Manx Club

For 2008 and beyond, I would like to propose that the Buggy of the Month submissions and voting be divided between 2 categories; (genuine) Manx and non-Manx (or whatever title sounds best). I have never submitted my (non-Manx) buggy for BOM, but I believe there can be 2 schools of thought; both legitimate but with a possibility of conflict none the less. To be honest, if I did own a genuine Manx, I would be tempted to vote for the those first (even if I saw some that may be alittle nicer) because they are the "real deal" and the foundation of this club in the first place. On the other hand, if this truly is a club that welcomes and supports ALL fiberglass dune buggies, having a chance to vote for a non-Manx as well each month would be a possible solution. Who knows, we may even get more monthly entries as candidates.

That's an interesting idea and I can see how some people may be more jaded to vote for an official Meyers Manx over a different body style. But just for the record, it appears to be that on the page showing the past Buggies of the Month there are more non Meyers winners than official Manx winners. (FWIW, I just took a quick scan and I hope I didn't put me foot in my mouth. No actual counting occured.)

For some time, it has been a problem to get 5 entries each month for just 1 winner. I would think that having enough entries for a Manx & non-Manx winner would be almost impossible. Let's take a quick look at the Buggy of the Month (BOM) numbers for the first 11 months of 2007: Jan 2007----- 5 Entries--31 Votes--1 Winner--Manx--1 Entry DQ'd Feb 2007----- 5 Entries--?? Votes--1 Winner--Manx Mar 2007----- 5 Entries--18 Votes--1 Winner--Non-Manx Apr 2007----- 0 Entries-- May 2007---- 5 Entries--31 Votes--1 Winner--Non-Manx Jun 2007----- 5 Entries--32 Votes--1 Winner--Manx Jul 2007------ 5 Entries--35 Votes--1 Winner--Manx Aug 2007----- 5 Entries--27 Votes--2 Winners Tie--Non-Manx Sep 2007----- 0 Entries-- Oct 2007----- 0 Entries-- Nov 2007----- 0 Entries-- Dec 2007----- 5 Entries--Voting in progess For 30% of 2007 there were not enough entries submitted to run a monthly contest. For the months that a contest was held there was a 50/50 split on Manx vs. Non-Manx winners. During the months of a valid contest there was an average of 29 votes cast. Keep in mind that these numbers were for the January 2007 thru November 2007 time frame, and that the voting information for February is not available. In other words less than 1% of the dues paying members chose to participate in the BOM voting. As a group the members appear to be extremely apathetic in regard to participation in the BOM. I do not see a valid reason to expand a poorly used portion of the Forum. I also believe that the majority of members who vote take the time to study the pictures and specification in the write-up to determine which buggy is the result of a well developed plan. It makes no difference to me if the buggy I vote for is a Manx product or a Non-Manx product. To me it is how I feel about the builder's execution of the plan.

Joe ("Forum Moderator"), I keep wondering why your entries on my threads always lean toward the negative. I am still patiently waiting for you to tell me (and the rest of the world, for that matter) which of the postings contained "rants" (your words, not mine), in the thread titled "What's up with this website?". You hacked up the thread so that it's continunity was destroyed. You gave out incorrect information about "rumors of a new Manx Club administration" and your advice was also incorrect (Usually posting it on the site will only seems to inflame the situation. I find it amazing how a simple E-Mail or phone call will usually result in obtaining the correct answer or solution to any problem or stiuation.) when in fact, because concerns were posted on our website, a positive message from Winnie was posting about the FACT that a transition in in progress; a message that was uplifting to me, and I would imagine others as well. There were postings from others that even though they submitted their buggies for BOM (one stated that he entered his several times), they were never used. I have an idea, Joe the "Forum Moderator", why don't you just sit back, and let this thread play out in the way that it will, either those for the idea or against it. Deal?

[QUOTE="gary0302"]Joe ("Forum Moderator"), I keep wondering why your entries on my threads always lean toward the negative. I am still patiently waiting for you to tell me (and the rest of the world, for that matter) which of the postings contained "rants" (your words, not mine), in the thread titled "What's up with this website?". You hacked up the thread so that it's continunity was destroyed. You gave out incorrect information about "rumors of a new Manx Club administration" and your advice was also incorrect (Usually posting it on the site will only seems to inflame the situation. I find it amazing how a simple E-Mail or phone call will usually result in obtaining the correct answer or solution to any problem or stiuation.) when in fact, because concerns were posted on our website, a positive message from Winnie was posting about the FACT that a transition in in progress; a message that was uplifting to me, and I would imagine others as well. There were postings from others that even though they submitted their buggies for BOM (one stated that he entered his several times), they were never used. I have an idea, Joe the "Forum Moderator", why don't you just sit back, and let this thread play out in the way that it will, either those for the idea or against it. Deal?[/QUOTE] Gary, It looks to me that you are just looking for an excuse to slam Joe. All Joe did was post the facts regarding the buggy styles that were voted on, for the "Buggy of the Month". Then Joe went on to give his point of view, which I believe is the basis of a forum. The fact that Joe is a moderator, doesn't mean he doesn't get to voice his opinion. You need to lighten up, nobody here is out to get you.

[QUOTE="manxter10"]For some time, it has been a problem to get 5 entries each month for just 1 winner. I would think that having enough entries for a Manx & non-Manx winner would be almost impossible. [/QUOTE] I think the buggy of the month should continue (I enjoy seeing other people?s buggies from around the globe) but some brainstorming should be done to increase the interest and participation. Gary has presented one idea (I think we all have our own bias based on the brand and type of buggy we own/built) and I believe there are probably others. Joe has stated that it is difficult to get five entries per month which I can believe. The current rules prohibit a previous entrant from entering again. So unless the club grows each month by at least five new members, we will or have run out of candidates. One idea might be to allow the "non-winners" to be reconsidered at a later date. Another idea might be to have a quarterly contest. There are a lot of smart people in this club, so I'm sure there isn't a lack of ideas out there. All that needs to be done is to ask for them. Thanks, Bud (giving his 2 cents worth of suggestions)

Hi Jerry, Thanks for your input. If you notice, Joe the Moderator's post was edited, he added everything after the very first sentence AFTER my response to his negative slant (very slick, Joe). His numbers (added after the fact) only reflect the number of entries shown as they were listed for voting, but he does not address statements made by other members in earlier posts that their buggies (sometimes entered repeatedly) were totally ignored, for whatever reason. Who is going to know how many times that actually happened. If you notice, Joe did not address anything in my second paragraph, which is why I started "slamming" him in the first place. Look, many of us will agree that the activity on the Manx Club site had dropped off drastically during 2007. I personally had complete threads just disappear, ones that discussed my buggy build with information that I thought would at least be helpful to a few others. The results of the Buggy of the Month for August were not even posted for several months. I will totally agree that the monthly total number of votes for Buggy of the Month for 2007 is pathetic, but does that not also reflect the fact that some of us think that our club website has become stale to some degree? There is supposed to be a new breath of life in our club for 2008, what's wrong with at least suggesting a tweak to one of our site's features???

Gary, You have a PM.

Hi Jerry, I sent a PM response to you as well, my friend, thanks for the message.

I would probably vote more often if the entry photos were posted side by side. Instead you have to open 5 different windows. It is easier than it used to be to find the vote page.

do we really need to go through this again? Ok, so what happened to all the buggies that were submitted and never saw the light of day? are they screened? seems like the logical answer. but i am open tohear your answer. you cant just say that you can't get entries and ignore all the posts about the people who submitted their buggy for consideration and never showed up. something doesn't smell right.