chinesescooterreference.com,please read

[bashan]

I'm going to get a web site together that is an information source for Chinese scooters,mainly GY6 but I didn't want to limit it to that exclusively since things seem to be slowly evolving in other directions.The domain is already registered:
chinesescooterreference.com/
You can access it but depending on your ISP it may not come up for a day or two.Right now it just says "Coming soon" but I'll add info as it's aquired.First,this is going to be non-profit,I'm not trying to make a buck here,just codify the information on the forums into an easily accessible format.Having said that,I MIGHT,depending on expenses incurred,offer banner ads at a reasonable fee,I'll have to see on that.Second,it will not be a discussion forum,there will be no direct input into the site;there will be links to info and text on it.Soon the site will have a menu across the top with a button for each catagory,they will of course be empty for a while but we'll work on one at a time.I'm thinking start with a short "Chinese scooter history",then "purchasing a scooter","PDI","maintenence","repair",etc.I'm not sure how it's going to evolve,but happen it will.

So first,I need info on Chinese scooter history.I googled,yahooed,and binged yesterday and got squat.If you could post some info in the form of text or links on this thread such as:when Chinese scooters started entering the west,how did their production evolve,the big factories,the big names that have survived,current production methods,etc;anything you think relevant I'd appreciate.Earlwb gave a short dissertation under "production dates" on Scoot Dawg about production platforms that was very informative and the kind of thing I'm looking for.Whatever,don't worry,post it,it might be useful,I'll sort it out.Of course,after something is on the site,you can always comment on one of the forums and I could amend it.This will not be a history of the Chinese empires....just a short synopsis of modern Chinese scooters,so please post away!I'm going to post this in exactly this form on other forums so you might see it elsewhere.Thanks

[Rebel]

I saw this posted on SD, I didn't respond there, my suggestion is to comb through the help areas on the forums you go to, and also go through the reference data base on both this forum and SD, you will find a lot of good info to post. Chinese scooter history, well that may be harder to get info on.

[bashan]

Got that right Rebel,it's almost eerie,like somebody doesn't want it out there.Hey,be honest with me,do you think people are uncomfortable with this?I'm not trying to make money,I just thought if we all had one resource that we could refer to it would make things a lot simpler than looking all through the web sites.If somebody asked a question on this forum about variators,you could just put up a link right to the information.I already got a bag of crap from a UK scooter forum,I was shocked.As I said,there will be no discussion,just articles,videos,and PDF's.Do you think guys would be uncomfortable with me using a video of theirs for example?Is this a bad idea?Just give me your opinion,I won't be offended.

[Rebel]

Bad idea?

No, what it is for a lot of people is a turf war. Some people want everybody to come to them to get the information they need. If you look in our reference area you will find our own data base of how to do helps, some links to other sites but mostly info generated from threads here and ones that were reconstructed with the authors permission from an SD thread. Your idea is less threatening to a forum than a reference linked to another forum so you are not trying to draw people to your site for anything but to do research and I like that. I got some grief on SD from linking to a thread here. I linked to the thread here because it is easier to find for me and I don't mind people looking around here.

For your endeavor you have my support, anything to help the scooter community. Some forums may not be so inclined like the British one you mentioned. I would suggest a link back to the original posting for most things to avoid hostility. For a back up perhaps you should host things to use if the original disappears as things some times do. For instance, I have had two former members delete their accounts and delete their posts, jrryan and big guy, this left some links to threads broken or incomplete information in the thread. Petty fighting takes its toll and you learn who is really out for self promotion.

[bashan]

Gotcha,it will be pure reference;no forum,discussion,ads,promotions,favors,etc.I know this is hard for some to understand why I'm doing this,but the wealth of information on these sites is scattered all ove the place and,at least for me,difficult to find.This sit I'm trying to get going will hopefully be an encyclopedia that all the forums can link to to send people for information.I'm not sure WHY I'm doing this to tell you the truth after the first reaction was a load of crap,but I'm going on nonetheless.I got a new post about it on this forum,please read.Thanks.

[bashan]

Oh,I forgot to say,as an encyclopedia,hopefully most of it will be "original", not linked, therefore permanent and not deletable,I guess that's a big difference from the forums,cut out the human factor,just pure info.

[Rebel]

That is beginning to sound like a big project.

you said you already have space on the net for it right? Reason I'm asking is that my scooter rebels dot com space is fairly empty I don't know if you want or need any help that way.

[bashan]

Thanks for the offer,very thoughtful!My wife owns a web design business: dwd.net/ (I always put in a plug for her when I can!) and she has plenty of space on her servers,but thanks,really.I haven't got a helluva lot of positive feedback on this whole thing,I thought it would be just the opposite.Oh well,it's gonna happen,hell or high water!Rich

[Rebel]

Seems advice has started rolling over at SD

[Rocketdog]

Feb 9, 2010 22:59:08 GMT -5 Rebel said:

Bad idea?

No, what it is for a lot of people is a turf war. Some people want everybody to come to them to get the information they need. If you look in our reference area you will find our own data base of how to do helps, some links to other sites but mostly info generated from threads here and ones that were reconstructed with the authors permission from an SD thread. Your idea is less threatening to a forum than a reference linked to another forum so you are not trying to draw people to your site for anything but to do research and I like that. I got some grief on SD from linking to a thread here. I linked to the thread here because it is easier to find for me and I don't mind people looking around here.

For your endeavor you have my support, anything to help the scooter community. Some forums may not be so inclined like the British one you mentioned. I would suggest a link back to the original posting for most things to avoid hostility. For a back up perhaps you should host things to use if the original disappears as things some times do. For instance, I have had two former members delete their accounts and delete their posts, jrryan and big guy, this left some links to threads broken or incomplete information in the thread. Petty fighting takes its toll and you learn who is really out for self promotion.

I think it's a noble endeavor Bashan. If I see anything of interest I'll send it along.

I must be missing something about this turf war stuff. Mainly the point that people are jealous of others boards and want everyone that has an interest in scooters to belong only to theirs.

But, as usual, it must have something to do with greed or pride. Probably greed.

RD

[90GTVert]

I will admit that I am guilty of pride in my site. It takes a lot of time to put together as many articles and how-tos (written by only me) as I have up so far and am still working on. When you put that much effort into something you don't want people just linking to everything you've worked so hard on in any manner that gives you no credit or makes browsing your site pointless or to see someone re-write your articles to make them sound like their own. (Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way saying that's what bashan is gonna do to anyone.) It's not necessarily about money either, I'm sure not making any. I just didn't put my site up so that no one would visit. I gave bashan permission to link to me and I will put up a link for him once he's all finished. I've got links up to SD and this forum as well. There's no reason all forums and sites can't work together in a way that is helpful to everyone involved and each site's members.

Some people like to call Doug out saying he's pandering his site over at SD. I'm sure there are probably people that think the same of me, but no one has voiced that to me yet. Do people really think that Doug or I would want to ruin SD or any other site? If some people only knew the time that Doug has into SD. He also works on the NASRA board. I help out with both of those a bit and I helped Doug out when he was building this site and still will when I can. I kind of see all of these places as a big family of sites and there's just no need to compete or try and take anything away from someone else IMO. Hopefully some of this makes some sense, I didn't get much sleep and I can't seem to wake up 100% lol.

[Rebel]

Yes, Brent has put together some excellent how to do something advice on many topics. He was a enormous help getting this forum looking like it had something to offer. It is only proper to ask a person that has created articles permission to use it.

[Rocketdog]

O GT, my comment wasn't intended to offend you in the least. If so I apologize. You have good reason to be proud of the stellar work that you put into your web site. I know for a fact that it has helped many a fellow scooter enthusiast and me as well. And I would personally like to thank you for it here and now. I am unable to do anything close to the wonderful job you have done. To the contrary, I think you are very humble about it. I should have gone into more detail with my comment.

There is nothing in the world wrong with being proud of a fine accomplishment and I really didn't mean "Pride" in that way at all. I meant more of the 15th century definition of Pride. As in Prideful. The opposite of Humility. Being so proud of yourself that it leads to arrogance and the inability to appreciate anyone elses accomplishments.

And believe me, I have no room to talk. I am not fit to judge and was not trying to be judgmental. I was just saying that when people do the wrong thing, and I think that this "turf war" stuff is the wrong thing, it usually has something to do with one of those two things. I can be as guilty of 5 out of 7 of these myself. I'm usually spared from Greed and Gluttony. Lust and Envy like to haunt me. I'm more partial to Lust.

Please forgive me GT, and anyone one else that thought I was referring directly to them

RD

[90GTVert]

No need to apologize for anything. I was just responding to everyone kind of in general about why some folks may be reluctant to let anyone link to them and things of that nature. No offense was taken. Thanks for the kind words though.

[bashan]

Feb 13, 2010 9:10:25 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

I will admit that I am guilty of pride in my site. I didn't get much sleep and I can't seem to wake up 100% lol.

You've have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about,that is one helluva site and you SHOULD be proud of it.Doug has did a fantastic job too.As a noob I guess I just didn't anticipate any hostility for what I was trying to do.Like you say,it's sure not for the money,It's just that I've been re-energized in life by a fantastic new interest,I know that sounds corny but it's true.By the way,in regards to sleep,I'm in health care and I get asked about this a lot.Doug has probably run into this also.Have you tried melatonin?It's OTC and non-habit forming,works for some.Also,diphenhydramine, AKA Benadryl (much more expensive), will help put you to sleep especially with a couple Tylenol (drops your body temperature and tricks your sleep system into kicking in),but you will build up a tolerance after a few days so I wouldn't use it too much.50mg on the Benadryl,500 or 1000mg acetaminophen.As a fellow insomniac,I can sympathize.Bashan