Thumper Club Forum
Club House => Chatter => Topic started by: guest7 on June 08, 2010, 08:48:29 PM
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I've had a fairly hellish year between the tax man and various other things. However I'm heading back to sanity, albeit at the cost of a massively increased workload.
I left Uttoxeter last year revitalised and full of plans to get the club back on track. I won't go into details of what happened next but I ended up deeply fed up with the business of being the chairman. I love the club, but I don't love the admin and I don't enjoy the hassles.
I'm happy to get back to producing newsletters (electronic and/or paper) and posting them out. I'm also happy to deal with club stands, merchandising and marketing materials. However I am not happy running the club and I in fact haven't done so for a while now.
Basically I am useless at anything that involves admin, lists and money. We have a fantastic treasurer at the minute so that side is covered, but the club needs people with time and talent to do the paperwork and keep things neat.
If this means that I am no longer the chairman then that's fine, whatever it takes to get the club up and running again is what's needed and as most club members would agree I am not the bloke who can be trusted to do the paperwork.
This isn't a resignation, it's a request for other club members to step in and take over after 11 years of my dictatorship. I don't really want to be too involved in any discussion about club direction because I think my poor performance precludes it.
Damn this is hard. I started this club from a desk in a boring software company and it ran away from me. Within a couple of years we had fantastic annual rallies, an amazing website (thank you so much Steve) and people ringing me from around the world asking to join. And now I feel that I have fucked a lot of that up. Me continuing in any sort of administrative role will kill this club stone dead.
This doesn't affect Uttoxeter or any other current club business, but once I made my decision it needed to be said.
Let me say here that I am deeply sorry I let things get this bad and I would especially like to apologise to Steve H, Steve D, Boyd, Colin Hilliard and Bob Cannon who have all put in fantastic efforts to organise shows and rallies and all the good stuff. Of course this apology also applies to all the old faces who have made the last decade so much fun.
I'm sad now :'(
GC
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Graham
I havent known you long but in that time i do realise you have put effort in far beyond the call of duty. I can understand how you feel and I think most other like minded folk on here do also. Just keep on doing what you feel comfortable and sod the rest..lol!
Best Regards
Ian :)
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You'll always be the Chairman, Graham, whether or not you run the club. Well done for sticking at it so long.
I had seven years running an internet bike forum so I have a bit of an idea how you feel. Neither Ian nor myself have been with the club very long so we don't know how good it used to be, but in my opinion it's not bad now!
As Ian says, you've earned the right to do as much or as little as you like for this club now, and I don't think anyone should have a problem with that.
All the best, chin up and see you in Uttoxeter.
Trevor
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I've been a hanger-on for 6 years, 7 years? or something and I think it has improved in a lot of ways. I find this forum to be excellent even if it is camping stoves that are being talked about. I'm a bit of a lay member (sounds like there should be joke in there) as my rally attendance is pathetic, but I am still a member and Graham is still the chairman. The club continues, it is good. I have absolutely no complaints on the way the chairman has run things; we thump on and try not to mention weather girls. What I am trying to say, albeit very badly, is dont panic as nobody is putting up a motion of no confidence in you.
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Nice of you to say so, but the simple fact is that the club used to be run better than it is now. There's little to no chance of me being able to improve on matters so we need different people to step in.
I know that last year some members put their names forward for tasks such as keeping the membership lists. These offers weren't taken up through lack of interest, but rather my crippling inability to delegate.
GC
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Don't take it to heart Graham, we all must realise as we grow older our lives change with kids and family work and interests. Life cycles (scuse pun) like a sine wave and we all go up and down not necessarily landing ,or for that matter wanting to land where we left off.
You have done an excellent job and over the years I have seen many members come and go and there was always continuity of values and interests for all.
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Aye GC,
I've said my bit before and don't think I need to repeat myself.
Agree with other respondents so far and like Kurt's sine wave analysis, reduce the amplitude and frequency where possible, but for Gauld's sake don't flat line it! ;) That is very boring. ;D
Thanks for the ignition, but you don't have to keep working the bellows, that's why a blacksmith has an apprentice!
Toodle pip, Bill.
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Hi GC
I like the idea of a sine wave analysis. Life moves on for better for worse, but we develop into the person we are.
I look at my life like a book, with different chapters. As a kid, then teenager/ youth, getting married having kids, paying for kids as they leave (that's where I am now)etc. None of it I regret now, it has made me the person I am. I've made mistakes along the way who hasn't.
Things change, nothing stays the same, and we must adapt with it. In biking terms if we didn't move on I would still be lusting after a fizzy like my mate had when I was 15, I can remember it as clear as it was yesterday riding it from our house, in hot bright sunshine, down the lane. Mind you I should have been revising for 'O' levels.
What I am trying to say GC is that the past can hold us back from doing things in the future. I for one have found your chairmanship of the club brilliant I do not like formal clubs, which this isn't, I like the way all ideas can be put forward and all types of rider/motorcyclist is accepted. The forum has been the main link with the members many of which do not attend rallies and never will.
Just being able to create and keep the club running for this length of time takes commitment. I know many others have played there part and indeed are still doing so and I am thankful that they do.
GC if you feel like taking a back seat feel free I for one will be sorry if you do but Family and work should always come first. I too found myself in a dire financial mess which for the last 21/2 years I have been working out of, and may need to plough on with long hours for another couple of years. I understand that sometimes we can get a bit down about the situation, but in the end we get through it. When things get bad I only have to look at others who are worse of in the world and realise how lucky I really am.
In no way do I feel you have let me or the club down in anyway. If you eventually choose to stay chairman I would be happy. If not I hope you intend to play an active role in the clubs future.
Sorry about the ramble
Beeman
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Thanks for that, I am happy continuing in the role of chairman, but we need people to process the memberships, etc. If the role of chairman can be hived off from the admin side of the club then that's fine, but if not then I will gladly step back to let someone else do the good work.
There's no danger of me vanishing from the forum and I still intend getting to as many club events as time will allow.
GC
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In no way do I feel you have let me or the club down in anyway. If you eventually choose to stay chairman I would be happy. If not I hope you intend to play an active role in the clubs future.
I'm 100% with Beeman, you've done a great job in all the time that I've been a member. Being involved with a club is hard work, I know very well how much it can intrude on your family life and eat up your free time. You've done a great job starting one the best bike club's I've been a member of - and thats more than a few - but times change and at the end of the day family and work have to come first.
The thing we need to do now is decide what to do next? I think a lot of the members like the informal feel of the club, me amongst them. What posts do we NEED to have? Steve H is doing a fantastic job with the website. The informal get togethers seem to sort of organise themselves - do we need a 'rally' co-ordinator? At the moment we aren't charging membership - does this need to change? If not do we need a membership secretary? If we want a newsletter/magazine I'll hold my hand up.
We are basically on online club and this seems to work very well. Personally I think we should keep the 'official' side of the club to a minimum.
OK Thumpers over to you - discuss.
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Fellow Singletons
I have to agree with all the folk before me. Over the nearly ten years I've been involved with the club there have been lots of very good times and equally some really pi**y low times, but thankfully the former FAR FAR outweigh the latter. For what its worth I think it may just be a case of letting the club continue to be what it has become - a loose knit interest group, that doesn't pay any fees, have any newsletters, who meet occasionally, and don't take things too seriously. Last year I was fairly vocal in wanting to oust GC, or at least get him to stop sitting on the fence, in order to turn the club around membership/rally wise. One year older, and possibly a little wiser, I realise that all the background politicing was not what the club is really about, and to paraphrase the Bennets advert "It should be mostly about the bikes!". After all we are all adults and can, as many have over the years, vote with our feet and take our minority interest where we please. If the club needs finance, to pay for the web site etc., don't bother tail chasing for membership and just ask for donations. Most folk on here seem(ed) more that willing to support the club in the past and I can't imagine they won't in the future.
I can hear the wood straining on my soapbox so I think it's time to................aaaaah!
Hopefully see some of you at Uttoxeter (or the MonoTreffen). You'll recognise our Uttoxeter stand by all shiny single cylinder motorcycles (not in most cases), cardboard, gaffer tape and coffee machine.
Cheers
Boyd
PS My type of wave is not sine but asystole!
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Boyd posted an interesting point there about money and donations to the club. How is this website funded? Does Steve H pay for out of his pocket money?
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After all we are all adults
Speak fer yussel matey.....lifelong big kid 'ere.
OK...seriously for a moment.....
I seem to remember I volunteered (along with others) to take up some part of running the club....and as I too am fairly cr4p with money....I'd be more than happy to run the membership list.
I certainly agree with everyone that you GC should be Chairman....and get shot of all the other cr4p thats bu55ering you up right now.
I have to disagree with Boyd (even if he is bigger than me) I feel there should be a membership fee, sufficient to cover the overheads of running this most excellent website (fine work SteveH), cover the cost of production and distribution of a newsletter, maintain the membership list and top up the kitty a bit.
I'm not saying that we should have committee meetings and all that boring stuff, but think that a formal membership policy is a starting point for moving forward.
OK, thats my ha'porth, and thanks to you GC for keeping the show (almost & most of the time) on the road :)
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I like this Club. It does what I want, good company being the main item. Even getting to trallie4s is a pain in the a**e becasue of my bosses idea of shiftwork and work-life balance (whoops, nearly turned into a rant there).
I'm not sure I need a newsletter though, the website does it for me and I would be happy to pay towards its upkeep.
Richard
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Aye, to website. ;D
Aye, to donation for website. ;D
Nae, to 'Rag', more minced trees/china clay to clutter up the house. [I am thinking of recycling all old mags!] :o
Note to 'Mother', "How's your knee?" Falling off soapboxes won't do the cruciate bit any good! As for your 'asystole'! ::) Does Jeyes 'medicated' relieve the condition or skite off? :-\ ;)
Ciao, Bill.
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Long sigh..........How many times have we done this now ?.
Newsletter: I'm with Bill, we can publish on the site and if you want to waste paper then print it yourself. Its also expensive.
Membership fees: We've done this one to death see THIS (http://www.thumperclub.com/smf/index.php?topic=3519.msg22552#msg22552)
Chairmanship: My feeling is the club needs the following from a chairman
a) A likeable Figure head who is capable of talking bollox.
b) Capable of coordinating a TEAM, whilst giving the members the freedom to make their own decisions.
c) Capable of delegating
d) Follows through and finishes things they have committed to.
Graham as I see it a) is a no-brainer. You are capable of b) and c) but you will really need to let go of things and trust people. As for d) you don't need me to tell you the answer to that.
Possibly not a popular opinion, but its not the first time and I doubt the last.
Steve
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I am with Steve H.
This is blatant attention seeking GC..now get a grip and get on with it.
Now there, that was my pastoral response - shall I give you my non-pastoral response?
Steffan
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I'd say that it's actually a cry to step back into the shadows...
Anyway, without going into dull details, the club needs a certain amount of money per year to keep things running smoothly, The only reason we have been ticking along is because we had healthy funds in the bank and we haven't been spending anything on newsletters. How do other internet-based clubs raise funds? What benefit do they offer for paid membership?
If we were to charge around £5 a year, what would members expect to get for that?
Also, the one task that really needs sorting is to take care of the membership lists. Pat did a very good job at this, but felt he couldn't continue. The job entails keeping the membership list up to date, posting out club cards and MAG cards, etc. Anyone? please...
GC
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I've offered before, I'll offer again. I'm happy to run the merchandise side of things, Tshirts etc. This will generate income for the club and will go towards the running of the website.
Rob.
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If we were to charge around £5 a year, what would members expect to get for that?
In perspective that's 10p a week which is very little. I'd expect the chat area to be in someway locked to keep out spammers and people who hadn't paid (obviously with a decent trial period for new members FOC etc.). A quarterly PDF download newsletter type thing would be nice but not really a must if we had a web area for "articles". If we can include MAG insurance so it's safe to have the odd rally, even better.
The other internet "clubs" I know work as follows:
GS club (or ******s to other ex-members): Pay to unlock the site, articles posted as and when, meets run as a business.
HUBB: Website free, articles posted as and when, meets run as "advertising" events for the expedition organisation side. "Tip jar" for anyone who feels they've got out more than they've put in.
ADVrider: Website free, articles as and when, meets run ad hoc by members, the whole lot supported by a photo sharing website owner.
Given our own specialist style and interest, I'd say 10p a week would represent very good value without preventing any expansion of numbers.
Andy
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I have been trying to think of ways in which we can restrict access to the forum based upon membership, but still attract new membership by allowing non-members to view the forum and get a feel for what the club is about.
Just to be clear we havent decided to restrict access or re-instate memberships I am just looking at options
Option 1: Non-members can view all boards within the forum but cannot post untill they have a paid membership. (Can be done with an existing mod)
Option 2: Non-members can view all boards within the forum and are allowed to post in the 'Chatter' board up to a maximum number of posts, after which they have to be a member. (Needs some coding effort on my part)
Option 3: Non-members can neither post or read the forum. This doesnt encourage new members as they cant see what the club is about. (Easy to implement)
Anyone have an opinion ?.
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Personally I'd say options 1 or 2. I'm erring towards option 1.
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As a relative newcomer, can I proffer an opinion?
I've been member of another internet based bike club before, who had a free to use main section of the forum, and a 'pay to enter' members section. I was a member for two years I think, but found that the members section didn't contain anything of great merit, and of the other sections I found that I was offering technical advice etc in them to newbies and had no problem with that, but felt that I was giving out more than I was getting back if you follow? I don't think it worked as a formula, unless you really wanted to be part of the cliche.
I see nothing wrong with the club having a membership fee of £5 (purely as that's the figure being bandied around), but I think to restrict a section of this site will hamper the growth of the club.
As a technical aside, unless you have permission for manuals and technical literature to be shared, then charging to access them would land you in pretty hot water I should imagine.
If you want the Fee to give you something, then simply view it as being towards the upkeep of this as a resource.
Just my thoughts.
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Shedbrewed,
So to summarise your response. No restrictions placed on non-members and rely on peoples goodwill to buy membership on the basis it keeps the club running.
Club events should really be restricted to club members so it might be worth restricting access to this, what do you think ?
Steve
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Shedbrewed,
So to summarise your response. No restrictions placed on non-members and rely on peoples goodwill to buy membership on the basis it keeps the club running.
Yup, if something is worth it, people will pay for it.
Club events should really be restricted to club members so it might be worth restricting access to this, what do you think ?
Steve
If it is a 'Club' event and not a 'Forum' event then it would be restricted access. You only need to put 'Thumper Club members only' in a topic title to get the message across.
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A quarterly PDF download newsletter type thing would be nice but not really a must if we had a web area for "articles".
Andy
Provided that we agree to an online only format so I don't have to spend ages chasing printers and stamping and posting, I'll do a Quarterly Newsletter.
(possibly a Magazine later depending on how it goes).
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I also use Forum which runs out of the USA for the Honda Silverwing.
I believe this is totaly free I'll ask the administrator and get back,
I'm back, this is the one from the USA
http://www.forumotion.com/
http://www.silverwing600.com/
the Perth branch of the Ulysses Club uses a similar system.
http://ulysses-wa.info/
These seem to work well and Ulysses one has been active for 5 years+
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Steve,
personally I think that effectively the forum is the club. Make em pay to post and pay to rally other events can be organised ad hoc by mutual agreement. eg: someone fancies camping in north Wales, posts dates people come as and when. Annual rally is an official "club" event therefore attendees pay maybe a members and non-members rate.
Steffan
Fiver a year is OK by me.
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Just for the purpose of clarity I am doing some chatting off-forum about this and I will report back when I have the relevant figures etc.
Nothing sneaky, just too dull for airing.
GC
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A quarterly PDF download newsletter type thing would be nice but not really a must if we had a web area for "articles".
Andy
Provided that we agree to an online only format so I don't have to spend ages chasing printers and stamping and posting, I'll do a Quarterly Newsletter.
(possibly a Magazine later depending on how it goes).
Oooh, quarterly newsletter - will it have a glossy cover.... ;D
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Dream on Cossack - newsletter- what is one of those?
lol
;D
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A quarterly PDF download newsletter type thing would be nice but not really a must if we had a web area for "articles".
Andy
Provided that we agree to an online only format so I don't have to spend ages chasing printers and stamping and posting, I'll do a Quarterly Newsletter.
(possibly a Magazine later depending on how it goes).
Oooh, quarterly newsletter - will it have a glossy cover.... ;D
Only if you've polished your monitor screen! ;D ;D
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Provided that we agree to an online only format so I don't have to spend ages chasing printers and stamping and posting, I'll do a Quarterly Newsletter.
(possibly a Magazine later depending on how it goes).
That would be great, we will chat via PM about this. Thank you.
GC
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I've offered before, I'll offer again. I'm happy to run the merchandise side of things, Tshirts etc. This will generate income for the club and will go towards the running of the website.
Ok, you're on. I will make a list of what's here (in what sizes) and we can arrange moving it to your hands. There's not too much to store atm and our new T-shirt process means that yo won't have to hold much stock, just process the order and pas it on to the printer (who will post it out).
GC
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Provided that we agree to an online only format so I don't have to spend ages chasing printers and stamping and posting, I'll do a Quarterly Newsletter.
(possibly a Magazine later depending on how it goes).
That would be great, we will chat via PM about this. Thank you.
GC
No prob mate. 8)
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I've offered before, I'll offer again. I'm happy to run the merchandise side of things, Tshirts etc. This will generate income for the club and will go towards the running of the website.
Ok, you're on. I will make a list of what's here (in what sizes) and we can arrange moving it to your hands. There's not too much to store atm and our new T-shirt process means that yo won't have to hold much stock, just process the order and pas it on to the printer (who will post it out).
GC
No worries.
Once I know what we have , I'll start a new thread and start taking orders.
I'll also be looking at new lines of merchandise such as official Thumper club smoking jackets and matching Cravats.
However I've decided not to go for the Official Thumper club leather Gentlemans posing thong, with Diamente slogan;
" How's this for a big single ".
Although these were ideal for preserving Sirs modesty when emerging from ones sleeping bag at the annual rally, prototypes experienced difficulties with the leather contracting when wet.
Gok Rob.
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Extra Small with the Goretex liner please............
(http://passionalboutique.com/store/images/NBL_rj1.jpg)
Boyd
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So would the goretex be there to keep the moisture out, or in.
Problematic.
Stick with the leather.
Richard
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Extra Small with the Goretex liner please............
(http://passionalboutique.com/store/images/NBL_rj1.jpg)
Boyd
As you can see, Boyd was kind enough to test some of the prototypes. Here we see the ' Grand Tourer ' with optional 'quickly detachable' attachment.
I did consider a winter rally version lined in lambs wool. The stumbling block were the side cups to hold ones Real Ale bottles as one circulated. They chaffed ones hips.
Richard, given the average of the club members, I think we know the answer to that.
Gok
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Considering the age of some of us do they do one with a built in truss.
Personally I find that the original model from the 50's made from wax cotten very hard wearing, with none of this fancy gortex. Must go and search for the belstaff catalogue to check availabilty.
Nurse! Nurse! get my wheel chair.
beeman