This NG is very odd.

The stats of NG's are that they are mostly utilised when someone has a problem (exceptions being new car, etc..) they want to ask advice about.

It being quiet is for the most part probably a good thing :o)

It gets a bit lively from time to time....

:)

Paul

NG's in general are dead. Forums based websites like:

i usually look when mini2 is unavailable or the server is busy ;)

In particular the second one.

;)

Paul

The reason this site has dwindled is because most of the owners of MINI's are posting messages in the MiniUSA.com owner message board. It is an awesome site that list hundreds of notes from Maintenance to traveling experiences and performance aswell. There is one small catch though. You have to be a MINI owner in order to become a member.

Cheers,

Despite the 'inside track' the official sites have, there's a more international (and probably more active) community at MINI2, and you don't have to be an owner to post, and you don't have to register to access parts of the site either. ; )

From what I've heard from owners who've 'jumped ship' from the official forums, there's more freedom to expression on the unofficial sites too!

Paul

Depends on the newsgroup. Some are pretty good. But Mini folks do seem to be hitting the forums (particularly mini2.com) a lot more than here. In some ways, this is a little unfortunate - I actually prefer the low-bandwidth, text-oriented aspect of newsgroups. I'm always a little perplexed why people think anyone is interested in their thirty-line signature with a picture of their stock car, their pet's name, their favorite color and a long list of the chrome and carbon-fiber doo-dad they've festooned on their Mini. The signal-to-noise ratio on many forums is out of bounds.

- Mark

On MINI2 once you've joined you can switch off all those graphics, and even view the forums in 'threaded' view so it flows from post to post like older BBs or newsgroups 'kind of' do.

;)

alt.autos.mini, the Classic Mini newsgroup is still very active, for a car newsgroup anyway!

Paul