A Sunny Tally?

[Drake]

Just looking through all the posts, I was wondering if it would be valuable and interesting to club members to poll Sunny owners about their Sunnys as to models and general locations ( like western NY, or east Georgia, etc.) of same, and other information without getting too invasive privacy -wise. The questionaire could be all elective answers, so that owners could tell as much or little as they like about their Sunnys and the data associated with their ownership. JohnB is doing a great service in collecting VIN #'s, and this info could perhaps be useful to him as well as to the rest of us.
I'd like to know for instance how many other owners have Sevilles, so I could friend them on this site in order that we could share our "model" specific experiences and ideas. Since all model years also share some specific info that is year specific, I'd like to know how many '88 models are still around. It also would be interesting to get an idea of how many Sunnys are out there and still in use, as I would imagine the Sunny species grows more rare each year.

I may be all wet here...maybe I'm too curious for my own good, but I thought I'd toss the idea out there for general comment and for Senior Members to mull over.

Cheers,
Drake

[Tweety]

I think that would be really interesting.
I'm pretty sure it's Jon (SunlineFan) who is collecting VINs. He would be the best person to set up a survey. With all his knowledge he'd be sure to think of something the rest of us would omit. Does this site have the capability to add up the results as people reply like an excel spreadsheet?

[mclamp]

I agree, I too have been wishing there was an easier way to see who has the same/similar camper that I do, as well as who lives in the same region as me.
It would also be nice to be able to browse through images of campers by model, not by going to profiles then looking through albums. I too am sure that some may have privacy concerns and therefore all information should be kept optional.

[264SRinPA]

I think it's safe to say that there are a lot of Sunnys out there that the owners don't even know about SOC. It's not uncommon for us to see 5 - 10 Sunlines everytime we go camping, and we haven't met anyone that knew about this club. So you would never get any real idea of how many are still in use.

[Drake]

I agree, but you guys that travel in your Sunnys are spreading the word...sorta like missionaries...(sorry about that similie, but it popped into my head), and new folks who hear about the SOC will surely want to join. How could they resist knowing the advantages SOC offers its members ?? Thus our numbers grow! One of the items in the questionare should be, "How did you find out about SOC?" I bet you would find that just the situation you have stated above is the way many found out. I found it only after I bought my Sunny and wanted to see if there was anything online re Sunnys...that'll be another way folks find out...but all aren't computer geeks like me...that's why they bought RV's to get away from the rat race. Thing is, that while the SOC can be a social club if you are a social person , it doesn't have to be if you want fewer people and socializing in your life...it offers so many valuable functions for any owner. It is a respository of so much Sunny info. I don't know where I'd be regarding repairs and advice on my old Seville, if I hadn't had the advice from the wonderful folks in SOC.

[JohnB]

Hi Drake

When folks join and they put in their signature the Sunline they have or had this helps spread the word. And if they can add in their screen name area the state and possibly town, they also helps spread the word.

The pic's of members album's, yes that is tough one with this latest software. However the scrolling pics as we log in is always interesting. I know I go into those albums as they pop up and they are really interesting and I'm thankfull folks have shared them. Some really great places to go camping and see how others use there Sunny.

One thing to put the credit in the right place is the VIN registry. That is SunlineFan, Jon. He is the "man" on the history and records. It is also he who has put up all those Sunline brochures in our file section that are literally priceless as we all look at them from time to time when folks need help we can look up what they have. And so can they.... No worries on my end with the mix up, Sunline Fan and I know each other well and the mix up of Jon and John occurs often.... He has created a Sunline museum that is truly amazing of the collection of Sunline collectibles he has acquired. If you ever get a chance to see it, it is worth the trip.

And if you ever get the chance some day to go to a SOC gathering, go for it. You get to put the faces to the screen names. And I know your camper is "semi permanently situated" but you can still come over for the day.

John

[Drake]

Sorry, John and Jon for the mix-up. You've both been so helpful to me, along with Steve Collins in the past year that I just merged the two of you Johns (Jons) together in my mind, I guess.

You guys may demure, but you really are the folks who have the wherewithal in terms of Sunny knowledge and experience to hold the SOC together. No need to reply...just accept it!

Thanks for the personal invite to any and all SOC gatherings. I do have my eyes peeled for a close one to drop in on.

[PTHutch]

Originally Posted by Drake

Just looking through all the posts, I was wondering if it would be valuable and interesting to club members to poll Sunny owners about their Sunnys as to models and general locations ...
I'd like to know for instance how many other owners have Sevilles, ...,,
Drake

One way to obtain and share this information would be to have the site administrators enhance the profile information and member list display.

For example, expand the "Location" field in the profile to include State (or Province for our CA friends ) & City.
Add a "Unit" filed to identify Year, Model, & Manufacturer (for those SOC Alumni members )

Then enhance the Member List displayed via the "Community" drop-down to include the Unit information entered.
And add sorting and filtering capabilities.
For example,
Sorting on Locations on State/Province & City and Unit sorting on Year, Model, Manufacture, allowing for multiple level sorting (e.g., State then City; Year, then Model; State, City, Year, Model etc.)
Filtering on only NY state or only 1988 model years, etc.

Members have the option to enter the amount of information they wish to share via their profile and the member list would provide an efficient way for sorting and filtering the information to help identify other SOC members in your area, with similar units, etc.
I think that would come close to what you're looking for.

Just adding my $0.02.
Hutch

[Drake]

A good $0.02!! Thanks PT.

[Poppy & Nana]

Now to convenience the administrators.......

[PTHutch]

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

Now to convenience the administrators.......

Already submitted with favorable response.

It'll probably take a little time to formalize the idea into a specific design for enhancing the site and for them then to update the site.

[Drake]

Wonderful...I hope it will prove a valuable asset to all of us!

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by PTHutch

Already submitted with favorable response.

It'll probably take a little time to formalize the idea into a specific design for enhancing the site and for them then to update the site.

Hutch

Now thinking about this, on the old forum software you could view the members by date they signed up, location and the type of camper they had. I can't seem to find that list on the new software, however the data I'm sure still exists. If that list could be sorted by camper, or location then you can see all the members who had a certain model. Or all the members who where in you area or at least state.

The info would only be up to date as much as people entered as far as location and TT model but those who want to include can and those who don't did not have to.

Do you know how to get to that older member list now?

John

[Hematite]

Originally Posted by Drake

Wonderful...I hope it will prove a valuable asset to all of us!

I find it strange that you are interested in finding out where other Sunlines and members are but, yet, you show no location in your information.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by Hematite

I find it strange that you are interested in finding out where other Sunlines and members are but, yet, you show no location in your information.

He does have, it's Newport News, VA.

In the process of trying to incorporate some of the suggestions listed above here, there's some changes going in place for the profile settings. The old information is still under the profile, but the side pane next to the individual posts now only shows the state at the present moment. None or very little of this information transferred over, so most people will have to go update their User CP settings with the correct state.

Jon

[Drake]

Hematite,
No nefarious reason, I assure you!!!! I'm permanantly located in Southwestern VA south of Keysville VA. Again...this is not, as I said in my original post, necessarily info folks would have to reveal if they didn't want to. I'm more interested in how many Sunnys are left out there, and keeping in touch with owners of like models to share info. Sorry you found it strange....

[nasa42a]

Folks....

The "census" approach has some advantages, I think. For example, our SOC Alumni chapter continues to grow (in part because of physics, in part 'cause many continue to like the company here)....and it would be useful and interesting to have at least a periodic "state of the SOC" which listed current Sunny owners (by model?), as well as the overall # in the alumni "chapter".

Frank

[Hematite]

Originally Posted by Drake

Hematite,
No nefarious reason, I assure you!!!! I'm permanantly located in Southwestern VA south of Keysville VA. Again...this is not, as I said in my original post, necessarily info folks would have to reveal if they didn't want to. I'm more interested in how many Sunnys are left out there, and keeping in touch with owners of like models to share info. Sorry you found it strange....

You obviously did not understand my statement. I find nothing strange about the idea that you suggested. What IS strange is that your post profile currently shows no location at all.

Jon understood my comment and explained that post profiles may have to be updated in the User CP settings to show the State in the post profile.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by Hematite

You obviously did not understand my statement. I find nothing strange about the idea that you suggested. What IS strange is that your post profile currently shows no location at all.

Jon understood my comment and explained that post profiles may have to be updated in the User CP settings to show the State in the post profile.

This change has just started happening over the last week as a result of this thread and hasn't been announced to members yet (we moderators have the opportunity to look over the new features and work out the bugs if necessary), so it's not his fault that the location info didn't show there. We are trying to incorporate fields for coach model number, state location, etc. The reason we broke down the location part to city and state is so that people can filter the memberlist by state, coach year, coach model number, etc. With people putting a city and state combined, the computer couldn't easily filter the results.

I'm not sure why some now have state info filled in and others don't. It could be that the tech admin has gone in to start correcting some of them, I'm not sure. Plus, all new members will be prompted to add this information when they join, so new accounts will include city, state, coach year, and coach model number info if available.

Jon

[Hematite]

Jon,

I have to admit that it is funny that in attempting to provide more information, the end result is that less information is displayed. Leave it to a confuser ( computer). LOL.