By NEILMAC on Friday, 30 May 2014
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A slightly tongue in cheek question but I'd be interested to hear the views of others....

If you have looked around the internet recently you can't have missed the numbers of new motorhome forums that have started up. Far from just being the larger MHF sites and Wildcamping, the varieties now include the main motorhome magazines with their websites including forum sections. Various other individuals have also started up independent sites that contain forums with varying amounts of activity on them.

More recently Facebook groups have become very popular. Obviously you need to be a Facebook user to use these and most require an application to join them as they are 'closed' groups. These seem to be very active and provide useful information and banter, the downside maybe being that the information soon disappears into the depths and can be hard to find again - more so with the most active group pages.

So, with all these options to gain information, communicate and build relationships with other like-minded motorhomers what incentive is there to have to pay to do so? I only know of the 2 main sites that charge for forum membership, and yet they are the largest forums around. This is not meant as a dig at them by the way, I am genuinely curious as to whether motorhome forums are moving on from the 'old' ways of paying to participate.

What do you think?
I guess it very much depends on the time available to the person or persons running the site. If they have the dedication to manage it for no reward then free is great. If it is advertising and selling on of personal information to marketing organisations to finance the running of the site then not so great.
There is a halfway house that some use to remove adverts from the paying members and that can provide some income to finance the site.
The two large clubs internet based have have rally groups that are well supported by a core group of dedicated ralliers, very much managed by that group of members. With the prices of site fees for the C&CC and CC sites ever on the increase these mostly weekend meetings form quite a bonding mechanism for those Clubs and their forums.
It becomes very difficult and time consuming to filter and sift out all of the chit chat that occurs on those busy forums, and when you take the time to do that, you can be left with a great deal of activity but not a great deal of content.
In the end it comes down to how the members and administrators steer the forum. For me this forum goes in the exact direction I like and whilst I would welcome a few more members sharing their views and expertise, I feel sure that the silent ones must still gain what they seek from it.
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8 years ago
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Thank you traveller! We too would like there to be more activity. While we have no intention of restricting peoples views it would be nice to think that the forum could continue to be both relevant and friendly
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8 years ago
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Hi can I just say you only get what you pay for. If it's free the standard is not that good. If you pay more effect is done on the site and a lot of hard work is being put into it. Keep up the good work you are doing. Am new to motor homing and will be buying one soon. I have learned a lot from your site by reading other peoples experiences and knowledge and will be putting them in to good practice soon. Mine and others payment to this site helps to build it a better one and for a small price to pay thank you.
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8 years ago
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Thanks Zander-Gill

Thanks also for your support of this site and I'm delighted that you are gaining knowledge through using it.

I was really referring to the 'forum' aspect of sites though - ours is free ie no payment required to be able to post questions and help for others whereas some other forums charge a subscription to be able to do that.
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8 years ago
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