Motorcycle Consumer News / Motorcycle Consumer News Center / Forum Feedback

Forum suggestion

drummer — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 10:04:29 GMT

Every year there are lots of events for bike people. They range from every kinda home grown event to the biggest ones like Americade. I know that MC News does a good job of listing these events in the back of the mag, however they are only the ones that they have been notified of in advance.

What about having a forum where people can publish their events? This area would be large enough to have a paragraph or two about the event and an area to post the URL to the event home page.

Just a thought...

does anybody ride anymore

locoblanco — Thu, 03 May 2007 19:11:27 GMT

just got a cable modem. it's so fast i was tempted to spend about an hour on this forum. can't believe how many bikers are on line instead of on the road. after an hour my eyes went funny (or maybe it was the martinis)

DOES ANYBODY ACTUALLY RIDE ANYMORE?

go ahead, let me have it with both barrels. after i sober up i'm getting in the wind.

(square business, all you guys and girls are great.)

"The specified request cannot be executed from current Application Pool"

Lobby — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:20:39 GMT

I got that error when I tried to download the Suzuki DL650 Evaluation.

Do I not have access?

Thanks!

Is is bad form to post information about an upcoming charity ride?

atwowheelguy — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:46:43 GMT

Should I or shouldn't I post a blurb about an upcoming charity ride that I am helping to organize?

It is a little unusual and we think it would appeal to the members here.

slow log

ibafran — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:48:49 GMT

would have rather found a previous thread on this topic. moderator should feel free to move the contents to the appropriate thread, if any.

thought that i would start a log for slow experiences. thus, the techies could have something useful for their needs.

couldnt get the site to open for me this afternoon between 1-2pm, cst. the banner would come up but the rest of the page just stalled out. once or twice the page would look like it was there but the 'active forums' were not listed. and clicking on the 'forum' button had the page go blank. after an hour of fooling around, i gave up and registered for another forum in case i could never get back to this one.

PM alert didnt work for me

ibafran — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 13:57:01 GMT

dont know if this should be in the forum tech part or not?

but, the PM javascript prompt didnt work for me when i needed it a couple of days ago. fortunately, no harm/inconvenience was done. if othersd are having the same problem. all y'all can add their experience here.

Really agrivating feature

PJD — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 06:06:14 GMT

I find myself coming here much less since the forum change. Maybe that was the intent.

Anyway, I stopped in this morning and hit "posts since my last visit" and ended up with 3 pages worth. Being thorough and reading most posts on the first page and even replying to one I was ready to move on to page 2. But no, instead I get an error message that 'search results' are only held for 30 minutes, so I lost 2 pages of active topics since my last visit. I don't have the time to root through each and every topic and this feature is handy. Is there anyway you can increase the time for results to be held or even eliminate an allotted time?

Thanks,

can't contribute

dragonmasterjr — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 14:21:06 GMT

I've been trying to reply to forum comments as dragonmaster and I get a message saying that I don't have permission and that's probably the result of the administrator doing something weird. What's up?

Forum upgrades

Bwana — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:12:33 GMT

Am I the only one that seems to be annoyed with things since the forum was upgraded and appears to have just imported more nuisances?

The forum seems slower to me.

The default text size is a bit small.

E-mailing someone via the e-mail button gives you a return to sender notice in due time.

Clicking on a user name to view their profile just makes their avatar disappear and seems to slow the rate of progress even more.

Using the quote function for a post just seems to produce an odd looking post where the quoted post isn't actually boxed in to indicate where it ends and mine begins.

I have noticed that I've made an unconscious choice to come in here less and less frequently. Sad because I think there are some really good contributors on this forum and in spite of my tendency to post drivel think that I too am a valuable contributor.

August Contact Patch "Klingons"

NYC Rider — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:28:45 GMT

Fred wrote a well-meaning column in the August issue of MC News, but it falls short on the logic side. I'm an admirer and enjoy reading Fred's pieces, so this is in no way a flame.

Understand that most rallies are businesses at the core. A rally is usually planned to make money ... whether to support your motorcycle club or to line your pockets, like Bill Dutcher. Don't get me wrong, I like Americade and think Bill does a great job. But don't mistake this for a non-profit activity; this is a business.

So then, what's wrong with Klingons? Nothing. If they're effectively putting you out of business, it's because you're not offering anything differentiated. Your rally hawks pretty much the same wares as any other 2-bit rally. You're not offering any other kind of service that gives a rally-goer a reason to fork out whatever the registration charge is. In fact, the Klingons are doing you a favor by forcing you to go do something more worthwhile with your time.

This is not the case with Americade. Americade is differentiated in many ways: a vendor area that is immeasurably better than anything outside; guided and unguided tours that offer good food and good camaraderie; multiple dinners, lunches, and coffee sessions with people that are famous within our subculture like ... hmmm, Fred Rau; great seminars; contests; and let's not forget THE DEMOS!

Are there people that come to Americade and don't register? Of course! They don't find any value in any of the above things. Most of them come because they go wherever there are a lot of people with loud motorcycles (these are the same guys that go to Laconia, Sturgis, etc.). But riders that enjoy Americade's many varied and interesting activities will continue to register and grow in number. Why? Because Americade provides a service that is difficult to duplicate and people will always pay for that. I can point to the Hoot and other events and say similar things. It's why they are successful and will continue to be so.

stars?

ibafran — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:46:00 GMT

i miss the stars near my forum name. i thought it was all stars - all the time. the blank little squares seem out of place. some of us didnt get stars for anything in our lives till we got to this forum. little blank squares and no stars could be a psychic bruise. that empty square thing might be nice to re-think at the next opportunity for a forum update. whatever happens, dont give a name to the person who thought the squares was a good idea. i dont want to cross and guidelines and think unkind thoughts about them.

it is nice to be able to post tech stuff and call a "screw" a "screw". betcha, the same person who decided on the squares also decided on the morality issues, too.

nobody rides half as well as they know how.

loud pipes save lives article

justarider — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 18:28:03 GMT

This message is to the forum moderators. I think that a good article for one of your upcoming issues would be the loud pipes save lives thing. Looking at this forum it has 5 pages of responses which ranks this topic way up there in interest. I would love to hear what MCN has to officially say about this very touchy subject. Is this a real safety feature or are these people just looking for their 15 minutes of fame, 7 seconds at a time?
Love to hear from ya Fred.

Ride till it falls off.

Technical glitches

forumadmin — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 17:13:24 GMT

Hi everyone,

The last week we have been experiencing several technical glitches with our message board software. This has been things such as date/time stamp inconsistencies, posts showing up in random order and various error messages.

Please know that we are working to fix the problem behind the scenes, but due to the complexity of the problem, it may take several days to repair.

That said, I do have a bit of good news to share. In the next several weeks we will be rolling out brand new message boards! You are going to love them. They are much easier to use than what we currently have.

Good things are on the way. Stay tuned! ~Jen

Thank you - AnimalNetwork.com Forum Administrator

New format

rnielsen — Wed, 24 May 2006 07:42:30 GMT

I think you've taken a GIANT step backward as to easy usability of the site.

Many new icons appear with NO meaning to me as an amateur user.

No tutorial is present, not that it would help anyway.

Sorry, but I vote NO as to the new site format.

Print View

stevedbmw — Fri, 19 May 2006 12:21:03 GMT

Why is it that when I click on "printer friendly view" I get this horrid window with blue text on black background? Using Firefox browser.

SteveD_BMW

Password memory?

Bwana — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 13:20:12 GMT

I've got my account set to remember my login details so all I have to do is click on a favorites button and I'm in. On occasion I have to log in as the password doesn't seem to be saved from time to time.

It ain't a big deal to me (although the older I get remembering which password goes to which forum can be a bit trying).

But anyway, I was wondering if this is done occasionally by the "system" to protect people from themselves (or imposters on their computers) or if it is just occuring with me as a result of a problem on my end.

Dirt bike forum in need of members (free)

Subscription Renewal

PJD — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 14:20:55 GMT

I just tried to renew my subscription on the site. My subscription is up in Jan. '06.
I received the following message after clicking "renew subscription":

We do not have any renewal offers for you at this time. Please check back 3 months prior to receiving your last issue on Jan 1, 2006. Thank you for your interest.

Um, I think I'm in the time frame. Lol, guess I'll just mail the card as usual.

PJ
Cameron, SC
AMA/American Legion Riders/GWRRA/Retreads
'97 Suzuki 1400 Intruder
'98 Honda VF750 Magna

Ninja 250 r

900cc rider — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 06:36:58 GMT

Well I have my Ninja 250r, 2001 model and it just sits there whats the going price I want to get rid of it few scratches,couple cracks in the plastic,just 800 miles on it ???What should I start the bidding at ???????????

subscribers need archive access to magazine

motojesus — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 13:30:23 GMT

shouldnt subscriber members be able to access some type of archive of magazine articles, columns etc. from the website? Something not available to any non subscribers?

2003 kawasaki vulcan 1500

your opion

900cc rider — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 01:34:30 GMT

whats your review on a 1999 kawasaski xr9, 10,000 for $4,800.00 thumbs up or down ?

mileage on a motercycle

900cc rider — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 01:39:01 GMT

How many miles can one get out of a 99 kawasaski xr9 if well taking care of ??? on oil, etc....

Secret to "actual size" sigs?

Shadow Shack — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 13:47:57 GMT

I originally had a 95x95 pixel sig but it comes up as the same size as the full size one I'm using now. I'd really prefer to use the smaller one (not so space intrusive), so what's the trick to making it appear as normal size instead of magnified?

E-mail notification optional?

webistrator — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:36:22 GMT

I've tried to activate E-mail notification on a forum I started, but the icons referred to in the FAQ aren't present.

Is this feature working?

Cheers!

"Jack S."

I was put here for a purpose: to be a bad example for others not to follow...

Forum too narrow problem

torqueman — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 16:05:19 GMT

For those who were not liking the narrow nature of the forum you can check this out.
www.animalnetwork.com/anforum/default.asp

The MCN forum is near the bottom right under the ferret forum. You get a wider screen for reading post and the create message dialog is different. Check it out. I kind of like it better.

Torqueman
Battle Creek, MI
Goldwing 03

New Message Board Guidelines

torqueman — Thu, 12 May 2005 18:41:23 GMT

Hi everyone,

I am happy to announce that we have new message board guidelines in place. These guidelines were created to ensure that our message boards are an engaging environment where enthusiasts can connect and exchange advice.

I invite you to become familiar with these guidelines by visiting the link below, or by clicking on “Guidelines for Participation” at the bottom of any page on our website.

Guidelines for Participation:
http://www.animalnetwork.com/bowtieinc/detail.aspx?aid=21782&sts=all

There are more cool things on the way and we look forward to having everyone be part of it!

Sincerely,
George
MCN Community Moderator

Torqueman
Battle Creek, MI
Goldwing 03

New Message Board Guidelines

torqueman — Thu, 12 May 2005 18:39:38 GMT

A Special Announcement

forumadmin — Mon, 09 May 2005 10:45:06 GMT

Hi everyone,

As you may have heard, exciting things are on the way. We are rolling out user-friendly message board software in the next several weeks and recently hired a MCN message board moderator. -- You will be thrilled to know that today is his first day working with us.

Our new MCN moderator, George Streeter (a.k.a. Torqueman) has been posting on the MCN message boards since their inception. An avid MCN reader and motorcycle rider, he is knowledgeable about the issues concerning fellow enthusiasts. I know you will all do your best to make him feel welcome in his new position.

Further, we are in the process if implementing new message board rules. These will help ensure that the MCN community reflects the culture and becomes a place to exchange information and talk with others who share a passion for riding. – More to come soon!

Sincerely,
Jen Degtjarewsky

Web Editor, BowTie Inc

Thank you - AnimalNetwork.com Forum Administrator

MC News

drummer — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 10:09:22 GMT

I like the forums, thanks they are great.

I really like the magazine, but it amazes me when I go to bike stores, how many people don't know about MC News. I often wish that I could have copies to give to the people in bike stores so that they would see how good your magazine is and then subscribe. I have done just that with a couple of my old mags and the two people I gave it to have done just that - subscribed. Is there any way to get copies to give out just for this reason? I would be happy to take them to local stores if I had copies.

The "Z" MAN
BMW R1100R
Honda Shadow Spirit

welcome, CM Sally

ibafran — Wed, 04 May 2005 17:59:33 GMT

tried to welcome you with all the others, but i couldnt/wasnt allowed to post there.

welcome. hope you enjoy us bikers.

nobody rides half as well as they know how.

Groundhog Day effect testing

torqueman — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 14:10:44 GMT

6:10 IE

Torqueman
Battle Creek, MI
Goldwing 03

HTML in message.

torqueman — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 09:49:07 GMT

Bawan, and anyone else. I don't have the ability to use HTML in the message body. It says "HTML is off" How did you turn it on?

I would guess my enhanced smiley icons would look better if I didn't use the forum code for images. It seems to size them to what it wants.

Torqueman
Battle Creek, MI
Goldwing 03

Forum Screen Width

sfarson — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 10:34:06 GMT

Is there an option to widen the forum here (like others on the web) so it isn't such a skinny thing down the middle of the screen?

Search feature

drummer — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 05:16:26 GMT

Now that the forums are really growing, it would be nice to have a search feature to find topics. This would not only save time, but help cut down on repeats.

The "Z" MAN
BMW R1100R
Honda Shadow Spirit

Abysmal server performance

DataDan — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 08:43:22 GMT

For the past few days I've found response time so slow that the forum is nearly unusable. Watching network traffic as a page loads, I observe long periods (up to 20 seconds) with no activity at all. The problem appears to be just on MCN. I've noticed nothing unusual on other sites, including other forums.

A superior rider uses superior judgment to avoid problems that would demand his superior skill.

My Favorite Publication

Low Life — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 13:53:18 GMT

Your magazine is one of the very few that I read from cover to cover. The discounted coupons for graduates of Motorcycle Safety Classes is absolutely wonderful. Please consider keeping that going.
The articles are "Spot On" and David Hough's history of how MSF got started has added a dimension to my teaching techniques.
While at an MSF Learning Center seminar in Lansing, Michigan this fall the facilitator asked how many of us subscribe to MCN. I was pleasantly surprised by an almost 100% raise of hands. Obviously at that point the facilitator was just a little overwhelmed.

Keep it coming,

Low Life

Don't Ride Any Faster Than Your Angel Can Fly

subscribe & members list

jerseyjim — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 07:33:55 GMT

As noted in an earlier thread, people have had problems with "subsribe to this topic"...either getting it sometimes or NOT getting that option at all.
I responded to the thread, stating that I could access "subscribe to this topic" but only the FIRST TIME...I...RESPONDED to that topic.
Now, for the past 3 or 4 days....I don't even get that. I cannot, apparantly, subsribe to anything anymore at any time. What's going on?

Then...when I want to check the "Members", I click on "Members" at the right top of the page, and get something like 1000 pages ONE THOUSAND pages of members....for ALL The members of ALL the forums hosted! What's this? I don't want or care to see the members of everything. Just the MCN.

Is it hard to break things down, forum by forum? I really don't care about "Bovine Weekly" y'know....

We need a war room

torqueman — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 09:43:30 GMT

May I suggest we start a war room where any non motorcycle related topics are to be taken? Right now the General forum is full of stuff that is choking out the motorcycle related information.

We also will need moderators. Since Fred is not doing that anymore who the heck is? I don't think anyone as the last forum feedback has not been answered. Someone will need to move non motorcycle related threads to the war room and point people there when things get off topic. I know this sounds a little bit like overkill but if you have been around Internet forums as much as I have you know it will continue to deteriorate if left unchecked.

Torqueman
Battle Creek, MI
Goldwing 03

Dogs For Kids Community

MrEd — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:32:35 GMT

I no longer seem to be able to get email notification on threads here, but I'm getting notification from the "Dogs For Kids Community", which I don't watch at all.

Have I irritated someone?

OK, I support computers for a living and understand that they don't always do what we expect. But is there a way this can be fixed?

'02 GL1800
'99 ZRX1100
'79 RD400

Avatars

StoneTriple — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 10:21:57 GMT

Can avatars be added for screen names? It would make it alot easier to hunt for certain people's posts.

______________________________
"There and back again"

Watched topic

MrEd — Sat, 25 Dec 2004 20:23:30 GMT

Right below the message box when typing posts, there's sometimes a check box to "Subscribe to this this topic", but there's usually not. I have the one to "Check here to include your profile signature", and thats it.

On the "Tunes" thread it was there, I subscribed, and I get notified. On this one it's not there.

Is there something I can do to my profile to fix it?

thx . . . ed

'02 GL1800
'99 ZRX1100
'79 RD400