Birchall
Dick Chown Award 2016
Post 10,000!!!
Ok so as I have said, perhaps 5,000 of the posts were rubbish attempts at humour, but humour has a place in a friendly and personal forum like this (I believe).
But 10,000 posts is a milestone for me as so I wanted this post to be a special one, and for me it is (and hopefully for others too).
I have long since been pushing for action within the club, there are some things that we do very well indeed and there are, naturally, things that we could improve. So I pestered the team so much that they have decided to “call my bluff” and made me Club Chairman. So the only person I can blame now is ME!
To prevent this from being seen as a dictatorship there will be a group of Trustees that can overrule or amend things if I (or the team) lose it and become power hungry!!! But they will not take part in the day to day running of the club, they are there to ensure that the best interests of the club members is our first priority (which is my main approach anyway, as I hope I have demonstrated over the years).
With me will be a team of 4 more people and a very broad team at that, the team will be very balanced and Fairness will be at the heart of it. (names will be announced shortly)
There will also be others that will be given positions within the club, such as Treasurer, shop manager, Technical support etc (along with a small set of active moderators that are following the “Moderate light” approach in FULL, the emphasis being on the “LIGHT”). These positions do not come with voting rights as such but they will be consulted and they will have the “ear” of the team to ensure that we remain focussed on the members and the current way that the forum is a friendly and helpful place to be.
There will be no “change for change sake” the saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” will apply. But as we have seen recently some people have been unhappy about certain changes / clarification of the rules. It is saddening that this has happened and so we will try to please most of the people most of the time (impossible to please all, all of the time as we know) where we can.
I hope that you have already noticed the positive changes that seem to have largely gone unnoticed or responded to, i.e. the fact that we no longer demand a donation before people can post for sale adverts.
To me this is a really good change that should prove poplar (hoping that any recent donors understand that we had to have a cut off and so we hope that those recent advertisers will understand.) Donations will still be gratefully received if you are happy with what we are doing, but from now on no donations will be required unless you really want to make them.
This puts us into a totally free forum / club set up for those that just want to browse and post occasionally (we pride ouselves with offering help and advice to new members, that will continue.
Also we are very proud of the fact that we recognise members "milestone events" such as Births and Marriages etc. now. It shows that we are more than just another car club, we actually want this to be a personal and friendly club of like-minded people (but "vivre le difference" as they say).
Positive changes like this are a reflection of the type of club we want to be !!!
We are so pleased that the number of new members is steadily on the up and it is great to see new members posting their “hello’s” and the warm response they get when they do that.
More details later, but let’s look forward to this great club staying great and having a firmer foundation for the future growth that I expect will happen, due to the fact that our great little A2s are fast becoming modern, truly usable and long living classics.
Thanks to everyone for the way that I have been made to feel comfortable in this great club since joining 7+ years ago. Looking back, very little has changed and that to me is a good thing in so many ways.
That is it,
next milestone is 50,000 so I had to make this one a special one.
Thank you for putting up with me so far (and my dreadful sense of humour)
Steve B
Ok so as I have said, perhaps 5,000 of the posts were rubbish attempts at humour, but humour has a place in a friendly and personal forum like this (I believe).
But 10,000 posts is a milestone for me as so I wanted this post to be a special one, and for me it is (and hopefully for others too).
I have long since been pushing for action within the club, there are some things that we do very well indeed and there are, naturally, things that we could improve. So I pestered the team so much that they have decided to “call my bluff” and made me Club Chairman. So the only person I can blame now is ME!
To prevent this from being seen as a dictatorship there will be a group of Trustees that can overrule or amend things if I (or the team) lose it and become power hungry!!! But they will not take part in the day to day running of the club, they are there to ensure that the best interests of the club members is our first priority (which is my main approach anyway, as I hope I have demonstrated over the years).
With me will be a team of 4 more people and a very broad team at that, the team will be very balanced and Fairness will be at the heart of it. (names will be announced shortly)
There will also be others that will be given positions within the club, such as Treasurer, shop manager, Technical support etc (along with a small set of active moderators that are following the “Moderate light” approach in FULL, the emphasis being on the “LIGHT”). These positions do not come with voting rights as such but they will be consulted and they will have the “ear” of the team to ensure that we remain focussed on the members and the current way that the forum is a friendly and helpful place to be.
There will be no “change for change sake” the saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” will apply. But as we have seen recently some people have been unhappy about certain changes / clarification of the rules. It is saddening that this has happened and so we will try to please most of the people most of the time (impossible to please all, all of the time as we know) where we can.
I hope that you have already noticed the positive changes that seem to have largely gone unnoticed or responded to, i.e. the fact that we no longer demand a donation before people can post for sale adverts.
To me this is a really good change that should prove poplar (hoping that any recent donors understand that we had to have a cut off and so we hope that those recent advertisers will understand.) Donations will still be gratefully received if you are happy with what we are doing, but from now on no donations will be required unless you really want to make them.
This puts us into a totally free forum / club set up for those that just want to browse and post occasionally (we pride ouselves with offering help and advice to new members, that will continue.
Also we are very proud of the fact that we recognise members "milestone events" such as Births and Marriages etc. now. It shows that we are more than just another car club, we actually want this to be a personal and friendly club of like-minded people (but "vivre le difference" as they say).
Positive changes like this are a reflection of the type of club we want to be !!!
We are so pleased that the number of new members is steadily on the up and it is great to see new members posting their “hello’s” and the warm response they get when they do that.
More details later, but let’s look forward to this great club staying great and having a firmer foundation for the future growth that I expect will happen, due to the fact that our great little A2s are fast becoming modern, truly usable and long living classics.
Thanks to everyone for the way that I have been made to feel comfortable in this great club since joining 7+ years ago. Looking back, very little has changed and that to me is a good thing in so many ways.
That is it,
next milestone is 50,000 so I had to make this one a special one.
Thank you for putting up with me so far (and my dreadful sense of humour)
Steve B