The activity level on here has tapered off quite a bit. new posts are measured in weeks often. Maybe its time for a little cleanup/retooling? archive some of the sections and reorganise/slim down?
we've been talking about this extensively. Sadly, more people flock to facebook. Our Facebook page is really quite active. We're not sure where to go from here as there are other forums who are still flourishing, however most of this community prefers faster interaction, which is social media.
thats sad, because while social media has its uses, it it absolutely terrible for group discussions imo. it becomes impossible to sort information thats beyond one thread. I absolutely hate trying to follow any sort of group discussion on FB or anything other than a forum. I feel they still have an important place when you're trying to have group discussions, and not just dispensing info outward announcement style.
There really needs to be a new member push IMO. Heck, I check here daily even though I'm in a NA Legacy, just for conversations - it's just there aren't any now.
Except I'm a Legacy guy now. I have no pertinent conversations to start, although I would be more than happy to lend a hand with somebody else's issues.
yea we've never been solely wrx's. also, i've seen several leggy's from mild to quite built come through these forums.
Since I don't use facebook anymore, I too am discouraged at the post counts lately. Forums / Threads are much more of a clear and concise way to organize conversations with pictures, links and such that you can reference later on down the road. People can quote you, etc. Some of this you can do on a FB post string but it isn't the same, and for me it honestly doesn't matter since I don't use FB. I try to post and keep things alive, but there is a risk of being a nuisance after a while and resurrecting ancient threads just to try and stir activity. I don't think any modification of the site is in order, I think modification of the FB page and it's purpose should be examined. Maybe limit it to just community updates and only allow comments on the dinner thread or meet posts which are handy when you are in a parking lot? Honestly the rest of stuff that likely ends up on there should be here.
initially, it was just community updates. and it wasn't active. people could only post on things we posted on. a LOT of people requested that we move to an open group and it blew up. Fact is, I don't think we can get away from it. Just gonna have to adapt. It sucks for people who don't use FB, that's for sure. I started a reddit page, but it hasn't had any kind of activity at all.
I wonder if doing away with the chat box on the forum had anything to do with the huge increase in Facebook traffic
I'm not expecting people to just mystically flock back here, people are free to do what they want of course. But i think this forum, with a new plan, could stay relevant and feel alot less weighed down/encumbered to use.
I use FB but not for stuff like this, I have friends/family I keep up with, not organizations and endless feed updates. Is this site not supported by ad revenue?
I was in Atlanta for the first time in 10 months and I saw more wrxs there this weekend than I have ever seen in a 3 day period (in Atlanta). Looks like the new body is selling nicely out there! I actually rode in a 16' for the first time on Saturday in Midtown. (I gave my buddy the subie bug). haha Whenever I ran into a wrx or sti in atlanta I used to tell them about this site. Word of mouth goes a long way... I dunno though. Like Matt said, social media is definitely the way everything is going.
Using Facebook directly causes the repeat questions like, "Whos the best tuner in the Atlanta area?" "What oil do you guys use?" I supposed it can't be stopped because of the need for instant satisfaction, but I hope people still consider the forum a useful tool for a while. I've certainly learned a lot from it, and still have a lot to learn with it!
I'm haven't been lived in Atlanta for years (and no longer DD my WRX), so I only look on here maybe once or twice a month. But I absolutely agree that the forum structure on here is WAY more complex than it needs to be. Maybe back when this place was super active it made sense to have so many sub forums, but now it's overkill. If think just taking everything down to maybe 4 topics (community events, car talk, for sale, off topic) would be more than adequate, and would make this forum feel like less of a ghost town. That being said, if Facebook is the future, it might not be worth it to put the time in to consolidate.
If i may put my 2cent in. As a subie owner ( 3 yrs next april) and still young at the forum. I truly look here for the knowledge and ideas everyone has here. before i bought my WRX i search and found this place and gave me more confidence in my decision in buying a subie. I personally still believe this forum has its purpose. I joined the FB group honestly to see more car pics to get ideas.
I left FB for hopefully the last time and I'd hate to lose this forum. I troll for the most part, but try to check here often. Steve
Hey guys. I just joined the group back in July so I'm still pretty new. I wanted to throw my perspective of the problem in as a new guy since I was not around when the forums were really going strong. But I can say that I do like the forum set up better than Facebook for some things. But the forum also gets very cluttered and hard to navigate, especially via smart phone and they why I think a lot of people are moving to Facebook, For a more simple user friendly environment. I think also that the "quick response" is a big factor with Facebook. I can personally say that I have instant notifications turned on for the "wrxatlanta" page so I know when anyone posts something which is very useful and that is one thing that is missing from the forums. I wish there were some way to bring Facebook and forums together.
Thank you for your feedback! Recently, we made changes that allow new and old users alike to login to the community message board with Facebook or Twitter accounts. All the while, we've kept in mind the goal of offering a pleasant experience for those browsing the forums while on a mobile device or a tablet.
I just requested access to the FB group with my "incognito" account. Steve Swijr. Can someone accept me?
Hey Steve, I'm not seeing a request from you. Is this where you requested? https://www.facebook.com/groups/wrxatlanta
I guess i'm not too wild about the google+ style of circle-masking the avatar, either. My quack is cut off
I hate to see this place so dead when it was thriving years ago. I don't do facebook but I hope to see more activity soon