This forum is dying

[henk4]

or Marxisms (paraphrased)
Who would join a club that accepts me as a member?

[baddabang]

you never made it to my ignore list.....

I did.

There is nothing wrong with fun on automotive forums. Do you think there is a coincidence that the time this forum was the most active was during the reign of ECC and the Brotherhood of Jelly? When Quiggs would post a drunk thread at least one per week? When LOL cats and the AutoX Bonneville were posted in nearly every thread?

The biggest reason I rarely post is because there is nothing to post about. Sure I can comment on new cars or racing news but whats the point? I just come here, read the main page, and if there is anything of interest in the new thread topics I may or may not take a spin into the forums.

[group c n b man]

You can normally find out new things each time you visit the forum. On this forum you are learning new facts all the time so it isn't boring at all. Yes, eventually the same topics come round again and again but there's no problem with that. The more members who take part, the better.

[fpv_gtho]

If i look at my own experiences, there arent many discussions here anymore that i'm interested in. I'd agree with an earlier post that a large part of the forum activity seems to be non-automotive related now. I don't know what that could be attributed to but i have a feeling the merging of all the automotive forums into a singular General Automotive section may have contributed. Thats a large area where i visit alternative forums as opposed to UCP. Part of it is also because this is an international forum, whereas others that people might visit are particularly specialised.

I think if we're going to do something about it we need to encourage people to make new topics to discuss. Whether we try and re-establish an automotive base for discussion or simply continue the majority of the forum as a place to have fun.

Another point i thought about was confusion in the Hi Res Hideout. When that started it seemed to be that it was the same set of members (generally restricted to those members) posting vast amounts of pictures and PR's relating to vehicles. Somewhere along the lines people started discussing cars in the hideout, and it got to the point some time ago that discussion was getting directed into the hideout and away from the general automotive sections. I dont know what other members have thought about that but i know with myself i've held back on discussion a few times because i couldnt be bothered worrying whether it was in the right place or not.

[henk4]

I did.

There is nothing wrong with fun on automotive forums. Do you think there is a coincidence that the time this forum was the most active was during the reign of ECC and the Brotherhood of Jelly? When Quiggs would post a drunk thread at least one per week? When LOL cats and the AutoX Bonneville were posted in nearly every thread?

The biggest reason I rarely post is because there is nothing to post about. Sure I can comment on new cars or racing news but whats the point? I just come here, read the main page, and if there is anything of interest in the new thread topics I may or may not take a spin into the forums.

I am glad that you exactly mention the posts/threads, which would chase away serious outsiders/newcomers.

[Rockefella]

I am glad that you exactly mention the posts/threads, which would chase away serious outsiders/newcomers.

We all want intelligent discussion and appropriate behavior but the forum fatwah against fun is killing the amount of regular forum members.

This is the way I think of it:
A group of scientists from the same laboratory go out for happy hour on a friday after work. Over drinks, they talk about whatever comes up.. laugh at some jokes or at someone else's expense, and include some talk about science because that's what they're interested in. It's not as if they go out and strictly talk science from their notes... That's what I think you're trying to turn this into.

Obviously no one wants to filter through tons of lolcats and bullshit but if I wanted to read through well-worded diatribes about an obscure classic car I'll just go to the library and borrow some books. All I ask for is balance.

[Matra et Alpine]

^^^ Nice analogy Rocke .... but when they're doing it when they're supposed to be working then they need "moderated"

It might be "happy hour" in your mind while writing it but it may be serious time for someone reading.

[Rockefella]

^^^ Nice analogy Rocke .... but when they're doing it when they're supposed to be working then they need "moderated"

It might be "happy hour" in your mind while writing it but it may be serious time for someone reading.

Understood, I don't want rampant stupidity. Some more light hearted conversation is always a good thing though. I think the only places where you can find that though is in a select few threads like the joke thread or purchases thread.

[johnnynumfiv]

This thread needs scantly clad women.
RACING CARS IS SERIOUZ BIZNEZ.

[pimento]

We had a vendor sponsered night out after work on Friday. We ended up at a strip joint. It was a classy night.. I'm still feeling the aftermath a bit.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Trying to avoid discussions in the hide-out may be a good idea, quoting fpv_gtho.

That would solve two problems: more than one thread per each car, one in the general automotive section created as soon as something about that car is out, and one in the hide-out, created when someone gets his hands on high resolution stuff, one way or another.
The other problem that comes out from discussions been held mainly in the hide-out is that we tend to focus a but too much on aesthetic and quite little on everything else. It's not a given fact, but having huge images to look at may have something to do with that.

Not sure if re-opening subforums per each main geographical area would work. Judging by the previous experience, only a few members regularly visits forums not about their areas. On the other hand it could increase the content from that particular area, helping people from other places getting more into the know about other products they don't know about.

Perhaps both using the hide-out only for images posting and re-opening the local forums may help.

[NSXType-R]

Trying to avoid discussions in the hide-out may be a good idea, quoting fpv_gtho.

That would solve two problems: more than one thread per each car, one in the general automotive section created as soon as something about that car is out, and one in the hide-out, created when someone gets his hands on high resolution stuff, one way or another.
The other problem that comes out from discussions been held mainly in the hide-out is that we tend to focus a but too much on aesthetic and quite little on everything else. It's not a given fact, but having huge images to look at may have something to do with that.

Not sure if re-opening subforums per each main geographical area would work. Judging by the previous experience, only a few members regularly visits forums not about their areas. On the other hand it could increase the content from that particular area, helping people from other places getting more into the know about other products they don't know about.

Perhaps both using the hide-out only for images posting and re-opening the local forums may help.

If you don't discuss in the Hideout, then where would you discuss then?

I understand that it kills the General Automotive forums, but wouldn't that lead to excess clutter if you open up the local forums?

[Ferrer]

If you don't discuss in the Hideout, then where would you discuss then?

That's precisely the thing.

I remember not long ago a member, which may have been a bot or not, opened several threads in the General Automotive section and people complained.

We've a saying which is "Mai plou a gust de tothom" which literally means it never rains to everybody's taste. The thing whatever we have not everyone will agree.

In the end, what we have now may not be perfect, but it isn't bad either.

[fpv_gtho]

Re-opening the local automotive forums would obviously be a large step to take, something much more than a simple culture shift within the forum so i'm by no means suggesting we go straight to something like that as a solution. My reasoning behind it possibly contributing to dwindling forum traffic however though is if each local sub forum previously had half a page of active threads, combining 5 sub forums together suddenly bumps alot of topics off the first page and soon those discussions die.

[LeonOfTheDead]

If you don't discuss in the Hideout, then where would you discuss then?

I understand that it kills the General Automotive forums, but wouldn't that lead to excess clutter if you open up the local forums?

In the General Automotive forum.

That's precisely the thing.

I remember not long ago a member, which may have been a bot or not, opened several threads in the General Automotive section and people complained.

We've a saying which is "Mai plou a gust de tothom" which literally means it never rains to everybody's taste. The thing whatever we have not everyone will agree.

In the end, what we have now may not be perfect, but it isn't bad either.

That member, "4wheelsonline" or something, had a main issues, he just opened thread with little contribution to them, often with a single line first post, and perhaps even connected to some rather uninteresting argument.

Talking about specific cars' threads, what I'm suggesting is that once a thread is opened in the general automotive, discussions should be kept there and not in the hide-out's thread about that car.
At the moment we have two threads for the new R8 GT, and in the past I remember we had 3 threads for one car. One was in the General Automotive, one in the Hide-out and one was the usual article's announcement by Wouter.
That way discussion is fragmented into too many threads, whit a lot of issues related to that.

I'd suggest something like this for each car or thereabouts:
- Wouter's thread (if present), where you can thanks the Dutch guy or ask him some further questions.
- General Automotive's thread: discuss, compare, judge
- hide-out's thread: only images and PRs (PRs could be posted also in the general automotive I think).