Has The Zephyr Zone passed its sell by date?

[julianp]

I've just come back here after many years, having decided it really is time to get my 550 back on the road after 10 years. As has already been said lots of people use Facebook now but it isn't the same and hard to find how to do something rather than lots of opinions on what you shouldn't have done.
It would be a shame to lose this resource but maybe it's inevitable.
Would there be enough members to contribute to the annual cost?

[Eddie]

Hello

I for one hope the zone continues, but do have to agree with the comments already mentioned and accept it days could be numbered. I must admit i don't do Facebook but have looked on there and it seems they're is alot of activity on it, what i don't get is why people can post on there but seemingly can't manage to post on here, is it that much easier?.... Or are these type of forums just considered old hat now, i don't know.

I'll own up now that I haven't posted anything for quite some time now and hate to admit that since finishing my 1100 rebuild (i did manage a build thread on that!!) it hasn't moved an inch and is sat in the shed under a sheet going nowhere so not much to say about it really and with other projects on the go and working most weekends these days I can't see it being on the road for a while unfortunately.

As mentioned on here maybe the Zones problem is it is focused on a low production pretty uncommon bike. I'm not a member yet but am always on the "Z1 owners" club forum that is very popular but obviously has the advantage of covering all the kawasaki Zed models from all decades, plus they have sections on non Zed related topics where people can talk about all their other projects, maybe something like that could work on here or maybe the zone could be linked with another forum?

Fingers crossed for its future and thank you so much for keeping it going

Cheers eddie

[Richard]

Indeed it has been awfully silent for a long while here although I do see some recent posts now. I don't know if a forum is still the best way to communicate with it's members, it seems a Web portal is not used often these days. I used to run a Moped forum and there we did see the same issue with less and less posts while Facebook and Whatsapp are still showing lots of activity from the same members. As a reference this forum holds a lot of information, even when we lost a lot when it crashed in the past. I would hate to see it go but if there is no real usage I guess the good times are over...

On your question if I (still) want to contribute to the costs the answer is yes.

[Fishrider]

IDK, other boards get plenty of play. The KZR board is pretty hoppin'. Yes there are plenty of alternatives, but I still like this format. Even discord, IMO, is not the same as being able to look through a thread and find answers. Not everyone uses hashtags correctly, and I find the search functions don't always produce good results. Or sometimes you get too many results that are not helpful and weeding through them is difficult. I recently used Facecrack to attempt to help me with these issues, and it wasn't great. I would get a couple of short answers and then the post gets buried. If you reply to your post with a follow up and other questions, you get no answers. Its like you have to start over again.

[voyager12]

I don't like to have to agree but yes you're right, I come on here to have a look to see if anything has been posted and I guess I am partly to blame as for many others as for not posting.
But we all know what has killed this forum and that's Facebook and the many groups that have appeared !

Hello from the USA, I agree with you that the Facebook page is more used but you never seem to get the quality of knowledge that these forums offer. Gene from Jersey

[voyager12]

Indeed it has been awfully silent for a long while here although I do see some recent posts now. I don't know if a forum is still the best way to communicate with it's members, it seems a Web portal is not used often these days. I used to run a Moped forum and there we did see the same issue with less and less posts while Facebook and Whatsapp are still showing lots of activity from the same members. As a reference this forum holds a lot of information, even when we lost a lot when it crashed in the past. I would hate to see it go but if there is no real usage I guess the good times are over...

On your question if I (still) want to contribute to the costs the answer is yes.

Are there enough members to ask for a 20.00 dollars dues for a full access use of the forum as the Kawasaki AVA forum does ?

[ZoneAdmin]

Hi Voyager12

Not sure what you mean by ‘full access’, all members can see everything on the site.

The annual fees for the forum are £30 and not an issue for me to pay myself.

There have been a lot more posts on here recently and with new members like Jen asking for advice with her new 550 maybe the future is brighter.

[voyager12]

We at the AVA forum , have it set up that you can register onto the forum with a screen name , access all posts, and reply to all posts for free. However we have a members only permission based on a users screen name. With certain member only fields shown in the board index, that are used to chat about upcoming meet's and Rally info.
Also paid members can post pics , and use private messaging . And have access to user set up profiles, and the option to receive hard copy or online data containing members more personal info . Such as If they own a bike trailer and can assist someone in need that has broken down in the local that that member has listed. or can assist with tools, logging , or parts . And it has taken some time for the admin. to set up over the years. We use the same forum software as you. Our membership is 20.00 US dollars a year. COSTS MORE THAT THAT TO FILL THE TANK NOW.....
Gene Kap. from Jersey

[Richard]

For this to work one would need a lot more active members, regretfully we don't have that. But at the same time I don't think the owner needs to pay for it all. Just let us know when it's time and I will donate a few bucks, no problem.