Is this group being deliberately....
 

Diminished?

I have spoken now to several Haynes builders who have not been able to register on this forum despite protracted efforts to join. It makes me wonder if efforts are being made to deliberately minimise access to this forum.
What does the team think?

I don't think it's deliberate on the part of Haynes how ever I don't think the web master spends as much time updating the members list as they used to, I personally believe that the online habits of car builders has shifted towards Facebook due to it's access and popularity.

That is exactly what I think. As much as I know, for a long time no one has been able to register to the forum, which is a shame. I've been very busy lately with my diving job, but very soon I will have time and try, with who ever is willing to help me, to find an alternative and durable solution with the guarantee we won't loose all the precious datas that ere on this forum.

Phil - I agree that not enough time is spent by whoever manages the group if indeed any is.
Sylvain - I am completely with your views. There is so much data here that people have entrusted to the Haynes organisation and as an entry fee they have bought a book detailing the car build. It is criminal that this is not being allowed to grow and continue. Let me know how I can help your cause when you get it going, I've no idea what I can do but am willing to help at least. Without the advice and help I got here during my build the car may not have been finished - or if it had it would have taken much longer. I want to see the Haynes Roadster continue and with help from people like Phil - be adapted to run later donors like Phils TMXR does.

better get down off my horse now - its a bit high ;)

The book is now not worth buying or paying much attention too along with the "Build a sportscar for £250 or less"

why

because the donor is now far too expensive to consider breaking.

So to generate new book sales would require a re-write

1) Ron Champion must be dead by now
2) Chris gave up interest (due to ill health?) 6+ years ago
3) The single seater never got published.
4) The book would need rewriting for the available main donor MX5


I think there is a reluctance to allow the content to be moved as it's so closely linked to the Brand Name.

The registration situation was the result of the huge SPAM attacking back 2013?? and has never changed as the site was never upgraded from vbulletin 3.6.4 which was EOS 31st October 2008 and probably has multiple vulnerabilities.

TT

You mention the Donner is too expensive to break? Do you mean the Sierra type Donner?

This is my view on the Haynes book personally I think that the donor being to expensive I agree and also don't agree because in the UK as you guys who are from there have said they not easy to get and are expensive and you would prefer that they made a book with the mx5 donor which is fine but I think they should of continued printing the Chris gibbs book and make a new version with the mx5 and sell copies around the world especially in south africa because I'm sure there are people who would want to build one that don't have the kind of budgets to buy a ready built one and also reason why I say continue printing the Chris gibbs one is cause here in south africa we can sierras all over the show and very cheap and the forum should be open to new registrations cause I'm sure people will still come on here make friends as we all have done despite being in different countries and having the input of everyone's ideas and help that so many of us have used in our journey of building a haynes roadster and that still are building there own ones such as myself so this is just my thoughts I think haynes should consider these things

Thanks for the responses - I agree TT that the original donor, the Sierra, is too expensive to really be considered a donor now, however there does seem to be a drift towards the MX5 and Ricky says a new updated book with MX5 as the main donor would be brilliant. Phil has already done the hard work and has created the TMXR which really needs the book to be now based around.

I see that there are 8102 members of this forum and as I write this 4 members are viewing and 12 guests, that says to me there is an opening for growth. The latest member is shown as 7th June 2017. I have spoken to 3 people in the last week who have all tried and failed to register. One who had a Haynes chassis but had given up and sold it on.

My own Roadster is a Sierra/MX5 hybrid so I am unlikely to build another that is completely MX5 based but if a new book could be put together I would be happy to contribute photos from my build that were relevant.

So Haynes - if you are monitoring - how about an update - I am sure there are a few of us here who have already built a car who would come together to produce an MX5 update?

☝I agree and I think not many people join cause not Many people know about the book and i think it should be advertised more and the forum should be really put out there and more info on it even in the book in bold writing so people can see and know I mean 7 years ago when I bought the book it was by luck I saw this book on the shelf and saw all the drawings and thought this could be an opportunity of a life time to build your own sports car and I didn't even know what a lotus 7 / Haynes roadster/ locost / whatever you name them I have come a long way and have learnt so much and fell in love with the lotus brand so I think making new books and keeping the Chris Gibbs one as well is a good idea and just putting it out there and advertisement is needed

That's an interesting question. My arguments for and against conscious suppression on the part of Haynes:

* the initial signup restrictions came into place when the forum was attacked by spammers. The software that runs this forum is proprietary and an ancient version. The administrators looked into upgrading it, but it turned out to be unfeasible or impractical. So, now the administrator has to manually approve all new users, and if there are spam registration attempts, the legitimate subscribers are drowned out in the noise. So that might be the reason -- the legitimate lack of resources on part of admins to approve new signups.

There was a team of moderators who could probably take on such a task, but all of them burned out or lost interest for one reason or another and are not active on the forum any more.

* Several months ago Haynes announced their intention to close down the forum, but after the petition by several dozens of active users relented. Maybe choking the arrival of new users is a tactic to let the forum quietly die?

well I think this sucks and think Haynes is not being fair to the people that want to join . well seeing that a facebook group has been started we should put this info on the Haynes forum where everyone can see with the link and so people can join facebook . just my thoughts

I am a moderator and still here.

But don't have the power of approving registrations.

TT

personally I think there will be no 'plan' by anyone at Haynes to throttle the forum, but they just don't invest any effort in it. I can see why, it generates no return for them.

I think they relented on closing the forum simply because they realised that it was actually wanted by a few people and it presumably takes minimum overhead at their end. I can't imagine there is much actual risk to Haynes from a business point of view if they do pull the plug.

the content on here is very helpful indeed to a builder. It would be a massive shame to loose it. It would be great if the content could be taken off elsewhere so that it was not at risk of disappearing. However a lift into a new forum that was supported by someone in the building community would also be vulnerable to whatever decisions that person then made... plus whatever costs Haynes *do* cover will need to be met somehow...

without checking where Haynes are based, perhaps a couple of us could come up with a plan and then pop into their offices for half an hour to speak to them?

Oh, and Facebook is great for some stuff but not, I think anywhere near as structured /searchable as a forum...

and in terms of Haynes publishing an updated book I think the world has moved on in publishing terms - when 'amateur' builders are producing comprehensive CAD files and sharing them via the Web - I think that the physical book format has pretty much been superceded.

Me too.

As TT has said, as moderators we do not have the permissions needed to validate new user accounts.

Had we been given that access, we would have a lot more new members.

On a personal note:

My heath has been a real problem over the last few years, as a result, my builds have come to a grinding halt.

My build is a Sierra based one.
Most questions I see are MX5 related & I just do not have the answers :confused:

That is the reason I am very much in the background at the moment.

I will also add:
My email messages are checked several times a day.
If I notice a forum alert, I will take action if action is needed.

Dont forgot Bonzo set up an alternative forum some years ago which is still running but not being used much. But it has admins on it that have full power to vet and approve new members which really doesn't take that long.

There is no reason why members still active on here cant duplicate there own postings on there as well as here.

When they tried to shut the forum down I was in contact with haynes to discuss adopting the data, as was locost builders as well. There was a good deal of concern about the branding references and also in the conversations I had I sensed an internal divide as to if it should continue or not.

They eventually decided to continue with it as is for 'the foreseeable future'. Take from that what you will.