I need your help

[steve k.]

Over the last couple of years, the user participation has steadily declined. We have had fewer people, fewer posts, and fewer pages read.  Are we losing many people to Facebook and other social media platforms, or maybe not gaining many new users as they do not leave that familiar place? As fewer people post, fewer people read; as fewer people read, fewer people post. I have seen people gather information here and then ask questions elsewhere. It is a downward cycle. 

 

I am seeking your help in identifying what can be done to bring people back. 

 

I am hoping to start a good conversation. I am looking for feedback from our regulars and those who spend most of their time elsewhere. This might be the wrong place for that, but I will attempt it anyway. 

 

Fire away!  You can also send me PMs if you do not want to do this publicly.

 

Steve K.

[Ireland Engineering]

These cars are old now. Thanks to the internet the info is all saved on here somewhere. 
i’m not saying every topic or nuance has been discussed specifically here on the faq but if you know how to use a search bar you can almost find everything you need pretty darn easy without having to post about it. 

[Mikepelly]

IMHO, this group is more community based than the other platforms so smaller isn't necessary a bad thing.  When I have a project, like I do now, I check this site daily, mainly the classified section.  I find that people want to help each other.  I recognize names and I appreciate the knowledge base. Advice is accurate.   I also frequent Facebook, but I find that site more difficult to navigate. E9coupe.com is another site I frequent, and while I don't know the metrics, I think they are growing and have a more loyal base.  There are fewer alternate forums for the E9 community.  It may be a good site to review.

 

[bergie33]

Facebook is definitely more difficult to navigate, see current content, and almost impossible to search and get relevant content.

 

Question back to you @steve k., was there a significant spike from 2020 to 2022 and we are just coming down from that spike? My theory is that COVID found more people at home and often with more time. That generated an increase in people buying project cars and having questions to ask. It also meant people had more time to spend on the site, searching, reading, asking, etc. 

[Mike Self]

I don't do Facebook, and found this forum the day it debuted (I think I was #10), after Roadfly (remember that site?) posts and participants got more and more confronting.  Hardly a day goes by that I don't read the FAQ and/or post.  I enjoy sharing what I've picked up over the years I've owned 2002s; more than once I've gotten a good idea for a column!  And hardly a day goes by that I don't learn something new myself.  

 

I've met a lot of nice folks and made a lot of friends--both in person, at events, and virtually--who share my interest passion for 2002s.  All of us FAQ folks should be talking up the FAQ to other 02 owners--there are plenty of cars/owners out there who aren't aware of the board, but should be.

 

Steve, if you could post a design for a business card-sized invite--especially one that was sized so we could print off a page or two using one of the commercially available business card sheets that fit in a home inkjet printer, we could carry a supply in our cards to give out when we spot another 02 owner--at a cruise in, car show or just parked on the street.  

 

And Steve, keep up the great work on the FAQ.  We all have to have our daily FAQ fix.

Edited January 18 by Mike Self

[2002#3]

Thanks, Steve, for the info.  You are always looking out for us.

 

As a daily user of 2002FAQ for several years, I (happily) have not noticed your observations.  Still looks busy and beautiful to me.  That's a good thing for us as FAQ consumers.  However, the disconcerting news is that your observations from deep within FAQ are real and sufficiently significant for you to have noticed them.  If you think an issue is in the making, I certainly believe it.  No doubt all of us will help you and FAQ in all the ways we can...Chief.   

Edited January 18 by 2002#3

[Lucky 7]

Thanks for keeping this place going Steve, I would not be able to do this project without this resource. And it’s worth saying that the helpful, supportive vibe is pretty unique in the internet landscape. The following is in no way a criticism, merely an observation in response to your query. 

 

I have always felt that the blogs format really limits engagement. Some of the coolest stuff that’s happening on the forum is being documented in there, but it gets buried, has low view counts, little to no commenting, and seems generally overlooked.  
 

I myself would like to spend more time in the blogs but it’s really unfriendly to navigate. Rather than being organized by a list of blogs, it’s a running stream of individual posts from various blogs that then bury the other content. If one person makes five new posts within their blog, that will push out older content on the list and make it hard to find again.  Combined with the old-style threaded blogs archive still being active, great content is scattered, buried, or overlooked. 
 

If the list was blogs only (not posts), it’s an easy entry point for and summary of the project that then you can explore further.  This list of blogs should also be sortable so we can sort by which blogs are most recently active, most popular, most views, most comments, etc.  

 

I was always planning on putting up a build blog, but these days I wonder if there’s much point.  Right now, @tzei (just to name one) has a crazy cool build blog going with almost 5k views but only 39 comments.  In the general discussion area, 39 comments would come out of ~500 views. The main discussion area has a view/comment ratio in the 2-10% range, which means if tzei’s build was just posted in general as a standard thread, he might have 2x or more comments by now.  Blogs (standard or archive) seem to yield a much lower response rate. I’m glad people are seeing them, but if you’re looking for additional engagement that’s an area to consider.  I honestly enjoy when people just bomb the general discussion with their multi-page build threads.  With that format, it’s easy to get a conversation going. 
 

Even though all aspects of the car have been written about already, there’s a lot of us still working on them, driving them, and willing to engage. 

Edited January 18 by Lucky 7

[Tommy]

42 minutes ago, Lucky 7 said:

I have always felt that the blogs format really limits engagement. Some of the coolest stuff that’s happening on the forum is being documented in there, but it gets buried, has low view counts, little to no commenting, and seems generally overlooked. 

I have said it since the change that I like the old blogs better. New blogs has improved but I still feel the same. Glad that it's still possible to use the old one but not many of the new ones find their way in there. @D.martijn has the best ever blog about sheetmetal repairs in there, but not many comments either.

 

57 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

I don't do Facebook, and found this forum the day it debuted (I think I was #10), after Roadfly (remember that site?) posts and participants got more and more confronting.

I think I was around #50...100. For me it took some time to gain confidence that FAQ is something to stay and worth leaving Roadfly. I had seen new forums appear and soon die. Great thanks for Steve keeping this alive!

Edited January 18 by Tommy

[gruizer]

Steve, this is the one website that I visit every single day.  My routine is this, I check the parts for sale page, then I check the discussions page for any new posts that grab my attention. Then at some point in the day I will use the search function to learn about whatever it is that I need help with in reference to my project.  I guess with all that surfing through this website, I end up lurking much more than I post. 
 

One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that I have switched from visiting this site on my laptop to my iPhone. The fact that I can’t post photos directly from my iPhone has prevented me from posting more content as I go. I have to upload the photos to my laptop and then post from there. I can’t be the only one that has this issue.  With the convenience of instagram and facebook platforms that cater to our mobile devices, maybe that’s an area to consider with the FAQ. 
 

I love this site and have learned a ton from you all, I can definitely give back more than I do and will keep that in mind going forward. 

[2002iii]

I come here at least twice a day. I wouldn't know what to do wulith the great community here. Unfortunately a lot of the old guard are passing away and/or rretiring. I do see quote a few new owners posting lately, hopefully more will find there way here.

 

@steve k. thank you fearless leader. Please keep up the good work.

 

I sugges that everyone buy something from the 2002faq store to help support the community.

[2002iii]

2 minutes ago, gruizer said:

Steve, this is the one website that I visit every single day.  My routine is this, I check the parts for sale page, then I check the discussions page for any new posts that grab my attention. Then at some point in the day I will use the search function to learn about whatever it is that I need help with in reference to my project.  I guess with all that surfing through this website, I end up lurking much more than I post. 
 

One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that I have switched from visiting this site on my laptop to my iPhone. The fact that I can’t post photos directly from my iPhone has prevented me from posting more content as I go. I have to upload the photos to my laptop and then post from there. I can’t be the only one that has this issue.  With the convenience of instagram and facebook platforms that cater to our mobile devices, maybe that’s an area to consider with the FAQ. 
 

I love this site and have learned a ton from you all, I can definitely give back more than I do and will keep that in mind going forward. 

You can download a Heic to Jpeg converter, it's not rocket science lol! Blame Apple for making a proprietary photo format.

[dlacey]

A UK-based Triumph car club, that I am a member of, is facing similar challenges... declining membership, less event participation etc. They identify factors such as car values, which drive the cars out-of-reach of younger prospective members, and a simple lack of interest in cars of the 1960s/70s by the Gen Z group. The proud Triumph club is debating merger with the MG club to try to maintain critical mass....
 

In my experience, the social engagement and activity of a Model/Brand car club is inversely proportional to the value of those Cars... the Rolls Royce club being far less engaging than the Morris Minor club. So, the '02 values that we celebrate might be slowly suffocating the community....

 

What to do?
1) Globalise - launch '02FAQ in various languages: Spanish, German, Thai etc
2) Consolidate - merge various global '02 websites into one central go-to place

3) Expand - Integrate with E9/E12/E21/E30 sites... or at least actively coordinate with them.

[resra]

I would've never thought it's declining activity here but that can be true. I love this site and only use this forum. 

If anything I can think of it maybe people are getting rid of their 2002s and those who are buying don't know about this forum maybe? 
I'm still lost because it's hard to compare this site to any other forum.

Edited January 18 by resra

[Dudeland]

My father in law was very active in their local church.  Like most churches, the attendance rate is going down as the members age out. Many of the congregations decided to merger their membership to have the numbers make sense.  

 

Many of the comments above resonate with me around consolidation. Being a tech person, people want to move between various sites and not have to replicate their online profile. 

 

Do an anonymous survey,  make it worth peoples while (do a raffle or random draw, don't be cheap), and ask them to provide the names of the sites that they also visit. 

 

In this format the 02's are not accessible to a younger demographic.  Without the support from @Ireland Engineering@BLUNT and others we are up a creek.   There is a lot of talk about swaps, as the parts supply is drying up, including the transmissions and engines. I am going to take a serious run at a K-swap subframe shortly, just so others can still enjoy the car when M10's are the prices of S14's.  

[zinz]

4 hours ago, gruizer said:

The fact that I can’t post photos directly from my iPhone has prevented me from posting more content as I go. I have to upload the photos to my laptop and then post from there

I don’t understand this?  I post from my iPhone all the time? Never been a problem for me. 
 

This picture taken with my iPhone, selected from my iPhone…

 

Ed Z