Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

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Boustrophedon
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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Boustrophedon » Tue Jul 07, 2020 10:28 am

I have owned a certain make of kitcar for 20+ years. I find the owners club forum completely useless now and riven with arguments and primadonnas. People who used to contribute and actually drive, now drive nothing faster than an armchair and just act as know-it-all, been there done that types. On the other hand the Facebook group works really well, if I have a technical question I can usually get an answer within hours.

This forum is great and nothing like the aforementioned car club one, but I think that Facebook groups are behind a lot of the decline of forum traffic in general.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Jimmyb » Tue Jul 07, 2020 10:55 am

Boustrophedon wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 10:28 am I have owned a certain make of kitcar for 20+ years. I find the owners club forum completely useless now and riven with arguments and primadonnas. People who used to contribute and actually drive, now drive nothing faster than an armchair and just act as know-it-all, been there done that types. On the other hand the Facebook group works really well, if I have a technical question I can usually get an answer within hours.

This forum is great and nothing like the aforementioned car club one, but I think that Facebook groups are behind a lot of the decline of forum traffic in general.
From other forums I have been a member of, from aviculture to motorbiking, I have to agree with you (generically).

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by steamyjim » Mon Jul 13, 2020 11:31 pm

The ease with which one can now upload photos to the forum has encouraged me to start posting again (here and on the Mamod Forum) - for years it was the painful operation of using Photobucket or similar, whereas Facebook groups had a simple upload button.
Check out my steam and engineering youtube channel at...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8vX4P ... _PnvhldjjA

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by HugoFitz » Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:49 pm

Well it sadly looks like this one could be too...

Please read Tom's pinned notification about finding a new owner for the forum.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Jimmyb » Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:24 pm

HugoFitz wrote: Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:49 pm Well it sadly looks like this one could be too...

Please read Tom's pinned notification about finding a new owner for the forum.
Judging by some of the strong responses, a lot of people do NOT move off forums :)

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by FWLR » Tue Nov 17, 2020 4:41 pm

Jimmyb wrote: Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:24 pm
HugoFitz wrote: Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:49 pm Well it sadly looks like this one could be too...

Please read Tom's pinned notification about finding a new owner for the forum.
Judging by some of the strong responses, a lot of people do NOT move off forums :)
I hope your not referring to me...

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Jimmyb » Tue Nov 17, 2020 5:09 pm

FWLR wrote: Tue Nov 17, 2020 4:41 pm
Jimmyb wrote: Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:24 pm
HugoFitz wrote: Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:49 pm Well it sadly looks like this one could be too...

Please read Tom's pinned notification about finding a new owner for the forum.
Judging by some of the strong responses, a lot of people do NOT move off forums :)
I hope your not referring to me...
Rod, nobody specific, just looking at the strength of FB opposition in "New Forum Funding" :)

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by FWLR » Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:53 am

You will find Jimmy, that FB is not one of the favourite platforms for most of the forum. Like I have mentioned, I do have my own FB page and I don't use it that much and could you seriously see those members that do post on here post anymore on there. I don't really think they would somehow, in fact I am willing to bet it would be less, because it would be practically impossible to follow a members thread.
But each to their own... :thumbup:

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by TonyW » Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:13 am

FWLR wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:53 amYou will find Jimmy, that FB is not one of the favourite platforms for most of the forum.
That is a brave statement.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by FWLR » Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:31 am

TonyW wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:13 am
FWLR wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:53 amYou will find Jimmy, that FB is not one of the favourite platforms for most of the forum.
That is a brave statement.


Why do you say that Tony. Most of the members I know don't like to be associated with FB. I really only use it like I have mentioned for family news, especially now with Lockdown 2 in force and maybe to see what the so-called cottage manufactures are up too. And sometimes with my own page.....

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by HugoFitz » Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:37 am

TonyW wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:13 am
FWLR wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:53 amYou will find Jimmy, that FB is not one of the favourite platforms for most of the forum.
That is a brave statement.
2 reasons I don't like Facebook
Ads
The transient nature of posts. (it sucks trying to follow anyones project progress or search back for references)

2 reasons I don't like Forums
No way to like and show appreciation for a project with out having to post on the thread (which bogs the thread down)
Quoting, linking URLs, posting pictures etc requires a degree of coding on here! It's 2020 and I'm not a programmer!!!
Messaging here is very tiresome.
(I know that was three! :lol: )

I'm on two forums MERG and here on the GRF (both use the same platform)

I'm on countless Facebook groups 16mm, Garden railways trading, 3D printing, RX8 owners etc., etc.

There's pros and cons swings roundabout but I'm pretty sure there are some platforms which offer a halfway house...

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by TonyW » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:00 pm

FWLR wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:31 amWhy do you say that Tony. Most of the members I know don't like to be associated with FB.
Brave in that I am not sure there is evidence to either prove or deny it. I know that I see posts on Facebook made by members of this place.

Personally, I make probably ten times more posts on FB than I do here.

A tip for HugoFitz: If you are using Chrome (and maybe other browsers) there is a thing called AdBlock Plus that will stop you from seeing adverts. For Facebook itself there is a thing called Facebook Purity (https://www.fbpurity.com/) that allows you to make FB work for you rather than the other way around.

To be clear, I am not saying that this forum should vanish, and I would be disappointed if it did, but I am puzzled as to why it needs to move anywhere other than where it is already.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by ge_rik » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:17 pm

TonyW wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:00 pm ........ I am puzzled as to why it needs to move anywhere other than where it is already.
Tom is not only the forum administrator, he also hosts the forum on his own server(s). This keeps costs to a minimum, but also means he has all the techie hassle of keeping the forum running smoothly, such as regularly backing up and restoring the data, protecting it against spam, phishing and hacking attacks (which I believe is virtually a 24/7 job these days), plus all the day to day maintenance. He's reached the stage where he no longer wants to carry on with what is often a thankless and unseen chunk of his life. The fact that so far we've had only one person with sufficient know-how offering to take over but declining when he saw the scale of commitment. There are a couple of further alternatives being explored, but both involve losing the archive of existing material plus there will be cost or functionality implications.

Rik
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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by HugoFitz » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:20 pm

TonyW wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:00 pm
FWLR wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:31 amWhy do you say that Tony. Most of the members I know don't like to be associated with FB.
A tip for HugoFitz: If you are using Chrome (and maybe other browsers) there is a thing called AdBlock Plus that will stop you from seeing adverts. For Facebook itself there is a thing called Facebook Purity (https://www.fbpurity.com/) that allows you to make FB work for you rather than the other way around.
Thanks for the tips I'm actually using a DNS level AdBlocker running on RaspberryPi which kills most Ads across all the devices in my house, of course FB as platform has to make money so stuff gets through based on your FB activity. I also rarely use FB on anything other than the IOS app on my phone...

Anyway! Main thing is I hope the GRF keeps going in some guise, I'll miss it otherwise. :(

PS Tony your Facebook presence is a great example of company services done well :thumbright:

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by TonyW » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:24 pm

ge_rik wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:17 pmTom is not only the forum administrator, he also hosts the forum on his own server(s).
Thanks, I must have missed that.
HugoFitz wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:20 pmPS Tony your Facebook presence is a great example of company services done well :thumbright:
Thank you, much appreciated. And it is so easy to do. I try and make it as chatty but informative as I can and as each loco nears completion I have words running around in my head that I want to say about it. The next one will be interesting for any fans of the Darjeeling, hopefully end of next week.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by ge_rik » Wed Nov 18, 2020 1:32 pm

ge_rik wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:17 pm
TonyW wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:00 pm ........ I am puzzled as to why it needs to move anywhere other than where it is already.
Tom is not only the forum administrator, he also hosts the forum on his own server(s). This keeps costs to a minimum, but also means he has all the techie hassle of keeping the forum running smoothly, such as regularly backing up and restoring the data, protecting it against spam, phishing and hacking attacks (which I believe is virtually a 24/7 job these days), plus all the day to day maintenance. He's reached the stage where he no longer wants to carry on with what is often a thankless and unseen chunk of his life. The fact that so far we've had only one person with sufficient know-how offering to take over but declining when he saw the scale of commitment. There are a couple of further alternatives being explored, but both involve losing the archive of existing material plus there will be cost or functionality implications.

Rik
Just seen Tom's message on the other thread. Sorry, I was under the impression that he was using his own servers. It seems we're actually using the paid-for service TSOHOST and so a handover is quite feasible and relatively painless. This seems to contradict some of the previous information which has been floating about.

It will still involve us in having to raise funds to pay for the continuation of hosting. I hadn't realised that past fund raising was sufficient to cover this for the time the forum has been up and running. Clearly, I am not as informed as I thought I was..... :?

My apologies for any confusion. If it's any consolation, I am just as confused...... :scratch:

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