Forum participation - lots of statistics on forum usage

[padgett]

The participation in the marque forums I follow is down to a couple a week. Is anyone else noticing this ?

[Mark Gregory]

I have noticed that a lot of the Threads stay the same and are not changing the way they used to with new Postings.

 

 

[Restorer32]

The forum has been divided into so many different threads that it can be confusing.

[Restorer32]

12 different threads for Buick. Seriously?

[Marty Roth]

New methods or sequences of finding favorites may take some time for those of us who are more accustomed to prior habits -

Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks,

but sometimes it takes a while??

[Xander Wildeisen]

Always lonely in the Hudson forum.😟 So few of us.😂

[Peter Gariepy]

You are seeing antidotal evidence.  Forum page views and users are up year over year:

 

PAGE VIEWS:

 

 

USERS:

[John Bloom]

Peter, that is interesting data. Thanks for sharing. 

[Graham Man]

I gave up years ago, too many forum categories to look through, (I gave up on "for sale" now also, a newly created mess).  About once a month I will search the entire forum to check for people with Graham-Paige questions and get them help.  I only regularly check the General Discussion and Technical forums.  If it were up to me there would be about 6 categories.  Lots of the marques have almost identical questions anyway, my favorite is "my generator is not charging" let see that applies to everything before 1950?

 

Lets follow the KISS principle "keep it simple, stupid"

 

Update:

Sorry to be short, this forum is the BEST game out there, great people!!! great information!!! just wish it were easier for everybody to find the information they are looking for.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Graham Man (see edit history)

[Peter Gariepy]

When it comes to specific marque traffic.  Here is the stats for just the Buick forums:

 

 

[Peter Gariepy]

12 minutes ago, Graham Man said:

I gave up years ago, too many forum categories to look through, (I gave up on "for sale" now also, a newly created mess).  About once a month I will search the entire forum to check for people with Graham-Paige questions and get them help.  I only regularly check the General Discussion and Technical forums.  If it were up to me there would be about 6 categories.  Lots of the marques have almost identical questions anyway, my favorite is "my generator is not charging" let see that applies to everything before 1950?

 

Lets follow the KISS principle "keep it simple, stupid"

 

Update:

Sorry to be short, this forum is the BEST game out there, great people!!! great information!!! just wish it were easier for everybody to find the information they are looking for.

 

The development of multiple forums was to keep subjects grouped together.  Which for many does KISS.  If i would put all the 140 forums into 6 there would be too many posts globbed together, it would deter people from working through the posts to find things they are interested in.  IMHO.

Thanks for the positive comments.

[Graham Man]

Just out of curiosity, can you post the top ten visited categories?

[1937hd45]

I check the GENREAL FORUM several times a day, actually have friends there and enjoy the topics discussed. I have a 1911 Hupmobile project, check in once or twice A MONTH on the Hupmobile Forum .......................Ghost Town. 

[Peter Gariepy]

17 minutes ago, Graham Man said:

Just out of curiosity, can you post the top ten visited categories?

 

Sure.

 

TOP FORUMS - Sept/Oct 2020:

[Peter Gariepy]

MORE FORUM USAGE INFO CLEANED UP:

 

 

[padgett]

Thank you Peter. Now except for the General forum do you have anything for Posts, this year vs last ? Is interesting that the first Marque forum (not buy-sell, etc.) is # 11 pre-war Buicks (not specific about which war).

[Peter Gariepy]

3 minutes ago, padgett said:

Thank you Peter. Now except for the General forum do you have anything for Posts, this year vs last ? Is interesting that the first Marque forum (not buy-sell, etc.) is # 11 pre-war Buicks (not specific about which war).

 

No on the first question. (not without a lot of work)

"(not specific about which war)"  - WWII. (but i bet you knew that already, didnt you?)

[padgett]

Had my suspicions but born too soon to qualify as a "baby boomer". Suspect younger members (and we need yonkers) might think "Vietnam".

[Billy Kingsley]

Page views are a fun analytical tool but don't address the lower number of posts. I've noticed that myself, and not just on this forum...they are down all over the internet, on every forum I visit. Some have speculated that because of the virus there are less people sitting around bored at a desk job so they spend less time on message boards, but I don't know if there's any truth to it. 

[Ronnie]

The Buick Reatta forum use to be one of the most active categories. It still holds the record for the most posts in a Buick forum. Only the main "General Discussion" forum has more total posts. But now the Reatta forum is all but dead.  We get lots of visitors but only a few posts per week.

 

Several people on the Reatta forum have tried our best to generate more interest and keep it going but nothing works. Oddly enough it started going downhill when the Reatta reached antique car status. When Facebook groups gained popularity it hurt all the forums to.  The Reatta forum's decline has nothing to do with how the categories are laid out. People's interests change over time and there isn't much you can do about that.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Ronnie (see edit history)

[JACK M]

6 minutes ago, Billy Kingsley said:

Page views are a fun analytical tool but don't address the lower number of posts. I've noticed that myself, and not just on this forum...they are down all over the internet, on every forum I visit. Some have speculated that because of the virus there are less people sitting around bored at a desk job so they spend less time on message boards, but I don't know if there's any truth to it. 

 

Kinda seems like it would be just the opposite.

[John_S_in_Penna]

1 hour ago, Peter Gariepy said:

You are seeing antidotal evidence.  Forum page views and users are up year over year

 

It may be anecdotal, but how about longer-term

statistics?  How does annual usage compare with

3, 5, and 10 years ago?

 

I don't see any problem with the compartmentalization

of the categories.  But I did notice that the newsletter

editors' category has seen much less use than previously.

It may sometimes go a month without any posting.

[Peter Gariepy]

 

53 minutes ago, Billy Kingsley said:

Page views are a fun analytical tool but don't address the lower number of posts. I've noticed that myself, and not just on this forum...they are down all over the internet, on every forum I visit. Some have speculated that because of the virus there are less people sitting around bored at a desk job so they spend less time on message boards, but I don't know if there's any truth to it. 

 

The numbers clearly show Topics and Posts are up.

 

 

 

 

[Billy Kingsley]

When people are at home they can spend time with their families, work on their projects, mow the lawn, etc. 

 

I actually joined the forum proper because of the Facebook group. I enjoyed seeing the cars posted and it led me here. 

[padgett]

Craigslist "for sale" listings particularly of what I consider interesting cars of the 80s are also way down and prices which bottomed around June are now rising. Supply and demand ? More TV shows extolling LS swaps and bad engineering ? Am amazed some are still alive but never understood drifting (slow way around a track) or burnouts till the tires pop (Tirerack does not sponsor me). Guess am reaching curmudgeon status, have passed "recluse".

 

 

Edited October 23, 2020 by padgett (see edit history)

[Billy Kingsley]

Those bar graphs show a lot of growth, very good. How many of those comments are from the "Period Images" and White threads?

 

edit: apparently a lot since the White thread appears three times in that chart. A lot of threads I have not seen there, I mostly stay in General Discussion.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Billy Kingsley (see edit history)

[Peter Gariepy]

Regenerating the popular threats. The data I was showing only showed the first page.  A bit more work to show ALL the pages for each topic.

 

[Peter Gariepy]

Most Popular Topics - 2020

If you want to see them you'll need to search for them.

[padgett]

Have no doubt the General Discussion is up, it is the specific marque forums (not the buy sell) that seem to be way down in new posts or I am the only one posting.

ps Xander - is that clip from the last century, have not had monitors like that for years ?

[wayne sheldon]

Just some observation. Forums are tough. I have long had a fondness for Paige and Jewett automobiles. Their history as of an "also ran" is actually quite remarkable. Harry Jewett as an investor took over the Fred Paige company (not its actual name) to protect his investment because in their first two years they did everything wrong. He turned the company around in a year, and they became one of the most profitable independent producers in the industry.

He avoided racing as a company because he didn't want to risk killing or maiming company employees or friends, yet Paige became an automobile of choice for low budget independent racers. Even E L Cord raced a Paige automobile in 1917 before he was building his own!

 

Forums for Paige or Jewett automobiles have never been very active. I have tried to push a few of them over the years, with no success. I check into the Graham Paige sub-forum below occasionally, and comment when there is something for me to comment on. Often, when I check in? The last previous comment was mine! I think my record was just over four months that one of my comments remained the last one.

 

All that aside. I do wish to thank all those at the AACA that host and promote these forums! There are several marque specific forums here that I check occasionally. Four or five that I sometimes comment in, another dozen or so just because I like those marques.

[Peter Gariepy]

4 minutes ago, wayne sheldon said:

Just some observation. Forums are tough. I have long had a fondness for Paige and Jewett automobiles. Their history as of an "also ran" is actually quite remarkable. Harry Jewett as an investor took over the Fred Paige company (not its actual name) to protect his investment because in their first two years they did everything wrong. He turned the company around in a year, and they became one of the most profitable independent producers in the industry.

He avoided racing as a company because he didn't want to risk killing or maiming company employees or friends, yet Paige became an automobile of choice for low budget independent racers. Even E L Cord raced a Paige automobile in 1917 before he was building his own!

 

Forums for Paige or Jewett automobiles have never been very active. I have tried to push a few of them over the years, with no success. I check into the Graham Paige sub-forum below occasionally, and comment when there is something for me to comment on. Often, when I check in? The last previous comment was mine! I think my record was just over four months that one of my comments remained the last one.

 

All that aside. I do wish to thank all those at the AACA that host and promote these forums! There are several marque specific forums here that I check occasionally. Four or five that I sometimes comment in, another dozen or so just because I like those marques.

 

Forum participation is someone reliant on both ownership and interest.  Paige and Jewett are simply two marques that have low ownership counts, and subsequently interest. That translates to lower forum participation.

[HarryLime]

I am sorry to admit , I sold my Paige . It was through an ad on this forum . So it's your fault too ! Oh woe is me! 

[zepher]

You guys should try owning a Rickenbacker!

Talk about a tiny group of owners and enthusiasts.  😢

[padgett]

Ones I am interested were built in 10s of thousands before GM pulled the plug. Of course they never have gotten any respect.

[Peter Gariepy]

1 hour ago, padgett said:

Ones I am interested were built in 10s of thousands before GM pulled the plug. Of course they never have gotten any respect.

 

Low forum participation on a marque doesn't define its respect.

Example: How many Duesenburg posts are there here?  

[Peter Gariepy]

5 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

12 different threads for Buick. Seriously?

 

The BCA uses the AACA forums extensively and promote it on their website aggressively. They have 9 of the top 25 forums when it comes to page views.

 

 

[SC38dls]

I personally enjoyed this forum more than any other I’ve followed and/ or been a member. I think they are well organized and the moderators do a good, fair job keeping things civil. I will say we may not express our appreciation for how well they are run often enough as we just assume they belong to us and we can do what we want. So thanks for everyone’s involved hard work. I will try to say that more often. 
dave s 

Edited October 23, 2020 by SC38DLS (see edit history)

[Graham Man]

Yes, HATS OFF TO OUR MODERATORS, they keep things civil, not an easy task in our current world.

 

[Restorer32]

I sometimes hesitate to post out of fear of being beheaded for being "off topic".

 

[edinmass]

17 hours ago, BobinVirginia said:

I fall into that group somewhat. I have a Haynes and I now understand how very few people have them. Not surprising that I’ve not had any discussion with another Haynes owner here. I have found some very helpful information thru other members though. Forums are tough as everyone has their own opinion of what they’re interested in and how a car should be. The forum topics are just as diverse even amongst car makes. I’m glad it’s all here. I usually select “All Activity” and scroll through until I see something that grabs my attention regardless of make or specific topic. 
Being new here, that helps me find topics of interest. 

 

Bob.......I never offer my opinion......I’m always right, so it’s just facts! 😝

 

Reading the technical section is great for learning new things......both how to and how not to fix things. There are people posting here that think they know what they are doing...........and they don’t. Being able to sort out which is which is often a problem for new people in the hobby. Since your a full time mechanic on huge industrial engines, you have much less to learn. 
 

Ask yourself this question.......how many miles has the person offering advice actually driven an old car? And, not to be offensive.......but old cars are only pre war. Post war cars are modern and proven technologically and thus finding parts or fabrication can and is challenging..........fixing them with very, very few exceptions is not difficult. Now all the flack will start.........