Members Only forum section

stephenperry wrote: lets get away fraom bmw... i mean would you honestly expect to turn up to a ferrari owners meeting in a skoda octavia and expect to fit in?  my case rests

I disagree totally. If I was a fan of Ferraris and was interested in  finding out more about ownership etc I would join the club and turn up to meet in order to speak to owners. I would do all this before actually buying one!

@Stephen:- you were banned by one of the moderators for breaking the rules. You were lucky you weren't banned again since thain as I (and all the other moderators) recieved complaints about a post you made last night! A reason does not need to be given but from what I gather, you had recieved plenty of advanced warning!

Anyway, getting back on topic. This fourm has about 4000 members. Who is going to sit down and sort these into club member or not? Who is going to pay for their time doing this? Furthermore, in order to do this a list of club members will have to be given to the person doing the processing. Im sure many members don't want a non office or committee person looking at their membership details which would be protected under FoI legislation! 
This job of processing member/non-member would have to be ongoing (adding new club members, removing people who haven't renewed their membership, etc.).
By the way, I neither want nor will accept this type of role!

WRT the last point about non-members attending events, I believe that this is only certain types of event. The better driving (track) days organised by the club are members only afaik. Also, for example the Irish region had a meeting today about how the year went and what kind of thing to do next year. Non members would have no voice in this at all! I have also found that non members coming to an event usually results in the person joining the club as they enjoy themselves  at said event!

Goldryder wrote: To be brutally honest Stephen, is this to do with the club membership fee and what you get out of it, or more to do with the fact you have a certain amount of sour grapes due to being banned for 24hrs for swearing the other night? You made it perfectly clear that you thought it was unjust that you got tugged without any notice. Maybe I am incorrect, in which case I apologise, but the timing does seem a little bit strange.

this has absolutely nothing to do with my temporary ban, however unjust i think it may be to ban someone without sufficient warning, and im still waiting for an explanation as to why this occurred.

i resent the fact that you bring it up, trying to show me in a bad light perhaps?

Goldryder wrote: There was an Audi at Aberdeen

That will be coupeking then LOL

At least he does have a bmw

And still made the effort to come even tho his car is dead at the mo

Not that this as got anything to do with the topic

I must admit that another car appreciation club who get my pennies manages to cover the membership fee with people only having to attend 2 of their organised events in the whole of one year's membership before the subscription has paid for itself, they have a closed forum and a 1 month try and buy scheme before handing over your pennies for new members. The welcome pack included a pen, a tax disc holder and a keyring with other items on sale as well.

I too wondered about the club's higher membership fee for a few years as it seemed quite basic for other memberships I've paid and still do. However like everything else in life it's maybe not what material items you get but something else you might get with the section or region you're a member of.

Having said that everyone who runs a club/web site/membership do have private sections on their forums for paid-up members,  what should be included in that area is a matter that Committee people decide. You can have open events for anyone who wants to go and closed events if members want them and it's not badge snobbery or being elite.

But at the end of the day a majority has to decide one way or the other

Goldryder wrote: The meets etc should be open to all, regardless of membership or marque ownership.

Discuss.      there have been comments made in the past on this forum about people turning up in other cars

im not asking a lot, just for a little part of the forum, the members only section, as the name implies, should be for errr...members only!