Jim,
Your question suggests we are gear heads and the Prouds are not. I have mixed feelings about how to answer your question because it might seem like we are trying to stereotype POG and Prouds members.
When I was in the Prouds in the early 90's, Prevost put on technical seminars at the FMCA pre-convention rallies the Prouds always had. Those seminars were in depth, highly detailed, and were well attended. Based on that I think that there are members of both groups that if not gearheads, they are certainly interested in the mechanical aspects of the coach. I remember in particular a physician from Pennsylvania that seemed capable of tearing any part of the bus into its smallest components and reassembling it. He could engage any Detroit Diesel tech in a discussion of the internals of our engines. Conversely, I am certain we have members that could care less about anything mechanical on the bus and they participate in POG because it is still a social group that does know how to have fun.
What has changed is that over the years since then the internet came into being, and through forums like ours we got into discussions about mechanical stuff. Don't forget, a lot of the posts on our forum are "social" as opposed to technical. We talk about rallies, campground recommendations, where to eat, and having impromptu get togethers, such as not only mini rallies, but folks just coming together for a meal or a weekend. I don't know if the Prouds have a forum, but I can say with certainty that we have friends we have never met, but we have talked to via the forum for a long time so unlike our experience with the Prouds where we never felt welcomed, I think most who come to the rallies are already welcomed as part of the group.
If you want to draw a distinction between the Prouds and POG here's one that might be suitable as another topic and is not intented to be a jab at one or another.
The Prouds had their technical seminars and it was a guy thing. But during a Prouds rally there were times when the guys had to clean up, dress up and accompany their well dressed ladies to a fancy dinner or some other upscale event.
POG is biased towards the guys, and I can tell you that we may be ignoring the ladies. We clearly do not have enough activities for them, and we don't give them a chance to dress up and see us dressed up and not working on someone's coach. BTW, I prefer to not dress up, but if it makes Lady Di happy to see me suited up I suppose I could for one night. She don't read this stuff so I can say stuff like this.
Did I open a can of worms?