Why so many enthusiasts who own Vipers and not VCA members ?

[slitherv10]

Might get bombarded by enthusiasts on this one but, I shouldnt have to as I am a member and can voice my opinion as I have payed my way in to do so...
I've noticed alot of people on here with enthusiast titles and own Vipers. Some even have more than one.

Why are you people not joining the club?

I also noticed that the VCA members only forum has less chatt and threads there than the open forums to all (including enthusiasts). The form now should be the members only section and there should be a section that titles itself for enthusiasts only. Not memebers only.

IMO, I think the VCA should only allow non members to read threads but not be able to post or respond to them.

If you want to put your .02 cents in then you should have to put your money where your mouth is no ?!!

If this is a club site, should you not have to pay to play ?

 

[BlknBlu]

There are a few reasons i see people not wanting to join as a new Viper owner, but joining has a lot more benefits than not being a member. A membership can pay for itself with one purchase from a VCA vendor or event that is VCA sponsored.

reasons i see for not joining(again just my opinion):

1. Too far removed from local events
2. New to VCA and first want to view the site
3. Bad experieince with a member, thread or vendor
4. Just not a club person
5. Enjoy the perks of non-membership

I however encourage membership it makes our organization stronger, financially sound and well rounded.

Bruce

 

[Mopar Boy]

Yup. You covered most I what I have heard as well, Bruce.

Some people are more just about the car as a weekend cruiser or 1:1 scale model. They don't have time or interest in clubs or social functions. Just happy to drive it out for dinner a few times a month.

 

[chenner]

Tommy, I can tell you my perspective as a new Viper owner who recently joined the VCA.

I'm not traditionally a "club person". Nothing against them but the main reason for buying any vehicle is for me to enjoy the car itself and not neccessarily the social aspect of owning a Viper. When I had my Harley I was never a member of H.O.G. nor did I go on group rides with people I didn't know. I would meet other owners, who I thought were great people, all the time but again I never needed to be part of a "club" or hang out with others to enjoy my bike/hobby more than I did.

The reason why I joined the VCA is partly because of the discounts associated with it but also to meet other owners. I'm never going to be a regular at events but will try to make the odd one when I can if the venue is more inline with my idea of enjoyment (ie Poker Run) and my schedule allows. Some people are just more social than others and enjoy meeting new people. Others not so much. That's not to say that VCA club members enjoy their cars more than non-members. They just enjoy different aspects of ownership.

To each their own right.

 

[slitherv10]

Yup. You covered most I what I have heard as well, Bruce.

Some people are more just about the car as a weekend cruiser or 1:1 scale model. They don't have time or interest in clubs or social functions. Just happy to drive it out for dinner a few times a month.

Thats fine...but, that still does not justy why they should be allowed to join in on our members privilages. If they love this forum so much and they love to chatt up Viper style, then they should have to pay for it like we do.
Support your VCA members and Car by "donating " the money more than expecting it to make you money back. That is not what joining a club is about, Its about being part of a brotherhood. Outsiders need not apply thanks

IMO anyway

 

[Nine Ball]

One thing that I'm not happy with is that if you sign up as a member late in the calendar year, it isn't discounted and your membership expires at the same time everyone else's does. This needs to be fixed, by either pro-rating the price or making the expiration 1 year from the day you sign up. Also, many people have asked for a discounted VCA membership rate, for those of us that cannot attend club functions due to region or personal schedule. No response.

 

[dave6666]

-> Not going to pay to drive around with you.

-> Don't like the arrogance of the track crowd.

-> Don't need any of the pay sections of this forums as I either could (and have...) wrote it myself, or that info is readily available elsewhere for free.

-> Too much censorship.

Pretty sure that covers it.

I have suggested this many times to the deaf ears of this place, to have a tiered membership structure. The main element to exclude at a lower level (and lower cost) membership would be track features and events. Why pay for what you don't want.

Estimated time until my comments are removed: [ ] 1 minute [ ] 1-1/2 minutes [ ] 2 minutes [ ] lifetime ban pending

 

[dave6666]

Thats fine...but, that still does not justy why they should be allowed to join in on our members privilages. If they love this forum so much and they love to chatt up Viper style, then they should have to pay for it like we do.
Support your VCA members and Car by "donating " the money more than expecting it to make you money back. That is not what joining a club is about, Its about being part of a brotherhood. Outsiders need not apply thanks

IMO anyway

Arrogance at it's finest.

 

[BlknBlu]

Oh i also forgot, you have to have a Viper to join. So folks that do not own a car can still hang out and learn all aspects of the Beast.

Bruce

 

[Leslie]

.....or maybe they are too busy DRIVING their Viper to be on a forum.

I didn't renew my membership last year because I took a huge paycut. The membership fee wasn't worth what I felt like I wanted out of it.

I also didn't agree with some site policies and wanted to just spend my year focusing my $ and time on my #1 priority-getting my Viper on the track!

 

[Matt M PA]

I was a VCA member for years...and met some nice folks. Problem was, my region wasn't very active at the time...events were far away..and I just couldn't justify the expense of the membership any longer. I did do some local stuff...but for some reason...I often felt like the odd man out in the VCA. (I'm not blaming the VCA members or the club itself.)

That being said, I am a national VP, and local region President of the National Chrysler Products Club. I've been a member for probably 20 years and it's been a very good thing.

As a "non-member", there are places in these forums I can't view. I understand that...and can live with it. To say that everyone must be a member to be on this forum is not only elitist....but also alienating potential new members or those that could contribute. My car club welcomes potential members to our monthly meetings in hopes they'll join.

There's no doubt that more members means more revenue....and that's certainly good for any organization. I'm not convinced that forcing folks to join in order to use the forum will have the anticipated result. In fact, I'd think you'll see site traffic decrease.

 

[SkyBob]

I have suggested this many times to the deaf ears of this place, to have a tiered membership structure. The main element to exclude at a lower level (and lower cost) membership would be track features and events. Why pay for what you don't want.

Why do you assume the deaf ears of this place are deaf? They may have heard your suggestions and decided they weren't worth implementing. This isn't a la carte buffet dining.

For someone with an obvious chip on his shoulder you spend quite a bit of time on this forum and posting many comments.

 

[georgethedog]

I was a member for a few years and I own a Viper, but I am classified as an enthusiast now for the following reasons:
- Never had time to go to any events since I have small children and they are heavily involved in activities and they come first
- Would rather spend the $125 buying my two boys new basball gloves if I don't go to any events
- If this site became VCA only for posts then I guess I would just go away--no hard feelings
- There are other Viper discussion forums that are free and a lot of people on those forums are also on this forum, so I could still converse with a lot of good VCA people

 

[georgethedog]

To say that everyone must be a member to be on this forum is not only elitist....but also alienating potential new members or those that could contribute. My car club welcomes potential members to our monthly meetings in hopes they'll join.

May I be the first to say BINGO... Nice comment Matt.

 

[dave6666]

Why do you assume the deaf ears of this place are deaf? They may have heard your suggestions and decided they weren't worth implementing. This isn't a la carte buffet dining.

For someone with an obvious chip on his shoulder you spend quite a bit of time on this forum and posting many comments.

Comparing a la carte buffet dining to a membership package that does or does not include an expensive item like tracking and the costs associated with it, is about as dumb as it gets. Are their ears deaf? I could use other terms. In either case how is the membership numbers of today as compared to 5 years ago AS A PERCENTAGE OF REGISTERED OWNERS. Guessing the numbers are good.

Please provide a link to said chip on dave's shoulder. Anything less is baseless drivel.

I post here to help people with a large amount of technical knowledge I have with these cars. No one but you is whining about that, and if you would actually read my posts you would find that they are written to contribute to the technical side of this forum. All for free. Not everybody that comes here wants to talk about wax and tire shine.

 

[Camfab]

First automotive club I ever joined. I just couldn't get myself to ever join the Corvette club. I guess the relative low numbers on the car made me want to do it, it was a way of checking out other cars and mods, etc. The guys and gals I met along the way are a great added bonus, our closest friends are people we met because of the club. The SoCal club is really active and is fortunate to have a great President and past Presidents who are true enthusiasts and great people. I think our region has been lucky to have a great mix of members, many track guys as well as many non track guys with plenty of events for everyone. I personally don't get out to many events, mostly due to time and $. I can tell you this, just one VOI and you'll get why this club is so awesome.

 

[AndyMac]

-> Not going to pay to drive around with you.

-> Don't like the arrogance of the track crowd.

-> Don't need any of the pay sections of this forums as I either could (and have...) wrote it myself, or that info is readily available elsewhere for free.

-> Too much censorship.

Pretty sure that covers it.

I have suggested this many times to the deaf ears of this place, to have a tiered membership structure. The main element to exclude at a lower level (and lower cost) membership would be track features and events. Why pay for what you don't want.

Estimated time until my comments are removed: [ ] 1 minute [ ] 1-1/2 minutes [ ] 2 minutes [ ] lifetime ban pending

What he said, plus the closest club to me is over 800 miles away, soooooooooo, not really much value in it.

What you need to realize is that us "non-members" may not donate money, but contribute in other ways. (DIY's, info, etc) I've never seen the paid DIY section here, but I'm sure there are still DIY's that were written by people that are banned or people who are no longer members here. Don't you think that they should be taken down now?

It's a slippery slope you're on, and if you want to start a members only club, go for it, but I think you'll find the message board lacking afterwards.

 

[klamathpro]

There are very few reasons for me to personally be a VCA member, but I joined anyway. The MCVO club motto is "Come for the cars, stay for the people." The MCVO is full of great people but it's mostly a 50 and older crowd. I was the youngest owner at the last club event by nearly 20 years. No fault of the club, it's just the demographics of the Viper owners in the area. It's still great talking with the MCVO members though. Additionally, my two Vipers are borderline garage queens. Many of the club events (wine tours etc.) involve days in the rain which I refuse to do. I'm going to try to take advantage of more sunny events this year though. The cool events always either seem to fall on a bad weather day, or on a conflicting schedule with me. The one track day I attended last year only had three or four Vipers attend.

 

[DrTaco]

I joined the VCA as a Venom member because I wanted to: a) show my support for the club AND b) show my gratitude for the help I've received from this forum before & during my Viper ownership. I think the main focus of this forum should be to educate and share the Viper love, not to make different “classes” of people. I personally think it would be wrong to bar non-members/owners from posting, because I became a member/owner only because of the very help I received from the posts I made on this site. I think as VCA members we already get plenty of special benefits, too. If you want those extras…pay for em. If ya don’t, just stick around and enjoy the car and forums. Just my .02

 

[dave6666]

Where's my old buddy Bill. We always have a spirited chat on threads like this.

 

[costanZo]

I never really go to any events. I just pretty much use the forums and know that whenever I have a question there is always plenty of members on here that seem more than happy to help me out; as members already have for several things in the past 4 years while owning my Viper. So I don't mind contributing a small amount to help give back to the Viper Community and club in general.

 

[georgethedog]

I don't think $125 just to use the forum is a small amount when most car club forums are free. The Challenger forum I use is free, the Vette forum I used to belong to was free, there are other Viper forums that are free... I'm betting that there is enough sponsorship and advertising $$$ coming in to support the forum. Like someone said earlier, most importantly it is a portal for new VCA members and I don't think the VCA would want to close that door...

 

[speedracervr4]

I pretty much pay the membership fee for the magazine and the opportunity to purchase the tickets for the raffle cars. I normally come on the forums for technical info or ideas for my Viper. If the enthusiasts were not allowed to post, a lot of the technical or DIY threads would go away.

 

[eucharistos]

..... If you want to put your .02 cents in then you should have to put your money where your mouth is no ?!! .....

no

 

[eucharistos]

Thats fine...but, that still does not justy why they should be allowed to join in on our members privilages. If they love this forum so much and they love to chatt up Viper style, then they should have to pay for it like we do.
Support your VCA members and Car by "donating " the money more than expecting it to make you money back. That is not what joining a club is about, Its about being part of a brotherhood. Outsiders need not apply thanks

IMO anyway

conflicted 99%-er logic

 

[dave6666]

...then they should have to pay for it like we do.

Really? You're being forced to pay for the use of this site?

 

[ZYellow01RT]

Why do you assume the deaf ears of this place are deaf? They may have heard your suggestions and decided they weren't worth implementing. This isn't a la carte buffet dining.

For someone with an obvious chip on his shoulder you spend quite a bit of time on this forum and posting many comments.

+1

 

[dave6666]

You must be registered for see images

 

[eucharistos]

You must be registered for see images

from a lowly lowlife enthusiast perspective

i'm thinking that is going to scrape

 

[dave6666]

Some people do stoopid things to their cars Euchi-wan-kanobi.

I wonder how many requests SenorZee has had to reproduce that for others?