Our website hosting service has added a few features - I can turn them off if needed. What are your thoughts on these "Improvements"?

Myself... I don't really see a need - but maybe I'm missing the "Big Picture" of it. Social media is only growing - maybe this is a good thing? I am really interested in your thoughts. Help me see it... if you can.

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Announcing Eve Community version 1.3.7. which will be released to all servers on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011. There is no downtime expected for this release.

With this release we have a lot of refinements and some fun new features designed to help you and your members extend your forums across other forms of social media. Full release notes are listed below, but here are the highlights that we think you'll be most interested in:

"Tweet this" and "Facebook like" You will find new options in your control panel, under Forums, Master Settings, Layout Options, to enable the Tweet and Facebook buttons on the top of each topic page.



Customizable too Both buttons are customizable using code that you can create using the twitter or the Facebook button generation pages.

We have also moved "Email a Friend" from the Tools button down to the header bar to make it more obvious. The "Rate it" feature has also been updated to make it more obvious and easier to use.

Bill: I guess I'm old fashion. I like the site just as it is........................

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Bill: I guess I'm old fashion. I like the site just as it is........................

Carl

I like it the way it is also. I don't even know how to "tweet". Who has the time when I spend all my spare time here? Probably best to get an opinion from someone more farmiliar with Twitter. I think it is just a public conversation room but I have a wife that manages all of my gossip with me .

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Originally posted by Kris & Tina Jones:
I don't even know how to "tweet".

I've Tooted quite a few times - but never Tweeted.

Maybe, for our site, the "Tweets" and "Email A Friend" could be good to have in the "Barth Coaches For Sale Forum" to help with a possible sale. Just thinking out loud & trying to figure it out a little too. Thoughts???

While I never use Facebook, Linda uses it daily. As others have expressed, I am sort of old-fashioned with this stuff. Texting on a phone is a pain in the a__ to me. have enough trouble just trying to use the virtual qwerty keyboard on my iPad. Some forum sites are already too complex. Simple is good. (okay, maybe I'm simple)

I avoid Facebook like the plague, mainly because it is. Security is lax, and fundamental changes to privacy and other settings are made at the whim of adolescents.

I do the facebook thing a little, sometimes with less than favorable results, because I tend to run my mouth as much as the other people on there.
If there was any reason to make BM a "like" site, I guess it would be to increase membership for the purpose of advertizing revenue, which Bill doesn't do anyway. My vote would be to avoid Facebook simply because everyone who "likes" it would be exposing it to everyone else on their "friends" list, bringing a ton of new potential members, many of whom we might not exactly welcome. We've had problems with the limited way this site has been run, and I think opening it up to the unregulated masses who do the social media thing can have no benificial results. Anyone with a Barth, or even thinking about it or looking at one, can find us very easily with a simple Google. Do we want or need the dramatic exposure of Facebook and the other network sites? It's up to Bill, but I say no.

It could ruin this site. Currently, we are blissfully anonymous and too small to be a target. The more exposure to the world of social mediadvertisement the more likely people here will be targeted.

As an example, I put an ad on Craiglist yesterday and when I got home I had three emails from Craigslist Security saying my ad had been flagged. My ad had not been flagged, these were all spoof sites digging for my passwords!! I would love to line those scumbags up and remove their DNA from expansion into future generations.

My vote - obviously - leave the site an oasis like it is.

Never Tweeted, use Facebook rarely, so maybe I am not the best judge... but I kind of like it the way it is.

If we get over exposed by these communities we may get undesirables - like Air Streamers or something.

I vote to keep the site just as it is. I always check in here first because I know friends are here.

I don't see any issue with it. But then again, I am of a different generation that the majority of the members on this website. I frequently use both Facebook and Tweeter.

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Originally posted by Rusty:
I avoid Facebook like the plague, mainly because it is. Security is lax, and fundamental changes to privacy and other settings are made at the whim of adolescents.

While I understand your hesitation, you must remember that one is in control of their Facebook in that it is their own decision to what information one decides to include. If you don't what someone to know your location, don't post it. If you don't want someone to know what your house looks like, don't post pictures of it. I do agree however, that Facebook does change their privacy settings quite frequently.

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Originally posted by Danny Z:
If there was any reason to make BM a "like" site, I guess it would be to increase membership for the purpose of advertizing revenue, which Bill doesn't do anyway. My vote would be to avoid Facebook simply because everyone who "likes" it would be exposing it to everyone else on their "friends" list, bringing a ton of new potential members, many of whom we might not exactly welcome. We've had problems with the limited way this site has been run, and I think opening it up to the unregulated masses who do the social media thing can have no benificial results. Anyone with a Barth, or even thinking about it or looking at one, can find us very easily with a simple Google. Do we want or need the dramatic exposure of Facebook and the other network sites? It's up to Bill, but I say no.

Realistically, I don't think people are going to be jumping at the bit to "Like" Barthmobile. Don't get me wrong, we have a great thing going here, but it's not like I'm going out and "Liking" Coleman Pop-Up Trailers and Bluebird Motorhomes. Furthermore, I don't see how the harmless actions of "Liking" Barthmobile could ever be of any harm. If anything, I believe it will just make it easier for members to connect and pass share links they find interesting.

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Originally posted by Moonbeam-Express:
It could ruin this site. Currently, we are blissfully anonymous and too small to be a target. The more exposure to the world of social mediadvertisement the more likely people here will be targeted.

As an example, I put an ad on Craiglist yesterday and when I got home I had three emails from Craigslist Security saying my ad had been flagged. My ad had not been flagged, these were all spoof sites digging for my passwords!! I would love to line those scumbags up and remove their DNA from expansion into future generations.

My vote - obviously - leave the site an oasis like it is.

What/who would be become a target to? People trying to steal out motorhome? Identity theft?

I understand your frustrations with Craigslist, I hate using Craigslist for that same very reason. However, I don't think you can assume Barthmobile will have the same issues Craigslist has if the occasional person "Likes" a link here, or "Tweets" a link there. Facebook and Twitter compared to Craigslist are two very different sites.

In reality, the only privacy anyone has on the Internet is through the discretion one uses when choosing what information to share. It's not websites like Facebook that open you up to become a victim, it's posting information on the internet that you shouldn’t be. Furthermore, just because an online community might seem small and safe, that doesn’t mean it is. There are countless web spiders constantly crawling through the net essentially recording anything and everything out there. So even though Barthmobile might not seem like a mainstream website at the moment, don’t think you’re safe from becoming a victim if you’re posting information that can be used to victimize you. That is why I don’t post my telephone number on forums, that why I also only share email addresses that I consider “junk addresses”.

Like I said, I’m of a different generation where I’m very comfortable with Facebook and Twitter, and I can understand many of your hesitations and certain concerns that you think might come from being associated with it. But, I see this in same as many of you might have looked at the Internet when it began becoming popular. There was that same fear that it would destroy many small tight-knit groups by allowing anyone to join. But it reality, I believe the internet has just made it that much easier for people to connect and share in a common pleasure, which for us is Barth motorhomes and travel trailers.

Those social media networks are great for websites who want to increase traffic. I just did a search using Bing for "Barth motorhome". Guess what the first result on the list was? Barthmobile.

Anyone wanting to find out more about a Barth will have no problems finding BM. Those who do search are the exact ones you want to target.

For anyone who doesn't know, there is a Barth fan club on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=82574233455

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Realistically, I don't think people are going to be jumping at the bit to "Like" Barthmobile. Don't get me wrong, we have a great thing going here, but it's not like I'm going out and "Liking" Coleman Pop-Up Trailers and Bluebird Motorhomes. Furthermore, I don't see how the harmless actions of "Liking" Barthmobile could ever be of any harm.

I know there are many here who are both internet savvy and not. This is not necessarily a generational issue. You are right that everything on the net is public information, but to link up this site to a conduit that can allow easy exploitation of its members is where I draw the line in my flexibility.

Anyone that currently seeks out BM must go through certain levels of scrutiny and are subject to censure if out of control. Can the moderator(s) control exposure when hooked up to a social media conduit?

Additionally, BM is easily found by anyone seeking out this type of site. You hit the nail on the head Curtis, "Who will friend BM?" - I'll tell you....a whole lot of Nigerians.

You may have ready answers for how that can't happen and how people can protect themselves, but recognize a) you're not at the controls and b) every day someone wakes up in Africa trying to figure out a way to steal your money!! It's nothing to do with generations unless your generation doesn't mind getting scammed.

Let me start by saying I am not a technophobe. I am a bit of a geek and tweaker.. No not tweeter! My wife is on face book but you couldn't pay me to go there. I am not a texter. Call me. I have joined skype because you can see who and what you are talking too. I can see many possibilities for things like I have this piece and when you do this it does that , why? Sometimes being out there and to easy to find brings out the whack jobs. Sorry I worked a bit to find you guys and appreciate all of you. Thanks

We are out of there - bye, bye FB... So long tweets.

The masses have spoken. Kind of what I thought anyway.

Email a friend is something I've used and have been happy with it so it'll stay --- at least for now.