NEPOC Off Topic Thread

[chuyler1]

This weekend the NEPOC members got a chance to join up with some of the Mazda6 Club and RX8 club members in the New England area. The discussion about changing the name of the club has come up numerous times and many people feel weird joining when they don't own Proteges themselves. Since many members still own Mazdas and the group has always been comprised of Mazda enthusiasts I personally feel that now is a good time to change the name of the club to include more enthusiasts in the New England area.

I am not saying this because I now own a Mazdaspeed6 (well, as far as payments go I still own the Protege5 too). I am saying this because there are numerous Mazda3, Mazda6, RX-7, RX-8, Miata, etc owners out there who enjoy modding their cars, hanging out at car shows, and grabbing a few beers with like minded car enthusiasts. Lets bring them under our wing and introduce them to what is IMHO one of the best car clubs around.

We have also discussed what name to choose numerous times and it always results to people suggesting NECOC or some other silly acronym. I am going to just go ahead and suggest that we call this group NEMOC - New England Mazda Owners Club. It is close to our original name yet broad enough to include more members of the niche Mazda comunity.

So unless we have a majority of current NEPOC members who object to this, I think we should move forward with NEMOC. Please vote honestly...and if you aren't a member of NEPOC please refrain from voting...this decision is for active NEPOC members only...and by active I mean you have gone to at least 1 NEPOC event in the last 2 years.

Please note, your vote will be public so that we know who voted. Hopefully this will discourage non NEPOC members from screwing up this proposition.

 

[Crazee D]

No

 

[Crazee D]

Its my only sticker

 

[Crazee D]

And I just bought 2 t shirts

 

[Crazee D]

Where does the "O" in NEMOC come from?

Enthusiasts

 

[SlowPro98]

Its my only sticker

lol that's where I was heading, but honestly, the name doesn't bother me. But it would be really sweet if we could somehow incorporate the New England Patriots logo into our new club logo. Now that I would vote for (alright)

 

[chuyler1]

Doh! My bad. Fixed New England Mazda Owners Club

 

[whitemp5seattle]

good thing I didn't buy any NEPOC stickers or t-shirts or anything yet! (thumb)

 

[slug420]

i like nepoc

when I tried to get the all-mazda club going in the past i thought it was best for each car to have their own club and just have one new england mazda owners group or whatever that all clubs and therefore all club members were a part of. Too many cooks in the kitchen IMO trying to run all mazdas in a 6 state area as one club. If you have one new england mazda owners group or whatever then its easier to include a lot of the pre-established regional clubs in your big mazda family without making the sometimes territorial club administrators feel like you are trying to "take members away". Basically if you create more of a hierarchical thing, you can have one rep from nutmeg miata, one from renegade miata, one from the msters etc and you coordinate meets/events between all of those "representatives".

By doing that its clear to everyone in each of these pre-existing clubs that New England Mazda Owners Club or whatever isnt something "instead" of their club they already love, its just a larger body that their club has elected to become a part of....and no one feels as if they have to choose between one or the other (which none of us here would likely feel pressure to do but I think theres a lot of people who have a different connotation of the word club and would).

I know there arent a lot of proteges at our meets and our members are constantly moving on to other cars, but this all started with proteges, we welcome everyone else with all the sweet(er) cars like MS3s MS6s RX8s etc, and i would hate for NEPOC to change, the crowd to become more of the newer cars and less of the proteges and for the proteges to eventually feel like they are 2nd class citizens or something and then as every model seems to want...they form their own club.

One of the things that has made NEPOC so great and helped so many people enjoy it (i think) is the lack of attention to detail from a "club administration" POV. There's no politics and generally speaking no differing points of view since there are no "issues" to have different point of view about. I would prefer that we didnt start now by trying to "correct" an inaccuracy in what one of the letters in our club name (P) stands for.

Basically I think it should remain NEPOC, if nothing else its a "homage" to our past when it was all proteges all the time. I am all for all these non-protege owners being a part of NEPOC....or if they prefer...creating their own model specific clubs that we can coordinate meets/events with.

[/.02]

 

[Rednecks_wife]

I feel your pain. Arizona Mazda Club (AZMC) has gone through the growing pains as well. Good luck to you all. If we're ever on the eas coast we'll have to meet up some time. Bill has family in PA so maybe some day we'll head back east.

Since its your club I'll refrain from commenting on the name. Just wanted to give you some support from another club on the other side of the country.

Take care

Christy

 

[Hambino]

And be lead to our deaths? Negative.

 

[Astral]

the hierarchical thing sounds OK--get clubs to have cooperative meets.

 

[Hambino]

I just think that NEPOC is more than just an acronym. It's a statement about how hard we rock. NEMOC? What we change our name so a couple new people can show up (maybe)? I mean, new people are great and the more the merrier, but I don't really see the outcry from other people feeling ousted by the NEPOC name.

 

[bazooka joe]

looking at your sig....that westfield meet was just awesome man!!

anyway, i really don't care, but i'm all for being more inclusive???? talk about stickers and t shirts...but anyway, it's always been about the people, not the cars, from day one anyway! i say the change is okay with me..

 

[chuyler1]

I understand that some want to stay true to our "heritage" but The Protege only had a short running and I personally don't want to spend hours posting and tracking multiple threads on multiple boards just to get 5-10 guys to show up at a meet. It dis-associates them from the club when you do it that way and they don't hold much loyalty. In order to maintain a tight-nit community the members have to post on the same board and get to know one another outside of the meets. Mazdas247 is the perfect location for that since the non-Protege subforums are beginning to grow and we can expect the next wave in the form of New England MS3 and MS6 owners to find the forum soon. I'm not expecting to pull RX-8 and Miata owners away from their prospective clubs (since that likely will never happen) but if we can get some of them to come over here and check this forum on a daily basis and feel at home, we can increase numbers and allow others to enjoy what is quite possibly the best club-format around: a bunch of guys (and girls) that enjoy Mazdas, attend shows together and help each other out on projects. As Mark said, its about the people, not the cars.

As for the club administration aspect, nothing will change. We don't plan to collect dues. People will pay for their stickers and t-shirts out of their own pocket.

 

[slug420]

i guess im biased since I think its also stupid the way mazdas247 is trying to be everything mazdas to everyone. As far as im concerned, these are still the protege forums, not the mazda forums and we are just dilluting their model specific websites (whose names we censor) by trying to do so..

The forums whose names we censor offer larger, more model specific communities for owners of the 3 6 7 and 8s, i think its in the best interests of each community for everyone to acknowledge the other models' independently run sites and have them all feed off each other rather than some form of competing for members with these other sites.

To me its the same way with the name change, i dont feel the need to have as many members as possible in NEPOC, and if someone isnt comfortable with the word NEPOC on their car because of what the P stands for then they are free to create their own rx8 club, or 6 club, or all-mazdas club and tag along at NEPOC meets/get togethers/etc as im sure we would if invited to theirs.

I just dont believe in changing our name to accomodate and/or allow us to market ourselves to new members.

 

[bazooka joe]

i guess im biased since I think its also stupid the way mazdas247 is trying to be everything mazdas to everyone. As far as im concerned, these are still the protege forums, not the mazda forums and we are just dilluting their model specific websites (whose names we censor) by trying to do so..

The forums whose names we censor offer larger, more model specific communities for owners of the 3 6 7 and 8s, i think its in the best interests of each community for everyone to acknowledge the other models' independently run sites and have them all feed off each other rather than some form of competing for members with these other sites.

To me its the same way with the name change, i dont feel the need to have as many members as possible in NEPOC, and if someone isnt comfortable with the word NEPOC on their car because of what the P stands for then they are free to create their own rx8 club, or 6 club, or all-mazdas club and tag along at NEPOC meets/get togethers/etc as im sure we would if invited to theirs.

I just dont believe in changing our name to accomodate and/or allow us to market ourselves to new members.

i hear you....

 

[altspace]

Very valid points by all. There is another aspect of the club we are leaving out which is those who do not own a Mazda at all or have owned one in the past. Being now that I personally do not own a Protege, I am forever a "NEPOCer" because of all the said things. Great people and good times. Even if I went to another brand of car rather than the 8 I'd still participate here.

I believe we can keep the name and for those of us that visit other Mazda boards can educate them of our little community. In fact, I've already been doing so as I'm sure others have. Simply let them know we are a car enthusiast community and if they feel that they do not want to be part of it then that is their prerogative. We'll still have our "core" members and if we grow, great! If not then that's fine as well with me.

So to that I say we keep the name for now. Fact is the Protege will not last forever and in time many of us are planning on purchasing other vehicles. If by then we feel that the Protege part of the club name be changed then so be it. Just a thought.

 

[chuyler1]

Honestly, if this site only discussed Proteges I would have gotten bored a long time ago. What keeps me coming back is the NEPOC section, discussion of new models even non-Mazdas, audio related topics, and the occasional off-topic thread. I also love seeing nicely done photo sessions of cars (mazdas and non-mazdas). Granted this site will never get record numbers of RX-8 and Miata owners to check regularly...but what about those CX-7 and Mazda5 owners...they don't have any place to go. I also think this forum has just as much, if not more information than the Mazda3 specific forums.

It will only be a matter of years before the Protege base of this club dwindles down to nothing. There will be a turn over of new owners but 5 years from now the Protege name will be all but forgotten. However, right now what unites us is our love for Mazdas. Even if some of us don't still own Mazdas we have an appreciation for them whether it be the rotory engine or the superb handing of the Miata. Lets work off that enthusiasum and bring more people under our umbrella. People who don't own Proteges simply don't feel like they are part of the group. For example, Chris who we met yesterday drove by the spring cleaning meet in his Mazdaspeed6 because he was afraid to stop in when he didn't see any other 6's.

Keeping the name at NEPOC restricts the member base to the current set of owners and previous owners and then the very limited number of new recruits. If you want to keep this club alive we've got to open our arms to new members that don't necessarily own Proteges but share the same interests.

 

[altspace]

Oh that was him in the Speed6. He was afraid of people?