National Meet

No1 showed me the special handshake to get in there...Can I get in there? Is it worth going in there? What happened @ this meet 4fuksake?

but that'd be telling

Didn't you see this Luis: http://www.ozrenaultsport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7346

The "handshake" was basically laying your cash on the counter for pops to include you on the list of attendees! Not pointing the finger at you specifically Luis (cos I saw a few others asking) but I dunno how much more clearer we could have made it known to people about the Nationals... most of the Admin team listed details about it in their signatures - pops even had it as an avatar - oh, and there were numerous announcements and stickies all over the place with info and links to entry forms.

As for access to the National Meet section of the Forum, that was purely for attendees so that we could exchange contact details, arrange logistics, raise questions about track-day info & requirements, nut out what was needed to be brought along etc etc.

Whoever wants to step up to the plate for organising the 2008 National meet has a lot to live up to! At the eleventh hour, I had to pick where pops had left off (due to his health issues) and it was hard enough, but the groundwork that pops had done was phenomenal - not to mention the financial risk he took in placing deposits for track hire and accommodation long before we had a strong enough number of confirmed entries.

Easy Dish I knew all about the meet..yes you guys made it very clear but I had no chance of getting out there..time & $$ + new baby no fkn way.

No I didnt see that link but thanks I feel special now

Have no issues with you guys restricting access to that thread was curious why & genuinley interested on how the day went.

Dr Gonz - fair points, but as another forum user, and one who attended the nats, the closed forum allowed exchange of info to other participants that I would not be comfortable sharing on the main forum, such as my mobile no. PMs are great, but can only be sent to one person at a time, and there's a limit of how many of them I can sort through

I don't have much time to reply right now, but will add to Griffyn's reply regarding PMs: these are also very short term in that they will get deleted one by one once you've reached a limit of 100 messages. It was realistically the only way for this to be conducted fairly and easily by all involved.

*on reading back my following reply, some of it may come across as being a rant, but it's not - I'm just stating facts and these are all valid points that you have to consider and take into account for the way things were conducted by the Admin team and Nationals participants.

I've finally got a few minutes to spare so will reply to your concerns Dr G:

If it's any indication, nothing has been posted in that Private section since the morning of Nov 1 when the Nationals began. Nothing to be paranoid about Dr G it's not a place where we are now backstabbing non-attendees or patting each other's backs for how well things transpired, or anything like that. It was used purely as a tool to assist everyone participating in the Nationals to help organise the event, simple as that.

It was nothing to do with having a "blanket of exclusivity" for attendees either. Most of the topics discussed were pretty mundane and probably required no input from non-attendees. If we did need outside help or advice, it was raised in the other threads (of which there were plenty), in Social Events that encompassed matters that all other members could have participated in. That section was created many months ago (perhaps as early as April going by some of the dates I just saw) so if you or anyone else had an interest in the Nationals before, why didn't anyone raise concerns then about not being able to gain access? If that section wasn't created, can you imagine for example going about the task of handing out your contact details to over a dozen other members, a single PM at a time? Mate, it was just not feasible to do that - just think of the steps & time involved to do that a dozen+ times, for just that one task leave alone the other matters.

As for Admins being overzealous Nazis and the "open criticism of users from the admin team" comment, well I can only speak for myself in saying that, as far as I recall, I only once openly criticised someone here and that was only due to his verbal assault on every member in the forum! So yeah, I was defending the group that time (just being one of the alpha males I guess hehe) and I feel I did that rather politely and as diplomatically as I could in that situation.

BTW, Luis had no issue with my initial reply - what was so "out of hand" about it?

Thank you for acknowledging that this is an excellent forum - I agree, and I take great pride in volunteering my time and efforts to keep the ship afloat so to speak, as do my fellow Admin & Moderator colleagues. As Teki so eloquently put it recently, this is a wonderful community and I do consider many members here some of my closest friends (hey, I love & live with one - she thinks I'm nuts cos of the time I devote here, but hey, I enjoy it!! ) This forum has evolved a great deal since Day 1 - and will continue to evolve - and I wish to be a part of it for as long as I'm able. I wasn't elected to the role but was chosen for whatever reasons PaulD saw fit, and just like the other Admins, we do what we feel is necessary for the benefit of all in our community. Sometimes this can lead to noses being left out of joint, but you can't please everyone all the time. It's a dynamic virtual lifeform of its own that we nurture and tweak as best we can to watch it grow further into the incredible resource and social arena it already is.

Bring on the OzRENAULTsport.com National Meet for 2008 I say!!!

Cheers, Dish.

For what it's worth, I only used the "National Meet" thread to look at who was in the "memberlist" and get all exicted at who was coming

Nah - no offence taken here and none intended your way either.

Sometimes things can seem a little cloak-and-dagger, but in reality it's just everyone here (particularly the admin/moderator team) trying to keep things a) organised and b) friendly...

No mean feat with a whole bunch of guys into quick cars!

No wuckers DrG. No offence taken. Yes, we are all human. Well, most of us anyways There are some fire-breathing, winged, reptillian members here too!

No wuckers DrG. No offence taken. Yes, we are all human. Well, most of us anyways There are some fire-breathing, winged, reptillian members here too!

who on earth could you be referring to? *wicked grin*

Anyone who sent me a PM or an email or an SMS requesting Nationals info was added to the Nationals Thread User List. You didn't have to pay money or fill out an entry form. Just tell me you were interested and hey presto you were now one of the elite and could view the thread.

The difference between a dragyn and a griffen? Google tells me that a griffon isn't tough enough to chase off a nesting dragon. And it sorta shows in the lap times eh Mikee?

i didn't have access and i enquired about prices etc, got the info pack from you and all but no sweat mate , glad your well

Cheers,

Trev