Forum Activity

[96viffer]

Why don't the officers participate?


I am out riding my Super Teneré'!

I seem to recall you asked the same question quite awhile back when I was the membership director, and I said something to the effect that I had a life outside of the MSTA. I still do, and I suspect the current officers do too.

You know the best part of not being an officer any longer? I get to complain and criticize with impunity every decision the officers make, just like some are apt to do. No more need to bite my tongue and provide polite, level headed, reasoned responses.

[HawkGTRider]

Why don't the officers participate?

Why don't the officers participate?

I did a quick check on the forum members list and here is what I saw from our Executive Committee (EC) members:

Dennis        52
Ann               6
Geoffrey    101
Dianne          4
Choon         34 (past EC member)

Not great on some accounts but certainly not an absence by our EC members. -JEP-

I

(snip)


I am out riding my Super Teneré'!

Brick,

I like your change in by-line. You used to say "I might be out riding...." Now it's "I am out riding...." Maybe the officers, myself included, are trying to squeeze in more riding time in between the club's time consuming stuff of which few people are aware.

[fartymarty]

Wow, we are on page three* in only four days! (*using the forum default of 15 per page). Maybe to ask the question, is the answer to the question?

Probably not I guess. Well to some it's a concern to others it isn't. As a newbie to the MSTA, I can't comment much about the officer's participation. I think if I was an officer I'd be careful and limit my responses to avoid starting anything that could turn viral and negative. However I do think the whole organization would benefit from more content on the forum. Not only have some utility for useful info, but also to make the MSTA have an internet presence that is in proportion with it's......not sure what to say here....stature?...viability?...attractiveness? Yes I think the MSTA website is well done, but just seeing photos of groups appearing to have a good time and trying to imagine the parking lot chatter is easier with a forum to sort of preview the personality of the organization. As a noob, maybe I'm placing too much emphasis on the forum.  I guess I'll know more after the 2015 Star National in Springdale. Of course everyone here will hate me after I win the FJR. My effectiveness may be zero after that happens, but I'll try to help by going out on a limb and post some stuff that might be interesting to some. I'm sure some have things they can post but don't, thinking that the minute they do, someone else will come along and post something better or let them know that they are doing "it" (whatever it is) incorrectly. I'll swallow my pride and maybe post about how I set up my HF tire changer in my garage. Nothing exceptional, probably typical, but perhaps it will flush out others that are and aren't respectively. It also will bring out those that have a NO-MAR and how it is so much better etc etc which is OK., or those that made a changer out of a junked automotive wheel or whatever. All good info and content for the forum IMO.

[fartymarty]

Wow, we are on page three* in only four days! (*using the forum default of 15 per page). Maybe to ask the question, is the answer to the question?

..or maybe not..

Part of the problem could be all the diversions, why does the MSTA have so many local Yahoo groups and local facebook groups. These just tend to divert content away from the forum instead of towards it. One person instead of posting pictures on the forum just put up a link to to all of their facebook photos from the event. WTF? All these local groups and facebook pages just divide a large National SportTOURING group into little local comfortable bike riding groups united by a good magazine. We will end up with people only going to a national rally when it's within 300 miles of their local group.

Perhaps (controversial big step) these groups and facebook pages shouldn't be allowed to use the MSTA name unless they have a link to the forum or at least the national website near the top, close to or in their title banners?
Yeah, that'd probably never fly. This forum might not either, but I hope it does.

[Doug Just Doug]

For me, I'm simply spread thin.  I visit STN, STO, ADV, Rounders, a forum specific to my current bike, Americade's forum, and several more m/c-related Facebook pages...every day. I also visit 2 auto forums every day.  I visit here every couple of weeks. 

[banjobart]

Interesting comment Marty, I think that the local MSTA Facebook pages supplement the MSTA activity here in this forum. This generates more interest for local and national MSTA events.

National events will suffer when the location is far from the majority of members. If one wants the maximum attendance at national or regional events then these must be located near the area where most members live.

[banjobart]

Members attend a regional or national MSTA event after having a good experience at a local event. Without local enthusiasm and information, which is frequently discussed on Facebook, greater involvement in broader MSTA events will not occur.

I have been involved with several similar organizations to MSTA the last 40 years and volunteered several thousand hours. I speak from experience. The grassroots members are people looking for a weekend activity, something to look forward to do on the weekend that is fun. If they find this first they may later consider attending regional and national events. But all participation starts at the local level and it appears that Facebook provides one effective method to spread the word.

[Patmo]

Facebook, and other "social media" sites like it, are how you reach new (younger) people today.  For example....the local Cafe Racer group in Cincinnati started up TWO years ago on Facebook. They just recently reached SEVEN HUNDRED members following the Facebook page.  This past winter they put on an indoor custom bike show...fracturing everything from one off customs to land speed record bikes and including sport bikes, choppers, and home built cafe racers...and the only way it was promoted was by Facebook and word of mouth.  It drew somewhere around 3-4 THOUSAND people to a downtown brewery over a February weekend.  We NEED to USE Facebook and the like even more than we currently do.  EVERY one of our state chapters should have a Facebook page, should update it often, and all members should be encouraged to use it and share it.

This is coming from someone that resisted getting onto Facebook for years, even while I was supporting an MSTA website and forum as being essential to our continued existence as a club.  But I've seen firsthand just how important Facebook is in today's society, and to so many young adults today.

[Landon]

I don't do Facebook.

[fartymarty]

Facebook, and other "social media" sites like it, are how you reach new (younger) people today.  For example....the local Cafe Racer group in Cincinnati started up TWO years ago on Facebook. They just recently reached SEVEN HUNDRED members following the Facebook page.  This past winter they put on an indoor custom bike show...fracturing everything from one off customs to land speed record bikes and including sport bikes, choppers, and home built cafe racers...and the only way it was promoted was by Facebook and word of mouth.  It drew somewhere around 3-4 THOUSAND people to a downtown brewery over a February weekend.  We NEED to USE Facebook and the like even more than we currently do.  EVERY one of our state chapters should have a Facebook page, should update it often, and all members should be encouraged to use it and share it.

The local cafe racer group? Sport bikes, choppers, home built cafe racers? These relate to the MSTA and it's demographics, how?

Well you could be right, Facebook could be helping the MSTA a bit, but this thread was about forum activity. Facebook's goal is to get you there and keep you there. I'm suggesting that the MSTA require a link on any local MSTA facebook page or local Yahoo group page to the main MSTA website or to this forum. I guess it just depends on what this group is about, especially the "T" in MSTA. Is the MSTA a National Sport Touring group, or just a collection of local groups that share a magazine. I think this forum encourages the former, and local facebook/Yahoo groups encourages the latter. Facebook does reach a younger crowd, but most of the younger crowd don't have the money or vacation time to tour, and those that do can't fit all their children on their bikes. They locally sport bike, build cafe racers or choppers (and let's be honest, most ride cruisers), and they "tour" on line, or in cages, or in planes and Disney boats.
Another factor, is that I prefer going to one place to get what I need. Me going to the MSTA local yahoo group, then the local Texas MSTA Facebook page, then the National MSTA facebook page, then the MSTA Google plus community, then this MSTA forum,...well it's just not going to happen. If I have to do all that, then I'll just go to Sport-Touring.net. Perhaps I'm more lazy than most.
 
..at least that's my opinion. If we all agreed, then there would only be one model of Sport Touring bike and they'd all be the same color with the same farkles.

[Patmo]

Marty...only about 30% of the MSTA members (and the number of members has seen steady decline for years) are signed up for this forum.  Most just are not going to become forum members.  Not because they are to busy on the local sites, or other national sites (like STN/STO), but because they just don't do forums or Facebook.  IF this club is to survive, let alone grow, it needs to be where potential new members can be found.  We certainly can NOT just rely on either the forum or Facebook presence to make that happen, but they are ONE way we can reach SOME possible members.  We have a NATIONAL Facebook page, and many states have their own page.  Having a local/state page makes it easier for people in those areas to arrange local rides or tours by small groups of locals.  If all we did was have regional rallies and a national rally each year, and never did any local/state activities I would guess that the vast majority of our members would have never met the person that introduced them to the club.  Local/state activities are extremely important to the life of this club, and the states that have grown the most tend to be the ones that have multiple, well organized opportunities every year.  Very few people that come to regional rallies, or STAR, are people that have never been to ANY MSTA event on the local level.  Most have had contact with either local MSTA events or members, sometimes for years before they ever traveled to a regional event or a STAR.  What you said about time, money, other commitments is true.  Many people can't do the regionals or national because of those reasons, but can do a local/state lunch ride and hope to do the longer range events in the future.  If we wait until they are in our club demographics to reach out to them, we will have waited to long. 

[GSRider2Up]

Great organization, but very closed and protective.  Generally only positive and supportive posts are welcomed.  Holds the number of posts down.

[fartymarty]

  If we wait until they are in our club demographics to reach out to them, we will have waited to long.

Patmo, I think your post above hit the nail squarely on the head regarding MSTA survival. Especially the last line that I quoted.
I agree that for MSTA survival, the MSTA must make itself known where it can. However getting back to the subject of the original post about forum activity, that without links to it from all the diversions (Facebook et al) the forum will continue as it does now. I'll admit that I have prejudices against Facebook, and that I never search Facebook for any of my interests. I currently always go to Google as my first choice. It directed me to the MSTA after I saw an ad in an old magazine for the HSTA and searched for it. When I first gazed upon the MSTA it was in the form of the old forum (found via Google, not Facebook) and I chose not to join at that time from what I saw. The content of the new forum wasn't that impressive when I returned for a later visit but I saw progress in that it was in a format that I was familiar with and I knew it was easy (for me anyway) to use. It led me to the main web site and it was at that point I joined because the group seemed much more viable. Perhaps Facebook is the future, but I think Google and the internet search engines in general are equal if not much more important. In my experience an internet search rarely turns up any Facebook content. Local rides could be just as easily arranged on the local sections of this forum, and it is much easier to navigate than Facebook or Yahoo groups, but that's just my opinion and I appear to be in the minority.

 It has been pointed out to me (several times) that most MSTA members don't use the forum. I thought this thread was about how to change that. (although I did get a bit off track about the "Touring" aspect of the MSTA in my earlier post ) If more info was presented here about local events and links provided to that information from other sites such as Facebook, then maybe there would be more participation. I live in Texas and I plan on attending the TWiStar in Wisconsin, I learned about the event on this forum, not on Facebook.

Great organization, but very closed and protective.  Generally only positive and supportive posts are welcomed.  Holds the number of posts down.

I'm too new to make that call, and it's difficult to get a feel for the Association just from the forum as it is currently. If it is true, it isn't unique to the MSTA, it is very common to many forums and organizations.  The love it or leave it syndrome is how I think of it. On the internet I consider it the most negative by product of way too many trolls out there that just love to stir stuff up, and the results frequently just make it harder for someone with legitimate concerns or criticisms to get a word in. I haven't noticed it here, but it's a common occurrence and I wouldn't be surprised to see it, especially in an organization with such a long history.

[DirtFlier]

Plus we have a fair number of members who are not computer literate at all. 

[Patmo]

Plus we have a fair number of members who are not computer literate at all. 

Very true.

But even where all the members of an Internet forum are computer literate, it's been my experience that most posting is still done by a small core group of members.