Members vs Guests

[Caz]

Just an observation but why are there 53 guests on line now and only 3 members ?

[DC]

I reckon it's because a lot of folk who used to post regularly on here , don't anymore ............ just saying :) xx

[Wes]

And where are the 95 active members?

[DC]

And where are the 95 active members?

10's probably nearer the mark .

[Caz]

Maybe the website is not easy to register on :-(

[Dazr]

Its definitely a lot quieter on here, this year has been quiet but perhaps thats because the weather was not that great. Lets try and post weekly.....

[wheelers]

been busy with work, nobody needing bikes servicing and only a Brit engine rebuild , where are the bikers? my guess, either not bothering or servicing themselves with help from forum members. why so many bike shops are closing.
as for work , we have 4 new or born again bikers, all with newish bikes but working many hours to pay for them. apart from one father with his son the rest are sat in the garages most of the week. none are community riders just solo ones , bike in the garage because they can rather than how about a group ride.
there seems to be a lot of bikes on the roads while Im riding around , mainly commuter use as traffic around Melksham is diabolical most of the time now.

If its any consolation, we go to France every 6 weeks, March to November .On our run, there is one new bike workshop but 3 closed in last 4 years. I am led to believe that no group riding for more than 4 bikes is allowed by law, closest Ive seen to a ride out is groups of 4, 3 and 4 but a mile apart. we have two road circuits and two mx tracks locally and pass a few more mx tracks but not seen any activity while there. A lot of 2 stroke scooters and kids with tee shirts and shorts or thin jackets, the 30kph limit keeps their reliability as opposed to here where its ba11s out everywhere. Many of our local main roads are straight and empty but with 50kmph limits, seeing GSXR thous and ZZR's pottering along. the majority of bikes of choice are large Trailies, BMW, Triumph, KTM all with panniers, although there are quite a few Brit bikes around the Somme area.

as for members v guests, , I think its a case of guests looking for information not company.

[Trev_P]

i think its to do with web search engines, the WB site may come up in a search somewhere and the site logs it as a guest

[Scotty]

10's probably nearer the mark .

Unfortunately it's probably a bit of a "chicken and egg" scenario - there are regular form readers, but very few regular posters and as there's such a small group of people posting on here, and no discernable social meet-ups happening that it doesn't engage the "readers" and inspire them to join in on here, on the roads, or at the pub (on the rare occasions that we manage to organise anything that anyone is interested in).

Being a WB veteran of over ten years' membership I often wonder where everybody went - this forum used to be buzzing, a proper hive of activity, information, opinion, argument and humour. In the purple patch (2010 to mid-2012 IMHO) there were dozens of members posting regularly and visiting the Polebarn and then the Harp & Crown for weekly social gatherings, even in Winter. I'll admit to tuning out of the WB frequency for a few years, especially after we lost Mikkie (for the unaware, Mike Mahon was a smashing guy, a really popular forum member whom we lost in an RTC on 28th September 2014), but I continued riding and socialising with the many friends I'd made through my previously active time on WB, and now that I've moved even closer than I was previously I've started paying more attention to the forum - sadly that's not what most of the other members from the past are doing. Have they all stopped riding? I guess a number have, but not to the extent of the 95% drop in forum traffic. I would surmise that the demise of many fora round the world can be attributed to Facebook. Apparently people find it easier and more convenient (I wouldn't know as I'm stubbornly resisting calls to join it - I don't want them targeting me with adverts based on things I've recently said FFS)

It could be that a number of the "guests" are the Bots that Dabz continually fights battles against when they make attempts to join up... who knows?

[Dabz]

Many many bots...up to 200 a day at times completing the form to join and keeping my busy with the delete button :)

As a fellow Facebook avoider I agree that it's harder to keep in touch when most online conversation has gravitated to Facebook now. The social side of things reached a natural backlash where the social events were too big, so those organising holidays and trips and rides wanted to keep things private so they could make sure they were riding with people they know well. Which is fair enough! In turn that resulted in fewer rides being posted on here and the gradual decline in activity. A shame - Hazel and I tried to keep coming to things when I stopped riding but naturally we gradually stopped then young family and work (the only 2 things I ever do these days...) got in the way. Mikkie's death was also a turning point for me, something I still struggle with given our baby girls were due in the same week. The fun was sucked out of it all instantly and didn't really ever recover...though I've deliberately kept the bike for when I decide to get back in to it.

Sadly I don't see a resurgence unless someone is prepared to devote many hours to the cause, leading rides, organizing stuff and posting. In the very early years (2006-2008) there were probably 10 of us on the forums, but we managed thousands of posts just by talking (some would say talking rubbish...) to each other day in, day out, to keep things moving.

[wheelers]

as I was also thinking, there are a lot more 125's (Chinese) on the road , mostly with loud exhausts. those along with the lack of 50cc scooters are all riders unlikely to progress bigger and thus partake in rideouts and forum. I am also an abstainer from Facebook due to all the adverts and do I really want to see someones new cat or pictures of their feet on sunloungers on holiday (saw this this week from a workmates page).
having had a girl pull out infront of me on the Ducati, the right hip is keeping me off bikes, eldest cant stand watching bikes on tv since his accident, its only youngest still riding.

as an aside, the web site is currently displaying a red triangle and Not secure on the address bar which may put some off.

[Dabz]

Yeh, can’t make the site secure without upgrading the software which needs time and money spent sadly :(

[RunningBare]

Yeh, can’t make the site secure without upgrading the software which needs time and money spent sadly :(

Precisely why FB is so popular. £0

[Dabz]

the true cost is your privacy...scary what they know about you and how they can manipulate your activity and viewpoints. Some really scary TED talks out there...

[Mitch9128]

As Scotty said, 2011/2012 was buzzing on here, i'd had a bad off end of 2011, so lots of time to chat ****, lot's of chat about politics and religion, then the usuals got whiny about talking about other things than bikes, and it stopped, and now no-one hardly talks.