Paddy's site

[Tony]

It's a big friendly forum, with rather nice community spirit where everyone helps everyone else (such a rare thing this day and age), so I'm pretty sure it's there to stay, even if a few of us aren't keen on the way it's run.

But yes, you could say that the signal to noise ratio isn't great...

[Chug]

Patrick reckons he doesn't make any money from the forum and it actually costs him to run it (although he encourages people to click the ad links to ebay etc!)  but he won't let people who offer to help update and stop pop ups etc.

[Tony]

Maybe that's because his hosting is excessively expensive?  If he switched hosts then he wouldn't need to keep the funding levels so high to run it.

[nigelb]

If I'm honest...I'm a bit fed up with the VOD. So much so that i only check in "invisible" to see if I have messages. Some folk on there really piss me off.

Nige

[Julian]

I'm starting to feel the same way and I suspect others are too.  Seems to be moving a bit off track, being treated a little like a sales arena by some and the adverts are horribly big brotherish.

It might be that it's holiday season, but I get the impression that it's slowing down a bit.

[Tony]

I quite like that the "experiment with it" types seem to be congregating here slowly anyway.  VOD seems to have bit of a reputation for  experienced members putting down new ideas quickly if they are not the traditional way things have always been done.  Half the joy in fuel making is experimentation, we should encourage it even if there is a good possibility it'll fail - just for the few times when it doesn't and we learn something new.

[Stumpy]

I must agree that VOD is getting to be a soap box for certain members "its my way or the highway"

One of the "old" members who I've met is at times a pita with his cocky attitude, shame as his "kit" is excellent.

IMO if you don't try new things you get nowhere, we wouldn't be making Bio if someone hadn't tried, not only that its part of the "fun" for me

[K.H]

I dont know if its the time of year but to me its like a graveyard on the VOD at the moment,nothing really bio or veg related,just people flogging things and the same ones using it as some kind of google-how can i move this or clean that

[Julian]

I dont know if its the time of year but to me its like a graveyard on the VOD at the moment,nothing really bio or veg related,just people flogging things,what i did today threads (as if i care!) and the same ones using it as some kind of google-how can i move this or clean that

Lucky I chose to ask Jules direct about a little problem on the Disco, otherwise you'd be grumbling about that post too!

Top man Jules.  His solution to a replacement IP not working was to take a hammer (described on a thread he found as Land Rover special tool number 1) to a box of electronics attached thereon.  It worked a treat!

That's the sort of car mechanics I like!

[Julian]

Ive got nowt against asking for a solution to a problem,but cant see the point in saying what your going to do today and then rushing in every hour to type it out
Today im going to have a dump,i will keep you updated!

That's actually one of my gripes, I feel, on occasions, that the VOD is becoming a bit of a car repairs forum.  That's really why I contacted Jules direct.   I'd have felt a little hypocritical posting another Discovery help question, not withstanding it would have laid myself open to more digs from the Discophobes.

[K.H]

Its a hard one,i think its the same people or the same question being repeated thats annoying ie ring gumming,ive never asked a car repair question as far as i can remember but if something goes wrong i probably would,but as it would be my first one i would'nt feel guilty and i would have used the search button first

[Tony]

In all fairness someone did create a "General Car Repairs" section on VOD.  There are hundreds of forums that already deal with that kind of thing but I guess people like to ask those they already trust about repairs.

I've posted in the past about my fuel system woes but I think that's all fair game and on topic.

[therecklessengineer]

Hello everyone!

Just thought I'd say hello and tag onto the end of this thread. Last time I checked in here the forum was pretty much empty - I'm pleased to see it filling up!

Yes, VOD annoys me too. I've gone rather quiet on there. I have in the past tried to organise it better and bring it more 'on topic' shall we say. I got crucified, so haven't bothered since.

I'd quite happily chuck in some pennies for a better forum, without adverts.

I'm a member of this one too: www.lr4x4.com. Their model is to have two tiers of membership. Basic non-paid where you are subject to ads, and paid (currently 2 quid per month, or a lump sum every year) which removes the ads as well as getting stickers/t-shirts etc.

For the wealth of information (it's well organised) as well as the build threads of some really gorgeous and ingenious engineering it's well worth the money.

I think it's a good example of how a membership can financially support a well run, and functional forum.

[nigelb]

Well said James.

Tony..do we need to make some sort of contribution for the smooth running of this forum. I'm more than happy to dip my hand in my pocket.

Nige

[Julian]

I think it's costing Tony £3.35 a year.  I've offered to  pay next year,  so you'll have to join the queue.

From the outset the three original admin agreed that the forum and especially the wiki would never carry adverts or be seen to promote or favour commercial organisations.

We came up with this phrase used on the main page of the wiki ...

This is a non-commercial, non-profit site, run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, and open to peer review.

I hope this, along with transparent management, sums up the ethos to which most of us subscribe.

It's conceivable the site may need funding in the future, but I think that's a long way off and a bridge which we can sympathetically cross when we come to it.

I feel I should point out that we wouldn't have the site running as smoothly as it does without the skilful efforts of Tony.  He seems to breeze through updates, improvements, changes and problems which would take the rest of the admin a life time just to comprehend ... thanks Tony!