The Future of ACE

[Eddie44]

First thing, ACE isn't going anywhere. No, we're not converting to a Facebook format but Facebook isn't going away any time soon. 

 

That said, we want to improve ACE. Dwayne (Dawg) and I were talking at lunch yesterday. We realize ACE isn't what it once was.  We both remember the day when we were doing events every week or two. We're lucky now if we do an event, cruise or lunch every other month or more. 

 

What we are looking for is your expectations for ACE.  How do we improve ACE?  How do we get more participation on the forum?  How do we get newer members to step up and plan events?  What kind of events do you want to see?

 

Be honest, your Admin/ Moderator Team is thick skinned! 

[HOXXOH]

Never one to be short of an opinion on most subjects, I'll quickly offer this:

 

Food events (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) would be more enjoyable if another event of any kind was the main event and food was merely the supplement that followed (preferably) or preceded. The present lunch format of gather, eat, and run, has the main theme being food, which once devoured leaves the stomach full, but the purpose of the gathering somewhat empty.

[Eddie44]

Excellent point Tom!  I've felt the same but thought it was just me. 

[Extender32]

I know there has also been some "conflicts of interest" between some members of ACE (not naming names) and this had lead them to no longer be active members of ACE.  Most of the conflicts were due to some of the material that was posted on the forum and it was OK for some members to post and not for others and some were just personality clashes. Julie and me like to run up to Prescott every now and then for a burger and I try to get ACE involved in the run up but sometimes we only plan it a few days in advance when we know we have nothing going on that particular Saturday.

[Desertdawg]

 FB has very little to no ACE, sure your family and friends are on there but the interaction and friendship that we shared here is gone. 

I've  clicked "like" a few times and I've even commented on a couple of things. But the interaction is dead and conversations like we would have on ACE are non-existent. 

 

It it reminds me of the beginning of the Internet where "the wall" was the cool thing to post on. Of course there was no conversation there either. Just a few sly comments that were forgotten a few hours later. 

 

Where did we lose it? 

When members quit sharing personal triumphs and failures for fear of retribution or ridicule. You can only pick on someone about thier difficulty in removing a wheel, or heading to Duncan and missing Tucson so many times before they leave OR they quit sharing. 

 

Are we guilty? 

I'm sure we've all thrown stones on here, but we want to play and that was part of the game. 

We had a great run for awhile but now we are left with us die hards and a few stragglers. 

 

How do we fix this?

we are going to have to go back 10 or 12 years and start planning events. Pump the hell out of them even when 10 cars show up. Post pictures and talk about the event after it's over. We need to get members feeling left out when they don't show up, and ... 

This is a biggie .... we need to learn how to share our lives again. 

My limited time looking around on FB, I see people checking in on thier travels, with one or two comments. We can do that better here. 

What have you seen on FB or elsewhere on the web ??? 

 

come on. None of us want to let this go, so it's time to start posting. 

 

[NDAGRUV]

I'm not a "frequent flyer", nor am I a "vested long term member", but from the comments layed down thus far, it would appear to me that "we" merely need to make ALL visitors to ACE feel as part of the Family and to tone down the critical little "hair ball fights" (personal expressions and attacks) to a MINIMUM - if any at all.

There have been times when a visitor, or junior member, would post a sincere question - and because of a lack of exposure to the Corvette world, or perhaps lack of mechanical experience, they would receive SOME replies that were possibly meant as "a joke" but stated in a demeaning way in order to make the "replier" appear (in his/her own mind) as "superior" towards the junior member.

 

As I understand it, God made us ALL EQUAL, and if we treat others in a less than equal manner, we are defacing only ourselves - AND portraying the organization as having the same temperament. (this pertains to those who "see injustices and do nothing to rectify them").

I have mechanical experience, fabrication experience and a LOVE for my Vette - If I cannot find a FAMILY HERE, then I would expect our visitors to move on....................

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

 

Personally, I had to sell my Vette to start a chain reaction of financial "corrections" in order to get to a place in my life that I could participate more in items that truly made a difference to me.  Fortunately, having just completed the "full circle", I am in a much better, more fulfilling location, AND was just able to buy another Cooksey ZO6!

For me, that is huge!  God has truly blessed me in my finances, and I would highly recommend HIM for "your own personal finances officer".

In times past I was concerned about mentioning the workings of God in my life, due to "jabs" I had experienced here on this site.  That's cool, I can live with that.  But too slander, or "make fun" of my God is NOT ACCEPTABLE.  If that type of comment/criticism surfaces again - I'm gone.  Nothing personal, I just will not associate with those who criticize my Best Friend - and if that is the present/future personality of this site, I'm sure you can see why.

 

I would VERY MUCH like this to be a place where those who love Corvettes (owned or not) can feel free to be found and associate with, to get together for an evening at the Pavillions, or a burger run to Prescott, or a backroad cruise from Sedona to Flagstaff & back.  The possibilities are endless!!!!

 

FOR INSTANCE THE GOODGUYS EVENT AT WESTWORLD IS THIS WEEKEND - THOSE WHO HAVE "NEWER CARS" CAN MAKE A GATHERING AT THE "ALL AMERICAN SUNDAY" EVENT - WHY NOT DO THAT "AS A CLUB"?

Curt

[Guest Mikey]

As a member of ACE for 9 years, here is my observations of what has changed.

First, there was a member named Elizabeth that arranged monthly  breakfast/luncheon cruises to a restaurant. The cruise being my favorite part then the friends, food and Corvettes filling the parking lot. The get togethers need to include a cruise to the restaurant/location again. 

Second, there's something special about a group of Corvettes legally flooring it on a freeway on ramp!

Third, the past few years "telephone vigilantes" don't like to see Corvettes driving by even if they're on the other side of the road going the opposite direction! 

Finally,  I love ACE and most of my friends are members.

[Bromley's Corvettes]

9 hours ago, Desertdawg said:

 FB has very little to no ACE, sure your family and friends are on there but the interaction and friendship that we shared here is gone. 

I've  clicked "like" a few times and I've even commented on a couple of things. But the interaction is dead and conversations like we would have on ACE are non-existent. 

 

It it reminds me of the beginning of the Internet where "the wall" was the cool thing to post on. Of course there was no conversation there either. Just a few sly comments that were forgotten a few hours later. 

 

Where did we lose it? 

When members quit sharing personal triumphs and failures for fear of retribution or ridicule. You can only pick on someone about thier difficulty in removing a wheel, or heading to Duncan and missing Tucson so many times before they leave OR they quit sharing. 

 

Are we guilty? 

I'm sure we've all thrown stones on here, but we want to play and that was part of the game. 

We had a great run for awhile but now we are left with us die hards and a few stragglers. 

 

How do we fix this?

we are going to have to go back 10 or 12 years and start planning events. Pump the hell out of them even when 10 cars show up. Post pictures and talk about the event after it's over. We need to get members feeling left out when they don't show up, and ... 

This is a biggie .... we need to learn how to share our lives again. 

My limited time looking around on FB, I see people checking in on thier travels, with one or two comments. We can do that better here. 

What have you seen on FB or elsewhere on the web ??? 

 

come on. None of us want to let this go, so it's time to start posting. 

 

Yes sir thats how it looks to me as well. I have sent many of my customers to ACE and right away they get scared off. Rather then welcome them someone makes a negative comment or smart ass and they never post again lol. Also not making it easy to post photos keeps a lot of people from sharing. I use to be more active but got real tired of  trying to help someone and a guy comes along and says oh no thats not what I would do lol. I would love to be more active on ACE again but it needs to be a positive experience and easy and fast for me to post pix and up dates:) Also with the huge growth of my shop I could flood the Classic section with projects we have going on and some people would complain lol. 

[Bromley's Corvettes]

My sales girl Becky tried posting a few times and asked a simple question and got smart ass comments and she will never post again lol. Same for my web guy Jeff he said wow these guys are jerks lol. My dad is scared to post does not want to say wrong thing. We need to make ACE friendly and a happy place to share not pick on each other:) 

[black beauty]

AGREE WITH ALL THE ABOVE. LETS BE A FAMILY AGAIN. WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON. WHETHER NEW OR  OLD.

[Extender32]

I personally love ACE. Julie and me have met a bunch of great people that we would have otherwise not met. For the most part, I have found most ACEholes to be extremely knowledgeable and willing to help others out when needed. A perfect example; Bigfoot was having tranny issues and some members volunteered to help him to remove and re-install as a cost savings measure right in his own garage. Many of those members that helped him are still active on the forum today. Do we need to do more as a group? Absolutely! But I also understand that we all have busy lives and will participate as long as their schedule permits. Bottom line, more ACE members need to volunteer to set up cruises and lunches. We will (Julie and Me) continue to do out part to make ACE a happy place.

[Bigfoot]

3 hours ago, Bromley's Corvettes said:

My sales girl Becky tried posting a few times and asked a simple question and got smart ass comments and she will never post again lol. Same for my web guy Jeff he said wow these guys are jerks lol. My dad is scared to post does not want to say wrong thing. We need to make ACE friendly and a happy place to share not pick on each other:) 

I'd like to see some examples of this kind of behavior. I did not see anything like this when she posted for sale stuff. I did direct her to contact admin about the vendor section, so I'm not sure what was going on there, your guy Jeff or your dad.

 

Please link threads and/or comments.

[JLs Mistress]

I joined ACE 3.5 years ago . At that time we were all ACE now I can think of three different  groups that have broken off . You can see some of these on Facebook . Last weekend two of the  groups were doing something  at the same time we did the ACE lunch. Not sure what this means or do I  have a solution just like to point this out ..Hope we have a good turn out for the BBQ next month....????

[old yeller]

I had life get in my way.... I retired from one job and took another that includes a lot of "on-call" time. About the time I am ready to drive the Vette, the phone rings and I am off to Kingman or somewhere far away for a truck crash. 

I really miss the old days of ACE.  I knew if I had a problem, I could count on at least 25-30 people to help out.  I am not sure what caused the groups to split off.  It is sad that we have no Yuma group anymore.  That was always a nice run before it got too hot. I can not get away from work during the week to attend a lunch.  Maybe if we had a dedicated lunch place on the weekend after Corvette's and Caffeine (11:00 am HOOTERS at the Pavilions) would be a start.

[Lurch]

Well here is my 2 cents. Joined  9/13 because the nice lady that said she was one of the folks who run the club, Told me there was no pressure and everyone is helpful.   Anyone who knows my car knows it is rough (read POS) I have asked for advise several times and have had SOME answers or feed back. There are many beautiful cars in the club but if it is now worth bragging about it is simply passed by. I work all odd hours so going to the socials is out of the question. I came from a club back east that had NCRS, Show cars and outright ground pounders and YES POS too. When we got together or saw a club decal we asked what we were doing and shared what could be done, done better or how to do it. I have been building and rebuilding and yes showing  Vettes for the past 40 years but questions or new designs come up. We need new blood in the Vette family but if we can't support the up and coming that don't have the money to start BIG or Pay someone to do it we will loose more. So I guess what I am saying is pay attention to the lesser of the group. Anyone who has seen what I did for tail lights on my c3 knows that the OLD guys can still pull off some very Wild things. And I do go to the Pavillions and as has been said above if we can all drop a line here before when we go maybe we can really show that we are here and show what this club is about. (or at least give everyone an ACE Salute)

[Lurch]

2 more cents. If you see a post for a part or help but don't know the answer but know who might be able to help POST it. Who does nice work and who's parts are good and who's to avoid.

[Desertdawg]

4 hours ago, JLs Mistress said:

I joined ACE 3.5 years ago . A that time we were all ACE now I can thing of three different  groups that have broken off . You can see some of these on Facebook . Last weekend two of  groups were doing something  at the same time we did the ACE lunch. Not sure what this means or do I  have a solution just like to point this out ..Hope we have a good turn out for the BBQ next month....????

 

This is the first I've heard of the other groups, if they are part of ACE then it's kind of crappy to plan events off the forum. 

[Desertdawg]

1 hour ago, Lurch said:

2 more cents. If you see a post for a part or help but don't know the answer but know who might be able to help POST it. Who does nice work and who's parts are good and who's to avoid.

 

Sorry John, I think most of the older generation group has either moved on or migrated to newer rides. When I had my 82 I had tons of links to find parts and other info about them. After losing 2 hard drives just about all I had is gone, like my memory...

[Bromley's Corvettes]

I would like to find a way to encourage new guys to post details about there cars. I like seeing photos and info about the build or restoration. Its cool to see what others have done. Also the history on the car. Classics sometimes have a interesting past:) 

[Bromley's Corvettes]

1 hour ago, Desertdawg said:

 

Sorry John, I think most of the older generation group has either moved on or migrated to newer rides. When I had my 82 I had tons of links to find parts and other info about them. After losing 2 hard drives just about all I had is gone, like my memory...

I know there are a lot of Classic vette owners on hear they just dont post. 

[Dakotaz]

Being a new ACE guy and not knowing the old ACE I have asked a few questions and have not received a lot of reply's but more than happy with the reply's I did get. You folks have been very helpful to me. I really enjoy the forum even though I feel I have not put back in what I have gotten out of it. I own a C4 and there doesn't seem to be that many others on here which doesn't bother me, but any assistance I have to offer would be on that model. Also since my job requires a lot of travel it's sometimes difficult for me to participate in the events. I have been in a different airport every week this year but that is my choice. I am still trying to figure how to do the Devil's Hwy run and the wife is pushing me hard to get it done. So with any luck I'll be having cocktails with some of you at the Best Western. Hope to meet some of you then. in the meantime keep the Friday Picture Thread going.  

[a66bbvet]

20 minutes ago, Bromley's Corvettes said:

I know there are a lot of Classic vette owners on hear they just dont post. 

 

When I had my classic, I tried to post questions and was mostly talked down to.  Most of the time, I was given information that was incorrect and GOD FORGIVE you try to discuss the issue with the provider as they were always right.  I personally did 90% of the work in the restoration and knew exactly how the car was put together and how it worked and did not appreciate being told how wrong I was.  As a result, I read the ACE forum to keep up with the hobby and activities but do not get involved with the events or activities.

 

I also find that the members have their vendors and are not really interested in expanding that list.  I have a friend who has taken another tuner's work and re-tuned my engine and succeeded in improving the engine response, performance, and prevented error codes from being set. I have never seen anyone in ACE comment about what needs to be done after engine/exhaust changes.  Most dealers and GM are telling everyone that once a car is re-tuned, the warranty is invalid.  This has happened because most of the time the unknowing users have not been told that a re-tune needs to be done.  There is nothing wrong with having a qualified third party vendor re-tune the car, but frequently this is not done and the engine runs lean and burns a cylinder.  I don't blame GM for not replacing the engine.  This is the information I would expect to pick up in a forum like ACE.  But here again no one wants to make a comment like that as they would be told how stupid they were.  Maybe the ACE individuals need to realize they do not know everything and be able to accept what others have to say and realize others do not always have the same knowledge and experience and should ADVISE their fellow corvette owners.

[Desertdawg]

Reading the above two posts bothers me a lot. Yes us old guys are sometimes stuck in our ways and are afraid to try something new. Probably because we've been stung a few times and when we find a good vendor or tuner we are afraid to try something new. 

 

All I can say is by not posting what you know or who you tried, and the results of your adventures. It hurts not just ACE but the hobby too. 

Everyone has opinions, if someone disagrees with you then post the facts and let it ride.

Arguing isn't going to solve the worlds problems but the info posted will allow others to explore other venues.  

[JohnU]

It is no secret that all website traffic is down.  I'm on forums for cars, motorcycles, boats and bicycles just to get warmed up in the morning.  They have all experienced a slowdown in traffic.  Facebook has took some of it but much of it is we are all busy (not me, I just retired).   I've run a single marque motorcycle club for 7 years. There is a core group of 15-20 people who show up monthly for our lunch (mnguzzi.com) 

I post an ad on Craigslist the week before the lunch in the motorcycle classifieds to catch "new blood" ...best month was 4 people from that ad.  I make a monthly newsletter that goes out to the 250+ person email list to promote upcoming events around town and to keep in touch with the group.  One member maintains the website. 

 Yes, activities draw a crowd.  On months I have a ride after the lunch, attendance doubles.

I've tried moving the lunches to different corners of town to attract more locals in that area and have a group ride after.  I'll be dammed..... the same core group shows up and the locals still don't come!    Granted scheduling issues come into play not apathy.

I used to have Saturday trips to local businesses that would be of interest to the group....but many don't work weekends....can't blame them.  One of the biggest events was to a company that sold insurance wrecks by bid  (CrashedCars.com, since sold) we strolled their lot for hours looking at wrecked RV's, Cars, motorcycles, Boats etc.  Even the wives had fun!!!

 

 

- ACE business cards to stick on the windshield of a Corvette might catch a new person.

- ACE banner/table at Cars & Coffee events, ACE lineup at the parking lot shows. 

How about a Bill Boat factory tour.  Tour some local restoration businesses..... Tour anything of interest for that matter.  

I've left the state for a colder climate but will be back next January... maybe even with a Corvette and will come up with a few trips of my own to execute with the group.

 

[Lurch]

I am glad this topic was started. Great ideas are coming out. I think Doug has a good idea. If you do something to your car, post it. Tell if it helped or did not work out as planned. Who did the work and if you were satisfied. Old car, new car, Do dadd hanging from the mirror, whatever, post it.