FerrariChat.com Community Improvement Plan...

First and foremost, I appreciate the time and effort that Rob puts in. I think we all do. I am more than willing to pay for all this.

I support a lifetime or extended time membership. My finances are not exactly constant month to month. Some months I have more money for extras, some not so much. It is easier for me to pay in lump sums than every month. That way if I am a little lean one month it will not affect my membership.

I fully support more private message storage room for subscribers. I have only been a member here ~ a month and already I have a considerable amount of them stored and will delete them when it causes a problem. The general feeling, as best as I can tell, seems to be that people want something more for their fee, which is reasonable. Although, I also support a lessening of privileges for free users, if necessary. As far as more for their money, I am thinking more private message space, a private subscribers only area, sponsor discounts (which are currently available to all), apparel discounts, and the like.

As far as not wanting to disclose personal information, I respect that. I choose to disclose my name and location for various reasons. It gives me a sense of belonging when someone refers to me by my name; it gives me the feeling that they know me. I disclose my location so that those near me can contact me for regional things. If there is an F Chat get together, a Ferrari of interest, etc.

Someone said that only those with verifiable identification should be allowed to subscribe and I support that… in a way. I support full disclosure of pertinent information to the admin and moderators. (i.e. your name, birth date, place of residence and SN of Ferrari [if you wish to be known as an owner.]) Keep in mind that most of this stuff is going to have to be disclosed for billing.

As far as trolls and flame wars driving off people, they will come back. I have been reading posts here for a while (a year, two years… I forget). I was referred here by someone that, to the best of my knowledge, is generally respected by those who know him. He kept saying that Ferrari Chat is a great resource. When I first checked this place out, it was the pits. It was not a place that I ever thought I would want to be associated with. A while later, I checked back, due to the insistence of the same guy. Things were much better. Ferrari Chat has its highs and lows.

I fully support the ignore function, though I hope that no one uses it on me. I also support banning trolls. We just have to counteract those who ruin Ferrari Chat. We have to keep encouraging those that are discouraged. If I had not been encouraged to check back, I would have missed out on a lot of good stuff.

 

Everything you say there is valid, Rob... don't mean to negate any of it. But I want to give a different answer to the objection, "But you will lose people if you charge a fee."

Yes, we will lose some people... a bunch of people we WANT to lose and some we don't want to lose... but we'll also GAIN some people that we really want to gain. Why? Because if the ratio of quality posts goes up... if the noise level goes down... then Fchat will remain tolerable to some of the most valuable Ferraristi out there. As long as you can sign up and post for free, banning has zero value (actually negative value) and moderation is tons of work for limited effect.

Even as a Fchat-addict, I can't really push certain people to join... I'm too embarrassed of about 1/3 of the posts these days... too many of the threads degenerate into the same small set of topics:

• Lambo vs. Ferrari
• 360 vs. Gallardo
• Is Allan a troll/asset/ass#0le?
• Is Mako a troll/asset/ass#0le?
• Who's full of $#it in their pricing of Ferraris?

At this point, we've all heard all we want to hear on those topics for the rest of our lives... except for those few here who find sport in debating it over and over. And those "sportsmen" will DESTROY Fchat... 50 such sportsmen can so saturate most every thread with noise that none of the rest of us will be able to tolerate it... and we'll move on. As they do, more and more questions will go unanswered... and more people will move on. Many a successful forum has died that way.

To others' points on who is or is not a troll... let me define it clearly: a troll is somebody who knowingly posts something to a thread that will cause the thread to degenerate into an argument that does not further the real intent of the thread. Some people accidentally make such a post... but then they learn from that mistake and do not repeat it (or rarely repeat it). Making a mistake does not make you a troll... knowingly doing it over and over makes you a troll. And it doesn't matter if what you are saying is the truth... doesn't matter if it is brilliant... if you KNOW by saying it that you are going to trash a thread, then saying it anyway makes you a troll. Period.

Allan and Mako may be great guys... I don't know them; Allan and Mako have both posted some good stuff; I have no issue with their opinions of the inferiority of F-cars; however, it is indisputable fact that they continue to post the same things (right or wrong; true or false) that lead to the same arguments (right or wrong), that consistently lead to the same result: that they take good interesting threads and destroy them, degenerating them into one of the above useless threads. They KNOW that what they are going to post is going to have the above effect... after more than 100 times, they KNOW! And yet they persist in doing it anyway. They KNOWINGLY trash threads. And even if everything they say is absolutely true and tactfully presented, it doesn't matter... it trashes the thread.

Allan and Mako are not alone in the blame... if you ignore the trolls, they have no effect. If you feed the trolls, you are part of the problem. The trolls need to have their hands slapped; and those feeding the trolls need to have their hands slapped. And if they persist, they need to be banned, losing their $15 subscription fee. If there is no fee to post, then there is no real punishment that can be applied. And eventually the trolls will transform Fchat into 98% noise and unanswered questions as most of the valuable Ferraristi will move somewhere else. I've seen it time and time again.

We need subscriptions to post so that we LOSE the least valuable members in order that we can RETAIN and GAIN the most valuable members. So, even if Rob wins the lottery and doesn't need the money at all... I still want him to charge a fee to post.

Rob, as to your plan... looks great, except for the ability to post for free... unless that's just to the "Free" forum.

 

I have been around the site for a while and while I tend not to post as often as I have an idea, I find useful information on anything I ask. I love the idea of paying yearly to support your efforts...I know what goes into building a site and supporting it and it is not free. You deserve something. I DISAGREE with posting priviledges for free members. You are providing a free service by allowing searches for non-members...why should paying members have to work to filter them out if they are not willing to chip in and help you out with this site? I say bring on the bill and allow the trolls to fill your coffers if they want to do so at $15 a pop. (Maybe the extra revenue can be used to create auto banning scripts...)

One other thing that I would like (and may be here, I just haven't found it) is an instant ignore button...

- JMG

 

Rob, How will you collect the $15? Through Paypal or a little white letter in the mail? I prefer the latter if that is an option it will make getting the mail a little more fun everyday. Just curious as I don't have a paypal account or buy anything off the internet really.
Erik

 

Rob -

I encourage you and Dr.Tax to have an off-line discussion about the revenue recognition of F-Chat and some advantages/liabilities of using Paypal.

Where do I send my check? I'm in!


-Daniel

 

It occurred to me as I was working today that Rob said $15 a year not a month. I can swing $1.25 a month... even in my leanest month I could afford that.

 

as a sponsor, I'm all for increasing the quality of the site. The "pay/ no pay" debate has been around message boards since the beginning of time (as I have).

Its always a tough call, its part of the growing pains of the community.

Its your party Rob, you call the shots. I would never own a Ferrari if there weren't a site like this to rely on for help/ information. Its amazing how quickly 'anonymous' posters become extended family,

cheers,

Ed

 

Well,.......when they fill out the profile, they do!

 

Just a few humble suggestions from someone who's been a geek since before it was fashionable..

1) A rating system. This works a little bit better than you may think. If you don't like what a user says, you can give that user a + or - rating. A little meter underneath your signature tells you where you stand. If the ratings get too lopsided the person is automatically banned from the site. You can start the ratings at around 50 total ratings to make sure people aren't banned immediately.

2) Forgo the subscription fees and set up links to your site to make donations via paypal. Even the links can pre-load the user's paypal screen with the dollar amount listed on the link--You're literally 1 click, a password, and another click away from getting donations.

3) Instead of deleting posts from complete idiots (trolls and honda owners ) move the entire thread to a 'trash can' area. It takes the seriousness out of the thread, makes the troll look even worse and gives everyone a little time to vote them out via the rating system.

4) Moderate in moderation.

-Jeff

 

Rob:

I'm a big fan of what you have accomplished. I'm also shocked at how many people are now on this site. I believe bigger is better.

While I would be happy to pay for use, and believe the amount of work the site generates should have compensation, I am afraid that making it a pay site will hurt growth. Even if it is a small amount many will not hassle with it, or forget. (i.e. I just realized I didnt renew my FCA membership! and it took me being remined to realize I was not getting newletters.)

I'm sure you've thought of the pros and cons, but I just wanted to add my .02 cents.

 

Rob:

Just reviewed your previous comments, and I understand the practical reasons why it must cost users.

Just two things: Make it as easy as possible to pay. You know like the naked sites (woops, gave it away).

 

What ever you do, you do. We will see what happens, But you should leave one section open for everyone. Call it freepost or something. Really something to think about.

 

Rob,

Your ideas are great. I have found F-chat very interesting and I intend to use it for another 10 years.

I can see that you intend to charge the users $15 under the new plan.

Just wonder - how do you expect the users to make payment ?
1. by post; or
2. by email ???

If we make payment thru email, how do we know whether the channel is secure ???

 

for the avoidance of doubt, you should NEVER send your financial information via EMAIL.

however, secure web pages are often far more secure than any transaction you do in a retail establishment because the trasnactions are fully automated and no human being ever touches or sees the data - and often it's encrypted or not even stored on the server side.

doody.

 

Good Idea...I'm in. Rob - Just give everyone a "heads up" who may have not seen this thread. Maybe in the same format as the monthly newsletter..

 

Well said!

 

please don't forget us poor old europeans and other non-us which for example do not want to use paypal. make the credit card interface available from the beginning.