the membership or enhance their club experience. The Journal is excellent and worth the membership fee alone, but if there is an email address for every member (as snail mail really is so last century) then a brief interim e-News can be sent, with events info, extracts from the forum and so on, and encouraging members to log on and get involved.Comments please.
Hi Mate,
Great idea ! Though easy for me to say as I haven ' t got to do it ! I would love to see more use of this forum,
I love the Journal
and treasure each issue,
but have never written to it as I prefer to post here,
where
I can get a response straight away.I guess it all comes down to if Dave has the time to
set
it up,
if there is anything I can do,
though I ' m no PC genius,
I would be happy to.Cheers,
Chris Warr.
I think this is a splendid idea
and I can raise it at the next AGM in June.I have now sold well over 200 copies of my recently published book (a limited edition of 300)
and you would be surprised at how many cheques I have received
from
people who do not have an e - mail address
or Paypal,
at least 30 % Knowing the DTCA committee they will ' need to discuss it ' so do not expect an answer any time soon,
these are the people who never bother to come onto the forum as they all still use quill pens.Dave
I have just sent the following e - mail to Michael Driver (DTCA Chairman)
and Nelson Twells DTCA Secretary. ' Hi Guys The DTCA website forum has been really active over the last 12 months although only about 10 - 12 people regularly use it some serious
and meaningful discussions take place.Our sister organisiation the HRCA have a couple of pages in their journal covering recent forum topics,
that way the whole membership have the opportunity of contributing.Can I ask that this be discussed as a SPECIFIC AGENDA TOPIC at the AGM in June of this year.It would be an incredibly easy task for Mike Forbes to cut
and paste the interesting,
and
or,
controversial topics into a couple of pages in our journal.In a similar way to the HRCA it gives our ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP an opportunity to enhance the depth of the topics
and grow the knowledge base within the DTCA significantly.I would like to lead this up at the meeting if possible.Can you please give this serious consideration.Many thanks
and kind regards.Dave Busfield ' I will advise you guys about the outcome.Dave
Dave --Many thanks for being pro-active on this and getting it started. This forum has such a great potential to be both interesting and informative to all active members, and it is much faster and more responsive than any journal can be.But the reality is, sadly, that many members have either chosen not to participate or just do not use the internet much at all, and having some mention or synopsis in the Journal seems to be a good idea and start.They probably won't do it, but it would be great to poll the members, and ask several questions, and amongst them 'do you use the internet', 'do you participate in the forum, and if not, why'?Another question/comment I have concerns Talk Model Toys. I notice that forum was very active just a few years ago, and there still is some activity. Do many of those formerly active folks there also belong to DTCA? In reading many of the topics posts there, it was apparent that quite a few people were chiming in and participating frequently. Do you think it is largely a matter of our membership aging to a point?? Terry
Age certainly has an influence on the problem but it should not - I am now nearly 70
and have mastered Photoshop,
InDesign
and a number of other programs - I have just not let them beat me ! ! ! A significant problem is that NOT ONE DTCA committee member has visited this forum in over 12 months.That is DISGRACEFUL.I keep battering away at trying to get them to embrace modern technology rather than being frightened of it but I get nowhere.I discovered when I published my book recently that there are a large number of members who do not own a computer
and wanted to pay by cheque.This was no problem whatsoever.This does not affect the DTCA committee members they ALL have e - mail addresses ! ! ! ! ! ! I sincerely hope that if I can get the Forum active in the journal we can get more people contributing.These are people with SERIOUSLY GOOD DINKY KNOWLEDGE
and we NEED THEM TO PARTICIPATE.Dave
I think the participation in fora like this is a general problem (if it is a problem at all).There are many people who just like to watch what is happening
and have no desire at all to participate,
or it is simply not in their systems communicating like this.I don ' t mind,
I respect that.it ' s no use ' forcing ' them,
board members
or not.If I ' m correct the board praised us - Dave,
you
and me - very explicitly for our efforts for the forum last year,
so they are not really indifferent - let alone negative - in this matter.That ' s enough for me,
although we might fiercely have wished otherwise.Let everyone do what he likes to do,
let not people do what they do without passion.That ' s contra - productive,
in my humble opinion.Nevertheless: of course we must raise this point again during the next AGM ! ! ! Perhaps the informal approach is even more effective than the formal approach...Kind regards,
Jan
Nice one Dave ! Lets hope it happens,
I would love to reply to some topics in the journal,
but when I consider the two months wait for a reply I don ' t bother.There is nothing like the instant response I get on the website.There are so many things in the Journal that are wonderful
and enhance our knowledge,
but likewise I ' m sure that many Journal readers would benefit
from
the topics here,
I have learned lots
from
the Forum in the last 12 months,
and I ' m sure others would benefit also.Chris Warr.
Nice one Dave ! Lets hope it happens,
I would love to reply to some topics in the journal,
but when I consider the two months wait for a reply I don ' t bother.There is nothing like the instant response I get on the website.There are so many things in the Journal that are wonderful
and enhance our knowledge,
but likewise I ' m sure that many Journal readers would benefit
from
the topics here,
I have learned lots
from
the Forum in the last 12 months,
and I ' m sure others would benefit also.Chris Warr.
Dave --I wonder if some of these folks are just intimidated in trying to post, especially photos. I belong to several other unrelated forums, and someone is always commenting on how hard it is to post pictures, etc. Maybe a thought would be to have a section in one of the upcoming Journals devoted to showing how things work on the forum, with detailed info on how to post pictures, etc. and maybe a small section in each Journal devoted to interesting topics on the forum, so the other members have some idea of the range of the discussions. And Jan, I agree......we do not want to force anyone to use the forum that just does not want to, and there are always 'lurkers', who will likely never post. But I think Dave and I feel there has to be some more who can and would post, maybe with some modest effort to show just how good it is, and with some help.And that brings up another point: are there any instructions on the forum or in the Journal on how to submit articles.....what format, who to send to, images (how large?), etc??? Terry's
