ORTB Regional Chapters

[bgwolfpack]

I would like to ask all members and the powers that be if Chapters of ORTB by region would be entertained. The Northern east coast boys are a no brainer along with the SoCal gang already being tight knit. For the rest of us Chapters may offer a unity for the larger geographical areas.
I've not belonged to a Chapter before and not sure how it works.

Just sounds like fun.

If this is can happen how does it get started in each area? Are there any set rules?

[bartonmd]

I think chapters on a forum are about the dumbest thing going. It's a "treehouse club" for people to get their rocks off by being in charge of, IMO... Not all, but some.

What good would chapters do?

Mike

[Philberto]

Mike, the best thing that chapters have going for them is that for some people, the obligation of being in a chapter can motivate them to start and attend events that they otherwise would not do. We're not here to inflate egos and establish treehouses, (each chapter will have the ability to reorganize their leaders) we're just trying to get things started.

-edit: that being said, we're still figuring out if we're gonna do full-blown chapters or just subsections in the trip forum. Stay tuned.

[bartonmd]

The people here aren't really who I'm talking about, but it can be seen on several forums I'm on...

I have no desire to have people guilted into hanging out with me, to "stay in the club" for another year...

If they get set up here, that's fine, but I'm just saying that I see no point to them.

Mike

[Philberto]

Mike, duly noted. If there's anything we want to avoid, it's certainly that. Any chapters would be more geared towards simply having certain members organize events, the ultimate goal to get everybody out and offroading more with their fellow members.

[mikepeters1983]

I agree that chapters would be nice. It would be nice to have some type of, well some thing that people can be a part of rather then just a web site. I mean no harm to the site at all. I love the site been on it since I heard about it and it has helped me a lot with my new build. But it would be nice to have something like this going for us.

[bartonmd]

I don't disagree with the goal... I just think chapters and "membership" aren't the way to do it... I don't, however, have a better idea to add...

I think that breaking up the trips section is a good thing when there are 15-20 trip threads a week... Before that, it just divides the site up, and I've seen it kill a couple sites that I was on (though, this was before the "active topics" button existed)

Mike

[Blackout]

I thought there was already an East and West Coast chapter, respectively?

[Philberto]

Unofficially, yes. Officially, the East Coast chapter is certainly established, and even has an acronym for its yearly event (TECORE anyone?) and our own little West Coast niche exists among about 4-5 of us. But we have no identifying tag that helps members know where other members are.

This, rather than subforums for regional chapters, might be a nice addition and compromise. Instead of a club, you simply have a badge that identifies your region, and which helps other members plan events more effectively.

Thoughts?

[mikepeters1983]

I thought there was already an East and West Coast chapter, respectively?

There are E, and W Chapters. But i think what bgwolfpack might of been hinting at was maybe small ones closer to east coast and west coast is well a little vague lol. Some thing closer, as far as dues think of it this way weekends when you just working on Trailvoys dues could be beers lol. Just think of it as friends with names, and stickers lol.

[mikepeters1983]

Unofficially, yes. Officially, the East Coast chapter is certainly established, and even has an acronym for its yearly event (TECORE anyone?) and our own little West Coast niche exists among about 4-5 of us. But we have no identifying tag that helps members know where other members are.

This, rather than subforums for regional chapters, might be a nice addition and compromise. Instead of a club, you simply have a badge that identifies your region, and which helps other members plan events more effectively.

Thoughts?

I could not agree with you more. I like that Idea

[bartonmd]

I'm not against "regions", at all (to help folks know who is in their area and such)... Just the "chapters" that have rules and stuff for being a "member"...

Then again, I'm just one guy... I'm not going to pitch a fit if chapters do get done, if that's what everybody wants... I'm just expressing my personal opinion...

Mike

[Philberto]

I'll be waiting for everybody else to chime in on this before anything happens. Chapters only work if people are willing to participate, so I'm just testing the waters here. All opinions are welcome.

[Gordinho80]

I agree with Mike's points on chapters the contain membership requirements, I hate that. I love the idea of having regions and subforums in the Trips section for each... would clean up that section a little. No membership requirements for regions... just make it a required field in profile, along with location. I still don't see why there are members on here who have not filled out their location. They usually post it when they make their intro threads anyways... why not have a properly filled out profile?

Anyways... a way of PMing an entire region could make trip planning a little better...

[mikepeters1983]

What Mike?

I agree with Mike's points on chapters the contain membership requirements, I hate that. I love the idea of having regions and subforums in the Trips section for each... would clean up that section a little. No membership requirements for regions... just make it a required field in profile, along with location. I still don't see why there are members on here who have not filled out their location. They usually post it when they make their intro threads anyways... why not have a properly filled out profile?

Anyways... a way of PMing an entire region could make trip planning a little better...

[Philberto]

bartonmd = Mike in this case.

[Saxis]

I agree with Mike's points on chapters the contain membership requirements, I hate that. I love the idea of having regions and subforums in the Trips section for each... would clean up that section a little. No membership requirements for regions... just make it a required field in profile, along with location. I still don't see why there are members on here who have not filled out their location. They usually post it when they make their intro threads anyways... why not have a properly filled out profile?

Anyways... a way of PMing an entire region could make trip planning a little better...

Same here, hate the membership requirement BS. Maybe a toggle for notifications about regional trips would be good though, or just don't make it a required field. If blank, no trip notifications sent, etc...

[Trail X]

Same here, hate the membership requirement BS. Maybe a toggle for notifications about regional trips would be good though, or just don't make it a required field. If blank, no trip notifications sent, etc...

I don't think we'll do trip notifications. I could see that getting annoying quickly.

[bgwolfpack]

Wow like I said, I know nothing about Chapters for online forums but we can make this what we want and not every Chapter needs to be clone of another. I also think the most of us are independent enough not to be told we must do something. As we drive around in our lifted, what some would consider, soccer mom rides.

Our area out here has vast amounts of miles between members. I count two members within 100 miles being the closest to me, several others 200 to 300 miles in each direction. A minimal limiting of the amount of needed meets as a qualification in this area would kill the members drive to be in this chapter.

It's the small post members or lurkers that may find it cool to easily see what is happening in each area and possible get involved. As Phil said an easy way to stay in touch.

As more members post in with their thoughts then we will be able to develop each Chapter to the needs of the region and participation.

And Mike, that's what we like about you, your opinion!

[Philberto]

As it stands, I think we aren't going to do chapters exactly. From discussion, we are probably going to add a region field to member profiles, make it required, and use that as the basis for organizing stuff. We are also going to change the trips section to organize it by regional subsections.