Club For The Elite?

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EV2Go
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Club For The Elite?

Post by EV2Go »

Let me just put it out there, I am extremely disappointed with the attitude and thinking of some of the forum members...

Once upon a time this website was solely about electric vehicles for enthusiasts and even those people with a starting interest in EVs. With everyone entitled to an equal voice and opinion, where expert and novice alike you were treated with and given equal consideration, and we all played happily together. In recent years this forum seems to be turning into a bit of a boys club where the elite AEVA financial members seem to be the only ones that matter.

This attitude of self importance started with a separate members only area. There is absolutely zero justifiable reasons for a separate members only area where those that pay membership can post (used to also be read). There is a category under the normal forum section to say anything you want to say, and the only reason to have a separate hidden members (now visible) area is to stroke egos, and complain about the non paying plebs.

Well guess what self important paying members (and remember this is only to the few elitists, not all paying members) this website doesn't exist without me the non paying member and others like me. You see since 2008 I have made over 2000 posts (now granted many of them were uninformed crap) but without my content and others like me forums close. It's that simple, you can pat yourself on the back for paying to keep the website open, but what use is a website with no content?

Granted there are LOTS of posts from paying members, but subtract the posts of the non paying members (and the paying members that weren't paying at the time of their posts) and there will be a massive dent in the post count, you see some people simply don't want to be part of a group or an association, but we do want to discuss electric vehicles, or whatever the subject may be.

This is one of the few public forums that actively tries to separate the haves from the have nots. Have a look at the admin list, how many non paying members on there? Most forums choose admins based on the post count / years / commitment to the forum, not whether you are a paying member or not, but how can you have a non paying admin when you have secret squirrel sections?

When it is all said and done it doesn't matter if you're a paying member or not, the value of your post is in the content, and without post volume and decent content websites die, it's that simple. I would wager that more websites die from lack of new useful content than ever die from not being able to afford the hosting fees.

Time to separate your thinking of paying members and the whole being part of the "organisation" mentality, and get this website back to the level playing field this great site once was, where EVs are the topic at hand, and not organisational politics.
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jonescg
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by jonescg »

We've covered this before. No-one I know feels that there is any such attitudes, and the financial member status thing is a relic. That 'hidden' section of the forum was invisible to me too - and I've been a member of the AEVA for 7 years. The only thing that was restricted to financial members was the ability to post and read the For Sale section, and that was largely done to eliminate spammers.

The fact that the financial members section is now visible should surely indicate to you that we don't really care about financial membership in this forum; you can read it now and you can see you weren't missing out on anything. You make it sound like we're a bunch of Stonecutters at a long gothic table...

Welcome to the AEVA forum - you don't need to be a member to learn about EVs. But the AEVA is only able to do what it does right around the country (including host this forum) thanks to the contributions our ~450 financial members.
AEVA National President, returning WA branch chair.
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weber
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by weber »

Thanks Chris. You beat me to it.

EV2Go, we greatly value your input, but you've definitely got the wrong end of the stick here. If you looked carefully you would have seen that there have been a total of 4 posts to that area in the past 2 years. We keep this content for its historical value. We will now hide it again, just to avoid wasting time on discussions like this in future.

But I have to say: It would be perfectly reasonable for an association that depends on paid memberships to provide a forum in the first place, to have a private area to discuss association business.
One of the fathers of MeXy the electric MX-5, along with Coulomb and Newton (Jeff Owen).
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EV2Go
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by EV2Go »

jonescg wrote: Thu, 03 Aug 2017, 09:30 We've covered this before. No-one I know feels that there is any such attitudes,
I for one feel this way so you do someone. If there was no such attitude then why does the Members Chat Room still even exist? Why isn't the content moved to the relevant sections and the restrictions removed?

I could understand if the admins had a hidden section to discuss administrative matters, but there is no reason for a restricted Members Chat Room other than to create an air of exclusion, which is not the spirit in which the website was formed. Have a hidden members financial area if that rocks your boat, it's not unreasonable, most browsing members won't be interested in the finances of the club, but I fail to see the point of previously hiding what is mainly discussion about EV events unless stopping people from attending EV events is your goal.

Anything that causes division does not serve the good of the whole. Are the members of the AEVA only members to be recognised and held on high by having their names up in lights, or are they on this forum to exchange information with others?

Why is it necessary to bold the names of members to distinguish them from the ordinary folk when it comes at the cost of making the website harder to read? Other websites get away with making Admins plain green, mods plain red, and everyone else plain blue, why is there a need to attempt to display a class system here by bolding everyone but the common folk?
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Chuq
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by Chuq »

jonescg wrote: Thu, 03 Aug 2017, 09:30 You make it sound like we're a bunch of Stonecutters at a long gothic table...
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by jonescg »

We're through the looking glass people...
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poprock
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by poprock »

Those damn Stonecutters also keep the Metric System out of America. A good episode and I see the connection to EV2Go's thinking. When I was able to log on to DIYEV, there was the occasional elitist post, but in general a balanced forum. Perhaps the only reason for separating anything would be on a grading of level of understanding and ability. I know we beginners can be a pest at times, but even stupid questions can be used as a teaching tool. All said and done, without forums like this a lot more Googling would be needed, and I for one am grateful for the free information and advice.
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by reecho »

"it's not a secret society....It's a society of secrets"....
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Re: Club For The Elite?

Post by jpcw »

I've been away for a long time but when I was last on this was a really great place to come for help and advice on a lot of things not just EV's. Now I have a little bit more time in my life I'm back and I see some of the same old people are still here so hoping nothing much has really changes. Ev2Go, give it more of a go and the more you put in the more you will drag out of others. I found that the more important aspect was peoples willingness to give back than whether they are payers or not. Just happens that a lot of the people with enough time and the willingness to get involved are also the ones who also see the value in paying.
But that's not always the case. I had over 150 posts before I "left" and I never paid :)
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” Alan Kay 1971
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