F31club... 2YRS IN THE MAKING.
The FA M30 THREAD THE IDEA, THE INTEREST, THE START...
THE BEGINNING OF THE ONLY M30 FORUMS... INFINITI M30/NISSAN LEOPARD COMMUNITY IDEA
CHANGES ON F31CLUB.COM
FINDING
F31CLUB
This is how F31club started out. A thread on FA, To a free forum, to what we have now. The Evolution of F31club.com was journey in its self. From an afterthought to THE only dedicated M30/Leopard Site in the World. How did it all start? What was the mindset of SOME of the people that contributed to make the foundation for F31club?
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by Scourge; Off Topic Moderator
The FA thread was the start of a revolution!!! It rose awareness of a car that was ignored by the masses and only appreciated by the enthusiasts. The FA thread generated interest in to the F31 chassis. It was also a gathering point for M30 owners. It was THE thread to get info about Nissan Leopards/infiniti m30s. In its time, It generated 9 full pages of info, questions, interest, and Camaraderie of the owners.
Here is a copied version posted on F31club for documentation reason.
"
Why is it that nobody considers an M30?"
I have been an M30 fan since it came out in the US in 1990 and thought myself about the only guy who did. In 2002, I found the FA forums before I moved to Japan and lurked there until I starting posting regularly when I had my R32 Nissan Skyline. Noticed that FA had an Infinti section and so I posted a thread asking in February of 2003.
I had my Skyline and I had looked for a F31 Leopard and not found one. FA was (is?) the (or one of the) largest Nissan enthusiast communities on the internet. I was always a fan of the M30 but could not find one for sale in Okinawa until AFTER I bought my Skyline. I posted at FA and saw the "Other Infiniti" forum and thought - "Hey, this is the largest Nissan site I've ever heard of. I wonder if anyone else here likes the M30. It's a rare car in the US and I'm the only guy I know who is really really into them. I'll post a thread asking why it's so overlooked and maybe they'll be a few other guys out there who actually know what an M30 is."
Nearly 3 and a half years later, my question has been fully answered with people all over the world saying that they too consider the M30 a great car. I am not alone and never was. The internet allows all of us to drive the road less traveled with a willing passenger and that has made all the difference.
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"INFINITI M30/NISSAN LEOPARD COMMUNITY"
by JCrapps; Forum Administrator/Founder
Infiniti M30/Nissan leopard Community
The infiniti m30/nissan leopard community forums were the end result of the FA thread. After the thread ended, JC couldnt believe there was no site for M30s. So he made the forums and all the people that were on the FA thread went to the forums. It was the new home for M30 owners.
After I got my M30, I quickly hit the 'net to see what type of information was out there. Luckily I ran into scourge's (Thomas) very informative and interesting thread on the Fresh Alloy website. It was great because it seemed like there was some interest in the M. People were starting to realize that it had potential. Although it was great that Thomas created that thread, it wasn't enough to quench my thirst for more knowledge.
Then I started to think of a way to start an M30 only forum. I searched to see how I could do this for free (since I was a broke college student) and stumbled upon a free forum service called phpbbforfree.com. This was great because they basically set it up for you. All you really had to do was add the content. Slowly but surely, the forums started to grow and what started as a single thread from FreshAlloy had grown to a dedicated forum with dozens of members. I was able to create connections with M30 enthusiasts such as scourge, nyeark, and strikevalk to name a few.
Having the site was a great way to share ideas and information. Being that there were NO sites in the US dedicated to the M30, it was a goldmine for any M30 owner. As the site grew, we knew that it would be time for us to make our final tranformation. We needed our own identity ( F31club.com idea thread ). We then became known as F31CLUB.com! Although F31club.com has grown to something great for the M30 community, we always need to remember that we had a very humble beginning only 2 years ago. With shear determination and diligence, we have become THE site to go to, anywhere in the world, to learn more about the Infiniti M30. How many sites can say they're #1 in the world?!
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By: Roger; General Moderator of F31Club.com
Found an M30 for dirt and was doing my research. Found
nothing for the car aftermarket wise. Started to search for basic problems,
which I posted on Nicoclub.com, which was a site I frequent since it had an M30
section.
Upon searching even more, I found the FA thread "
Why is it that nobody considers an M30?" that scourge as well as all
the OG M30 guys posted up on. Even though it was outdated (no new posts happened),
it even interested me more after reading it. Then found the "
Infiniti M30/Nissan leopard " forum, which is referred to the original
forums. I started reading and also enjoyed that site. It was cool to see people
so enthusiastic about the car and how close everyone was. I joined after
everyone moved to the new forum, F31club.com.
HOW F31CLUB FELT TO ME
F31club site was one those sites that didnft seem to be
active. I think because of small amount of info around and even small members
base. There wasnt a bunch of posts and replies going around. Sometimes people
would ask a question and it would go unanswered. There were also ideas for
stickers going around. I also knew of an attempt to have an M30 meet (in
TURNING POINT
I never was part of the original forums when it was
active. So I felt that I didnt matter on the site. When I went to
I told myself I can just go on f31club when I get
something done to my car, like an update or just post something once every
week.
(http://forums.f31club.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=300)
That all changed when the Nyeark,
who was on F31club almost everyday as mod, got a z31 and started to concentrate
on that. JC asked me if I wanted to be a moderator and I couldnft resist. He
told me there wasnt much to do, but just check up on the site every couple of
days. I told him I got some ideas but I wanted them to be okay with him before
I mentioned them on the forums. I started to try to organize the sub forums and
looked for some important information that everyone can use. I threw the idea of
other sub forums. I started to compile some info and rearrange the site to get
to the point that someone can search without having to go through a lot of
posts. I wanted to organize the site so that people can go to different
sections and get what they wanted.
THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT
After that, the most important subject to address was the
direction of the F31club. I sent PMs to every single
person that registered on F31club. I got a lot of replies and even made a post
for what people said mattered.
(http://forums.f31club.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=524)
I wanted people to tell me what they wanted and expected.
I even went to the old forums and pm some people on there (Yotis).
I wanted to make everyone come to the table and get the site going. But I
needed something as a vehicle to get people to start talking again. Once people
started talking, members would go with the momentum. I wanted all the OGs and lurkers and new people to feel that they are part
of the club. I wanted everyone to know that if they had a question about M30s,
it will be addressed. If someone had a problem with their car, I didnft want
their post to go unanswered. This started to take effect. I think the morale
rose and people started to come on the site more often.
I could only do this if people told me what they expected
from the site.
I got that. I got ideas from people and started to get
some things rolling on the site. We had to decide about the stickers and font
to use. The idea has been up in the air for the longest and need to be
finalized (http://forums.f31club.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8).
We started to brainstorm about banners and meets (http://forums.f31club.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=465).
Sub forums were created so ideas were not lost or buried in the general forum
(f31 meet/multimedia). These forums got huge replies and also made the site
more organized and enjoyable.
JC and I started to brainstorm some ideas like the f31 map
and chat.
Ways for people to interact.
http://f31club.com/f31map/
More replies, ideas and posts started to generate more
participation.
There is more interaction among members and good
discussions.
JC then came up with the idea of scanning the whole manual
for everyone. Not only does it help people out (if they donft have the manual
or need some quick reference) but gives the site some content and makes the
site even more informative that before.
Which got me the idea of anything that can help M30
owners, should be scanned and posted. Zydeco helped
out a lot. He scanned the M30 Parts list and also lent me Convertible
Supplement manual to scan. Also to help out international f31 owners, Ifm in
the process of scanning some JDM manuals.
(http://www.f31club.com/manual)
Another
This also made the forums more personal. This has the
snowball effect. Brian met Ricky and also kurumakun
(OG) at the Formula D event.
NOW
All this happened a few months ago. It is great to see the
site blossom and also see others progress on the rides. The Morale is high and
people stop by f31club more often. Some people that lurked on the site before,
now post more often, some OGs came back to the site
and are helping out.
Naoki and his car have been featured on some
sites/MTV/magazines.
http://forums.f31club.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=834
http://forums.f31club.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8541
Now
we must keep things going. Keep the momentum up. There is more to come and more
in store. We are still at the forming stages.
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My whole goal was to help build this site to be
informative, helpful and entertaining. The site is unique because of the car is
unique. I feel great when people post up alot and it
shows that everything that was planned never went to waste. The club feels more
like a community than just another website. Please understand this is my
perspective and others might feel differently about it.
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