Just an idea

[Guest SupraPolak]

Ok, this ide was started way back last year on a different forum but that's another matter now.

It was decided that it might be a good idea to form an Australia wide import club (website) and as such work has begun on the re-development of the back end database and code. Those of you into programming please don't look too hard as this is still very much in the debugging stages.

Wh have had a change of name from Supra Club Australia to Import Club Australia. Reason: a LOT of work is needed to develop this site/idea and it would be nicer/better to get all the import clans together rather than exclude anyone.

The forums would be a lot more fun, decent chat sessions would be possible, group buys could be organized more quickly and the list goes on. I am trying to include everyone but still keep it make/model/state specific for ease of navigation.

Visually, the main banner has changed and that's about it. Most of the links are not functional so don't bother clicking them. However, have a look down at all the different sections I would like to include on the site and let me know what you guys think.

I will be posting this thread on various Australian forums to see what kind of a reaction I get. If anyone knows of any other Australian forums, or forums with a large Aussie contingent, let me know.

Anyway, that's it for now. I just hope I don't get bogged down with other work too much and am able to keep developing the site at a quicker pace.

As always, your feedback will be much appreciated. (Just be constructive )

BTW, it's at http://www.importclubaustralia.com

PS This is in no way intended as spam but as a genuine query to gauge if work on this project should continue.

[Guest SupraPolak]

comments would be nice particularly as to why this is a bad idea...

[funkymonkey]

a) such a huge forum would only be used as an online thing, no way could it translate to a realistic "club"

B) organising events for such a club would be a pain seeing as your target is "anyone that has an import" which is basically most ppl these days

c) if you run a forum of such proportions the cost will be huge

d) if you charge for it ppl will crack the shits, esp when they have a forum they belong to already

e) rivalry is what drives us. Supra drivers don't like skyline drivers and vice versa (not the person, but the brand) its all about bragging rights. Your forum would jus be one big arguemnt over who's better

f) There's too many imports for you to specialise on them all. Its like trying to be a jack of all trades.

there's all the thigns I could think of... hope it helps...

[Silver-Arrowz]

I agree with funkymonkey on that note about rivalry. There will be a small number of people who are so blindly convinced that their car is the best and all else are second to theirs.

[Guest SupraPolak]

Ok guys, all valid points.

Import Club Australia is not meant to be a "physical" type of club as you might expect from a normal car club or whatever, it's simply an online community. There would also be some kind of hierarchy in respect to states/makes/models implemented as well, with individuals (volunteers) responsible for their dedicated sections.

Here's the thing though, and this is just my humble opinion. The site is meant to be just a central point if you like for the various import clans. I can't see why I couldn't still link off site to individual forums such as Skylines Australia etc to keep that "discussion" aspect of the community dedicated.

The site itself is more of an information gateway and not so much a forum. Forums are great for some things but they lack in so many other "community" type aspects. Just as an example, on some forums you'll usually find some sort of buying/selling section right? Now, how organized/disorganized do these sections get? I've seen some pretty bad ones in my time. Import Club Australia would have a "proper" dedicated section for classified (free of charge) ads etc.

How about a dedicated "group buys" section where the initiator of the buy could upload pics of the product, edit the description, include costs, ending dates, min. number of buyers needed etc. and you could automatically add/remove yourself from the group buy with a mouse click...

And, what about, DIY/technical articles or reviews of products/services? What about a dedicated listing (Yellow Pages) of preferred workshops/tuners/parts retailers with user ratings so that we know who is good and who to stay away from. The ratings may even be incentive enough for those "dodgy" shops to pick their game up or loose customers.

Initially as the site is growing the costs would be reasonable, with increased traffic I could look to business advertising/sponsorship to pay for the hosting/bandwidth costs. At no stage was this intended as a money making deal.

Furthermore, rivalry is a good thing. At the moment, if you own a Supra (which is the best car ever ) then you usually only belong to Supra orientated forums and miss everything else that is going on with the other makes/models. This tends to blinker people as to what is going on obviously. The main news section on Import Club Australia could be used to spread the word to all of the community in regard to what is happening in the Skyline/Supra/180.... world.

The list of "benefits" goes on...

I am not trying to take any forum away from any anyone. I prefer certain forums over others too.

I suppose I should have just called the project a portal, because that's what it is in essence I suppose.

Thanks guys for the feedback, it's understandable as I didn't exactly explain it all before...

Keep the ideas coming.

[Silver-Arrowz]

Just on the idea about the ratings for workshops, some may not be happy with their rating or comments from the forum users and may start trouble. It's just something to consider. I think the best way to go about this is to get the consent of the workshop first, then advise them that this should be looked upon as constructive criticism. Posting names of products/workshops in the past have cause the owners of the product/workshop to come online and start trouble (legal trouble).

[Greg]

My opinion:

I think the main benefit of such an 'import club' is that it would be a national club with heaps of members and it might actually carry some weight in lobbying the Government on changes in legislation (eg import laws). Also club discounts at workshops, on insurance etc would be more easily attainable.

It would have to be a respected authority on imports and run professionally (maybe even cost a small fee per year to join, or a once off joining fee to cover costs).

If benefits such as having a national body looking after import owners, receiving club discounts on insurance and at workshops (and of course getting a bumper sticker;)) were involved, I'd be in it for sure!

[funkymonkey]

think www.importdriver.com, autospeed.com.au and fullboost.com.au are already ahead of you then...

collectively they do everything you want to do.