2018 Cool Wall: Your thoughts, comments, opinions, suggestions

[totalmotorcycle]

2018 is upon us and with that the start of the 2018 Cool Wall at Total Motorcycle! THE BIG 8TH YEAR

This will be our EIGHTH Year of the Total Motorcycle Cool Wall and I'd like your thoughts, comments, opinions, suggestions and criticisms on what to do for the 2018 Cool Wall...



Q1: Do you like how the Cool Wall is being run right now? (in the forum, in this format with voting/discussion and a weekly summary)

Q2: Do you like the voting catagories? (Awesome, Cool, Uncool and Fail, suggestions if not?)

Q3: Do you like the discussions? (do you post/discuss, how to make it better)

Q4: Do you vote? (voting numbers have been down, ways to improve?)

Q5: Your question(s) to me.


Myself, I really enjoy doing the Cool Wall, but lately, the number of votes and discussions/replies have been down and it makes me pause to think, am I doing this as right as I could be? Can I make it better FOR YOU?

Let me know your thoughts and I don't forget the negative feedback too (I may regret asking for that).



Mike

[ceemes]

Personally I thing the current format it fine, however I still say we need a meh option between cool and uncool....there were bikes last year I felt didn't deserve either ratings, but cast my vote mainly on how poopie of a mood I was in at the time.....as for participation levels....I think you will find that even though membership numbers are good and I suspect so is the visit counts, actual participation in the forums is way down, and judging from a few other forums I visit, the same holds true with them........the biggest problem for such formats as I see it is things like Facebook and Twitter have taken over.....we might have to migrate the cool wall over to FB to get the numbers back up....but that opens up a lot of other issues.

[markdcoco]

Cool Wall is being run perfectly right now... thank you. In spite of the fact that participation is low, new bikes magically appear every week. Perhaps we could keep it to bikes that we all can afford. I myself have suggested unaffordable bikes (i.e.: $110k Confederate) but believe bikes within all our reach might make us more interested.

The categories are OK..... how about if we break down the various components of the bike (i.e.: engine; styling; electronics; options; pricing; etc...) and give them all a 1-10 rating. Simple spreadsheet calculations could provide the average answer for a weighted rating after that. that would eliminate the need for a "meh" category. What about voting on helmets, gloves, jackets, tires, etc..............?

Discussions are interesting... could be a little more spirited.

I try to vote every week. I enjoy the opportunity to take time out from the daily to read and review and research about the bike being presented. Always interesting.

No questions for you at this moment... just thanks for all you do. Wishing you and yours a very happy and wonderful new year............

[totalmotorcycle]

Great stuff. Thank you for the great suggestions ceemes and markdcoco.

I have tried to put up the Cool Wall on Facebook and Twitter this year, amazingly, Facebook doesn't have a "poll app" that isn't a paid or 3rd party one, twitter has one, but on both social media platforms, and here, maybe we can make a bigger dent. Ceemes, I know you have been asking for a meh vote for years now, maybe it is time? I was hesitant about it as I didn't want people to "sit on the fence".

Markdcoco, for bikes we can all afford... most bikes are (IMO) becoming quite pricy, at $8k motorcycle you might get a medium sized bike, but more and more each year are starting to get to that $9-10k mark on the lower end... is that affordable IYO?

Gear on the Cool Wall? interesting... That might change things too much, I don't know, any other opinions on this from our readers?

Mike

[markdcoco]

Affordable.....
Dirt Bike: $0 - $11k
Cruiser: $0 - $20k
Crotch Rocket: $0 - $18k
Sport Touring: $0 - $24k
Touring: $0 - $30k
HD: $0 - $0

or something like that for me........ everyone has an opinion.
I understand... it's a cool "bike" wall and gear most likely does not belong on it.
But thought a little more granularity in the voting options (the 1-10 scale) and more items that actually make the bike cool (design, components, options, performance, etc.) might tell you if someone actually read the review or just looked at the cool pictures. Just some 74 degree Sunday morning thoughts as I sip my coffee. WHAT..... you say it's not 74 degrees in Ontario........ the shame of it.

[montanalifter]

Q1 I appreciate and enjoy the cool wall. I don't understand why there are not a lot more votes and people that visit each week. One of the things I thought is a lot of people just like their brand or type of bike. I do appreciate the work that is put into the site, Thank you.
Q2 I like the voting categories but I have also been stuck between cool and uncool. I don't like the 1-10 system either. I like the descriptive voting (Very nice, vomit, etc.)
Q3 I like the discussions sometimes points are brought up in which I did not think of or consider.
Q4 You have to vote, I vote. Just looking and not voting is like looking through the glass and not entering the store.
Q5 Maybe vote and another category of voting also. Something like a second bike, bike for family, my only bike, my bike when I am old, etc.

[NorthernPete]

I think the “meh” option would add some votes. What’d be better, fence sitting or low participation.

[JackoftheGreen]

I've certainly noticed the lack of participation on the Cool Wall, and I'll cop to being guilty of it myself some weeks. I think it's definitely a case of FB, Twitter and IG pulling peoples attentions away from this type of format.

FB has a polling option in the Groups area I think, for that to work we'd all have to be members of a TMW FB Group or whatever though. That might be plausible, I'm in a FB group with 200,000+ members so you could definitely get a base going. One concern, I believe there's some complications with copyright and Facebook. I'm not 100% on the details but I know I've seen something about it.

Love the idea of voting on various components on a bike rather than overall, or maybe a little more options in the scale. I don't like the idea of a "meh", I feel like people will just vote "meh" on any bike that isn't their type of bike. That's just as good as not participating.

Would it be possible to arrange a guest commentary by someone who's ridden the bike? Would you have access to that sort of thing with the PR reps? I feel like that could jumpstart a lot of discussion, but with the added complication maybe change to bi-weekly?

Also, maybe hot buttons in a banner on the front page? I feel like that might capture a lot of votes from people who visit but don't necessarily participate in the forums. In that vein, the mobile version of the site doesn't have a link to the Forums and I feel like we might be loosing some potential members who are visiting the page on their phones for the first time. I know I certainly feel like I haven't seen a lot of new members over the last year, that could be one reason why.

Last, a TMW app could certainly boost participation. I know I've seen half a dozen forums that invite me to use an app to post instead of their website, not sure what all that would entail though.

There's my $0.02.

[markdcoco]

Fully agree that a "meh" vote is just another way of not participating.
Do like (since I proposed it) the idea of breaking the bike and review down into some smaller components.
Like the idea of an app..........
Hate the idea of Twittless and Faceless cause I don't and never will have accounts there.
Good ideas abound...........................

[pchast]

I look at every weeks bike. I don't always vote. I can't ride a back breaker(sport).
Most of the touring bikes are too heavy for me to move around.... It would throw
the points all off if I voted on them.