It's not THAT bad. Review on Team-Bhp

I knew there would be a lot of Team-BHP haters. After all, most of us Indians dislike rules. Team-BHP is a place that has rules, actually, lots of them. And they are implemented to the T. The result shows in itself. It is a great forum if you wish to know about passenger cars and trucks in the Indian market. There's a lot of great stuff for potential buyers, owners and car enthusiasts.

All said and done, it's not a forum without issues. So, let's see. Is this forum as bad as the reviews is MS potray it to be or is it just us? Here's my take on it.

Login woes

I'd agree there are some issues here. I applied for a membership after many months of being a silent member. I wrote a 2 liner (sensible & concise) for the reason to join T-Bhp. I received a rejection 2 months later stating the reason was insufficient. I was angry, as anyone would have been. I wrote back to the moderators, and what do you know, soon enough got an apology and my membership was accepted ! My point is, sometimes, things can be a pain in the wrong place, but hey, these guys are not beyond reasoning & logic.

Here's the mail conversation with them...

Me:

"Common guys, the reason why someone wants to join an online Auto forum does not have to be a page long with the forum being extolled in every other word. Just keep it simple. I'm glad you don't ask for photo ids, notarization & stuff. Who knows..

I'm happy as it is being a guest member getting to know what I want. So what if I cannot help another bloke out (thanks to you).."

T-Bhp Mods:

"Hi there,

Well, all of us err from time to time, right? Do accept our apology and allow us to make up. Your membership has been activated. We look forward to seeing you on the forum.

Sincerely

The Team-BHP Webmaster"

My word of advice to T-bhp: You should be really concerned about this.Turning members back is not good for any forum or organization and this is the biggest gripe anyone can have against T-Bhp.

Asking for a reason is not wrong. You deserve the credit for the great place that T-Bhp is, but be careful not to get carried away.

Posting Rules

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This is another sore point that many users talk about. Restriction on smilies, abbreviations, content, presentation & language. Honestly, I do not think this is an issue at all. The reason why posts in T-Bhp are so informative is that members are discouraged from writing non useful, irrelevant information ! As simple as that. This might seem to be a lot to ask for, but hey, do you want an Indian online auto forum to look as bad as our roads are? Look at the mess our roads are. No one follows any rules. Try following rules and you will agree that it makes the whole environment a much better place. Talk about living in the US (lots of rules & strict implementation) vs. life in India (lots of rules & zero implementation).

One thing though, the mods should go a little easy on things like spelling and grammar. English is not our native language and there is no reason to be so finicky about it.

Privileged Members

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A lot of people don't like the fact that there are some members who are considered 'lords' in the forum. To me, this is a perception thing. As long as your posts are sound in reasoning and logic, no one can dominate you or your thoughts. No one bosses you unless you allow yourself to be subjugated. If you think you are being unfairly targeted for posting your opinions, give back if you believe you are right or stay silent if you sense otherwise. Or, even better, just ignore the one who is acting up.

So, whats the deal?

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If you want to benefit from a wealth of information, why do you care about non essential things? Just read the stuff in the forum and move on. If you are allowed to post, do so. You are certainly not the loser if turned away from the forum. Do not allow your self respect to be hurt because someone denies you membership. It's not a country club, its just an online forum !

To a lot of disgruntled users, I'd suggest you vent them to the moderators of the forum. It makes a lot more sense to do that first.

I'd give this site 4 stars overall for the content & site administration. On the long run, T-bhp can only afford to ignore the woes of its users at their own peril. If these irritants are sorted out, T-bhp will continue to be better and better, which incidentally, is going to benefit us consumers only.