Are we doomed?
Does anyone else fear for the future of this forum? Do you feel we are being treated like second class citizens?
A couple of posters have mentioned the staff input on the FB page recently and, yes, there they are. The staff members who were introduced here are actually posting on FB but, largely, ignoring the forum. (A word in praise of CL Maddie wouldn’t go amiss here - she’s head and shoulders above the rest.)
As for staff members being moderators here, what a joke! Even a visit from the CM is a rarity these days.
Then we have information about a review of the booking system being given in an interview to a commercial magazine. Hello there! What about us? We are the members who pay our membership and site fees which ultimately pay staff wages yet we are ignored on this and most other issues. It’s simply not good enough, CAMC.
Given the lack of staff input from all levels to this forum, it’s no wonder that the same old moans go around and around debating the same old topics. A bit of informed input from those who have the knowledge and ability to do so could turn this forum around from the appalling shop window of the club it is now into a pleasant, entertaining, informative place to attract new and present members.
I’ve not opened the can of worms that is the shocking software performance of this forum as that is a whole separate issue but am concentrating here on the apparent shabby treatment of users of this forum which borders on an insult when you see what happens elsewhere as I’ve outlined above. It seems to suit CAMC to mostly ignore this forum's existence.
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You are quite right with your OP.but then this website is now probably classed by EGH as not being dumbed down enough a place like Facebook , with what seems is needed in modern society,even if your op was reported it would be very unusual if any sort of positive response would be forth coming,
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I agree.
I'm unsure whether it's the crap software being used, a deliberate attempt to discourage it's use, or an attempt to force us to use Facebook or similar.
I have a facebook account but very rarely find anything of interest on it from the CMC.
It is a puzzle.
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Hi TW, we love our caravanning and we use mainly Club sites because we like the cleanliness, quality, layout and you know the standard of the site. I like the booking system and in general am quite happy with being a member of the club which allows us and makes it easy for us to enjoy our caravanning. Having said that there are a few things that are not all they could be and those things are often discussed at great length on this forum which is part of the purpose of it.
Most days I access the forum which I find mostly informative, sometimes amusing, and sometimes annoying when you get some stupid replies to your own post, but that is part and parcel of using a public forum. I do not feel that the forum is that bad, in my view it can be frustrating. I do agree with you on some points regarding input from the club, I think the club should use forum for what it, ie. a place that give members views, good and bad about caravanning and being a member of the club and yes, they should take notice, review, and respond on a regular basis to points, ideas and thoughts put forward on the forum rather than have the view that it is there and that's it. I think the Club is going through a major change at the moment with regard to its future and it is loosing 'club status' but that is due to chasing turnover and profit, therefore they will not bother with the views a small majority of members who use the forum.
So my view, keep the forum, the club should look at it and respond on a regular basis, tweek it to make more user friendly, and listen to the members
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Sadly I have to agree.
I have not posted much on here, but when trying to do so on another thread the cursor delays while typing were utterly awful. That was first reported almost a year ago but nothing has been done.
As for Facebook - it may have its place but detailed discussions it is not good for. A quick look round the club pages makes me think 80% + of what CAMC post is actually adverts. So assuming they get paid for the adverts it may actually be a revenue stream for the club - one never knows!
I just wish they would scrap any idea of writing their own forum and go get a package off the shelf. Many are vastly better, and a fair number almost free to use. Developing it in house is frankly plain daft. But all that's been said before
Mike.
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I believe because this Forum is integrated within the mainstream website, it is a thorn in its side by taking resources that its servers badly need. Facebook is ideal for CAMC to migrate to because its control is independent.
Nothing has been done to enhance the forum despite the reports given, and agree it is an attempt to force use of Facebook where a reply from staff is posted same day. Very soon I can see a future announcement of the closure of this site.
Either way, the members on this forum are treated badly by the lack of information and the invisibility of staff on here. Excepting CL Maddie who gets a thumbs up from me also.
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That’s a good point, Metheven, about the forum using resources that could be allocated elsewhere.
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Yes, we knew by 'Frenzy booking day' that various parts of the Website was closed down to direct all available resources to stop overload of its servers, so saying bye bye to this forum would release resources and help speed up the rest of the site.
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That proves that resources are stretched.
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I believe by doing nothing to improve this forum, hacking off its members and purposely assigning staff to post elsewhere proves that CT is doomed and hoping we might just go away. Eventually a post regarding its closure will blame members for not using it.
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I did not try and book on booking day until 8.15 and at that time the forum was running. The booking system did not appear to struggle as far as the user was concerned. If running the forum alongside the booking was a problem then the club would doubtless have disabled it until 8.45am.
When I use FB CC page it will be shortly after hell has frozen over
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I agree with some elements of Tinwheeler's post as the evidence, or lack of it, is there for all to see for some of the points he makes. However I am not sure that Club Together as an online community is on the way out.
Before thinking about Club Together let us take a look at the Facebook page. Am I alone in thinking that the Club may have opened Pandora's box by introducing this element of its online presence? I am sure in terms of having a social media presence they can't really manage without such a page. As far as I know anyone can contribute to the Facebook page without registration or being a member. As lots of other organisations have found to their cost such pages have to be carefully monitored hence the reason the Club have to devote so many resources to it compared to here.
As far as Club Together is concerned TW is right to say that we seem to be getting even less "official" feedback than we once did. The subjects covered in threads on here are many and varied but there are often some very pertinent questions raised and also good suggestions made which do seem to do unanswered which does give the impression of hittings one's head against a brick wall. On a more positive note I was talking to Graham Turner the Social Media Manager at the NEC and he was quite enthusiastic about Club Together, particularly the 400,000 people signed up to use it so in no way did I get the impression that any time soon it was going to be ditched. I think Graham was perfectly well aware of the shortcomings of the forum in it's current form. The one thing we have suffered from on Club Together since its inception is what is it actually for? If it is there to provide members with an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues as well as providing the opportunity to give and accept advice it works reasonably well. What it's role is in terms of providing feedback to management is a lot less clear and I agree that it would be nice to have some idea of the importance of Club Together in that respect.
David
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I'm sorry to read that you feel CT is doomed and I would like to assure you we really value our members posting on Club Together and that the feedback you give us through conversations on the forum are monitored and appreciated. We don't post on every discussion as we want this to be a forum for members, but we do always try and respond where requested and the staff who post on Facebook also have (and will) post on Club Together too. However, unlike Facebook we won't reply to every comment as we want members to be able to chat without us posting on every discussion. If there's ever anything you feel that needs a Club reply please let me know or report the post.
I know there are defects with the forum, some of which have been fixed, and some of which are planned to be fixed in the future. I apologise for any frustrations these have been causing.
We do hold a lot of value and pride in our forum and have tried to get more teams involved in the forum including CLs and the technical team. We will continue to look at making improvements to the forum in 2018 and I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you so much for all our contributors for your support and being part of our community.
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The system handled bookings and the forum but at the expense of other parts of the site, Easy. I believe CL searches was a casualty, for instance.
The system, apparently, couldn’t cope with everything which points to it being stretched with no spare capacity.
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I actually signed up to Facebook years ago, but very quickly became disenchanted and bemused by a lot of it. It just isn't something that appeals to me, and trawling through a heap of in the main nonsense ("I'm just having a cup of tea".......whoopee do
) isn't helpful when trying to find help or advice about specific topics. Hence, although I wasn't on CT right from the early days, I did sign up not that long after, and as a forum it used to buzz! Lots of input, lots of help, lots of just general chit chat, but all categorised, and quite easy to follow. Yes, as forums go it was clunky, had some issues, and had its share of let's say "characters" who required a degree of careful management! But on the whole, looking back and with hindsight, it was a damn sight better than the forum as it is now. Forget the technical side for a moment, there is little members can do to influence this, accept for the techno ones to work a few things out, and the odd moderator to keep a lid on the oh so scarce transgressions that happen now, it is dying through through lack of commitment from the Club. We get the occasional input from CM, Maddie updates the new CL list, and I am guessing DK tries his best to have a moderating presence. But that basically seems to be it. Having criticised, I am now going to have a think to see if there are any ideas that could possibly be taken on board to keep something that a few of still enjoy, up and running!
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Thankyou for your input, Rowena. I note what you say about reading, listening and staff contribution but, sadly, the appearance created is very often to the contrary.
Can you throw some light on the issue of the booking system being rehashed? It’s rather odd that no staff member has commented on this issue when thread after thread has appeared and run on at great length about the perceived shortcomings. A couple of sentences would have sufficed and let people know they were being listened to as the lack of input creates the appearance of everything being ignored.
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You’re missing my point, Easy, and can you imagine the fallout from that!
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As far as I can recall CT has been suspended for frenzy day. I was surprised to find it working on frenzy day this year. I didn't or haven't ever participated in frenzy day.
I think it is such a shame that CL seem to take the brunt of the knock backs on the website. They were knocked out this year can't comment on previous years.
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Booking sites online is contingent upon being a member of CT. That does not mean that the majority of this mythical 400,000 have any commitment at all to the Forum part. I would guess that the 'suits' wished they'd never started the Forum part and that online membership was solely for bookings and site reviews and I have my doubts about their enthusiasm for the latter.
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As staff appear to answer questions which appear on Facebook, we should have a sticky called 'What question should we ask staff on Facebook?'. Someone could then offer to post on Facebook all those contentious topics which aren't answered on here! (Put's tin hat on and retires behind Fence).
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Cheers, Bakers. I assumed that she’d see it as she appeared to be around but who knows?
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It wasn’t my intention to knock FB or its users, JV, but to put the case for the seemingly downtrodden CT.
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Agree TW, I am sure FB has its place, and perhaps I was harsh criticising it. And good to get such an early input from Rowena. I do think CY has a valid point CT doesn't have 400,000 contributors, it would be good if it actually had a regular 4,000! I am currently trying to think of some new HQ based topics that might improve discussions, and get a bit more banter and debate flowing.
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Hi Tinwheeler, I don't have any information on this personally but have forwarded your post to get some feedback.
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Thanks, Rowena. No doubt you'll be keeping an eye on progress.
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Okay........ I have a bit of a trawl around the website, and buried deep, not (to me) very obvious, is a section called Club News. Here is a huge range of items about a lot of what is going on in the Club, details of all sorts of items about how sites are developing, new initiatives etc... All very interesting and possibly the catalyst to get debate and comment flowing, and answer some of those basic questions that from time to time are asked on CT. If the Club news section was made more prominent, even perhaps a section on CT with links, this might just be an idea to make things a tad more interesting, catch the attention of more members browsing CT itself. A lot of the items are big talking points, and there seems to be a lot in there that I suspect a good few members are unaware of, unless they read the Club Mag from cover to cover, or subscribe to other media outlets dealing with touring, camping and holidays, such as MMM, or "out and about live"
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