The New Openness Policy

[SHIVA]

Hello Guys, Hope you're enjoying the recent improvements and updates that we have made to our community. We've been around for over 4 years and along the way we have expanded and grown quite a bit. We've grown in many way, not just in the size of our community, but also in the way we interact we each other.

We started just before the then totally new K1200S was announced. Now there are new K bikes on the horizon and for those of us who prefer inline 4s, BMW is going to produce an even faster line of multi-cylinder bikes, named the S. We of course are the global home for both of these model ranges.

I hope you have noticed that our community as a whole has become a lot more open as the years have passed. Our message of positive camaraderie, intolerance for abuse and abusive behavior have hit a favorite chord with our tens of thousands of members and visitors.

But as we move forward to welcome the new faster line of K bikes and even lighter and faster S bikes, I'd like to find out how you, our valued members, want to see us expand, and grow. But first let me share and clarify somethings with you.

There are 3 core principals that will always be the backbone of our community, these are respect, respect and respect.

1- Respect for our members, meaning members of this exclusive and dare I say it elite private club will always treat each other with respect, even though we may clash at times or disagree. And we have had many fine examples of this core principal in action. There are many threads where our members have had honest disagreements, where they have very eloquently dished it out, without a single foul word or patronizing comment. Heck, Caratz and I seem to do it every few months.

2- Respect for our moderators, who are generously volunteering their services to this community.

3- And our third core principal, is also respect related, but it's what I call, "don't go against the Admin." To quote from one of the greatest movies of the 20th century (there are 200+ greatest movies from that century by the way)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056217 ).
This quote sums up the third principal.
Election Council President: [at the territorial statehood convention] The chair recognizes its old friend; that distinguished member of the Fourth Estate, founder, owner, publisher and editor of the Shinbone Star, Mr. Dutton Peabody, Esquire!
Dutton Peabody: Thank you, thank you, Mister Chairman, for those kind words; but why don't you tell them the whole truth: founder, owner, editor, and I also sweep out the place. LOL, I could not have said it better myself Mr. Dutton Peabody. (that's a John Ford movie by the way). I think you get the picture.

Now besides these 3 core principals, anything else goes. Oh before I forget, I got a 4th one. The 4th one is, once you have more than 100 posts under your belt, you're a full fledged, fully protected member. Meaning you can't be kicked out, you can't be deleted, unless you mess up 3 times. That's right, you're protected by our 3 Strikes You're Out Policy. I think we are unique to offer this level of membership protection. But until you have those magical 100 posts under your name, and specially if you're a "lost puppy" you're membership card (you have one of those don't you) is only temporary.

OK, that's it, really, that's all. Besides these 4 guidelines, anything else goes.

Call it a new openness policy, call it the old openness policy. Call it anything you like. But we are an extremely tolerant community. We're not only tolerant, we don't ask you for much either. We never bug you about money. We don't constantly come up with schemes and sob stories to ask you to loosen your wallet. We don't come up with ranks, we don't place some above others so to get you to donate money. We let you enjoy a solid, highly informative, civilized, fun, and truly global community, totally guilt-free. Now, isn't that nice. However if you do want to support this community, the best way is to help promote us. There are two great ways to promote this community, the first is to help spread the word. The second is to order one of our quality T-shirts and caps and actually wear them and proudly display our logos. For the K bike purists we have the BMW-K.COM logo or go the extra-strength route with BMWSuperBikes.com.

If you have any thoughts in how we can make this even a better community. I'm all ears.

Thank you for the privilege of hosting a community for some of the greatest and most advanced motorcycle rides in the world.

Cheers, S

[David_S_Walker]

Shiva,

Was going to comment but still laughing at the "Caratz and I seem to do it every few months" comment. Your exchanges are always entertaining!

Seriously though good stuff with some very good sentiments and I think some of the other forums I visit could well take a leaf out of your book.

Best regards,

David

[CamNeelyphile]

When religion and politics are eliminated, people generally have nothing to fight about. BTW Shiva, how does one know if and when they have been "warned"? Is there an indication within one's profile that is able to be viewed by others? Kindly note that I wholeheartedly agree wih your stance on potential intolerance.

[William-K1200GT]

http://www.bmwsuperbikes.com
I have one problem - on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbike#Super_bike

Super bike
Super bikes are large displacement super sport bikes. They have characteristics similar to the smaller super sport bikes which are mainly focused on race track performance, but are powered by larger engines that are usually sized around 800 cc (48.8 cu in) to 1,200 cc (73.2 cu in). A typical super bike will carry a wet weight between 400 lb (181 kg) to 480 lb (218 kg) and can produce 180 bhp (134 kW). Super bikes with a displacement very close to 1,000 cc (61.0 cu in) are sometimes referred to as liter bikes as the engine displaces approximately one liter. Motorcycles in this class are usually eligible to participate in Superbike racing.
Examples include the Ducati 1098, Honda CBR1000RR, and Yamaha YZF-R1.

Hyper sport
Hyper sport bikes are very large displacement sport bikes with a strong emphasis on top speed and acceleration. They typically are powered by motors displacing 1,100 cc (67.1 cu in) to 1,400 cc (85.4 cu in). Hyper sport bikes are bigger and heavier than super bikes with wet weights generally being close to 500 lb (227 kg). The increased weight compromises race track capabilities in favor of stability at very high speeds that can exceed 180 mph (290 km/h). This compromise also allows manufacturers to design much more comfortable rider ergonomics.
Examples include the Honda CBR1100XX, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14, BMW K1200S and Suzuki Hayabusa.

[SHIVA]

yes, technically "Superbikes" means the S1000RR class of bikes. However, I didn't grab this name to be very technical with syntax. Our Web site is BMW Super Bikes and to my mind it just sounds like a cool name, but it's only 1 option for our community's name. Of course we are the BMW-K.COM as well. And I still have BMWSportBikes.com, that I can use if I want to. Do you feel better served if I use BMWSportBikes.com? In our poll about this issue, very few people cared about that name. They probably think it's too generic. Since F800S and R1200S are also BMW Sport Bikes. But only the K and the S are really uber, or super bikes. I just think Super Bikes sounds cooler and a little edgier. So, that was my reasoning.

As for the warning, so far no one is under a warning. it's really very very rare for me to issue warnings to full members. It's done publicly, if I do it. We never, ever eject full citizens (member with over 100 posts) it just doesn't happen. There have been just a handful, maybe 3 that asked to be removed because they sold their K bikes. However, before we upgraded our platform I was deleting a couple of dozen spammers every day. So we were getting a lot of Lost Puppy status members who just wanted to post p o r n or sell something, that also kept our Mods pretty busy. so for the time being, our spam defector mechanism is so tough none have been able to cut through. Cheers for cool technology. I can tell you that you guys are now on one of the most advanced discussion forum platforms on the web. S

[deadbird]

There are 3 core principals that will always be the backbone of our community, these are respect, respect and respect. Cheers, S

Hey... I own a motorcycle that resembles that movie...

Site looks great.

[SHIVA]

william-K12GT, As mentioned before we are running a poll about the site's new name and about 73% have voted that either they love the new name, or names of sites don't concern them, it's the content that matter (that's why we are by far the smartest motorcycling site on the web). You see, we'll never stop being BMW-K.com, but since we are also the home for the new S bikes, that name alone can't represent our community. We need a name that can encompass all the K1200, the new K1300s, the future K1400+ and of course the S1000RR or any variation there of, S675RR and so on. And I think one name that says it all and it's truly fitting is BMW Super Bikes dot com. We don't spell Super Bikes, superbikes, we spell it Super Bikes, as in the most awesome and most powerful bikes that BMW makes, their Super bikes. Let me know if I can answer any more of your concerns. Hope I've been helpful.

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