There is a group for Snowy River caravans on Facebook with 500+ members. Having bought one of their vans I decided to join Facebook in order to access this group. It is a significant disappointment in many ways.
1 - Facebook is a truly awful style for serious discussion of anything. Many posts are hidden unless selected. It is not searchable. It does not have topic categories. It has a very "Gee Wizz!" format. It is best suited to 14 year olds discussing their favourite rock band.
2 - Many (most?) of the posts are trivial and frivolous and of the "I saw another Snowy" type. There is little of substance posted.
3 - Serious matters (en-suite door falling off) quickly become lost in the "noise" of frivolous posts.
4 - The group is largely a fan club for Snowy River caravans with few negative posts appearing - I wondered about that...?
5 - In order to provide a more useful and balanced forum I established a specific thread for Snowy River caravans in the Caravanners Forum "Dedicated" area and published details on the Facebook group - my post disappeared! Thinking I must have "hit the wrong button" I reposted a day later, this time two replies appeared... then the post disappeared. I e-mailed the group moderator and asked what was going on - no reply. I note that I am now "on moderation" in that group ("moderation" is a euphemism for censorship).
I can understand why a commercial site such as this dislikes posters advertising its competitors but there is no reason for a Facebook group to take such a stance - Mark Zukerberg's income does not need protecting. I don't know whether the Facebook group is run by caravan owners or whether the company has a hand in it? Certainly the Snowy River warranty manager is a regular poster.
What I do know is that such a censorious, exclusive and elitist stance by a company or group over a very expensive commercial product will explode in their faces. My experience suggests it appears someone is trying to suppress negative comment upon a $50,000+ caravan. Perhaps they think the internet can be controlled to their advantage - many have thought that before and all have been very wrong.
I strongly suggest broad and wide discussion of this product is encouraged - both good and bad. Such openness can only serve to improve the product and engender confidence in customers.
My thread on the Caravanners Forum is in place and will remain so. I'll probably also create a mailing list on groups.io. We *will* openly discuss Snowy River caravans irrespective of what the Facebook group owners desire.
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
My wife is in a Facebook Van site and unless you read it a couple of times a day you miss everything. I like this forum. It's not too big, limited number of main topics, and things do not disappear. God bless that we have a good moderator.
I am in Facebook for some small sites where it's mainly important relevant information for me (not information overload). I have no public profile, a phantom name, about 3 friends, and have privacy set to very high. Works for me.
Wife keeps in contact with relatives which is really good as we caught up with some family at Derby (who live in Vic about 100kms from where we live). For that it is brilliant.
Never joined FB and don't plan to. I can just imagine the amount of useless fluff people go on with that's of no interest to me. And talk about heavy handed! Sites likes this are so informative, well set out, with great people posting.
5 - In order to provide a more useful and balanced forum I established a specific thread for Snowy River caravans in the Caravanners Forum "Dedicated" area and published details on the Facebook group - my post disappeared! Thinking I must have "hit the wrong button" I reposted a day later, this time two replies appeared... then the post disappeared. I e-mailed the group moderator and asked what was going on - no reply. I note that I am now "on moderation" in that group ("moderation" is a euphemism for censorship).
6 - I can understand why a commercial site such as this dislikes posters advertising its competitors but there is no reason for a Facebook group to take such a stance - Mark Zukerberg's income does not need protecting. I don't know whether the Facebook group is run by caravan owners or whether the company has a hand in it? Certainly the Snowy River warranty manager is a regular poster.
5 - First off, cross postings from or about other similar forums is frowned upon within forums. It is considered bad taste and often these cross postings have been dealt with by the moderators of most of the forums I have participated in. I know that Cindy has removed them in the past. I suggest you edit the name of the other forum to be non-specific before Cindy spots it.
On the first reading through this paragraph was a little confusing. I thought you had been moderated by that other forum. The other forum has a policy of not naming and shaming since the first time they were threatened by leagle action. The mods in that forum are very hot on naming and shaming, they are very quick on removing the post or the whole thread if the shaming occurs in the OP.
6 - To me, from what you said, that group is industry sponsored and is just a mutual admiration society. Do you really wish to be part of that sort of group? They obviously don't want you.
If you really wish to be part of a Facebook group then there is the Lemon Caravans group. I'm not really sure I would wish to participate in that group either. It seems to be losing its punch. The sponsors seem to be going in to bat for every little thing before they check whether it is kosha or not. The industry and other bodies seem to be dismissing it these days because it seems to have become a ratbag group. I know that RV Clubs Australia (RVCAL) and the NACC don't think very highly of the group and both of them are certainly not on the industry side.
-- Edited by PeterD on Saturday 8th of December 2018 02:13:32 PM
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
PeterD wrote:If you really wish to be part of a Facebook group
I don't. I have eschewed Facebook since its inception but, to date, there is no other group for Snowy River caravans.
Site competition: that is why I did not provide links but it's silly to pretend other sites don't exist.
Thank you for your comments regarding clarity Peter, I can see why I confused you. I have amended that paragraph and, hopefully, it's now clearer.
Frankly: having used the Facebook group for a few weeks makes me appreciate how well run this site is - thank you Cindy.
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I don't seem to be able to edit my original post - maybe because it's the first post in the thread? So here is my emended para. 5
5 - In order to provide a more useful and balanced forum I established a specific thread for Snowy River caravans on the Caravanners Forum website in the "Dedicated" area and published details of that on the Facebook group - my Facebook post disappeared! Thinking I must have "hit the wrong button" I reposted a day later, this time two replies appeared... then the post disappeared again. I e-mailed the Facebook group moderator and asked what was going on - no reply. I note that I am now "on moderation" on the Facebook group ("moderation" is a euphemism for censorship).
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-- Edited by Mike Harding on Saturday 8th of December 2018 03:34:25 PM
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
An old post, but I feel the need to comment. Ive been watching the Snowy River Facebook page for some time. I have an interest as were looking for a new van and the Snowy Rivers seem like a nice van. We checked a couple out in recent travels and the owners were very happy. Regarding your missing Facebook posts.......yes, they dont stay there as they do in this type of forum. However, you can search on the relevant FB page, under your name for related posts that youve submitted. They dont remove your post, unless it is something contrary to FB rules. The SR Facebook page, is, from what Ive seen, very positive in relation to the vans. SR have a warranty woman who will answer any queries pretty well straight away. A lot of other dedicated FB pages should have someone like her. The old made in China chestnut........admittedly they do make some cheap products, but I seem to remember the same negative thoughts back in the early 70s, regarding products coming out of Japan. China, like Japan are now producing some quality gear.......some could argue, better than what we produce here.......my Chinese iPhone works really well lol
-- Edited by Matt on Friday 26th of March 2021 02:47:58 AM
