Dapol's new forum "Dapol Digest"

[leachsprite4]

Well the good news is they've announced more mainsail coaches in crimso and cream  Bad news that the break thirds have first class stickers again. Yep they are the approved production models

However I agree a idea if it's stuck to but the format is poor to navigate and the reskinned website gets worse, so will people commit to it as yet another forum. Graham

[Skyline2uk]

I know the approach Revolution has taken has drawn me in more than say Farish just announcing stuff!

I agree with this view, and I hope Bach-Farish continue doing what they did with (most) of the new NSE stuff; announce a new model with actual samples on hand.

Probably not practical to do this with every release, but a nice surprise on occasion?

Skyline2uk

[leachsprite4]

The digest also includes a sub section for the j72, which I thought had been cancelled?
Positive dapol are responding to comments and there is mention of loco driven West Country.
Bad news the motor in loco driven West Country didn't work out so well. Next options being looked at.
ok, I need to be positive Mr Pinto is a credit with his crimson discussions.
Graham

[Karhedron]

ok, I need to be positive Mr Pinto is a credit with his crimson discussions.

Thanks Graham 

I decided to ditch my usual pseudonym for once as I have spoken to the Dapol team numerous times and I thought it would be easier if they knew who I was.

[scruff]

Dapol do seem willing to try social media (something Bachmann seem more leery of) but their track record with things like Dapol TV and Ask Dapol Dave do suggest they sometimes run out of steam after a while...

Maybe because I'd left? Lol

Possibly! But I do think that way DJM and Revolution, to name but two, engage with the hobbyists is something new and potentially essential.

If the hobby is going to expand beyond "old men reminiscing about the steam era" and start embracing younger modellers, it needs to become more of a discussion. By that I mean that manufacturers can't just announce stuff and hope people will welcome what's delivered two years later. Just look at how much better the Dapol D6300s and 'Westerns' were thanks to the two-way discussion, and it certainly looks as if the Pendolino is going to profit from the same hobbyist (marketplace!) input.

I'm a big Dapol fan, and really hope that this forum develops into something positive for them, and in turn, for us as well.

Cheers, NeMo

So far it looks pretty good, They have posted the final CAD drawings for the Class 50 and asked for input before it goes for tooling.. And it looks like the 59 is open for comments too.. Feedback so far has been pretty good from Dapol staff..

Cheers
Mark

[GeeBee]

Just signed up will have a better look around it tomorrow

[trkilliman]

I have just signed up and will give it a fair period of development/customer interaction.

It is a fresh opportunity for Dapol to engage with customers, and only time will tell if this genuinely occurs.  I do not expect them to respond to the wish lists of every man and his dog, although some good ideas will obviously surface. Considering constructive comments from customers that could help improve/tweak their products and user experiences would b good

Let's see if it does what it says on the tin...they'd be silly to blow this.

[Newportnobby]

Not sure if Dapol have pushed their forum in any great shape or form yet but, from what I can see, if it weren't for several of us from the NGF on there things would be somewhat quiet.
Maybe a deadline was missed for the monthly mags so not many are aware of it

[Graham Walters]

Not sure if Dapol have pushed their forum in any great shape or form yet but, from what I can see, if it weren't for several of us from the NGF on there things would be somewhat quiet.
Maybe a deadline was missed for the monthly mags so not many are aware of it

According to a ( fairly ) reliable source this forum is one of the most popular on the web, and gives RM Web a close run.
I can vouch that the online shop gets more hits from here than anywhere else.

[zwilnik]

It might be they're doing a soft launch, so they're seeing how the forum copes with users that find it organically first before really pushing it.

[red_death]

According to a ( fairly ) reliable source this forum is one of the most popular on the web, and gives RM Web a close run.

I'm not sure where you got that from but it isn't even close (you can check various online tools for web rankings eg Alexa or Similarweb - they are estimates but give you a good idea). TBH, it is no reflection on the popularity of the NGF that it doesn't compare to RMweb - I wouldn't expect a single scale, independent forum to compare to a multi-scale, commercially backed site.

I'm making no judgement on the quality of each site, they are just different.

Cheers, Mike

[Graham Walters]

According to a ( fairly ) reliable source this forum is one of the most popular on the web, and gives RM Web a close run.

I'm not sure where you got that from but it isn't even close (you can check various online tools for web rankings eg Alexa or Similarweb - they are estimates but give you a good idea). TBH, it is no reflection on the popularity of the NGF that it doesn't compare to RMweb - I wouldn't expect a single scale, independent forum to compare to a multi-scale, commercially backed site.

I'm making no judgement on the quality of each site, they are just different.

Cheers, Mike

Figures from ABC media, based on hits, not on member count, and also based on time spent on forum, RM Web is not as busy as they try to make out, neither is the magazine, not me talking honest !

[red_death]

As I said easy to check and doesn't tally with the results from elsewhere (based on hits nothing to do with member count).

Or just look at the number of posts per day - far far more on Rmweb.

[njee20]

I agree with Mike - just looking at the free Alexa analytics the NGF is 709,018th in the world and 28,631st in the UK for visits. RMWeb is 111,831st and 3,373rd. My favoured cycling forum is 25,454th and 1,641st. Not an indictment on the NGF, it's just a lot smaller!

Re: Dapol, it's good they're reaching out to people, but IMO disappointing they're doing it 'in house', rather than visiting existing platforms. It's possibly unfair, but to me it suggests a degree of uncertainty that they want to 'own' the communication such that they can dictate the direction of conversation (or ignore it).

Still no 92 either 

[kirky]

I think I must be being thick. I can post replies in the dapol digest forum, but how do you start a new topic?

Id ask there in a new topic but... I cant.

Thanks
Kirky