Pre Migration Most liked posts in thread: Tell me what you think please

Thumbnails for the classifieds.

A sticky with a calendar of events, in chronological order.

More random, gratuitous nudity, but not of any members. Just seeing if you truly are paying attention.

My relatively worthless take on what this site has evolved into:

The site has become the go to site for the hardcore MINI crowd in the U.S.. Kind of like the American version of MINI Torque, except with better language and no gonadal punch button (which actually was a stroke of genius, I wouldn't mind one of those but it'd conflict with what I have to say next). That's good.

Trying to look at it in the eyes of an outsider, or if I was Nate, of whom it's in his best interest is to grow the site, I think it's probably difficult for many (not all, but many) newcomers to step right in and feel comfortable because so many of us have been around so long we trample around like Bulls in the Motoring Alliance China shop (yes, I admit I'm as guilty as anyone). That's bad. We have to do a bit better there more so the new F56 crowd isn't put out, and those that want to put eyelashes on their cars can talk about it (but just not in any of the performance threads). I think it's time for a slight attitude shift, but that's more on the members than the site. Otherwise I'm worried we'll become a site of grumpy old men. I'm actually ok with that, but the site has to attract some young blood to keep it viable.

I've said before if you get rid of the hardcore MINI crowd, all you're left with is "what's the best type of oil" threads. In other words, NAM. On the other hand, people still need to be comfortable enough to be able to start a "what's the best type of oil thread", because with time some of those people may evolve into meaningful contributors given enough time.

I guess what I'm saying is it'd be nice to either structurally, within the site, or psychologically, amongst ourselves, distinguish between the performance aspect, where it's going to get rough and tumble at times, and the community aspect, where we need to live and let live. It's probably an impossible order, but if we could manage it, the site would grow and accommodate a more diverse group of people.

 

Too much clothing in those for me.

It irritates me to no end that NAM has 154,000 members, and MA slightly less than 10,000. Now, NAM had been around a lot longer and many of those members are gone; it's a misleading stat, but really, the numbers here should be higher, the MA site is orders of magnitude better.

 

I think you could use more Victoria Secret adds and less car adds.

 

That would be like giving a master counterfeiter a job at the U.S. treasury for a couple of weeks. It would just allow him to further hone his craft. Just leave him alone.

 

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WINNER OF THE BEST POST OF THE DAY AWARD!

 

^^ I agree that the fully open aspect of this format is just exactly that and should remain such. M/A is all about accepting everyone interested in the modern day and classic Mini Cooper (whose opinions may be right, wrong or indifferent) and providing a forum to discuss everything from the most technical to trivial. We see folks fall out when they've had enough of the banter, offered from time to time, when conflicting opinions clash. While we clearly can't all think alike or agree upon everything, it's a healthy environment when good discussion is able to be enjoyed by all.

I for one have learned a tremendous amount from everyone here and am glad to be a proud supporter of the lot of us all.

Party On... Motor On! Cheers. :beer

 

I have a staff.........

 

Well said ^^^


But I still want the Victoria Secret adds. :ihih:

 

I still consider myself a new-comer to the Mini world and the various Mini forums. Of the several I've checked out this is by far head and shoulders above any of the rest. I'd say everything is fine just the way you have it Nathan.

 

^Like^. I also like the Freudian slip in Dave.O's name. Whenever I think of Dave, I think:

 

Pre-warning...this is someone who has never even driven a MINI. I bought a MINI in January and being the obsessive/compulsive type of person that I am, I joined every MINI site I could find. One thing I can say from 3 months of prowling/lurking is that whomever thought up the phrase..."the friendly MINI site" sure knew what they were talking about when they coined this phrase. NAN is too big and has no personality. Yes, it is a fine site with a whole lot of information, but for me it's not as easy to find as the same information is here.

My hats are off to the admin's for running a VERY civil list. Posts generally stay on topic and bitching is held to a minimum. As far as any suggestions as to how to improve it---just keep going forward with this MO and everything will be great.

 

I'm usually here in M/A. I'm in NAM, too, but only as an infrequent visitor anymore. NAM is mostly Second and later Generation MINIs now, while, like it or not, M/A IS probably dedicated to First Generations and Classics. Lately, NAM has become the refuge for the Non-generation One owners who could not take the criticisms they received here in M/A [for whatever reasons]. Boo-freaking-hoo.

I have absolutely NO interest in getting anything but another Generation 1 MINI. Besides that, our fearless leader drives a Generation 1 MCS. 'Nuff said.

 

Nathan's head plus his left and right hand makes 3 M\A staff members. :lol:

 

I was thinking of something similar - maybe not restrict access per-se, but maybe more "tiering" of content within the forum topic areas, basic vs. advanced type sub forums in most topic areas. Dunno, might just make things more confusing. The current volume of "basic" questions really doesn't bug me. And the segregation of generations helps us old farts focus on the stuff we care about and resist temptation to haze the F56'ers. :devil:

Otherwise, I echo the other comments / suggestions. Especially about Dave being our hot sauce.

 

There is an "off Topic" area.. Can of course just PM someone if need be.. and there is FB with all it's different areas even MINI areas..

I say stay the course as is.. If you lock people out of certain areas you'll force them to go else where for the info they want and they may not come back.. which is not what your trying to do here. You/we want to encourage people to join and post to help keep the site alive..

 

Don't hold your breath.......

 

Do you really want me "loving everything about the new F56" again? :devil:

We have been down that road before.....it was not good. :frown2: