Retro Rides Awards 2011, a minor Rant.

[HoTWire]

Every year for the past 6 years we've had our Retro Rides Awards, nominated by users and then voted on. We later added in a little awards ceremony at Ace Cafe in January, which is quite popular.

So this year we have this thread : retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=117615&page=1

Once upon a time we had to cap the number of nominations in categories because so many people nominated. Once upon a time the cars nominated for Car of the Year were retro cars. Once upon a time people nominated people other than their mates. Not this year it seems.

It is a pretty sad state of affairs that people won't take the time out to have a think about suitable candidates, simply giving their mates a nod, or to do a bit of research by looking through Readers Rides, and Readers Other mods, or through blogs and other websites, to find some cool stuff to nominate.

I'm just disappointed by the apathy.

[Dez]

personally, i feel with the big influx of 'new' people over the last year, the sense of community on here has been diluted somewhat, which would go a long way to explaining the apathy you describe.

theres lots of new people(as in people i don't know) with newer cars, that to be quite honest i have absolutely no interest in cos they're just too new/unmodifed/straightforward restoration/bolt on mods for me, so i don't even bother clicking on the build threads.
the cars that were my favourites last year are still my favourites this year because of this. cars like seths hunter or B8Ds viva- the cars and people that are retro rides. but theyve already been nominated and some even taken awards, so i kinda feel i shouldnt really nom them again.

the people voting and being voted for are all regulars/the old guard/the hard-core(not hardcore, but he is one of em! ), those members whove been around for ages and are on here pretty much every day. ive been nominated a few times, so i feel obliged to male the effort and take the time to also nominate because of this.
but, i didnt go to any shows this year, i don't buy magazines, i don't do the whole 'blogging' thing, i know squat about photography, and arent vain enough to nominate myself, so that precludes a lot of the categories for me.

ive just had a look through the first 3 pages of readers rides, and stuggled to find much that interests me tbh, maybe 6 threads, and 4 ive put aside for later cos they're 20 pages long, full of photos, and I'm on a dongle, so it would take months to read through them. when does nominations close? I'm off to add to my nominations now though.......

[Deleted]

Must say I've been surprised at the lack of interest in voting compared to last year. There's that much going on in the community that I find it difficult to keep track, and certainly difficult to just pick one nom for each category. But that doesn't excuse the apathy, it doesn't take that long to make a nom or two.

[ToolsnTrack]

Then you have distance. I'm way up north, and the community doesnt sem as strong here. There are NO people on here i know personally, so its not like i can be accused of favouritism.

I agree with Dez, the are a lot of newer cars in the RR section, but considering my 2 project threads which are retro go unnoticed on every update and fall to the back in favour of the newer stuff, that must be what the community wants as a whole. Having looked at the amount of regularly updated readers rides threads, it would take me days to go through it impartially and pick out a favourite. Its a big community as you know. If i picked one off the first few pages, its hardly fair.

Lastly, i don't think the south realise just how difficult the distance factor for Scots really is. I'd LOVE to go to A52, meet folk, hit the gathering and such, but its a lot of planning and hope on a retro car making it there. The ace cafe, with that in mind, isnt an option.

All the same, i will go through and hit a few nominations...

[andyf]

I find it difficult because there are just so many to look at and I really do not know where to start.

Having said that HoTwire, if you all go to the trouble to organise this, maybe we should all make a concious effort to at least try and look. I think I may well restrict it to ones that I saw at RR11. Would this be fair as I am going to find it near impossible to trawl through every build thread this year?

[Deleted]

protip: look at your bookmarks, it makes the selection process easier. If you've bookmarked something, there's probably a good reason. Helps me out at any rate.

[EmDee]

I agree with the OP, and with Dez's post - not much nomming this year.

but

There is a danger that if it seems like you don't appreciate the contributions you've had so far then you may start to lose those too. In addition I think a lot of the newer people may not make nominations (they don't know the cars/threads/people well enough yet) but you will get a better response once there is an actual poll saying which do you prefer.

It seems to me that complaining about some of the nominations not being retro enough goes against what I thought this place was about. I was under the impression it was a state of mind. Although that may be the reason I've not done a thread for my 11 year old fiat.

Also, nominating your friends is going to happen whether you like it or not. We are all friends to an extent, no?

Erm anyway, to the whinge bin.

*immature teenage expression of gigglyness*

[MWF]

I did read the thread earlier and haven't submitted any votes, I haven't for years.

The reason for this is I only skim the content here now, RR is so huge I probably only take in 10%, and my net browsing habits these days mean I only take in 10% of that. My worry is voting for something I've seen without having seen the spectrum of what's out there.

Funnily enough I did think it all looked a bit 'Eurovision' too, but at least those people have taken the time to vote so perhaps wrong to complain about that.

[Garry]

I forgot to put Car of the Year on my noms, duly updated.

Bumpski to those who haven't nominated yet!

[retrolegends]

It seems to me RR is becoming a victim of its own success, I log on most days and just recently I have found myself staring at the screen wondering what the hell to look at first!

[DWDarkWheels]

So I'm a 2011 newbie (and the fact I have a project on the go is due to this inspirational place), but the number of ongoing projects is hard to track.
However, I will pop over and cast a couple of votes for projects I find the most memorable, which is probably the same as what I think are the best.

[Speedman]

Dec 14, 2011 12:49:37 GMT HoTWire said:

I'm just disappointed by the apathy.

Guilty I realised I haven't logged on for a month. Time is limited these days, and as most of my surfing is done on a mobile now its difficult to read too much. I will endeavour to get on more often and to sort some nominations out.

As for the current nominations, I think people are missing the point a bit. You may want to nominate a particular member/car/blog/magazine, but if 10 people have already put that name down in that category then adding yet another for them/it doesn't achieve much. Surely its better to pick a different person or to add, as some are doing, a 1st 2nd 3rd nomination.

Just my 2ps worth.

[alolympic]

I haven't nominated yet, and only will if others haven't already nominated my choices.
For me, there are a couple of suggestions -

1. Make the nominations thread sticky
2. Make it clearer in the OP that you are looking for nominations, not votes.
We are getting the same things nominated again and again, which makes me think that people might believe they are voting.
I would spell it out - if your choice has been nominated already, no need to do it again - just vote when the vote is open.

As for the age of the Project threads, that's just because some of us are getting old
I am admittedly less and less interested in the cars on here because they're too modern for me, but 'retro' is a rolling thing, as is the age of people on here.

[skinnylew]

I can kind of understand the need for a rant, the thread doesn't seem to be as popular and sinks quickly without much contribution.

However there are several things that are inevitable in terms of nominations:
Dbizzle has posted up a massive variety of threads this year, far and away the biggest starter of threads (26 since 7th December)

A52 and Bruce, for those who visit once or even every month there is and appreciation of what Bruce does and how selfless and generous he is.

Retro Cars - it is aimed and almost runs alongside this forum it seems.

I will add some others in to my noms though.....

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Sorry - but there's so much going on in "General chat" - I didn't even spot that thread (like many others)... Make a new forum section like last year (I think) and peopple will notice it.

I'm not online whole day long - and rarely browse back to page 2 or 3.

Cheers,
Jan

[VND]

Whinge Bin.

Live by the sword.


p.s.

Salt flat racers.
















End of my input.

peace.

[HoTWire]

If anyone reads this once it is moved, I'd like to say I kind of agree with Dez and Al that the age of cars on here has got younger, and whilst "retro is a frame of mind" apparently (something I've I don't think I've ever said, and don't agree with), we should be encouraging older cars, otherwise we're just another modified car site.

Dec 15, 2011 0:36:03 GMT VND said:

Whinge Bin.

Live by the sword.

Correct!