Hello All ~

At the last Cabot Skylighters Snowmobile Club monthly meeting the newly elected board of officers made the decision to pull down the club's website (though it is paid for through the next year). Honestly, they have systematically ceased many vital aspects of the club over the past four months... I am not only confused by their actions but very concerned. On one hand they “say” they want to work for the club – I mean they did take officers seats right? – But on the other hand what they have “done and / or have chosen not to do” tells a very different story. I don’t agree with the posturing and selfish attitudes, but unfortunately believe I know where their motives lie.

Beyond all of that… Does it seem odd to anyone else in the snowmobiling community for a club to choose to pull down their own website when it typically get 37,000 hits a month? Seems very strange to me!

Ice Princess

Doesn't make sense to me either, but I don't know nor do I want to know any of the details.

Its a fact that the Internet increases exposure to your target market, and usually generates more( Members, revenue, sales,etc) than it usually costs.

Its 2008, if you dont have a decend web presence, your almost invisable, case in point the sucess of Woodford Snowbusters, Derby Drift Dusters, and other NEK clubs.

If they need help I am sure that there are some High School student would love change to manage with supervision a web site as a class project.

Im wondering how old the new board members are? Are they so old that they do not realize the importance of web exposure to insure their finacial future, or just to stupid, or possibly do they have another agenda??

I was in a ATV club that had a basic web page and forum. The Younger members started asking some questions about the workings of the club, finances and such. The plug got pulled. " WE " started a new forum, that has exploded and has thousands of members, and blew away a well established, older club.

If I am riding in an area either first time or frequently I rely on the local clubs website for trail conditions and other information about the club, links they provide for accomodations/other services and thier announcements.

If I am going to travel someplace to ride and the club doesn't have a website I tend to go someplace that does.

Can't understand why your club would take away the club website unless like someone else mentioned earlier that these folks that were voted in don't understand the computer technology and it's importance to your club. If anything they should be asking how we can up grade the website!! My local club that I belong to in Ludlow, the SideHill Cronchers emailed a website questionaire to all of it's club members looking for feedback on what type of information was important to riders and what they would like to see on the club's new website. I'm with everyone else, I always check club websites for trail conditions,groomer reports etc..IE Buckroos 302, Brighton Snow Club and Pittsburg Ridge Runners in New Hampshire offer detailed trail reports, web cams..Would be curious to the number of hits those sites see daily..

I've only been on this forum for a year, and I've already heard a ton of negative press about the club in Cabot--good volunteers being overworked and uninspired, poor and ungroomed trails, and now questionable business tactics made by those responsible for the club's solvency and forward progress. I ask you to name one successful business that caters to locals and visitors who travel hundreds of miles that does NOT have a viable website? Daily trail reports, local trail map, current weather conditions, where to eat, where to park, were to stay overnight, and other features are what clubs need to promote. The daily site maintenance is very little, and if cost is an issue to the Cabot club, I'm sure the Town Hall might have some funds to provide seeing as this website would help draw visitors in the "down" months. It's worth asking anyway.

The Cliff's notes version of what I said above:

Seems like a backwards step to pull the site.

Maybe they didn't think they were getting a return on the investment? 37,000 "hits" is an impressive sounding number but 1 graphic = 1 hit - how many graphics were on the site? Website utilization is only accurate when the site is tracking its users which I'm sure they wern't but page views would provide more insight than hits.

I happen to be the web admin for www.jomaryriders.com. I am a club member and the only reason the site exists is because I created it, pay for the annual domain name and annual hosting. The problem it suffers is lack of updates and if you don't keep a site up to date no one will continue to visit it.

Anyways, none of this answers why the Skylighters shutdown their site but to truly make a site work requires a lot of attention and maybe they didn't have the time or energy to keep it going.

Wow...thank you for all the comments...you all threw out some interesting ideas.

I know that many of the long timers (Skylighter enthusiasts) don't want the site to come down, and they have (had) a web admin...me... who built the site and tried like hell to gather info from this new board to update the site regularly ...the cost is minimal $100 a year for the domain.

I think it is a little bit of a control issue and a little bit of a ignorance issue...on the part of the new board that took over mid-winter 2007-2008.

When we were all part of the old board we implemented a newsletter and website and we watched our membership grow from 60 to well over 150 in just two years... so you are correct... exposure is very important to the success of a club. Not to mention that the club sold more than 25% of all TMA's online last fall via the website.

I am at a loss as to what to do... I hate to waste all that time I spent building it and just shut it down... and like I pointed out the site statistics show people go to the site and use the information offered... I acknowledge that the club could / should offer more "real time" info.

It has been suggested by one Cabot Skylighters Board Officer, who happens to be the County Trails Coordinator that perhaps we (he and I) could just mold the site into a local Cabot Skylighter trails report site... where we take your feedback and log daily trail and weather conditions, as well as local places to eat and stay...... and simply let the club do whatever the club will do, with their own events and such.


What do you think of that idea?

One more thing... it is really unfortunate that all people seem to know of Cabot is the negative...

When we all got involved with the club not so many years ago... nearly ALL the bridges along the Cabot trail system were being condemned by VAST.

In the summer of 2004 our board of officers rebuilt / built 10 TEN bridges in Cabot.

The next summer 2005 our board of officers rebuilt / built 3 more bridges, built a new trail along Coits Pond road, hired an excavator to widen and remove rocks from numerous trail sections, and added many new water bars.

That same board started an annual raffle event, newsletter, the website, and entered a float in the local 4th of July parade in 2004 and kept them going in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

I know that this town's club has had its fair share of rough times...mainly associated to grooming and trail conditions...WHICH makes sense since that is what you all see when you ride through...not the new bridge 2 feet under! So please just keep in mind that there are many of us who put an aweful lot into this town's trail system and HOPEFULLY...things with the grooming will work out in time.

Thanks again......

IcePrincess maybe at the next club meeting a question should be asked of the club officers why they feel as they do. Perhap reiterating the ROI, the 'online' membership and all the other things you mention. Something is amiss for $100 a year and it seems that somebody would like to maintain the site.

It doesn't sound like the root of the issue is openly explained to the club membership on why this decision. IMO.

I hate to see websites die for clubs - they are so useful to those who frequent the trail system.

I apprecaite the idea...I asked "why" and all they said was they were sick of the bull#$%, when I said what bull#$% noone could answer that. I have no idea what the issue is... its a freakin website...you publish info and people go there to find it. Not that hard to figure out... I have been more than willing to keep it going... I honestly believe they just don't care about it and don't want to put even an ounce of effort into communicating information to the membership or anyone else... I can go to one more meeting to try and convince them again, but at the last meeting I attended I brought site statistics, and a long list of benefits to the club and they just didn't care (accept for the few who are long timers, who are being overruled). I guess at this point I can only hope that this October another new board is voted in and these people are voted out....I will save the club template and if that new board wants to put the site back up it will still be sitting there waiting.

I truly do thank everyone for there input... watch for the "Cabot Trails Report" site which is only in the conceptual stages right now...Thanks again!

IcePrincess, I applaud you for your efforts. I of course don't know your club internal matters so I can't comment any further.

After a while you just give up or go find a club that would appreciates volunteers. At some point if the membership doesn't like the club direction, and somebody steps up, there will be turnover in the management and maybe new blood will spawn new ideas.

No offense to anyone, but it Sounds to me like you have a lot of old "farts" on your board that dont want anything new. The website is one of the best things you can have to promote your club and gain more members. Keep the website...

I agree with GaderX, the website is necessary for the success of the club. We hope to have a new one (our first) forthe Lunenburg Polar Bears next season. Sometimes you need to have something broken before you can fix it, and it seems like thats whats going to have to happen to this club before it can move in a proper direction.

x2
-sea

The Cabot Skylighters Snowmobile Club has recently been the topic of lots of negative discussion on some websites. Until now our club has chosen not to play into the negativity, but we now feel we need to respond. We apologize to our members that this seems to be the theme of our club lately.

As many of you know the club purchased the groomer this year, which presented us with some new challenges. However, after a rocky start and a few rough patches by midseason we had some really awesome trails. Our club as always, is small, but we have a good group of interested members who are ready to get started on several summer trail projects that we hope will allow us to get our groomer over all the trails earlier and later in the season, when the snow conditions are not at their best. We apologize for the trail conditions at the end of the season. We understand many people were unhappy and were trying to avoid riding Cabot’s trails. We are hoping that with these trail improvements and some repairs to the groomer we will be in much better shape for the upcoming season.

As for the website, we have every intention of having a website for our club. We recognize the value it has to our members to check on trail conditions, upcoming events, etc. Our goal is for the club to have control of and access to its website which we currently do not have. We definitely realize the importance of our website and plan to keep it updated for members, which we are currently unable to do. Once again, we apologize that these issues that are beyond our control are affecting our members. We want every one of our members to know that this is not the desire of our club officers. We would like the 37,000 hits to our website to be a positive experience and we are working hard to correct these issues in order to make that possible.

Our club has been around since the 1960’s and we plan to be here for many more years to come! Our hope is to put an end to the negativity surrounding our club and move forward to address issues that truly need our attention. The issues being, our trails, the acquisition of the groomer, and the increased traffic through town. We understand the future of snowmobile already faces many challenges and hope to put an end to this negative press and continue on a more positive note. We take a great deal of pride in our town, our club and our trails, and we want everyone else to enjoy passing through our town. We welcome any questions or concerns that you may have, and we will do our best to address any issues, but lets do it in a way that benefits us all.


Sincerely,

Cabot Skylighters Board

All I can say is I truly wish this board was even remotely as dedicated to this club and this community as they are trying to make it sound. All the negative posts on HCS have a lot of merit and the actions and the inaction of this board speaks for itself. I am looking forward to the club's annual vote in October!

Not really sure what your point is? Sound like the club is aware of the issues and they are trying to address them.

They can talk the talk that is not the problem...the past five months has proved they can't walk the walk and the next five months won't be any different. They are full of crap, and did a fine job of telling you all what they knew you needed to hear...but anyone who has attended a recent club meeting can attest to the fact that they have moved so far from what they put in that letter that the letter is actually a joke.....but it doesn't matter anymore....I have no interest in trying with this board any longer...anyone who is an avid HCS participant knows exactly where my heart and loyalties lie --- considering you have all seen nearly 200 of my posts about Cabot Skylighter events, trail conditions, closures, and the such as well as about the Community of Cabot, Vermont over the past three years...but as my Mother said "You can't make people do what they aren't capable of doing; walk away." So whatever happens, happens... regardless, I will ride next year and like everyone else who lives in Cabot...head straight out of Cabot to do it...which is the sad part of all of this. Take care and sorry for filling your ears, or eyes, with our local soap opera! See you next Winter!

Iceprincess; i also applaude your efforts with this club . I know the garbage you have taken on the part of the cabot trails here on HCS and you are the only one to adress issues with fellow riders, I attended your last Hotdoog roast was excellent, and never would have known about it if not for your postings, I kinda had a laugh to myself after gofatboygo post (number 1 for him by the way)We take a great deal of pride in our town, our club and our trails, and we want everyone else to enjoy passing through our town. We welcome any questions or concerns that you may have, and we will do our best to address any issues, but lets do it in a way that benefits us all. Well fatboy better leave your email addy your gonna hear it,I just hope you can still fill us in Ice that would be greatly appreciated...

The newly formed Cabot Trails Committee is building a page to do just that, keep riders informed of not only real-time trail and weather conditions but also places to stay and eat in Cabot and the surrounding area...we are also considering adding some info on other recreational activities in the area, X-Skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, etc,. etc., we want to evenutally offer online maps and maybe even a small forum for offering rider's trail observations... I will let you know when its ready for preview! Thank you!

thanks for all your hard work on behalf of SNOWMOBILING! Just because the Cabot club is full of people who don't share your vision, you are at least getting things done. Your efforts should be applauded. See you next winter.