I know what you mean, but believe me when I say that the Club is not all about the website, nor DD either!
Looking at the stats, around half of our Club members are registered (or have been registered) on the forum at some point - but that means that half of them haven't! I don't know why this is - and each time a Pronto goes out I try to encourage members to join the forum and participate. Some members don't even have email addresses!
Similarly, the DD entrants make up less than 20% of the Club membership, so it's not the be-all of the Club either. For this year we looked at the way DD was run and we've actually moved to it be more independant with a budget being given to the RC and they spend the £20 DD fees on all the DD (ie, non-Club) related items as they see fit.
Getting back to Pronto, time and time again I ask for feedback but it just doesn't happen. I am calling in favours left-right-and-centre to get articles in, and we're rapidly running out of Essex region members to do bike features on!! For the issue currently with the printers (to arrive shortly) I have had to approach people to write stuff rather than it being offered, and that includes DD.
We set out to revamp the Regions because this is where people said that they wanted more to happen. I asked for people to volunteer (and remind them each time in Pronto) but we've not had anyone offer, despite incentives to do so. I read about people getting together for rideouts, and all that needs to happen is someone has to post it on the website and make it regular, even if they don't want to attend each time, and it becomes official! It's no harder than that, and is actually a great way to meet people.
There is a plethora of forums out there right now, some Ducati specific and others more generic. When Ducatisti was dying/died I expected that these people would go elsewhere but that doesn't appear to have happened - there was no massive jump in any of the Usual Suspects websites, almost as if those people stayed in limbo. The new Ducati Forum seems to have attracted all the old Ducatisti people back, but I still see the same names that post elsewhere - it's not really filled a void, just become another place to post. It is all new and exciting but does it really offer anything (other than shiny) that anywhere else doesn't offer?
Is it a DSC stigma? I really don't think so. There are still some rather bitter people posting on other forums which are good for a giggle, but you'd be amazed at the number of people we talked to at the Excel show who didn't even know there were Ducati owners clubs let alone about the DSC. It's funny that talking to some ex-members they even wished us luck with the Club as they acknowledged that things had changed!
We'll soon be having a change in management team as I for one will be stepping down, having drained my soul over the last 2 years or whatever it has been! The Club needs people to fill the spaces on the MT so people need to step up and participate otherwise the Club could well disappear through lack of interest in running the Club more than people wanting to be members!
So any thoughts that people have to get people involved are more than welcome. |