Chat box suggestion?
 

I figured since this forum is pretty slow moving, in both threads and new members joining. Maybe to separate it from the major mx5 forums, we could maybe implement a real time chat box.

It'd be a good way for enthusiasts to actually get to know each other, instead of only from posting. It'd also be useful if someone was working on a project and hit a snag, there's a possibility they could get instant real time advice from an expert, or someone who's been in the same situation before.

Also, is this place going to be getting vendors?

Id say the only vendors will be ones who get a freebee deal off MT or something, as the hit rate is a little low to ask for money.

As for the chat, id be on here non stop lol. No one else has it, and it would be great.

Dann

we will get vendors in due time. What we really could use is suggestions on ways to entice people to sign up. A lot of us have done a bit of work in getting the MFz name out, and we get tons of visitors. as a matter of fact, we usually get more guest hits than members hits from what I see. waht do you guys think is a good incentive to get them to join?

It's normal to start out a bit slow. A lot of people already have some sort of rep built up on various other miata forums, so they don't want to start out new. Although the chat box is a good idea in theory, I think it might take away from the forumZ a bit. I know over at MT.net this has been requested a lot, but nothing came of it. The powers that be have their reasons.

I think the best thing we can do is keep adding photos, write ups, build threads, etc.. I'm hoping to get a bit more active now that I have my NB :D

The attitude and responses by members will determine how well this forum grows. Friendly responses when new members ask old questions will go a long ways to help us grow. To many times on some of the other forums the response is "search" instead of giving an answer. Searching is great but on some of the forums that have been around for a while searching results in a large number of threads making it difficult to find the answer you want.

Chat boxes take content away from threads and lose the searchability for knowledge. While fun, they kill content.

/Thread.

I think valuable content will get people. Miata.net has the garage. M-S.com has tones of great walkthroughs. CR is just full of well... yea...

Chatbox might be cool. But they never work. Maybe a separate chat room for people to hang out in. I don't think they take content away, you need to have a good community base of people before you have great content. How do you get a good group of people started on a forum full of strangers? hanging out in a chat room where people can get to know one another characters and persona. New users will feed off the positiveness of an active core group. Unlike Miata turbo where the hazing and such scares users away, but people will need to stay nice and be willing to help out etc.

I also feel like the whole "subscriber" status thing is silly. If you come off right out the gate as trying to make money more then make quality site your doing it wrong if you expect to build a large community. I understand hosting a site costs money etc, but you can't really expect to profit off a car forum can you? Or at least not right away. Sell stickers, sell shirts, sell limited ad space etc. The bigger your site gets the more money those things will produce without bashing the average user over the head with ads and gimme gimme gimme.

Number of subscribers is an important metric for prospective advertisers because it shows a level of commitment to the site beyond merely establishing a user name and password. It demonstrates a perceived value of the site by the subscribers. It also demonstrates stability of membership.

I, for instance, have established a user name at sites for a singular purpose but never returned later. But I have only subscribed to sites that I wish to have an ongoing stable relationship with.

^ +1. I am signed up with many DIY car audio sites from back in my early college days. I am also signed up to a astina/mx-3 aussie forum because they can get some very nice Jap mazda parts. Mostly looking at type-f seats, but I won't be needing those anymore.

Content is important, but any tech info available for the mx5 is available on at least 2-3 other established forums. These forums being established are more active, and threads get responses much quicker. I figured a chatbox might be able to give us a speedier, or at the very lease a more real time advantage in response at times.

As it is, this is just another maita forum, out of many. All of which have their own niche catered to. This forum, doesn't have it's own niche, and it desperately needs something to separate itself.

Maybe, we could have a raffle on some desirable part (brain built ms comes to mind), spread the word, and require signup to participate. But then the problem will be keeping them here. Maybe go for a more fun atmosphere, and add a reputation system (like/dislike posts, or thanks/groan). Or maybe a dare I say it... a NSFW section?

To be honest, I checked this place out as a guest for more than one occasion w/o signing up. It just looked too much like every other forum, and it was kind of slow moving. I only decided to register because I was getting banned from other forums unfairly.

lol, you like CR that much? plus if there was a chatbox, I would be the only one answering questions and no one should listen to me.

I THINK the plan for this forum is to fill in the void of Naturally Aspirated cars. but thats not really a good idea, as Naturally Aspirated cars kinda suck when it comes to the miata. not enough power to be had there. I like the idea of keeping this the general technical forum, where miata turbo is turbo specialized, CR is mostly for slamming/looks/visuals, and m.net is older crowd. Here I would say m.net would be our direct "competitor". but we really need to ask Rick about this one. He has been busy and not talking to us much.

What I think is special about MFz is the fact that everyone is welcome here. It's not just for naturally aspirated cars. It's not for just track people. It's where people from CR.net, M.net, MT.net and any other flavor of miata forum can unite and get along.

Bring your slammed, turbo, ITB, stock, riced out, or daily driver miata here. IMO as long as you have a miata you are welcome (or looking to get one). Something needs to tie this community together, and this is the place.

^ Well said Alex. Better than my idea anyway. I like diversity, plus we can all have fun and make fun of each other. it will be like little earth but with miata people ;)

I actually hate CR with a passion. The problem is, it is the busiest miata forum around, and all my local miata friends are all on it. Naturally Aspirated miatas do suck, and I'm pretty sure most miata owners who decide to stay NA, are more interested in suspension stuff than engine.

I actually like the idea of directly competing with m.net. They're a great forum for technical info, but they feel backwards and outdated in too many ways to list. I like the idea of a modern, cutting edge m.net, where stuff can get pioneered, and not get a shitload of "do this, its the proven way!". Some ideas to be more modern, maybe some fb or twitter functions, and rep system like I've mentioned earlier.

Honestly I'd love to modernize a bit. Honestly you have some good ideas, and glad you care enough to voice them. Definitely not discounting them. It would be cool to have some extra functions. Honestly not 100% sure what specific functions you want though, can you explain a bit more? Also I must have missed the rep system thing, care to link?

https://www.miataforumz.com/attachme...ine=1318528713

something like this for a rep system. This is from a forum a friend of mine started, because the forum we originally met on tried to claim he owned our club "NATOR". It originally formed because a forum member was in a tough bind, and some of us decided to gather donations to help him out. Since then, its spread to meeting up with locals, to borrow tools, and help with projects.

Anyway, the forum we all originally met on was pretty much the most modern and advanced forum I'd ever seen, and it was constantly improving with cool features. Problem was the owner was extremely greedy, kept raising min donations, and requesting ludicrous amounts for vendor fees. The last straw was when he told everyone he was using forum donations to pay his friend's mortgage.

That's when someone decided to start http://speedforums.org/main.php and like this site its new, still trying to get members, and its really still in a beta phase. The rep system is still in a work in progress, plans are to allow it to be used to acquire some sort of points system that can be used as raffle tickets for raffle prizes.

The member base is about the same size, but its quite a bit busier despite a lack of any real technical info.

then, I will have our first "modernized" how-to by the end of the weekend. its an NB cold air intake using 2 silicone 90* a 15" aluminum tube and absolutely no cutting of wires. I think it should be very good for the autocross/track crowd, but it may not be 100% water proof. The water issue should be simple enough to make a shroud to stop any from kicking up.

Rather do that than cut a hole in my firewall personally.

I like this.

Hrmmm I kind of like it. I could see the benefit.

the chatbox on that forum is only open to donating members atm

This is the forum we all originally met on, you can see the chatbox w/o being a donating member. http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/

I frequent a MMJ site and above the forum list is a small chat box and while we too thought it would kill content, the damned thing is so lame it works more like a wall to post random ---- on instead of having real time chats in although if two folks were there at the same time you could theoretically carry on a difficult conversation while hammering buttons and refreshing screens to read whats there because it only refreshes every sixty seconds if you don't do it manually...

So yeah, anyway, the functionality is lame but it is effective enough to use and just ineffective enough to not sap the forums.

It makes for a fun piece of kit.

I have used it on another forum and they have a 2s refresh rate, which is actually pretty nice. Just nice enough that I can talk ---- to them about their drag/bench racing.

In my experience chats kill forums by pulling activity out of threads and putting it into the chat. That's my .02$

Nothing to worry about since Brain & Rick are very against a chat. I'm also against a chat. It's best just to post in the forums, so erry one can see it forever.

Chat sucks, tapatalk rulez!

Fapatalk?

^^^