Firstly, I completely agree with all the comments so far on further promotion of the non-Clio aspects of the site. I've had a good laugh over the last few weeks with various threads which may have gone a tad off-topic including
@Chris91 and his Dyson as well as the mid engined V8 thread amongst others. The technical aspects of the site are great, helpful and informative but having the odd laugh fosters longer lasting and closer relationships. As someone said there are already other social networking sites but the beauty about our one is that it attracts like-minded individuals.
One of the only disappointments for me with the forum sometimes is the relative lack of postings. I know this is probably part and parcel of not having as big a membership as some other forums but it does always seem to be the same hardworking core of people who keep the site going and who blow the tumbleweeds away (sirs, take a bow). I realise there is not as big a population of 197/200/200T owners in the first place as some other forums but is there anything that an be done to encourage people to move their fingers and post more? The site is a very friendly place and I have certainly not felt intimidated as a newbie in posting so hopefully people are not scared to do so for fear of being flamed or the like.
In this sense, can we encourage people to post more? I understand the membership structure and levels of membership but I'm not overly interested if one member is a gold member and another a platinum or a paid one. For me really this is a admin access issue as to how long someone can access the site with their membership. I seem to remember on other sites there is a structure where the member's level/rating increases with the number of posts they make. For example,
@foxspeed would be a god with his number of posts,
@Pav a master and me a novice. Similarly, you could look at doing something with the numbers of likes to ensure people are also posting quality as well as quantity.
I like the idea of additional competitions. POTM and the one where the category is set by the previous winner of the competition are good idea. Maybe we should brainstorm some other competitions including perhaps a funny photos one. Small prizes could be considered for winners, even stickers, etc.
I hear the call for some more goodies but I worry that this may be counterproductive and put people off joining if it raises the price. Personally, I don't need a USB stick or a tread depth gauge. What may be good is if the forum was able to negotiate additional discounts for members purchasing services/goods from site traders or do more in the way of group buys.
It would be great to have an bi-annual/annual meeting for members so we could get to know each other better over a beer. I realise location may be an issue but maybe this could be varied across the country over time.
One thing I thing works well on another site is sending a weekly newsletter to members of the most popular posts of the week. This would keep those who were busy up to date and encourage the less active members to visit more.
Lastly, I think it important the core-focus of the site should remain 197/200/200T. While membership could be increased by including say older clios or meganes, or other RS's, I think there are already other forums that cater for this.
