What are the pros and cons of having unsolicited publicity??

[Super7]

Hi Bros and Sis,

 

So far, MCF has been a friendly, warm&cosy, casual, informative, fun etc etc forum and we all love it for what it is. Many of us feel it is probably one of the more, if not most, desirable forums today. For these good things about MCF, i guess we owe everyone who has contributed towards these achievements a big thank you and a big hug!!

 

As MCF grows, we may face with some issues which we have not faced when MCF was younger:- Eg -- Does MCF really need publicity??.... If it does, what kind of publicity it needs?? Will publicity, assuming its well handled, bring benefits to MCF?? etc etc

 

What do you think??? ...... (do bear in mind that MCF is a free forum, we dun pay a single cent to take part, and this implies that we may discuss and share our views, but the ultimate decision rests in the hands of the Owners, do remember this ) .... however, as we are part of MCF, it may be good to look at the pros and cons concerning publicity as part of the feedback process....

 

At the end of the day, there may not be right or wrong answers to these questions.

 

Many thanks

 

Notes:

 

Publicity can make or break a group either directly or indirectly depending on how we handle it. It's also a fairly unpredictable art even to professional PR people. The wider the audience, the more unpredictable it can be.

 

Also, publicity may or may not generate the kind of names/impressions we intend to give ourselves in the eyes of the public.

 

Not everyone out there will appreciate what we do or who we are. At the same time there may be people who will give us their support if they know through our publicity efforts exactly what we do and who we are.

 

On the other hand, some may not like what we do or who we are despite the fact that we have not harmed/upset them in anyway. Jealousy or sheer "trouble-making" could be one of the many reasons why others may not like the publicity we make for ourselves.

Edited February 28, 2004 by Super7

[Soya]

i'd prefer to look at it positively. like what TB says, it'll definitely help get more members for MCF to share in our bliss of car loving.

[Jazziegirl]

mmmm, my personal thoughts:

 

As you mentioned, publicity is a tricky issue. pros and cons are there, eg, attract likeminded car enthusiasts vs attract 'troublemakers'.

 

I've learnt alot from MCF and made lots of terrific friends, like yourself, thanks to MCF!

 

As Admin posted on Dec 24th 2001,

 

"We are a forum offering an array of various forums primarily catered to Singaporean car enthusiasts.

So come on in and share your knowledge, questions and tips to fellow car enthusiasts out there and let the chatting begin! "

forumers come and go and there are good posts and bad, happy and unhappy ones.. unavoidable.. same goes for publicity lah. it may bring us great newbies, and maybe troublesome ones...

 

i feel that whatever publicity we receive, the most important thing is that the founders and the regulars of MCF keep in mind and hold true to the REASON and VISION for MCF. As long as we do not lose sight of it at any time and remind each other also, I am certain we will weather any negativity that comes our way and also celebrate merrily all the great times we plan and have together!

 

no worries, Uncle Foo, with all of the wonderful brothers/sisters here, I'm sure MCF be able to strike a great balance and continue to be our wonderful online home!

 

Edited February 28, 2004 by Jazziegirl

[Epoch]

Well said!!! are you by chance a lawyer? Your england very powderful!

[Saaber]

"publicity may or may not generate the kind of names/impressions we intend to give ourselves in the eyes of the public."

 

 

I totally agree with u .....if publicity is required, I would rather go with more "branded" publicity just to be on the safe side in case of the possiblity of negative impressions...

[Jiayong]

i gotto agree with the troublemakers part.

 

As far as my eyes can see, we are a pretty good bunch of fun and harmless pple.

 

But pardon me for saying something, there was once or twice when i felt a new member or a friend of a member was being a little too proud and egoistic about himself and his car. while it is not for me to judge at all, i was happy when he didnt appear at meet ups anymore.

 

Although this is not the right way to treat pple (i know we should welcome and try to accept all and everyone) but i guess this is the really how i feel. Sorry if i offend anyone.

 

Ok , i seem to be drifting from topic, but this is the point i wanted to make. I wish that MCF will remain its current spirits and i certainly do not wish for MCF's attitude and spirits to be over-runned by such characters.

 

Hmm...i think maybe i have spoken too much for a newbie. I shall retreat now. =)

[Saaber]

don't worry, be it newbies or old birds...all views are welcome....

 

just speak your mind...

[Mondeost220]

i agree with what jiayong emphasized. There would be people joining and leaving the forums, welcomed ones or not welcomed ones is up to individual self, but generally mcf gang is a great group of car siaos gathering together. Isnt that a very wonderful thing? People with the same hobby/interest gathering together in big groups to chitchat and pass time..as everyone noes..singapore so "life-less"..at least forums create a whole new dimension to the cyberworld!

 

Like what jiayong says " But pardon me for saying something, there was once or twice when i felt a new member or a friend of a member was being a little too proud and egoistic about himself and his car. while it is not for me to judge at all, i was happy when he didnt appear at meet ups anymore. "...there are sure to be black sheeps lying around making people irritated.

 

As for publicity like what super7 said, publicity means risk+more population, whereas less publicity means lesser risk+lesser population. For me, MCF is already quite a big community and everyone is very polite and nice unlike other forums where vulgarities and abuses are so common.

 

As this is a car forum, fellow car members are from different work groups, some studying like me,different incomes,different background. Thus, if someone is more well off than the other, there's no need for sarcastic remarks. Even if it's a 20year old junkie(at least to some people), but to the owner himself, he loves his car, he's proud of it and he's not ashamed of it. So please no discrimination for the less abled ones in the forums.

 

For example, jiayong owns the AE86 Treuno. To me at least, it's a legend and i jolly well knows that jiayong is proud of his ride. So dear forumers, respect everyone's ride and make the forum a better place to be in ok?Cheers

[Soya]

wat sort of "branded publicity"? tried contacting BBC Top Gear and US Car & Driver but they not free leh.....

[Jiayong]

wah..such kind words...

 

when i start making profits from Forex, i will go hunt for the 20V 4-ag mann...if can get the 11KRPM AE101 Touring engine, even better. I will install it and go to MCF meet up and charge anyone who wants a ride. (like when u were young, u will pay 20cents per ride in the fake BatMobile)

 

Already pple think that i should charge for photos...haha...but i cant lah...they love my car..i love them...let them take lorr.

[Jazziegirl]

who? me? small small fry only.

[Jazziegirl]

hey, it's great that you're sharing your opinion! there's no rule that newbies can't speak!

 

i think we all understand what you mean about the troublemakers bit. The good news is, these 'troublemakers' usually don't last long in mcf, since they cannot find people who are like them, they tend to get bored after a while and will disappear in time.

 

think the regulars/like-minded car enthusiasts who make up MCF just need to 'outlast' these so called 'undesirables'. As long as we maintain our perspective, keep MCF friendly and non-antagonistic, the newbies will fall in and follow our example.

 

Like you said, there was only once or twice that you felt a new member was too proud. once/twice out of the # of members we have is a very small percentage, and unavoidable. So let's all try to focus on the positive, ie, we have LOTS and LOTS of terrific members!

 

oh, btw, it was nice meeting you over lunch the other day!

[Slayer]

Jiayong, u play in fx market? interesting .start a thread to share leh.

 

I am reading posts and sense that the sensible common sense which all of u have shared is about tolerence and balance. make sense?

 

The fact that you guys have been so dedicated in posting and 'swear' by MCF, only means that the people can communicate. fullstop. nothing else but one word : passion

 

the passion of sticking to the people and the hobby.

 

when there is people , there will be conflict. you ren de di fang , jiou you jiang hu.

again , tolerance and balance.

 

more publicity means more chance of conflict, and that is a fact, we'll just deal with it 'smartly'.

 

(this smart thingy is getting into me, thanks to the smart posts)

Edited February 29, 2004 by Slayer

[Jiayong]

hi...ermm..i wont say i am playing in it...yet..

 

recently..me and another 2 friends started to examine Forex thru a web site called Forex.com.

 

So far seems rather playable so we are thinking of investing in it slowly. We are sorting out the application procedures with the web site this weekend and hopefully by next week we can try our hand at the real thing. ( we have been playing with the Trial account ).

 

also horr...this kind of thing involve money lah...so i dun wish to speculate on what i dunno yet. When i have some actual figures then i share with u guys again. else u say i give u false hopes.

[Saaber]

wat sort of "branded publicity"? tried contacting BBC Top Gear and US Car & Driver but they not free leh.....

no need international big name lah....the local big names will do...

[Assassin]

I do agree with you that MCF is one of the friendliest forums around.

 

With regards to MCF getting larger in size, I would call it 'growing pains'. As to how MCF will develop from here on, is not a matter for just the owners alone to decide, but more of what comes from the most important thing that makes MCF work... its members.

 

Sometimes, we have to remind ourselves to take a step back, and look at the big picture, certain things are done for the good of MCF as a whole. eg. the guidelines to posting rules. There will always be people who may not agree with certain issues. That is understandable, as everyone has their own differing views about everything. Everyone is welcome to that and we do not penalise people for that.

 

Whether other forums will agree with what we do or not, is not a matter for us to decide, all other forums will be exposed to this as well. We will just carry on as per normal.

 

Lets put aside our differences [if any] and work towards making MCF the place where you want to be online. To me, MCF is more of a community rather than a car forum. That is what makes us unique. Hence, all the drifting and OOT [Out Of Topic] stuff.

 

P.S: These are my individual views only and may or may not be the same views as the owners of MCF or of other members.

[Ravinged]

Hi all,

 

Just some thoughts and comments from a newbie.

 

So far, MCF has been a friendly, warm&cosy, casual, informative, fun etc etc forum and we all love it for what it is. Many of us feel it is probably one of the more, if not most, desirable forums today. For these good things about MCF, i guess we owe everyone who has contributed towards these achievements a big thank you and a big hug!!

 

You are very welcome ... I believe newbies like myself have learn a great deal from you folks and better still, generous advice that are FREE.

 

As MCF grows, we may face with some issues which we have not faced when MCF was younger:-Eg -- Does MCF really need publicity??.... If it does, what kind of publicity it needs?? Will publicity, assuming its well handled, bring benefits to MCF?? etc etc

 

Like the question you put out, what is the objective of this publicity? It is hard for us to assume that we could handle the publicity well. In a nutshell, publicity means exposure to more car enthusiasts, which may be both a good and bad thing. The worse scenario I could think of is loss of control over huge number of members. This is evident in many large forums where moderators has a hard time in making fair decisions and there is a probable issue of legal settlements. On the other hand, publicity means putting across the forum to people whom have had no chance to know about this forum.

 

What do you think??? ...... (do bear in mind that MCF is a free forum, we dun pay a single cent to take part, and this implies that we may discuss and share our views, but the ultimate decision rests in the hands of the Owners, do remember this ) .... however, as we are part of MCF, it may be good to look at the pros and cons concerning publicity as part of the feedback process....

 

Moderators play a big part in the projection of image for every forum. it is tough to be absolutely impartial, all of us are humans afterall, we DO make mistakes here and there. Moderators here, are a "spokeperson" or "ambassadors" of MCF. Their conduct, their language, their knowledge and their manner of handling conflicts in here will show if this is worthy enough a forum to stay or leave.

 

Let me share an experience with fellow MCF members. As some knows, I am also involved with some other forum of my personal interests. What is evident in some forums are, Moderators will only step in if:-

 

1. Their personal reputation is under scrutiny

2. Conflicts are left to grow before Moderators step in to make themselves look impartial, which in fact the attempt could be done much ealier.

3. Personal dealings are known by members eventually, while citing rules and regulations to fellow members to be observed.

 

The outcome:- Most of the senior forumners I know long time ago has left the forum, mainly due to poor handling by Moderators (sometimes they can't be bothered about fiery threads). Internal politics are not treated seriously (sometimes Moderators themselves register with a different nickname and get involved in it while using the global "Moderator" to make themselves look good as impartial. When publicity comes into play, will we be subjected to more risk of politics simply because there will be definitely a wider spectrum of opinins to cater to.

 

My conclusion will be, there is no immediate need for publicity as I see it in here. The spread by word of mouth has already brought all of us more friends in here. This forum should still remain free, not just in financial terms, but the freedom to choose to leave or stay. Staying true to the initial objective is a form of pubicity itself, just be yourself and the people with the same interest will stay with in line, seeking the joy and wonderful times of MCF discussions and meetups.

 

People come and go, even with publicity. Given a choice, I would rather see how I can improve on the management of the current forum than spend time trying to convince others why they should join MCF. To join or not, it will be up to them to decide.

 

My 2 cents worth,

 

Ed

[Turbobrick]

Hi boys and gals

 

Thanks very much for your inputs and frank opinions. We really appreciate the constant feedback from our members new and old to continue fostering MCF as a friendly base for auto enthusiasts to come together for fun, discussions and humor sharing

 

Since I've been AWOL for the past two years and haven't got a chance to meet many new members that entered after my departure, MCF kakis are more than welcomed to contact me if you're ever heading to the US particularly to Ohio, USA I'll be your personal tour guide and "taxi"

 

Oh, talking about egos and our cars, I had quite a fat ego with my mean, green Brick before we separated to opposite parts of the world

 

Cheers,

Gavin