!! Improving our club - your feedback is required and vital!!

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Dear Z family,

There has been some excellent discussion and feedback on the club and our evolution.

I'd like to volunteer to invest some time and energy in taking some steps to collate and support our thinking to ultimately drive prioritisation and next actions.

You will all agree that our club / forum has a fantastically experienced, diverse and good humoured group of members as well as some solid foundations / history. Where it moves forward from here is up to us both in terms of will and skill.

The club does some things very well and would be even better if it did some things differently or tried some new things.

Clearly we won't be able to affect change overnight and may not even be able to address all the feedback, but EVERY opinion, EVERY bit of constructive feedback matters. It's cheesy but so true: no matter what the club is, your perception is your reality.

To that end I want to hear from all of you and about everything that you feel you'd like addressed and even better if you have a view on how. All constructive feedback is welcome.

Tell us what we do well and should continue doing, what we should do differently or more of, what new things we should do.

In your feedback, it may be useful to think along the dimensions of (but not restricted to):

  • People / membership aspects
  • Club events / publicity
  • Technology / website

Over the next 4 weeks, I will collect your thoughts / feedback into a logical structure where we can identify quick wins and the longer term higher effort things. We can then agree how best to action. I will also collect the feedback from the existing thread on this.


5 simple but highly important principles:​


1. BE FACTUAL: let's keep it respectful and not allow it to get personal. Emotions run high and dilute facts. But facts are indisputable and can lead to action. :cheers:

2. BE OPEN & CONSTRUCTIVE: No matter what you have to say, if it improves the club, let's hear it, no matter how small or big you feel it is. If you have something sensitive to say or don't want to speak publicly, PM me. I won't bite, hard! :p

3. STAY ON TRACK: Let's not wonder off into the tyre wall of random discussions, lets take this opportunity to really focus on improving our club. :driving:

4. NO BICKERING: Sincerely, please no hand bag swinging antics!!! Just 15 paces and single shot pistols at dawn like true gentlemen! :boxing:

5. TAKE THE 5th AMENDMENT: If you find yourself typing something that is not constructive then please take a step back and a vow of silence for the moment to rethink it. Equally if something is written that you disagree with, don't attack / challenge it, let people have their say without fear of retribution. :chillpill:

THE SMALL PRINT: I totally reserve the right to edit / delete posts on this thread that don't respect the above guidelines or the spirit of the thread. :devil:
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
So, to get the ball rolling, my two penneth!

People / memberships:

Any ideas on how to link up with other z clubd internationally?

Like to see less tolerance of posts that while not using offensive words are offensive in their tone and intent

LOVE the picture of the month and we should make a calendar of it in December so should run the December competition early.


Events:

Really would love for the local coordinators to put a calendar of events together and for us to have regular local features. I've met some awesome people / cars in the club and would like to see them more often.


Website:

I'd like to see an easy to find and navigate technical section on the site with the most common questions (dizzy swap etc) and more complex ones (engine rebuild/mods) clearly laid out.

Old record, but the classified section of the site needs to change / be improved - can we piggy back onto another platform?

Like to see special areas on the site:

How about an Albrecht corner for all things from the club Yoda? Post your questions and he shall answer once a week or something like that?

How about a mods corner hosted by Skiddel?
 

toopy

Club Member
There's been quite a few posts recently on original z colours and paint codes

A list of known UK paint codes/colours, maybe along side a USA, Japan and Europe list for comparison, thats a big ask i know, but not impossible surely

It seems to me a lot more owners these days want to keep there cars in/or change to period colours, so a concise list, as much as it can be anyway, would be beneficial all round :)
 

toopy

Club Member
With members from the UK, USA and Europe on the forum

Members location to be more prominent alongside there forum name, and maybe also show if they are a member of a local group if in the UK
 

pmac

Well-Known Forum User
You will all agree that our club / forum has a fantastically experienced, diverse and good humoured group of members

?????

Lets just assume for a tiny micro second or two that I dont actually agree with you..
What can I do because you dont want me to challenge your statement???
Equally if something is written that you disagree with, don't challenge it,
.

Thats not IMO a good start to any process of change.
 

toopy

Club Member
A list of garages where members have personally experienced the workmanship/knowledge of said oufit, wether that be mechanical work or a respray

Updated on an annual basis, to reflect current opinions on existing garages or new ones to add, this could be done by request as such, by showing it on the home page for a month once a year or possibly every six months, therefore reminding members to add any new insights/info

I'd much rather take my car, when needed, to someone who has a respect for working on older vehicles, I'll happily take my modern vehicles to my local independant, but i wouldnt necessarily trust them with anything more than an MOT for the Z
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
?????



Lets just assume for a tiny micro second or two that I dont actually agree with you..

What can I do because you dont want me to challenge your statement???

.



Thats not IMO a good start to any process of change.


Thanks uncle Pete, I see your point of view and it's my shortcoming for not being clear on the process. This thread / stage is not about challenge it's about collection of ideas. We will discuss at a later step - to challenge things right now, would stifle us.

You're a man of many years experience in the club and highly respected by me and others. Would love the benefit of your experience / hind sight ! If you had to call out 3-5 things that would transform the club from your perspective what would they be? (classifieds aside that is) ;)

What have you seen the club do really well in the past that you feel we should do again / more of?
 
How much do we charge traders to have a 'trade' membership? Maybe we could stop all the kerfuffle over 'web members' and those who pay £10 or so to have their name in red by upping the cost for traders who make money off the site/members/advertising and just have people as website supporters, donating to the running.

The days of running a Web based membership system like a 1980's magazine are well gone now.

We're missing lots of basic info about the cars, its spread out everywhere but not in one place. We should have pages with accurate info on all the models.

Buyers guides with pictures showing what to look for, how the cars vary from year to year. what to look for to help accurately determine age/model.

The pages sorted out again, a projects section, general etc, try to get a bit of order to where people post.

Some of the moderation needs to be relaxed on somethings, having a 'report post' button that shows how many individuals have clicked it, then action taken from that, we can then see how a specific post has rocked the apple cart.

Would it be worth not trying to cover all bases and have the zclub dedicated to the earlier cars 1960-80 etc? Most people think this is what its for anyway, it could help push things in a general direction.
 

pmac

Well-Known Forum User
How much do we charge traders to have a 'trade' membership? Maybe we could stop all the kerfuffle over 'web members' and those who pay £10 or so to have their name in red by upping the cost for traders who make money off the site/members/advertising and just have people as website supporters, donating to the running.

In the interests of openess and transparancy I am happy to disclose that I have paid a traders fee of £30 for 2016.
This was the same amount I paid when I operated the "Star Motorsport" forum on behalf of my friend Laurence.
I also pay a personal "members fee" to have my name in Red.
I dont know if others pay the same??
If the club wishes to alter the fees for 2017 then it will be up to each trader to make a choice about whether to continue or not.
In looking at fee levels the club would need to bear in mind the extremely low number of people who actually see the adverts and also the level of individual sales that result from the views.
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
How much do we charge traders to have a 'trade' membership? Maybe we could stop all the kerfuffle over 'web members' and those who pay £10 or so to have their name in red by upping the cost for traders who make money off the site/members/advertising and just have people as website supporters, donating to the running.

Would it be worth not trying to cover all bases and have the zclub dedicated to the earlier cars 1960-80 etc? Most people think this is what its for anyway, it could help push things in a general direction.

Out of respect for Ali and the committee, I won't challenge these two points but will say this :

it should be a member's club (and not a trader's forum) and there should be an encouragement to have more traders here not scare them off with higher fees.

Is the club so poor that it needs more money ? To what with ?

So, encourage and actively go looking for discounts for members....as I have done for our club over here.

One club, all the cars ?

Just as 'the other one' is (as Paul stated) thinking of accepting Z33s (and Z34s ?) - presumably upon the premise that they are Zs and not ZXs ?

There is a suggestion here that we trip back to the '80s (like a magazine-based club ?:rolleyes:) and ignore everything after 1980 ? Don't you mean 1978 ?

So, I don't agree upon those two points.

Basically a decent webmaster would be the best first step.

Collating and a better, clearer...quicker access to information.

A 'welcome' first page so that the club looks like a club and not 'just' a forum - we have this and use it as a notice board of what's happening, just happened, highlighting mag articles even if it doubles what Steve puts up on FB - a lot of people don't do FB !

Produce a quarterly (to keep the pressure down) online newsletter and post that up, send copies also to the press.

Talking of which, have a dedicated Relations person who actively contacts the press and who also thanks them for articles published whether at the beghest of the club or not - become known as THE reference and pro-active in the promotion of the cars and club.

I would like to see a car's data-base in the UK.

I'd like to see more historic competition info.

Agreed that each model should have photos and a brief buyer's guide - THIS site should be the first port of call for anyone remotely interested in Zs AND be able to give them all that they need to get one and come back here with it and STAY here.

That's all for now more without a doubt later.

Hat's off to Ali and the team for this subject.:bow:

I agree with Pete in that if the fees went up, I would have to think twice about being here which means deleting all that I've posted as 'Zstory' ?:unsure:
 
Well to be honest if they're only charging £30 as a 'trader' then that idea's dead in the water. I thought it might be a little more!

I thought about the earlier models only as there's not much activity for the later stuff, it would give us a clearer branding and focus.

Oh, its good to see some discussion on this thread also. Its important we're allowed to have opposing opinions, voice them, then be provided with infomation that allows us as adults to find common ground.
 

pmac

Well-Known Forum User
Basically a decent webmaster would be the best first step.

I remember raising this very subject about 8 to10 years ago with Nigel Marston who was then an active committee member(a group of us were there as part of the Drag Challenge)
It was a frank and friendly discussion.
At the time he asked me(in particular) to be patient as the topic was being "looked at"
Since that time I have been advised personally by another committee member that it is/was proving difficult to make progress on the topic.

Like you Sean I applaud Ali's efforts and Im not criticising anyones previous efforts
The matter is still outstanding and needs to be resolved IMO to prevent further decline in member ship.

Would it be worth not trying to cover all bases and have the zclub dedicated to the earlier cars 1960-80 etc? Most people think this is what its for anyway, it could help push things in a general direction.
I saw your suggestion earlier Franky and decided to ignore it.
However since Sean has already made comment I will add mine.
So at a stroke your proposal is to exclude any owner with a Z31. Z32. Z33 or Z34??
Thanks for that. Ill get my coat and leave on a volontary base before Im pushed.:lol:
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Gentlemen, thank you so much for such excellent input and I greatly value your openness and applaud the superb discussions on here. Thank you for keeping it so focused. This gives us a lot to work with.

I very much look forward to hearing views from the rest of the membership also, be it PM or post!

Pete, pls don't get your coat!! We'll miss you!
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Its important we're allowed to have opposing opinions, voice them, then be provided with infomation that allows us as adults to find common ground.

Oh ballacks - I just disagreed with you.

I'd rather that WE (and therefore not just the committee, move the club/forum forwards.
 
I remember raising this very subject about 8 to10 years ago with Nigel Marston who was then an active committee member(a group of us were there as part of the Drag Challenge)
It was a frank and friendly discussion.
At the time he asked me(in particular) to be patient as the topic was being "looked at"
Since that time I have been advised personally by another committee member that it is/was proving difficult to make progress on the topic.

Like you Sean I applaud Ali's efforts and Im not criticising anyones previous efforts
The matter is still outstanding and needs to be resolved IMO to prevent further decline in member ship.


I saw your suggestion earlier Franky and decided to ignore it.
However since Sean has already made comment I will add mine.
So at a stroke your proposal is to exclude any owner with a Z31. Z32. Z33 or Z34??
Thanks for that. Ill get my coat and leave on a volontary base before Im pushed.:lol:

Don't get your coat Pete, you wouldn't anyway:D Its right not to ignore my post, its a topic of discussion, i'm happy to be wrong. My good lady will tell you its 95% of the time.

I'm not suggesting excluding anyone/thing, just having a general direction/focus. If we did suit the later cars as a forum then surely we'd have more active topics?
 

pmac

Well-Known Forum User
Its important we're allowed to have opposing opinions, voice them

From the very inception of this forum we have been having opposing opinions.
The problem lies in being allowed to voice them.
The moment you post something critical about a club function or a car or an event you run the risk of it being deleted.
Frequently because the person performing the club function takes it as a personal insult ....
And bang you get edited in to oblivion.
Examples....
You criticise something to do with club membership..... The membership secretary takes it personal and out it goes.
You criticise the way someone organises an event and they get all indignant and turn round and say "well if you can do better".... then war breaks out and it all gets deleted.
You criticise the way someone is restoring a car to an appallingly bad standard.... you get told to leave it alone hes a nice guy in real life.
You criticise a car as being inadequate for the use its being put to.... bang.. post gone.

So most people just engage in happy clappy sentiment which produces a forum with the same level of interest as the Daily Star newspaper.
At my age its not a problem... I have lived with it for long enough. It serves my modest needs
A drop in paid up members of around 66% since the inception of the forum does perhaps suggest that all is not well in the happy clappy Z world
Putting some rough numbers to the percentage... Around 750 paid members around the start of the 21st century to around 250 today( some clarification required by a commitee member perhaps)
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
.....
You criticise something to do with club membership..... The membership secretary takes it personal and out it goes.

Putting some rough numbers to the percentage... Around 750 paid members around the start of the 21st century to around 250 today( some clarification required by a commitee member perhaps)

Re Membership Sec (me ) please give one example.

At the turn on the century you couldn't be a member of the Club unless you paid. Also I don't know about the 750 number but bear in mind that there are a lot less cars around now. How many members are on a 355/370 Forum and how many in 15 years time?
 
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pmac

Well-Known Forum User
I'm not suggesting excluding anyone/thing, just having a general direction/focus. If we did suit the later cars as a forum then surely we'd have more active topics?

I am the member with the dubious distinction of introducing the phrase" One Club All the Cars"
It was used as a promotional tool or advert to try and boost club membership on poster boards and banners at the NEC and other shows back at the end of the 20th century/start of 21st century.
From day one it was criticised/nitpicked by people who still carry on in the same vein
So any suggestion of eliminating/reducing or refocussing this club to pre 90 cars is always going to provoke reaction from me.

Don't get your coat Pete, you wouldn't anyway

Oh I will but not with any drama or under duress.
The natural processes of retirement, cessation of trading activities and membership of another club that focusses entirely on my continuing passion for Z32s will ensure a quiet inevitability to that.
I have easily adapted to not being a pharmacist after 40 years of being one, so not being a Zclub member/trader will be relatively simple.
 

pmac

Well-Known Forum User
??
Re Membership Sec (me ) please give one example.

At the turn on the century you couldn't be a member of the Club unless you paid. Also I don't know about the 750 number but bear in mind that that there are a lot less cars around now. How many members are on a 355/370 Forum and how many in 15 years time?

See there you go Rob ... taking all personal....Im not referring to you .
Im sure there are magazines around the time I mentioned giving 750 as a figure.?

Around the time it won an award at the NEC show??
Great pity really that no proper data on membership was ever saved, archived and available now to reflect on.
Once again its not a criticism of you and your tenure in the post.

This thread is about Z club Rob not other clubs... lets keep it to this club.
 
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