A Suggestion for Forum Administrators

[KevinM]

As a potential purchaser of a Hurricane kit I would like to suggest a change in the forum policy.

As it currently stands, non owners cannot view the owner forum.  This is a serious disadvantage for any potential new owner.

One of the best things about the FFR forum is that anyone can search all the back posts.  If they have a question about a certain part of the build, they can read the owners posts concerning that.  If they want to know how responsive the company is to owner problems, they can read that.  If they want to judge the owners satisfaction level, they can do so.  If they want to see what modifications have been preformed and how they worked out, they can look.  If they want to judge the difficulty of the build, that information is available.

All of this is a major part of deciding that a particular kit is the right one for you.  On this forum, that is not possible.

I can understand that the owners might not want non-owners posting a lot of questions or uneducated opinions on the owners forum, so I am suggesting that the ability to post to the owners forum remain for owners only, but that the forum be made available on a read only basis to everyone.

I know this would be a great help to me in learning the things I need to learn to be comfortable selecting a Hurricane, and I suspect the same is true of other potential owners.

Comments Please?

Kevin

[jwd]

Kevin

I suggested this long ago. I think it'sa good idea to have others the ability to view as read only.

Jim

[CrawleysCobra]

I agree, being able to view all the information read only would be a good idea. I believe that people could more readily find what they were looking for and make their decisions quicker.

[syrupmaker]

I can see both sides,from a newbie standpoint it would be nice to be able to see info not available to the general population so you owners dont have to be continuously bombarded with the same questions over and over.so far I have felt welcome here and everyone has been more than willing to answer anything posted.You all seem to me to be a first class bunch.That being said I cannot disagree with the old saying "Membership has its privileges". what ever you decide Im ok with

[MFE III]

Kevin,  I think you've got a good idea.  And, I would want it "read only" for non-owners.

[jshel.1]

I contentedly surfed the public forum for a year-and-a-half, before diving in. I now surf both the light and the dark side.

If the dark side becomes public (read only), then we would have to clean up our playful use of colorful language and nudy pics.

[dlowman]

I think the main reason the owners side is not public is because it is not really moderated and the hurricane guys just dont have the time to do that.  We would need to appoint a moderator or two I think.

Dan

[jwd]

Dan

 I don't think it would make a difference as non-owners wouldn't be able to post anything.

Jim

[Rich Burroughs]

First of all, I appreciate the interest in this topic. For those of you that do not know, I would like to explain that this is a private forum run entirely by Hurricane Motorsports. We host it, we moderate it and we allow no advertisers here. We run it entirely for the benefit of our customers (past, present and future). We have two main areas in our forum: A public area open to everyone that contains questions about Hurricane's cars from prospective customers as well as posts by our existing customers wanting to show off their cars to the public and answer questions. We also have a private side dedicated exclusively to the use of our existing customers. Now, I understand the desire of our potential customers wanting to have access to the private side of the forum. But, as a company, we have decided that it is important to give our existing customers an area that is exclusively for their private use. They are free to post and discuss topics without regard as to who might be reading it. It is a constructive and collaborative environment that most of our customers find extremely helpful during their build. Of course, all of our customers are free to discuss their build on the public side of the forum as they want. Many have even set up their own websites that document their build.

We currently have roughly a 3-to-1 ratio of posts on the private side to the public side. As our customers will attest, there is a wealth of information on the private side of the forum. However, none of it is secret or intentionally hidden. There are no hidden gotcha's on the private side - just real world solutions, tips, and discussions. As most of you know who have done your research, our company's product and service is very highly regarded by our current and past customers.

The private side is a forum dedicated solely to our customers and offers them a carefree environment that our they can use to help ensure that they have as productive and enjoyable build as is possible. Marketing and sales are very important to us (as it is for any company), but we weigh that against the fact that, in this business, the most critical time for new kit owners is the time between the delivery of the kit and the completion of the kit. If not handled properly, this is the time when folks will abandon their build if they don't feel they have the resources needed to complete it. We have an extremely high completion rate of our builds.  Yes, we know that it might help with sales to open the private side of the forum, but we are not willing to compromise the primary purpose of that part of the forum: helping current customers be successful in their builds. In the end, we want to help our customers to complete their build in the most positive and enjoyable way possible so that when asked, they can recommend Hurricane Motorsports without hesitation.

[YerDugliness]

I've wrestled with this issue since I joined the HM forum, Rich, and even posted a few times regarding the issue.

[jwd]

Still can't help but wonder, though, .........what's behind that Green Door (to paraphrase an old song from the 60's)?

Carry on..........

Doug

Doug,

  I thought that was a Marilyn Chambers movie from the 70's.
  I can understand both sides of the issue. Opening up the owners side would probably sell more cars but then we would lose our privacy. Actually looking at one is the best way to go. I've had a few look at my car and they were very impressed after seeing examples of other company's products.
  Mike & Rich, feel free to refer people my way if anyone in the Pacific Northwest wants to see one.

Jim

[Eric]

Jim,

Where are you?  I live in Phoenix, but I'm in Olympia pretty regularly visiting my parents.  If you're within a reasonable stone's-throw of Oly, I'd be interesting in seeing your car.

Cheers,

-Eric

[jwd]

Eric

I'm about 30 miles north of Olympia in Gig Harbor. You're welcome to stop by any time.

Jim

[Eric]

Jim,

PM sent.

-Eric

[jwd]

Eric

PM answered.

Jim