What I need to know about the CB1100...

[lackskill_imp]

I spent a couple years as a moderator on a 35000+ member car forum. It gets tiring taking out the trash. It's also predictable which members and types of conversations/threads are going to be trouble.

If you like that kind of thing, there's always 4chan.

[Guth_imp]

I spent a couple years as a moderator on a 35000+ member car forum. It gets tiring taking out the trash. It's also predictable which members and types of conversations/threads are going to be trouble.

If you like that kind of thing, there's always 4chan.

Whoa!

[Cormanus]

... your bait's working there Red?

[url=http://s121.photobucket.com/user/aussieflyer1100/media/Fun/fishing20cartoon_zpsac1f4339.gif.html]

Excellent picture.

[Deanohh_imp]

Not a darn thing. I have been riding and wrenching long enough where there are no mysteries about this bike. It is simplicity itself.

Only reason I joined was to occasionally inquire about tire choices (very limited and I did the research on my own anyway) and share my experience regarding the BT45's, which are working brilliantly.

What am I going to ask? What is the best pipe? What map can I use on a Power Commander? How to defeat the speed limiter? How to put on a set of handlebars or a seat or a fairing? How to change the oil or adjust my chain? What oil to use? What octane is best?

This bike just doesn't offer any kind of technical challenge except for beginners or those who just aren't mechanically inclined.

This bike is not a mystery machine, nor is it exotic or quirky. It is instead a lightning rod for nostalgic, wistful discourse, something that is apparently beyond the scope of this particular forum. The moderation here seems conservative in the extreme. Time and again, just as soon as a thread get interesting or fun, it gets shut down. But I'll bet ya that there are more guys tuning in to see what will be said next than are actually ever posting; and I'll further wager that most of them see things like I do. Food for thought?

Well your brilliant answer to the "technical challenge" regarding ecu reflash was " someone will get around to it eventually"

(spirited enough or shall I escalate?) lol.

[The Spaceman_imp]

I had a lightning rod almost kill me once. It was a heavy copper spike about 36" long that resided on the top of my sailboat's mast. I had it off the boat with a bunch of other metal parts to be cleaned and polished. They were all in a big box in the back of my Isuzu Trooper. I was driving along through town when some yay-hoo pulled in front of me, forcing me to slam on the brakes. The box slid forward and the spike went right through the seat back. Luckily it was the passenger seat and nobody was in it.

Talk about leaving bite marks in the seat!

[Red Mist_imp]

Well, there's a lot of hash getting slung here now!

Funny thing is, I have never started a controversial thread. I did not call anyone a name. I did not insult anyone. I wonder how many folks responding to this thread checked to see just what "controversy" or offensive behaviour I was actually guilty of! A quick search of my posts and threads will show that they're about as milque-toast as one could hope for, quite civil, and generally informative if not helpful.

But yes, as one poster above pointed out in a rather humorous graphic, I did -- per Guth's request -- post a thread about what I needed to know about the CB1100, as a fishing expedition. And the feeding frenzy was on, encouraged by Guth's calling me a "know-it-all", and I quote: "You've made it clear that in your mind, you're a know-it-all when it comes to the CB1100."

Guys, take a look at my posts. See if I've slandered anyone or used any kind of malicious sarcasm. I have not.

My comment that threads have been "shut down" was not to say that they were "locked" but to indicated that just when things start to get lively (not ugly or mean-spirited), it seems that a preemptive strike takes place by the heavy hand of the moderators, and in my view, that's been premature on many occasions.

I say again: the CB1100 is a very simple motorcycle. Yes, beginning riders will find it a good place to start learning about motorcycle design and maintenance. As a long-time rider, it offers no challenge to me along those lines. Does this make me a know-it-all? Of course not, and I've never suggested I know it all. I made a statement about the simplicity of the CB1100, ironically something that endears it to many riders, myself included.

A quick scan of the membership and content of this site shows that less than three dozen people are generating the vast majority of the content. If there are in fact about 1000 members, this is a bit unbalanced and would indicated a large number of lurkers or inactive users. That would suggest, from a marketing research perspective, that the vast majority of registered users are either reluctant to post or have abandoned the site altogether.

This brings me to my point; a very tightly-controlled discussion group such as this is not really a "forum" at all, but more of a private community. If the object is to expand the roster, the overly tight moderation seems counterproductive, since the retro-bike phenomenon is catching on; note Yamaha's new SR400, for example.

If the object is to have a tightly-controlled, more exclusive group of individuals, then that's something altogether different.

[rboe]

It is fairly common knowledge that the vast majority of forum members never post. They are quite happy to lurk and glean wisdom without the act of actually posting and making themselves known. So your assumption about why we don't have more members posting is missing the point.

Any endeavor benefits from having a structure of rules. You can't have maximum performance in an athlete unless you have rules to focus that performance. A company, army, government, family - anything with more than one person as a member; performs with better efficiency with a framework of rules to work within.

It has been my experience that there has not been any heavy handed moderating and your stand says more about you than about this site. And I'm quiet puzzled how one could run a tightly controlled exclusive group on the Internet. This is pretty much the wild west with folks free to come and go as they please.

Reminds me of an old saying; There are two types of people. Those that make us smile when they come into a room and those that make us smile when they leave.

[Red Mist_imp]

It is fairly common knowledge that the vast majority of forum members never post. They are quite happy to lurk and glean wisdom without the act of actually posting and making themselves known. So your assumption about why we don't have more members posting is missing the point.

Any endeavor benefits from having a structure of rules. You can't have maximum performance in an athlete unless you have rules to focus that performance. A company, army, government, family - anything with more than one person as a member; performs with better efficiency with a framework of rules to work within.

It has been my experience that there has not been any heavy handed moderating and your stand says more about you than about this site. And I'm quiet puzzled how one could run a tightly controlled exclusive group on the Internet. This is pretty much the wild west with folks free to come and go as they please.

Reminds me of an old saying; There are two types of people. Those that make us smile when they come into a room and those that make us smile when they leave.

Well that there is right neighborly of you.

That reminds of another saying, one that was a favorite of a blue-collar, yeoman supervisor of mine decades ago.

"Don't go thinking on me, just do as you're told."

[Guth_imp]

Red,

I don't believe that I implied that you started any controversial threads or any of the other things mentioned. If the know-it-all title doesn't fit, then I don't understand some of your recent comments, including the post to start this thread. When someone states that there is not a darn thing that they need to know about something and it presents no challenges to them, what other conclusion would you draw? But I apologize for using that phrase if you see things differently.

I won't apologize for the moderation here and feel that your remaining comments are misguided. The activity of most forums is dominated by a small percentage of members and we are no different. The only object I had in mind when I started down this path was to provide a place for people to discuss the CB1100 as none existed that I could find. It took me a while to get things up and running, and I've been figuring things out as I go, but overall I've been very happy with the way this forum has evolved. If you don't consider this to be a forum, then again I'd encourage you to start your own.

Yes, there are a number of inactive users. Again I don't think that this is abnormal.

I don't track any type of personal information when it comes to site visitors, but I do track site activity. Over the past month's time, we've had almost 25,000 visitors, of which 7,200 were unique visitors. In that time we served up over 300,000 page views. 25% of people visiting this site during this time were new to the site, having never visited before. In addition, visitors to this site came from just over 100 different countries over the past month. Again this totally exceeds anything I might have imagined when I started this site.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not asking you to leave, nor am I trying to imply this. Suggesting that you start your own forum is just that. There are a lot of different ways to go about this and some might truly prefer your approach. I've got no problem with that. As far as this site is concerned, all expenses have been paid for by me and I've put a lot of time into getting it up and running as well as maintaining it. (The ferret also puts in countless hours and I fully support the way he goes about things.) I'm not pointing this out to receive praise from anyone. But given these things, I don't find it at all unreasonable to handle things around here the way I see fit.






Sent from my iPhone using [url=http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1]Tapatalk

[lackskill_imp]

Well, there's a lot of hash getting slung here now!

Funny thing is, I have never started a controversial thread. I did not call anyone a name. I did not insult anyone. I wonder how many folks responding to this thread checked to see just what "controversy" or offensive behaviour I was actually guilty of! A quick search of my posts and threads will show that they're about as milque-toast as one could hope for, quite civil, and generally informative if not helpful.

But yes, as one poster above pointed out in a rather humorous graphic, I did -- per Guth's request -- post a thread about what I needed to know about the CB1100, as a fishing expedition. And the feeding frenzy was on, encouraged by Guth's calling me a "know-it-all", and I quote: "You've made it clear that in your mind, you're a know-it-all when it comes to the CB1100."

Guys, take a look at my posts. See if I've slandered anyone or used any kind of malicious sarcasm. I have not.

My comment that threads have been "shut down" was not to say that they were "locked" but to indicated that just when things start to get lively (not ugly or mean-spirited), it seems that a preemptive strike takes place by the heavy hand of the moderators, and in my view, that's been premature on many occasions.

I say again: the CB1100 is a very simple motorcycle. Yes, beginning riders will find it a good place to start learning about motorcycle design and maintenance. As a long-time rider, it offers no challenge to me along those lines. Does this make me a know-it-all? Of course not, and I've never suggested I know it all. I made a statement about the simplicity of the CB1100, ironically something that endears it to many riders, myself included.

A quick scan of the membership and content of this site shows that less than three dozen people are generating the vast majority of the content. If there are in fact about 1000 members, this is a bit unbalanced and would indicated a large number of lurkers or inactive users. That would suggest, from a marketing research perspective, that the vast majority of registered users are either reluctant to post or have abandoned the site altogether.

This brings me to my point; a very tightly-controlled discussion group such as this is not really a "forum" at all, but more of a private community. If the object is to expand the roster, the overly tight moderation seems counterproductive, since the retro-bike phenomenon is catching on; note Yamaha's new SR400, for example.

If the object is to have a tightly-controlled, more exclusive group of individuals, then that's something altogether different.

Managing an internet forum is no easy task. The people that do manage them are volunteers who enjoy both the topic and the members. If either of those ingredients are lost, so is the interest.

I don't claim to have extensive experience, but from what experience I do have, these places are much easier and more enjoyable to run if the conversations stay civil. As soon as opposing emotional perspectives are introduced, civility finds the door.

By curbing potential heated emotional debates early on, they're ensuring that the initial (which are usually the longest tenured and most active) user base recognizes that kind of behavior won't be tolerated here. For the most part, those initial users will both help enforce this rationale and set an example for the people that join after.

I tend to think of these places as the owner's house, or in some other cases, maybe their place of business. I wouldn't walk into their home or place of business and try to have conversations that the owner doesn't want, especially after I've been asked not to have them. I AM free to have that conversation, but as a rational and respectful adult, I'd take it elsewhere. I haven't been here long, but I've yet to see anyone be intentionally disrespectful.

Considering this place doesn't have a lot of vested stakeholders, isn't for profit as far as I can tell, and at the end of the day, belongs to Guth, however he chooses to run it is the correct way. None of us has to agree with him, but we do have to respect his decisions. Which, by the way, I think he does a pretty good job of staying rational and logical about as well. Case in point being this thread and the fact that his decision making can be debated in his house.

I'd like this place to stick around because I do have some things I'd like to learn while I'm here. You should stick around as well. You never know, you might just pick something up along the way.