OT: How did you guys split from roadfly?

[supraman215]

I'm trying to start a E32 board and I am a current, active memver of roadfly. I'm not trying to sell anything or make any money I just wanted a better place for the E32 guys to post. I heard that a while back you guys split off from roadfly. How did you get any activity? Starting off seems to be the hardest part, do you have any tips?

Jeff Wheeler

[rickm]

If you're tight with some of the folks on the board and communicate offlist talk to them about forming a forum elsewhere. If you contact them on forum the 'flea will more likely than not ban you.

[mikey535im]

Why not take advantage and 'jump start' the 7 series board here?
Mike

[George M]

...the issue is two-fold:

departure from Roadfly was ostensibly E-34 based due to banning or unjust censorship that righteously pissed a lot of people off who made the Roadfly board what it was. So this great forum had a huge jump start as it was spawned with a very knowledgeable core membership which continues to attract a lot of traffic.

- other issue is, censorship was never as big a deal on the E-32 board at Roadfly. I believe this is primarily due to the membership being a bit older and hence more tolerant to playing by the rules even though the rules weren't always fair to all. Personally I never had a single issue at Roadfly and remain an active participant to this day on the E-32 board. I am not an inner circle jerk member however and believe as in society there is a double standard of how people are treated. To show you that the sponsor's were not all bad at Roadfly, they did have the best porn of tasteful women on the web at the E-38 lounge until it was dismantled due to censorship that Charlie and Allan couldn't do much about.

In summary, you will be hard pressed to start a new E-32 board anywhere as the Roadfly board is regarded as the most knowledgeable board just like this forum is the best E-34 forum. I do wish you well in your pursuit as my sense is you simply want to start an alternative forum because you are a dedicated enthusiast. I think you will have a serious uphill climb however to gain membership for the reasons mentioned.
Best of Luck,
George

[MicahO]

Why not take advantage and 'jump start' the 7 series board here?
Mike

Ditto that - I'll send you the original language that I sent out, erm, ah, 'persuading' people to make a change. You can see what sort of response you get.

As George notes, there were a number of things at Roadfly that were really beginning to stick in the collective craw regarding board management. The original forums here were WWWBoard based, similar in look and feel to Roadfly, then moved to VBoard as more formatting was desired. I have to say that management-related things seem to have gotten better at Roadfly in the intervening years. Now the problem is that all the boards seem to be frequented by trolls more than any other BMW forums, and Charlie and Alan don't have the time to stomp them out. Too many other forums that also need to be managed.....

But the other forums here are ready for action.....

[632 Regal]

Shit i thought it was cause people couldnt post obseneties

I never liked that board because when I had dial up you had to open each message to see what was going on...took forever and usually not an answer at all. I very shortly found this place before it changed to VB and havent frequented anywhere else. If theres much I havent learned her I probably will shortly.

[supraman215]

I agree with you that Roadfly atleast in terms fo E32 is the most highly reguarded. But I want to change that perception. So I guess I might have to take the last person's advice and contact some people in a knowledgeable position.

I love what you guys have here but I have already started the board and put it all together. But I do appreciate the offer.

I'm just concerned if the transfer is too slow it won't happen at all. I need a catalyst. I have also put a post on roadfly about this board and it hasn't been taken down, yet.

Jeff Wheeler

[supraman215]

here's my post I've had a ton of views but only a few people haev joined.
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e32/5382793-1.html

[George M]

Yup...exactly what you need...a catalyst. Sad to say, you likely don't offer any incentive for change...what most people need. In the case of founding this board, the catalyst was a sense that Roadfly management was unfair or biased for commercial reasons being insensitive to board members which was many times true in the early days. Much of the malcontent surrounded advertising of sponsors or self promotion not affiliated with their board. As Micah another long time board member mentioned, things have improved at Roadfly, in part due to oversaturation, also in part due to commerce being realized and the last bit...what happens to everybody as they age...a mellowing or maturing process has taken place. Roadfly management takes more in stride, in part because their goals are being realized. In effect a culmination of things. My thoughts are the people that do the hard work to offer a forum of this nature should be compensated for the tremendous service they offer the enthusiast community.
George

[632 Regal]

Like the people said, its a hard thing to do starting a board all alone. The site look nice! My suggestion for you is to keep in touch with as many people as you know from the other board and try to get them to use both boards for a while until your site grows.
Good luck!

[supraman215]

My only compensation will be lots of happy users and posts.