Website New Direction - Important please read

[P4UL]

How many active members are there and of which still own a Pulsar?

I believe that this isn't the only forum to have suffered, I have noticed a drop in activity amongst a few such as scoobynet and MLR from what it was like 3 or 4 years ago, and it is likely due to social media or it could just be due to a drop in enthusiasts.
Generations are changing and a desire for the old Japanese cars is probably dropping, there was a period where you couldn't buy a brand new decent hot hatch apart from a civic or a Clio, even Subaru went soft, now most manufacturers are making them and they are pretty potent plus they have all the modern toys and luxuries.

So where does it leave us, we'll there certainly is still a desire for these cars, and of most within the same era. I just bought one again after 10 years and prices car surely only go up with clean cars fetching a nice premium! But where to go with regards to the club? I am not sure, but an amalgamation with the pulsar Nismo doesn't seem right, especially as it's only really a warm hatch with basing to get sales rather than being something special!

is there still a lot of show activity, i.e attendance to advertise etc?

I have only just noticed there is a Facebook page for this club!

 

[petelesta]

Admittedly I have neglected my membership on this forum in regards toy activity on the other forum, that being said it wouldn't be a bad idea to start up some group activities ? Doesn't have to be anything special could be just a static meet but could do with being a regular occurrence? Yes you aren't going to be able to choose an area that is best suited to everyone due to distance, but there's no saying it has to be in one location, quite a few years back there was a car cruise that had effectively a rolling location, it pretty much covered the majority of the uk and you know what? I saw the same faces all the time, everyone travelled because they knew it would be a good meet, plus it doesn't have to be pulsar specific? Kind of defeats the object but if we want other minority clubs to join the forum and contribute it wouldn't be a bad idea to find them at source. Just my two pence and you can all tell me to swivel if you fancy but just an idea

 

[Nick K]

Similar thing happened with the renault 5 turbo owners club "Rtoc". Club split into 2. "Turbo Renault" owners club was born. Free membership etc, however they are using "skimlink" to raise funds to run the forum. Simple system if you want to buy something off EBay for example, you copy the URL into the site of the item. Close the blowser, reopen it. And then follow your link , purchase and job done, and percentage goes towards the club.

This forum has been invaluable for me over the last year of rebuilding the R which I purchased this time last year tbf. I have no issue with paying something towards membership etc as the information you get is second to none. I think keep the name too!

 

[Realutionist]

1. Forums in general are becoming obsolete thanks to Facebook, so the easiest way to preserve GTIROC is to integrate it with facebook/twitter. I'm on a few GTIR facebook pages and there's something new everyday.

2. The revamped GTIROC website needs to have a videos/images section so YouTube videos can be posted there. We should also have a YouTube tube channel.

Also, a history of the R, stats, owner's manual, service book, parts numbers, etc section (basically official Nissan material on the R).

Maybe have a parts suppliers section too in return for a contribution from any suppliers advertising there.

3. Add a donations button

4. Need to increase publicity with the club officially attending Nissan, JDM, classic car, etc events

But even with all this, we can't escape the fact that the number of Rs is dwindling and that's the main determining factor of traffic and interest. The only way around this specific problem in the long run is to integrate GTIROC with a Nismo Pulsar, Group A rally or general pulsar forum. Might also be a good idea to see how the Skyline forums juggled with the R35 GTR, if you want to take this route.

 

[ezcheese15]

Without question, the single most thing that is bringing forums to a halt is Facebook.

I'm an admin on NICOclub.com, and even with over a 1/4 million members, we've seen traffic drastically die off in the last couple years. The way we are sustaining is that we run a very active Facebook page and post links to great build threads we've had, as well as doing new articles all the time and posting links to them. That drives traffic to our site *from* Facebook. However, with an niche car like the GTi-R, that model is much more difficult to do because there is less content to post about in social media (NICOclub has the advantage of posting about anything Nissan related)...

With that being said, a niche market forum like this one absolutely needs to stay online, if nothing more than to archive information. Facebook doesn't archive and index stuff so that it's easily searchable, so forums will always have a place.

The other issue with "other" forums is that most have been bought out by larger corporations who run them into the ground. At least here in the U.S., companies like Internet Brands and Verticalscope buy up forums so that an entire network of forums are under one company. The problem with that is that nobody is a specialist any more. With a privately owned forum like this one, admins can listen to the members and direct the website in a direction it needs to go. That's a rarity.

My suggestion is this: keep the site under the same name. Upgrade to new software. And if you must do something to regain that revenue to keep the site up, use Facebook to your advantage. I see this site has a FB page, but the last post was over 2 months ago. Become active with it and make it work for you, not against you. Use it to drive traffic to the site.

It doesn't really matter that the conversations of the forums are less frequent, but if you're driving tons of traffic to the site, even over archived information, you can charge more for advertising. Or rework your advertising situation. Come up with new ways and new formats to place ads. It can be done without being obtrusive. But use FB and Twitter to drive traffic to the site, and sell ad space based on incoming traffic, not forum activity.

Also, as a couple people have mentioned, the GTi-R is finally legal (as of this month) to be imported into the U.S. That opens this site up to a whole new group of people. It won't be overnight, but more and more GTi-R's will make their way into the U.S. in the next few years, inspiring a new crowd to look for info. In fact, even that can be used as a subject on Facebook to post about and an audience to cater to. Try to reach out to the U.S. car enthusiasts on social media to say "hey, now that the GTi-R is finally 25 years old, it's legal to import to the U.S. Here's some great info on things to look for when buying one" and link to some threads on here.

Sorry for the long post, I just want to give some constructive direction that I think you guys should take coming from somebody who has managed Nissan forums for over 15 years, and how we've survived the decline of forums and what you can do to do the same. Keep your roots, but adapt. Don't let them die.

 

[red reading]

Interesting comments...wonder how many who want the site to stay will pay for it.

 

[fubar andy]

Sorry for the long post, I just want to give some constructive direction that I think you guys should take coming from somebody who has managed Nissan forums for over 15 years, and how we've survived the decline of forums and what you can do to do the same. Keep your roots, but adapt. Don't let them die.

One of the best responses to the thread and I certainly appreciate your feedback/input regards the forum!

 

[geoff pine]

Interesting comments...wonder how many who want the site to stay will pay for it.

Only time will tell

 

[warpspeed]

Now we find out who the real enthusiasts are....

 

[Empty Pockets]

Deja vu... lol

 

[dev singh]

I think you should auction this site people who made money from it and still making it might be interested and start the new one nismo owners club

 

[The Doc]

I think you should auction this site people who made money from it and still making it might be interested and start the new one nismo owners club

Unfortunatley if the wrong people bought the site it would disapeer...not an option is it!

 

[dev singh]

The site is out date anyway ...all them redirects is puting people off or the site should be cut down to manageable size with links to the new site

 

[Fast Guy]

We had paid membership before. Didn't people complain and eventually it was dropped.

 

[warpspeed]

I was asking for the accounts to be made available for all to see as it's a legal requirement with having paid membership.
I think a paid membership is the way to go provided it is used for the good of the club and members, it would give us some buying power as a club and help us all do more, I also think if a member has paid to join they are more likely to make the effort to go to events etc and take part in the club.

If the club catered for the oddball cars we could all have a stronger group of like minded folk and with a bigger paid membership could do more.

 

[Mad]

Cant answer about previous accounts but I will certainly be able to answer questions about donations to the club.

After paypal fees, current donations are £274.07.

I will keep a track of everything spent and will have a separate thread for all to read.

Thanks for all your donations.

 

[daddyone]

Interesting comments...wonder how many who want the site to stay will pay for it.

Agree Danny, however I think first the direction of the site needs to be decided by the members, a plan laid down with features, design etc. and the modification and running costs quantified, then made transparent to all. I for one am happy to give services or donations to keep the OC going and I would hope many others would come forward, if they saw where the money was going.

 

[PobodY]

Agree Danny, however I think first the direction of the site needs to be decided by the members, a plan laid down with features, design etc. and the modification and running costs quantified, then made transparent to all. I for one am happy to give services or donations to keep the OC going and I would hope many others would come forward, if they saw where the money was going.

In simple terms; this site doesn't host its self. - Many people don't like membership fees, but we're not a business so there's no revenue to siphon-off that could pay for it.

The only other option would be to start selling advertising, but I've always been proud that we haven't needed to do that... it annoys the crap out of me on other forums.

 

[Mad]

Agree Danny, however I think first the direction of the site needs to be decided by the members, a plan laid down with features, design etc. and the modification and running costs quantified, then made transparent to all. I for one am happy to give services or donations to keep the OC going and I would hope many others would come forward, if they saw where the money was going.

To give an idea, payments I have made over the last 2 years have been £1126.95.

This includes -
hosting
forum modifications
software charges
new software
web developer charges

Plans for the new site so far are as follows -

An easy to use forum software with no gimmicks and no redirection errors
An easy integration so facebook and twitter users can more easily log into the site
Promote the club via our twitter and facebook accounts and bring more UK and international members to the forums
Install a media gallery and resource centre

I'm more than happy to hear suggestions from our members as well so feel free to make any

 

[Daza]

Hi all,
It is a shame about the forum divide, merging them would be the answer, perhaps a meet up down the pub for a few to bury the hatchet !!!
Failing that I would rather keep the GTIROC name, I have no problem in paying a membership/donation, also club meets at shows would be good
I enjoyed the classic show at Silverstone, I also remember going to Japfest with the club but that was a while ago now lol.