Quick not-a-poll:
Quick not-a-poll:
How are we liking the community? Anything we'd like to see added, removed, changed?
Just soliciting a little community feedback, so feel free to speak up. There are certain things I'm not going to budge on (such as the providing an introduction to your posts) but there are many things I will take under consideration.
More moderation? Less moderation? Another section? This is your chance to tell me and the rest of the moderation staff what you'd like to see happen here - how you'd like the community to evolve.
Keep in mind, I can't make people post, so if you have a favorite poster or would like to see more motorcycle riding related posts in general I can't force it in any way, shape or form. If there is someone in particular you think should be removed from the community - aside from myself, of course - contact me in a PM with your reasons.
Here is a picture of my friend Bob for your viewing pleasure.
Comments
Moderators are tough but fair.
People tend to stay more or less on topic.
Not much in the way of nonsense spam.
Plenty of talented photographers and writers.
Maybe a designated gear review section? . .unless there is one that I have just missed.
If anything I feel like maybe some community regional meet-ups are in order at some point.
Trips ,maps,trail reviews. Thank you.
Edit: also perhaps within this proposed section we could also post upcoming track events and race showings. I'm a member of a lot of race groups and honestly, they suck compared to this group, so I'd much rather chop it up here.
I'm guessing like a few other bloggers, I would love to post more of my articles on here but don't because I/ we dont want to upset the apple cart with what might be seen as self promotion.
Maybe a photography and blog post section would help?
Other that those suggestions Jason ON its a great community.
Because this is such a diverse community, it's probably quite a challenge to provide to the majority of the readers something that will interest them.
With that stated, my thoughts echo what Kyong Kim posted just above my post. As long as the majority is fine with it, so am I.
There was a 'local' (it was actually region-wide...) motorcycling forum I used to frequent that folded a couple of years ago, mainly due to the expense of keeping the place running. No, there was not a lot of touring-style content on that forum, but there was a little of every type of motorcycling on that - adventure riding, motocross, road racing...and that was fun!
The best part was a long-running game of "Motorcycle Tag-O-Rama" that forced people to get out and ride. That game covered that state of Arizona - all 114,000 square miles (295,000 sq km) of it.
Never heard of the game? It's described quite nicely here: http://www.examiner.com/article/games-motorcyclists-play-tag-o-rama
The only (slight) change was - as part of the thread, as soon as you posted (claimed) the tag, you had to post the next tag with the next forum post.
Sadly, not sure if this messaging format lends itself to do that easily.
::sigh::
Different types of places had different point values.
Was a lot of fun there... could be fun here.
I love they way the community is run. This is actually the only online community I feel committed to viewing. Others seem to come & go, but I feel invested here.
I second Will Munck's idea about regional meetups. We had discussed a larger meet up somewhere in CO last year, but we dropped it as we became busy. Perhaps let's line up a few regional ones and maybe a nationwide event in time.
Thanks to the moderators for all you're doing.
So, from the 9 comments I'm seeing here, everyone is pretty much happy. Or close enough to happy that I don't have to twist my knickers. Cool.
The one thing I do want to address is "regional" sections.
When I started this community I thought about creating regional sections so people who were close enough could find each other for rides, hanging out or whatever. However, I quickly dismissed the idea as this is a global community. It's not restricted to North America, English speaking, western hemisphere or any other qualifier at all. It's open to all, even people I disagree with (and yes, there are a bunch of you I disagree with :P). For me to create regional sections we'd have to have eight just for N.A., probably a couple for AUS, a bunch for Africa, the Middle East, Far East (from where I'm sitting) and at least a handful for Europe/British Isles. I figured dozens or hundreds of people would be creating regional communities, so I decided to keep this one universal. As you can see off to the left, I have categories for styles of riding, which I think is best for the type of community I was trying to create.
If anyone has input on those styles, please let a brutha know. I'm willing to add, delete, modify, etc. If anyone wants to hit me up privately, that's cool, too. Or, shoot me a Hangouts request. I really wish Google let Communities have Community only video Hangouts. That would be cool. But, as far as I know, they don't.
If anyone wants a post pinned to the top, let me know and why. I don't want everyone thinking their latest and greatest blog post deserves a pin, but if you think your post carries enough weight that it should be pinned to the top, feel free to bring it up with me or one of the other moderators. And by that I mean Michael Dubnik.
Thanks for the feedback guys. I really do appreciate it. Again, I'm always open to criticism, both positive and negative. I want to make this a quality community, not just another community about motorcycle riding and, although I'm adorable, I can't think of everything.
:D
Will Munck, asked for a gear review section. I see no problem with that at all. I'm not sure it will get used that often but the cost is cheap, so unless there's a whole slew of nays I think we can do this.
Russell Snook, asked for a an adventure/dual sport section. To be honest, I thought the "touring" section would cover all such posts, but maybe I'm wrong. Don't laugh, it happens. Maybe we can just rename that one "Adventures and Touring" or some such?
Kyong Kim, asked for a spoiler free race fan section. This one I don't know about. How do we ensure "spoiler free" without severely moderating the section? And who's going to moderate that? Google gave us Communities, but we really do have very little moderating tools here. And would this only constitute international races, or local races as well? What about non-sportbike races, such as drag strips, motorcross, supermoto, Dakar and other such rallies? There's a lot of options there. If you want to brainstorm plans of action, hit me up and we can discuss your idea under the caveat that it doesn't alienate anyone.
+experimental ghost (whom I can't tag, for some reason) asked for self-promotion. To the best of my knowledge, and correct me if I'm wrong, we've never stamped down on self-promotion as long as it doesn't come off as spammy. As long as you're posting within the guidelines - such as introducing us to your content - and it's motorcycle related, it shouldn't be a problem.
Okay, now I think I have everyone covered. Let me know if I missed anything.
+kenneth thompson (whom I also cannot tag. weird.), instead of the game you recommended how about a scavenger hunt type thing?
http://www.fuzzygalore.com/2013/03/the-pace-podcast-2013-equinox-to-equinox-rally/
EDIT: Found the list. Now, to modify it a bit, so we'll have our own version.