Somebody talk to me

[Troy]

Is everyone jumping ship or just keeping quiet?

Unfortunately, the amount of traffic on this site has gone waaaaay down. It's almost to the point of....

I keep hearing this and, maybe I'm a stickler for the proper terminology, buuuuuut... our "traffic" (in web site terms) has not gone down. If it had, you (the average person without access to things like server logs, bandwidth reports, etc.) wouldn't know any way. What has gone down is the amount of interaction (posts). We're still pushing a few million pages views a month but I'm pretty sure our new threads and posts are down 35-40% from 3 years ago.

...  there have been a lot of guys leaving this site ,  for what ever reason  ,   true it don't seem as active as it use to be , maybe its just the way things go , IMO think its got a lot to do with FB imo 

I think the growth of FB has hurt all sites like this one. There are plenty groups you can join there but I still prefer to ask tech questions either here or on moparts 

"Social Media" certainly has an impact. Of course, 10 years ago this *was* social media! People's attention spans have definitely gotten shorter and (I've been told) people really don't like to read more than about 2 sentences. Especially on smaller devices. People literally will skip big blobs of text because it's too much effort. But they'll ask the same question 200 times on a Facebook group because the search feature is junk.

There was a video a while back where Finnegan (Roadkill) talks about the death of web forums. Interestingly enough, I find that the really good, detailed, valuable information can't be easily found anywhere else. All these 3 minute YouTube videos and 2 sentence FB posts just don't have the detail. I believe this explains our "traffic" numbers.

Honestly, I feel that the whole Photobucket fiasco may have a much bigger impact on killing off forums than any other single thing.

I am not here much these days mainly because of life. It seems I have deadlines just stacked up for the next several years. I've been traveling for work and have another trip to Australia at the end of the month. Rarely do I work in the garage these days so I have nothing to ask questions about. When I do go to the garage I grab a car and drive. I guess that works until something breaks! When I do come here I spend the bulk of my time weeding out the spam accounts. Think of it like going to your favorite restaurant but you have to clean the ash trays and bathrooms before you get to order your food.

Troy

[303 Mopar]

I keep hearing this and, maybe I'm a stickler for the proper terminology, buuuuuut... our "traffic" (in web site terms) has not gone down. If it had, you (the average person without access to things like server logs, bandwidth reports, etc.) wouldn't know any way. What has gone down is the amount of interaction (posts). We're still pushing a few million pages views a month but I'm pretty sure our new threads and posts are down 35-40% from 3 years ago.

I think the growth of FB has hurt all sites like this one. There are plenty groups you can join there but I still prefer to ask tech questions either here or on moparts 

"Social Media" certainly has an impact. Of course, 10 years ago this *was* social media! People's attention spans have definitely gotten shorter and (I've been told) people really don't like to read more than about 2 sentences. Especially on smaller devices. People literally will skip big blobs of text because it's too much effort. But they'll ask the same question 200 times on a Facebook group because the search feature is junk.

There was a video a while back where Finnegan (Roadkill) talks about the death of web forums. Interestingly enough, I find that the really good, detailed, valuable information can't be easily found anywhere else. All these 3 minute YouTube videos and 2 sentence FB posts just don't have the detail. I believe this explains our "traffic" numbers.

Honestly, I feel that the whole Photobucket fiasco may have a much bigger impact on killing off forums than any other single thing.

I am not here much these days mainly because of life. It seems I have deadlines just stacked up for the next several years. I've been traveling for work and have another trip to Australia at the end of the month. Rarely do I work in the garage these days so I have nothing to ask questions about. When I do go to the garage I grab a car and drive. I guess that works until something breaks! When I do come here I spend the bulk of my time weeding out the spam accounts. Think of it like going to your favorite restaurant but you have to clean the ash trays and bathrooms before you get to order your food.

Troy
[/quote]

Any thoughts on "refreshing" the site? Fixing the search function so it actually finds what people are looking for, making the format more user friendly/attractive, making it easier to post pics and youtube videos, adding a prize shop for number of posts/participation.  You can tie a FB page to this forum and point people here for more detailed information. e-bodies.org recently did this as a break from cuda-challenger.com and it has a lot of activity.  Just an idea. 

[67440chrg]

The forum needs a few of the new Charger owners to show up so their will be someone to pick on.

[JB400]

Nice to know it's just physical activities like posting that has gone disn, not views, which we could have seen on the stats page.  It's also good to see Troy, 303, and 67440charg to come and speak up

[will]

  I was busy today so thanks for the suds, don't mind if I do

[JB400]

How's your project coming along Will?  Your avatar shows a painted yet empty bay.

[XH29N0G]

The forum needs a few of the new Charger owners to show up so their will be someone to pick on.

That is probably right.  The type of posts and number of questions I have has evolved with my journey from trying to get mine back and running, to trying to fix it up, to ultimately having it done.  Now it is mostly driving and reading rather than posting charger related questions.

[HANDM]

I check in every day but don't post much.
My Charger just sits around collecting dust and I haven't driven it for two years at least. I'm planning on 4 wheel disc brakes and sniper TBI, just haven't gotten around to it due to work being heavy the last few years.

[Fred]

The forum needs a few of the new Charger owners to show up so their will be someone to pick on.

That is probably right.  The type of posts and number of questions I have has evolved with my journey from trying to get mine back and running, to trying to fix it up, to ultimately having it done.  Now it is mostly driving and reading rather than posting charger related questions.

X2   

[oldgold69]

  now yah woke me up   been busy making maple syrup since February   and now constructions getting into gear  so when I sit down at night i'm out like a light  I don't always log in sometimes I pop it for a quick look but I check in ouch a day if I can

[DeltaV]

What are you doing JB400?

[JB400]

Just finishing up a couple roofing jobs.  Both jobs had wood shake shingles that required to be tore off and resheeted before being reshingled. One was for a widow woman that we didn't want taken advantage of by Mexicans, so it was done for wages instead of for profit, which is what the Mexicans in area work for.  For clarification, they get paid by number of bundles put on roof, whereas we worked set wage per hour, so they tend to be more wasteful of material, like drywallers.

The other job was a community church service project. It's original wood shake shingle house with two layers of asphalt shingles on top of it..  The event coordinator and project superviser failed to realize full scope of project. Superviser told coordinator he only needed one other person to help him on project. I was notified of project but didn't know full details. Turns out we was shingling half this veterans house, and was supposed
To have one day to do it.  I show up day of event after driving coordinator around to get supplies. Coordinator didn't own a car. Superviser already tore into the roof. Turns out he's never done any roofing.  I called coordinator and requested another person to help roof and another group to help pick ip shingles. Reauested helper shows up and ends up picking up shingles with gf of superviser.  As far as the roof goes, the church nore the homeowner could afford to resheet the house, so I had to tell superviser to just tear off one layer of asphalt shingles, fix any holes in wood shakes with plywood, and reshingle it. We get old shingles tore off, holes fixed, and start to shingle. I told him to make sure he puts shingles on straight.  He catches attitude and says house isn't straight, and than bails at 3,  Other guy that I had requested shows up from hauling off shingles, and starts shingling. He done it before as a missionary in hurricane zones, but only does it on a year and with heritage shingles, whereas we were using 3 tab.  At 4, it starts clouding up, with rain in area. I called coordinator, requesting tarps, and we quit shingling and just cover up roof with tar paper. Tarps show up, and we get those put on just as skies open up. We leave, and I showed up Mon. after spending all day shingling other roof. Superviser showed up, tore tarps off, than leaves.  He never shows back up. I shingle till dark, and ended up shingling rest of roof myself after working all day on other roof. Superviser lasts shows up on Fri. sets ladder up, and then leaves. He comes back while I'm on roof and picks up tools, in which I never see him.  I had previous scheduled appointment cleaning flower beds for a lady on Sat.  Superviser lives behind her.  He says roof is almost done, and asks me for help to help him finish it. I didn't mention that I was the one that that had been working on it.  I haven't seen him since. I got the rest of roof finished yesterday, in which it stormed last night, and had one leak where I tied into existing roof and it hadn't had a chance to seal itself together yet.  I tarped at rrquest of home owner, and I'll seal the shingles down myself next week, and be done with it.  Homeowner wants to hire me to do other work around house, in which I'll get paid for it.

Coordinator wants me to help shingle roof on house she wants to buy, but done through church, (volunteer work).
One of my uncles wants a roof put on his garage.

I'm tired of roofing and I'm not a roofer. My projects still sit idle.

[bakerhillpins]

@ FrnkNsteen: Looks good
As for the search function,  when you get the search results... start at the last page. You will find what you were looking for.

The search functions have always been s**t here and well I just got used to not using it. I just bring up google and type in "site:www.dodgecharger.com [my search terms]" and let google do the filtering for me and always seem to be able to find what I want without too much more hassle than anything else when I use google.

Troy has plenty to do (I understand the situation, I'm living it in my own way) and I'd rather talk cars than worry about getting it fixed. The Photobucket deal has hosed several boards I frequent..  

[alfaitalia]

Hi JB.....from the right side of the pond (right as in left....not as in correct....don't need an argument!). I'm on here most days...although I read loads more than I post....most who even vaguely know me on here will probably be happy about that! I have strong opinions and people mistake that for being argumentative......arguments and discussion are not the same thing but some on here don't like hearing a view point that might be different to theirs......often, if I have a UK based view point, I get accused of being anti American.....very far from the truth (well except one of you with straw for hair who clearly is disliked by most of the World at the moment....Ill leave it there....LOL). I often don't feel the need to ask a question as the info can usually be found....but as said the search function is pretty useless. I usually just google "dodge Charger forum" plus the subject....that usually brings up all the threads I'm after....and in the right order! Back on the subject of your leader (sort of) we have a political forum on both the Jeep and Alfa forums I use....usually good fun....just a few threads locked each day!!! LOL! Anyway a long way around to saying why I don't tend to comment too much on stuff which is just a matter of opinion rather than technical fact based stuff....so yes my post rate has gone down. Oh and I'm one of the "Few".....no FaceBook account! I have real, actual friends I see and meet in the pub......how old skool of me!!!

[Kern Dog]

Has anyone ever wondered how this site makes money? I never see any ads.

[JB400]

Making money is not the purpose of the site.  It's to help like minded people restore their cars.  If Troy makes money, it's a side effect.

I'm just glad to see a few people post up, that hasn't posted in a while, aka, kind of like a roll call.

[Lennard]

I'm here every day. I just don't post often.

[bakerhillpins]

Has anyone ever wondered how this site makes money? I never see any ads.

IIRC Troy pays for this out of his own pocket, no advertising and thus no income from that. In the past we took up collections at car shows (Carlisle being one) and gave that to him but that's the only "income" that I know he receives/ed toward it. I think mostly he is rewarded with grief.. LOL

[myk]

Has anyone ever wondered how this site makes money? I never see any ads.

IIRC Troy pays for this out of his own pocket, no advertising and thus no income from that. In the past we took up collections at car shows (Carlisle being one) and gave that to him but that's the only "income" that I know he receives/ed toward it. I think mostly he is rewarded with grief.. LOL

He should take donations.  I'd definitely contribute if there was a way to do so...

[XH29N0G]

I had a situation just yesterday where I had a question, couldn't find the answer in the FSM (because it was a very obvious one) and was just about to post a question, but then recalled an older thread that I went to and sorted all out.  DC.COM had the information on it already.  A big thanks for that but another example of a situation where I would have posted but didn't because I was older and wiser about the car and the forum. 

[garner7555]

Has anyone ever wondered how this site makes money? I never see any ads.

IIRC Troy pays for this out of his own pocket, no advertising and thus no income from that. In the past we took up collections at car shows (Carlisle being one) and gave that to him but that's the only "income" that I know he receives/ed toward it. I think mostly he is rewarded with grief.. LOL

He should take donations.  I'd definitely contribute if there was a way to do so...

Yes, I would be glad to pay yearly dues.  I think most any of us would be willing to do that, and even if it was really cheap (say $5 per year, although I would be willing to pay more) every little bit would have to help Troy cover the cost of the site.  I understand that Troy enjoys the site, but we enjoy it for free while he enjoys it at a cost (time and money).

[Back N Black]

I have been gone for awhile, but slowly coming back on line. I had 18 rounds of Chemo and a stem cell transplant.

[Lennard]

I have been gone for awhile, but slowly coming back on line. I had 18 rounds of Chemo and a stem cell transplant.

Good to have you back!  I hope you get well soon. 

[JB400]

Don't let that cancer get the better of you.  Kick it in the butt.

[1970Moparmann]

I was getting fed up with all of the BS that started about a year ago.  Let Moparts and FBBO keep all the BS and nitpicking.   Seems like the bad eggs have been leaving, so maybe some of the old members will start coming back.