Is Maserati a second-class citizen? | Page 2 | FerrariChat

Is Maserati a second-class citizen?

Discussion in 'Maserati' started by awatkins, May 7, 2021.

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  1. awatkins

    awatkins Formula Junior

    Apr 10, 2005
    396
    SFO Peninsula
    Full Name:
    Alan Watkins
    My mentioning of Maserati Life was premised on the peoposition the site owner would be willing to make reasonable modifications as a condition of the move.

    Why would the existing posts here “disappear”? The only way that can happen is if the site owner deletes them all deliberately. “Staying here” doesn’t guarantee data preservation either. None of us has any control over that whatsoever. If we started our own site we would have complete control. and even so there’s no reason to assume this site would die or be killed.

    That being said, if I were moving to a new site (and I have done so) I would go through my old posts and transfer whatever I thought has historical value. An organized crowdsource effort to bring over the posts of departed contributors could reasonably solve that sector of the problem.

    As for thread BS: that is not a technical property of the site: it’s a decision by the moderator to implement it and/or the users to generate it. Purely a social problem having nothing to do with promoting Maserati to it’s appropriate level or with the platform used to implement it. Forthermore a well-organized forum is much easier to moderate than what we have. How would you moderate the Khamsin forum? The nominal owner has no control over content or participation. He can’t delete or edit, and he can’t boot someone out. Look through it and see the result. One poor member commited the heinous felony of using the word “Bora” the other day in a brief comment with the result that an admonishment followed which is longer than the offending text. Now that’s there for all time.


    Now, Marc: consider the following paragraph.

    “Marc — if you think your self-congratulatory and pompous mini-sermon on etiquette is itself diplomatic you need a lesson in English and in the part of net etiquette that says you don’t attack or directly criticise personally in public. And BTW your last sentence is a grammatical abomination.”

    Now, see how that feels? That’s why you shouldn’t write personal things like you just did. A truly diplomatic person would have intuitively known better.
     
  2. wbaeumer

    wbaeumer F1 Veteran
    Consultant

    Mar 4, 2005
    8,827
    ...eeeee..xactly!!!!
     
    alfieri107 likes this.
  3. wbaeumer

    wbaeumer F1 Veteran
    Consultant

    Mar 4, 2005
    8,827
    Well, I think you made a lot of people angry here!

    Sorry to say, but if you find this forum or parts of it absurd, then nobody puts a gun on your chest to stay here!

    Your contribution here is minimum compared to Marc`s or mine!
    And - before you insult me here you should do your homework to become better informed...

    Don`t get me wrong....I mean this in a very friendly way! Period!
     
    alfieri107, Nembo1777 and AM101 like this.
  4. italiancars

    italiancars F1 Rookie

    Apr 18, 2004
    3,339
    Hershey, PA
  5. Froggie

    Froggie Formula Junior

    Sep 27, 2017
    477
    Belgium
    Full Name:
    Serge
    I am among the (young) members who think that the organisation of this Maserati forum could be improved.
    If I may say, the proposal, skills and efforts of awatkins as well as well as the contributions of outstanding members like Marc, Walter, and many more would be most welcome to build a more visible and efficient instrument that would be dedicated to Maserati's, especially the vintage/classical ones, of course keeping the huge knowledge that has been accumulated here on e.g. the Ghibli, Khamsin or Bora threads.
    So please everybody, let's forget the words exhanged and let's not waste this chance.
     
    boralogist and Nembo1777 like this.
  6. thecarnut

    thecarnut F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 22, 2006
    3,016
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    The Car Nut
    I like the idea of having a separate and distinct Maserati user community. The whole notion of being a stepchild within a Ferrari community just feels wrong. Why not transfer over to the existing ************ community and join our brothers with modern cars? As the MC20 gets delivered I would think most of the discussion on the car will happen in that forum. I have not participated in that forum enough to know how its functionality compares to FChat and perhaps awatkins can give us his assessment. Could the existing threads be transferred? Let's not reinvent the wheel if a viable platform already exists.

    One thing I do not like about FChat is not getting an email notification when there is a new private message. This was in the prior version and seems to have been deleted during the last "upgrade".

    Ivan
     
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  7. thecarnut

    thecarnut F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 22, 2006
    3,016
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    The Car Nut
    I see that the word "Maserati" plus "life" got blank out of my prior message. I guess FChat does not believe in competition. No reason to be afraid of competition when you deliver a superior product .... but be very afraid when you do not.
     
    Nembo1777 and boralogist like this.
  8. italiancars

    italiancars F1 Rookie

    Apr 18, 2004
    3,339
    Hershey, PA
    Ivan,
    That answers your question about existing threads being transferred.
     
  9. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 13, 2005
    91,524
    Fuggetaboutitland
    Full Name:
    Bob
    Hi Alan,

    We know each other from the Lamborghini world. You're way off base with Walter. Early on I tried to get this website's owner to do more but they think they've got the right formula and it's working well for Ferrari. It's not a technical solutions and parts info type website for specific models or brands of cars.
    They did move the Lamborghini section off by itself and I don't think that made it any better.

    As for Goups.io I'm using that presently for Biturbozentrum. It got us converted properly off of Yahoo Groups. That's about the only good thing I can say about it. I beleive that it's way too stark. But there's not much money in the Maserati Biturbo arena and all the old info and posts ARE there so that's great.

    There are a lot of heavy hitters from all over the world for all marques who frequent this website and at times that's valuable.
     
  10. 3500 GT

    3500 GT Formula 3

    Nov 2, 2008
    1,398
    USA
    Full Name:
    Gentleman Racer
    #35 3500 GT, May 11, 2021
    Last edited: May 11, 2021
    Two books that have served me well in my short life:

    “Crow e Come Mangarlo”

    “Dentro Cucina: Humble Pie Istruzioni per la Cottura”

    If a new Maserati formum is developed; I will certainly take a look.

    Honestly, I’ll follow Walter B. wherever he goes...it’s his perspective and many, many others (un-named) here that I appreciate.

    -Ciao
     
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  11. italiancars

    italiancars F1 Rookie

    Apr 18, 2004
    3,339
    Hershey, PA
    wbaeumer likes this.
  12. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Mar 13, 2005
    91,524
    Fuggetaboutitland
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    Bob
    And there you have it ... :p

    Look up the cast of characters in the Marx Brothers move A Night In Casablanca a true classic with Sig Rugman as the unscrupulous hotel manager. He's fantastic. And so is Chico ... ;)
     
    wbaeumer likes this.
  13. wbaeumer

    wbaeumer F1 Veteran
    Consultant

    Mar 4, 2005
    8,827
    Sig was wonderful!
     
    staatsof likes this.
  14. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,593
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    I know everyone is an expert and knows what is best, but here are some points from someone who is open minded and willing to listen...
    • Although better designed, separate news pages, and multiple subforums we have seen a drop in traffic and participation at https://www.lamborghinichat.com/ and https://www.mclarenchat.com/ once we broke it off from FerrariChat. My reluctance to break off Maserati is because we have those two real world examples where the community was hurt by being separate. Technically it is easy as we have already done it before with Lamborghini and McLaren.
    • It is easy to add subforums and we could do it for Maserati, but with only 1-2 new threads a week is that necessary.
    • Vertical Scope forum management is the perfect example of mismanagement. Maserati and McLaren have been their best examples, while 90% of their automotive forums have crashed and burned. They just announced going public, I'm sure that will help things even more. ;)
     
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  15. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,593
    Southlake, TX
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    Rob Lay
    the lack of response is telling, users like awatkins and thecarnut throw stones and trying to attack the Maserati community on FerrariChat, but then no desire to have a constructive conversation for improvement. I've seen it many times over 20 years of FerrariChat, there are just some trolling and caustic users that want to destroy and not build.
     
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  16. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
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    Nov 4, 2006
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    Marc Sonnery
    You could not be more wrong...but debating with you is like attending the Vladimir Putin post summit press conference in Geneva yesterday. One sided propaganda. You have no idea who Ivan and Alan are. The classic Maserati world should not be a vassal to that Maranello company which is decades younger.
     
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  17. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,593
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    Rob Lay
    there were a few things loosely proposed, but not even our own users were in agreement. I offered a perspective from things we have tried, then I was willing to listen. tell me specifically what you want to discus or consider and we'll talk about it. I'm friendly, but anything else is an attack on FerrariChat and will be handled appropriately. your post above seems to be in the same lot of just wanting to negatively attack and not positively discus. prove me wrong.
     
    Texas Forever likes this.
  18. Nembo1777

    Nembo1777 F1 World Champ
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    Nov 4, 2006
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    Marc Sonnery
    10:30pm here, will answer tomorrow.

    You seriously need to take a minute or three to study, understand who you are communicating with.
     
  19. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Mar 13, 2005
    91,524
    Fuggetaboutitland
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    Bob
    Concur whole heartedly. Everyone needs to take a moment as I think we're all (in the words of Mike Myers of SNL) feeling a bit verklempt! ;) Marc ... look it up!
     
  20. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Dec 1, 2000
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    Rob Lay
    we're a community, we're not tailoring the forum for a couple people, we're looking to be the best for as many as possible. I look forward to your input and will take it seriously. process is we take ideas that seem good and reasonable, then put it up for vote or often a "positive" discussion gets us to a good decision point.
     
  21. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Mar 13, 2005
    91,524
    Fuggetaboutitland
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    Bob
    Rob, I can tell exactly what's going on with this. I did once before and you decided what you did and the website has been very successful. Can't argue with that. But Maserati fans who buy and maintain older cars need a bit more and frankly I don't think that need is going to be met by Ferrarichat. You can't be all things to all people. I tried to be peace maker with Alan but know that he's done this sort of thing before.
     
    rob lay likes this.
  22. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,593
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    Rob Lay
    I understand that, my first post was very open and welcoming to a discussion and no one wanted to talk. When it was just one sided users attacking FerrariChat or trying to spam users, then there were posts. ;) Like you I think many of us just calling it for what it was. I'm still open minded if there are real discussions and positive users who do want to work with us. I look forward to Marc's input tomorrow.

    If someone is for a separate community, then outline how you think it will have more activity than being aligned with FerrariChat. Our experience over 20 years AviatorChat.com, LamborghiniChat.com, and McLarenChat.com have around 10-40% of the traffic separate as they did part of the community.

    When it comes to subforums those are very easy to add, but it requires a certain level of traffic so the subform doesn't dilute and die off. I'm open to opinions that adding subforums will actually create more traffic, I would love if that is true!

    thanks everyone, I won't discount your views, but don't discount my 20 years of experience either.
     
  23. italiancars

    italiancars F1 Rookie

    Apr 18, 2004
    3,339
    Hershey, PA
    Rob,
    The 1st thing you have to understand is the Maserati Community/World is very fractured, always has been. The fact there has never been a viable club in North America for the marque should be your 1st hint. There were regional fiefdoms claiming to be clubs, who’s sole purpose was warring with the other Fiefdoms.

    This Ferrarichat board is the primary gathering spot for Maseratis owners/enthusiasts/historians of the Orsi era and Maserati brothers cars. The Ferrari era cars are on M Life. The FCA era cars each seem to have their own boards by model, and untold numbers of Facebook group pages. The Biturbo era owners were still doing yahoo groups email up until that platform was shutdown in December.

    so that being said, a format change within this board should probably focus on the Orsi era cars with individual sub categories by model. A general tech category, a catch all for each of the other era cars.

    Also a way to have only the Maserati section searchable separate from the Ferrari section. This is just a few thoughts.

    However the one thing about this forum that drives me nuts and pisses me off is that I generally view it on an IPad, the constant script shifting related to the advertising (gotta pay the bills) causes navigation issues. EG while attempting to touch the hotlink to go to the Maserati section a script shift occurs and I’m in Creative Arts, then all those scripts have to load before you can return to attempt to get to the section you wanted originally. Let that happen a few times and you’re demeanor is not pleasant.
     
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  24. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,593
    Southlake, TX
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    Rob Lay
    very good feedback, exactly what I was looking for! with a positive tone how to move forward.

    you can go to advanced search and search just with the Maserati forum.

    the ads I understand are annoying for non subscribers, that’s how we pay the bills though. M life has 2x as many and intrusive. you can get the Silver for 4 cents a day removes the ads.
     
  25. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    Dec 15, 2007
    10,294
    Chicagoland USA
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    Tom Tanner
    I do not want the Maserati forum to move to a separate site and I don't think it would do as well as it does here if it did. I do think the cars should be split up in the section, sort of like the Ferrari section is with classics having their own section and other cars also having sections. To cater to the large vintage interest in this Maserati forum maybe the vintage section should be split up by year not era to make it easier to understand for everyone rather than for example the Orsi era. Either is fine with me, but for just looking up information sorting by year is preferred. To be honest, the way it sounds to me having an outside entity take care of the forum is a good way of keeping the infighting to a minimum. That way focus is on the cars not the forum or politics.
     
    rob lay likes this.

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