Where did everyone go?

[Zazzn]

Honestly, the pool of owners is shrinking like crazy. Not just that but face book offers an easier medium to see content.

Forums all over are way more dead because of this. Online forums have aged because they don't offer good ways to host pictures or videos and a less than desiarable moble experience. Worst still forum owners generally offer poor maintenance hence the spam redirect of this site.

There is one thing a forum cannot be beat for and that is finding and searching old content.

Forums need to be brought to this decade...

 

[Jeff Lange]

Honestly, the pool of owners is shrinking like crazy. Not just that but face book offers an easier medium to see content.

Forums all over are way more dead because of this. Online forums have aged because they don't offer good ways to host pictures or videos and a less than desiarable moble experience. Worst still forum owners generally offer poor maintenance hence the spam redirect of this site.

There is one thing a forum cannot be beat for and that is finding and searching old content.

Forums need to be brought to this decade...

I agree with all of this.

Jeff

 

[Piratetip]

Too bad I will never venture into social media platforms again.
What am I missing out on?
I already feel like the old guy yelling at the kids to get off the grass. LOL

I was on facebook in the very beginning when they still required college email addresses to use it.
Once that requirement ended, I closed the account and never looked back.
That and the epic waste of time it had become, endless posts of meaningless dribble.

It is a shame that the forums have really fallen off, seems supraforums is also experiencing this.
Its a great searchable archive of information, minus all the broken photo hosting hotlinks.

What is it going to take to bring forums back to this decade?
What would innovate it enough to bring in a new audience of 30 second attention spans?

 

[Jeff Lange]

I've had some ideas on ways to revolutionize the way online car communities work over the last year or two, but have yet to implement them. The forum system can work, but in order to maintain attention spans I've found that it requires significant activity. Without that, people visit, see nothing and leave without posting their own ideas/activity, and with less activity more people leave. People want to be able to just share things that happen and quickly get responses. People only see the most popular topics and others fall away.

Facebook makes things accessible to people and quickly. People can respond quickly and see new updates all the time. There are fewer of these cars around and more people have the knowledge they need (or can find it) without needing to open new discussions. Or it's too much of a pain to ask on a forum where a response is likely to take a few hours at least versus Facebook where an answer (right or wrong) can be had in minutes.

Keeping things organized and searchable while also providing an interface that allows people to quickly respond to specific people, etc., can be quite the challenge. There is other forum software out there that I find works better for this than vBulletin. I don't particularly care for the newer versions of vB, but what we're on here is also not that up to date either, though some of the plugins we have do help, I'm not sure it's enough. In addition, I find the forums spread a bit too thin these days. While the organization is good for finding things sometimes, it means there are many forums that haven't had a post in years. I think in general, SM needs work, but also that there is the possibility it will never be that active ever again, and that is something that needs to be considered.

All said, the forum isn't dead yet, and there is a lot of good stuff here. Forums are just a different, less active, medium these days (with some exceptions of course, I am on Tacomaworld and that place is very active, but they are also still selling them in showrooms, so people have a lot of questions and sometimes the answers are more difficult to find).

Jeff

 

[yhatzee89]

I'm surprised FB hasnt come up with a forum feature yet, that would be the best option for forums to be honest. Plus with photbucket fucking everybody over, using FB as the hosting site for all those pics is again the best option imo

 

[Zazzn]

The only way I find info is in forums.

You can't search facebook. there are so many threads that save my ass.

 

[suprahero]

Just passing through on my way to Facebook...............not really. I'm not on facebook any more than I am anywhere else. I don't have much to say and less to post about. Working all the time and then working on my car when I'm not traveling with my daughter playing softball.

 

[Denny Crane]

If the guys who run this site ever do decide it's time to hang it up what are the odds that the entire site could be archived somewhere forever and ever? I've spent literally thousands of hours reading, collecting info, searching, etc, on this site ever since I switched from the sogi mailing list - I don't post, but this site has been invaluable and I'd hate to lose it as a reference. I plan to keep my Supra until I die, already had it for 21 years now...

 

[suprajim54]

I've had some ideas on ways to revolutionize the way online car communities work over the last year or two, but have yet to implement them. The forum system can work, but in order to maintain attention spans I've found that it requires significant activity. Without that, people visit, see nothing and leave without posting their own ideas/activity, and with less activity more people leave. People want to be able to just share things that happen and quickly get responses. People only see the most popular topics and others fall away.

Facebook makes things accessible to people and quickly. People can respond quickly and see new updates all the time. There are fewer of these cars around and more people have the knowledge they need (or can find it) without needing to open new discussions. Or it's too much of a pain to ask on a forum where a response is likely to take a few hours at least versus Facebook where an answer (right or wrong) can be had in minutes.

Keeping things organized and searchable while also providing an interface that allows people to quickly respond to specific people, etc., can be quite the challenge. There is other forum software out there that I find works better for this than vBulletin. I don't particularly care for the newer versions of vB, but what we're on here is also not that up to date either, though some of the plugins we have do help, I'm not sure it's enough. In addition, I find the forums spread a bit too thin these days. While the organization is good for finding things sometimes, it means there are many forums that haven't had a post in years. I think in general, SM needs work, but also that there is the possibility it will never be that active ever again, and that is something that needs to be considered.

All said, the forum isn't dead yet, and there is a lot of good stuff here. Forums are just a different, less active, medium these days (with some exceptions of course, I am on Tacomaworld and that place is very active, but they are also still selling them in showrooms, so people have a lot of questions and sometimes the answers are more difficult to find).

Jeff

I, too, am on Tacomaworld and feel like it's the best forum I've been on. But, like you said, Tacomas are still being sold new and there's also a huge aftermarket for the truck. Do you want a Rock Crawler, Expo/Camping Rig, Long Travel, fast lowered X-Runner or just stock truck? A Supra is either going to be really nice or really fast, no other real direction to go. Once I bought my Tacoma, I've spent less time here and more on Tacomaworld. The main site mod tcBob even made a piece of code to update everyone's Photobucket posts after that site changed. The forums there are very organized and all have a lot of activity. I still check in on SM occasionally but maybe only once a month. I almost didn't even post this, because I figure "who cares". On TW, I'll post several times a day. I have a local group of about 25-30+ TW members who are active and we meet up to work on trucks, go wheeling or just BS and drink beer. There are a few Supras in my area, but everyone's car is broke so no meets or anything. Texassupras.com is dead and even the FB group is just an occasional picture and not of a locals car or it's a "Spotted, who dis?" kinda post, nothing of value to the community. I am part of many of the FB groups, but they're pretty terrible. It's usually beat to shit cars owned by younger guys and many are the JZ crowd. Most of the 7M posts are just selling parts, nothing technical. Of course, I can come on SM, search for technical issues and usually find someone has experienced the same thing in the past. Asking any new questions may take a while to get a response, if you ever get one at all. I do hope that the knowledge archive of Supramania is able to live on somewhere because I always preferred it over SF. In the end, I think it's that the owner pool has shrunk considerably, and the crowd that do own them are either too young for the forums and prefer FB or the older owners have real life going on (wife, kids, house, etc) to contend with so not as much time to be on the forums.

 

[te72]

I'm still around, although considerably less active (online in general) than I was when I had a desk job and a long lunch break that was usually spent on here. Since then, I've sold the first house, had the second one built, built the Supra that I'd been collecting parts for (it's still a work in progress, but MAN... it's good), and uh... yeah. Work, mostly, maintaining the fleet. Got into metal fabrication last year, turns out, it's a lot of fun! I'm still crap with wood work though haha. Can't "un-cut" wood like you can with metal...

Anyway, looking forward to seeing a rejuvenated Supramania someday, if for nothing else than the social aspect of it. You'll never be able to look back on the fun times that were had on any sort of social media, but forums, forums are forever!

 

[JDMMA70]

I am still here

 

[Jeff Lange]

Glad at least a few people are still kicking around. I'd like to see more activity here, but there are just so few cars left.

Jeff

 

[suprarx7nut]

Glad at least a few people are still kicking around. I'd like to see more activity here, but there are just so few cars left.

Jeff

I still watch for clean 91-92s to come up for sale. I check around here, autotrader, cars.com, craigs, etc... It's very rare for one to pop up for sale that's a factory turbo manual 91/92. I feel like they used to be readily available, but definitely not anymore.

I also very rarely see any mk3 on the road. It was somewhat rare a few years ago, but now it seems like a once in a quarter thing - if that.

 

[te72]

Well, in my neck of the woods, I'm still one of the only people with a Mk3. There is one other that I'm aware of that might someday see the outside world again, but who knows for how long. There was a super mint Mk2 in town, haven't seen it in some time now. There is also a Mk4 in town as well, but it's one of those "special occasion cars" I believe, perhaps like the Mk2.

I daily mine in the spring / summer / fall when I'm not working on it. Intending to get a winter tire setup so I can enjoy it on decent days during the winter, when it's just cold but not super snowy and icy. No reason not to enjoy them if they're in good shape!

Consider this though... this isn't just an isolated issue with our vehicles. Cars get older, they either become junk, to some, or projects to others. When is the last time you saw any other cars from the Mk3 era on the road? Then add in the relative rarity and low build numbers of these cars, it's no surprise you don't see them often. Part of the reason I love them, they always feel special.

 

[foreverpsycotic]

I am still around, just been getting a ton of security warnings for this sight so stopped coming around.

 

[Jeff Lange]

There were never any risks to users, it was a redirect intended for search engines. It did make things annoying to use though, that's for sure.

It has been corrected.

Jeff

 

[yhatzee89]

still here. best place to make a build thread.

 

[757_supra]

I’m mostly an unknown in the community, but I’ve owned Supras since 1993. I currently own a clean 91 turbo, which hasn’t seen the road since February 2016. I’ve been too lazy to replace a coolant hose, that’s all it needs. My mkiv needs nothing, only registration. It too sits all the time, although it comes out on nice weekends around the block, that’s all. My theory for the forum slowing down is also a change in demographics: we’re getting older, acquiring more responsibilities, and the hobbies get somewhat neglected. On top of those factors already mentioned...

 

[Jeff Lange]

I’m mostly an unknown in the community, but I’ve owned Supras since 1993. I currently own a clean 91 turbo, which hasn’t seen the road since February 2016. I’ve been too lazy to replace a coolant hose, that’s all it needs. My mkiv needs nothing, only registration. It too sits all the time, although it comes out on nice weekends around the block, that’s all. My theory for the forum slowing down is also a change in demographics: we’re getting older, acquiring more responsibilities, and the hobbies get somewhat neglected. On top of those factors already mentioned...

This is true, especially with less cars around, it will mean that many young people who would buy the cars previously can't because people with nice ones don't want to sell them and the supply of cheap ones is drying up.

But alas, not much we can do about that part of it.

Jeff

 

[Piratetip]

If anything I have been the complete opposite.
When I was younger in college I was not as active here or at least was broke and couldn't do much beyond drive the vehicle.

Now that I have some more $ and time to invest into this vehicle I am doing it right.
My co-workers do not believe how much time I am able to put into the vehicle even with a career and family at home.
You have to be willing to give up all useless television, video games, general lazyness and stay up very late working on the vehicle.
Most people I talk with don't have the self control or motivation to give up such things as TV, social media, drinking, ect..

As time goes on I see less and less interesting old vehicles on the road.
Will be a nice feeling once I am able to daily drive mine again, I see zero MK3's or MK4's on the road around here.
Too many good vehicles out there hiding in garages being neglected.
Cars are meant to be used as intended, not become a trophy that never sees daylight.

Other areas of the country do not match what is happening here, thank goodness.