The lifespan of a Forum

Mark, while this CMC forum may or not be as you describe, other non-CMC caravan/motorhome forums are continuing nicely with increasing membership, (the very opposite of dying a slow death).

What is it exactly that you feel is wrong with this forum. ?. 

K 

I think of this forum as a chat forum to chat (in the main.) to fellow members and users/choosers of leisure vehicles.

I don't get the impression that East Grinstead take very much notice.

However there is a lot of useful info on here, driving licences, A frames, payloads, alternative sites etc etc.

There is a lot of "opinion" as well. Sometimes I agree with what is said, often I don't..... And it has to be said that there is a quite small core of people who post regularly, and I probably know their opinion on most things already....

We can all spend as much or little time on here as suits, but I feel that overall my time is well spent, just learning from some of the posts....

Mark

I have moved your thread here as it didn't quite fit into UK Campsites and Touring.

I understand there are 400000 members signed up to use Club Together. Not everyone uses it for the discussion area and many more use it to contribute reviews of both Club Sites and CL's. A far fewer number use the Story section but don't seem to use the discussion area. At the end of the day it is a resource for members to make of it what they wish. I don't know about anyone else but even having been a member for 35 years I am always learning new things on here. Hopefully I can repay that by helping people with some of my knowledge.

I belong to quite a few other (free) forums and my feeling is that many of them are now poorly used compared to a few years ago. Even the mighty UKCampsites is down to a couple of pages of new posts a day when it used to be between 6 and 10. Some will say that it is the time of year which might be one part of the puzzle. I am of the view, which is backed up by people who run other forums that more and more people are turning to Facebook Groups. I do use Facebook but I don't find the various groups particularly good as interesting posts are often drowned out by the social element of posting. 

It would be interesting to know if people felt that if Club Together were to be improved would more people use it or is it a case that this type of internet communication is going the way of e-mail discussion groups or usenet?

David

Over the years I've been involved in other non vanning web sites, mostly family history, there was a rush to those sites when they first started now they've diverted to other forms of social media. I realise FB is popular but won't be joining it, reading one of their co-founders comments on the manipulation of users I think even he now regrets how much time people spend on line, especially younger people. So how this forum evolves is not important to me, I've enjoyed the access and it's been useful, sometimes annoying, sometimes entertaining, but not a bad mix. 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

I think brue has summed it up well.

I've learnt a lot on here reading posts about subjects I didn't even know I might need to know. Donald Rumsfell unknown unknowns 😉.

I've looked at the clubs fb page. LOADS of cknowledgement  from staff. BUT NOTHING easy to read on a subject such as this forum. One thing I have learnt is that there is no single way of enjoying our hobby. I've found it a great source of hints and tips too.

We were asked for our thoughts leading up to the launch of this new forum and nearly all requests for enhancements were ignored so, whilst they may actually know what we think through our posts they do not by and large do anything about them.

With regard to the Forum itself then I find it interesting at times, childish at other times, informative and misinformed but I do get something out of it. I have made friends through it and found my caravanning experience a better one because of it. 

You can keep Faceache and Twitter is well named.

i think tintent115 has a very good point quote

Quote And it has to be said that there is a quite small core of people who post regularly, and I probably know their opinion on most things already....unquote

this forum is occupied by a small core of people if you consider the membership numbers.

However, as I am going to take my first venture abroad (Spain) April 2018, i have to say i have gleaned a lot of very valuable information from items such as Johns blog. It is a pity the club is not more proactive is addressing some of the views expressed by members, all their efforts seem to go into replying to users on FB, hence a great deal of frustration cascades from some of the discussions, which gives the impression that we are all gumpy old men.  

 

 

 

At first our forum use was exclusively with the CC and the overseas section. I have noticed that the same it true there, it is very quiet, and looking at this forum, UKCS and CT they all seem to be quiet.
One spin off for me is that I have started to look at, and respond to, other threads beside overseas but that remains my first port of call.

As for ideas and why its so quiet one issue for me is the difficulty of having a 'conversation' in a posting.
Recently someone posted asking about a filling station near to Rouen and were departing from Calais-now if in the pub chatting my first thought, and response, would be why did he need fuel so soon after leaving Calais?
Then the info, if I had any would be happily given BUT I did not respond as it often seems that asking that sort of question may not be the thing to do on forums where anything other than an explicit response with information that the OP finds acceptable gets short shrift.

I have friends both internet and met in person gained from this site and would be sorry to see it go

Same for me too David. It's also helped me to find some grand sites which we would never have considered visiting. Don't do the CC's FB.