The lifespan of a Forum

I think there are generally fewer folk using forums and more people using the dedicated interest sections on Facebook.  However, although we are not really seeing any substantial improvements to the software of this forum, I don't see the it disappearing in the foreseeable future.  The Club still see it as another resource for member which does have it's value.

David 

I was a reasonably early user of this CT forum, but to all intents and purposes abandoned it after the disastrous (IMHO) revamp last year.

I still look in about once a week, sometimes less, in the hope that It would improve, but in truth it hasn't very much. Its still slow, and clunky, has no PM facility and really not user friendly.

Compared to the forum that I migrated too it is a poor shadow.  I take no pleasure in saying that because I have been a caravan club member since 1979, although I had a short break in the early 80's

My move away from CT, co-insided with an abandonment of the use of Club sites, which in comparison with other providers had just got too expensive.  I remain a member solely in order to retain access to the CL network.

TF

I think everyone accepts that this forum is not the best in terms of operational use. It seems also true that there seems no appetite from the Club to spend the money on putting right all the issues that exist beyond maintaining a forum that works but only in basic mode. That could be because now they have the social media up and running and feel there is no need to put the time and effort into addressing all the issues. It could be that they realise that Club Together as a forum is beyond worthwhile redemption. It is a long shot but perhaps they are looking at alternatives having seen how difficult it is to run an in house designed forum and the demands it makes on valuable Club IT resources? At the end of the day, even without all the bells and whistles, it still works as a basic message forum. You can ask a question and get a response without much difficulty. There will always be the die hards who are here everyday (perhaps I am one of them!!!) but it is also available for those that want to come along once in a while to ask a question.

David

It's a good job there are a few diehards like yourself around David, (and a few other folks), because I don't think HQ staff give the forum as much time or effort as a lot of forum users would like. A lot of the grumbles and misinformation that can lead to the occasional closure of threads wouldn't happen if the correct information from HQ was given in early response to some queries. I am not intending this as any kind of complaint about HQ staff in particular, far from it, as I have no idea of their roles or responsibilities and how much time is dedicated to dealing with issues and queries on here, but I do think it would keep folks posting more if they knew a definitive answer would be given, rather than member speculations sometimes. Just an observation.

Things would be much improved if the club put some of the same effort into sorting this forum now as they did back in 2012-13. It’s no wonder people drift away. What a waste of a potentially good resource!

I have to agree that this forum is dying a slow death and in the years I have been a member there has been a considerable decline in contributors. This has accelerated since the supposed improvements were made and CAMC decided to commit greater resources to Facebook.

However I do believe that because a small number of members are still regular contributors unless the powers that be decide to pull the plug it may survive for a few more years hopefully.

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

CAravan Talk does have better software. However I prefer this site as I find it easier to relate with the posters. (Is it an age thing David  )

I know what you mean about Caravan Talk as the new format whilst looking a bit more modern doesn't seem as user friendly as the previous version. They are, of course, in the hands of the software developers with little influence I imagine and for all we know that might have been a deciding faction on why the Club decided the route they did. I suspect the new version of Caravan Talk is still work in progress and I wouldn't be surprised that we see more improvements as time goes by. Just in case people feel we are going a bit off topic talking about another forum perhaps worth saying that was the model that many of us wanted the Club to follow. It would be interesting to hear from Bugs viz a viz control of new versions of software and how much room there is to shape it into what you want?

David

There are many forum software packages available, they range in sophistication as well as price, some being free. They can all be customised, again some more so than others. The latest version of Caravan Talk is not, in my opinion a very good example of best practice.

In my view there is no excuse for this organisation failing to use a tried and tested third-party package instead of the rubbish that we have to put up with. Forum software can be isolated from the main software package without detriment to it's operation in a way that would be invisible to members.

Unfortunately the management do not seem interested either through ignorance or intent.