Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 08:04:42 -0800
Reply-To: BRENT CHRISTENSEN <bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: BRENT CHRISTENSEN <bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM>
Subject: Re: Vanagon.com - world's best vanagon web-site??
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
Funny, I was just musing on this subject last night during my drive home. I
was thinking how lucky we are to have a dedicated web site, and someone
(Coyote) who has taken the time and money to create and maintain it. I do
agree with Ken, however, on many of the points he raises.
I would suggest that sales of List decals, bumper stickers, hats, etc.
should be done for a profit, and the profit be plowed back into improvements
of our list server hardware, web site, etc. We might even be able to form a
"committee" of sorts to handle such things. I for one would gladly pay an
extra premium for List goodies. (Heck, we could have a Vanagon.com
"e-commerce site" with all kinds of Vanagon geek items like coffee mugs,
hats, t-shirts, etc.)
What do you guys/gals think?
Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy
Santa Barbara, CA
-----Original Message-----
From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM [mailto:KENWILFY@AOL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 6:10 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Vanagon.com - world's best vanagon web-site??
While I don't think that Vanagon.com is the world's worst web site, I think
it could stand some improvement. I would encourage those who are interested
to check out a club very similar to ours at www.mr2.com. This is a mailing
list dedicated to quirky and non-mainstream Japanese cars (yes these do
exsist). There are alot of parallels with our own list. However if you
check out their List website it is superior in several ways:
1. The mail list archieves are very easily searchable (my search for
"alternator" lasted 5 seconds and yielded several hundred posts on the
subject as I thought it would). A similar search in our own archieves would
probably just lock up the machine.
2. All of the FAQ pages are organized and easily accessible (keeping the
repeated questions about tires, etc, etc, to a minimum I am sure).
3. All of the meetings of the club are organized and easy to find (instead
of
posting these to the List several times they are have their own page).
4. The site has sponsors that help pay for it's upkeep (like a Japanese
shock
manufacturer, etc).
5. The site has a functioning classified section (something Vanagon.com
desperately needs. I offered my site that I pay $90 a month for, but was
turned down. We need to do something about this people.)
So I am not just ranting here, I volunteer some of my time/talents to
helping
make Vanagon.com what it should be. I know there are other folks on the
list
who are more talented than I in terms of web design, etc. I would like our
List site to be the most helpful, informative, easy to search and navigate
site on the web. I see no reason why it couldn't be. Anyone feel the same
way?
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
http://www.vanagain.com
John 3:16
Office (856)-765-1583
Shop (856)-327-0027
Fax (856)-327-2242