Demise of the Society Forum (?)

[petersmith1942]

I don't like FB but I am a member just for the HOn30 modellers group and the 009 modellers group. I do find a different perspective on 009 quite interesting even though I am a loyal 009 Soc member. Some of us should participate and fly the flag for us as I do when it is appropriate. It is good to be reminded that 009 and the Society are not the same thing!
I hope the Society situation is resolved without delay and I tend not to like responses which seem to say "go away until you are told" FB certainly does not seem to be a suitable medium for the notification role indicated. Surely that is what this forum is for?
I like our Society partly because it seems free of issues such as this
Peter Smith

[Graeme Dunbar]

An 009 Society Facebook page could serve a very different purpose to this forum (as indeed a forum/Facebook page for any group of people). One thing it might be useful for is letting non-members know about exhibitions where the Society is present, exhibitions where members (and non-member 009 modellers) are exhibiting and so on.

Personally I'm not a habitual user of Facebook (as anyone who is able to find me on Facebook can see - I struggle to find myself there!) but so many people are, so for the reasons above it would seem to be sensible to have some presence there for the Society.

[Gerhard Novak]

009 society and facebook - a useful thing could be to announce the different events let's say a week or two before they happen - there is some functionality for this built into facebook. Of course we get the information via the society forum - but normally 6 month or more earlier. And people with a weak brain like myself may forget about these events if they are not immediately penciled into the calendar.

[JulienW]

As the person who currently manages the Yahoo group perhaps I might be able to comment.

Since the 2008 009 Society AGM the Yahoo group has not has any official support from the 009 Society, and it was relaunched in May of that year as a non-Soicety Yahoo group.

With the recent drop in traffic to almost nothing I (and others) feel that it has now been superseded by the online forums mentioned below and I have therefore put the decision on the future of the Yahoo group in the hands of its members.

On the 2nd June I posted the following announcement:

Like me you will have received another "File - Monthly text notice" from the group outlining the rules of the group. After a conversation with another member and a bit of digging on the Yahoo group website I was surprised to discover that other than these monthly notifications there has been no traffic on the group in the last 6 months, and the monthly message count hasn't been out of single digits since June 2012.

I suspect that most of us are getting our 009 fix elsewhere - the Society's own forum or Narrow Gauge Railway Modelling Online for example, so has the time come to close this group down for good?

I thought I would open a poll on this, and knowing that there are 126 members of the group I think we need a significant proportion to vote in favour to continue the group (i.e. not pulling the plug). So in addition to there being more votes to keep the group going than shutting it down I'll also need more than 63 votes (half the group) in total. The poll will be open for a month (so until 3rd July) and if the group is to close I will allow another month for members to download any files, photos, etc. before deleting the group in August.

Thanks in advance for voting

Julien Webb

The above message was sent out as a special notification so should have been received by all members at the e-mail address supplied in their Yahoo profile.

If you are a member of the Yahoo group and did not receive the above message please access the yahoo group to vote in the poll and comment if you see fit.

Julien Webb, 009-Group Moderator.

I have just had the results of the poll about the old Yahoo group.  I have started a new thread - here - to avoid confusion with any other 009-related internet content, which AFAIK remains unaffected by this decision.

[Pete Williams]

Will the facebook page be accessible to everyone or just facebook members?   I realise that probably 99% of the world population is now on facebook, but there are a few of us who are not.

Frank i was on facebook but have closed my account- have read Orwell's '1984, and found the comparison to his 'Thought police' truely amazing.

[jimowers]

Like, I am sure, a number of other people My wife and I have no plans to ever use Facebook. Since we are both OO9 members, if the forum were ever to be disbanded then we would have no direct access to OO9 news online. The Sales Teams postings are just one of many which appear on the forum which are vital when new things happen.

We both hope that if you really have to have a Facebook presence then information will continue to be posted here for us oldies.

[cp.409067]

Like, I am sure, a number of other people My wife and I have no plans to ever use Facebook. Since we are both OO9 members, if the forum were ever to be disbanded then we would have no direct access to OO9 news online. The Sales Teams postings are just one of many which appear on the forum which are vital when new things happen.

We both hope that if you really have to have a Facebook presence then information will continue to be posted here for us oldies.

*

Well said Jim. Hear, hear.



CP

[jimowers]

It may of course prove my point that there are quite a few of us who have never seen any Facebook page and feel it is a threat to something we value.

Luckily this is not the case and we can breathe again

[cp.409067]

I'm not sure why this topic has come up again. The Society has had a Facebook page for over a year now, it's stated purpose at the outset was to communicate Members' Day dates and other enticements to non members in the hope of attracting them in and would not replace any function of the 009 News or this forum. That continues to be the case.

We're well aware that Facebook is not for everyone, but outreach to people who do use it and might be interested in joining our Society was felt to be worthwhile.

*

I would politely suggest that it does not matter why this topic has come up again. What is of value is the above reassurance given by the Society Communications Director. Thank you Stephen.

CP

[danny]

I had always assumed the Facebook page to be for 'advertising' the Society and this forum for internal communication.
Danny

[clayliner]

One can only imagine what useful data Cambridge Analytica is harvesting from the Society Facebook page...

David.

[rod335]

Very little. Posting is by moderators only.

[danny]

One can only imagine what useful data Cambridge Analytica is harvesting from the Society Facebook page...

David.

Would they classify anything on here or on the Facebook page as 'useful'?  :D :D ;)