What do you mean embarrassed?

Killman77

Killman77

当有疑问时踢你的敌人在生殖器上，你可以道歉后
Okay, I don't get it. I put some forums up on my website, which I'm not going to name because I don't want it to look like I'm poaching, (I like it here) so that my clients could share info and such.

I'm a firm believer in helping them help themselves. That way they know that I'm not just trying to pump metal through the shop and empty their wallets. If they run across something that they'd rather not handle themselves, then I'm happy to step in, outsourcing if I need to. Part of the appeal to wrenching out of a small shop was to get to know like-minded folks, build up a sort of community.

Well I talked to three different clients today, and all of them said the same thing when I encouraged them to post some of their questions and experiences. They said that they'd be too embarrassed. WTF? I mean, it's not like folks are going to drive by their house to point and laugh. It's the internet!

I put in a full all-nighter to build the forums because I thought that it would be a fun tool for clients to use, and now they're all afraid of them! Not one single post in 3 days. I don't get it. Maybe there's something I should be saying to make them feel less scared? I always figured forums were like catnip to vintage bike riders.
 
Give it some time, starting a new forum takes time and growth can be slow, painful at times. I started up a forum last year for MB5 users and it took a long time to kick in. Membership was slow to grow and it felt dead at times, I'd be lucky to get a post every few days. I hung in there though since I knew there were MB5 owners out there and its paying off. Its still not a huge site but it is growing and the members are a great group of people with lots of knowledge and expertise.
 
Yeah, I guess.

I just know how much the forums I've frequented have helped me out, and I thought I could do something similar for folks. Not to mention getting some convo's going between like-minded, possibly somewhat-local riders. It didn't occur to me that people might be scared of them.
 
In my experience, if somebody is afraid / embarrassed to ask a question on the forum, then the forum itself is messed up.

Everybody has bad days, everybody gets crabby. But when somebody asks a simple question and they are labeled an idiot for not knowing the answer, it saddens me. Not a single person alive was born with answers, they are all learned.
 
I completely agree Rich, that's why I made it clear that trolls and bullies wouldn't be welcome. I put a little write-up at the top of the page, saying pretty much what you just did, but without the sadness part. ;D

Seeing as how there has yet to be a single post, though, that's not an issue.
 
BTW - feel free to post up links to your site/forum in your signature etc. I've always welcomed, and have in many cases tried to help fellow enthusiasts launch their sites / forums etc.
 
Thanks Tim. You had mentioned it before, I just like to make sure I'm not intruding.

Here's the link to the forums, or as I'm thinking of naming them, The Great Killman Desert:

http://www.killmancustoms.com/forums.html#/

And I will gratefully add the link to my site in my signature. Thanks again!
 
Forums take forever to start, especially when they aren't specific to something. Best bet is to get a few like minded people to start posting enough to get you started then others will come.
 
I just checked out the forum and I have to be honest...I don't think the reason your not getting any active posts is due to embarrassment. I don't really think you have creatd a forum that fills a need...in the m/c world there are really only 3 types of forums..

DTT is successful because it has a broad fan base who share one common interest...cafe racer styled bikes. DTT does a great job at drawing creative debate, showcasing products and builds, offering limited "general knowledge" technical help etc.

Twostroke world narrows the fan base but offers more specified products and knowledge regarding two strokes.


Xs11.com completely narrows the fan base to xs11 but offers a wealth of technical knowledge about any problem you could encounter.


All three are different but have provided a solution to a specifici need. Unfortunately yours doesn't really do that, it's fan base is really strictly based around ppl who have bought, or might want to use your service or buy your product. Which seems awesome btw....but not really a base for a successful forum unfortunately.


Take my opinion as you will but if you have a dream of modding a forum then you really need to find a large enough fan base with a a large enough desire to justify another forum In that space. And I don't believe it can be affiliated with a company either...forums thrive on being free of any corporate control or bias.


My 2 cents. Good luck with the business and forum dream.
 
Killman77 said:
I mean, it's not like folks are going to drive by their house to point and laugh...
Click to expand...

WTF?! You mean this doesn't happen to everyone?!? :o :o
People do that shit to me all the time!! >:( >:(



:P ;D
 
Redbird said:
WTF?! You mean this doesn't happen to everyone?!? :o :o
People do that shit to me all the time!! >:( >:(



:P ;D
Click to expand...
I'm pointing and laughing Bwahahahahaha
 
Thanks guys. Gijoe, I totally appreciate the input, and I think that you may be right. Unfortunately it's not really my dream to mod a forum, (not that there's anything wrong with that) I just thought it could be something fun to share with people. Not really looking to have it invade my waking dreams.
If something occurs to me along the lines of providing a more approachable focus for it, I'll give it a go. Otherwise I think I'll leave it as is, and hope that someone, somewhere decides to have a shout into the void someday ;D

Thanks for the kind words, btw, nice way to start my Saturday. Especially considering I've gotta replace the fork seals on a CB450T. I fricken' hate fork seals.

Have a good one!
 
[quote author=Killman77
Thanks for the kind words, btw, nice way to start my Saturday. Especially considering I've gotta replace the fork seals on a CB450T. I fricken' hate fork seals.

Have a good one!
[/quote]
The smell of 30 year old fork oil usually makes the experience enjoyable.
 
The last time I had that shit running down my arms into my armpits, even got some in my fricken' ears somehow...

I hate hate hate that shit! Tried to talk the guy into waiting for the off-season, but he needs a new front tire and wants to get it done at the same time. Which makes sense, but yuck!
 
I had a look. I'll admit to being a computer neanderthal. So I thought I would sign up and see what happens. I don't know if I have anything to contribute to your forums but you never know. When I went to sign up I got a list of options of signin up (or in or whatever). I don't have accounts with all of whats mentioned except Facebook. I'm told when I clicked on FB that all my personal info, friends list, groups I'm with etc. would be taken by whoever it is. I don't really want to do that. Perhaps if you had a "normal" type of sign up you would have more people on your site. But as I said when it comes to computers all I can do is talk out my ass.
 
Holy crap Hoof! I had no idea, I thought that stuff would make it easier, not creepy. I'll figure out how to change it tomorrow.

Thanks for letting me know.
 
It probably will make it easier for every one on here except me. Remember the Jethro Tull album "Thick as a Brick"? My brain was the inspiration for the title.
 
You may have built your forum on rock and roll, but the internet was built on cocks and trolls ;)

Kidding aside...forums dedicated to a specific service (which you're offering) or a product that's generally a one time purchase just don't get that much traffic. Let it build itself and don't worry about it too much. If it serves a good purpose it will be there, and if it doesn't, it'll be there anyways.
 
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