Is membership a Joke

[trdee]

OC, i know what the club needs most are people who can volunteer their time. but a lot of people here, such as yourself and myself, simply cannot due to our present circumstances. The next best thing is to donate to keep the club running, and since most people cant volunteer, the thread has naturally started turning more towards the donations side of it. I don't really see anything wrong with that (actually I'm surprised it didnt come up earlier)

[oldcorollas]

you realise that will do nothing to fix the "time and lack of people" thing?

what the club needs are more active soft body members... not forum members.

As said before, the club IS real people and people turning up to events.
Without the soft bodies keeping the club alive, the forums DO NOT EXIST.

and starting threads bitching about how shit a job the current minimal board is doing (instead of posting in a civil manner in the thread created for that exact purpose).. is a swift kick to the nuts for the effort they put in

"Hi, you're doing a shit job, hurry up and give me my membership so i can join you"....
that would soooo enthuse me

[PeteH]

where is the button at the top of any page on the forum which is gold with donate written in it?

Hi,

That information is not too difficult to find if you are interested in contributing to this community in some positive way.

When I found this forum it was fairly apparent to me that I was going to be gaining much more than I was ever going to be able to give in return. There are quite a few intelligent people that frequent this forum who have a handle on problems that I could never hope to solve on my own. Realising this I thought the simple thing I could do was to offer some token monetary support to help keep this forum kicking.

A quick check under the Membership and Feedback header and I find the "I supported Toymods" thread. The idea of donating a little money towards the running of the forum sounded like a fair gesture given what I had gained. It wasn't hard to find and I didn't need a gold button to lead me there. Maybe the difference was that I actively sought out a way to give something back.

My 2c

Cheers,

Pete

[greywolf]

OC, I think the issue most people are concerned with is lack of funds for the forums. So donations should be encouraged, and if there is a glut of funds at any one moment they can be put aside for future server expenses and take a little pressure off.

As for volunteering, for those people in Sydney who think that they would like to help but don't feel experienced/have been long enough, may I point out that we all started as novices and learning on the job is a great way of learning.

I did start setting out a long paragraph of why I can't do it because I'm in Newcastle, but I've actually decided during the course of this post that instead I'll find out more of what's exactly involved and required of members before I start declaring I can or can't do a job.

[oldcorollas]

I agree, however..

what concerns me is that many forum members are only concerned about the lack of funds for the forums.. and couldn't care less about the club, or actively put it down, when the club is what provides the forums..

i agree that closing the forum to club members only would be a step backward... but not that big a step, considering the number of people who are just here to whore in non-car and to buy and sell stuff for free...

i think many forum members have a distorted view of the club, and their "right" to have access to the forums.

[trdee]

I think a lot of people care about the forums and the club, but are simply unable to volunteer as they would do more harm than good due to lack of time to dedicate to the job, so helping financially is the next best thing. Last time I checked toymods wasnt wallowing in a sea of gold.

[oldcorollas]

I think a lot of people care about the forums and the club, but are simply unable to volunteer as they would do more harm than good due to lack of time to dedicate to the job, so becoming a toymods club member is the next best thing. Last time I checked toymods wasnt wallowing in a sea of gold.

fixed .....

[trdee]

yes well ill be signing up at the dyno day in june.

for the moment i think $15 for the sake of the forums will suffice

[TheToyman75]

Its kinda nice to see the discussion has at least turned to "what can be done to help" as opposed to "Why arn't you ****s serving my needs". Which is much appreciated.

Toymods is not and has never been about the money. We are a non profit organisation and as long as the club covers its costs we are happy. The cost to run this forum is not small. The hosting alone is a kick in the bank balance and things like the Vbulleltin upgrade all cost us. We have avoided making this a pay to use system by selling the advertising banner adds at the top of the forum. There are only a few sponsors but they help a huge amount and are offer good deals toToymodders. There may come a time when some sections become accesable only to club members and paid forum members. But not yet. If it happens it will be a nominal amount and these forums will never not have a Free section.

Donations are and always will be greatly appeciated. I wont say we dont want them as the club wants to grow and to do that we do need to stay financially viable. The thread is there, its very easy to find and those who feel like supporting the club can do so electronically 24hours a day. It would be nice if everyone who used the classified slung Toymods a couple of $$ when they sold something but at thsi stage we dont even ask for that.

Financials and forum asside, The club relies on a core group of members to exist. regardless of the bank balance. Its these core members that the board members bother for. The foum will cease to exist if the core group gets to the point where there are not enough of us to bother with an offical entity, its to much red tape and bullshit for a handful of guys who probably socialise outside the club anyway. And thats the point I think OC was trying to make.

In terms of financials - new memberships generate basically no income for the club. The cost of the T-Shirt, Window Sticker, Public liabity insurace (Its billed to us per head) memebrship card, lamination sleaves. Postage of the packs and AGM mailout and printing costs of AGM packs eat most of the $50. Add to the that the incrimental cost of the Incorporation fees, all hire for meetings, PO box rental, Trailer rego and there is very little left. Membership renewals Do help and thats why its the core gorup taht keeps us alive. I would rather see new members than donations becasue its really not about the money. It never will be.

[WDE_BDY]

I'm sorry OC but I think you undervalue the contribution of forum only members.
Without the forum members the club itself would have died a long time ago. Where do you think most of the newer members even find this club?
What makes the forum a great resource? It is the Australian and international based input of such a large range of people who as a combined group have probably the greatest Toyota knowledge in the world. That knowledge and community is what attracts people and without it the club would likely suffer considerably. Personally I think only one could survive without the other, people have generally moved away from locally based clubs. Particularly when Toyomods is not CAM's affiliated, most members have to belong to more than one club.
Not saying they don't contribute and add value to each other, but only one could survive and flourish on its own. People are concerned about the financial wellbeing of the forum as that is the part of the club they value. I personally am unlikely to ever join the club as I see no benefit but have no problem contributing to the forum. There seem to be a fair number of forum members who feel the same.

Callum

[TheToyman75]

Callum,

The forum members contribute a huge wealth of information to the other forum members and are as such a valued resource. I dont think OC or anyone else under values this or fails to appreciate it.

The club however existed and expanded long before we had a forum. These forums wont exist without the club, but the club can always exist without these forums. Either way, the plan is both will exist indefinatly.

[ed]

the outsiders think the forum is their own, and that is has nothing to do with the club

well who wouldda thunk it eh? being the internet and all

and really, this perspective is hardly helped by the 'clubs' presence on the forum being nearly non existent in comparison the volume of information (and rubbish!) provided by non club internet members. the club organises few events attented by few forum members (comapred to non club events), and coverage of these events consumes exceedingly little bandwidth of the forum traffic. the 'club' in itself provides very little 'noticeable' input to the forums, aside from administration of the forums, and conflict resolution (and of course not taking into consideration the ownership/hosting/maintenance and costs of the website)

this isnt a sledge, its just a subjective comment perhaps explaining why its easy to see the toymods website as 'just a website'. and is that really a bad thing anyway? its regarded as one of the best 'websites' for toyota modifcations, contains a massive amount of information and is contributed to by a massive crowd of which many are incredibly skilled/experienced and intelligent people. does it matter that they dont think of themselves a 'club material'

??

cheers
ed

edit: i just did a quick look around the website to make sure i wasnt talking shit...

...'ok, ok i want to be a memebr, click 'Membership' tab'...

the entire page reads as:

In this section

* Merchandise

Membership

The 2008 Toymods membership application form can be downloaded from this page, please see links below.

Membership entitles you to member only discounts from our Sponsors,you have the ability to vote in the AGM, stand for a Board position and obtain merchandise.

Membership Form 2009

Membership Renewal 2009

ok, so once i come down from being overwhelmed with information about the club, im like,
wow, ok, i can get #1 merchandise #2 sponsors discounts #3 vote in the AGM (oh goody!) does anyone feel slightly bad yet for slagging our thread starter for his apparent interest in club merchandise?

perhaps, im being too superficial, ok, ill click the events tab... hmmm empty. ok. gallery...? hmm i can check out some errr 'test gallery', but then theres the self explanatory text:

So, we don’t really have a proper gallery set up yet

is anyone catching my drift here?

again, not sledging, just pointing out some observations as to why the 'club' might feel a little underwhelmed in comparison to its more successful little brother 'teh intahwebs forum'

cheers
ed

[river]

Hi,

My other suggestion is that to complement the board, some less demanding roles should be created to allow members who may only be able to offer some time, or may be remote, might be able to perform some of the duties as a proxy. So if we said that Riverina were a Toymods member, but could only volunteer small amounts of time and could not attend all meetings, thus could not be a board member, she may become a proxy member, and help River collect the mail, or sort the mail, or create the initial contact emails to would be members.

Hehehe, I do rope in Riverina. She is not a Board or Club member, but she will put the Club money into the bank if I am busy. SHe has collected mail if she is going near the Post Office. She helps with the financial spreadsheets, cleaning up the format of the Constitution, got me all pretty binders and a box for the Treasury stuff, collected the key from the local Council for the park-gate at Wiseman's Ferry (for the Celica cruise this Sunday), and also is creating the Classic Celica calender (which I will bring along a few early sample months to the cruise for people to see).

You will find that Stitty's chick and Keanu's chick help out at cruises and Toyotafest by selling raffle tickets and helping about, so the Board is very family orientated in getting our better-halfs to help out. And, that's what makes it great. That's why I love the Club as we all help out, especially with the reduced Board.

It is the people that make the Club. The more members, the more people that come on cruises and events, the better the Club will be.

This Sunday is the perfect day to turn up to a great club cruise to see and meet the people. Even if it is just to say hi for a short while, it would be great and very much welcomed.

seeyuzz
river

[oldcorollas]

and really, this perspective is hardly helped by the 'clubs' presence on the forum being nearly non existent in comparison the volume of information (and rubbish!) provided by non club internet members. the club organises few events attented by few forum members (comapred to non club events), and coverage of these events consumes exceedingly little bandwidth of the forum traffic. the 'club' in itself provides very little 'noticeable' input to the forums, aside from administration of the forums, and conflict resolution (and of course not taking into consideration the ownership/hosting/maintenance and costs of the website)

this isnt a sledge, its just a subjective comment perhaps explaining why its easy to see the toymods website as 'just a website'. and is that really a bad thing anyway? its regarded as one of the best 'websites' for toyota modifcations, contains a massive amount of information and is contributed to by a massive crowd of which many are incredibly skilled/experienced and intelligent people. does it matter that they dont think of themselves a 'club material'

i do agree..
however, before toymods Aus, there was a toyotamods world list, which a few people here were also on, and before that there were other lists.. and before that there was just paper newsletters

"just a website" is ok.. as long as people realise who makes it possible, and don't sledge the club.. or even just refrain from whoring on like has been happening more of late..

edit:
the original slagging was for his goldfish attention span, which occurs on the other forums he is on also. and for his mass PM's to try and get "someone" to sell him toymods stickers AFTER he was made aware that they were not for sale to non-members...
it is not just this thread, but the continuing attitude

[o_man_ra23]

Ahhh... is that where I know the name from?? He was the bloke who wanted to swing me some coin to get him a sticker?? Dang. And he told me he couldn't afford the cost of full membership??