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Why an r-pod Owners Forum? |
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rpodadmin 
Admin Group - pHp 
Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Location: Midwest Online Status: Offline Posts: 293 |
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 Topic: Why an r-pod Owners Forum?Posted: 16 Nov 2009 at 3:43pm |
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Early in 2009 I had an idea to start an owners forum for owners of the new Forest River r-pod travel trailer. At the time I was working with an RV dealer. My idea was to build a place where r-pod owners could share their experiences, r-pod mods, and other cool stuff about the r-pod as they camped. One goal I had was to keep the forum from being ruined by vendors and others trying to impersonate or push their product/dealership on the owners and prospective owners. I created the web site and for 9 months let it grow on its own. Soon the r-pod took off and more and more members joined...
When I left the dealer I decided to create a new forum for owners, ran and managed by owners. www.rpod-owners.com was born. Rest assured that your registration information will never be used to market to or sold off to a marketing venture. That is not the goal here - only to provide a nice forum for everyone to share your love of the r-pod and camping...
I hope you enjoy it...
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rpodadmin
Admin Group - pHp
Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Location: Midwest Online Status: Offline Posts: 293 |
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Posted: 19 Nov 2009 at 11:34am |
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Hey Gang...
techntrek and TerryM have pretty much taken over running the forum. Google has picked up the site and it will soon be on Google. As the forum grows and more content is added it will show up more and more. Do me a favor and refrain from taking any content from the other forum and contacting their membership ... they will discover us in due time ... the r-pod community is growing every day, there is plenty of room for 2 forums online.
Thanks for giving this forum a try... if there is anything you need please contact the moderators and
let them know!
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062 |
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Posted: 23 Nov 2009 at 7:24am |
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rpodAdmin has asked me to pass this information along. The following is a direct quote, I was going to re-word it but decided that the original words were best.
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Here are the facts:
1. rpodnation was created by me in Jan of 2009 while I was working for rv nation
2. we had a verbal agreement that it would run best as a neutral forum that I would pay for, host and moderate as needed. My belief was that if we took care of our customers, they would speak highly of us on rpodnation. It is a big country - I felt that if we/I could increase exposure for the r-pod product that all dealers would benefit as well as Forest River - win/win for everyone.
3. FR knew that I ran it and was employed by RV nation, they send me stuff/info to post - fabrics, etc when they had it.
4. I let it run itself, i made zero money from it and had little interaction. There were some posts that I removed - some that I thought were overly negative/critical of one dealer out west in particular.
5. When I voluntarily left RVN - I was treated well while there - I was asked to keep it going and we were going to work out a payment for my time and hosting it.
6. While I was considering the options rv nation had their lawyer send me a letter insisting I turn the domain and site over to them to run/own.
7. I had no problem turning ownership of the domain over to them which I did last week. The outage the site had was due to the turnover - their DNS settings were not implemented fully and until that was done it was off the air. I helped their IT guy get it back on line, sending multiple emails and phone convo's until they made the proper settings.
8. I am not a disgruntled employee, I left for a better position with better pay and benefits. My only reason for starting the new forum was as an alternative. I simply see it as a conflict of interest for a dealer to host the site - unless they make a full disclosure up front. I was the buffer for the site orginally and perhaps their staff will do the same going forward. I hope they do.
The software used for this forum (webWiz)does permit the administrator full access to every members email address/profile and any information they have entered. All posts and PM's sit in a database - without encryption - it is very easy to read all private messages and alter posts -again something I think should be disclosed to the members up front when they register. I have never accessed any PM's in the past and I trust the new moderators of this forum to do that same. Once a forum loses it's integrity it is doomed - that's why an owners forum for owners ran by owners makes the most sense to me.
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Tusten Traveler
Senior Member 
Joined: 22 Jul 2009 Location: Catskills NY Online Status: Offline Posts: 235 |
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Posted: 23 Nov 2009 at 12:41pm |
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techntreck-
Thank you for this. It is everything I guessed at when Doug first sent me an email after the crash, but this definitely fills in the pieces. I am glad he left for a better position (I wish that even for my employees who leave, believe it or not). I ask only for truth and disclosure of any potentential conflict of interests- in my business (healthcare) that is required by law and failure to do so can lead to serious penalties attached. Even though that doesn't apply to the wild, wild web...it is still how I prefer to deal with people and organizations. I appreciate that it has been presented here to us (especially that PMs can be read) and am saddened that has still not been done at the other place. Maybe that will come when the hand has been forced by members. I hope so.
Thanks again,
Linda
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John and Linda
One 14 lb Cockapoo 2010 RPod 174 |
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sylviablue
Senior Member
Joined: 07 Jan 2010 Location: Costa Rica Online Status: Offline Posts: 152 |
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Posted: 08 Jan 2010 at 9:20am |
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Well here I am and glad to be here. Thank you techntrek.
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four peas
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yizit
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Location: Wis. Dells, WI Online Status: Offline Posts: 663 |
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Posted: 09 Jan 2010 at 12:18am |
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I like the fact that this is an OWNER run forum and not company run. I was disappointed the other forum website was taken over by a dealership. Good idea and thanks for starting this one.
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Former owner of 2009 172 Darlene & Jim, Ewok our Lhasa Roada our 2004 Roadtrek C190Popular |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp
Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062 |
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Posted: 15 Jan 2010 at 11:49pm |
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Well, the admins on the other forum have claimed time and again that they haven't deleted posts, or threads. Now there is a nice post at the top of every sub-forum stating that they have, and will. And this is exactly why this forum was started. For the record, while the admins there denied deleting the mpg thread (r-pod knock off), they did in fact "delete" it from the Misc. forum. Turns out they just hid it because when everyone started raising Cain over its disappearance, suddenly it reappeared a few hours later in the Maintenance forum. And claimed that's where it was all along (believe me it wasn't, and there are several people that can back me up on that). If they are telling the truth, answer me this - why does it belong in Maintenance? Its clearly a Misc./off-topic thread, and that's where it started. Other posts have been deleted. Not just ones that we've made, other users there have had it happen. And now they've made it public that it won't stop. Some members there have believed them for the last 2 months, and have been very vocal when we told them they were wrong. Hopefully some day they will see we were on their side, and still are. Everyone is welcome here. And we won't delete your posts. |
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Butterfly_Lee
Senior Member
Joined: 19 Nov 2009 Location: Corpus Christi Online Status: Offline Posts: 131 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 2010 at 12:29pm |
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Techntrek: FYI i click on every link and none of them took me to a dealer, only here R-pod owners. Anyway SO WHAT if it's supported by a dealer (nothing is really free). The manufacturer doesn't even have a CONTACT US link to ask/answer questions. At least we have a place form information and help and some REALLY INTERESTING and FUN people to communicate with
 .Maybe we should be like lightweight camper forum and get donations or small fee, to include enough to stipend Admin. Lee@ |
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Guests
Guest Group 
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Posted: 17 Jan 2010 at 6:06pm |
1. A Rpod only forum and nothing else (narrow subject)
2. A forum for owners of Rpods and enthusiasts (wider subject)
3. A forum for Rpod owners, enthusiast or any RVer/camper (even wider subject)
I'm just an average run of the mill member and can not speak for the officials of this forum. But, it seems to me, that this one falls into either #2 or #3. That's OK. The wider the permissable topics, the more opportunity there is to post and interact with the other members. IMHO it's the people that matter. Also, IMHO, if we begin to feel more strongly for the trailer than we do for the human beings that use them, that should indicate to ourselves the need to check the condition of our hearts and souls.
The owner and users of this forum seem to be tolerant of and enjoy a broad range of subjects. Everyone here seems to get along with and show respect for each other and I am fine with that - I wouldn't change it.
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Tusten Traveler
Senior Member
Joined: 22 Jul 2009 Location: Catskills NY Online Status: Offline Posts: 235 |
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Posted: 18 Jan 2010 at 11:09am |
Very well said David.
 I also appreciate the huge amount of Rpod and RV experience and expertise that the mods of this forum come with and the fact that all posts will be respected- even if it means singing the praises of a variety of dealers. I have plenty of "real" friends and family. I come to forums seeking ideas and answers to questions. Period.
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John and Linda
One 14 lb Cockapoo 2010 RPod 174 |
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