mk2 imoc uk

[PW@Woodsport]

not often i have an issue with anything,but i have to say i used to love browsing imoc reading the different mk1/mk2 threads in the mechanical/general and modifications topics.....and in most cases helping answer questions, as most of us do.

However since the introduction of the mk1 club section onto imoc ive just noticed theres hardly a single mk1 thread on the main list of mechanical,general or modifications,go check,theres maybe one thread if that.... it was someones fear a while back that allowing the mk1 club some imoc webspace would totally split imoc into two... mission accomplished! Id just like to know the reasons for that? im a big fan of both clubs but it seems imoc has shot itself in the foot??

Imoc is now a mk2 club,theres nothing to read thats mk1 related anymore in the technical sections....and you have only succeeded in driving your mk1 members toward the mk1 club,which is no bad thing for the mk1 club but i just wonder how many mk1s you will see on the imoc stand this coming year?

This is just my personal opinion but i think creating that section was a very bad move for imoc indeed,great news for the mk1 club though.

[poyntesm]

Hi Paul,

Personally I would have preferred to have them post in the original sections..but I believe originally the Mk1 club did not want this..so it looked like a seperate forum from the Mk1 club might spring up..that would have further split the MR2 posts between two totally seperate clubs. So the new section was born.

/what follows below is my personal thoughts.

We are currently moving to a new dedicated server for IMOC. This will allow us much great freedom on the site. Currently we are held back from doing a lot of stuff due to SQL load issues.

On the test site..every post within a technical section must have wither it is a Mk1,Mk2,Mk3...I am just finishing off the user options to have a filter..so a user can see just Mk1 posts if they so choose. However all posts will then be in the normal sections. Guest and such will see lost of mk1, mk2 posts together. This is good for IMOC. The Mk1 boys will be able to see IF THEY WANT just the Mk1 posts.

[Quigonjay]

. it was someones fear a while back that allowing the mk1 club some imoc webspace would totally split imoc into two... mission accomplished!

thank god it was a mk1 owner that said that, totally agreed paul, would never have agreed in the first place had there been a vote

[poyntesm]

. it was someones fear a while back that allowing the mk1 club some imoc webspace would totally split imoc into two... mission accomplished!

thank god it was a mk1 owner that said that, totally agreed paul, would never have agreed in the first place had there been a vote

At least it means currently there is not another MR2 forum??

[PW@Woodsport]

hi ben,i guess what im saying is what happens to imoc if/when the mk1 club sorts out its website and decides to have its own forum? imoc will then lose nearly every mk1 owner it had?

Im a firm believer in different clubs for different purposes you see,the mk1 club has a totally different following and vibe to imoc,as does twobrutal and the mr2oc,and as for the DC less said the better...what im getting at is imoc is supposed to be a club for ALL variations of the mr2,and at the moment its 99% of the way to being a mk2 club....this has only happened since the mk1 club was given part of the site.Dont get me wrong i think its great,cross club colaboration and all that,but wasnt there a poll some years ago on the old imoc board where a possible club merger was discussed and it ended up being thrown out due to people wanting different things from each club? It wasnt given the same member consideration this time around,it just happened behind closed doors...nobody got a say.

Im also confused about whose rules we follow when posting on the mk1 club section? imoc has a very liberal attitude towards posts,as it always has,and im all for that...but i know for a fact that the members that make up the mk1 club frown on this type of attitude.For example if someone was to post the "is sex possible in an mr2" thread thats appeared on imoc before on the mk1 club section they wouldnt take too kindly to that at all,but whose rules is it infringing? they arent imoc but yet fall under imocs posting rules? do you see where im coming from? different clubs have different tastes and attitudes and i dont see the collaboration working for the good of imoc in the long term.I hope im wrong.

As a mk1 garage i get the opinions of many mk1 owners daily so this isnt just my rantings,a lot of imoc members,especially mk2 owners are disgruntled at imoc being split into two.

Its great that the mk1 club has its own forum,i suggested this to richard morgan about 3 years ago as an addition to the mk1 website as it was always something sadly lacking from the club given that its web based as well...but i never got a reply.

I dont mean to rock the boat at all,i just think imoc as a whole community should have been asked if it was a good idea or not,and as a result the mk1/mk2 divide has opened up even further.Imoc is now a place where mk2 owners post,my fear is that the club meets will be exactly the same.

I havent a clue what the solution is by the way,just thought someone needed to say whats being said off forum.

[jimi]

I agree with Paul, I to used to enjoy browsing all the posts, now I find myself just looking in the mk1 club section, and missing out on the Mech/Elect/Mods sections. Definitely seems to polarised the forum into 2 distinct area's. I don't know what the answer is either.

[luthor1]

/Mk1b owner by the way...

I struggled posting Mk1 questions in the IMOC sections, because before anyone had posted replies to me, 5 posts would have been updated re: mk2 and my question all-but forgotten.

Problem is mk2 owners outnumber mk1 owners so there is not a split of 50/50.

Furthermore, if the mk1club had it's own forum, how many of these IMOC mk1 owners would have not fled anyway? At least this way mk1/2 and 3 are still in the same place. The only reason I read IMOC before the mk1 section is because there was no mk1 section anywhere else! I fully believed it was a MK2 forum that I was "invading".

[j0nathan]

Hi there. I'm a MK1a owner.

I lurked for some time on the IMOC board and the MR2OC board prior to buying my MK1 but joined the MK1 Club a little while later once I had bought it. I refused to pay the IMOC or MR2OC fee for Premium membership because the perceived value I would receive in return was low as against the return from joining a MK1 dedicated club. I spent ages sifting through endless MK2 banter and suggestions to find the MK1 gems but these were soon lost in the sea of MK2 posts. I am not knocking MK2's (or 3's for that matter) or the need to ask and answer questions relating to them it is just that my personal area of interest is MK1's. For this reason I can see that having a mandatory filter on the post for MK1, MK2, or MK3 would be extremely beneficial.

The appearance of the MK1 Club forum on IMOC drove me towards IMOC and prompted me to buy my Premium membership and support the club since now I perceive that I obtain real value from being a member. I think that this view may be held by many other MK1 Club members as well. I now post on IMOC regularly and hope that I add some value in the same way that questions answered by others have been of value to myself. If IMOC had not harboured the MK1 Club forum I doubt I would have sent off my £5 but it did so I did and will again next year.

BTW, having seen what avenue the new MK1 website is going down I don't think that another (rival?) forum is on the cards just yet. The MK1 Club owners I have spoken to at our two recent meets all seem to be in favour of the MK1 Club forum and have found it a useful place of congregation and debate amongst like minded individuals.

For what it's worth, I browse all the forums and if I feel I have an answer, usually to a generic question, I'll post it up.

Not sure where all that was going, just my 2p.

Happy Christmas to all.
Jon

[firstmk1]

Same here Jon. Also, I found sbITs on this site and that's got to be worth £5.

[Sidewinder]

At last someone has brought this point up!

IMOC-UK has changed over the past few years, and the 'vision' of the club being a central meeting point for all MR2 owners (regardless of Mk1, Mk2, Mk3) has been watered down since every man and his dog decided to start their own MR2 forums.

I mean: what's the percentage of Mk ownership on here? At a guess, 30% Mk1, 65% Mk2, and 5% Mk3. The Mk1 owners have their forum (piggybacked onto the IMOC one), and what with the Roadster Owners Club taking the lion's share of Mk3 owners...

The Mk1 owners on here aren't particularly interested in Mk2 Tubby owners banging on about boost levels and Rolling Road quests, any more than the Mk2 owners give two hoots about Mk1 owners comparing how rusty (or not) their cars are.

IMOC-UK isn't really IMOC-UK anymore, but it's still a great club and I seem to spend enough of my spare timing posting on here! How many bloody 'clubs' can there be for one car type?

[tamiyauk]

Personally I started with the MR2MK1Club which is a great source of info but as a community all I found useful was the excellent newsletter as I don't get the time to meet and great.
Then Scott Barton introduced me to this Forum which is superb and for me has been further enhanced since the MK1 club have joined, I don't just Love the MK1 but also the MK2 and hope to own one one day!
I think things couldn't be better in my opinion, we have the MR2MK1Club that have a very informative website that is soon to become pretty, a MK1 Forum section on here that just makes it easier to navigate to MK1 stuff and all the other sections that are mostly dominated by the MK2 owners, which is fine and a great source of knowledge and humour. I see many members using all sections.

I say keep it how it is, in fact the only thing I would change is if the MR2OC joined forces and made things really simple with one place to browse!

I've just payed for Premium Membership whilst writing this, made me think just how much I appreciate IMOC

[Scott Barton]

I've just payed for Premium Membership whilst writing this, made me think just how much I appreciate IMOC

Well done that man! =D>

[MartG]

Just to chuck in my 2p worth.....

These days I rarely browse the individual forums - I just click on the 'read new posts' tag and browse the results.

[JJ]

ive just noticed theres hardly a single mk1 thread on the main list of mechanical,general or modifications

Woods... mk1's rarely go wrong !! They may fall apart, but you dont' need to go onto a forum and ask what to do !!

[tonigmr2]

Paul, I don't think it polarises things at all. I am a member of the MK1 Club and read the section, but my twincharger will be on the IMOC stand this year and every year hence. We want to foster a closer working relationship with the club, not take it over or subsume it so it's important it retains it's own identity on the IMOC site.

There is nothing stopping MK1 posts anywhere on the site, but at least the MK1 'section' fosters an club spirit amongst the MK1-ers rather than losing them in the general melee. We've noticed a good upsurge in MK1 members since. We encourage all for sale and wanted items and events to go into the general IMOC sections FWIW.

T

[PW@Woodsport]

thats all very well toni but the fact remains theres practically no mk1 threads on any of imocs main lists since the mk1 clubs inclusion...imoc is now a mk2 club with the mk1 club nailed on the side,thats the way i see it anyhow.I hope im wrong and imoc gets a good turnout of mk1s at events like JAE.

[Sidewinder]

Paul is totally right here on the forum side of things as well as at JAE2005; how many Mk1s were on the IMOC-UK stand? How many Mk3s did we have?

[Speedy]

mk3s.. erm.. 1? (BenFs)?
mk1s, well, there was our 2, Shish (Super ed), Lauren, Vashy, Kaiowas, Icsunonove (SC), BenFs, and for a short while, blokeys as well. Not too bad.

Hopefully we'll have our two back for 2006 for starters.

I don't really see what the problem is - are there not enough mr2 boards to trawl through already?

[PW@Woodsport]

hi speedy, the point im making isnt about other clubs or the amount of boards there are to trawl through....it was about the state of imoc as an Mr2 club,that means representation from ALL three marques.Ok theres never been a good mk3 following granted but do you really think out of 4353 registered users that 5 or 6 mk1s (and on sunday i counted 2) on the imoc stand at JAE2005 (surely the biggest club event of the year?) that theres no problem? Where have all of the mk1 threads gone that used to litter the main lists?

Im only showing concern for the welfare of imoc,its so segregated these days that theres hardly any cross posting between mk1 and mk2 owners.This was a big part of the forum in my view because many owners could help each other out....how many mk1 owners still read the main lists but instead go straight to the mk1 club topic? and equally how many mk2 owners read through the mk1 club posts? I bet its not a fraction of the amount that used to view and read all the posts on the main lists.

Sorry for banging on about it but DO see a problem and thats why ive posted about it,it seems to be a very topic,after all none of the imoc members were consulted about this massive change to imoc (unless i missed a poll???) Im only saying what others are talking about outside of the forum.

The problem as i see it speedy is i guess im sorry to see imoc getting split in half and i seriously doubt thats a good thing for its future,thankyou.

[aaronjb]

how many mk1 owners still read the main lists but instead go straight to the mk1 club topic?

Personally I just hit 'View new posts' (still don't like the new way it does that, mind.. ) and read whatever looks interesting - Mk1, Mk2.. I don't even look at which forum section it's in

And I don't even own either..

To be honest, though, I'd have expected 'niche market' cars (like the Mk3 & Mk1 - there's no getting away from the fact there's simply a lot less of them on the road than the Mk2) to gravitate toward niche market forums anyway (case in point - you'd find me on the MR2ROC stand at JAE, not on IMOC, though I frequent both forums).. People go where the information is easiest to find, surely - so bunging all the Mk1 posts back in the quagmire of Mk2 posts would, I'd have thought, just drive people away to other - more specialist - forums..

Still, makes no odds to me either way I suppose, since I don't own one. I always had IMOC down as a 99% Mk2 club anyway, from the outset..