Where is Everyone?

by Mcarlo77 Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:23 pm

I've hesitated to bring this up for some time for the sake of new members who seem excited to have found this site. But, I think it's time to bring this out into the open and ask why so few members on here are active participants anymore. As I type this, I notice the Latest Topics list on the right margin now extends back a full week. I've never seen this before in all the years I've been a member. Is this forum going the way of so many others? Has the "cool" factor of Facebook relegated this forum to a site only accessed to find archived information? It takes more than a dozen or so members to keep this forum active and exciting to be a part of...and, I sorely miss all the shared information and interaction from so many members that used to frequent this site. I think what bothers me the most is the lack of participation causes me to wonder if interest in these cars has reached it's zenith and is now fading away slowly but surely. I hope I'm not out of line to even bring up this discussion as I truly value each and every member on here. Guess I'm just longing for the good 'ol days when there was so much more banter on here; both car and non-car related. Any thoughts?

by ant7377 Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:35 pm

Its true. Been kinda quiet. Weather is changing though and I'm sure we will all be getting back into "it" soon. I check on here everyday and see what I can offer. If any of you guys are on IG a guy that goes by "biggmontes" just had a second d gen Monte meet in CA . Lots of nice cars there.

by pila Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:44 pm

That seems to be the trend on many forums this winter. Must be somewhat weather related ! I do believe there are changes in what was once popular though, even boating in this area, on Saginaw bay and the Saginaw river etc.
Even aviation has slowed down quite a bit here.
Hard to say what it's all about, but GM has only one plant here anymore, where there used to be 5 & 6... Saginaw Steering Gear is now owned by the Chinese. Parking lot is full, but at $15 bucks an hour & not 25 like it used to be....

by Limey SE Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:37 am

ant7377 wrote:Its true. Been kinda quiet. Weather is changing though and I'm sure we will all be getting back into "it" soon. I check on here everyday and see what I can offer. If any of you guys are on IG a guy that goes by "biggmontes" just had a second d gen Monte meet in CA . Lots of nice cars there.

I agree its been very quiet I believe its the LONGGGGGG Winter and others that Join dont really know how to go to the Chatbox here either YES THERES A CHATBOX REAL TIME here on main page I used to talk to alot of Guys there but even some of the LONGTIME Members have fallen to wayside from checking in

And Jesse Bigmontes Vargas is a Major player on west coast for all things Monte Carlo related and soon will diving into Malibus although not as much as Monte Carlos will still be nice to have some rust free metal available pretty soon

PREVIEW of some of them at Jesse's show he is both on Instagram and Facebook

by thatfnthing Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:43 am

I don't have any specific proof, but subjectively it seems to me to run in bunches -- little to nothing will happen for a week or two, and then it'll light up with 20 new posts. I personally stop by a couple times a day as time permits during work (gotta have a distraction from the grind), but on weekends I'm wrapped up in house stuff and not able to drop by much.

I'd like to think interest hasn't waned for these cars -- it certainly seemed to me that I gave out a lot of 'Welcomes' in the last year to new members. I think this winter just largely sucked for everyone and people just have had more stuff to deal with. I'd like to think it'll pick up as the warm weather starts to roll in.

And since my expertise leans heavily toward electrical, there's simply not a ton of electrical Q for me to kibitz on. Most questions seem to lean toward drivetrain, which other guys have have way more knowledge than me on. And ABS questions never come up at all. Laughing

by thatfnthing Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:46 am

Limey SE wrote:I agree its been very quiet I believe its the LONGGGGGG Winter and others that Join dont really know how to go to the Chatbox here either YES THERES A CHATBOX REAL TIME here on main page I used to talk to alot of Guys there but even some of the LONGTIME Members have fallen to wayside from checking in

I've always seen that thing, but there's never been anything in it. I assumed it came with the forum app and just no one used it.

by Mcarlo77 Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:37 am

Quote: "PREVIEW of some of them at Jesse's show he is both on Instagram and Facebook"

This is what I mean...Facebook and Instagram (and, probably others) seem to suck all the air out of the room for forums such as this one and leaves it with nothing being contributed in the way of a social community other than being a site for "How To" advice. I think this is why, when new members sign up, they are never heard from again because they don't feel confident enough to contribute towards the technical issues. It also explains why activity declines during the winter months. But, I just think healthy, active forums need to be more varied in their range of topics if there is any hope of keeping new and old members engaged on a regular basis (browse the V8buick or classicoldsmobile forums if you want a sense of a strong social community). This would make it a much more enjoyable site for everyone IMO. On the other hand, maybe that's all this site is destined to be...simply a technical information resource. Trouble with that is eventually, most everything will have been covered and archived and won't require interaction anymore.

by Joe73 Tue Mar 12, 2019 10:20 am

I agree, very quiet. I check here several times a day to see if I can help with anything or offer an opinion. I think it will get better with the weather.

by impalamonte Tue Mar 12, 2019 11:51 am

I check in everyday as well. Just to see what going on among us.

I too , think weather is a contributor.

Our generation is lost among the car community ( I feel) ...73-77...not many people seeing the platform as visually appealing. Perceive us as heavy and non performance biased.

Also , I think many of us (HERE) here are very seasoned as to where we want our cars to be ( close to finished). I admit I do have a thing or to do here and there....but nothing as I once had going on. A lot of the other sites are getting activity on their member's upgrades ( big brakes, suspension, modern electronics, big $$$ mods) . protouring.com...see activity there!

But I think Mcarlo77 is on the right track when he said , " most everything will have been covered and archived and won't require interaction anymore " .

my.02 cents

by 77camino Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:51 pm

To be honest I think I enjoy the pictures of members cars more than the technical stuff. I also check in often and I see the membership number always going up. Not always do I see the new members introduce them self and their rides. We love all the cars, no matter if you are 16 and bought a $500 car or much older and bought a $15,000 car. If it’s a G3, we are going to like to see it. If you don’t have a G3 and are just here because you share the love for these “forgotten cars”, we want to here from you also. Cannot tell you how many times someone has asked if anyone knows where to find an unfindable part and within days some member will post that he/she has one. If your here as a guest, sign up and join the fun.

by Hs1973 Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:00 pm

Personally i check in every day to see what is happening. However i use most of my spare time in the shop trying to get my chevelle ready for summer. I post acassionally when i have a problem with the old girl, or reply when im in a position to help others. However i belive too that it is due to winter fatigue that there is not a whole lot of action from time to time. But i will say that i hope 3G is going to be around for years to come, because it is the best site around for our cars and i Think it feels like a must for me to check every day. Im just sad i dont have to much to share with you these days. Im hoping for a long summer and i promise to share pictures. Regards from Henrik.

by Iggy Tue Mar 12, 2019 2:10 pm

I am fairly new here and check it out often. Do not hear much from me because of family reasons - wife had a cancer scare and has RA so she takes up more of my time than I wish, but she comes first. At least she was declared clear of cancer with surgery only, no chemo! Add to that elderly parents that live 7 hours away which takes up time also.

As I free up some time I will get more into my Laguna, but have to take care of other things first. In the mean time I will keep looking and adding my experience when needed, and later on will be gleaning from others!

by fasrnur Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:40 pm

Winter SUCKS! I hope to be able to have mine out by June? lol

by Hawk03 Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:22 pm

I used to spend half of my day at work on this site, lol. Now I'm too busy to even check in until at night or the weekend. My time to research and think about upgrades is left to the weekend and then I push the projects off. I have a list of things I want to do this spring/summer so hopefully I will be able to contribute to my progress thread.

by 76 Malibu Wed Mar 13, 2019 10:22 pm

I have been a member of this forum for sometime, but I have to admit I haven't participated much. Some of it was due to being busy in life and part of is was due to my Malibu being off the road in storage for some time.

It's too bad Facebook is killing forums. I can see the appeal, easy to upload photos, easy to comment or like, and very mobile friendly. However, I think a forum is much better for technical discussion, community building and actually funding useful information.

I am a moderator on another forum and it was getting decimated by losses to Facebook. We took some steps to modernize the forum including making photos easy to upload, posting very simple instructions with screenshots on using the forum, making it more mobile friendly and creating a library of technical data and how-to articles that are easy to find and read. While everyone always says just "search to find the topic", it is a PITA and often results in reading tons of pages to find what you are looking for. Having information centralized and easy to access makes things so much better.

I have a couple of questions for the forum admin. First, when using mobile devices, there is no page with the current active topics. While you can switch to desktop mode it's way too small. Is there someway to get the active topics to pop up on a phone? That would make the mobile browsing much more enjoyable. Second, why is all the tech section all on a second subforum page? I think it might be easier to navigate if tech section was just a category heading and all the subforms were directly on the main page. Thanks for a great forum.

by BBMALIBU Sat Mar 16, 2019 12:16 pm

fasrnur wrote: Winter SUCKS!

That is an understatement with the amount of snow in your pictures.

by BBMALIBU Sat Mar 16, 2019 12:17 pm

I am guilty of not visiting this site more often....sorry Crying or Very sad

by ant7377 Sat Mar 16, 2019 4:53 pm

Just went and got my 73 out of storage this morning. Started right up and ran good.

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:02 pm

g3chevy and myself where talking about this a few weeks ago. I have my project but I don't feel like posting there anymore. It seems like I am just talking to myself. I am part of about 4 different forums right now due to my other projects. I like this one the best by far. Much better people here. Hey thatfnthing, you are more than welcome to help with my electrical super job. I, when I get time, am going to install a complete Painless wiring kit, power windows, two amp stereo, and custom center console with hand brake and window controls. That should keep you busy. I just started another crazy job so I am working 50 hours a week until we start working 84 hours a week. I try to check in but it has gotten kind of slow. WAKE THIS MUTHA UP!!!

by thatfnthing Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:36 am

REVINKEVIN wrote:Hey thatfnthing, you are more than welcome to help with my electrical super job. I, when I get time, am going to install a complete Painless wiring kit, power windows, two amp stereo, and custom center console with hand brake and window controls. That should keep you busy.

Bring it on. I love a good puzzle. Smile

by 77cruiser Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:36 am

Sluffing off myself too.

by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Mon Mar 18, 2019 4:05 pm

I concur with RevinKevin. When you post a topic, there are little if any responses these days. If you go to the stats you can see people have viewed your post but other than that you get crickets... We need to respond to a post, not just view it if we want this forum to survive. New members count on us to discuss a broad range of things so they can get fully sucked into the sickness of the g3 disease we all have been diagnosed with.

by Limey SE Mon Mar 18, 2019 4:42 pm

Yes sir I agree 100%

by 73ss Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:28 pm

I 've been busy with a few things on the car over the winter and thought about posting some topics and as mentioned above, figured there would be little to no interest.

Just a suggestion to liven things up a bit, Maybe update the ride of the week more often. If everyone submitted a pic and a write up and rotate it out every two weeks or so that might keep it fresh.
Whose car is the current ROTW? Any history or story behind it? I don't see anything about it.

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:28 pm

Let's put your car up there. I would like to see it. I so much want to finish my project but with 2.5 hours of driving a day and 50 hour weeks I find myself laying in bed and dreaming of what it will be like to drive it. 73ss for ROTW. Here ye here ye.

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