Another reason to be here

[booster]

RV.net had been offline for a little while, and now when they come up, everything is messed up. Weird opening screen, go to forums, go to class B, back to where you started. "Ask Marcus" all over the place. Who the heck is Markus? Can't even get to the b forum any more. Oh well, maybe they will make more advertising revenue. Much better here!

[markopolo]

Thanks Booster but I hope they get it fixed. It is a great resource for Class B enthusiasts. Marcus is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Lemonis "chairman and CEO of Camping World and Good Sam Enterprises, and the star of The Profit, a CNBC reality show about saving small businesses".

There are many ways into RV.net forums - if when RV.net doesn't work then usually you can still get through Motor Home Magazine or Good Sam etc. like this: http://forums.goodsamclub.com/index.cfm ... rum/21.cfm

[Mike]

Similar issues with the Yahoo Roadtrek Group. Not so much that the forum is messed up, but some of the participants might be. I pop over there once in a (rare) while, and it always amazes me when out of the blue, someone pipes up and wants to be the forum "thought police" and control the content that members may discuss there. Last week, there was a discussion thread started by a regular about how his debit card had been compromised, but taken care of by the FI. That sparked replies about credit/debit card fraud problems which quickly drew more interest, and more than a few anecdotal notes and some warnings. Then some guy jumps in, and starts telling one of the other regulars that we shouldn't be discussing that topic, because he didn't think it was "Roadtrek" enough. I fired a response back at him, that it was as Roadtrek as camp chairs and cutlery and car wax or something like that, and then turned off the group email updates tap. It never fails, sooner or later someone always spoils it for me over there. Shame, because there are more than a few members that have more than average RV knowledge, and I like the techie discussions, and shared experiences, even if a lot of it is beyond me. And there are more than a few regulars over there, like here, who have a sense of humor and don't mind sharing a joke, and who don't take things too seriously, either.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Mike

Similar issues with the Yahoo Roadtrek Group. Not so much that the forum is messed up, but some of the participants might be. I pop over there once in a (rare) while, and it always amazes me when out of the blue, someone pipes up and wants to be the forum "thought police" and control the content that members may discuss there. Last week, there was a discussion thread started by a regular about how his debit card had been compromised, but taken care of by the FI. That sparked replies about credit/debit card fraud problems which quickly drew more interest, and more than a few anecdotal notes and some warnings. Then some guy jumps in, and starts telling one of the other regulars that we shouldn't be discussing that topic, because he didn't think it was "Roadtrek" enough. I fired a response back at him, that it was as Roadtrek as camp chairs and cutlery and car wax or something like that, and then turned off the group email updates tap. It never fails, sooner or later someone always spoils it for me over there. Shame, because there are more than a few members that have more than average RV knowledge, and I like the techie discussions, and shared experiences, even if a lot of it is beyond me. And there are more than a few regulars over there, like here, who have a sense of humor and don't mind sharing a joke, and who don't take things too seriously, either.

It can get a bit weird over there. There seem to be a few that think what they are interested in is fine, even if not exactly Roadtrek specific, but if anything else comes up, they complain about it. There was a very long, and convoluted, discussion over there, where we were trying to help a regular troubleshoot their electrical system. It was the one I mentioned here that had the solar conflict. I got several rather angry emails telling me to stop tying up the board with that thread because he was getting too many noticifications. OK, lets not learn anything, or help anyone,so you aren't inconvenienced!

The Roadtrek experience there is very good, but the tech is experience is pretty low, so there are many, many, redundant questions that have been answered many times in the past. Some get really huffy about it, but they seem to forget they were a newb once, and the search there is horrible.

For the really good tech discussions, this is the place to be.

[AK49er]

I also belong to a couple of other sites but consider "here" to be my home page. Thanks Marko!

[Mike]

Originally Posted by booster

It can get a bit weird over there. There seem to be a few that think what they are interested in is fine, even if not exactly Roadtrek specific, but if anything else comes up, they complain about it. There was a very long, and convoluted, discussion over there, where we were trying to help a regular troubleshoot their electrical system. It was the one I mentioned here that had the solar conflict. I got several rather angry emails telling me to stop tying up the board with that thread because he was getting too many noticifications. OK, lets not learn anything, or help anyone,so you aren't inconvenienced!

The Roadtrek experience there is very good, but the tech is experience is pretty low, so there are many, many, redundant questions that have been answered many times in the past. Some get really huffy about it, but they seem to forget they were a newb once, and the search there is horrible.

For the really good tech discussions, this is the place to be.

It's odd too, that more of the folks over there don't migrate this way for most of those reasons.
Or maybe they do, but merely lurk? There seem to be more than a couple of pretty laid back YRG members that would probably enjoy this place. This place isn't immune from the thought police types whose world and focus is limited, but that's just the law of averages. They're everywhere, and can even be interesting at times in small doses. There are also newbies everywhere, and their questions are usually paraphrased versions of the same old, same old. Like you, I try to remember when I was new, and don't mind answering them if I can, until it becomes obvious that the problem can't be solved over the internet, or that the search function on here is being ignored, because it's easier to ask someone than to try to find the info/answers yourself. The search function on here is better than that on YRG. It's a simple and effective keyword search, that works.
A few years ago I often casually mentioned ClassBForum when in a discussion over there, thinking it might get some of them to drift over here for a look. It may just be a matter of slightly greater simplicity of access over there, that keeps some on YRG. Receiving and answering an occasional email feed sent to your inbox from the YRG, is probably an easier way to connect and participate, than the thread update notification emails method on here, that link us to the appropriate subscribed thread, that then needs an extra step (logging in here) to view. Either way, I have no preference, as they're both pretty simple and effective.