Many folks know of the Eichler Network. Perhaps you even came here through a link from it. Although a great resource, the forum-area has an unusual policy of not allowing anyone to mention services or businesses or link to other resources. For instance, if I happened to find the holy-grail of sliding door lock actuators/switches (which I did), if I tried to mention the company by name, the post would be removed (which it was). This is fairly antithetical to the organic way social media and user forums operate and likely the reason why folks have posted open questions like: "is this site losing interest?"
Eichler Network Moderators:
You guys do the Eichler-owning community a great service — and you have a potentially great resource, but without information stored directly within the posts, a search is somewhat useless and little is saved for posterity. With links to other goods, services and sites, the community nature of a forum like this continues to grow. At the same time, interest in the site can also grow and posts can begin to generate more than one or two replies — and many duplicative posts will naturally fall-away as readers can search-for and find the information that they're looking for.
Or looking at it from another angle: if you say "no" often enough, people will stop asking and simply leave.
I visit plenty of forums just like yours — for different reasons, of course — and even those who take a dime from advertising champion the open and free exchange of information and only police the board for the most hateful or slanderous of posts.
For what it's worth, I'd gladly pay for a subscription to the Eichler Network's CA Modern Magazine to help the Eichler-cause if it meant I could search the forums and find a bounty of links and information.
Just a thought.
I completely agree with you regarding the revising/deleting of posts by moderators. On the flip side of the coin, however, I also understand that there may have been liability issues in the past where homeowners have pointed fingers at the EichlerNetwork for allowing the posting of a bad contractor. On one instance, I had hired a particular contractor that someone had recommended on the site but he ended up being a bust. I think that if there is a proper disclaimer on the EichlerNetwork boards, this may alleviate the issue. Hope this work out somehow.
thanks for the note… given that many other boards operate under more open arrangements and that TV networks air infomercials for inane products, it seems someone’s figured out how to diffuse the issue of liability.
one comment that is often brought up is that the site is “free” (and as such, we shouldn’t complain). however, there’s definitely a buck being made from my page views and click-throughs (the bizmodel of internet-commerce), so while the site has no monetary cost, i’m paying with my attention and readership and as such hope for (expect?) a more robust forum.
of course, the second comment is “if you don’t like it, start your own site”, but with the almost attention-monopoly that the EN has with eichler-owners, this is not simply difficult, but nearly impossible… thus the hope that the more influential EN can lead the way with cutting edge content and community-building mechanisms… again, they provide an invaluable service to eichler-owners and fans… it’s just that it could be so much better with relative ease (actually easier as the moderators work would be cut in half or more).
of course, just one person’s opinion
You hit the nail on the head. The past content of the EN is valuable but if they continue on their current path, the boards will end up being lethargic. I still look at it once in a while but I lean more towards the other sites for more updated information. I’m sure other Eichler-owners have gone down the same path.
Good Stuck redneckmodern. EN used to be great but the info pipeline has been Shut Down and it is very difficult to get really good info when you need it.
Nice Site and your projects look great.
Please come and visit the Lotta Living forums. the forum is run under a different business model then EN. We have lots of discussion on Modern homes including Eichlers AND we allow open discussion and relevant “promotional” posts from regular contributors. See you there!
http://www.lottaliving.com/bb
Come check out http://www.eichlerforum.com – it’s a new eichler community that has been created with the sole intention of what you’ve stated here. A place for eichler owners to quickly search and locate the info they need. We’re still very new, but the architecture is in place waiting for your valuable contributions. I own the same model as you and greatly appreciate your blog.
Cheers,
Steve