Regions?

[Alphatek45]

First: I'm in no way trying to take our already tiny demographic and make it smaller.

But I cant stop wondering if regional sections are in order on some level. The new members showing up from the Southeast make me think that with a fair amount of organizing and scheduling (which I would be willing to take on personally) we would be able to have some kind of ZHP Mafia meet, maybe summer or fall of '11.
Call me crazy but Id be willing to drive up a state or down one for a day of ZHP's,food, drink etc. maybe a hotel room and a drive home the next day. Keep it family friendly. Maybe make it annual and watch it grow.

This may be premature, but I think if we plant the seed now (provided people are interested) we could have something decent going by next year.

My wheels are turning, anyone else?

[danewilson77]

Yeah...I pm'd him about this yesterday. We will go there...just don't know the when yet.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Haha. At this point, we could only do quadrants. LOL. Just not enough of us.

But regional forums are in the cards. Dane is all over this. He's on top of it.

[pyreguy]

This is promising!

[danewilson77]

I would like for all of us in the various regions to start going to as many meets as possible......gunz a blazin.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

And we'll all have stickers soon.

[danewilson77]

Need cards....and......

[mimalmo]

Might be too soon for a regionals section but its not too soon for a "Show & Event" section. Sure, there's the weekly stuff like C&C that would end up in the regionals section but there's also a fair number of larger shows that people drive long distances for.

[Mtnman]

i think we should try to do a meet soon. I mean the godfather is going to be having a baby soon. So in about two months, we should try to do our first meet befoe marcus is homebound for a while (which is a good and necessary thing). Should we try a late feb, or early march meet to accommodate the godfather? im game.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Actually, baby is not due until end of May.

I'll be at Bimmerfest middle of May. Hoping to see some west coast peeps there.

[Mtnman]

well, i know some people dont want to travel too far from the wife after 7-8 months, so i was trying to suggest that window. but april on the east coast would be fabulous! lets arrange something. has to be done.
D

[kayger12]

I've gone 1200 miles in 48 hours on 2 wheels for the beer and the challenge-- I certainly wouldn't need my arm twisted to trek south to meet you guys.

If you plan it, they will come....

[Mtnman]

i like your attitude. but lets dont do it too close to mid atlantic, cause i want to DRIVE!!!! (but i will be happy to host in asheville too, if i must. tail of the dragon is less than 2 hrs away.)

[pyreguy]

I will drive anywhere within about 12 or 13 hours from my house one way.

[Mtnman]

i just envision a chain of ZHP's on the hwy.........im talkin 20 deep....... i dont care where we go. that would be hot.

[kayger12]

i like your attitude. but lets dont do it too close to mid atlantic, cause i want to DRIVE!!!! (but i will be happy to host in asheville too, if i must. tail of the dragon is less than 2 hrs away.)

Now you're talking. I made four trips to the dragon when I had my bike. INTENSE is the only way to describe that run.... Someone died there every year I was down there.

The last year I went, we stayed at a motel just south of the end of the Dragon (I don't remember the name)-- so I had the added fun of a 4:30am run of the Dragon in the dark to start my 14 hour ride home :blink

Big fan of the Cherohala Skyway as well--

[Tampa330i]

I'm down for a southeast gathering. Never had a car worthy of a gathering.

[danewilson77]

Even if it was 5 regions...

NE
SE
MW
NW
SW...

.....I think it might be getting close to worth it. I say we go with 50 more members....then set up the regions...

[az3579]

I don't like the regions whatsoever. That will only separate us more. Once we start reaching larger member sizes, we're not going to have much time to read every post on the forums, so we'll tend to stick to our own regions, furthering us from our friends on another coast. I do not like this idea whatsoever.


And as for the meet - of course everything is mega far from where I live. The furthest I drove straight was 5 hours, and I seriously do not think I could do 12-13 hour drives just to do a few Dragon runs. If there was a guarantee of no cops and no traffic, then I'd definitely do it, but there is never a guarantee and it just isn't worth driving that far only to potentially get disappointed.

Plus, if there is a ZHP Mafia meet, it's most likely going to be farther away (more central), making it even more impossible for me to head down there. :(
I don't get any paid days off whatsoever, so the farther it is, the more time I'll need, and will run into the issue of having to take days off work to be used for transit time...

If it's somewhere on the east coast then I can probably go, but otherwise, count me out. :(

[pyreguy]

Yeah, you're exactly right about the regions on a bigger site serving to cause a sort of separation. I ONLY look at my region on Bimmerforums for example. However, on fleurobahn.com (a relatively local european car enthusiasts site that I also frequent) it only serves to keep the site more organized. Its a smaller site and so, like this one, one can easily find time to read all the new posts and keep up with everyone. Its nice, though, when you are planning an even like a small gathering at a restaurant, to have a region to post it in. I think this site might be small enough to make it work.

Maybe we could make the regional sections strictly for gatherings. I think that's the idea. All the "this is what I just did to my car" threads should be in the general sections already here.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Yep. The regional forums do fracture the site. That I do not like.

However, we could use the regional forums for get-together, where-to-eat threads, stuff like that. It would not be a hangout, I imagine. That's where the general forum comes in.

The idea of regional forums does make sense for one good reason: it keeps the place orderly. It would be odd, for example, if someone in NC posted a thread about an excellent restaurant in that area -- and posted that information in the general forum.

Or it might be odd if I posted something about Cars and Coffee in Irvine, CA. None of you guys on the east coast will care about it. So, it kind of keeps the clutter down in areas.

I've already created the forums (they're hidden right now). I won't release them until I have enough input from the membership on whether we should have regional forums.

Please continue to weigh in.

Thanks.

[kayger12]

I think regions would be a nice way to complement the site. I don't think they'll see a lot of posts relative to the general forums, but it would be nice to have a place to go just to see information on a meet or other event going on in your region.

I think that this group is small enough to keep things tight regardless of whether additional region based forums are added.

If it were to start to become an issue and have a fracturing effect, I'm confident that Marcus and Dane would make adjustments to tighten it back up. They have proved more than adept at keeping their thumbs on the pulse of the site and changing on the fly when necessary.

[pyreguy]

(thumb on the iPad) :biggrin

We have the most involved moderator in the WORLD so we will be fine.

[danewilson77]

Yep. The regional forums do fracture the site. That I do not like.

However, we could use the regional forums for get-together, where-to-eat threads, stuff like that. It would not be a hangout, I imagine. That's where the general forum comes in.

The idea of regional forums does make sense for one good reason: it keeps the place orderly. It would be odd, for example, if someone in NC posted a thread about an excellent restaurant in that area -- and posted that information in the general forum.

Or it might be odd if I posted something about Cars and Coffee in Irvine, CA. None of you guys on the east coast will care about it. So, it kind of keeps the clutter down in areas.

I've already created the forums (they're hidden right now). I won't release them until I have enough input from the membership on whether we should have regional forums.

Please continue to weigh in.

Thanks.

Or a good place to post messages about local meets etc....

[danewilson77]

(thumb on the iPad) :biggrin

We have the most involved moderator in the WORLD so we will be fine.

Marcus is not the Mod. He's the Founder.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Marcus is not the Mod. He's the Founder.

I thought Lance was talking about you, DW.

[danewilson77]

I don't have an iPad....

IDK....just didn't want him to disrespect you boss...

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Haha. Good point about iPad. I don't mind. You guys can call me whatever you'd like.

But I like that you're down for the boss. :respect

[pyreguy]

My bad. I just see Marcus doing most of the moderating :rofl

No disrespect intended to either of y'all :biggrin

[Marcus-SanDiego]

No disrespect inferred. I have no ego when it comes to titles.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

So, the regional forums are ready to go. But I wonder if we're still way too small of a site -- with 105 members -- to release them at this point. Right now, I think we have one, maybe two, Oregon members. I think we have one Washington member. It should be a real chatfest in that northwest regional folder. Haha.

The midwest, meanwhile, doesn't have a lot of members either. It's the southeast and northeast that will probably utilize these forums. Also, we only have one member from Canada. Until there are at least two people from Canada, there will not be a forum for that area of the world. No sense in Desant talking to himself.

I'd like to hear arguments about whether it makes sense to launch them now.

[pyreguy]

I vote we wait for some more members. I mean, at the rate we are growing right now in another week we may have enough to justify them. So why not give it that week and see what happens. Or two. This will change the dynamics of this forum so I wouldn't wanna rush it.

[danewilson77]

Beast Coast FTMFW!!!!

[pyreguy]

Yeah the region for the northeast should totally be called the Beast Coast. Just don't call me the Dirty South :rofl

[kayger12]

Why not just roll out regional forums for the northeast and southeast as a way to test and evaluate the regional forum concept on ZHPM.c?

Doing so would hopefully aid in identifying any negative effects or unintended consequences.

By doing this, you would hopefully have some solid data on which to base your decision to go site-wide with regional forums when the membership numbers will support such a thing.

[danewilson77]

Ooooo....me likey...

[pyreguy]

That's not a bad idea at all!

[Kudos]

Looks i'm the only guy midwest?? :(

[mimalmo]

Looks i'm the only guy midwest?? :(

Nope. I'm in the Minneapolis area and Mr Maico is in North Dakota.

[Kudos]

Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from each other. If we triangulate those, we could meet in... a corn field.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Guys, tell me what you think of the current regions set up. Does it work? Are you using it very much? Are regions necessary here at ZHPMafia.com? Continue to chime in.

[az3579]

Still think No to regions... Perhaps with a few hundred members, but otherwise not really. Of the 100+ members we have, how many of them actually post? Not too many...

[Marcus-SanDiego]

BP, you know me. I'm neutral when it comes to this stuff. That's why I keep asking. I appreciate your feedback, by the way. Keep it coming. We're a small site. It may turn out that the regional forums are simply unnecessary. Still, I do see why it makes sense for get togethers. That's where it really does make sense. But as to lots of people hanging out in the regional forums, I don't see it.

[mimalmo]

Agreed. For GTG's the regional forums are very handy.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Always fun to go back old threads like this. We're having a huge Mafia meet in three days.

[kayger12]

Haha- that was a great re-read.

Amazing that we only had just over 100 members 6 months ago.

Droid X. Tapatalk. Use it.

[danewilson77]

Always fun to go back old threads like this. We're having a huge Mafia meet in three days.

Yes we are. I hope the person responsible is getting ready for it.

Droid + Tapatalk = FTW!