HAMB Improvements... I NEED HELP!

Everything's cool just the way it is.

I wish you would charge a subscription, that way you could seperate those that WANT the HAMB from those that NEED it.

I'd put my money where my mouth is.

Thank you Ryan for giving a home to my big fat mouth, I love you brother.

 

I kinda new here too but,

I don't like the idea of splitting up the board. I've been on other boards that have split OT and Tech. People with limited computer time tend to go to the OT board to keep up with what is going on first, then often don't have time to look at the Tech end of it. The result is fewer tech gets answers, less answers evolves to less questions, which makes more go to the OT board. One of the great things about the HANB is the quick Tech answers.

I think the biggest problem here is the jerks that wait for an oppertunity to ambush anyone they can. It doesn't matter if they are new or have been here since the begining of time, if all they want to do is bitch and complain, and try to belittle others they need to leave.

Off Topic posts are a fact of life. They need to be identified as OT. If a tread turnes into a pissing match, it needs to be locked/deleted long before it gets to 2 or 3 pages, and all the parties involved need to be warned. a predetermind number of warnings needs to be established before someone is shown the door, unless things are really out of hand, that way everyone knows where they stand.

I think all treads need to be identified as to the subject in the tread heading. (including the clasified section) If the heading doesn't explain what its about, delete it. It that would make scanning what we want to read easier and faster.

I think the pay pal button would be a good idea, if the guys with money want to give you some, you might as well take it. If there is a tax concern, set up the HAMB as a bussiness.

Make filling out the profile required for new members as well as old members. The posters ride pictures would be cool.

I really like the calendar of events. List by date, reagen, state, city. Also preregistration date, prices, and show restrictions. A mapquest link to the show would be a nice function as well.

This is a neat place, even if I have no idea what some of you define a "traditional rod" as. I like it here, and I'm planning on hanging around for a while. Gene

 

ryan,

a buzz word in the field of sociology right now is "authoritative communities"

here is an article on the subject that i thought had tremendous cross over for the hamb. you have done a tremendous job creating what sociologists have tried to perfect and have not been nearly as sucessful as you. i thought you might find this particular quote interesting:

"The Commission explained its choice of the word “authoritative,” noting, “First the word refers to a strong body of scholarly evidence demonstrating the value of that particular combination of warmth and structure in which children in a democratic society appear most likely to thrive. Second, the word comes from the Latin auctor, which can mean ‘one who creates.’ We like that. Authoritative communities just don’t happen. They are created and sustained by dedicated individuals with a shared vision of building a good life for the next generation.”

In order to create an authoritative community, one must understand its features. The Commission lists what it considers to be the 10 main characteristics. They include:

It is a social institution that includes children and youth.
It treats children as ends in themselves.
It is warm and nurturing.
It establishes clear limits and expectations.
The core of its work is performed largely by non-specialists.
It is multi-generational.
It has a long-term focus.
It reflects and transmits a shared understanding of what it means to be a good person.
It encourages spiritual and religious development.
It is philosophically oriented to the equal dignity of all persons and to the principle of love of neighbor.
In light of these 10 characteristics, the Commission states as a primary goal “to deepen our society’s commitment to those values that build and sustain authoritative communities, and to reconsider our commitment to those values that often replace or undermine them. The former include enduring marital relationships and family connectedness, community action and civic engagement, and concern for the moral and spiritual well-being of all children. The latter include ‘me first’ and consumerism as ways of living, materialism, and the notion of the individual person as self-made and owing little to others or to society.”

ryan... keep up the great work, truly you have embodied what it means to be community

here is the link to the whole article

 

sorry but i get this cartoon bubble from the nurturing community ryan post,"our creator", sort of a version of 2001 with the monkees with the bones, pounding, on a roadster body smoothing a crease , ,

i like the post preacher,
that "is "what he did, intended or not

 

Structurally(ie web layout, design, format etc), I like the HAMB as it is, my only suggestion would be to modify the ‘members profile’ area such that it could cater for a short intro, a couple (2 or 3) of photo’s of the members ride(s), and or a project. No more 'intro's as such...

Over the last couple of years I’ve struggled to see the ‘great’ info available due to the sheer volume of ‘threads’. I appreciate that with the volume of people we now have, more people want to talk, but unfortunately the choice of topics that we as a group contribute to seem to be at the detriment of the core focus of the HAMB (to ‘spread the gospel of traditional hot rods and customs to greasers world wide’ ).

This is my ‘core’ issue, as the following points affect this………..

• More unnecessary ‘attitude’ or repetitive opinions added to threads, which more often than not aren’t of any grand importance eg 6 pages referencing an intro compared to ¾ page for informative info or project progress reports

• The continual finger pointing at various ebay ads, individuals, cars and groups, whinging and whining, and generally mocking. A joke/ribbing is cool but it’s only funny if everyones laughing…..

• The neverending threads saying ‘look what I brought home’ with pages of photo’s (generally 4-6 photo’s of a bare, flogged, shell sitting on a shed floor) & ‘at-a-boy’ remarks. I’m not suggesting that this type of thread is bad, just the sheer volume of photo’s/reply’s which eventually push all the ‘great’ stuff further into the archieves

Instead of talking about issues which promote, educates, or builds up the members and their daily life issues, we seem to focus our attention on trivia, fighting like swine in a mudpit . I appreciate that this is the HAMB, not just a text book, so just looking for a 'balance' as such that's all.

We are responsible, and we must be made accountable (as opposed to either Kevin or Ryan).

As to make the ‘HAMB’ more user friendly…….I don’t have an ‘easy’ solution, my only suggestion is to make individuals more ‘accountable’ for their actions, and hang their heads on a post to remind others.

As for the suggestion of a HAMB subscription, I’m of two minds, I’d certainly put my money where my mouth is and cash up, but also, if I was a newbie, how would I get to experience the HAMB, hence rendering the ‘motto’ usless as we wouldn’t be promoting to the new…….

As a compromise, I’d propose to have a similar arrangement to a few boards whereby the members suscribe to be able to post photos. Whilst I recognize that this won’t slow down the volume of threads, it would have to help financially, and certainly reduce (to a point) some of the crap that’s posted…..

‘spreading the gospel of traditional hot rods and customs to greasers world wide’ Long live the HAMB……..

Cheers,
Drewfus (Australia)

 

Hey Ryan
Don't beat your self up! This is a fun place and if you'r not having fun, I am sad. I think you guys are doing a fine job and any thing you want to do more will be appreciated. More rules will mean you will have to work harder to enforce them and that is no fun at all plus I know who to read and who to let slide as do most.This forum has, as you well know, grown under your guidence and of Its own volition.It will never be perfect or maybe it is now, but some will dig it some won't. Please figure out a way to start having fun again or you'll jet and I think it's you that holds the HAMB together. Pogo

 

How about updating show coverage and hamber's rides pics. That's all I ask?

 

What mr Lancaster said!
I think the board rules,but its HUGE.
Its (I think)the same level of o\t versus tech as it always has been,only more of both.
What about adding some "tech-flags" for us to use?
We'll do the job for you,pointing them out so you can put them where they belong.

Once again,thanks for the HAMB,and the opportunity to learn so much more about what we are truly addicted to.

(P.S: a spellcheck function might make it easyer for you folks to understand us scandinavians... )


Z.

 

The main problem is basically the flood of new members. They should read the thing they agree to but shit, really who reads those things. Make it arbitrary to fill out a profile question sheet on sign up.
Somehow this board encourages talking trash, I even do it more here than anywhere else. And if you read those posts like the one on the Mazda pickup you will find much of it is people defending other peoples right to own what they want. Come on old timers, if something like that crops up how about just saying something like "That's not what we are about so please delete it now" instead of a bunch of derrogitory remarks. We seem to love to dogpile the poor saps who stumble in here without a clue. Rough them up a little? sure, but after a couple of the old timers have done it that's enough. And you guys who have been here from the beginning and only have a couple hundred posts need to contribute more, you are taking and not giving back. You want someone else to do all the work so you have a place to glean ideas? Maybe you are just busy building cars and don't spend that much time on the computer. Take time to share what you are doing.

 

[ QUOTE ]
No one here said kick out young people, in fact no mention of age was made in that post. The point was about if whether you are currently building a traditional hot rod or custom or have done so already. Then this is your place. If not, take a hike.

I was working on my first hot rod at 15 years old. There's no reason why a teenager can't jump in and start building and ask many questions along the way. I think the point was directed at the people who are not into working on their own cars, or are into other types of cars but post here, wasting space and time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was building my first at about the same age but not all budding gearheads have the resources. He(she) might be living in an apartment with a single mom who doesn't drive or even have a parking spot.

 

I was thinkin` maybe the "Post-icon" selection should be mandatory (?)( No post unless a "Post-icon" is choosed ) , with fewer choices , like :"TECH" , "TECH-Q" , Meet-Info"
"OT-But still Cool ", NEWBIE" , "Adventures" .. and some more .. Just a thought ..

 

Here's an idea...

How about purging everyone from the list who has never posted or hasn't posted in the last year. They can sign up again of course, but looking over the list of members... there's tons of people that never post at all, or are obviously not legitimate...

It would get the list pretty clean and give you a real idea of how many active members you have.

Stacey

 

My opinions-

If a post is OT, then we need to label that post as OT in the title. The post icon requirement would help remedy this.

Require the bio to be filled out before registration is completed. That way if theres a newbee posting, the "intro police" can look at his bio & see who they're talking to. If we didn't have all the "intro" posts, more tech would stay at the top & less bandwidth would be sucked up. If they fill out the bio w/ crap answers, then let the "intro cops" eat the newbee alive.

We need a little more direction as to what constitutes a "traditional rod". Half of the cars here aren't what I'd consider traditional. To me trad is a car built in the style of the early '60s or before. When guys get blasted becuz they post about building a Bug Rod or something like Crow's Jeep project, then other guys are posting about their mid-'60s sedan w/ a straight axle & getting praised for it, I get confused. I love straight axled rides & plan to build one someday out of a Falcon, but is it "traditional"?

I think you need to "clean house" on occasion here. Anyone who doesn't post after 6 months needs to be deleted. Newbees who post here just to sell something & then never post again have no need to remain registered. This would promote more people to stay involved if they really wanna be part of the HAMB. I also think any OT thread needs to go away after about 6 months or so.

Posts like the severely chopped & channeled A that keep coming back around need to be whacked quickly. I may like that car, but it belongs on the OSR's message board- not here. This place doesn't need to have all the numerous pages stuff like that post generates. More mods would fix that problem. Two men watching this whole board just isn't enuff IMHO, esp when Ryan has such a full plate in his real life. Grimlock needs some back-up from guys he & Ryan can trust.

No need to split up the forums into anything more than whats here now. OT posts labeled as such will let us chose what to look at & what to read. Temporary forums like the HAMB Drags or DOTD or Roundup or Deadtown shows are the only extra forums we need.

Banning people for causing problems was mentioned a while back. I think thats an excellent idea. Give them a warning, then exile them for a month or so the next time. If problems arise again, then ban 'em. This is something only Ryan should be capable of. Mods can inform him of the problem & he would have the final say. That way no one can whine that the mods play favorites.

Overall this board is fine as-is. All of the problems here are the direct result of us as members.

 

LOOK YOU O/T IDIOTS... haha

I am a member of a message board with 167,958 users. It has 206 forums ranging from everything in life you could be interested in. Kinda neat but NOWAY as cool as the HAMB!

The HAMB has 1375 users w/100+ posts. Thats 458 people per the 3 postable forums that only cover cars, for sale, and oh yeah, the other one doesn't get used (Q&A). If this takes up more that 30mins/day of your life than its a BIG part of your life and "1" discussion forum isn't enough. Lets get real!!

As this board grows (# of members) people who want to share their lives don't really have a place to do that. Thats why I check the HAMB less lately. I scan the main board for interesting "car related posts" not what happened at jims last night.

An arena for this needs to be made.

A vote on what HAMB members are interested in and would like to dedicate areas for should be discussed.

I like cars, photos, and classifieds.
**Would be interested in bikes and a regional forum to keep in touch with my local brethren.

Thanks for reading,

 

the bio's should be filled out , whats there secret about where they live and who they are,and a return email addy would be nice as well. just my 2 cents.

 

you touched on a good point munson, some times i check into the hamb for tech, sometimes for show coverage, sometimes just for the fuck of it. problem is, if you only log in to check out a particular topic, ALL posts get turned into "already read" posts, and the "posts since last visit to the topic" gets reset. different forums would help that, and help those who are just popping in for whatever reason to find what they need in a hurry, ie. the tech forum, or show pictures. if we had a forum for show coverage, you would still find all the picture posts from the hamb drags and the hunnert car pileup on the front page of that forum, not fifty pages back on the main board.

 

[ QUOTE ]
you touched on a good point munson, some times i check into the hamb for tech, sometimes for show coverage, sometimes just for the fuck of it. problem is, if you only log in to check out a particular topic, ALL posts get turned into "already read" posts, and the "posts since last visit to the topic" gets reset. different forums would help that, and help those who are just popping in for whatever reason to find what they need in a hurry, ie. the tech forum, or show pictures. if we had a forum for show coverage, you would still find all the picture posts from the hamb drags and the hunnert car pileup on the front page of that forum, not fifty pages back on the main board.

[/ QUOTE ]

I totaly agree ray, the same would be true for a Introduction forum... So when a new member posts in the main form we can look at his introduction or his bio and quickly know who he is, and what he is all about, etc.

 

HAMB has grown big, maybe too big, and due to that it is not as comfortable as it once was. Way too many posts are similar to each other, just echos.... (this one too I guess!). But an advice to many who posts: Think twice when posting and the HAMB will improve.

Im a long time HAMB´er, and I guess one of few who had stayed that long, but Im a custom guy and not into flat black paint, pinstriping or tattoos at all. Some times I post, but more often I just read. There used to be more custom guys around back in the early days, by percent, not by numbers. Yes, I think its time to separate things: Separate boards for art, rods, customs, tech...
I would no longer be a regular if there was a board that could handle the customs in a good way, but until then I will stay here, but mostly I will stay silent.

 

I've only got one suggestion...
You know where the replier's name gives the date and time of the reply?
Would it be possible to put the date (and time maybe) of the original post where you have the name of the originator poster's name?

That way we will know when a title says "Even more new pics of *** show!" we can recognize it as the ones we've been returning to repeatedly for the past five days before waiting, again, for our dialup to show them.
KnowhatImean?

 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
you touched on a good point munson, some times i check into the hamb for tech, sometimes for show coverage, sometimes just for the fuck of it. problem is, if you only log in to check out a particular topic, ALL posts get turned into "already read" posts, and the "posts since last visit to the topic" gets reset. different forums would help that, and help those who are just popping in for whatever reason to find what they need in a hurry, ie. the tech forum, or show pictures. if we had a forum for show coverage, you would still find all the picture posts from the hamb drags and the hunnert car pileup on the front page of that forum, not fifty pages back on the main board.

[/ QUOTE ]

I totaly agree ray, the same would be true for a Introduction forum... So when a new member posts in the main form we can look at his introduction or his bio and quickly know who he is, and what he is all about, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]<font color="green"> You can already do that.

Just click on the users name, you will see the bio, if they fill it out. Then click on the "show all useres posts" tab.

Look for the post at the bottom of the list and it should be an intro. </font>

 

I help moderate a couple boards,and hang out on too many others;
so I know how difficult it can be to Moderate things effectively,
and what happens when things are not moderated properly.

Since you asked:

The rest of the entire Internet is available for Off Topic posts,people should be "strongly encouraged" to use it that way.
"The HAMB is dedicated to Traditional Hot Rods and Customs,
if you want to talk about something else,do it somewhere else."

"Look at this ugly POS" posts don't add anything positive to the board.

Some simple,straight forward rules,prominately displayed,like in the HAMB classifieds,
would be a big help IF the were enforced.
A workable definition of "Traditional Hot Rods and Customs" would be helpfull.

Mindless bullshit threads need to get locked,or deleted sooner.
They reach a point where all they are doing is pissing people off,and wasting space.

I don't expect everyone to agree on everything,all the time.
Healthy debate is good.But anyone really looking for a fight should be on the outide looking in.

There will come a time when additional moderators will be necessary

Let me know if I can help.

 

[ QUOTE ]


Since you asked:

The rest of the entire Internet is available for Off Topic posts,people should be "strongly encouraged" to use it that way.
"The HAMB is dedicated to Traditional Hot Rods and Customs,
if you want to talk about something else,do it somewhere else."

"Look at this ugly POS" posts don't add anything positive to the board.

Some simple,straight forward rules,prominately displayed,like in the HAMB classifieds,
would be a big help IF the were enforced.
A workable definition of "Traditional Hot Rods and Customs" would be helpfull.

Mindless bullshit threads need to get locked,or deleted sooner.
They reach a point where all they are doing is pissing people off,and wasting space.

I don't expect everyone to agree on everything,all the time.
Healthy debate is good.But anyone really looking for a fight should be on the outide looking in.



[/ QUOTE ]
I agree wholeheartedly with this. The only thing that tends to get on my nerves a bit is when newer members, like ones starting this year, like myself, start bashing people if they dont do an intro like they own the place. Leave that up to the old skool folks. In my opinion, everything is cool, and whatever you think is necessary to fix this board, do it, it is yours Ryan.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Here's an idea...

How about purging everyone from the list who has never posted or hasn't posted in the last year. They can sign up again of course, but looking over the list of members... there's tons of people that never post at all, or are obviously not legitimate...

It would get the list pretty clean and give you a real idea of how many active members you have.

Stacey


[/ QUOTE ]


I might be acting a little rough here but that's just a silly idea.

There are dozens of old timers who have WAY more knowledge than the regulars on this board who just don't post a lot. Moriarity hasn't been here for more than a year, but I certainly wouldn't want to toss his membership just for a (very tiny) bit of server space.

If he decided to come out of the garage for a change and post up new pics of his newest Ed Roth re-construction I wouldn't want him to have to go through a hassle to re-issue his membershit.

That goes for a whole slew of OG HAMBers as well - some who have thousands of posts, but just haven't been around lately for whatever reason. (I always hope they are lurking).

Besides who cares if there are 4000 "fake" names on a list?

Not being a jerk - just pointing out something....


Whatever happens with the changes, I am looking forward to it. There is so much good happening that it can't really go wrong.

....to make an observation here - it seems to me like there is a lot more bitching about OT than there is actual OT posts. Whenever folks start crabbing about "too many OT posts", I go out to the post list and count the first 100 posts and it never really pans out....we could just shut our cake holes about it and it would seem like the problem vanished.......It's like when people say some generalization and folks just start to believe it is true.

 

I agree with you re: the purge - need to be careful. I think we should have two purges. "No posts w/in 2yrs AND <100 total posts" the other would be "<50 posts AND newer than 2yrs".

[ QUOTE ]
it seems to me like there is a lot more bitching about OT than there is actual OT posts. Whenever folks start crabbing about "too many OT posts", I go out to the post list and count the first 100 posts and it never really pans out

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not so sure the "bitch" is as much about O/T posts as it is to the speed with which "real" posts get pushed to the bottom. It "seems" to me that it is because the few O/T posts get the most response &amp; never seem to die the way they should. I'm not saying I haven't got blood on my hands - I think the vast majority of us have contributed to it - I think it's frustrating to need to check in here every few hours to keep from missing stuff.

Personally, I only scan the titles &amp; click on stuff that interests me. If I'm bored (or have the time), I'll go through some of the other stuff. I know I've gone back &amp; missed stuff because of the sheer quantity of posts.

I'm also fairly confident the definition of O/T varies with the user...

 

more tech weeks. and stricter rules for tech week too. theres still too much bullshit even when its tech week. i also like the no intro idea. they take up too much space and i never read em anyway. just have ppeople fill out a profile or bio or whatever so we can just click it

 

<font color="green"> I like the intros.

Just seems like common courtesy to me.

A little blurb when someone signs up to let them know where to do one and what might be included could help.

I like them just so I can see there is a new guy and check to see if they are in my area or not.

I just saw a smart-ass comment (I know, I know) on another post, FNG with no info in his bio, looked at his posts, no intro and all his posts are either selling something or smart-assed comments.

Who is he, why is he here?

Purging the list.....

Ahhh what a mess that would be, however, there are some perfectly good screen names tied up in there and we are getting an awful lot of names that are hard to remember.

I was "thinking outside the box" the day I signed up! Well, outside the bottle anyways! </font>

 

I'd be real careful about purging--some of those lurkers may be kids or beginners on here to learn something, people who as yet feel they have little to contribute but want to grow.
I can remember when I was young reading HRM articles I couldn't even understand, letting the information soak into my brain until pieces started to add up...

 

Ryan,
There are more good ideas and comments in this thread than I could add to.
So, I'll just say that I have enjoyed myself and new friends on here over the past several years.
I look at this way, I particapate in what I want to, and do the "filtering" on my own.

It is truley sad to see allot of the "Old-Gang" has dropped off to mostly lurker statis do to numerous issues mentioned.
It may not be possible to be what it once was, be WE can make a differnce.

NEWBIE"S: Fill out the profiles correctly, and leave your bad attitudes in the shit'r, or be prepared for the rath-of-the-old-timer-HAMB'rs!

Thanks for all you have done and do Ryan.
Glenn
AHotRod