How many regular members are there?

68 wildcat

Active Member
I was away for awhile and had a look last week. Many parts of this forum seem to be dead in the water. I had found a cool build thread for a Skylark posted by a very enthusiastic guy doing a frame off resto. He ask's "what do you think" after posting pictures of the progress he made. No one here answered since 2017! What's up with that? No wonder he didn't post any more about his resto. I just wonder how many active members there still are?


Gary, 1968 Wildcat
 
It would be nice if there were someone to respond to every post quickly.

I like forums more than "Facebook", but it seems there are more people interested in facebook these days. Originally this site wanted to offer a lot of information for owners without having to go to a forum and asking. Hence, a fairly good "Reference" section. You would be amazed how many people never look in the reference section, and simply go to the forum and ask the question. This is the same behavior that makes facebook so popular. It take little effort to ask.

In the near future the site will go through a major upgrade which may even cost the participation of more members, though the upgrade is being done to improve and update the site. It's a lot of work, and a fair chunk of change. There are only a few members who support the site financially (Team Members), so there is little financial encouragement. This site is not related to, or sponsored by any business (a sponsor would be welcome), many are.

Active has to be defined. There are a bunch who watch the site fairly closely for posts they are interested in. Most come to the site with a problem, and disappear when it is solved (I have to admit, I do the same thing on many sites).

I hope you continue to hang around and respond to new members, it is good to not have any posting go without a response.

Thanks
 
Thanks for responding Bob.

From scooting around the site, it seems you're doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. If you upgrade the site you run the risk of alienating the old farts in the hobby and at 62, I count myself among them! (but I can still learn a thing or two) if you don't, the site is probably going to fade away IMHO. The classic Catch 22 dilemma. I'm also restoring an old 1957 Mercedes and joined a Yahoo group.

The moderator was getting complaints from the younger members about all the glitches. Difficult to post pics. messages don't show up for hours (or not at all) It was a dated old platform, but the " boy do I miss windows XP" crowd knew how it worked and resisted change preferring to put up with the shortcomings . Long story short, the moderator switched to a new format (tapatalk) while retaining the old Yahoo group. It's now split into 2 sites with some members (like me) monitoring both sites. This has created a situation where traffic has slowed to a crawl on both sites and I wonder how much longer it will last.

I wish I knew the answer to this problem, but it's affecting almost all internet groups and forums. Stamps, coins, etc. all dead or dying out. A way has to be found to stimulate growth with new younger members, but that's a tall order as parts are drying up and the hobby is becoming out of reach for many. I wish I knew what the answer is if there is one.

Gary, 68 Wildcat
 
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I am well aware of the young/old aspect :) at 69 :)

This forum is a VB4 and while the best at one time, has been short of development and support for some time. VB4 was the most popular and successful for years. Now with the pressure to have responsive websites for tablets and cell phones an upgrade is pretty much needed. The new forum will allow the site to once again have a Garage, and a better classifieds.

Right now the only "responsive" page on the site is the index in the reference section. Eventually I will pick away at the reference section and convert most of it.

This site is and even after the conversion will be available on tap-a-talk.
 
i'm usually more active than this but Home and Garden show season has been going on since the end of February and i've been fighting a sinus infection ( or something ) since the first week.

and then i got hammered with a 101.7 F temp Saturday.

and i made a 500 mile road trip today.

so i've been a little bit busier and more exhausted than normal.



it seems you're doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.



well, yeah! he owns the whole kit and kaboodle.

ps - me and him? we're two Bobs. he's in Idaho, i'm in Indiana. i'm way more obnoxious. :D


if you happen to find any classic magazine articles about Buick cars or engines, consider transcribing the text ( for ease of editing ) and sending PDFs of the pages to Bob, he'll likely post them. that's how i got so many articles up on the reference section. be sure and give full credit for Magazine / month / year and author / photographer if possible.

almost all of those old hot rod magazines ( obviously not HotRodMagazine itself ) are defunct and have been for decades so the only way anyone can even find this stuff is by digging through piles of +50 year old paper.

if you see a new publication ( such as the Hot Rod Buick 300ci with stroker crank or a 455 or Nail build ) obviously just link to their web site.
 
oh, and the other trick is to use the "New Posts" button in the upper left corner of the tool bar, right under Home as your first action when you visit the forum.

that will pull up every new post made on the board since your last visit, regardless of location or forum.

then, hit "New Posts" again as your LAST action before you leave the board, to make sure you didn't miss a new one that was posted while you were looking at the old list.

i still have one or two slip through on me but it's very rare.
 
I think the reference section is visible now. The style really made a lot of it disappear, or hard to read! If anyone notices something bad, please mention it:)
 
holy cow. all of muh magazine articles are gone!

and so many of your articles. ouchie.
I think you are referring to the part in the forum, I think you will still find them in the reference section. When I did the switch, I only notice two that weren't in the forum. If you notice something missing mention it, I can still find them and put them in the reference.
 
ah, i have to click through to the sub-topic page.

i actually don't care much for that ... but this would be the only way to make the main Reference page viewable on a phone, i suppose.
 
ah, i have to click through to the sub-topic page.

i actually don't care much for that ... but this would be the only way to make the main Reference page viewable on a phone, i suppose.
Yes, it is "Flexible Design" that is messing everything up... I spent a bunch of time making a nice navigation system up that expanded on the reference index, but then found that it just would not work on a small screen, so I gave up for now and you must move through sub navigation pages to find your way down. I will look at all that when I know all the pages present themselves acceptably. I know they don't right now:(
 
It would be nice if there were someone to respond to every post quickly.

I like forums more than "Facebook", but it seems there are more people interested in facebook these days. Originally this site wanted to offer a lot of information for owners without having to go to a forum and asking. Hence, a fairly good "Reference" section. You would be amazed how many people never look in the reference section, and simply go to the forum and ask the question. This is the same behavior that makes facebook so popular. It take little effort to ask.

In the near future the site will go through a major upgrade which may even cost the participation of more members, though the upgrade is being done to improve and update the site. It's a lot of work, and a fair chunk of change. There are only a few members who support the site financially (Team Members), so there is little financial encouragement. This site is not related to, or sponsored by any business (a sponsor would be welcome), many are.

Active has to be defined. There are a bunch who watch the site fairly closely for posts they are interested in. Most come to the site with a problem, and disappear when it is solved (I have to admit, I do the same thing on many sites).

I hope you continue to hang around and respond to new members, it is good to not have any posting go without a response.

Thanks
Sorry Buickriv friend.I am here 54 Super.In a cold and windy Sweden.
 
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