Ariel.Club Forum

PaulAmstutz wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2023 12:14 pm Atom 4 on order in US. Please add me.

Pm me your name and phonenr please

Please add my receive my first Atom (4) next week
Please add me would like to get involved 07850161520

Atom 4 on order in US. Please add me.

I don’t have the background on the origins of content, so can’t really comment further. More than happy to move the content in question out from the member’s area if it proves to be clear that the original intent was for it to be accessible to all.

Please drop us a line @ techy@ariel.club and I’ll take a look.

With regard to continuing with the use of a membership fee and providing some benefits to paying members beyond those available to non-paying ‘associates’ - the club doesn’t see this changing, but of course, is always excited to hear ideas about how we can add more to the mix.

In 2024 we are looking to run more discounted trackdays, road events, group buys, supplier discounts, tech tips, exclusive merch, plus maintaining the forums, WhatsApps, website and other channels.

It’s not a business, it’s run by a few members for the benefit of other members. We’d love to have more active volunteers willing to donate their time to the club, especially outside of the UK and are always keen to hear from members regarding ways to improve.


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A forum is there to have people chat and investigate their subject (atom in this case). Lots of owners here, but where the paywall fails is that it actually pushes new buyers away as they cant see which problems these cars might have.

It is such a niche, so finding a bunch of real world ownership experiences is hard. A forum solves this and by far and away not every potential buyer wants to subscribe to the non paid part to ask around. So they only see the free part and also see the technical stuff being hidden….

I have made some BAC video’s some years ago, and still I get asked about my experiences because there isnt a forum to investigate the cons.

Also, truly, some technical stuff hidden as a pro for the club, thats just such low value. The discount at demon or the factory, nice trips and meets, thats what a club is for I would say.

Closing the forum partly is killing the forum, the whole idea of a forum is that its open info for the world to see.

Again, putting a technical bulletin I wrote as a non member behind a paywall…isnt that just stealing instead of offering added value

It’s a debate that is as old as the hills - free content and bigger reach vs paid content and niche appeal.

I suspect that, as Ariel ownership is already pretty niche, a free model would not attract enough people who would opt in to pay and ‘support’ the club, but would attract some new folk that would consume the content and find value in it.

The issue is that once the content is let loose into the wild, it can’t be walled in again. If the experiment fails, the club has no where to go and the servers get turned off when we can no longer pay the bills. Yes we could find free hosting, but free always comes at a price.

Speaking personally, I get more than £30 of value because I enjoy the social meets, track stuff and discounts. Plus I like supporting the club with my own time and money.

I would pay the fee even if the content were free. But I suspect I’m in a niche within a niche.


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Jerry wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 9:28 am I came by - because of the email ROBOT. Not posted here in a while and I miss my Nomad.

However, please do not delete the Forum. It is and was a fantastic archive of information, regardless of whether you have a Club subscription or not.

Thats the point I and others have tried to make, the archive of information is genuinely useful but it shouldn't be hidden from view behind a paywall, open all the forums to anyone regardless of membership ..

I came by - because of the email ROBOT. Not posted here in a while and I miss my Nomad.

However, please do not delete the Forum. It is and was a fantastic archive of information, regardless of whether you have a Club subscription or not.

John Scherrer wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2023 6:43 am Well that just goes to confirm what an odd bunch of people we are that buy Ariel’s ..

Thanks for the feedback ..

I pay the club membership each year, yes the car is expensive, but I'd argue that its good value for money .. however £30 for the forum members access, is that good value for money ? not at all ..

However I pay it in the hope that you figure it out and breathe some life back into the forum.

The paywall is the wrong idea, no one is paying the Ariel Club fee for access to the special club forum area, they do it because they want to support the club, not the forum ..

Open the forum to all, make the information available, in fact I could do that now, just copy the information from the members forum to an open forum ...

Agree with that John. People spend many thousands on the car but the pittance for club membership is baulked at? If you look at 90% of car clubs websites, stuff like events and other info is for members only behind a paywall. It's not unreasonable.

Having said that, for me its been a great club for a number of years, and run by dedicated volunteers as a thankless job, but IMHO I think the club should raise the membership offering somehow, so more feel happy to pay the small subscription. That could be more events (difficult to schedule as so weather related), discounts, some clarity of online information and chat (this discussion) etc etc
Also agree with Speedmachine, some recognition of overseas members? Perhaps a discounted membership?

Well that just goes to confirm what an odd bunch of people we are that buy Ariel’s ..

It’s a pretty serious financial commitment, yet we can’t find a small amount of money to become a club member and support the club !?

Yes, I hear all the comments about it only being of use to UK members etc etc ..

We even have club members suggesting that technical information researched and written by the membership and offering some membership benefits should be free access to any forum readers !

anx10us wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 8:29 pm Lets not even mention keeping important information behind the membership paywall ..

Hmm, you mean like howto’s I wrote and cant access as I’m not a member.

These are the things that kill a forum real fast…especially if the target group is very international and the club is very uk…

Lets not even mention keeping important information behind the membership paywall ..

I'm not at all surprised the forum died, let's be honest, it seems to have many "personalities" and quirks. Whatsapp feels more personal and more connected with real people rather than aliases and as such people open up and talk more in this safe type of environment. The forum is sadly not this, just look back at the history.