If it wasn't a dig at me why mention names?

Are you thinking "credit card" here? If so, it's worth remembering that that's a HECK of a lot more expensive for clubs to process than other payment methods - especially DD (equally "secure")



Yet probably get less, especially in terms of influence.



Assuming it's not because of insurance restrictions, you're right - that's a daft attitude. Fortunately, it's not one I've ever come across.



OTOH, if they did, what incentive to join?

A dichotomy I've been wrestling with from the CCC angle. The forum tools we've been using don't allow easy management of access into "non-members" and "members" - so we took the decision to regard the forum as one of the benefits of membership. However, you're right - giving some access will help to attract new members. I'm in the middle of rebuilding the website at the moment which will allow more/easier granularity. How, exactly, that'll pan out is another question.

Strange view of not making a personal attack.

" Oh and Louise....when the insurance man called me.. "

Norman

This is personal. You have a person on this thread slagging off the club, people within it who give their time for nowt, and people saying they can't be arsed with this.

Louise is known by all there on the thread and has done her time on the committee I used her and an example of how the club helped her when her beloved (Masterclass winning) 2CV got stuffed.

The point I was making was if Louise hadn't been a member of the club should I have helped? If she'd just been Joan Dear, who'd picked up an old copy of 2CVGB news from her local specialist and had seen the number and phoned up. Since I've had bugger all handover from my predecessor I'm just finding out about the process that we should be following when dealing with these kind of requests.

I'm not sure why you think I was even questioning Louise's membership of the club or even your own, as far as I'm aware you are members. I'm sorry but I do not understand your reaction.

Have to admit, I also thought "why am I bothering?" on reading this thread as well.

*Takes off 2CVGB webmaster's hat*

[Everything from here on is my personal opinion, and does not reflect the views of 2CVGB blah blah blah...].

Why volunteer weeks of my time to work on behalf of a Club no one can see the value in, when you can just spend an hour setting up a web forum that is perceived as offering better value? What value is that? You pay nothing, get to air your opinions unchecked, and might get some tech advice from someone who may or may not know what they're talking about. Fair swap, but that hardly advances the longevity of the cars in the long run, and doesn't really offer much of an offline social experience.

I agree, personally, that the mag can be a bit dull (although many members would - and do - disagree). Why is this? Because it reflects the input from the club's members - of which I am proud to say come from many different age groups and backgrounds and have a wider variety of interests than just pimping-up their cars and thrashing them round a field. The mag is put together by volunteers, and takes over 70 hours per month to edit and produce. We do not spend money on creating original editorial content - the mag relies on members to contribute. It's a shame that, in general, our younger members - many of whom have had a 2CVGBing childhood - don't often contribute any of the content they would themselves find 'interesting'. But that's the nature of volunteering, I guess - most people *don't*.

Sam - yes, please! Do volunteer to take over the Editorship (or anyone else so inclined). Your club needs YOU!

My problem as 2CVGB webmaster is that, like every other web forum owner, our site is subject to the laws of the land. Personally, I'd much rather we could have a forum where people were free to express their *subjective* opinions about 2CV-related businesses and other club members as if they were a matter of fact, without fear of reprisal. It would make for more interesting reading, that's for sure! However, under the law, the Club - not just the individual poster - could be held liable* under our weasily-worded libel laws, or be held accountable for the quality of the technical advice published.

That's why I think it's great that other forums such as this exist, where the site owners are willing to take more risks than 2CVGB is in relation to the user-generated content published, without so much as the basic legal ar*e-covering measures in place. Enjoy the freedom you have here, but please don't confuse that with the same value afforded to the UK 2CVing community (members or not!) due to the existence of 2CVGB.

Anyway, it is fair to say that 2CVGB membership is declining - some, I'm sure, due to the decreasing number of 2CV owners out there, but this forum is probably having a detrimental impact as well - particularly so when it comes to younger (ex-)members.

I'll end with a plea: if you are a 2CVGB member, PLEASE volunteer a bit of your time to help make the club more relevant to your peers. Send in some 'interesting' content for the mag; give us your ideas about how we can provide 'better value' for you. You certainly don't have to convince 2CVGB that it needs to do more to attract and retain members (and to increase the perceived value for everyone); you just have to tell us how we might effectively go about it. We need more qualitative feedback than just 'the mag's not interesting', though, please!

Whether we acknowledge it or not, the fact that ~2,000 2CV owners choose to chip in £25/year for 2CVGB membership benefits us ALL - every single person on this forum included. I don't begrudge you all my 6.5p per day, but I do wish more of you would work to affect some unquestionably much-needed change from within, rather than just casting stones from without.

Right, that's my Hap'o'rth!

Hope to see in a field somewhere / Kind regards,
Violetlobster

* http://www.website-law.co.uk/blog/category/defamation/

If it's new/young people you want to write articles for then all you have to do is ask, but then the write ups my dad has sent in have never been shown... Pm me and tell me what you want me to write about

I actually looked last night if I could re join 2CV GB online, had they had a pay by Paypal or some such option I would have renewed my membership. They don't, I didn't I'm not sure I still even own a cheque book.




You're absolutely right, forums don't even publish accounts, unlike a well run club. But it was never about the £25 it is about the perception of whether there is £25 worth of amusement to be had.




As you say it is a dichotomy, forums have all sorts of interesting complications. The Volvo Owner's club forum was temporarily shut following a particularly active bout of negativity directed at a business and threats of legal action. Interestingly the eventual solution was to open the forum to all comers. Clubs have to do 2 things, attract new members and retain their existing ones. Fail to do that and the club will ultimately fail.

Not sure how hard you looked...

http://www.2cvgb.co.uk/index.php?page=Join%202cvgb




As it happens, I had a chat with the chairman of the VOC about that, shortly after it all happened. As ever, the full true story was Not Quite As It Appeared. IIRC, basically, the luddite elements within the club decided this new-fangled interweb thing was all too much like "Not the done thing, old boy", so it was shuttered from the inside. The legal threats from a trader who had been impugned (with, again IIRC, factual statements about bad goods/service, which a lot of other people then replied to with "Yes, that's been my experience too") were merely a convenient excuse, as they were removed as soon as a complaint was made.

Fortunately, since the 2cv world doesn't have any traders renowned for abysmal quality goods, terrible service, and the issuing of baseless legal threats if anybody says as much, it's so very unlikely to happen here.

Eh? What? Oh.

I’ve only been into A-Series for a few years and have only been to one proper meeting – in Winchester. I find I2CVF to be a really good source of top-tips, technical help and a bit of a laugh…..2CVGB website however, is really dull and I find if I ever post on there – it’s generally ignored. I’m guessing because I’m not known or I don’t have the original engine in my car – sorry, but I actually find it quite purist / elitist. The magazine makes for good toilet reading – and in fact all my back copies are crinkled up from spending at least a month in the bathroom!!!! BUT I can’t crititise it as I’ve never sent anything in….

I reckon some of this ‘issue’ comes down to the demographic of A Series ownership – you seem to have a split between the more ‘mature’ owners, the purists, who tend to have more money and time and then you have the younger, more carefree types who rip round in their modified cars, not giving so much of a toss about the particular shade of this or the shininess of that…..

They do. Simply click the 'Renew Membership' link in the left-hand site navigation panel and you'll get straight to the shopping cart.

http://www.2cvgb.co.uk/index.php?page=Renew%20membership