dreaming of a DVC community board

[ohioMickey]

I have noticed recently that quite a few posts have been moved to other forums because they do not pertain to the "nuts and bolts" of DVC. I can understand this since the description of this forum reads as follows:

Join our ever growing list of DVC members as they share information and tips on the Disney Vacation Club timeshare.

But sometimes posts are made with opinions, questions, and comments that do not pertain to DVC "nuts and bolts," yet the poster is asking specifically for the opinions of DVCers and not the DIS board community at large. DVCers are a unique bunch and sometimes you want to compare notes on some things that do not involve point-mania.

For example, I was recently curious as to how many DVCers home school. DVC provides perfect opportunity to go to Disney often and during low season when public school is in session and i wanted to know if many DVC folks do this. I even asked in the body of the post "please don't move this".....WHAM! moved to the Family board.

Someone else had questions about public parking and their post was moved to the transportation board. They reposted saying that they were specifically interested in DVCers opinions on the matter and the repost was also moved to the transportation board.

Now I DO NOT blame the moderators for this. Most of the moved posts are moved appropriately and the poster gets their question answered more thoroughly and accurately because it was moved. And it is GREAT how these new boards let you follow the moved post right from the DVC board.

But sometimes you want to just converse with DVCers about an issue and you don't want the topic opened up to the DIS community at large. Since this board is about the actual workings of the club, these posts really dont belong here. In fact, they have no home.

My solution? Wouldn't it be great to have a DVC community board? A new board that would allow DVCers to converse with one another about any topic that they want to. Politics, the weather, families, jobs, whatever. Kind of like a community hall for DVCers only. Gee, we just joined DVC and i want to be exclusive already

Oh, and Pete, if you are reading this....I volunteer to be a moderator for it

One last thing...PLEASE DON'T MOVE THIS POST TO THE DEBATE BOARD!!!!!!

 

[Richyams]

I homeschool my soon to be twelve year old.

 

[Crissup]

Uhhh... This post would be better suited for the debate board... LOL!!!

 

[lodgelady]

Do you think the rest of the DIS community would miss us ?

 

[Jhalkias]

ohiomickey,

I think this would be a great idea, especially since I only regularly visit two boards, this one and the cruise line discussion. I too look for the opinions of DVC'ers in a different light than others, and since I am a fairly new DVC member, would find this invaluable.
Don't home school though, I am a member of our local Board of Education. Even before joining DVC or being a BOE member, I never hesitated to once a year take my son out of school for 4 or 5 days for a Disney off-peak vacation. As long as you are a responsible parent, get homework assignments, and get your child to do the work, I have not had a problem with this (my son also does well in school).
From another "Buckeye" DVC'er!

 

[ripleysmom]

I think Mike to start a DVC Community Board would, quite frankly, create a "cliquish" environment.

What would stop each section from then having it's own CB? Then what?

It kinda surprises me that there are people who post here pretty frequently but never go to the CB. If they had they would have known that there was an LI DIS meet yesterday.

For myself I usually go to DVC, CB, Debate and Transportation with a periodic peek at what the rest of the world is doing.

I have met some very nice people on the CB. I consider these people to be my friends but I probably would not have met them if there had been a DVC CB.

 

[ILuvDVC]

I like the idea of a DVC Community board. I hate to think of us as Cliquish....but....I guess, if the shoe fits, I'll have to wear it. There are many Disney Boards around....but, I'm just more interested in the post by DVC Members. I also enjoy the trip reports from a DVC Member, over non-members. I just do. I guess, because I'm a DVC Member, and I like to see how other DVC Members view things and I like listening to DVC Members trips reports, because, I guess, I relate more to them. Dang.... I guess I've become a DVC Snob! But....my on-line time can be limited....so, I want to read post from DVC Members....or people interested in joining DVC. Guess I just like talking anything DVC.

Man, if I'm not careful, I could really dig myself into a big old hole!

 

[bicker]

If you want to look at it that way, the Community Board is clicquish, since it is only made up of DIS members. The purpose of such boards, IMHO, is to provide folks who already have a sense of community due to commonality in interests, a place to chat with each other. There is no question that DVC members already have such a community, so having a board for those discussions, thereby making it a bit easier to find the "nuts-and-bolts" messages on this board, makes a lot of sense.

 

[RobDoc]

I would suggest that you write to Webmaster Pete about your suggestion, as he has sole responsibility in decisions like this.

Please keep in mind that the purpose of the website in general is Disney information. The site started with basically just a trip planning board and has grown since then.

If you can convince Pete that a DVC Community Board will attract more visitors to the site, then I'm sure he would consider it. The goal he has for the site, however, is to get people visiting the already rich community contributions available here and to make use of the resources already in place.

We recently removed several boards (Seniors was one) due to lack of utilization. While homeschooling by DVC members may of interest to a few, the Community Board already exists for such discussions. Narrowing the response field may not be in the best interest of the site itself.

There are other internet resources (DVCTalk is one) where your discussion on homeschooling could already take place.

Please feel free to let Pete know about your suggestion. Good Luck!

 

[bicker]

I see your point. As long as the "community"-type message are kept out of this board I don't see it having a negative impact on the web site overall (but conversely, if this board becomes littered with messages that aren't strictly DVC-related, I can see myself drifting away from reading the board.) As long as folks are content to move those discussions over to the general Community Board, that sounds like a good approach to me.

 

[RobDoc]

There is sometimes a fine distinction between keeping a thread here or sending it on to a more appropriate board and admittedly, there are times when we've allowed some non-DVC threads remain.

It's easy to move the threads asking about weather at WDW in Aug, or crowds at Epcot in Sep, while a thread asking about weather at HH or crowds at VB at Easter are entirely relevant here.

While there is certainly enough general WDW experience available here on the DVC Board to answer most questions, the fact remains that the other boards are the place for those questions and the directive for us as moderators is to keep the topics on this board to DVC. Sometimes we may fall short of that with some judgement calls, but usually are appropriately moving errant threads to their proper board.

Thanks!

 

[ohioMickey]

I do think the moderators do a great job on this board with making sure threads pertain to issues regarding DVC. And as DVC continues to grow and add more members, I think this site is going to become even busier with questions and advice about the program.

At the same time, as DVC continues to grow, I think its members are going to be looking for a place to be a community online as well as off-line. And being a community means more than just asking questions about technical issues.

Before joining DVC, i used to hang out at the resort and theme parks boards. Since joining DVC, I hardly go there anymore. I just have a natural interest to want to chat with other DVC owners. It's not that I want to be exclusive, but it makes sense to want to socialize with like-minded people who share a specific interest. Kind of like the mini-meets that go on from time to time at the World. Those are not DIS meets, they are DIS DVC meets. And there is a reason for that.

I think at some point a DVC community board is going to be viable and sought after. Unfortunately, it sounds like such a board is not going to fit in with the current DIS mission. I haven't e-mailed Pete with the idea yet. I don't think I have been here long enough to stir the waters. But the idea is brewing.

We'll see what happens.

 

[ILuvDVC]

Mike,

Maybe the DVC Message board will be kind of like a DVC Community board? I have no idea when they are going to have it up and running, but once they have board working, I plan on checking it out

 

[ohioMickey]

As i understand it, the official DVC board has been scrapped. If you go to the DVC Member site, you will find that all references to it have been removed. As if the idea never even existed.

I suspect Disney is afraid of what negative comments might be said on it. There is also liability involved. For example, let's say someone posts a problem on the board (like a safety problem in particular room)....and then someone else is injured because of the problem. The fact that the problem was posted on an official Disney board and not addressed by Disney leaves open the door for liabilty claims. So I bet the lawyers nixed the idea.

 

[Wes]

I would like to see the DVC FAQ include a lot more than it does now. Right now, <a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/dvc/faq.shtml">the DVC FAQ</a> is mostly dealing with issues that prosective owners have, so that they can make an informed decision about buying.

But what about for those of us who have already become owners and are sharing the many practical tips about using our ownership -- when we come home? There are threads that get repeated over and over again on this board that should be captured in a FAQ -- things like ordering food, finding the nearest grocery, for one example among many that have shown up here so often.

The <a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/sites/teri4/DISindex.html">disAbilities FAQ</a> that teri is putting together is a wonderful model for the FAQ that we have long-needed on the DVC board.

 

[ohioMickey]

Wes,

Sounds like a great idea to me!!!

 

[Pat Marlton NJ]

I think having a DVC board only for DVC members would be a great idea, even if it makes us seem a little bit cliquish! It would be nice to hear from only DVC members on DVC issues.

 

[RobDoc]

I would like to see the DVC FAQ include a lot more than it does now.

The DVC FAQ was intended to provide background information about DVC in general. We hoped it would answer basic questions about what DVC "is".

This Board itself is intended to be a living "FAQ", where we can ask and discuss issues relevant to DVC membership. Information about many of the recurring topics may be found with a simple search, but often a repeat question invites new replies and new information which a FAQ can't offer. The FAQ is not really designed to provide an answer to every possible question, just as a starting point for topics on this Board.

Enjoy!

 

[ohioMickey]

As usual, Doc makes sense. I really hadn't thought about it like that before. I guess if you had a more inclusive FAQ, there wouldn't be as big of a need to post here. And posts here are GREAT because even though the questions have been asked before, each time you get a different flavored answer.

I have searched for many topics on the DVC board and it is unusual that any single thread contains all the info i want. But when you take all the threads together, I usually get the answers I want. I really like the idea of a "living FAQ." What a fantastic way to put it.

With regard to a community message board.... The idea gets me more excited the more I think about it. Doc's three hour discussion at today's minnie-meet at OKW reaffirms that a DVC community could work out great. We all have such similar interests and values it seems. A community board would allow us to all get to know each other so much better than just talking "nuts and bolts issues."

maybe someday.....