Planet 9

RingSport · #**141** 10-23-2009, 04:54 PM

Yeah, I remember that. I do think you have done a great job of keeping a club atmosphere where the "members" really feel like there input is heard while keeping it a viable for profit enterprise.

**Andy (Portland, OR)** · #**142** 11-01-2009, 09:43 PM

My 2¢:

I liked Cayman Club -- very specific to a single model with a "club" atmosphere. Club in the sense that we all had something in common and exclusivity -- not in the sense that there were any prerequisites to joining, only that we were like minded in opting for the "lesser" Porsche for very sound reasons -- great chassis, motor in the right place, etc. (Personally, I traded "down" from a GT3 for a better handling, more fun to drive, car.)

So, I was disappointed when the site was expanded to essentially all Porsche models and renamed Porsche Planet. I always felt there were plenty of other places to go for information on the 911 variants -- why blur the lines and lose focus? Just as Rennlist could not develop a Cayman following with Cayman Club around, I think Rennlist poses a similar problem for this site with respect to the 911 cars.

And now, Planet 9? The connection between the new name and the content is virtually impossible to even guess. As a retired lawyer, I do understand the legal constraints in naming a website when the trademark owner strictly enforces its trademark. One reason they do this, though, is so as to not be deemed to have waived their rights. A way around this is for the trademark owner to license use of its name. So here's a suggestion, Ken: contact PCNA and see if they will license the name Porsche and/or Cayman to you for $1 or $10 (or some other relatively nominal sum) per year. Perhaps accompany this with screen grabs of posts by users who were swayed to buy a Cayman by consulting your site or who thank other posters for assisting them with their decision-making.

I wish you the best -- I know you have good intentions.

Andy

Phil 1 · #**143** 11-01-2009, 10:12 PM

I was not gonna bring this thread back TTT but I like the new "Porsche like image", on home page. I had almost forgotten that the program changed...

**K-Man S** · #**144** 11-01-2009, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by Andy (Portland, OR)

My 2¢:

I liked Cayman Club -- very specific to a single model with a "club" atmosphere. Club in the sense that we all had something in common and exclusivity -- not in the sense that there were any prerequisites to joining, only that we were like minded in opting for the "lesser" Porsche for very sound reasons -- great chassis, motor in the right place, etc. (Personally, I traded "down" from a GT3 for a better handling, more fun to drive, car.)

So, I was disappointed when the site was expanded to essentially all Porsche models and renamed Porsche Planet. I always felt there were plenty of other places to go for information on the 911 variants -- why blur the lines and lose focus? Just as Rennlist could not develop a Cayman following with Cayman Club around, I think Rennlist poses a similar problem for this site with respect to the 911 cars.

And now, Planet 9? The connection between the new name and the content is virtually impossible to even guess. As a retired lawyer, I do understand the legal constraints in naming a website when the trademark owner strictly enforces its trademark. One reason they do this, though, is so as to not be deemed to have waived their rights. A way around this is for the trademark owner to license use of its name. So here's a suggestion, Ken: contact PCNA and see if they will license the name Porsche and/or Cayman to you for $1 or $10 (or some other relatively nominal sum) per year. Perhaps accompany this with screen grabs of posts by users who were swayed to buy a Cayman by consulting your site or who thank other posters for assisting them with their decision-making.

I wish you the best -- I know you have good intentions.

Andy

Andy,
Not to rain on your ideas, but trust me we've already explored all options and the option chosen will be the best in the long run, as I've said before it is up to us to give the new name meaning and continue to produce a quality product regardless of the name. If Porsche was willing to license we'd already have gone down that road, they are not. To many items to list here. As far as rennlist is concerned I don't really care because rennlist is a corporate owned site with one thing in mind, making a profit, that's not us, not our goal, if we attract 911 owners over time great, if not, that's ok too, but if we create and deliver a quality product then over time I'm sure we'll continue to gain quality members. Thanks for the input.

**Santa Fe** · #**145** 11-01-2009, 10:46 PM

Gee Ken, can't believe we didn't think of all those things...

Capercat · #**146** 11-01-2009, 10:49 PM

Those of us who own a Cayman, this is the public forum to be in. That's the bottom line.

Stevie · #**147** 11-01-2009, 11:48 PM

Originally Posted by Andy (Portland, OR)

My 2¢:

I liked Cayman Club -- very specific to a single model with a "club" atmosphere. Club in the sense that we all had something in common and exclusivity -- not in the sense that there were any prerequisites to joining, only that we were like minded in opting for the "lesser" Porsche for very sound reasons -- great chassis, motor in the right place, etc. (Personally, I traded "down" from a GT3 for a better handling, more fun to drive, car.)

So, I was disappointed when the site was expanded to essentially all Porsche models and renamed Porsche Planet. I always felt there were plenty of other places to go for information on the 911 variants -- why blur the lines and lose focus?

To Andy’s first point, I have been harboring this sentiment throughout the move to Porsche Planet. The ‘club’ was very engaging. I don’t post half as much as before the change. I think your writing has merit and was to the point. Thanks for expressing it for me as I, for one, agree.

Originally Posted by K-Man S

Andy,
As far as rennlist is concerned I don't really care because rennlist is a corporate owned site with one thing in mind, making a profit, that's not us, not our goal, if we attract 911 owners over time great, if not, that's ok too, but if we create and deliver a quality product then over time I'm sure we'll continue to gain quality members. Thanks for the input.

To Ken’s response, why did we did we change again from being a Cayman club to being a Porsche site?

Thanks,
-Stevie

**K-Man S** · #**148** 11-02-2009, 03:45 AM

Originally Posted by Stevie

To Andy’s first point, I have been harboring this sentiment throughout the move to Porsche Planet. The ‘club’ was very engaging. I don’t post half as much as before the change. I think your writing has merit and was to the point. Thanks for expressing it for me as I, for one, agree.

To Ken’s response, why did we did we change again from being a Cayman club to being a Porsche site?

Thanks,
-Stevie

Stevie,
My first reaction was to tell you to go search because this has all been covered before, but I realize maybe people didn't read what I posted when we changed from planet-9.com to PlanetPorsche.Net so I don't mind repeating some of the major points, there were several so I would invite you or anyone who is interested to got back and read over the history if you are really interested. Before I do cover those points though, I see absolutely no reason why someone should change their posting habits because some website has a domain name X.Net, Y.Net or Z.Com if the people are the same, the administration is the same, the posting rules are the same, there's only more content. Isn't that like saying that you aren't going to watch TV anymore because they keep adding channels to your cable or satellite provider? Are people harkening for the good old days when they only recieved 3 or 4 channels via rabbit ears?

I understand you said you changed your posting habits but I don't understand "why" as the same types of conversations have taken place before and after the domain name changes, people want to know about buying cars, service problems, what wheels to buy, PASM vs. non-PASM, S vs. Non-S etc. etc.

Now on with the show. Why the change from planet-9.com to PlanetPorsche.Net (and subsequently Planet-9.Com?)

The first reason is member request from non-Cayman owners. Initially these were from Boxster owners, which makes sense since the Boxster is what 90+% the same as the Cayman. Boxster owners wanted to know if they were welcome and wanted to be able to talk about some things that might be Boxster specific, like the top mechanism, chasis flex, etc. Over time we also received requests from 911 owners. Usually the 911 owner requests were something along the lines of what a great resource we had for Caymans, was there something similar for 911 owners. The answer was, and probably stll is, "No" but that didn't mean that there couldn't be.

I had a choice, I could either ignore these individuals and their requests and tell them "sorry this Cayman only go away" or I could do what was done and that was accept them as fellow Porsche owners, try not to be a snob - something Cayman owners had accused 911 owners of being after the initial reaction to the Cayman becoming available, and give them a place to hang out and work on building something similar to what we had built for Cayman owners. In that light we are likely to always be Cayman-centric, it is our heritage if you will or primary focus but owners of other Porsche models have good and interesting things to say too, some of them which come back to impact the Cayman platform, so why not give them a home as well and if they are passionate enough and enthusiastic enough then over time they might build out some good content for their models as well. I'd say the Boxster owners are on their way, the others still getting off the ground, but again, that's OK I don't expect Rome to be built in a day.

The other major reason for adding content was to keep us being pigeon-holed by other corporate run websites with our advertisers. Many of our sponsors have been told by Internet Brands, the corporate entity that manages 6speedonline and rennlist (and other sites) that it isn't worth it to advertise here, that Cayman owners are "cheap", "don't spend a lot", "aren't into their Porsches as much as 911 owners" and "won't buy in quantity or quality" etc. They've also targeted us saying that we are so focused on the Cayman that the sponsor won't sell anything but a small % of their product line and that if the sponsor wants to make real money they need to advertise with Internet Brands on their sites. There have also been similar statements made by the owners of other competing sites. We actually lost some sponsors who bought into these tactics. Part of the problem for our competitors is that we charge quite a bit less for advertising than they do, initially it was because we had lower traffic numbers than some competing sites, but now that we have the same or better traffic numbers I've still kept prices low and offer a lot more options for the little guy like Larry at Moweraxle who makes a single product, a license plate holder that goes in the tow hook. He can't afford to pay what Internet Brands is charging - in some cases $600/month or more - to be on those competing sites. Members of those sites won't learn about his product unless they visit here. I'd rather have our members exposed to a wider selection than a narrower selection because I'm not driven soley by making corporate profits.

We do have to keep the lights on, however, and unless we could show some continued growth for our sponsors we were in danger of losing more because I don't have the big pockets to print of flashy brochures, I don't have a staff of sales people whose job it is to call sponsors relentlessly until they give in and advertise, and I don't own a multi-million dollar network of automotive sites like IB does. So faced with a choice of staying stagnant and losing sponsors and possibly losing the site and its resources I did what needed to be done and that was expand the coverage of the site to try and keep us growing, keep sponsors happy, and fight off some of the tactics being employed by IB and other sites. If someone wants to send me a few million to put into and account where the interest pays for running the site so I don't have to spend many of my own hours trying to get a sponsor on the phone while also trying to maintain this site, sure I'll take them up on it, would make my life easier, but I don't see anyone volunteering to do that.

There are other reasons but my kids just woke up, one of them having a bad dream and now I have some family issues to attend to so please take the time to read up on the history of the prior change if you have further questions but I've got to sign off for now...

Croctor · #**149** 11-02-2009, 06:08 AM

I am new to the site just this summer so can't offer any personnal insights as I just wasn't around before. Ken's explanations seem reasonable to me. I enjoy the site and the name and appearance are just fine IMHO.

***Speedy*** · #**150** 11-02-2009, 03:12 PM

I DO like the new car at the top of the page! This one certainly looks like a P-car...

i a motorsports · #**151** 11-03-2009, 11:30 AM

Ken, the new car is SOO much better. But why would it be anything but yellow?!

***carsteve*** · #**152** 11-03-2009, 12:02 PM

Like the new graphic at the top right. Much better and thanks for heeding the feedback of all of the users and making the change.

Also like the "All Forums" tab. Don't know if it was there before but I just saw it this morning. Nice touch to keep some of the old feel there. Thanks.

raspritz · #**153** 11-03-2009, 02:36 PM

All of the major sites have their appeals. I'm a 997 owner, and find things of interest here just as I do elsewhere. However, you have completely lost visibility on Google (which is how I got here in the first place). Don't believe me? Google 'Planet-9' or 'PlanetPorsche'. The site is now invisible.