Delorean Owners Club UK Forum

[bozzzydmc]

Hi all.

It has been muted to me by a number of DOC club members about this forum and its users on here. You are probably more than aware that not everyone on here ( in fact a fair amount ) are not actual paying DOC members. The suggestion is that only paid DOC members should benefit from the information and details discussed online.

Obviously the club funds (and ultimatley its members) pay for the hosting of this forum and the website.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this issue so as to put it to a vote ?

Thank you.

[dmcscott2002]

Maybe non members could only access general talk and events chat as opposed to having full acess to all the tecnical info and club goings on?

[Guinney1971]

I agree Scott.

We have a similar thing with the VODC - you can be a full member and get the mags etc for £18 a year, or be an 'online' member for £10 a year, which also gives you access to more parts of the forum.

I also think its a good idea from a 'personal security' point of view.

I know it is difficult though, as forums, are, by their nature, open to view by anybody, be they members or not.

[Bandit]

I agree, most 'clubs' I have had dealings with do the same thing. You can see limited info without being a member & get the full web use once you have 'coughed up' as it were.

[NickT]

The down side to the forum permissions on a per paid membership is time taken to administer the forum.
I am not saying it can't be done as I have done a test with usergroup "DOC-PAID" and test permissions on the forum just now. It can be done with the group permission to minimise on administration security access within the forums.

Also, with the payment of the club members there will be a expectancy of instant access once paid. People administer the forum out of thier own time and so have work in the way. As long as this is undersrood in the first user complaints should be kept to a minimum.

Claire, the separate parts of the forum can be hidden to general public until you have paid and your access granted. I do like the idea of the split price but it would be down to those who handle the finances.

The question of locking down the forum to just those that have paid can have a backward impact in promoting the club in the first place. Maybe dmcscott2002 has the compromise between full technical info and general chat/ events/ club goings on etc.

These sort of questions can be discussed here then maybe agreed in final at the clubs AGM.

NickT.

[Phil Peters]

It’s an excellent point Mike, good on you for raising it.

I think the DOC website and the DOC Forum can be approached from different perspectives.

Our club website is undoubtedly a key tool (alongside exhibitions and shows) for promoting the DOC to a wider audience and attracting new members to the club. We also use the website to host photos of recent events, historical DeLorean info etc. This information is freely available since is all part of showing people what the DOC and the DeLorean car is all about. This was one of the primary objectives of the club when it was first set up in 1996. In summary here, the website can be seen as the ‘public face’ of the DOC.

The DOC Forum is, as the name suggests, an arena to discuss our DeLorean cars and DOC related activities/information. It could be argued that the Forum differs from the website in this sense in that it is a forum for club members. Based on that line of argument, if you wanted to participate, all you’d have to do is join the club. Simple as that.

At the end of the day, we are still a small club and funds are always an issue for us. We can only survive and do what we do year on year thanks to a healthy (paying) membership. There is an annual membership fee of £25.00 and for that you receive the fabulous DeLorean News magazine every quarter ( :wink, along with your membership card and access to a wealth of technical and historical expertise. £25.00 is extremely good value really. It costs about half that much just to buy your lunch at the Classic Car show!!

We’re not an elitist club. Anyone can join the DOC, whether you own a DeLorean or not and whether you live in the UK or overseas. I was putting our list of new members in the club mag last night and I notice Trevor from New Zealand has joined the club recently.

If the Forum became an exclusive resource for club members, it would be yet another selling point to make club membership an attractive prospect. If the Forum became a “members only” resource, it wouldn’t be a case of shutting people out of the DOC. For the general information, the club website would provide this as it always has. If you want to get more involved and join in the fun, all you have to do is join the club.

As NickT said, I think it’d be really worthwhile to discuss this in detail at the club AGM in November.

[Chris Williams]

I think Scott and Claire have it about right with ther idea, we have an area set up now thats not in use, all the tech/parts stuff could be moved to this part of the forum and locked.
How about this area requiring a password thats changed to say coinside with the owners club mag publication, and in the mag print the password for access to this part of the forum and the password changed at the next mag publication. i.e; 3/4 months later??
If this makes sence? that way it only requires the forum password changing every 3/4 times a year rather than having to be policed all the time. But all the day to day stuff remaining open to anyone who wants a look in and chat, therefore promoting the owners club.
Chris

[MikeH]

im pretty sure theres plenty of scripts out there that could automate memberships, itd just take time for the people who cannot pay via paypal for instance.

[Guinney1971]

Without risking going 'off tangent', I think that if there was an 'internet membership' and a 'full membership' option, then it would be a good thing as it would boost club funds and allow the club to do more throughout the year for the members. It would also help ensure that people renew/pay their subs too, rather then receiving pretty much most of the benefits of membership without actually paying for it

Without wanting to harp on about the VODC too much, I was talking to Mark Copsey who's our Secretary/Forum Admin/Does Everything bod, and the membership is pushing 200, many of whom are 'online members' so dont get the magazine. Funds are healthy, to the extent that the VODC will pay for entry to events - the club is paying for club members with their cars go to Crich Tramway museum this Sunday, which would normally cost £8 each. Plus we also have professional looking stuff for when we do shows, with fencing, marquees and banners. It would be nice if the DOC could have something similar, especially for outside events where there are a lot of DeLorean's together.

However, like NickT says, this is a club run by volunteers in their spare time, so we have to bear this in mind when thinking of new ideas on how to take the club forwards.

[Glen & Sam]

i.m up for helping on the events side

[Rich H]

I think the forum should be viewable by anyone, but in order to make posts you should be a club member.

That way the public can still see what the club is all about, learn of where events are being held and generally what a nice bunch of people we are However if they want to benefit from being 'in with the crowd' it is only reasonable that they contribute something towards the costs of running the service.

Whether or not access to technical information becomes available with paid up membership would be a matter of technical capabilities. There is a lot of technical info on the DeLorean on the web already, would preventing public access to it really make much difference?

[cineman]

what about the foreigners readers ? I am italian, but the info about Delorean interest me, no matter if i found it on the UK forum, German forum, Irish forum etc... and i dont think it has sense for me to subscribe to your UK DOC club... :wink: :wink:

[Andy]

I would also like to being kept updated about upcoming events in the UK and even if I'm not a DeLorean Owners Club Member, I would like to reply to some questions (not that I do very often).

Also I enjoy looking at photos about past DeLorean-events (UK or elsewhere), even if I wasn't able to attend them myself. I'm from Belgium, but I think most foreign DeLorean-owners will feel that way.

After all, aren't we all a member of the worldwide-DeLorean-club? :lol:

Regards

Verbrugghe Andy
VIN#04610

[Chris Williams]

cineman Wrote:what about the foreigners readers ? I am italian, but the info about Delorean interest me, no matter if i found it on the UK forum, German forum, Irish forum etc... and i dont think it has sense for me to subscribe to your UK DOC club... :wink: :wink:

Good point. Most of us are aware of the (3) I think, US forums that are all free to view/ask questions on without having to subscribe to. So would it actually encourage any one to pay for the UK DOC? at the end of the day there are a fair few owners and even more cars that are not in the UK DOC as it is!
Chris

[Phil Peters]

Well, we've recently had a member join the DOC from New Zealand and we do have some other overseas members, so it does happen. Overall though, perhaps RichH's suggestion of:

Quote:viewable by anyone, but in order to make posts you should be a club member.

represents the most effective option because, as Rich says, it gives potential members an insight into the club.