Dave Smith
03-21-2011, 02:18 PM
Guys,
Its been a bit more than a month since the launch of the new forum and I figured I'd give you all a progress report and look ahead at what to expect.
Since launch on Feb 12th, we have added almost 3,000 members and have crested 11,000 posts! Great job and thanks to all for sharing the efforts.
The goals of the forum were clearly to provide a stable future for the Factory Five community following the sale of the FFcars forum and subsequent increase in advert rates that threatened the cottage industry in favor of Tire Rack sized sponsors and a flurry of changes.
We launched the site roughly and have been chipping away at it every day to build it into the tool that will support a long-term home for the FFR community and provide a direct path to accurate technical information and company responses.
We have barely begun the effort to attract memebership beyond the FFR community, as we have been focused on making the pages work and links fuctioning. The advertisers who have joined are simply the best guys, and we haven't even actively contacted the myriad of suppliers, advertisers and vendors that we've come to know and work with! The advertisers listed so far are the earliest supporters of the new forum so they should be rewarded for joining early. One such reward is that March is a free month to all those who joined (at any sponsorship).
The next stage will be to finalize the structure of the site and begin adding the huge volumes of technical information that we have here at Factory Five. This information has to be added in a logical structure and has to be easy to find/locate. It also has to be easy for others to contribute to and verify accuracy. We want everyone to share their tech information, but we also want information to be accurate and timely.
Dave Hodgkins is creating the tech "wikis" structure and the guys here will shortly be adding posts on everything from wheel backspaces and sizes, to paint color codes and suspension alignment techs. We have a huge volume of instructions, tech tid-bits (like race car tech sheets) and things like bodywork how-to's videos that will help guys build cars.
On the tech side we also want to encourage customers and community members (vendors!) to add their tips and suggestions to the wiki-build categories. Beyond Tech, Factory Five Racing needs to directly support the forum as its largest sponsor and benefactor. This can be really fun, with give-away ideas and recognition of guys who contribute so much to the community. Kindness, fellowship, and goodwill should be the commodity we trade in and should be recognized and rewarded. I have some cool ideas on this.
At the same time that we are adding the tech library, we want to begin to invite others to advertise here, understanding that the goal of the forum is very much like a co-op where costs are shared so the community benefits. Low priced adverts that reach many people will only help the community and the community in turn, helps all the members whether they be customers, vendors, race organizations, media, or manufacturers.
Up to now the focus has been on just getting up and running. Looking forward I see a really great site that will be faithful to its charter of building community and will provide the very best place for tech info and community news.
To all of you who have helped us get off the ground with the very first posts... THANKS! Your support and stoke will be remembered many years from now when you are regarded with that distinction of being one of the original builders of the factory five forum.
The next three to six months will be exciting and will see fun changes each week. Thanks again.
Dave
Its been a bit more than a month since the launch of the new forum and I figured I'd give you all a progress report and look ahead at what to expect.
Since launch on Feb 12th, we have added almost 3,000 members and have crested 11,000 posts! Great job and thanks to all for sharing the efforts.
The goals of the forum were clearly to provide a stable future for the Factory Five community following the sale of the FFcars forum and subsequent increase in advert rates that threatened the cottage industry in favor of Tire Rack sized sponsors and a flurry of changes.
We launched the site roughly and have been chipping away at it every day to build it into the tool that will support a long-term home for the FFR community and provide a direct path to accurate technical information and company responses.
We have barely begun the effort to attract memebership beyond the FFR community, as we have been focused on making the pages work and links fuctioning. The advertisers who have joined are simply the best guys, and we haven't even actively contacted the myriad of suppliers, advertisers and vendors that we've come to know and work with! The advertisers listed so far are the earliest supporters of the new forum so they should be rewarded for joining early. One such reward is that March is a free month to all those who joined (at any sponsorship).
The next stage will be to finalize the structure of the site and begin adding the huge volumes of technical information that we have here at Factory Five. This information has to be added in a logical structure and has to be easy to find/locate. It also has to be easy for others to contribute to and verify accuracy. We want everyone to share their tech information, but we also want information to be accurate and timely.
Dave Hodgkins is creating the tech "wikis" structure and the guys here will shortly be adding posts on everything from wheel backspaces and sizes, to paint color codes and suspension alignment techs. We have a huge volume of instructions, tech tid-bits (like race car tech sheets) and things like bodywork how-to's videos that will help guys build cars.
On the tech side we also want to encourage customers and community members (vendors!) to add their tips and suggestions to the wiki-build categories. Beyond Tech, Factory Five Racing needs to directly support the forum as its largest sponsor and benefactor. This can be really fun, with give-away ideas and recognition of guys who contribute so much to the community. Kindness, fellowship, and goodwill should be the commodity we trade in and should be recognized and rewarded. I have some cool ideas on this.
At the same time that we are adding the tech library, we want to begin to invite others to advertise here, understanding that the goal of the forum is very much like a co-op where costs are shared so the community benefits. Low priced adverts that reach many people will only help the community and the community in turn, helps all the members whether they be customers, vendors, race organizations, media, or manufacturers.
Up to now the focus has been on just getting up and running. Looking forward I see a really great site that will be faithful to its charter of building community and will provide the very best place for tech info and community news.
To all of you who have helped us get off the ground with the very first posts... THANKS! Your support and stoke will be remembered many years from now when you are regarded with that distinction of being one of the original builders of the factory five forum.
The next three to six months will be exciting and will see fun changes each week. Thanks again.
Dave