I need your help

[jgerock]

edited:  Below is my observation.  Not a criticism directed to anyone.

 

I count (17) responders so far that elect not to pay a little bit for a “prime” membership to this site.

 

How did I determine that?  The word “Solex” appears below your avatar picture.

 

To those folks, doesn’t it bother you to weed thru pop up ads all the time?  I HATE pop up ads. To me, that would deter any use of a site.

 

Also, there are several FAQ members who regularly promote this site on SM (mainly FB) and even post links to topics covered here.  Shoutout goes to Gordon and John McWilliams for doing this all the time.

 

Jim

Edited January 18 by jgerock

[TobyB]

Quote

 Like most churches, the attendance rate is going down as the members age out.

 

...I kinda think this is a lot of it.

 

There's also a 'price out' point, too-

I have a few other old cars, and while they can be MUCH harder

to get parts for, they're not worth a quarter of what an intelligently- restored 2002 will be.

Someone who buys a $5000 daily is more likely to work on it and interact with it and

with other owner/maintainers than someone who 'invests' $40k in a 'pristine classic'

and only drives it on sunny days to car shows.  And has someone else work on the thing.

Because it's 'tempermental.'

 

It's a different demographic, and a different attitude on top of it.

 

t

aging out daily

[BimmerRover]

These cars are getting old and expensive. Years ago I LIVED on the old roadfly forum in the Dwight Chew, Wagweiser, Ben Thongsai,  and others’ days and there was a forum before that but I don’t remember the name; “back then” you could buy a “good” ‘02 for $2500 aaaaaaaaaall day long!!!! Roundel magazine had a 2002 on the cover every other issue and BMMCCA events had as many m10-powered cars as anything else! But those days are gone I guess. I’ve owned 9 of them now and I just recently got back in the game by spending the most I’ve ever spent on a friggin’ PROJECT ‘02! (The gentleman I bought the car from didn’t know faq existed!) I sold my last one a week after getting back from the 02-02-02 event. I think the cult status that used to surround these cars and the “old crew” who could afford to have an old German car have taken a back seat to speculators, flippers, and the trendy/hipster set who drive these cars to exorbitant prices with the like of BAT and others. Many of the aforementioned do not work on them as they pay for someone else to do that for them so they don’t need or read forums like this for tips and they don’t post because they don’t know enough to help others. People with parts know they can post them on all sorts of other online places and get more money than that part is worth because people on here KNOW the actual value of a rear taillight lens! I hate being one of those people who offer problems without solutions but I dont really know what you can do to increase readership. Maybe more dynamic content? Maybe when the prices start to soften readership and participation here will increase.

[popovm]

2 hours ago, jgerock said:

edited:  Below is my observation.  Not a criticism directed to anyone.

 

I count (17) responders so far that elect not to pay a little bit for a “prime” membership to this site.

 

How did I determine that?  The word “Solex” appears below your avatar picture.

 

To those folks, doesn’t it bother you to weed thru pop up ads all the time?  I HATE pop up ads. To me, that would deter any use of a site.

 

Also, there are several FAQ members who regularly promote this site on SM (mainly FB) and even post links to topics covered here.  Shoutout goes to Gordon and John McWilliams for doing this all the time.

 

Jim

 

Fair point! I am now wondering if the ultimate question behind the original question is why aren't there more overall users of the site which translates into a typical percentage of paying users or if it's a rising tide of overall usage floats all boats through ad revenue. 

 

I hope I am helping a little bit on the social media front by redirecting users to the FAQ when they ask questions on r/bmw2002 and reposting things on Instagram. I'll make sure to be more deliberate about that. 

[2002iii]

 

2 hours ago, jgerock said:

edited:  Below is my observation.  Not a criticism directed to anyone.

 

I count (17) responders so far that elect not to pay a little bit for a “prime” membership to this site.

 

How did I determine that?  The word “Solex” appears below your avatar picture.

 

To those folks, doesn’t it bother you to weed thru pop up ads all the time?  I HATE pop up ads. To me, that would deter any use of a site.

 

Also, there are several FAQ members who regularly promote this site on SM (mainly FB) and even post links to topics covered here.  Shoutout goes to Gordon and John McWilliams for doing this all the time.

 

Jim

That's why I suggested supporting the faq by buying stuff in the store.

[popovm]

2 hours ago, TobyB said:

 

...I kinda think this is a lot of it.

 

There's also a 'price out' point, too-

I have a few other old cars, and while they can be MUCH harder

to get parts for, they're not worth a quarter of what an intelligently- restored 2002 will be.

Someone who buys a $5000 daily is more likely to work on it and interact with it and

with other owner/maintainers than someone who 'invests' $40k in a 'pristine classic'

and only drives it on sunny days to car shows.  And has someone else work on the thing.

Because it's 'tempermental.'

 

It's a different demographic, and a different attitude on top of it.

 

t

aging out daily

 

I got "lucky" and was able to buy my rust bucket '76 for $2800 on a rainy night near the Chittenden Locks in the parking lot of the Totem House Red Mill Burgers (now knocked down for a modern Pagliacci unfortunately) in late 2020 just before things went nuts with pricing. I think they are back down a bit for project taillights but the point still stands overall. 

[Santawillis]

8 minutes ago, popovm said:

 

I got "lucky" and was able to buy my rust bucket '76 for $2800 on a rainy night near the Chittenden Locks in the parking lot of the Totem House Red Mill Burgers (now knocked down for a modern Pagliacci unfortunately) in late 2020 just before things went nuts with pricing. I think they are back down a bit for project taillights but the point still stands overall. 

Hey!!! '76 owner here tho bought my beloved "Scheiße kacken" for $1,750 in 2021. I truly believe that if you are patient you can find an affordable project. It is not like the world of Porsche 911's where it has truly become unattainable at any point of its restoration, there are attainable 02's out there and people who want to wrench on them. 

[Santawillis]

3 hours ago, jgerock said:

edited:  Below is my observation.  Not a criticism directed to anyone.

 

I count (17) responders so far that elect not to pay a little bit for a “prime” membership to this site.

 

How did I determine that?  The word “Solex” appears below your avatar picture.

 

To those folks, doesn’t it bother you to weed thru pop up ads all the time?  I HATE pop up ads. To me, that would deter any use of a site.

 

Also, there are several FAQ members who regularly promote this site on SM (mainly FB) and even post links to topics covered here.  Shoutout goes to Gordon and John McWilliams for doing this all the time.

 

Jim

16

[popovm]

51 minutes ago, Santawillis said:

Hey!!! '76 owner here tho bought my beloved "Scheiße kacken" for $1,750 in 2021. I truly believe that if you are patient you can find an affordable project. It is not like the world of Porsche 911's where it has truly become unattainable at any point of its restoration, there are attainable 02's out there and people who want to wrench on them. 

True! And the parts are cheaper than P cars. I almost bought a badly running 914 when I was shopping for a project car. I am happy with my choice for a number of reasons and parts cost is one of them. 

[VWScott]

Since I'm new into 2002's and coming from air cooled VW world I'll say my .02. I like the site and people are very helpful and quick responses noted.I will say though that coming from the world of thesamba.com that I think their website is laid out a little better. Example would be reading discussions is broken down to  tires/wheels,engine performance etc. Because the VW community is so large there is a lot of daily traffic for discussions as well as classifieds. I think the nature of being a smaller venue is because it's just a smaller number of 2002s out there. This site is far friendlier in posting pictures and the amount of snark is so much less.

[steve k.]

I want to thank you guys for all the compliments and for sticking around. 

 

I will try to answer some questions and concerns that were posted.

1. There was a growth in audience at the start of the pandemic, but it looks like the decline is higher.  Here is a graph of monthly posts over the last few years

 

 

2. I am not looking for paid members. Those who prefer to pay are welcome; they get some cool perks. Some more perks will be coming soon for the "upper" level. My wife gave me some excellent ideas.  I can probably spend significant time figuring out the average ad revenue per user and see if I need to raise the price for the K-Fisch membership. It will be a fun project when I get a chance. 

3. The Blogs section is supposed to be a personal space for people to enjoy. Each blog can have a different feel with more owner customization that can be used to enhance the viewer's experience.  There is potential, but there is probably a steep learning curve. Just making a post in the Forum is easier :).  I have changed the blog's home page layout to a list view, as some have requested. Please see if that feels right. I can also add an automatic post to the general forum whenever there is a new blog entry. 

4. Organizing the site has not been easy. There are lots of forums and a lot of information. I have considered collapsing the Turbo,Ti, Archive Blog, and Events forums into the General. They are all about the same. Many things in the "About" can be collapsed into a single page. I do not know how to organize the Brows Section.  Clubs is an interesting story. I had high hopes, but we lost most of those to regional Facebook pages. 

5. Social Dilemma. We have grown our Instagram Feed and got some usernames on Facebook. I also promote Articles and Blogs to Facebook users. The bounce rate from those users is not great. They are here for a single page and return to where they were. And I have no idea how to drive Instagram traffic here, and they do not allow links.

6. Search Engines. At some point, I lost the battle for the top of the search to Single Articles.  Search for BMW 2002, and we are not close to the top. That did not help. 

 

So here is where I am  Still trying to be a single place to be in a world of many places.

 

steve k.

[1972_Targa]

9 hours ago, JsnPpp said:

 

~~~ Thoughts on Owners

 

This has definitely changed. IMO, many (not all!) of the new buyers over the last 3 years are not DIY people. They paid a ton of money for cars that don't need much work and they also don't drive them much. This equates to many garage queens.

BINGO! My hunch is as well that new owners are not DIYers. Take a look at today's topic/subject line listings under the General 02 Discussion. 90% of them involve wrenching/welding/painting/etc. I do spend a little time on a few of the FB 2002 pages, including a couple of the Baur pages. These pages are comprised mostly of people wanting to post pictures of their cars. Not a lot of tech info getting passed around for the most part. Steve, let me know if you ever want to have a conversation including a better use of social media. And thanks for you do. This forum saves me thou$ands annually.

[roadhog0]

1 hour ago, 1972_Targa said:

"""

~~~ Thoughts on Owners

 

This has definitely changed. IMO, many (not all!) of the new buyers over the last 3 years are not DIY people. They paid a ton of money for cars that don't need much work and they also don't drive them much. This equates to many garage queens."""

 

BINGO! My hunch is as well that new owners are not DIYers. Take a look at today's topic/subject line listings under the General 02 Discussion. 90% of them involve wrenching/welding/painting/etc. I do spend a little time on a few of the FB 2002 pages, including a couple of the Baur pages. These pages are comprised mostly of people wanting to post pictures of their cars. Not a lot of tech info getting passed around for the most part. Steve, let me know if you ever want to have a conversation including a better use of social media. And thanks for you do. This forum saves me thou$ands annually.

I want to second this point. It's one of the reasons about 5-6 years ago I slowed down on here. It was more "who can do this work for me?" than "what do I need to do this work?" or "I tried this and I'm running into these issues, thoughts?" As someone who is a tinkerer and done all the work on all the 2002's I've had over the last 15 years I had no clue, or desire, to respond to the 'who can do it' posts. I wanted to see the "Hey, so I've got this K20 sitting in my shop and I think it would be dope in a 2002 and I'm doing it" threads.

There is also a thought the FAQ is becoming a FAQ and more people are actually searching it and not asking "Will these wheels fit?" then getting about 14 "Did you search??" replies lol!

The other aspect for why I think there's a decline is as others have said, rising values. 10 years ago I could buy a parts 2002 for 500 bucks and a runner for 1500. Those cars are now 2500 and 5000 (or more), and those younger folks dont want them. They want Civics, E36/46's, WRX's, etc, if they even want an enthusiast car at all. Also lets not discount the fact that a lot of us here have parted out a 2002 or seven.

 

No matter what though, I know I appreciate you keeping this place open for the 15 years I've been here, Steve! Happy 02'ing!

[NMDerek]

21 hours ago, 2002iii said:

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

I had this issue  too with my new iphone and my fix was making my Iphone take pics in the jpeg format, all those converters were pay to play

[Zak]

I think its mostly related to socio-economics, where these cars have become expensive and affordable to fewer people.

I went off to college in 1983 in my $500 1600-2. My best friend also purchased his first car to college, a 1962 Porsche 356 "B" model, for a mere $2,500. As that Porsche quickly appreciated in value, where parts became expensive, my friend parked it in the garage and purchased an 02, which was much more practical and affordable.  The 02 and NK cars had a really long run as the affordable European classics. But, now that is no longer the case  as they are also going the route of the 356. 

 

Thirty Years ago the 02s and NKs were all over the junkyards, enthusiasts were picking and building for fun, not for resale. Back then any time or money put into these cars translated to a loss, as the resale values were very low. It's a bygone era which I've been lamenting.

 

You may want to expand your website to tap into the newer generation of folks with newer model BMW's. You can have a different section or sections for them.

 

How about BMW motorcycles ? You can have a section for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 19 by Zak