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Reflections on 10 years of Two Wheeled Texans

Most non-motorcyclist don't realize that motorcyclist come in many favors. My style is riding alone and occasionally in a small group to a pie run. Twtex is the perfect medium to communicate and get to know others of like mind.

Scott, thanks for the time, effort, and commitment to keep Twtex running.
 
:tab I have to say that I was really not expecting the reaction I got to the email, via email replies and also in person. I thought I was just sending out another typical email as I have occasionally done in the past. When I got to work Friday morning, I had a LOT of replies and spent most of the day and evening reading them. Quite a few people shared some really touching and personal stories about how the email had an impact on them. I even got a nice reply from my non riding older brother. I totally forgot that he created a user account some years back. I guess it really drove home the notion that we should take care with our words because we never truly know what impact they might have on other people, many times in ways we might have never expected. I just want to say thanks to those of you that felt you could share with me. It has been just one more of many ways the site has been a blessing to me in ways I never expected. :zen:
 
I'd like ta say a BIG THANX ta Scott!!! For startin up this 'lil ol site so folks would have a common meetin place (on the web ..& at events). It's been a HUGE BENEFIT for many of us who like gettin around & gettin together. I've met lots o new friends via Two Wheeled Texans & hope to meet many more before my physical presence on this planet slips on by.

ENJOY EVERYONE!!

+1 Well said.

Thanks Scott for TWT and the chance to interact with others around the State, country and world. I just realized I've been here for 8 years but it doesn't seem like it's been that long.
 
Scott, please tell Beth Thank you for allowing you to spend time working on TWT!!!! Tell your parents Thank you for raising an awesome son!!!!
 
Scott, thanks for starting this forum, and thanks for sharing the note from your father. It made me stop and think about my life, and those that have had an influence on me.
 
Well said Scott. I've met some really fantastic folks through this site. One of the best forums I've ever associated with. Thanks for all you do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk because Tapatalk is cool.
 
What Janis thought...
Good Morning,

Thought I would share the email below that Scooter forwarded to me this morning (very touching and so true, sometimes we forget how blessed we are). This email is from the guy that started the Two Wheeled Texans (TWT) forum, the group that Scooter road motorcycles with and now goes on rides with in his little sports car (I go along with him, but not all the time). There’s a ride (lunch/pie run) most every Saturday and dinner every Thursday night somewhere....:sun:

Thanks Scott & Beth!!
 
James,

Who was she sharing it with?
 
:chug:

thanks scott! we've met some great comrades here.

i love the 'nobody cares what the heck you're riding' philosophy, just ride on out and meet, eat and ride some more. and many more benefits on the site ie; prayer, buy, sell, bike tips, ride tips, road tips, help, etc etc etc. as well as 'family friendly'

we found out about twtex from some guy in east texas when we were looking at a property several years ago now. and we've passed on the site to many we've come across. :bigokay:
 
Back in 2006 Bill Hise (Graubart) told me about the place.
I sold the bike I had at the time and took a hiatus.

Then last year I got back in the saddle, started making M&Gs, made some awesome friends and spend WAY too much time here.

Too many folks to thank ...
 
I remember the e-mail. I wrote a response, of some length, but I don't think I ever sent it. I do that a lot.

Scott (great name, BTW) has done a good job here. I just recently shared the Amazon URL with my wife, and she'll be using it (I hope). We buy a lot of sh....stuff from Amazon.

I did have a goal of making all of the pie runs for one year, but failed miserably. The few I have made it to were interesting, with a lot of nice people to meet, talk to, and have some grub with. I've offered suggestions and assistance when I could. Time is my enemy. Work tends to take up way too much of my time, and I spend a lot of what's left taking care of family at home. SWMBO doesn't ride with me, so that has an impact on my time away too. She doesn't stop me, but I can hear the fear in her voice when I ride off. That slows me down a lot. The way to world is going, riding isn't going to get any safer.

She does get a bit freaked out when I say something along the lines of I'm going to meet a few guys for a ride. I could be walking into anything, but I've never had a bad experience here. Thanks to all members for that.
 
Just because I'm a curious type, is it possible for you to post some site stats?

Unique visitor over a typical 24 period?
Click through rate?
Length of stay?

stuff like that.
 
Just because I'm a curious type, is it possible for you to post some site stats?

Unique visitor over a typical 24 period?
Click through rate?
Length of stay?

stuff like that.

:tab The only analytics I've ever seen for the sight are based on the very basic free Google analytics. I rarely check them though because they don't really seem to give me any useful info. They are more geared towards sites with sales and click through advertising (adsense, etc,...).

:tab The forum has some basic statistics info though.

:tab Currently, the record for online users in a 24 hr period stands at 8270 on 01-22-2016. That is total visitors and not just registered users. The Google numbers also don't distinguish between registered users and just any other visitor. According to the forum, we average about 550-650 registered users every 24 hours. That has been pretty consistent since about 2006. From 2008 through early 2013, we were seeing about 750-950 per day. I have no idea why, but around early to mid 2013, it dropped back down around the 550-650 range again.

:tab Of the over 18.5K active accounts (those still having working emails and which have not been set to inactive), there are maybe 3000 or so that get on the forum within any 6 month period. What generally happens is that people sign up, are active for a year or two, and then fade away. Sometimes it is because of changes in circumstances in their lives and others because something else catches their attention. It is not uncommon for people to come back later even after several years of being gone. There is also a core of people that have been here a long time and which have been pretty active the whole time.

:tab I don't have anything about length of time per stay, particular pages most visited, etc,... When you are viewing the main forum listing page if you look to the right of the list of forum sections, you can see the number of threads and posts in that forum. When viewing the list of threads in a forum, if you look to the right, you will see the number of replies and views. You may notice that the "replies" is a link. Clicking it will bring up a box showing who has replied and how many times they have replied. The number of posts shown in that box is also clickable and will bring up every post by that user within that thread. That all helps me see which forum/threads are popular.

:tab I have a feature in the admin control panel that lets me look at a particular user and see a break down of where they are posting. It shows how many threads/posts they have in each forum and also breaks it down by percentage. This is useful for seeing if people tend to use the whole forum or just camp out somewhere like the OT section all the time.

:tab New registrations have been running around 100-150/mo for a long time. For some reason, 2008 had registrations running around 350-400/month. Those numbers can be skewed by spammers though. Even if I nuke the spam accounts, I think they still count as registrations. Spammers tend to come in waves though. They might hit real heavy for a month or two, then go way down for a while. Legitimate accounts may range from 5-10 a day or so. Things like rallies might cause a short spike.

:tab The most read thread on the entire forum is the Bandit MEGA thread. It has brought in member from ALL over the world.

:tab One stat that is kind of interesting is the number of Forum Supporters. I think the highest number of supporters we've ever had at one time was around 160. A supporter term is one month. Some people donate once. Some donate monthly. Some donate for a full year all at once. Like other users, supporters come and go. I have no idea how many of the total number of active users accounts have EVER been a supporter. I can only see how many are currently supporters. That number has been holding around 130-145 for a long time, regardless of changes in the number of active user accounts. There are a good number of them that have been long time supporters for many years. It is those people that have kept the site going. Their support far outweighs what little money I get from paid advertising. To be fair though, I don't aggressively seek out advertising.

:tab Another "stat" if you will has to do with user management. In the 13 years I've been running the forum, I think have actually outright banned maybe 3-4 people, if that. There have been a handful that have requested that I remove their accounts, some because they were miffed at the way I run the forum and some just because they had moved on to other hobbies. No doubt, there have also just been a few that may have disapproved of how something is done or was handled and they just quietly went away. You can't please everyone :zen:

:tab There is also the issue of in person user issues. Despite the impression some people might get from poking their heads in the Off Topic forum and seeing a FEW people going at each other, I cannot think of a single event/ride/meet that I have been to where a TWT user caused problems. I have never seen anyone drunken and obnoxious. I have never seen any serious/reckless riding. I've never seen strong personalities that refused to get along. I've never failed to see riders going out of their way to help other riders in need. Those are the things I really enjoy about our community of riders.
 
I got SWMBO to finally use the Amazon link. With luck, you'll start getting credits for those. We do a lot of Amazon stuff (I just did a couple today). May be small potatoes, but those potatoes add up.

For anyone who doesn't have it:

http://www.amazon.com/?tag=twowhetex-20

Just change your bookmark to that, and TWT gets a percentage of most things. Not everything is included, but the cost to you is zero.
 
10 years? That's all? Seems a lot longer.

I remember when we had a chatroom but only remember a few people on it when I was on it. That's when I first found it.

Elzi was the first TWTEXer that I met in person at a Ponder Pie Run.

I think I have met more people through this forum than any others.

When I've told other people on other forums about this site the key phrase that I use to describe it is "they don't care what you ride as long as you ride."

Here's to another great 10 years Scott!
 
Actually, it has been over 13 years. The original post on this thread was from 2013 ;-)
 
Wow! A lot has happened in 10
years! When I joined your forum,
I had just become the parts Mgr.
at Cowboy HD/Buell in S. Austin.
I was riding an XB12X back and
forth from Round Rock. Little did
I know the journey you started
that July in 2006 would lead me
to Montgomery 2 summer's later!
I see how living near this forest
inspired you to ride and write. I
loved your Dad's letter. I know
you realize how blessed you
are! And you are right, relation-
ships are everything, on bikes
or off. Thank you for this forum.
The friendships I have made
through Montgomery Bike nights
have truly enriched my life! So
Scott, congrats on a great forum
and I will see you out in the Sam
Houston Forest someday soon!
 
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10 years? That's all? Seems a lot longer.

I remember when we had a chatroom but only remember a few people on it when I was on it. That's when I first found it.

Elzi was the first TWTEXer that I met in person at a Ponder Pie Run.

I think I have met more people through this forum than any others.
I remember that. It was my first Pie Run, too. And my favorite place to wander for a quiet lunch.
:-)
 
:tab It's easy just to interact with people on a forum. But if you really want to be blessed, get out and meet the people. Ride with them. Eat with them. Listen to them. Share with them. Value them not because of what they might be able to do for you or because they think like you, but simply because they are valuable. That will change the world... ;-)

I really like what you wrote there Scott, it's so true.

I wasn't around here in Feb 2013, but plan to be in Feb 2018. An early congrats on 15 years!
 
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Yeah, I have been thinking about that. Any suggestions for some kind of 15th Anniversary event?



Hmm I can put the pie run at Sam’s, nice central, big and all you can eat.
As I am going to miss Crockett this year that should be number 101 for me.
 
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