All of the things said in this thread are right on, as far as I'm concerned.
I think Darren is a nice guy and corresponded with him off and on for a few years about a variety of subjects, mostly things he would mention in the magazine or at times when he was soliciting information and opinions on different things.
I also think that perhaps Darren was a little shell shocked by what happened on the forum which is to say quite a few folks came along asking questions and making suggestions on club issues and Darren was having to make on-the-record "official" responses to all of these things as the club president. Some things were addressed and addressed well, some things weren't. Some things he simply ignored and did his way. But because he was always there, the forum turned into a glorified question and answer form.
I think Mike Sal hit the nail on the head saying that the club is cozy with the way things are. They have the magazine and do it the way they've done it for 20+ years (I've been a member of VMBC for 16 so at least that long) and they have the Portland meet which they also don't want to seem to make any real changes to.
Like I said, I've been a member for quite a while so I've seen what's changed over the last 16 years: very little. The club is really sort of a "good 'ol boys" club. There is a "board" that is supposed to govern the club. In my 16 years in the club there have been few changes to that roster. Those positions seems to be bestowed upon a chosen few and simply traded back and forth between the old guard. I can't recall the general membership ever being asked for nominations or to vote on board members. There is also no obvious way to determine what the term limits are or even if there are any. You'd think bylaws would have been distributed to the membership, but I've never seen such a thing. That group seems to act darn near in isolation and what they say goes. If they don't want the change, it isn't happening no matter what. How to get on the VMBC's radar and eventually on the board is a total mystery to me. Since most of those people are the "non-computer" type, what's going on with the club website seems foreign to them and they don't really care; it's all about Portland and the 4 magazines per year to reminisce about the last one and trump up the coming one.
I've also been to Portland. A lot of folks show up with a lot of interesting machines, but it's really a free-for-all sort of environment. I guess everyone seems happy with that, but I feel that it could be "better" and safer with only minor changes. Personally I think what's really happening is that the meet has already grown beyond what the VMBC can really control and organize and as a result the number of issues and complaints probably rises each year.
The VMBC forum is really what's tragic though. There is the potential for a goldmine there (getting the vintage motorbike and scooter community all active in one place could be unbelievable), but they are using OLD, clunky software that does not support private messages, emails, photo posting, etc. It's sad that the club paid for (and continues to pay hosting for) what they have now which is pitiful.
Suggestions have been made, questions have been raised. Most have discovered that pursuing those things just isn't worth the headache and they gave up and moved on.
