Why are Newmar clubs always the most active on RV forums

[Stuart W]

I have noticed on this forum and other forums the Newmar club is always the most active
I’m curious why that is.
I have a theory that because Newmar’s are famous for their ability to customize your coach, many start frequenting the forums through the order process.
In any event it is very cool and would be great for this forum to get other clubs as active. Thoughts?

 

[sheridany]

I agree more information sharing is always better and always more helpful in most cases versus the dealer or manufacturer. The question is how do we get them here? Some seem entrenched in the other forums. I am actually surprised we don’t have more newmar owners here but we all know NIRVC is very active on the other forum so that probably keeps them there. Just a guess. Obviously once confronted and ordered to prison by the admins over there, they come over. The other question I would ask is why do certain “well known”Newmar owners stay there and they have ids here but hardly come by. I am not naming names but you all know who I am talking about.

 

[DennisT]

Saw the same thing on the Forest River Forums.

One of the reasons was the GMs for the motorized divisions were all active on the forum. Started with the Dynamax GM, which is why we initially had one of those on order. He is now the motorized GM and made sure all the individual line GMs were active to answer questions etc.

That forum is owned by the same company that owns “the other one”.

The above did lead to a lot of good will with owners and, having a place to go to get questions answered directly from the source is nice.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

As a non-Newmar user, the brand we use has quite an active social media activity, but it is not on this forum nor on “the other” forum - it is a group on FB (and I refuse to use FB).
Birds of a feather flock together - not sure why other brand users seem to have settled on using FB as their platform nor why Newmar users have gravitated where they have. But personally I like this forum and it is my primary social media consumption.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

The other forum has been around for almost 25 years and in the beginning, they attended the big shows at Tampa and Hershey. I asked Neal for a supply of the RV Forums business cards to hand out at 3 Hoots Rally's and the Newmar International Rally I'll be attending this summer.

 

[Stuart W]

I agree more information sharing is always better and always more helpful in most cases versus the dealer or manufacturer. The question is how do we get them here? Some seem entrenched in the other forums. I am actually surprised we don’t have more newmar owners here but we all know NIRVC is very active on the other forum so that probably keeps them there. Just a guess. Obviously once confronted and ordered to prison by the admins over there, they come over. The other question I would ask is why do certain “well known”Newmar owners stay there and they have ids here but hardly come by. I am not naming names but you all know who I am talking about.

I do see the NIRVC factor, however the ratio of Newmar vs Tiffen and Entegra seems very disproportionate.
It seems like the others have more of a FaceBook presence.

 

[Stuart W]

Some of the face book groups are so locked down that all posts have to be approved before they are public. Way to much effort

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I'm a member of the Newmar Ventana FB group and will often post a link to RVF for problem-solving. Hopefully, some of those who follow the link will eventually become RVF members.

 

[Neal]

Forums alive prior to the days of social media gained their membership and content which helps with search engines. Some are still using software from that era which has many issues including security IMHO. This is why I wanted to start something on a modern platform for those that enjoy forums. Forums are better for searchability and content management where platforms like Facebook are a "waterfall" of data. Notice how many questions are repeated over and over. Whatever your preference, use it.

I know Newmar was the most active over there for some time, many are here now and I appreciate that. As was mentioned in another thread there are typically about a dozen at any given time, even over there, that are typically the active posters. Many, and I mean MANY are just watching to learn and don't post. Maybe they're afraid, maybe they find no need to, but they are watching and learning. I think Newmar peeps here and in other groups just congregate among friends, enjoy sharing their mods, new coaches, orders, look for help on specials which Newmar offers and others don't, etc.

Some exciting new stuff coming in the road ahead for this platform. It's a great system. Glad all are here and hope you keep bringing more to join the RVF family.

 

[Stuart W]

I'm a member of the Newmar Ventana FB group and will often post a link to RVF for problem-solving. Hopefully, some of those who follow the link will eventually become RVF members.

You bring up a thought, FB tends to drill down to model within the brand like your Ventana group, I have been on a London Aire group and Cornerstone group along with model specific SXS CanAm group. Maybe this makes new owners more comfortable, Neal can sub groups exist?

 

[Neal]

Yes, we could have forums (nodes) by model and we could have completely separate forums by brand as some suggested early on. Separate sites have pro's and con's but think the user base and content. We already have a lot of forums and adding more just clutters it, although they would be sub-forums. Something I can think about. The other option this forum offers are the "Prefixes" such as Question, FYI, Alert, Resolved, could also be model labels. Or you can just use the subject line the same. Lot's of options.

 

[Neemer]

From what little time I have looked at the DS group on FB, that is the least well-informed group anywhere. The bad and misinformation is staggering.

 

[Stuart W]

From what little time I have looked at the DS group on FB, that is the least well-informed group anywhere. The bad and misinformation is staggering.

I don’t disagree

 

[Stuart W]

Yes, we could have forums (nodes) by model and we could have completely separate forums by brand as some suggested early on. Separate sites have pro's and con's but think the user base and content. We already have a lot of forums and adding more just clutters it, although they would be sub-forums. Something I can think about. The other option this forum offers are the "Prefixes" such as Question, FYI, Alert, Resolved, could also be model labels. Or you can just use the subject line the same. Lot's of options.

Something to think about, someone new to RV’s that just purchased a Bay Star may be more easily led to a BayStar forum to learn more about their new purchase. Possibly a little less intimidating. Or maybe Newmar Gas powered and Newmar Diesel powered would be a start

 

[Stuart W]

One thing for sure is this forum is so much more user friendly. The ability to openly acknowledge posts and insert pictures is just so far superior to the other forum. Not to mention the absence of controlling just to control. Great job Neal

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

From what little time I have looked at the DS group on FB, that is the least well-informed group anywhere. The bad and misinformation is staggering.

The same is true on the Ventana group. I had a recent discussion trying to convince a couple of posters the danger of using starting fluid.

 

[DennisT]

There is an active Superstar group on FB. A good group actually and some of the condescending posts I’ve seen on others are not there.

 

[GypsyR]

I think fewer busier categories are better than lots of sections that languish due to little to no activity.

I'm on a Mustang forum where good solid advice abounds. It has an actually completely unrelated sister site (by name) on Facebook. Forum members who frequent both say much advice handed out on the Facebook side is often incorrect to the point of being dangerous. No one can quite figure why that is.

 

[NWIP]

First I have never used FB and plan on dying that way. I was on other site and still visit occasionally but do not participate.

I have participated on this forum from the beginning and have seen it grow to the point that I have a lot of friends here, some I have met personally. I hope it continues to grow in the friendly way that it was started. Thank you @Neal for all your efforts

I can’t explain why so many people participate on the Newmar forum but enjoy non Newmar owners input.

 

[Headhunter]

I have noticed on this forum and other forums the Newmar club is always the most active
I’m curious why that is.
I have a theory that because Newmar’s are famous for their ability to customize your coach, many start frequenting the forums through the order process.
In any event it is very cool and would be great for this forum to get other clubs as active. Thoughts?

I believe that Newmar simply has more sales than other brands. I have been a member of the OTHER forum since 10/2007, that's 17 years. But I REALLY like Rvforums because of the friendly approach by Neal. But yes there are far more Newmar users here than anybody else.

But and hers the but, because the lack of Tiffin users here, problem solving on the Tiffin forum is very low. For example I recently had a rear slide problem. I did post the problem on the other forum, I had about 15 replies on how to fix it. And one of them did work saving me big bucks and a trip to my dealer. That's not to say that it couldn't have been done here. But the ratio of Tiffin users over there is far, far greater. I hope we get more Tiffin users over here as time progresses. I also promoted Rvformus when ever I can.

There are guys like LT.Dan, Garyrv, Fireup, and many Tiffin users that have a wealth of knowledge on the other site. I try to pass on what I learned on this site in the Tiffin forum when I can.

I have no doubt that Rvforums is and will grow to be one of the leading forums of the future.

HH