5 years down the road - new full members globally

[Cees Klumper]

Just prepared the latest batch of welcome packages (windown decals, membership card, latest issues of Pagods Notes and a welcome letter) to the new full members outside the US and Canada that I take care of. Here's the countries they are going to this time:

South Africa
Spain
Hong Kong
The Netherlands
Antigua & Barbuda
United Kingdom (2 x)
Sweden
Australia

Just thought it would be interesting to see the global spread of the Group.

This week we had a board call and one of the topics was the question of whether we were formally incorporated anywhere. The reason we did not do this, back in 2003 when we started so now 5 years ago, is that it did not appear to be necessary but, more importantly, the moment a club incorporates anywhere it sort of become the club of that country and, as a consequence, not of the other countries. So I have always joked that if we would ever be forced into incorporating, we should pick the country that has the fewest Pagodas, like maybe Iceland  

Cees ("Case") Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[Richard Madison]

Cees: I suspect your comment about Iceland was not based on statistics but was an attempt to play with the vision of an ice-choked nation. Actually, Greenland has more ice than Iceland.

But the better choice for a low Pagoda owning nation would be (drum roll here): the Republic of Palau, population of about 25,000 located somewhere in the vast reaches of the Pacific. Downside: would be a bit of a trek to attend a Board of Directors meeting.

Richard M, NYC

[Peter van Es]

quote:Originally posted by 280SL71

the Republic of Palau, population of about 25,000 located somewhere in the vast reaches of the Pacific. Downside: would be a bit of a trek to attend a Board of Directors meeting.

Yeah... but great scuba diving. So I'd vote in favour of Palau.

Peter

1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.

[Peter van Es]

Dear all,

here are some further statistics. As you will / may have noticed, we are pruning the forum member database (basic members) and notifying them that their membership is due to expire unless they log in. Many of these notification messages do not arrive, because people have changed e-mail addresses, have duplicate accounts. These members we expire. If they come back, they will need to re-register and log in again.

Basic (Forum) Members

Currently we have 1254 basic members left (before I started pruning there were 2418 membership registrations, but with many duplicates). 843 of these 1254 members  have posted. The others have registered but have never posted. And there may be more people who "lurk", i.e. read the forums but haven't even registered.

If we look at posting activity, this is what I find:

Code: [Select]

Nr of posts Nr of members
> 2500 1
2000 - 2500 3
1500 - 2000 2
1000 - 1500 8
 500 - 1000 9
 250 -  500 28
After that there is a rapid tail-off, with many, many members posting just once.

Conclusion... we need more people to become active posters...

Full members

We currently have 282 full, paying members. Over the years, an additional 319 people became paying members, but then dropped out, for some reason: because they sold their car, or let their membership lapse.

Peter

1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.

[Cees Klumper]

Alass ... board meetings are usually virtual (chat, call) - but I guess we can look at a picture of underwater fauna while we converse.

quote:Originally posted by vanesp

quote:Originally posted by 280SL71

the Republic of Palau, population of about 25,000 located somewhere in the vast reaches of the Pacific. Downside: would be a bit of a trek to attend a Board of Directors meeting.

Yeah... but great scuba diving. So I'd vote in favour of Palau.

Peter

1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.

Cees ("Case") Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[Eryck]

Received the package.  Thanks, Cees.  Can't wait to put the little sticker on the car. I think I might be the only one in HK with one!  It's great that there's a 'Pagoda club'.  The two other stickers I have are of the HK Classic Car Club and HK Collectors Car Club (which is a new club formed by disgruntled ex-committee members of the Classic Car Club.  Anyways....

1965 230 SL White Manual
Hong Kong

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by vanesp

We currently have 282 full, paying members.

Peter,
I hope that's not true!  I just mailed Pagoda World out to 235 USA members and 86 international members.  That's 321 members.  Did I mail extra??

Just a note for all you paying members out there - please check your mailing address!!!  Many of them are not technically correct.  Canada zip codes with lower case letters and no space separating the first 3 and second 3 characters.  Some addresses in all lower case.  Many USA addresses not using the proper 2 letter state code (spelling out Florida, or using FLA).  So, please log into the home page and check your mailing address.

Thanks!

Rodd
Pagoda Technical Manual
please contibute: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php
1966 230SL
2006 C230 Sport Sedan

[Peter van Es]

quote:Originally posted by rwmastel

I hope that's not true!  I just mailed Pagoda World out to 235 USA members and 86 international members.  That's 321 members.

please check your mailing address!!!  

Rodd, I always use the latest database. The number of active, paying members changes all the time. Today (11th of May) there are 288 active memberships.

We only de-activate members after they have ignored 3 renewal reminder notices, i.e. 100 days after their last valid date.

If you are sending 321 Pagoda Worlds then 33 people are getting it for free or incorrectly. If any of these 33 people read this, please renew your membership.

Also note, that because of the impending move to a new system, these de-activated members will not show up in the new membership system. Also please make sure your mailing address and e-mail address are correct, and match your forum membership.

Finally, to ensure that you do receive our renewal notices, add all sl113.org addresses to your allowed address list. I know that a lot of the e-mail the system sends gets mistaken for spam.

Peter


1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.

[Dick M]

Peter,
Are there additional things that we might do to increase and maintain the number of full members? With the enthusiasm and participation we have on the site it seems that more people would become and stay full members.  

When I was dropped as a full member I didn't realize it until 6 months later when I tried to look up my name on the membership list. I know there was some kind of notification but it got past me (Rodd even sent me a copy of Pagoda World just because I'm a nice guy.) Is there some way that all web participants who are not currently full members can, periodically, be sent automated emails inviting them to become full members?

Although "how to become a full member" is accessible from a tab on our home page it might be a little too subtle. Maybe we should have a "blazing banner" that proclaims the virtues of being a full member and "Click Here" to become one of us.

Peter, you and the other volunteers work very hard to make our Pagoda Group a terrific experience for us all...thanks. Hopefully my suggestions are appropriate and managebale.


Dick M
1970 280SL

[Kemal]

Sorry for the late Membership,I just Pay Pal.
Am I too late to receive a Pagoda World ? & all! (' ')

Kemal
280SL
Manual LHD 69

[JamesL]

Is there some way that "full members" can be so marked on the boards...

Not that I want to create a 2 tier society but I for one would find it useful to see that I was - or was not, seeing as I am a forgetful old sod :oops:

James Lester
RHD 280 in DB906 with cognac leather

[Peter van Es]

quote: Is there some way that "full members" can be so marked on the boards...

No. The two membership systems are completely separate. On the new software (which I'm working on) it will be possible. However, I don't know if it is a good idea to do it though. If you want to know if you are a full member, try logging in here: http://www.sl113.org/home.asp with the yellow login tab and your e-mail address. Alternatively, try to log-in at the Wiki to see if you can read the articles which are restricted to Full Members.

As we shall be merging the two separate membership databases, please make sure that your FULL MEMBERSHIP details and your FORUM MEMBERSHIP details, especially your e-mail address, are the same. Otherwise you will have difficulty logging in the new system when it is activated. PLEASE TAKE ACTION ON THIS TODAY!. Today there are still about 100 unmatched memberships.... make sure it is not you who is affected!

Peter

1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by vanesp

As we shall be merging the two separate membership databases, please make sure that your FULL MEMBERSHIP details and your FORUM MEMBERSHIP details, especially your e-mail address, are the same. Otherwise you will have difficulty logging in the new system when it is activated. PLEASE TAKE ACTION ON THIS TODAY!. Today there are still about 100 unmatched memberships.... make sure it is not you who is affected!

Peter,
You should just make this your signature in each message.    

Rodd
Pagoda Technical Manual please contibute: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php
1966 230SL
2006 C230 Sport Sedan

[JamesL]

As a second thought - and perhaps creating the 2 tier society I previously mentioned wanting to avoid...

I note that some fora require full membership to "access all areas". Seeing as Peter and his merry band are putting such a huge amount of effort into the Tech Manual, shouldn't access to that be restricted to full members only? I know that limits the audience, but perhaps it gives an extra incentive to sign up for the (very reasonable) membership fee...

Less draconian than restricting entry to the specialist areas set up recently (drivetrain etc)...



James Lester
RHD 280 in DB906 with cognac leather

[Peter van Es]

Well, well (  ironic grin), I can tell you've been checking out the Technical Manual a lot recently... We have exactly that already. I implemented it about 6 weeks ago. Certain sections of the Tech Manual are for Full members only...

Just check the contents page (see link in my signature). I also frequently notice that very few people indeed realise the wealth of info that is already available in the Technical Manual.

Peter

1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by Tosh

I note that some fora require full membership to "access all areas". Seeing as Peter and his merry band are putting such a huge amount of effort into the Tech Manual, shouldn't access to that be restricted to full members only? I know that limits the audience, but perhaps it gives an extra incentive to sign up for the (very reasonable) membership fee...

This thread is quickly getting side tracked away from its topic, so let me help accelerate that!

I would personally prefer to make people sign up as members to READ the forum.  That way, we would know how many people are actually using the information so graciously provided by the membership.  Perhaps the thread topics could be made visible to all the World, but clicking on a thread to read it would require login.

Should we start a new thread on "how to improve/reorganize", or just stop discussing it?

Rodd
Pagoda Technical Manual please contibute: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php
1966 230SL
2006 C230 Sport Sedan

[Peter van Es]

quote:Originally posted by rwmastel
[brI would personally prefer to make people sign up as members to READ the forum.

Should we start a new thread on "how to improve/reorganize", or just stop discussing it?

By all means start a new thread on this, but what we can do depends a lot on the capabilities of the new forum system. We cannot make just topic headers visible...

There are already areas of the forum that can only be read when logged in... the infamous vendor forum for instance. All the other forums can be read by all and sundry. That helps our "findability", as Google then is capable of indexing our site. That in turn drives unknown people to our site, who may then become members.

If we make all our forums read-only, we will actually lose a lot of that traffic. We can decide to make one of the other forums (e.g. drive train) accessible only to logged in members. On the new forum system, we could even make it accessible to Full members also. However, I'm not sure it's a good idea.

Peter

1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.