1933 AUSTIN 7 RP SALOON

[Ivor Hawkins]

I’ve also said it before, but I agree with Nick regarding Facebook and I would like to think that though Graeme’s box saloon may have attracted similar comment on this forum regarding value, it would have been in a much friendlier and perhaps constructive manner.

[Martin Prior]

I have to plead guilty to using Facebook a lot.

The A7 group on FB has over 3,400 members, most of whom seem to be owners, and so represents a very significant proportion of the movement. Apart from anything else, our FB business page is our principle advertising outlet and it's free.

In my experience, with very few exceptions, members of special interest groups are perfectly reasonable, civilised, normal human beings. I get a great deal from membership of the Austin Seven group, various local history groups and (dare I admit it?) the Hornby Dublo enthusiasts' group! Where else can you get your fix of British Petrol Stations or Scrapyards from the Good Old Days?

It is true that if you venture into territory populated by political or religious loonies, the experience can be considerably less pleasant, but they are easy enough to avoid.

I'm very attached to this Forum and I value the knowledge and experience of its members. It does, however, have a considerably smaller membership than The FB group and I would strongly disagree that its functionality is superior to FB's. Delightful though it is, there is something of the traditional gentleman's club about it!

[Tony Griffiths]

...I think it is a pity that so much interesting 'stuff' is put on Facebook .... it has very little rational structure and is extremely clunky to navigate....the stupid thing will not 'display all' in one go. What child tech bod thought that was clever?

Spot on. The design was by a 12-year old on acid - the layout and interaction is a disgrace and obviously intended just to maximize advertising revenue. It is one of the most annoying sites on the web.

[Ilmoro]

Yup.....That's why I use my wife's subscription

[Tony Griffiths]

I have to plead guilty to using Facebook a lot. 

The A7 group on FB has over 3,400 members, most of whom seem to be owners, and so represents a very significant proportion of the movement.  Apart from anything else, our FB business page is our principle advertising outlet and it's free. 

In my experience, with very few exceptions, members of special interest groups are perfectly reasonable, civilised, normal human beings.  I get a great deal from membership of the Austin Seven group, various local history groups and (dare I admit it?) the Hornby Dublo enthusiasts' group!  Where else can you get your fix of British Petrol Stations or Scrapyards from the Good Old Days?

It is true that if you venture into territory populated by political or religious loonies, the experience can be considerably less pleasant, but they are easy enough to avoid.

I'm very attached to this Forum and I value the knowledge and experience of its members.  It does, however, have a considerably smaller membership than The FB group and I would strongly disagree that its functionality is superior to FB's.  Delightful though it is, there is something of the traditional gentleman's club about it!

I agree absolutely; stick to what you want on FB and it's absolutely fine.

[Ray White]

I will freely admit to not knowing anything about FB but this thread was started by someone who it would seem had an unpleasant experience. Why anyone should complain to this forum about something that happened elsewhere is anyone's guess but I imagine his negative experience occurred because it was allowed to happen. Is there no moderator on FB?

[Tony Griffiths]

I will freely admit to not knowing anything about FB but this thread was started by someone who it would seem had an unpleasant experience.  Why anyone should complain to this forum about something that happened elsewhere is anyone's guess but I imagine his negative experience occurred because it was allowed to happen.  Is there no moderator on FB?

Facebook has 2.4 billion users. There are moderators, 15,000 of them, but they concentrate on political and other contentious issues, they are certainly not concerned about debates involving vintage cars, the effectiveness of different oils or the merits or otherwise of asking a particular price for an object. What it does have - and not a lot of people know this - is a "Market Place" (a house symbol) at the top of the page where, occasionally, bargains are to be found.

[Tony Press]

Martin,
You wrote:
"I'm very attached to this Forum and I value the knowledge and experience of its members. It does, however, have a considerably smaller membership than The FB group and I would strongly disagree that its functionality is superior to FB's. Delightful though it is, there is something of the traditional gentleman's club about it!"

If this means that most debates/discussions on the Forum are generally polite exchanges with people who are careful of others opinions and often a fount of knowledge and helpful information, then long live the 'traditional gentlemans club'.

While there are undoubtably knowledgable people on Facebook, there seem to be a lot of people with damn all who often post for the h*ll of it and as noted the exchanges are very hard to follow.

I handle the Club Facebook page Austin 7 Club Inc - Home | Facebook  with a link to the Club website Austin 7 Club  because unfortunately most people nowadays seem to only check Facebook for information- goodness knows why because it is often a mine of disinformation.  I only post on the Facebook paghe when there is something useful to say.

Back to our second day of partial release from 4 months of full lockdown 

[Hugh Barnes]

I think one should bear in mind that, as a new generation of owners come through, they will be people who have been brought up in the 'Facebook age'. There, Instagram and similar are places they will immediately gravitate to for sources of information. Rather than criticising the platforms, I think it more important to play an active part in them, either by correcting the complete errors posted by the ill-informed or encouraging new owners to join their local Austin 7 Club etc...

We all express concern as to where the next generation of Austin 7 owners is going to come from. It is likely, they inhabit Facebook...

my two penn'eth..

[andrew34ruby]

I have enjoyed facebook for over ten years and continue to go there several times a day. This forum is wonderful too. But somehow the Austin seven facebook sites don't much attract me. No idea why.