WhatsApp Community Launch

Last year, at the request of many members, we ran a trial of a Club WhatsApp community – a secure way to manage messages between members focussed around topics of interest, using WhatsApp on your phone.

The trial proved very popular and provided significant extra value to those who participated,

As a result, we are now launching our WhatsApp Community to be available exclusively to all Club members.

This page provides an explanation of what the Community is about, how it might be of interest and value to you, and how to take part.

As paid up member of the Club, and if we can identify you as a WhatsApp user through your mobile phone number you will receive an invite to join the Club shortly after joining. You only need to accept the invite to be included and to start receiving announcements from the Club direct to your phone. You will then have the option to join Groups in the Community to see and respond to messages sent by other Club members.

If we do not have your valid mobile phone number we will email you offering you an easy and secure way to let us know so we can invite you.

If you do not wish to be part of the Club WhatsApp Community, simply do not accept the invite we send you, or let us know you would prefer not to be invited in the future.

We hope you will both enjoy and find extra value as the Club leverages more technology for the benefit of all our members globally!

Remember to read and adhere to our Terms of Service – there is a pdf link on this page.

What is the purpose and value of the Club WhatsApp Community to members?

It gives members access to an exclusive service, just for them, to :

• Receive Announcements from the Club in the fastest way as they are pushed to your phone as a WhatsApp message. Examples might be letting you know about events that are happening soon, updates of interest that have been made to the Club Website such as new articles on the REVS page, discounts for events or items such as the NEC discounted tickets, and many more things you might like to hear about fast!

• Ask a global community of members for technical advice or help such as sourcing a part, or knowledge of how to solve an issue. During our trial this was shown to be an especially useful feature, with members from all over the world providing their help and expertise in almost real-time.

• Get the latest on major events, helping members connect and make the most of their day, such as the NEC show. Or you can follow what other members are doing & seeing if you can't attend!

• Have access to the latest deals or ideas that other members share.

• Share and sell parts that you no longer need or ask for help finding something.

• Be part of the Community of S/N/Z owners and see what others are doing with their cars – many posts are about car shows members have attended with some great pictures and videos to keep us all motivated to use our cars more – or to finish that rebuild!

• Other benefits we haven't discovered yet!

Please note that our Club WhatsApp Community is intended as an additional service to Club members. It does not replace existing capabilities, especially the Club Website or the Forum. While WhatsApp enables real-time messages between members, our Website and Forum provide a more permanent source of information and knowledge. It is complementary and not a replacement of anything the Club presently offers!

Why a "WhatsApp Community"

• It enables a Closed, managed community of just Club members – for Club members.

• You can choose to take part or not by accepting / declining the invitation.You can choose to leave the Community if you wish at any point.

• Club announcements can be made quickly, safely, and received conveniently by those included in the community.

• We can create 'sub-groups' for activities or interests and members can choose to join them with no additional 'joining' or admin effort by members or the club. At the launch we have one 'General' Group, plus we create groups for specific events (such as the AGM & Social Weekend). We will monitor how the service works, and create other useful groups over time to meet our Club needs.

This provides more security, easier management, and a better experience for everyone. A simple WhatsApp group would not securely achieve the above.

What do you need to do?

• Be invited. The Club will send you an invite to the mobile phone number you provide on joining / renewal if we can find you as a WhatsApp user.

• Accept the personal WhatsApp Invite you receive, and you will be added to the Community. You will then be able to receive Announcements sent by to the Club WhatsApp community. That's it!

• Join groups to see the messages shared between members. It varies a little by phone, but the WhatsApp application on your device has an icon for the "communities" panel. Click this and you will see the list of the communities you are in- possibly just the Honda S800 Sports Car Club! Click that and you will see a list of groups we have created for members. You will then have the option to join any you are interested to follow.

• If you do not wish to participate in the Club WhatsApp community simply ignore the invitation we sent you.

• If you have joined, but wish to leave, then use the WhatsApp app 'leave this community' option (it varies from phone to phone, but you should be able to find it easily – if not let us know and we can remove you).

• If you do not wish to receive invites to join the community in the future (eg at renewal), please let us know and we will take care of that too.

• It seems most members already use WhatsApp, but If you don't already use it, then we won't be able to add you to the community! We are not advocating WhatsApp, but consider looking at it and see if you'd like to use it. And if you do, then ask us to add you the Community!

• If we do not have your mobile phone number, we will contact you asking you to provide it and confirm you would like to be invited to the Club WhatsApp Community – we hope you will!

Is my info shared with others?

• WhatsApp uses your name and phone number.

• When you join the community your phone number (only) will be visible, but just to other members of the Club who are in the Community. Your name will not be publicly shared with that number. Additionally WhatsApp provides a range of security and visibility options for your personal account.

• If you are already (previously) exchanging WhatsApp messages with another member, then you each already know the name you provided to WhatsApp and will see your names in the Community (as you & they already know each other in WhatsApp!).

• When you join a group and post or reply to a message then your WhatsApp name will appear with your post. At that point other members will know who you are! If you just want to 'watch' and not identify yourself, simply don't post/reply!

• Remember – the Community is only for Club Members – so only they will ever see your info. No-one else will be allowed to participate.

Keeping everyone safe / Are there any security issues to be aware of?

• The Club takes its responsibility to protect your data very seriously, and we will always do so to the best of our ability. However we cannot take responsibility for any issues or losses arising from being part of the Club WhatsApp Community.

• The risk to you being part of the Club WhatsApp community should be similar to using WhatsApp with your other friends and contacts. That is part of the reason our Community is 'closed' and for the benefit of just paid-upClub Members.

• We ask you to read and abide by our Community Terms of Service and Guidelines / Best Practice which are on the Club website and shared in the Club WhatsApp Community.

• At the end of every membership year we will review and remove members from the Club WhatsApp Community who have not renewed their subscription to the Club.

• There is always a risk your, or someone else's,devices being hacked and your phone number and name could be harvested; the possible slight increased risk is that being a member of the Club WhatsApp community could be used to identify you as a possible owner of our cars. You should decide the level of risk that you are comfortable to accept.

• We live in a world of nasty scams. Our Community moderators will always try to monitor messages posted in our community for such things, but as only club members can post in the groups that we create we think the risk is pretty minimal. However, we encourage all members to be constantly diligent in all respects, not just related to the Club WhatsApp Community, particularly as the 'nasty guys' technology continues to evolve.

We hope you will find this new capability helpful, interesting, and fun; and that you will enjoy being part of this exclusive Community that Club Membership offers. If you have any other questions, please send an email to secretary@s800scc.com and we will do our best to answer them!