The perfect motorhome community, a question for you.

[wildebus]

.....Not sure quite why but the idea of a poster of the month, etc, doesn't sit comfortably with me. I think it's the memory of all those photos of employee of the month in Macdonalds... do they still do that? The credits system already goes some way to rewarding those who post good content, via the 'likes' etc. Visible appreciation and reward could be good but not sure how best to handle that. Free entries into the raffles maybe?

On the forum I run, I decided - just for a bit of fun - to implement a 'badge' system where any member could give another member an award if they felt they had been specifically helpful (this link will show some examples - http://forum.rav4driversclub.com/thread/628/fuel-duty).
This is a very visual thing so might match your thought?
On the flip side, one of the long standing members took great offence at the idea and decided he would leave! I needed to make it able to opt-out of the scheme so he - and anyone else with a similar feeling - would not see the awards given or get any awards.
I thought it would be just a bit of fun but shows you cannot predict peoples reactions!

 

[Scottishstewpot]

Can I just say that this is great the way it is but everything can be improved by the various members input but a sites suggestion section for ones that might charge a few pounds for stopping off to empty chemical toilet or waste water or to just fill up youre water tanks without having to stay overnight if that makes sense

 

[Lorraine]

Some good points there Jen and I agree about 'poster of the month', I think any system that selects members as being 'better' than others is a recipe for bovver,

Each person has different things to add to the forum which ever way it is calculated it wouldn't be at all fair, how can you compare a serious post with fun & jokes & Off topic, I do like to contribute, but to take me away from posting on fun & jokes and the few random question that I have knowledge on answering, would be a nightmare for me because I wouldn't have a clue (all left in jeffmossy's cable hands) on Motorhome technical questions which I could not answer, so I definitely DO think it would be a recipe for bovver

 

[trixie88]

any news of stickers yet.....looking forward to sticking one on the van.....thank u.

 

[jeffmossy]

any news of stickers yet.....looking forward to sticking one on the van.....thank u.

I will get some off Phil when we are at Hereford

 

[Steveboy]

Could there be a 'common theme' link so that if the word say, toilet or fridge or Internet comes up the querying member is automatically fed a list of previous threads on the relevant subject. Save some of the regulars continually having to repeat the same advice. Not that I don't enjoy the odd 'toilet' thread but they do have tendency for repetition. ???

 

[trevskoda]

Any tec stuff ported to mh builder,and as other said a tec list on mh makes and faults.

 

[Keithhep]

I see a bit selective aren’t we Rapido not even on the list I’m hurt.??

That I see as the problem, too many different makes although most base vehicles are pretty much the same so a list of converters is too many.
But I still see the merits of a dedicated technical list to be useful maybe divided into base vehicles.

 

[Lee]

I have added to my earlier post
One thing that I would like to see and it would be very useful.
A dedicated Motorhome Technical Information Forum, with a sub forum for each of Motorhome brand.
eg and there are many more, I am sure I have missed quite a few

MOTORHOME TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE

Adria
Autosleeper
Autotrail
Avondale
Bailey
Benimar
Bessacarr
Burstner
Carado
Carthago
CI
Defthless
Damon
Devon
Elddis
Euromobile
Frankia
Giest
Globecar
Hymer / Eriba
Knaus
Laksa
McLouis
Mobilvetta
Niesmann & Bishoff
Pilot
Rapido
Rollerteam
Sunlight
Swift

If this is too much then

UK Built
French Built
German Built
Italian Built
Spanish Built
Slovenia Built

and so on, but then the pedantic among us could say for instance that Hymer are USA built as owned by Thor or Elddis are German built as owned by Hymer or similar things!

Sorry for being picky ***** but just for the record Pilot has an 'e' Pilote I won't worry about the accent above the 'e' .

Happy New Year,

 

[yorkslass]

Could there be a 'common theme' link so that if the word say, toilet or fridge or Internet comes up the querying member is automatically fed a list of previous threads on the relevant subject. Save some of the regulars continually having to repeat the same advice. Not that I don't enjoy the odd 'toilet' thread but they do have tendency for repetition. ???

I know what you mean, but new members asking questions, and more importantly receiving replies, is the life blood of any forum, IMO.

 

[edina]

Any chance of clicking on a thread link and having it open at the first post/page of that thread?
Have asked elsewhere on the site but no resolution.
Thanks.

Below the thread title you will see the username of the poster and a date. Clicking on the date will take you to the first post.

 

[yorkieowl]

Could we have something that shows where members recommend to go for mots or repairs etc, same as on wc, but needs to be more area specific if poss, otherwise posts just get lost in the thread. Is it possible to do it in a map like the pois?

 

[mariesnowgoose]

A nifty search facility is the answer to most questions

The trouble with building any shared website resource is always how to find the information you need quickly and easily and unfortunately there is no 'one size fits all' or 100% perfect site layout. The bottom line is that everything we type in is stored as 'data' in one form or another, but it is how we retrieve it (if at all!) that is the head scratcher. Any search facility is only ever as good as a) the search itself and b) the extent (i.e. quality and volume) of underlying data used by the search.

For example, wildcamping has a section called 'Tags' directly beneath the main text section when you add a new thread. Here you can add up to 5 tags (or keywords as they might also be called). These 'Tags' are subsequently used in the search facility on the wild camping site, BUT... how many non-technical people even know what tags are all about?! I always intended to add tags to any posts I made, but 999 times out of 1,000 I would forget to do so, meaning the only thing the wild camping search facility had to go on was the thread title - I'm making a few assumptions here, but I will be somewhere near the mark?

I understand motorhomer may be more sophisticated in how it stores, indexes & retrieves the 'data' and there is no need for any of us to be quite so technical and have to make efforts to deliberately add 'tags' etc. to our posts.

What most folk look for - at least I certainly do - is a Google-type search facility. Google is the universally adopted benchmark for getting answers to questions as quickly as possible, so a good site search facility is expected to be present everywhere these days (also think of Amazon's search capability, etc.)

In very simplistic terms, there are 2 main areas to consider:

1. The overall layout, structure and hierarchy of the motorhomer site, which is what we can all see, and what most of you are debating in this thread.
2. The sophistication of the search facility the motorhomer site actually uses.

For myself the search facility is significantly more important than no 1.

I know I'm repeating myself, but a really good search facility answers most questions - IF the underlying data used is of a good size and quality

 

[mariesnowgoose]

Can I just say that this is great the way it is but everything can be improved by the various members input but a sites suggestion section for ones that might charge a few pounds for stopping off to empty chemical toilet or waste water or to just fill up youre water tanks without having to stay overnight if that makes sense

Something along the lines of an 'Airbnb' (or even 'Aire' bnb! ) for motorhomes?

 

[Barge1914]

I have added to my earlier post
One thing that I would like to see and it would be very useful.
A dedicated Motorhome Technical Information Forum, with a sub forum for each of Motorhome brand.
eg and there are many more, I am sure I have missed quite a few

MOTORHOME TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE

Adria
Autosleeper
Autotrail
Avondale
Bailey
Benimar
Bessacarr
Burstner
Carado
Carthago
CI
Defthless
Damon
Devon
Elddis
Euromobile
Frankia
Giest
Globecar
Hymer / Eriba
Knaus
Laksa
McLouis
Mobilvetta
Niesmann & Bishoff
Pilot
Rapido
Rollerteam
Sunlight
Swift

If this is too much then

UK Built
French Built
German Built
Italian Built
Spanish Built
Slovenia Built

and so on, but then the pedantic among us could say for instance that Hymer are USA built as owned by Thor or Elddis are German built as owned by Hymer or similar things!

I had thought it would be nice to have country by country travel furum lists.

But for the reason you have already perhaps inadvertently flagged I realise that to break down all the main forum categories in this way would end up with such a labarynthine forum that it would be necessary to use the search system to find things. The search system on this forum seems a lot clearer to use, and seems to produce fewer totally irrelevant found items than the more cranky search capability of the older WC system. Therefore I would suggest that it would be better to retain a broad clear and simple forum structure and concentrate on making the keyword search as clear and effective as it can be, and avoid over complicating the forum. It’s no coincidence that the internet is driven by the capabilities of its search engines and not by what would otherwise be an almost impossible task to categorise everything.

 

[Barge1914]

Could there be a 'common theme' link so that if the word say, toilet or fridge or Internet comes up the querying member is automatically fed a list of previous threads on the relevant subject. Save some of the regulars continually having to repeat the same advice. Not that I don't enjoy the odd 'toilet' thread but they do have tendency for repetition. ???

Isn’t t that what the search facility already does very well? You can choose whatever word or words you like and find all the threads where they appear.

 

[Robmac]

I don't think that repetition (ie. new threads on old subjects) is necessarily a bad thing.

Technology advances and new products appear all the time, so rather than new members just being pointed to old threads for a particular subject, sometimes a new discussion to find out the latest developments can be beneficial all round.

 

[Firefox]

Meets but low cost ones eg £5 a night, no frills or extras . Just pay for field/venue. Camp fires or firepits allowed. Bring own firewood. Pub nearby preferably. Not too organised with extra money for tea urns, biscuits, raffles, quizzes or long lists of who will bring what.

Not too bothered about discounts/competitions/promotions.

 

[2cv]

Meets but low cost ones eg £5 a night, no frills or extras . Just pay for field/venue. Camp fires or firepits allowed. Bring own firewood. Pub nearby preferably. Not too organised with extra money for tea urns, biscuits, raffles, quizzes or long lists of who will bring what.

Not too bothered about discounts/competitions/promotions.

Sounds like this is catered for perfectly for anyone wishing to have such a gathering at the sister site Gatherings on wildcamping

 

[GreggBear]

Now we have got stickers , what about a sticker spotted forum ?

Somebody say something about stickers??