Is RIB NET FINISHED??

[SimonCh]

I've never been a heavy contributor to the forum, but over the years it is somewhere I have consistently visited for help and advice. I have found it to be one of the few forums where people seem genuinely keen to help out rather than judge and be awkward. Some kind guy off here gave me a set of kids water skis and didn't want anything for them (I gave him a box of beer as a token of thanks).

This feels to me the sort of place where someone would rather genuinely help out than look for profit or have an easy laugh at someone less experienced's expense.

I always have and continue to recommend this forum to all my boaty friends (Ribbers and hard boaters alike).

It may not have the same constant banter or input but to me it still meets the fundamentals i've always liked it for and I hope it remains that way for years to come

[Nasher]

I’ve resisted posting in this thread until now, mainly due to guilt about not visiting regularly like I used to.
Other things in life got in the way for a few years and only now am I back to getting my RIB back into a state where I can use her, so have found my way back to the Forum.

Yes, it would appear it’s quieter, and probably because I’m no longer invited offline the social aspect of meeting up for cruises etc appears to have dropped off, but it’s still a fantastic resource for help and assistance.
The ‘back catalogue’ is probably the best I can think of to use the search function on when you have a boating type problem to solve, and would be a real loss if it disappeared.

I do think it needs an update.
I don’t do Facebook, Twitter etc, so can’t comment on those, but I use a couple of Ducati Motorcycle Forums which have easier ways to upload images, especially if you want to put them mid text rather than just as thumbnails at the bottom of posts.
And they have things that I think are facebook in origin such as ways to ‘like’ ‘disagree’ or rate a post.
This makes me think that new visitors to Ribnet will find it Very dated and unintuitive in comparison to what they are now accustomed to, so will not bother to spend the time getting to know it.

I don’t know who owns the rights to Ribnet now, who apart from John runs it, or even if (Apart from John) they actually care about us or it’s future, but I think we should be lobbying them for an update to protect Ribnet from slowly dying through lack of investment.

[Matt]

You can't lose the thumbnail, but you can embed the image in in the text....


And you can write stuff under it too..

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Nasher

And they have things that I think are facebook in origin such as ways to ‘like’ ‘disagree’ or rate a post.

The old scoring system that John tried once was shit. It brought the worst out in people - people posted for likes rather than anything interesting. And the moment you disagreed with anyone, even if they were wrong and you were right...if they were popular, you got a red blob for it. Utter crap.

I've always tried to treat rib.net, (and the better website, boatmad in it's day), the same as I would face to face. If i'd say it to your face, I'd say it here.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Matt

The old scoring system that John tried once was shit. It brought the worst out in people - people posted for likes rather than anything interesting. And the moment you disagreed with anyone, even if they were wrong and you were right...if they were popular, you got a red blob for it. Utter crap.

I've always tried to treat rib.net, (and the better website, boatmad in it's day), the same as I would face to face. If i'd say it to your face, I'd say it here.

Like ;-)

[Matt]

Officially, who owns the rib.net domain and all the historical data on the forum here? IIRC John sold up and made a cool million or so on it? (Vietnamese Dong).

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Matt

Officially, who owns the rib.net domain and all the historical data on the forum here? IIRC John sold up and made a cool million or so on it? (Vietnamese Dong).

https://www.socialknowledge.com/

[Matt]

Interesting. How do they generate revenue?

Looks like they own a niche number of specialist forums similar to rib.net...hardly massive page hits stuff and browsing through some of the sites, limited opportunity to monetise them too?

Does it just generate revenue through the google ads up there ^^?

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Matt

The old scoring system that John tried once was shit. It brought the worst out in people - people posted for likes rather than anything interesting. And the moment you disagreed with anyone, even if they were wrong and you were right...if they were popular, you got a red blob for it. Utter crap.

I've always tried to treat rib.net, (and the better website, boatmad in it's day), the same as I would face to face. If i'd say it to your face, I'd say it here.

Matt

I do actually agree with all you've said, but where it's OK for the old timers like you and me it's not encouraging for new members who'll just see it as old fashioned, stuffy, and aged.

Like our pastime we need new younger people to join up, and that will only happen if they feel comfortable with the environment.

It's the same difference that a 20yr old would see walking into a snug bar of a backstreet pub with a load of old fellas playing Dominos compared to Spoons on a Friday night.
It's the backstreet pubs that are closing as the old guys die off.

[HDAV]

Originally Posted by Matt

Interesting. How do they generate revenue?

Looks like they own a niche number of specialist forums similar to rib.net...hardly massive page hits stuff and browsing through some of the sites, limited opportunity to monetise them too?

Does it just generate revenue through the google ads up there ^^?

Generally yes the forum platforms I have been a member of and still am a member of many are a source of traffic, traffic drives ads, each ad view pays a small amount so the returns are low but so is the investment a cheap hosting platform and good adservers + traffic = business

Monetising content is a struggle and like a lot business it’s not always the best product that triumphs….

But apart from some server and licence costs there is little input the content is free no one gets paid to post (bots excluded) and none of the mods get paid to manage it and keep the bots at bay…..

That’s why trolls are a double edged sword they creates content and usually lots of it which drives revenues. But too much telling puts off users

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Matt

I do actually agree with all you've said, but where it's OK for the old timers like you and me it's not encouraging for new members who'll just see it as old fashioned, stuffy, and aged.

Like our pastime we need new younger people to join up, and that will only happen if they feel comfortable with the environment.

I "hear" you. So this weekend I am spending a chunk of pocket money hiring a new 7.3M Rib with a Yammie 150 on the back of it to take my 7 year old lad to Cowes via water to see the boats and the racing. On top of that, I've invited a mate who I'll be picking up from - you guessed it - gunwharf - at the crack of dawn on sunday with his son too. The memories we create at that age are the kind of snapshot moment that can stick with people forever before the rest of the worldly drudge catches up with them.

If anyone's around, I'll be in "Hire Rib 6", AKA "Nashers Revenge", AKA "Oi Oi!", come and say hi!

Anyway, my view has always been to "do" first, and then for forums are for the chit chat. That's why the forums like this are better than most social media channels where the norm has become "not doing". I've made a lot of good friends, and only the occasional enemy, through rib.net and boatmad over the years. The forums have space for everyone, even gArf.

I also occasionally do a massive "digest" or "how to" - on the RS6 forums I've written a number of guides on how to fix a 20 year audi that, I hope, have been useful for people of all ages.

I'm not following what you mean by old fashioned and stuffy though? Do you mean the rib.net GUI? Or do you mean Battery Lawnmowers? Or my jokes?

[Matt]

I was pondering this thread earlier and came to another realisation. One of the issues I think is that people want to reply to posts rather than create their own. So there needs to be that “initiator” of a thread and then people join in. And then also on top of that. I can be certain that when I post, some people are more likely to reply because it’s me, but some others won’t reply because it’s me. So there’s needs to be a good blend of people posting new threads to create the chit chat that brings life to the place.

[Steve509926]

I'd agree that a good blend of people posting new threads is needed. However if others don't reply to those threads the initiator soon becomes bored and dosn't post any more new threads.
I use to receive a "daily" email update from Ribnet listing all new posts which, for some reason has stopped. Now I have to activly look for new posts. To be honest, if I'm busy I often don't look. So I have probably missed a lot of posts which I may have been interested in and replied too.
I have also posted and recieved no replies. That could be because the post was boring! or is it that others have not seen the post.

[Mollers]

Just needs a little stir.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Just needs a little stir.

Know anyone?

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Know anyone?

Not many left now.

[John Kennett]

Hello stranger, we’ve been missing you!

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

Hello stranger, we’ve been missing you!

You need to get your sights zero'd in.

[John Kennett]

I’ll work on it

[9D280]

I'll open by making a comment that it now costs twice as much as it used to to fill a tank of fuel... I guess that could put a fair few off "litre a mile" entertainment....

Originally Posted by Nasher

I’ve resisted posting in this thread until now, mainly due to guilt about not visiting regularly like I used to.

+1

And a year after I last posted here, life is still in the way & I'm now looking at potentially a re-toob...

(I guess thats the hazards of owning a classic RIB!)

Originally Posted by Nasher

Other things in life got in the way for a few years and only now am I back to getting my RIB back into a state where I can use her, so have found my way back to the Forum.

+1 (ish) - I wouldn't trust my front toob section to hold air for more than half an hour right now!

Originally Posted by Nasher

The ‘back catalogue’ is probably the best I can think of to use the search function on when you have a boating type problem to solve, and would be a real loss if it disappeared.

I do think it needs an update.

Agreed re. the back catalogue, and maybe my computer head is oldschool, so I'm not so big on the update, but then I also have been here long enough to know how it works...

Although I have a dim memory about a discussion yonks ago where I believe one of the admin team of the time said the format was simply down to the cost. Memory says the discussion went along the lines of "Newer formats cost more" (massively paraphrased) - but please correct me if that was a brain fart.

As for the "old fashioned" thing... Allow me to recount a tale from a few years ago when my (I think at the time) 4 or so YO started swiping & tapping the screen of my PC... after a couple of mins of absolutely nothing happening I was told "daddy , your compoota is boken". That was the moment I introduced the concept of a mouse to a kid who had only ever seen a touchscreen phone!

I guess the same mentality can be applied to the software. Personally, I like it, but I also see "new kids" at work who just don't get paper archives...

Hopefully I'll be back a bit more now - more likely on the SIB / ancient engine sections for a while, but I am glad Ribnet is still here after my term or two of absense.

Finished - No.
Mods? - I like it like it is, but I think that might be in the "discuss" category?