New vendor at NAM with no internet presence (except for an AOL e-mail address). Mini Cooper Navigation Map Update 2015 - North American Motoring
They make the claim that since they have vendor status they must be good. Heck, even the site guidelines state NAM is not responsible for the vendors, you buy at your own risk.
I'm getting a laugh out of those saying since this new vendor are not in the vendor directory then it can't be real. Like the Vendor Directory is even up to date there. I guess many don't realize that Internet Brands* doesn't care if the vendor is legit or not so long as the check clears. *Internet Brands owns 100's of forums and them are owned by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. They are EVIL. See the Controversies section at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Brands
I put a post in that thread subtly echoing that sentiment... The vendor reminds me very much of another no longer on the MINI scene, all the mispellings, but thankfully none of the shouting. Probably a younger cousin.
I think it was Dave.0 that said NAM Classifieds were the eBay of mini parts. I've bought some parts there and never had any problems.
Yes I did say that and not in a bad way. The stuff is not crap unless it from ALTA. :lol: The NAM Classifieds are like eBay (Flee market) but is all MINI stuff. That is / was the only thing NAM was good for.
Only issue with that is... If the last person leaves who knows anything about this site, who will "rescue" the folks left... Subtle hints about where to go, links, etc can all be left, referring folks to here... Love it or HATE it, NAM will be near the top of the list on internet searches for years... Good folks do appear there....then we can steer them to a "better" site as NAM begins to collapse.... I do find it interesting that IB takes the $$ of a pirate selling map updates and makes them a "vendor" Wonder if we should collect some $$ here, and become a vendor and sell MINI t-shirts as a vendor on NAM...think, selling M/A t-shirts WITH MOTOR ON , on NAM....lol.
I'm pretty sure I'm one of those people you reference 00Mini. And while I may not have gone as far as to say M/A is dead (because as we're all seeing here now), it is definitely much slower here. I personally feel that way now having the Coupe. I just looked, and other than the guy posting about his 2015 fJCW Coupe he just got last week (good on Dave for finding out what the "f" stood for lol), the next newest post is from March! And as I scroll the main page, most of the announcements outside of this section are from last year or older. So maybe I'm crazy (wouldn't be the first time I've been called that) and it's just going to take getting used to over here, but it does feel lacking for me personally on what's available here versus over there. I will say that the layout, navigation, and administration here at M/A is by far the best I have seen out of multiple car forums I belong to, across many platforms.
I have a Coupe and I'm very active on this forum. I just don't post in the Coupe section because my activity is overall MINI based, not focused on my model number. Personally I go for quality not quantity and that's why I made my home over here many years ago when Nathan founded the site. NAM has so much garbage to sift through everyday it's difficult to zero in on what is important to me. My suggestion is to sit back, relax and enjoy the MA ride. You can either consume an energy drink and run around frantically or pour a nice bourbon and enjoy every sip. That's the difference in NAM and MA. ...pass the bourbon, please!
I will take some of that bourbon. I only visit NAM to check the 5280 area and see if anyone is posting and hopefully I can answer or redirect. The current officers of MINI5280 (Colorado) have embraced FB for all their ride activity and conversations, pretty interactive, you just have to ignore the foibles of FB. NAM is pretty dead, I do hit the vendor announcements, but most of them announce here too. At least the real vendor do! I think we have a best wiper blade thread on M/A.
When ads for Fords and Harleys started showing up as STICKY posts in our club and event forums, that's when i quit looking at NAM, before then i was pretty regular. Then i took a hiatus from car forums for a bit before i saw the light and came over here permanently.
There's no question what you could pass me... At one point I was big into NAM (under DICKS GARAGE R53 for my screen name) and after causing a ruckus big enough to get most of my friends here (they weren't my friends at the time) banned from there, it became boring to me. Turns out I like poking fun at people (who knew) and when everybody got the ban stick I had to move on. So at the Dragon in 2014, I had a chat with Nathan and decided to make M/A my home. I haven't turned back since! If you are unhappy with the content for the Coupe, start posting! Most of the people here will at least look if nothing else... It only takes one to get the ball rolling.
Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. M/A is smaller, that's for sure. Hence the fewer posts. I like to think the quality is better, that is what is important to me, and well, I run the place. When I say "I run the place" I really do. With the help of Steve we manage to keep things going pretty smoothly. Like any group we have our share of oddballs. Your's truly included. M/A is not everyone's snifter of bourbon. Then again, we have donuts.
I'll second enjoying a smooth libation in the evening. I've been known to partake a little while surfing the Alliance.