the club

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g wagon g
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Right guys and girls i will do my bit

Please post any issues or changes you would like to see the GWOA make

We have lost to many people to other sites

If people have issues and little tantrums i say let it go unless it gets silly

I say more input for days out and what people have been up to

Yes a bit like facebook but just for this forum to keep in touch. Hate facebook. Yes am on there but very rare

Lets see many people saying what they think to get this site back as it was

Post up or it will be a lost cause im sure and it will eventually flicker out and go

I have said my part you can read

Come on jason gds you should be able to comment for starters. Put that violin down and get typing

                                                G

g wagon g
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Re: the club

I have just looked on the g wagon register. All the old faces are on there

What happened so bad on here i dont know about???. It is not the membership fee thats for sure

Can someone please post the truth and save us all a lot of time please

I have asked the admin many times but no reply. This could be a reason in itself

How hard can it be to sit down and press a few keys

I get the feeling someone has had enough

Have a meeting and decide please. If it closes lets spend all the money for a final day trip or give it to a well deserved charity. nspcc or the dogs home. Not someones own pocket

If its gone it was good but at least give people some answers

JASONGDS
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Re: the club

I hope its not gone, but no one can replace Tony's input to the GWOA,

Please more posts, and not just on steering dampers.

Haven't been using my G as much as I should, as steering box ,  loads of slack, feels like a boat!

jhw.
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Re: the club

Let's have some meets and get more active, even if the meets aren't admin organised etc it will create more interest and hopefully end up with a more active site?

I will post pictures what I've been upto more regularly.

gooch
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Re: the club

I agree, More days out! lol

 

 

g wagon g
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Re: the club

More replies needed

Its too quiet . Do we try or just move to where everyone else has gone but also check on here too

Only 4 posts in a couple of days is not very promising is it

scouse g
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Re: the club

Should we have a rave ? 

You bring the lights...

Jhw brings the pa system and tunes...

And i'I' bring the Gary's ! 

laugh

Arnie
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Re: the club

JASONGDS wrote:

....Please more posts, and not just on steering dampers.....


I think many members on this site have been here for a while and have now 'been there and done that'

There is a new generation of G Owners and they are interested in different things and very few, if any of them, are interested in what's under the bonnet. I see them driving around every day in G350, G63 etc.

Perhaps better advertising of the site and more events may help bring in some new owners/ members.

G-Restorations
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Re: the club

I think one of the main problems with the site which hampers traffic is the clonky software, I'd post more particularly about ongoing projects if it was easier to post from a smart phone.

Arnie also has a point about the demographic of the membership, the G Wagen ownership is definitely moving towards the bright side,  

As for events,  there really are so few people left running the club, who is going to organise them.  When events are organised there's initially strong interest then the majority wimp out. Kevin James organised green laning days in wales and two people turn up, maybe people don't want to get their Gs muddy or It the cost of fuel.

As you may know I run the Facebook presence for the GWOA I'm also the Northern rep, I'll try to bring some interest over from social media but there has to be something here, so if youre up to ANYTHING! G related post it up, you'd be surprised we are interested

Gordon

jhw.
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Re: the club
I agree with Gordon. The software is basic but awful to use. Just posted a photo in my thread and it took ages to upload, posted the text in 2 different posts and photo once?
g wagon g
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Re: the club

Good points and good to post up things but with only a handful of comments in 3 days its not looking good

I went with kevin and adrian . Fuel was not an issue as you all know my g wagon does 76mpg lol

It was a good day. You just need a local who knows all the roads. Kevin excelled at that for sure

jhw.
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Re: the club

g wagon g wrote:

Good points and good to post up things but with only a handful of comments in 3 days its not looking good

I went with kevin and adrian . Fuel was not an issue as you all know my g wagon does 76mpg lol

It was a good day. You just need a local who knows all the roads. Kevin excelled at that for sure

 

Looking around the website as a new member or would be member would;

Some serious updating and re-formatting needs to happen in my opinion, that along with some pro-active organising of meets if the website is to go forward rather than just exist. Nobody wants to lose the wealth of information that has been posted in years gone by, or move away from the clubs heritage I would imagine but it does need to change.

The about section was wrote 7 years ago, there were 350 members then, as a new member seeing such out of date pages, along with the inactivity it wouldn't inspire much confidence;

During 1994 Bill Jones was entering Hillrallies with a Mercedes Benz 280GES.   He discovered that breaking things became expensive, and tried to source cheaper ways of doing it.   To get help, and pass on what he had discovered, he thought aboutr enlisting the help of other G Wagen owners.   He wrote a letter, which was published in Off Road and Four Wheel Drive magazine, asking interested owners to get in touch with him.   He had 40 replies, and from this, the G Wagen Owners Association was born.  

The first Annual General Meeting took place in Rawenstall, Lancashire in March 1995.   Those attending formed a committee, and decided on the future of the club, and its aims.   The first consideration was communication with members, and so it was decided that a quartely magazine should be published.   The first issue of G Wizz, the club magazine, followed in the summer of 1995.   By attending shows and word of mouth, the membership numbers gradually increased, and the services offered to members widened.  

Ten years ago, our first website came online.   This led to an increase in membership, and a greater geographical spread of members.   A few years later, this website was revamped, and included a forum for the first time.   The ease with which members from all over the world could communicate with each other soon established the forum as one of the greatest facilities that the club could offer.   The membership increased steadily as a result, and we now have over 350 members on all continents of the world.  

Our latest website offers even greater facilities for members, as well as a forum available to any G Wagen owner.   However, our aim is still as it was in 1995, to make G Wagen ownership a pleasure, to offer advice and expertise to members of the club and to give members the opportunity to meet and communicate with other members.

 

g wagon g
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Re: the club

Very good points

We dont even get the g whizz anymore. I forgot about that

We will see what happens if anything

 

 

 

Gandore
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Re: the club

Great points, all. More out and about photos and how to discussions would be great, and it takes all to join in vice lurk as I am also guilty in a busy life. Take the extra moments. ;-)

g wagon g
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Re: the club

It will be tough as only a few have replied but i will keep popping on and posting. Its all we can do to help

We will just see how it goes and at least we tried

Jdring
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Re: the club
Ummmm. I'm back on today. Been busy for months and was off road before that. But G230 owner 25years and aspiring to a V8 someday. What I like about GWOA... The forums. People that know G-wagens, including how to spell it. Sharing know-how. Stories about G's Stuff for Sale. Knowledge base ! What is no good? Holier than thou opinions Clunky site No videos - well not many. Need a better mart/shop I used to have the site open all day in a window, but somehow lost the interest to check in and look. I never made a meet but would like to. Just change the site platform... Try Weebly.
fraj
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Re: the club

Its our club folks.  Just as much up to us to do something about it as it is for anyone else.

g wagon g
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Re: the club

Thats a good point

Lets see if we get 50 members who post often, even just to chat

Then its worth running the gwoa. If not whats the point

This forum will be just fine for that if the admin will keep it going

Thoughts please

Theo
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Re: the club

I would change very little, social media is more about posing than sharing information.  The forum contains a wealth of knowledge, some of them researched and discussed in a conclusive way.  The search function has worked for me in the past. 

Whilst the  number of Gs in the UK is limited and the Knightsbridge Crawlers are unlikely to join this forum, it is likely that as used car prices of post 2010 Gs fall the number of members will increase.

g wagon g
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Re: the club

New members have joined

There is hope. I will stay here and use other sites too

I like this site and it works for me. Its so simple

My emails still say email unable to send so i dont know whats wrong there

Jdring
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Re: the club

I think a new site would be good, but not if it means a load of work to move the Forums over - that is a wealth of stories and experience and know-how that you cannot replace easily.  

But the trouble with this current site it is is clunky, difficult to upload pictures and videos and (as with all sites) has grown to be a little un-navigable.

Perhaps keep the site, because of the forums, but put some tidy up time into it?

 

 

OldEnglish68
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Re: the club

Hi One and All

Brand new member here. So not yet earned any right to comment but I'm planning for the long term with this G Wagen so I'll comment anyway!

Over the years I have had many interesting cars and been a member of various clubs and forums.

I rarely fit in well as I am completely useless and rely totally on others' knowledge and skills to keep my cars on the road - so somewhat guilty of one-way traffic. My writing is not particularly eloquent and my humour a bit off so I keep more quiet than maybe I could.

In my experience, the syndrome described here is common across many of these forums.

The biggest negative impact is coming from Facebook, as members drift over there firstly to 'chat' to eachother then forming spin-off groups and leaving the club forum weaker.

Personally, I don't use Facebook and wish there was a way to keep all the relevant specialist knowledge (written and otherwise) to the appropriate forum.

The clubs that seem to survive now (that I have known) have been through a bad time and are now strong thanks to renewed enthusiasm inspired by core members.

I won't name them here but:

(Oh, pleeeeeeze, stop this thing from jumping back to the top each time I press return!!)

One forum nearly closed but when members realised a HUGE amount of resources would be lost forever they rallied. Costs were brought into line first. The magazine went digital-only for a while (but is now back to colour-printed AND digital). New events/gatherings/happenings were put together. First by piggy-backing then a return to stand-alone events (never loosing its one main event, although that was close!) Merchandise sales have increased too, so once the recovery starts it can be exponential. Another benefit here is group buys.

Another forum has had to send out an appeal for donations and has raised enough to upgrade to a new, larger server that will be easier to use and more flexible. That site will remain ad-free as a result of the fundraising but ads should be considered.

Yet another forum imploded because it all got a bit negative (didn't survive).

Human nature often leads us to focus harder on negatives than positives (just look at the News!) If posts concentrate on bad experiences, bad service, things going wrong etc, only it all goes downhill quite quickly.

One forum I am a member of has a lot of (actually pretty relevant) advertising, is quite expensive and not particularly active. However, comment is on-point and useful, if a little dry. They manage to scare up a few events though - particularly where specialists throw open their doors for a morning and provide tea/coffee, bacon sandwiches and free expert advice.

Forums (Fora?) with space to give good recommendations, share light-hearted stories, tell (mostly terrible) jokes and exchange friendly banter are more fun to vist - especially where there's less risk of being flamed or trolled.

I could go on but this may be food for thought... (not checked for typos as I have to go out!)

Best wishes to everyone - with or without a G-Wagen.

Jdring
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Re: the club

I think you got it spot on.

The GWOA site could be improved, but the gold dust is the rich information available in the forum discussions and those cannot be easily converted (AFAIK).

The site could be kept fresher (homepage etc) and maybe a twitter account and some tweets would keep the community poked, but a Facebook page will result in side discussions and more PMs leaving the community out in the cold, like you said.

Folk tend to come to the site/club/forum when they need something - they are looking to buy, sell, fix, research.  The rest of the time they have other lives to live and other distractions.  I have to actively remember to check the GWOA site - I am back in the habit now of having a window open all the time, but not everyone ticks like that.  Sometimes we need a poke/alert/tweet to remind us there is a discussion going on - hence the Twitter suggestion.

 

gooch
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Re: the club

Hi All,

I agree to a lot of the comments you have been all making above.....

I think there should be a big meet, BBQ, some organised event, or a coffee meet at Mercedes World in Surrey would be nice... Get everyone together maybe that way someone might step up to the challenge to organise something bigger and better for the forum ??

Or I could speak to 'Mercedes Enthusaiast' magazine and maybe we could get a nice two/three page write up on G-class owners of all models? Get everyone to promote GWOA that way...

Let me know anyone.

Regards

Goochie

Intisol
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Re: the club

Morning All,

 

As a new member, I have already found the site a fountain of information that has helped me sort a few (the list is growing) of the small problems I have on my G. There is so much info buried in the Forum that as yet I haven't had to open up a chat/post to find an answer to a question, I think my £25.00 is already well spent. 

I have been a member and a chairman of a local cycling club for many years and see parallels with what I see posted above about changes in peoples commitments to be a part of a community. In the cycling club, we have been trying for quite some time to get club members to take part in running, organizing or participating in cycling events. Unfortunately  it is becoming increasingly more difficult to connect with people. I believe we are in an era when society in general is moving into a more insular, in-ward looking phase, you only have to jump on a train these days to see how difficult it is to communicate with others whist everyone is glued to their devices.

So the fact that the forum exists at all with a few people posting is a good thing, and if a meet could be arranged then face to face communication would make it a bit more real and make the site an even better foundation to re-build what I believe must have been a much more vibrant club. I agree with comments above about the layout and use of the site, in todays tech environment an upgrade would surly be possible. 

As my old man would have said; If tha dunt get up of thi ass lad, dunt compalin wen world passes thi by!

Wishing everyone a restful bank holiday,

Chris

 

g wagon g
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Re: the club

gooch wrote:

Hi All,

I agree to a lot of the comments you have been all making above.....

I think there should be a big meet, BBQ, some organised event, or a coffee meet at Mercedes World in Surrey would be nice... Get everyone together maybe that way someone might step up to the challenge to organise something bigger and better for the forum ??

Or I could speak to 'Mercedes Enthusaiast' magazine and maybe we could get a nice two/three page write up on G-class owners of all models? Get everyone to promote GWOA that way...

Let me know anyone.

Regards

Goochie

Good call but i am not travelling all the way to surrey lol. I would if i had to mate

, I enjoy driving my g wagon so anywhere would be fine. BBQ and a magazine feature would be good

Give me some notice as i will need to empty all the junk from my g wagon that could take a day or more