Member ideas for saving our forum

[admin]

Let's make sure LL hears these stories. Athe the very least let's post or stories here so I can point LL to this thread as support, but don't hesitate to send these comments directly to LL as well.

[gbpack]

Goodness.  I wouldn't have bought my camper if this forum didn't exist.  I had too many questions to even imagine myself talking to a dealer.  As a first-time camper customer, this forum got me to purchase and answered all my questions as I bungled along to comfort with my new 6.0.

If they want to sell campers to first-timers like me who have no friends or close family with campers or RVs, then this site is necessary.

Absolutely! Be sure to let them know that!

[charliem]

[font size="3"]SEAN: From your metrics can you give us some info on users/day, users/week, users/month or something we can use in our discourse with LL? We now have 1300+ registered members but many are no longer active. LL only cares about current interest level. How many new members do we get per month? I'm seeing non owners coming to ask questions and help on deciding which model to buy. Seems like LL should value this input. If most users are like me we check current activity many times a day without logging on. This probably shows up as non member hits, guest hits, or something you might be able to track. Some numbers would help us make the argument.
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[daplumbr]

[quote timestamp="1479512375" source="/post/25891/thread" author="@djsamuel"]First step is to go to the [a href="https://www.livinlite.com/contact/index.html"]LivinLite contact page.[/a]  I sent them a message stating how valuable this forum is; both to us as owners and to them as a company.  Lets become a squeaky wheel and see if they still care about supporting their customers.[/quote]Thanks for the contact info. I just sent a comment in strong support of the forum. 

[charleschapman]

Another option is to move this forum to a Yahoo or Google site?  

There is a fair bit of Thor & LL bashing that goes on here so that may make it difficult for them to continue to pay the tab.

[lanell]

 Sent Livin Lite a message on their contact page asking for their continued support of this forum . I am sure that I would have never discovered Camp Lite if it were not for this forum . Also thank you all for the great source of information and technical support offered here.
  Len.  
 

[admin]

As requested by @charliem  here are some of the important stats:

Active users are unique users with at least 1 session in the given time span the below chart is an average from Feb 1 2016 to Oct 31 2016:
[attachment id="1878" thumbnail="1"]

We can see about 1/3 of our users come in from some sort of mobile device:
[attachment id="1879" thumbnail="1"]

Below we can see 8k+ monthly sessions. Not shown we can see a break down that of new vs returning users is almost exactly 1/3 new vs 2/3 returning
[attachment id="1880" thumbnail="1"]

Our registered members number 1300+ and our daily breakdown comes out around 8% registered members so we a large number of users that are considered guests on a regular basis. Granted this number might be slightly skewed with users that check in from different locations without actually logging in, but even if we assumed a 25% registered to 75% guest we can see a huge engagement from a wide range of sources.

Just because I find it interesting, we are truly of international interest. Since Feb 1 here are the sessions per country:
[attachment id="1881" thumbnail="1"]

All in all our numbers clearly show the positive impact that we have and no one has denied that.
The problem is getting to a point that we are seen as a priority.

[daplumbr]

Another option is to move this forum to a Yahoo or Google site?  

There is a fair bit of Thor & LL bashing that goes on here so that may make it difficult for them to continue to pay the tab.

I would note that negative posts can help folks "vent" and move past problems, especially if a forum like this provides solutions and group support (i.e."therapy, so to speak). Even with the negative posts, I hope LL can see the value added of working through those and coming out better in the end. I know that was the case with me. 

[pinstriper]

[quote timestamp="1479556963" source="/post/25913/thread" author="@charleschapman"]Another option is to move this forum to a Yahoo or Google site?  

There is a fair bit of Thor & LL bashing that goes on here so that may make it difficult for them to continue to pay the tab. [/quote]This thing started as a yahoo group, which was dreadful.

I agree that the bashing is over the top sometimes, and it wouldn't surprise me if the well was poisoned due to it.

We might consider moving en masse to a more general rv board and have a subforum there.

[charliem]

[font size="3"]@admin , thanks for the data. I'm still digesting it. I think a real indicator of interest and participation is the guest hit. It includes potential new buyers, presently satisfied owners, folks looking for solutions, and diehards like us just checking periodically. The users online number includes members actually commenting, offering help, or just running off at the mouth       . The present 24 hour users online is 60 with 758 guests. Is this ~10:1 ratio typical? Can I take ~800 hits per day as the number of visits per day of interested parties? That seems like a number a marketeer would be interested in.
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[catmanriff]

Can we crowd fun this if LL doesn't step up enough?

[idlerockfarm]

It wouldn't be a problem to me to move to a more general site and have an area there.  BUT, I might not have found this forum if it weren't linked to Livin Lite.  I would have then bought a different camper.  Now that I am on multiple forums, I could be part of a LL section somewhere.  That would help current owners and internet community members.  It wouldn't help out new folks.

The bashing is occasionally intense, but I try to offer a more moderate perspective, as do we all.  I agree that venting is necessary and moving past it is helpful, too.  The issue for me with LL discussions off of this forum is that MANY, MANY people take really negative tones toward LL.  Their bias against LL makes productive conversations difficult and unhelpful in many cases.

LL should already know about the public perception of their brand on other forums.  Sometimes it's price or judgements based on dyspepsia, but we aren't a free marketing squad to go convert folks out in the ether.  If they think dissolving this forum will accomplish that goal, then they are mistaken.  We are here not as employees, but as contented owners.  Please, LL, show you care about and support us.

[david]

Well, I certainly agree with your last paragraph. But LL under Thor has shown a rather callous disregard for this forum recently. They canned Christian about a year ago and djmiller, a LL employee, only comments on easy things that he can feel good about dealing with. He has chosen to avoid the frame weld problem and other difficult quality issues.

So I have my doubts about LL's comittment to this forum and wonder if they will continue to support it with funding.

I would be just as happy to move to Paul's www.aluminumcamperforum.com website or something similar if LL doesn't support this one.

David

[pinstriper]

Well, I certainly agree with your last paragraph. But LL under Thor has shown a rather callous disregard for this forum recently. They canned Christian about a year ago and djmiller, a LL employee, only comments on easy things that he can feel good about dealing with. He has chosen to avoid the frame weld problem and other difficult quality issues.

So I have my doubts about LL's comittment to this forum and wonder if they will continue to support it with funding.

I would be just as happy to move to Paul's www.aluminumcamperforum.com website or something similar if LL doesn't support this one.

David

I get what you are saying, but LL did actually spend a pretty penny supporting the regional camp-in last July.

Back of the napkin, $12-15grand

[david]

LL spent $12-15K supporting that first regional rally, wow!! How many were there? I didn't pay much attention to it, but it seemed like there were a dozen or so campers. Maybe LL would kick in that much per person for our Maine meetup in August. We now have six campers confirmed and another few maybes. We could have a blast on just a measly grand!!!! Well, we will have a blast without LL's support.

David