Okay, I am new to MINI and have been visiting various MINI forums. I noticed many of you who frequent NAM also logon to Roadfly using the same screen name.

Personally, I like NAM much more than Roadfly (and even the MINI Owner's Lounge Forum) because it's easier to use, looks better, and is more organized.

So my question is why/when would you go to one forum versus the other? Is it a case of "reader beware" just as it is when we read the newspaper? It seems to me that I'd be duplicating my efforts going to both sites.

Just a question, hope I didn't lift the lid and stir the pot.

 

Most people when they buy the car quickly go to the OL. Unfortuntely, the OL ppl know very little technically. Most of the stuff is fluff. Lots of ppl just hang in the getting to know you section discussing life in a social setting (like OT here). Many ppl been there a long time.

Roadfly format is terrible, again, IMHO, many people dont know to much. The only really good thing was MOS was running the parts section and got a great deal on parts (some better than Classic). They left, Crevier took over. MOS said they were going to become a NAM sponsor but hasn't yet.

NAM has everything ... it ROCKS. All the technical info plus the OT for socialing. Many experts in many areas ranging from superchargers to detailing. You can't go wrong here.

No need to go anywhere else but here.

You live and learn

 

Roadfly? Never even heard of it...

The owners' lounge is sufficient for newbies, who just got their Cooper, but leaves a lot to be desired for performance mod information and MINI news. Plus, it's not user friendly, and hard to use. Why do I have to sign in every time I want to go there???

 

Lots of early owners (who I'm sure will chime in) went to Roadfly back when MCO (now NAM) was just a glimmer in it's owner's eye. Some of these folks are probably friends by now, and so stay in touch. Beyond that I don't know.

 

Been on Roadfly, originally bimmer.org, since 1999. Still a tight group for M Coupe peeps (and I was one until recently), and good stuff for other bimmers too as far as I can see, but the Mini board has always been wanting.

I've directed plenty of people from there to NAM when trying to help people find info, so I guess I'm not really helping that board get any better

 

I think many MINI early (2002/2003) owners started over on Roadfly because they came from the BMW community and Roadfly was around long before NAM.

 

I've been to a bunch of MINI forums and I liked the original MINI Cooper Online or MCO the best.

Since then it turned into NAM and has matured quite a bit. There are lots of good forums and tons of great treads that you can search through.

If you like one forum enough you don't really have to go elsewhere unless you want to check for things that might be missed.

NAM members come from all over so odds are if it exists somebody knows about it and will let all of us know at some point.

It's nice to shop around in different forums just for the fun of it from time to time.

 

Thanks for the feedback fellas!

Roadfly definitely needs to update their look and user-friendly-ness. It's just a generic site NOT consistent with the MINI brand, nor is the Owner's Lounge forum on MINI's corporate site...IMHO.

I am truly surprised to see the enthusiasm for the product on this site and everyone so far seems to be pretty cool...but then again I haven't visited the OT section.

 

once again, nobody acknowledges MINI2.com.I just don't get it.I am one who spends as much time here as there. There has always been a seeming rivalry between the two sites that I have never understood:
Dragon vrs MINIs on top is a perfect example..........
events on one never mentioned on the other. Maybe someone could chime in as to why this is for me. These are both great sites so why can't we all just get along? In fact, I do think the format here is more interesting in terms of following current topics over in the left hand margin and the technical know how here is unparalleled, but I have made some really good friends over in the regional forum for New York/New England at the other site, so I split my time between the two.
Jock

 

Oh, OT is the coolest of all!!!

As for the MINI2/NAM rivalry...I'm not sure there is one that I've noticed. Sure it can be slightly awkward since both sites embrace one car, but they also do represent different universes....one UK/Europe-based (more or less) and one North America-based (more or less). Logistically I could also see where it might be frustrating seeing bits of regional posts on each. From what I can tell though, MINI2, NAM, and MotoringFile are all sibs. One frequently sees late-breaking info from NAM on MINI2 and (even more frequently) visa-versa...same for MotoringFile. Each has their strengths and distinct personality which are worthy of appreciation. This should be about mutual admiration, not about competition.

I post on both, too, but I generally hang my hat here...it's a pretty friendly place.

 

I took a peek at MINI2.com, but for whatever reason I thought it was a UK-based site. Not that that's a problem since the Brits are our friends!

I know the Euro and US cars are pretty much the same thing, but I just want to be sure to keep all my info straight.

Also, when I was viewing some photo galleries on MINI2.com, my work computer haulted my surfing experience indicating that 3 files I opened had viruses...yeah I know, work computer detection levels are set pretty high.

I'm sure I'll give the site another chance.

 

I just didn't mention it because the thread was about Roadfly/NAM... nothing to do with rivalry or whatnot.

 

Its simple. The VAST majority there are European. All their tuners you can't use here in the US. So what is the point? They do talk another language, their concerns are different, their laws are different, their bashing is different. Even their OT is different ... whenever they discuss anything, I think few in the US can related.

I gave up on them a long time ago and some of their vendors LOVE to bash JCW yet others on that board love JCW.

I have seen NE represented there and never understood why. Maybe its a Plymouth Rock thing ... tied to the homeland!

 

Ian Cull provided the reason why MoT isn't promoted much here a few months ago... For the most part it's because the New England forums are much more active on MINI2 than here. The bulk of their attendees spend more time on MINI2 than NAM, it is not a rivalry situation...

As for MOTD, MINI2 never had the interest to support MOTD like NAM does. NAM has provided a lot of logistical support for the last 4 MOTD's, including establishing a special forum. At one point there was just as much MOTD talk on one forum as the other, but with the establishment of the MOTD boards here the discussion just migrated here...

The fact is MINI2 caters to a different crowd than NAM... MINI2 is a more international forum (with the exception of their strong Northeastern US presence) with very strong European forums and discussions. On the other hand NAM is more US focused, although it appears that the Canadian and Phillipean communities are doing well...

 

NAM has provided the special MOTD forums from 2004 to present. The original idea for MINIs on the Dragon emerged on Roadfly, I believe, and an email list started. It was a suggestion made by one fellow (Jason) who had taken his motorcycle to the Dragon and thought it would be a great road for MINIs. The rest is history.

The first MINI enthusiast site I joined was Roadfly, then MINI2, then MCO/NAM, all in 2002. Roadfly's format is just awful, but I have made some lifelong friends there. MINI2 is very Euro-centric, and the time difference for me on the West Coast is a bit tough. NAM has just always had the most appeal for me. I think they're all good!

 

This is OT but maybe not

Peter at M7 told me how surprised he was at MTTS Monterey at the number of Mini owners that never heard of NAM 8-9 out of 10..... shame.... I tested this in Nashville and while the number was lower it was still not more than 50% ..... when you see another Mini owner...spread the word.... this is truly a "more the merrier" kind of place

 

You should have asked two follow up questions:

1) Have you heard of MINI2?

2) Have you heard of Motoringfile?

I would be that you get the same responses to those two as your NAM question... It doesn't surprise me that so many MINI owners don't know of any other MINI sites, new owners hit the OL because their dealers tell them about it and more often then not they get stuck in... and many times turned off by the OL... Never to be heard from by the MINI Community again.

The only place MINI promoted MTTS was on THEIR sites, everything else was just word of mouth.

 

roadfly???? pffft...whats the point? in fact, i never even heard of it. in fact, im going to check it out now.



UPDATE!!!!

ok, i went to roadfly and checked it out and it sucks. no need to say much more than that.

 

"some" new owners do drift here from the OL ... I have seen a few names from their early on become new people here.

Many get stuck in social talk land. However, I think about six plus months ago there was a minor rebellion. The OL moderators, from what I understand, would just delete posts without explanation (usually when slamming MINI although I dont know all the reasons). When one member was thrown out of the OL by MINI, a big group split off into Carnuts Garage. (again, mostly social although carnut is VERY knowledgable).

 

Interesting discussions ...

Long ago, my first MINI forum was MCOL, the New England Forum back then was very active and my first ever MINI event was organized through MCOL/NE.
I discovered MINI and found that the email alerts they send out when a forum thread is updated made it really easy to keep track of topics - over time I used MINI2 more and more due to that feature; it made it easier to form a "community" without having to browse through all the forums all the time.
Now of course, NAM also has that feature - excellent.

I come to NAM whenever I need serious tech info - tires, engines, audio; but I go to MINI2 to chat with folks I know.

I'm very pleased to see the new "GP talk" section here on NAM; MINI2 has a "JCW/GP" section but by definition the GP chat will be swamped by JCW chat, and there is a big benefit to NAM being able to pull together primarily the USA GP owners - I hope that forum succeeds, even if there's only a few GP owners to chat in it!

Roadfly ... used to go there; always hard to keep track of discussions so it seemed mostly to be a quick question/answer type thing; also very hard to search (maybe that's improved in the last three years).
I left Roadfly eventually when they insisted that any page I linked to had a reciprocal link on it! Back then my GBMINI "home page" had a link to Roadfly, but not *every* page ... too much hassle so I simply stopped visiting them.

 

I think Mini2.com is pretty good and contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of gringos that post there but never or rarely participate in NAM.

I also like the international flavor of the site. May be MINI2 appeals more to my "Globalist" way of thinking.

Paul Mullett has been criticized in the past for failing to make MINI2 a global site. I think there is some 'truth" to this criticism. But overall, Paul has a tremendous advantage by being in Europe over Mark Fergurson and Gabe Bridger.... Paul gets to see and test drive all the new toys MINI brings out to market before anyone in the USA does.

One thing I lament about MINI2 that in despite of its global focus, it lacks support for multi-lingual forums. There are many Spanish speaking MINI owners there but unfortunately it is hard to communicate in any other language other than English.

I think NAM is a great site overall, but I miss some of the charm and real camaderie of the MCO days. let's be honest....NAM has a pretty rough crowd.. and this has been a turn off for many posters who either deflect to MINI2 or never comeback.

But overall, NAM fills a niche audience (Well North America is not a small audience by any stretch of the imagination) by catering to the USA/Canada MINI owner, but to be brutally honest, I don't see that much difference between the conversations posted by UK, Australian, Mexican or USA MINI owners over at MINI2.com.

 

The same can be said for the OL, CarNut's Garage, Cooperspeed, SunshineMINIs and several other boards.

MINI2 has had the same comments made about it over the years as well... Anybody remember the mass Aussie defection from M2 last year?

It's simple, people go where they've made connections and are comfortable. For some that's here, for others its the OL, some Roadfly, and others MINI2 or Cooperspeed etc... And there's nothing wrong with that..

 

Interesting topic. Also interesting that Motoringunderground hasn't been brought up.

 

m|u is a fun newer site! It should be mentioned. Good point, however the topic under discussion is NAM vs. Roadfly.

 

But ... here is the turn-off

It has been my observation of MINI2 that the JCW crowd is, of course, heavily biased (I presume because its right there). However ... "some" of the vendors are VERY negative.

I really have seen no "negative advertising" on NAM. That is, one vendor publically bash another (which might be because of US libel/slander laws or whatever). Over there, a least one vendor can't quite wait for any opportunity to Bash JCW.

You see negative advertising in the US in politics and it usually backfired. Its kind of blatant over there and gets old real quick.

I've seen one NAM vendor over there having to defend itself against heavy criticism as well.