A forum is nothing more or less than its users.

After being part of the Honda community here a couple of years, the mix seems heavily weighted toward inexperienced car owners, which is not surprising given the avearge age of those involved. There is nothing wrong with that, as everyone who is starting out is lacking knowledge. What's distressing is some seem to endeavor to remain inexperienced. That makes TR a less attractive place for some.

With a few exceptions, there just do not seem to be that many on TR who crave knowledge in the interest of becoming more capable, and thus more helpful to others here.

There is among the TR population a core group who have a lot to offer. Their participation in the forum should be cultivated by a little mental stimulation that just isn't provided by "my car won't start" posts. I encourage them to seek each other out. Often times the biggest benefit to the less experienced members is keeping tabs on exhanges between knowledgable posters, resisting the urge to post unless they have something worthwhile to add. Listen and learn, if you will.

As for the froum adminstration and moderators, they do a good job in my opinion. As a bit of advice to them, though, it should be recognized that the attraction of a forum is information, measured by quality and quantity and the structure of TR is limiting compared to other forums.

There are only tech and for sale forums/sub forums for each car maker. A for sale by brand is good, but "Tech" is broad and has to be shared by everyone from those with advanced NA building and performance chasis tuning questions to those who want to know how to adjust their alernator belts.

There are no limitations on the net and specialty forums are entirely up to their creators.

In the case of highly active communities, like Honda, I can envision forced induction and NA forums, with perhaps a Newbie place. The more experienced could help shepherd the newbies by visiting regularly to help people with sincere newbie questions, the ultimate goal to elevate them out of the newbie forum.

The creators of forums can never be sure what their creations become, as it is dependant on the members, but they can manage and cultivate quality by strategic planning of worthy sub interest groups and directing traffic into them.

It will take time, but as the voice from the cornfield said: "I you build it, they will come."