Your opinions are asked for..

[foolsp33d]

Seeing as this section is for our dedicated and long term members, im wondering if you wouldn't mind share some onions and thoughts about miniriders..

Things like:
-how you found out about the site

-What you recall the site to be in the early days including members and bikes of the time.

-How you think the site has grown in the time you have been a
member, things such as information, technical reports, write ups etc.
(feel free to add links if these are on hand)

-What you would like to see the site become. If you had the chance
to change ONE thing, what would it be and how would you go about
it!?


MY THOUGHTS:
I found the site when looking up Z50 parts, namely a left handlebar for my J.(which incidentally, I never got!) I then started searching after one of the China replica monkey bikes and started browsing thru the different sections within MR. Upon finding the bikes were no longer available, I looked at my other options as being relatively new to 'pitbikes' I read alot prior to purchasing a used AGB29.

-The site started with ALOT of cheap China bikes, As that was all that was available at the time, with little to no quality behind them, many posts were regarding frame reinforcemnt, dress up kits, and things to change upon a purchase. Upgrades were pretty limited to things such as oil coolers, protapers, IRK's and 1/4 turn throttles. Bikes such as AGB, Pitpro and the all cherished (and still is) CRF50. were all the rage. With the Later being the most wanted.

-Members such as SikkPJ, and Franky, Jeze, Hillz, Mintard, Flarry, Cactus Jack, DVDrip(R.I.P) The forum has come along way since some of these members passed thru our pages. Some are not missed, Others are missed all the time.

-Some of the greatest additions to Miniriders have been our technical articles and our recommendation write ups. These are full of useful information in regards to bikes available and value for money. Things to be aware of, stores to steer clear of etc. Without these suggestions and opinions Im sure there would be ALOT of unhappy people out there with pitbikes in a non running order, feeling Very ripped off. but instead, we have members who accept they didn't purchase the best of the best but are willing to learn about how to make their ride that bit better. This is thanks to our members and their opinions and input.

-Id like to see the site become THE number ONE place for ALL Minibikers, not only Australian, but from overseas as well. Id like US to be the first place someone comes for information regarding a bike or an issue, and to have the member capacity and knowledge(which we may just have) to be able to answer a question within hours of a post.

-If I had to change ONE thing about the site it would be probably the swearing. I believe the site is quiet well run. Our members respect the rules, and follow the format almost all the time. A Swear editor in both the chat box and threads would be a good idea, and Im lead to believe that our rules state it is a Family site, and being such, foul language should not be tolerated and edited before being aloud to be posted.

Look forward to hearing some other members opinions and input.

 

[rach88]

- I found this site after going on fmxaus.com and them being general douche bags as they all hate minis Someone suggested I come on here and I did, that was late 2008. Wasn't until like 12 months later when my bike broke down and I resigned up that I started using it a lot, I searched goggle to fix the bikes problem and it brought me straight here.

- Originally to me I found I could just ask a question and people would answer in my thread rather then tell me to use the search or link me to another thread. The replies were really fast and had a lot of information that you could tell wasn't a copy and paste job. Also I don't remember there being many threads that weren't mini related(like some of the game or "junk" threads). I found there wasn't many photos of tracks and there wasn't many ride days, but when I looked at threads from like 2007 there seemed to be quite a few ride days (hence where most of the ideas about todays ones came from!)

- I feel most people just link new members to answers too quickly and don't give much reply in their thread (which that was the main thing that kept me around at the start!). Also I think it's changed that people can't just ask what bike to buy, I personally believe if new members could ask that it would keep more new members active on the site, with regular posts and what not. There seems to be less reviews, but the ones we do get are generally pretty good with lots of information. Less tutes as most stuff is covered now anyway.

- I'd like to see the site more involved in the ride days, with giving each state access to the blog. Rather then the miniriders.com page having all the thread topics have a proper front page with all the states next ride days details and then when you press the thread button it would then take you to the thread topics. Also on the front page the FOTM could go there with the poll and maybe a picture of each bike. I think thats more then one thing but it's kind of just a general thing about having a proper front page Oh and squeezing in some ride day stuff he he.

 

[foolsp33d]

Thanks Rach! thats the type of thing we are after, WOuld be good if the other 14 or so members who also viewd this put their thoughts down rather than just a quick flick by.. While I can understand its not a quick 2 mionute post, and involves more than 3 or 4 lines of text.. its not that hard to do and gives us a wider spectrum of what the members want and look for. So all input is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Dreadful]

mmmm I'll need a day or so ... so I'm not skippin past ..more composing my thoughts :afro::laughing-smiley-002

 

[MiniFighter]

Hey Guys..Even though ive only been here since April, i thought i drop a few thoughts into it also..

I came across MR while googling for mods and upgrades for my then latest purchase..The mighty Elstar (note to self..should have used Google BEFORE buying Elstar...lol)
I joined MR straight off the bat with no real expectations, maybe to get some info, chat to a few other Elstar owners *insert cricket noise here* and just get a few ideas on riding/mods/clubs etc etc. After a few visits i found the people at the time were all very welcoming and helpful.
Not much has changed in the few months but i will agree with Rach, the "willing to help" and the actual "helpfulness" while still there thanks to a few, has kinda died a little and the new members are getting smashed with "read this link, read that link then ask your questions" (i put my hand up as being a culprit of this) yes..the same "what bike do i buy" thread gets old, but the same old responses are getting just as old. Even the younger/newer members are jumping on the flame wagon and cooking a Noob that makes his first post regarding buying a bike or doing a common mod.

I think there should be an extra moderator or two, just to cover the increasing member numbers and also show a greater authority presence within the MR walls. This could also help with the swearing issue as raised by Fools and keep MR a more family friendly place.

Id like to see more interaction with the more senior members of MR. The likes of Cactus Jack, No_Crf here, I_THUMP just to name a few..I haven't had the pleasure of talking much if at all to a few of you, but when you post..the quality of post and depth of knowledge is just awesome..

ummm, Maybe a bigger focus on the awards (activity award etc) and even another one or two awards..As MOTM is now (almost cough cough Roost)up and running maybe incorporate an award icon for that? give members a small bragging right for the month and something to aim for/work towards..

Id like for VIP to be a bit more exciting..im chuffed an all to be involved, and i cant complain about the Green shirt thread....but it just needs something else..

I really enjoy being a part of this forum (post whore or not..fk you Rach ) and hope to be involved for sometime yet..looking forward to see what the new year holds for MR.

Keep up the good work guys!



One last thing..

MM, your good with computers...can you write a program to integrate with Google Translate that will help guys like me with interpreting posts like this..(quick example)

Hay this mite sound dumb but wat kinda med are they, cos i find some med i can fit and some i cnt..
are they a tight fit or a lose fit cheers..
umm and do u have pic or t shirts thanks..

kinda sounds like he's buying feminine hygiene products..lol

 

[motorman]

Can't believe I missed this thread. Or wasn't told this was going to happen.

I will try and answer a few questions while I'm at it. Warning that I'm going to be pretty straight up about everything.

I found this site via fmxaustralia as well. Just got back into big bikes and wanted to get a mini. Found that this was a lot more of a community based forum than just a forum if you get me. Been here ever since.

MR content has grown considerable since I was here. There are a lot more Tech articles which were all instigated by Tom (thump140). He really got them going and took them to another level.

A lot of things I wanted changed I have implemented. The award sytem being one of them and merchandising (which has gone to shit as no one was willing to put there money were there mouth was). There are a few other things that will be happening but they will be revealed in due time.

My aim is to make this the biggest MR site in the world. Greater utilisation of the blog's and more tech articles will help this cause. My aim is to get 2000 active members and keep it there.

One thing that does annoy me is the negativity to new things happening from both new and old users. I have worked my butt off to get things going that have never been done on the site to be flooded with complaints and general whinging which doesn't give me much inspiration to try and get new things happening. There also seems to be a fair bit of lack of support to new ideas. I would really like you, as VIP's, to back me on new things and not be the first to bag them out. I always welcome constructive criticism but just do it in VIP away from the general public. A lot of the time people's comments destroy and good idea before it even happens and I learnt a while ago that around here it's very hard to please anyone.

Ok. I will try and answer some questions:

Language
I agree Fools, the language in threads has gotten out of hand. I have a fair few words in the swearing filter but just need to add some more. Feel free anyone to PM me any words you either find annoying or offensive and I will add them. Also, all mods need to take a harder stance on this again which I will bring up.

Indiviual State Ride Threads
This can be done very easily and I think it's a good idea. I was trying to get the ride reports sub thread going but I think this is a better solution. I will make it happen shortly. (remind me if I haven't in the next week or so as I'm really busy with a few things).

Miniriders Supporting Ride Days
One of the main reasons this hasn't happened (as already discussed with you Rach) is because they aren't badged MR Ride Days. They are the VMR days. There has to be something in it for the site before we fully support it. If it does happen it will be me dipping into my pocket personally to help the ride days. Despite what people think, the site doesn't make enough money to justify this expense. If merchandising had of kicked off then it may have been a different story as there would have been more money to play with. One day I will get the stickers and stubbie holders going but it won't be for a while as the site barely broke even on the shirts and that hasn't given much faith in future merchandising from the owners.

2 more mods required for the site
I have been thinking about this for a while but none of the other mods and myself agree'd it wasn't required at present. One more mod that's on a lot at night may be called for shortly but not at present.

50 of the Month On Main Page
This will happen eventually exactly as described by Rach. Totaly agree. Hopefully we will have a complete site overhaul in the next 6 months and go to the latest version of VBulletin.

Access to the blog
Anyone that needs access to the blog will be given it. The more posts we have in it the better. I haven't seen 1 ride report from the ride days yet so figured why would anyone want to blog about it. Fire power mini's is about to start writing blog articles for us (yes VIP you got the scoop on theat one).

MOM Award
The plan was to have an award for this. It's a bit hard to lock an award to a user but I think I have it figured out. If not there user title will be changed

You guys have to remember there are a lot of younger members on here and some of there posts will be (cutting to the chase) shit. We just have to deal with them as they happen and explain as senior members the right way to post and express themselves.

We have such a great community here, let's all help each other out to make this the best MR site in the world!!

 

[pbk]

Miniriders Supporting Ride Days
One of the main reasons this hasn't happened (as already discussed with you Rach) is because they aren't badged MR Ride Days. They are the VMR days. There has to be something in it for the site before we fully support it. If it does happen it will be me dipping into my pocket personally to help the ride days. Despite what people think, the site doesn't make enough money to justify this expense. If merchandising had of kicked off then it may have been a different story as there would have been more money to play with. One day I will get the stickers and stubbie holders going but it won't be for a while as the site barely broke even on the shirts and that hasn't given much faith in future merchandising from the owners.

now this is just a suggestion

an idea that could help support MR itself from ride days is have a stand setup where you can purchase MR shirts and/or future merchandise products and a nice big MR banner

i will get onto this tonight and write my whole thing up for you too

 

[motorman]

now this is just a suggestion

an idea that could help support MR itself from ride days is have a stand setup where you can purchase MR shirts and/or future merchandise products and a nice big MR banner

i will get onto this tonight and write my whole thing up for you too

Yeah great in theory peanut. Bit harder in execution. Who is going to pay for the banners etc? I can only get to VIC ride days so it won't work for the rest of the country either.

You have got me thinking though.

 

[rach88]

Hey on tapatalk .. A much loved app by me nick ha ha so good job on it. But look I will fork out for a tent you give me the rights to put MR logos on it and I will say it's Miniriders.com.au ride day, in turn we will get more members on the site. I know it's not much, but it's all much needed baby steps. I wouldnt be pushing for mr to team up with Nicko and I if I didnt already know it's the best possible way to make a change in the mini scene. I have more I need to say on this, but I know it's something I need to just hurry up and speak to you about nick.

 

[coolmodee01]

hmmm

i'm not sure how or why this came about but you know what in the year's i've been a member on this site no one has ever asked me any of these questions.......

so here goes

-how you found out about the site

well i'd been into mini's for age and i'd had my diafo 3v110 for ages and it's still goin, i'd just got married and just got the net and a pc at home so i had the bits required.
now i'd been riding mini's for ages out bush up in shep and ilegal places like hallam quarry and and a few other spots. but like always these had near run dry so i was after some good local knowledge and to find some peeps to ride with.
in fact here is my first ever post on miniriders

hi kids
i'm new to the forum so bear with me
in my short intoduction to the site it's good to see that most of you peeps are dedicated minibike rider i like
here's a few quick notes

tracks riden
frankston ok no jumps to short
broady looks good
south morang i didn't know it exsisted
halam has been destroyed
but i will check out that jayco spot

so i've been lookin everywhere to find some peeps who actually know what's going down on the melbourne minibike scene

anyway dude keep it pinned and keep me posted

later

p.s
if anyone is in the shepparton region drop into wals minibike madness the boys there will hook you up with some of the sickest tracks around
it's worth the drive

i distinctly remember this post because the first person to answer me properly was old mate sp33d and i've never forgotten it.
well from that day on my whole minibike experience changed i've met like minded people, met people that wanted to ride dirt with me i met so many people benox, daniel_40, ktm kid, neva2old2start, dready, speed, and more recently some great people in rip and thump, baz, rachy man the list goes on.

this is exactly what i wanted from miniriders and it's what i got and more ough and google is you friend

-What you recall the site to be in the early days including members and bikes of the time.

well it was, is, and was for a long time please fix my atomik.com.au it was dark brown and a fantastic community. it was a web page and then a forum and all i ever wanted was to get my bike on that page for 50 of the month still to this day it's been un achievable i guess no-one likes me sop story or what.
there was a smaller member base than now but there was a lot of characters there were trouble makers like franky and benox and sik pj there were a few of turds around putting the sport down of course we were nobody's then.
but most of all there was the best crew of die hard miniriders out some are still around today and i've mentioned them in my blog posts.

-How you think the site has grown in the time you have been a
member, things such as information, technical reports, write ups etc.

i'd like to think alot i mean the site was peaking when i joined and no more than 8-10 months after that the site lulled and thats about when we lost a heap of mods and went through a change and i got given mod job and was happy to do it but i was the only one the rest where burn't out.
i did everything i could to get the good ones back and weather it was me or not they came back hillz and sp33d again FTW.
then the site was sold out from under us with out our knowledge rob the old minirider (admin) was out and for months we could get nothing done so i went on a search party when i got sick of looking at the same sic bike on the front page.
i got hold of the old owner and he put me onto the new owner and i had a good long chat to him and i said all i need is the admin access to change a few things.... and thats what led to where we are today..
personally i'd had enough of the site well not really i'd have enough of what was becoming a job and i already had one of those and family life was changing and i didn't have the time i think this place deserves and i probably now dont give enough time to what miniriders means to me and what i owe it.

but now i think we are on a good thing baz has the know how much more than me and we as in i really need to get behind him more and support what he is doing (mind you this is the most time i've had in the last few weeks to even sit in front of the screen) but anyway i think we need to make this adjustment.

-What you would like to see the site become.

as sp33d said i'd like to see an international following this has the ability to put us no.1 on the map it will take alot of resource's but will be worth it's while......... how to go about it i'm not sure send the mountain 10,000 miniriders stickers fork out for .com copy rights i dont know thats up to the owners. i think baz's 2000 active members is a good bar to set and i think it's achievable.

-If you had the chance to change ONE thing, what would it be and how would you go about
it!?

hmmm i had the chance sorta and changed a bit. personally i'd like to go back to being a website with a forum (and now a blog) this is where people would come to see the latest and greatest and people would get sucked in more by the flashy lights.
comps would run better fotm was worth the front page prize and there was an element of prestige about it and i fought to keep it when we changed over and upgraded but it wasn't to be
if i was to change anything it would be go back to that it's exactly what set us apart from planet pitster

now my spin on a couple of points above

1. if anyone has anything they want to blog hell i'll post it for ya (this is another thing i should be working harder on

2. supporting the ride days is hard for miniriders as is the sponsor of races. money is one thing value is another planet mini's do it but it's viable for them fmx aus dont thumpertalk dont but do people flame them for it they are business's like us???????? the stand thing is probably good but you would need to ship it state to state and have a rep in each state and it would cost serious coin.

3. swearing, it's the plague to most of the net. you can say get ****ed on here and as much as the * blank it out the words young kids are not stupid they know exactly what you mean. if you could blank the word all together that would be good but i'm not sure if it could be done (or cant ****in remember useless **** i am) the only other way to stop it is to moderate all posts and you'll be ****ed if i'm sitting around modding and editing 200 odd posts a day.

4. wayno we are the vip's mate we need to liven up your right. how? well i'm not sure i mainly created the user profile to give us the ability to get the top line group of people in one place to say what they wanted and put things they didn't want the masses reading. do what ya like with it i say.....

5. i've got an idea for ya baz your shirts are stuck in a small space in the corner of the page why not have a rotating minirider merchandise banner?????? **** the sponsors

6. the individual state ride threads is one i never got to doing it would be good to piss off all those sticky's in the events section but be warned to many sub forums and they will never get used hence why there are so many threads in the general section of the events forum

7. we need to keep questions out of the chat box and get people posting more the forums go through stages of little to no use and us as vip's need to be active in making that happen otherwise we will turn into what yahoo chat used to be in the old school

This place as far as i'm concerned is the best i mean planet pitster has nothing on us nothing on our knowledge of china's maybe the jap stuff but not on china's and they definitely do not have our friendships or fantastic sense of community. i mean there's nowhere you will meet someone over the net and be able to know them so well when it comes to being face to face

happy to be here

 

[bulldog93]

-how you found out about the site

I found this site when I was 15 looking at pictures of bikes. I stumbled across this photo on miniriders and I wanted to see more photos of the bike, so I looked at the thread (for-sale thread) and I liked the look of the bike so I looked at it abit then I started to look at the mini-chat, post your bike thread and that lead to reading different threads. I joined to post comments on how nice these bikes looked and that was it. I never thought I'd get so attached to a web-site like I have Miniriders.

-What you recall the site to be in the early days including members and bikes of the time.

When I joined it was pretty much how it is now (bike-wise) with Atomik, TDR, Orion being the most sold bikes. MSO was just going bust and there wasn't any real different bikes coming out untill RevMX. Members are the same, MR has lost a couple of friends to all since I've been here.

-How you think the site has grown in the time you have been a
member, things such as information, technical reports, write ups etc.
(feel free to add links if these are on hand)

I came just befor the site got an upgrade. About two weeks. It was the dark backround, that's all I can remember of the old forum but the information has always been there for users. The Tutorial section has just taken off, so many people have contributued to the tut section doesn't matter how small of a job to how big a job. Review section is much easier to navigate through now too since you have changed it to how I surrgested awhile back...

-What you would like to see the site become. If you had the chance
to change ONE thing, what would it be and how would you go about
it!?

Personally I wouldn't change a thing since how the site is now is how I have seen it through out the whole time I've been here. Besides for the first couple of weeks.

On a side note.
I only started linking people to threads is because I'm not the most literate person. I would love to be able to do a whole write up but I confuse my self when I write. It's just easier for me to link. I know you wern't singling me out but that is how I fell about linking new members to different threads.

New mods.. The mods on now are doing a great job. They can't see every post made but neither can most members. they can't possible fix every swear word or sale thread that doesn't use the layout. Hence why they need our help. Not just from VIPs. I wasn't a VIP when I started to tell people to use the layout and I wasn't worried about being a VIP then. I thought I was helping and I'm sure that the members telling the newer members about the layout is good.

I hope this is some help to you lot. As I said befor I'm not the most literate person but I tried.

EDIT:

Just reading back I forgot to mention I can help surport MR too. I wear my MR shirt out all the time and I'll be wearing it this Saturday at Cessnock nationals.

As for making VIP more exciting, let us VIPS in on information to discuss. Thinking about changing the layout? Lets us give you some ideas to incorperate with yours (mods).

If you let us in on stuff (not over the top stuff) we might be able to help you help us. I understand that some things can't be said but trust us not to say anything.

 

[sean01]

Ok bare with me here,
i was probly the first to view this thread today and its taken me this long to get my head around wording this.. plus a fridge full of rums hopefully you can make sense of it..

well, i stumbled across this site some time in 2006 (i think) in search for engine parts and to tell you the truth i had no idea of the mini scene.. didnt even know there was one..
sure i knew about back yard races and things but thats it..
(for some reason i cant find my first post and im sure my join date is now incorrect)

being an engine reconditioner/mechanic myself these engines were pretty straight forward so the info i was after was sorta special, things like most used carbs and places to buy go fast bits was mainly all i was looking for..
i found that plus more info pretty much straight away..

i dont really remember the look and feel of the site back then but i have a rough memory of it being sorta dull and not real inviting but having said that it still did all i needed.

the site has definitely grown in both members and info since i first joined and is rapidly going further (thanks to admin, past and present mods and not to mention current members)
i think the hardest thing for the site is most users (including myself) aren't real literate, sure we can spell ok and throw some words around but i sorta mean its hard for some users to actually type what they think.
but iv found the longer you are an active member the more you dare to give it a go..

umm changes!!!

i dont really think id change a thing, give me an engine and I'll have an idea but a bunch of words or ask for an essay and i have no clue. so id have no idea on what should and shouldnt be changed.
i failed most of my schooling and dropped out in year 9 so that should give ya an idea..

im also the type of person that just takes every day as it comes. whats happens happens and you dont feel like crap when plans dont come through..
although i was dipping pretty bad about not being able to make it to the nationals this weekend.. sorry dready, wayne, pbk and all others. i really wanted to get down there and meet up..

swearing...

ok sure there's a bit of swearing on here but lets face its no different to what you can get away with at most schools these days.
i remember roughly around the end of last year there was a hefty swear filter in place, where is it now.. guess its not a real problem!!!

supporting MR..

i think there should be a thread with logo's banners and what not that are approved by the owners allowing members to use for their own advertising of the site..
like custom sticker kits race banners and so on..
the more the name gets out there the better right??? cause it cant just be all about the money to the owners, they need what we have..passion for the sport/hobby..


hmmm lost my thoughts now and i think im just rambling...

oh 1 last thing.. i'd like to thank coolie and motorman for their admin efforts, without them this forum/site would probly be gone and we'd be stuck at planet penis.

 

[coolmodee01]

i took alot of words out of the swearing filter thing so i could cut sick at dirtmax

i only put a few back in

 

[motorman]

i took alot of words out of the swearing filter thing so i could cut sick at dirtmax

i only put a few back in

Just updated the swearing filter. Should be better now.

Will answer a few more questions a bit later.

 

[motorman]

Added a new Mini Riders Ride Day forum and state child forums.

That should keep you happy Rach.

But yeah we really need to sit down and have a chat one day. After this Christmas madness it will be a priority for me.

 

[Georgalis]

This thread was a pretty good read
It got me thinking of the old days when we were in the chat box all day for 8 hours while I was at work

Might be a good time to revisit the questions in the thread ?
It's good to hear what people say

 

[Cordogs]

Yeah I'm in! Just need some time to write this up.

 

[motorman]

Chatbox was the best back in the day. We used to have a ball in there.

I'm trying my best to get the site back to where it should be. Believe me I'm trying everything.

I need to talk to you 2 as well. Will send you a PM.

 

[Cordogs]

Unfortunately I can only get on for a few mins during the day whilst I'm having smoko, I'm either swinging a hammer, using a screwgun or carrying sheets. Havnt got enough spare hands.