|
|
|
|
|
bstardchild yes it does. I just quickly popped over to PH and tried it.
|
| |
Proton Jumbuck-deceased :-(
2005 Kia Sorento the parts hauling heap
V8 Humber Hawk
1948 Standard12 pickup SOLD
1953 Pop build (wifey's BIVA build).
|
|
|
|
bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,971
Club RR Member Number: 71
|
|
|
|
bstardchild yes it does. I just quickly popped over to PH and tried it. Thanks for the confirmation crockpot |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 29, 2024 17:37:52 GMT
|
Also For every post which is the OP posting about the project there are 20 posts quoting the original and saying "cool" or "how did you..." or "I would have..." which then makes it hard to go through and read the whole thread. I was just about to suggest that the Like button may be responsible for a lack of interaction because a quick click is easier than writing a comment, but you've just reminded me of my absolute forum pet hate, quoting a 50 photo post in full just to comment "Cool!" under it  It's probably infinitely less irritating than seeing a post on FB that has 500 replies and they're all just people @-ing their mates in. I don't know the answer (or if this is the right thread for that) but yeah, definitely making more of Club RR and making it easier to be a part of is worthwhile. Yeah, multiple quote posts are really annoying There is a trend for simple before and after transformation videos, usually featuring someone clicking there fingers or opening and closing a door. I find them a bit irritating to be honest. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 29, 2024 18:15:57 GMT
|
|
I'd love to customise the code on this forum to allow for the OP only content but no can do sadly.
I don't even know what the development status of Proboards is any more, I'll have to go and check. I suspect they aren't abandoning to the point of be being able to scrape the content off the forum and fire up my own code base (which is what I'd really like to do, control the whole thing end to end, code base an all).
|
| |
|
|
jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,223 
|
|
Oct 29, 2024 20:17:24 GMT
|
I suspect they aren't abandoning to the point of be being able to scrape the content off the forum and fire up my own code base (which is what I'd really like to do, control the whole thing end to end, code base an all). I'm sure your well aware that going that route is a lot of work, but worth it I.M.O. We use a phpBB forum integrated into a Joomla website on a dedicated managed server, not the cheapest way to go but it means we have total control. Took a lot of work and time to get it the way we want, but worth it. From what you say and previous comments over the last couple of years, Proboards don't seem to be pulling their weight which is bound to be a pain in the proverbial ! |
| |
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 31, 2024 18:03:10 GMT
|
I'm sure your well aware that going that route is a lot of work, but worth it I.M.O. We use a phpBB forum integrated into a Joomla website on a dedicated managed server, not the cheapest way to go but it means we have total control. Took a lot of work and time to get it the way we want, but worth it. From what you say and previous comments over the last couple of years, Proboards don't seem to be pulling their weight which is bound to be a pain in the proverbial ! haha I'd be going even further and would be even more work as I'd write my own forum software from scratch to my own specification  |
| |
|
|
jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,223
|
|
Oct 31, 2024 20:02:16 GMT
|
If Jeff or myself had the necessary skills we'd probably do the same  |
| |
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
|
|
niwid
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,754
|
|
|
|
|
It's so easy to take for granted the amount of work that goes into keeping something like RR going, thank you for putting it into perspective.
Having recently joined club RR, I'm happy paying for very little other than contributing to the finances of the forum/show/community that has been a part of my life for about 13 years. And early access tickets obvs.
Thank you so much for all your work in keeping this whole thing going
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It's really interesting to hear what happens behind the scenes. Hats off to @hotwire for keeping this place on the straight and narrow and investing so much time (and money) in keeping it going. I remember going to the awards night at the Ace Cafe back in the day!
By the way - how can I join Club RR? I can't seem to find it anywhere on the forum?
|
| |
Old Fords never die they just go sideways
|
|
jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,223
|
|
|
|
By the way - how can I join Club RR? I can't seem to find it anywhere on the forum? |
| |
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
|
|
|
|
mk2cossie
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,060
Club RR Member Number: 77
|
|
|
|
Just added a Ko-fi subscription via the link provided by jimi just above. Hopefully that helps out HoTWire as this is one of my most visited forums (and my most actively posted on too) Never been foolish enough to sign up to Facebook or MySpace, or whatever social media medium is in favour (i don't class Instagram the same, as that's just looking at pictures and videos, and generally not reading comments) |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With the Ads coming back online I'm going to see if I can replace one of the in thread/in forum listing ad positions with a Club RR block, so it is on every page of the forum at least. I ran some numbers, and whilst I need to go in to some more detail with them, it looks like a balance of Ad and Club revenue will be the way forwards. I'd need to have the club be twice the size it is now to meet the current RR outgoings (that's without the image hosting), which is possible one day I hope, but certainly not in the short term. mk2cossie thank you (and all the others that have signed up recently) |
| |
Last Edit: Nov 3, 2024 16:55:01 GMT by HoTWire
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interesting to read this, and thanks Hotwire for keeping it going. I am a moderator on the LR4x4 forum, and have seen similar problems. The finances on this forum are now heavily relying on Google adds. I don't know how it works here, but if you are a paying member, you no longer see the adds. So if you visit, the forum either gets money from google adds, or hard cash, if you are a paying member. The thing with organizing shows, is that it is financially risky, as it is a lot of upfront cost, and if badly attended, you can loose money. A lot of shows did bite the dust in recent years unfortunately because of cost.
Also, that forum (as is this), has members all over the globe, and a show is only going to attract local members.
If you see the NEC classic car show asking entry prices of just under £40 on the day, I'd say a few people will think twice going, so it is a fine balance.
Seeing this, I personaly would push the ads to the max, as it is fairly easy and risk free money for the forum. With risk free, I mean if we have another COVID, the income is no longer there, whereas with Google ads the income will always be there.
Fewer traffic is in my view the result of cost of living; we live in a world where a lot of people need to choose between heat or eat, so a project car is probably not high on the agenda. There are also many people struggling to get on the housing ladder, and this is just for a basic house. Your own parking space is a nice to have, let alone a garage.
That obviously sounds all a bit negative, however, I follow this board, mainly as it is enthousiasts with a dream and just get on with things, rather than only just dream. Most projects on here are a product of hard work, rather than the infamous 'cheque book projects' like you see so often.
With that in mind, I think there is a solid future ahead for Retro Rides.
|
| |
|
|
robdhc
Part of things
Posts: 197
|
|
|
|
There are also many people struggling to get on the housing ladder, and this is just for a basic house. Your own parking space is a nice to have, let alone a garage. This is a really good point. When we bought our first place we had the choice of second bedroom, garden, or garage. I doubt there are many who'd make the same decision we I did, and even then the garage (on block, no power) was so small you could barely squeeze the car in, and rolling it out to work on blocked all the neighbours in. Space to store and work on a car is possibly the biggest cost consideration for many retro car owners? |
| |
|
|
jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,223
|
|
|
|
Seeing this, I personaly would push the ads to the max, as it is fairly easy and risk free money for the forum. With risk free, I mean if we have another COVID, the income is no longer there, whereas with Google ads the income will always be there. That's also the easiest way to really curse word off your visitors and members  Getting the balance of ads/income right is not an easy thing to achieve ... seen the movie, got the T shirt I.M.O HoTWire has it about right (at least from a users POV) 👍 |
| |
Last Edit: Nov 5, 2024 13:17:19 GMT by jimi
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Man what an eye-opener. I can see why so many forums have struggled over the past decade or so. Very much appreciative of you putting in the hard work keeping the lights on!
On the build threads front, that's the only online car content I consume (pretty much). Either that or period race videos/Goodwood highlights. Cannot stand the IG/FB constant rolling cycle of disconnected posts. If I want to catch up on one bloke's TR6 I don't want to have to scroll past 40 'what oil do I use' posts interspersed with the occasional for sale ad from a scammer. Instagram used to be acceptable (though again, flawed compared to a forum), but their algorithm has been getting worse and worse at just showing you the posts of people you follow rather than 'suggested' posts of dubious value by people who have paid money for more exposure.
Long live the forum. Long live the build thread. I'm a CT Member so happily put my money where my mouth is for that.
I do think the economic downturn will have affected people's ability to do fun stuff with cars. It's definitely affected the for sale market, with formerly well-priced cars hanging about unsold for absolutely ages.
On the super-long threads putting people off, I think that's a double-edged thing. Some people love a long thread, especially if they're invested from the beginning. Most of the builds I follow on youtube are long-standing ones like Binky or Fanatik Builds. Though it is definitely still a commitment to catch up on long threads with lots of work in them.
Personally I think the approach of having a build thread for individual cars work better for that than one super-thread of multiple projects. If someone's interested in Jags but not Fiats, they can just get the Jag stuff and aren't put off by 6 months of Fiat. Though if the admin of updating six different threads instead of one big one is too much of a hassle, it's far better to make mega-threads than not post anything at all!
Oh, and an interesting approach to the 'how do I just get the OP's updates' challenge is what Oldschool NZ does. They have a separate subforum for build threads and build discussion, with only the OP posting in the build thread and setting up a separate discussion thread for everyone to talk about it. Can't say I love the approach myself as it's even trickier to catch up on a new thread as the discussion comments just float in the ether without context. More of an admin burden on posters as well, running 2 threads for every project.
Might there be a simple patch by doing something to make the OP's posts stand out more? Something like a different background colour, or whack their username up a dozen font-sizes or so? That way people can skim past anything that's not the OP's posts, if that's how they'd prefer to read.
|
| |
|
|
75swb
Beta Tester
Posts: 1,052
Club RR Member Number: 181
|
|
|
|
Oh, and an interesting approach to the 'how do I just get the OP's updates' challenge is what Oldschool NZ does. They have a separate subforum for build threads and build discussion, with only the OP posting in the build thread and setting up a separate discussion thread for everyone to talk about it. Can't say I love the approach myself as it's even trickier to catch up on a new thread as the discussion comments just float in the ether without context. More of an admin burden on posters as well, running 2 threads for every project. I find this set-up really hard to integrate with. I've posted a couple of times, read a bit, and bought a car off there, but nowhere near as active as I am on here. It all feels very disjointed with responses separated |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I find this set-up really hard to integrate with. I've posted a couple of times, read a bit, and bought a car off there, but nowhere near as active as I am on here. It all feels very disjointed with responses separated Yep, that's my experience too. Great work going on, and good vibe, but there's a reason I don't post my own thread there. I suspect that's not their goal though, and it's more a gathering ground for an existing group of bods rather than an all-faiths church like RR. Still, fun place. |
| |
|
|
jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,223
|
|
|
|
It all feels very disjointed with responses separated 👍 I don't like this style (separated responses or OP only threads) of forum for exactly this reason, I find them difficult to follow jumping between 2 threads and a lot of times you miss out on the small nuances, where a comment/s or suggestions have influenced or helped the OP. Much prefer the more cohesive thread approach that is used here and on other forums I use. I have nothing against long threads, because my landing page here is always "Recent Threads" I often see a post that interests me, if I like the post I'll go back to the start and read the complete thread, it's like binge watching a TV series, sometimes you get a better understanding of the build and its direction changes as it progresses I think any forum that's still active after 20+ years obviously has it about right for its users/members 👍 Forums are also great information resources, where you can find info from years ago, especially important to retro car (in fact Retro anything) owners. Try doing the same on any of the current crop of "social media"  Although IMO Bulletin Boards and Forums were the original "Social Media" |
| |
Last Edit: Nov 7, 2024 14:55:12 GMT by jimi
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think any forum that's still active after 20+ years obviously has it about right for its users/members 👍 I'd agree with this, though I appreciate the need to not get complacent! Forums are also great information resources, where you can find info from years ago (especially important to retro car (in fact Retro anything) owners. Try doing the same on any of the current crop of "social media" Could not agree more with this. I wonder what proportion of the world's population's problems have been solved by finding a relevant forum post through a google search. Expanding outside of the world of fixing cars into things like IT problems I'd say it's a healthy proportion. |
| |
|
|
|
|
It's probably infinitely less irritating than seeing a post on FB that has 500 replies and they're all just people @-ing their mates in.
Getting the balance of ads/income right is not an easy thing to achieve ... seen the movie, got the T shirt 
Although IMO Bulletin Boards and Forums were the original "Social Media"