An idea...

[Bibs]

I've recently been asked a couple of times why we don't have an Elise/Exige forum and indeed there's a strong chance we'll be setting up a small 340r forum soon.

Is this a good idea, should TLF expand into the Elige world?

[Paul C]

To be called 'the lotus forums' you really have to have the largest demographic of lotus owners:

ie: Little lotus Owners

However, Seloc pretty much has this covered and is massive. Their 200 tent, 5 bouncy castle

outside caterer BBQ attendance at Snetterton was pretty impressive and a lot ot live up to...

[Advantage]

You'll have to practice your swearing and general online abuse.

I'm in.

[Robert Crooks]

My guess is there are quite a few Elige owners that aren't catered for by SELOC. It certainly wasn't a place I chose to hang out when an Elise owner. For me it was just somewhere I went for information. It would be great if you could create an Elise Forum that maintained the values of these Forums.

[Guest Mutley00]

I agree with my Esprits previous 2 owners! The quality of info is top drawer on SELOC but some of the general chat leaves alot to be desired. I'm in M(idlands) LOC which is very much in line with LEF for the tone of its contributions. What seems to happen alot on MLOC is if people have a problem, they get referred to a post on SELOC.

I think its good for LEF to have a section where we can chat about the 'little brothers' but I'm not sure what it would achieve having a full blown forum.

[Kimbers]

Little Lotus is the way to go! You know it dude!!

(I have a bad back today from too much little Lotus, but it was great fun!!)

[Bibs]

Any more thoughts about this guys?

[mangel]

Think it would float but from what I've seen on the Elise forums there is a lot more bitching, slagging off and general disquiet as opposed to here where that does not appear to be such a big issue!!

Do you really want to give yourself any additional work policing a web group like that Bibs is probably more the question you should be asking? I would hate for one disuptive element to spill from one forum to the others!!

Just my opinion.

[rocket63]

Well. nothing ventured, nothing gained Bibsy

[andydclements]

I would hate for one disuptive element to spill from one forum to the others!!

But we already have some of those Elise & Exige owners on here, we can handle them.

Would an act to deliberately accept Elise & Exige owners make us a Metrolotual society?

Edited September 30, 2009 by andydclements

[Kimbers]

It would be fine as long as we moderate it along the same lines as here Bibs. Any disruptive elements get kicked. We could become a haven for those Little Lotus owners who find SELOC too much to bear so I think we would get a good crowd of like minded people.

It would definately be a slow starter, as with the other "Lotus Forums" you have filled a Niche. However there is a very real need for a forum dedicated to the Elise & Exige which is free of kids like PH is and free from disruptive and back stabbing elements like SELOC can be. With some promotion at our normal events (Donny etc) I think it will grow and grow.

We should also think about the non UK based members who want to be in contact with owners throughout the world as well. SELOC is quite UK based, as Talk is US based.

Bring it on!

[philippe]

I think it's graet to call it light lotus sportscars forum. instead of little Lotus.

I wonder to own one some days.

Or even Light Lotus owners.

Light is right isn't it???

Little lLotus is more like gadget or toycars, I don't think an Exige cup is a little car with such performances!!!

[Tony K]

My guess is there are quite a few Elige owners that aren't catered for by SELOC. It certainly wasn't a place I chose to hang out when an Elise owner. For me it was just somewhere I went for information. It would be great if you could create an Elise Forum that maintained the values of these Forums.

I support your guess. The Ferrari world is like this, too; to make an analogy, FerrariChat is the SELOC of F-car land, and FerrariLife is the LEF. There is a forum called LotusTalk that used to be EliseTalk which is predominantly Eliges, but it is starting to head the direction of FerrariChat in terms of character and the kind of talk that is posted there.

But if you're going to start an Elise/Exige forum, perhaps a "Classic Lotus" forum for the Lotus cars of yesteryear is in order, too, so as to provide an online "home" for all? Ultimately, many Lotus owners own more than one, often different models. They might never be large forums due to the demographics of the owners of the older cars, the scarcity of the 4-seat 9XX engined cars and the already tight knit Elan community, but who knows? Or, perhaps a link to and mutual supporting between LEF and other established high quality forums for the various older cars (M100, Europa, Elite/Eclat/Excel, etc.)?

Just a few suggestions!

[Bibs]

I've thought that too, perhaps cutting off at cars which stopped being made 25 or more years ago?

[Jonathan]

As long as it doesn't adversly affect LEF I dont see a problem - you're more than capable of running something like that.

Depends what your aim / goal is really.

[Paul C]

Why not discuss it with that Burt guy from Seloc? ( [email protected] ), he's very well thought of by their group and does a lot of their organisation and Events, we spoke to him at snetterton and he seemed like a nice guy.

If Any Esprit owners are not Seloc members and don't know what the attitude/problem referred to within Seloc actually is, take again these sample quotes from a recent 'Crashed Evora' thread:

"When has fact got in the way of B***S**T on Seloc"

"the total c**p written by an small number off people"

"What a complete [Censored] you are"

"Now how about going and [Censored] ing yourself?"

"what a cock you are"

"you sir are a fist class cock"

"What a complete cock you are"

"I think the admins need to step in more often and kill threads that are getting out of hand"

"...Threads just like this one"

"The beauty of a forum is you can ignore the bad threads"

"there are moderators for when it gets a little out of hand"

"are you offended on behalf of the homosexuals?"

"I thought Lotus drivers were meant to be driving enthusiasts"

"why let the facts get in the way of an Evora dig?"

"I'm ready to have it out with any poof that disagrees"

"dick swinging and bullshit"

It's the reason i don't go there, and i'm 100% sure Robert is right that there will be Elige/Exise owners that would welcome a cleaner and more moderated forum to use, we would need to be prepared that there will be folk used to behaving like that for years, joining up for more of the same. There are 13,000 Seloc members, however many of those accounts (due to the fast Elise ownership turnaround) may well be dead. Either way we can expect to import (and need to moderate!) a very established attitude.

In an ideal world, the above folk would stay in their forum happy as pigs in poo, and we would just pick up those deliberately outside of it.

[arbell9]

Bibs,

I would go ahead and create them. At the end of the day you are providing choice for the elise and exige owner. People often stick with one type of thing because there isnt a better alternative. Using the same rules and philosphy on here i expect word would get around on seloc that there is a decent discussion forum available for them. I dont recall people worrying about the Lotus Buzz when it was setup as competition is healthy, it makes providers work harder to provide the better service and product.

I think the point about the TLF brand being global is a strong driver for setting it up in my opinion. We are happy as a worldwide esprit family. Good talk, chat banter and techy help. Maybe thats what the compact light lotus family needs, something exactly the same for them.

Go for it and give it a go, your other forums are a succes so why not keep it going.

Alex.

[rens914]

bibs

i really should keep quit on this part owning a tuscan nowdays but still have the feeling that i'm part of a special group.

and i have seen yust this evolving on a dutch forum

i know that not everything will be the same and it's the moderator that has a big say in this but it started with some elise and exige's. now owning an esprit is like coming out of the zoo or museum.

it's only elise and exige

trackdays are held on little testing circuit's only suited for "those little mice".

so

sure a lotus forum should have all the models (but that includes europa, eclat, etc ) ????????

it won't be the esprit forum anymore

so : let's also have a poll for a new name

rens

[mangel]

Just anither small one bibs, praps you should think about an F1 discussion Forum for the new Lotus F1 team!!

[Bibs]

Good idea Mangel, we've 'Evora Motorsport' on the Evora forum.

Rens, each site is separate, you know there's a 2Eleven and Evora forum, right? 111 and Classic would be separate sites but with a single log in.

[philippe]

Great idea a Lotus F1 forum!

I'll be delighted to be a member.

[martynv]

There's a few Elise sites that are now completely dormant like elisenet.com, but still contain really useful information. I wonder if and when you create the new site you might be able to incorporate some of this information before the current owners get fed up with the hosting costs and the whole site is lost forever , I'm sure anyone having to pay for a dormant site would be glad to off load their site to someone else.

Apart from that I agree SELOC has a huge amount of technical info on virtualy every fault and strange noise on the Elise and Exige, but I do find you have to take some of the replies with a pinch of salt .

Martyn

[USAndretti42]

I think the classic forum is a great idea. Cutting it off at cars 25 years old or less excludes all the old Elans, +2's and most Europas which would be a shame. This is such an active forum and when you go on others they are often a bit quiet with questions going unanswered for months. If we could get a forum for classic Lotus that's as active as this one, I'm usre that would be a big benefit to the owners of those cars.

An Elise/Exige forum could be good as an alternative to SELOC and Lotustalk for the reasons already stated so it's worth a try, especially with the number of Esprit owners switching to the smaller cars.

[andydclements]

Cutting off at 25 years also exludes early Esprits, S1 & S2

[molemot]

Wouldn't want you to set it all up only for a wheel to come off......

Hat, coat, door......!