have you gone after 7pm?the classics roll out and the imoort scene rolls in until 11pm..

 

BBQ you say??? How many times did Senor Honda pull this off??? Several times and when he does he gets bashed just about every damn day yet he still tries to bring TR/TF together..

Right now the DJ is playing " Don't be tardy to the party " Country version.

 

damn i miss those TR track days. i think the type of audience this site attracts is what killed it, no offense to anyone who is new but pre TR/TF was the shit and there was some quality people around. The problem now is you have people who dont know what a turbocharger is and they put a "turbo" emblem on their jeep and want to be a badass. back when we had guys educating on what was what,now everyone knows everything and you cant tell them any different. i hang around every once and a while just to see whats for sale and whats going on but not being in the scene for a while i kinda lost interest.

 

that's always going to be there. Always has been. Always will be. That's the car scene in general.
this time around, we call them ricers.
I'm sure they had other various terms for those people generations before. And i'm sure the terms will be more appropriate in the next generations.
That's the problem.
No one will do that anymore, and I blame the moderators. Far too often, threads get started with "stupid questions" and instead of posting good, complete, helpful information, educating the idiot, the thread gets locked because you can just "google it"
So what if the question was answered 1,573 times before? It doesn't matter if you've been there, and done that, and learned it all. Everyone has to start somewhere, that's part of the beauty of a forum. You can come here, not knowing anything, ask the dumb questions, and have people that know and understand, truly educate you. That creates a community, that is what TR used to be. And that whole part is up to the moderators. Encourage the stupid questions. Answer them completely, or at least let someone else answer them completely. Don't just lock the shit down.

 

Not arguing but what everyone should really encourage... is for people to teach themselves. Too many people expect to sign up on a forum, ask a question and get an answer... thats been covered before. I dont know, maybe Im asking too much of TR members/forum users but there isnt a whole lot of problems that havent been covered online at one point in time. I mean lets be real, searching google isnt rocket science, if you cant find your answer you probably have bigger issues.

 

I agree, it isn't that hard to figure out, especially the really simple questions... but why would anyone join a tech based forum if they can't get their questions answered?
The vast majority of TR is the tech sections. A majority of users still don't use any section but their tech section.
If new users are joining to use a tech section, cause lets face it, Pit road isn't the reason anyone joined TR, and we tell them to go away, how is that helping the site?

The other big forums survive off of their tech sections.
They have stickies with all of the basic information in them.
And they don't make a huge issue about it when people ask dumb questions.

In the 240sx scene, you still find people asking the really basic questions on the bigger forums. The stuff that is in the stickies and everywhere on the internet. And they still get responses.
Even though "we" have all known all this stuff about 240s for a long time, there are still kids who are just now getting their first 240. The same applies to every other car.
You can't tell people to leave the site and then worry about how to make the site grow.

 

Lol. I wonder if he will ever let that shit go.

I think this is the main reason TR has [four letter word for ceasing to live ] People in the car scene for the most part want to show off their cars not just talk about them on the internet. More times than not meets or events being even mentioned led to flaming and eventually they stopped all together. If there is to be a revival effort i think thats key. But again, that would mean SOMEONE actually put in effort. And thats what this site lacks now.

LOL. 4 pages of posts but really 3 of them belong to this guy. +1 for the character limit. I have a headache.

 

so lets embark on a voyage through time to lets say 8 years ago....

1. Many of you were still in middle school so TR was not part of your web activity

2. People posted "issues" in the tech forums and received helpful responses (with the occasional troll response)

3. People actually took time out to "write" out helpful tech info such as how-to's.......and readers showed their appreciation....

4. Off topic threads flowed like the river loaded with funny stuff but generally had only a few try to spoil the thread.....

5. TR was used as a source to set up meet n greets and became the main "check in" site for such meets

6. along with #5, BBQ's and other meets at parks ect for the mere pleasure to meet and greet, hang out was a steady thing.

this list can go on and on........

NOW, what happens in 2012?

re:1. there will always be a new generation of members that join being completely lost. That is why there are many stickies on top explaining how to use the site and where to post. Unfortunately, they go ignored and the site gets an infinite amount of threads that are no where near their proper subforums ect..... No respect to the "older" members and basically either dont come back because of negativity (newb bashing) OR stay and become the new generation of trolls since like children they mimic what they see..

re:2. Yes, the all favorite response of many: GOOGLE IT!...... I understand the point of view of some where it may be true that perhaps you can find a response on google BUT if you pool all the experience of many here, you may have viable options. Also, just because it's in google, doesnt make it right or even useful. That is why many of the other forums that are car specific thrive, because they encourage the posting of questions and then the response of the many who may have encountered such issue therefore offering options depending on issue.

re3: This has truly died. and i miss it... I remember the many times I would go to the toyota section and find the exact thing I needed in a sticky... Yes, I probably could have googled it BUT it was much nicer to go to ONE place and find what I needed on a variety of brands, issues..ect...

re4: Off topic aka Pit Road as we saw became a center of certain users to insult other users, post inappropriate images, make threads violating forum rules such as racist or sexually explicit in nature...... Others only came in to PR, and no other forum, for there mere pleasure to start an argument and then hide and cry when the issue was addressed and corrected.. GRANTED, overmoderation also may have played a role in the negative activity BUT when you have a certain few that have no respect for themselves or others, there is no reasoning with them and they just need to be excused for the sake of the site as a whole.

re5: I see this picking up again but is not like it used to be....

re6: This has died as well and has been missed.....


Now all of that said... How can we all improve the site as a whole without causing an angry mob?......

 

almost don't have to even go back that far. 3 years ago you could literally waste an entire day on TR because there was so much going on.

geez, is the average demographic really that young? Therein might be a (or even the) problem, if the site can't attract the older users...
I would have figured on average most of us were at the least in high school, if not graduated or about to.
does TR have that metric? to see what the usage is from the different age groups?

the good ole days.
there seems to be a real key element in all of this. The meets, greets, bbq's, track days etc. It was the hub everyone used for going out and doing stuff. It was the "doing stuff" that was a major part of TR. Someone said it earlier, car people like doing stuff, not just sitting around at home. to to save TR, TR needs to be involved in doing things.

stickies are always going to be ignored. Especially the "read here before posting" any sticky that is just about rules is going to usually get ignored. But, it is the moderators job to refer back to that sticky because it "should" be read and followed. (also implying that the stickies contain updated, fair rules, and punishments)
I feel like a lot of this kind of stuff is supposed to fall to the moderators. They really need to be active enough that they can be the "warm and inviting" users on the forum. They shouldn't just be the "bad guy" and police the forums for rule breaking, they should be active users on the site. the "face of TR" if you will.

I feel like a lot of this also falls back to the moderators. They are the ones closing and deleting threads because they are "dumb" and the user should have just googled it. This goes back the whole "Face of TR" concept. It wouldn't matter if all of the members were being dicks and saying to google it if the moderator stepped in and provided a good, complete answer. If the moderators are doing it, then the mob members will follow. If I had my way, in a tech section, it should be against the rules to tell someone to "google it" If the info is that basic, then it needs to be in a sticky, and that is where you tell idiots to go. For a while, (it might even still technically be a rule, idk) it was against the rules to link someone to another site. You couldn't just copy the address to another forum that had the info the user was asking about and therefore send that user to that other website. While it was frustrating at times, it served its purpose. It got a lot of useful info here onto TR and it kept new members here on the site. The Tech section because their go-to place for information. As soon as that went away and we started sending these new members off to google and therefore other forums, it didn't take long to notice that there were very very few new members sticking around.
again, it would be nice if all of the members were on board with it, but history shows things like that come from leadership and in this kind of community, that leadership is the moderators.

This "died" for two reasons.
Telling everyone to go to google.
and
everyone bitching about how long posts were.
I remember how it used to be a big deal to get your thread stickied or even just linked in the "ultimate ___ bible" sticky. That was a big deal because you still had people around that appreciated the technical information. This tends to be the older demographic. But it all died when "just google it" became the motto of the tech sections. There has been so much awesome information just lost because it never made it to a sticky. it never got saved anywhere. It just fell off. That's all of the information that should be in a sticky, that google should be picking up, and should be bringing new users into the site.
It is a major problem in the Nissan/240 crowd. There was an impressive wealth of knowledge available on TR for a long time. Now, it is all gone. One of the excuses I see a lot is that "everyone already knows that" I'll give you a little bit of that. Back around 2005, there was still a lot of "discovering" happening involving the car. But you know, the really funny part about that, someone turned 16 this year and just got a 240... so everything is new to that guy. So yeah, the "old timers" might all know everything, but every year, month, hell, day, there is someone new. It is a real shame that TR doesn't attract those people.

I would bet that the "numbers" of trolls are probably about the same, just the percentage has fluctuated because the totals are lower than they used to be. So it might not actually be that there are more trolls, it is probably more like there are just less "good" users.
Pit road used to be what you did when you wanted to kill time and had already spent an hour in the tech section. It wasn't the main attraction to the site. If you want just random postings, then use Facebook. Pit road will never be able to compete with facebook. Trying to put a focus on pit road is like trying to mend a broken leg with a band aid. Pit road will become popular again once you can get all of the other parts of the forum popular again.
You want to try to improve pit road. Make two of them. Have one of them be totally open to everyone, like it is now, and make the other one "members only" you either have to financially contribute to the site or get "invited" those that are invited can have their invite taken away. But if you make it an "anything goes" section. Then people are going to know that, well, anything goes. Then you don't have to worry about name calling, racist crap, sexually explicit, drugs, furry porn, none of that. You can't see the forum if you aren't a member. That way, you can "crack down" on the rules of pit road and still have the other section for the shits to go to.
Hell, in the mean time, while the site is still smaller, you could make it so that the kids that can't follow the rules of Pit road loose their access to the Pitroad, and can only post in that other section. Since it is closed to non-members you don't have to worry about a newb stumbling in there on accident and then running away from the site crying. I kinda like that idea, that way all of the little shits can be still be little shits and we don't have to totally kick them off of the site.
BUT
if people are contributing financially, then that money needs to stay local. It needs to go to funding meets and greets, track days, booths at big events, TR girls, etc. No one wants to contribute just to have the funds absorbed by the new owners considering the new owners don't give a shit about any of this.

TR needs to take an official stance on this stuff. TR needs to be officially involved in meets and get togethers and bbqs and track days. The members will meet where they want to meet and the turn out might improve just because people want something to do. Hell, the weather is starting to get nice again, I'm sure more people will go out now. But unless TR takes an official stance on it and makes things happen, then it will never grow back into what it should be. TR needs to team up with these restaurants and businesses to have some kind of agreement going on. Maybe the natural pattern at qsnl is classics til 8, then imports after that til about 11. Maybe TR could work out a deal with Quaker to officially be there from 7 to 9. Half price appetizers to all TR members, and to prove you're a TR member you have to stop by the TR booth to get your sticker or flyer or some shit like that.
Why isn't TR officially at Cars and Coffee every month? Last I knew, you just have to get permission to set up a booth, it didn't cost anything unless you were trying to sell something. A pop up tent, some hot bitches in skimpy clothes and flyers. Hell, pass out TR donuts or some shit. You have a captive audience of Car guys at car's and coffee. Why doesn't TR have some of the photographer people out there, taking pictures and hosting all of those awesome pictures on TR? If someone asks who they are, or where the pictures will be, have them hand them a TR business card/flyer. "Go to the forum, check it out, the pictures will be on there. We do this every month, and have a lot of other events going on too. "
There are a lot of events that are going on that are already happening. TR wouldn't even need to put the work in to get them set up. They just need to officially show up. If it is blasted all over the Forum that TR is going to gather this place, roll out together at this time, and show up at this car meet, and hang out from this time, to this time, It would draw a lot of attention. Maybe it isn't a gigantic success the first few times, but if you have a good time, and post pictures about it, and talk about it, it will grow. But it has to be TR itself, not just a handful of random members wanting to put something together. If TR itself can do all of that. Then it won't take very long for TR to start having its own BBQ's. The point is, if you get TR out there and doing stuff, TR will become "cool" again, and once TR is cool again, then people will donate things like coolers and food and all of that to make the meets bigger and better. I'm sure there are people now that would contribute to some kind of event now.
the key to all of this though, is that there needs to be some kind of local TR management team that is willing to put in the time and effort into making things happen. It is easy to sit here and say, "yeah, I'd be down to help out" but I don't want to be the only one trying.
Then there is of course the legal part of it too.... Since the site was sold, do we even have the legal right to form a local management team? Do we have the legal right to publicize the TR name? Hell, so we have the legal right for TR to be officially do anything?

-Rise the standard for the moderators and hold them to that standard.
-Encourage the tech sections to grow, develop stickies, keep the information and members within TR
-Get a group of people that actually care about the site, and give them some kind of official role within the site.
-Get TR out and doing things, go to meets, go to events, take pictures, get involved.

It isn't going to be a rule change that fixes TR, even though there are rules we would all like to chagne.
It isn't going to be a new website design that fixes TR, even though there are lots of design issues to change.
It isn't going to be getting rid fo the trolls that fixes TR, even though that would probably make some happy.

It needs to be a bigger change than that. It is going to take people caring about the site, and building it back up, not just on the internet, but out in the local community. It is going to take leg work, car washes, fundraisers, events, meets, bbq's, track days, flyers, business deals, etc etc. TR needs to get out and "do stuff"
To save TR, TR needs to become cool agian.

 

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