The fall of R3v?

[rlich8]

Speaking as a new member, a very new one, and having been on a number of internet forums in the past - one since it's very early inception... the story usually goes like this.

Forum is founded by a small group of friends. Grows to 200-500 members. Super tight knit community. Everyone gets along and is on the same page there's no rabble-rousers, no trouble makers. Everyone has the same philosophy...

A year or two later the forum grows to 1000-2500 members. New members join, the hobby propagates to more people, all the original members complain and say things have changed, etc. The hobby grows yet people complain about new members... OG's upset, new members ushered in, etc...

This happened for me on a website called GoPedNation... It was a forum I was a member of for over a decade and I watched the ascent an decline from start to finish.

In the case of the E30 community, it has experienced quite explosive growth and popularity. There really is no balance of keeping the community small and nascent

I have found this board to be an excellent resource in terms of information. As well, I have found most members to be extremely welcoming to me as a new member.

I did however find it quite bizarre that I was judged for my actual car that I bought. Some members found it rather necessary to criticize me for my purchase of a car from Enthusiast Auto Group. It's really neither here nor there; I expect anything and everything on a public forum so I'm not upset, but it appears as if the E30 community tears itself apart from time to time over some pretty trivial nonsense.

That said, I'm happy with my purchase, I'm happy with R3vlimited and a huge percentage of membership and I'm absolutely elated with the amount of information this place provides to the community. It furthers the interest of the E30 community so I'd say it's a good thing!

[SubDad]

There's no reason to research anything anymore, just find out what jlevie said and that is Truth. The rest is just coffee talk and testosterone. Entertaining in winter, but on a summer evening I'm outside practicing being outside without shivering.

rlich8, I for one have absolutely no problem with your car purchase from EAG. Cars are for driving, first and foremost. If you like driving your E30 then you belong here.

[FredK]

I think it's because farbin doesn't post as much.

Valid.

R3v is soft now?... go fuck yourself

That's what I'm talkin about.

But nah, your custom user title should be "Downy Soft".

:p

[jalopi]

I did however find it quite bizarre that I was judged for my actual car that I bought. Some members found it rather necessary to criticize me for my purchase of a car from Enthusiast Auto Group.

noone cared about where you got the car from, they were moreso baffled (and still are to this day) about how much you paid for it

i still think you were insane for paying $23k for a 7~8/10 318, but it's not my name on the title so i guess it really doesn't matter

[Reichart12]

I like it here and I could use another post for my post count, so uh yeah.

[Dj Buttchug]

I like it here and I could use another post for my post count, so uh yeah.

my thoughts as well

[dnguyen1963]

Hey guys...it's free!!!! Where can you find useful information and help from member for free? I think the more important point is that spammers has gotten a hold of our forum and posted junks here. Maybe, admin can come up with a way to prevent this from happening.

[Red88]

There's no reason to research anything anymore, just find out what jlevie said and that is Truth. The rest is just coffee talk and testosterone. Entertaining in winter, but on a summer evening I'm outside practicing being outside without shivering.

rlich8, I for one have absolutely no problem with your car purchase from EAG. Cars are for driving, first and foremost. If you like driving your E30 then you belong here.

This I agree with. I have googled his username with my question more than once and he's had the answer...

I don't even read builds anymore I come here for the off topic section, it's how I keep up with the what's going on in the world lol

[15Michaeljoseph]

I did however find it quite bizarre that I was judged for my actual car that I bought. Some members found it rather necessary to criticize me for my purchase of a car from Enthusiast Auto Group. It's really neither here nor there; I expect anything and everything on a public forum so I'm not upset, but it appears as if the E30 community tears itself apart from time to time over some pretty trivial nonsense.

That said, I'm happy with my purchase, I'm happy with R3vlimited and a huge percentage of membership and I'm absolutely elated with the amount of information this place provides to the community. It furthers the interest of the E30 community so I'd say it's a good thing!

Okay.

Brother, I have got to tell you. I APPLAUD you buying your 'new' e30 from EAG. I genuinely think that is incredible, and I wish could be so fortunate one day. I think the reason you got some flak is due to two things. First is jealousy. A lot of us started with a dirtbox e30 and put in a lot of man hours and effort into improving or even fully restoring our e30's ourselves. Now of course you had to put in a lot of time and effort to buy your car, but in a different way, of course, like making the money to buy it in perfect condition. Does that make you any less of an enthusiast? In my eyes, no, but in someone else's... Maybe.
The second reason I believe you got some flak is for not being a 'Hi just got my new e30 I'm about to swap a (insert non m10 m42 m20 engine here) right away' person, or a member of the 'my car is so low I scrape on pebbles in the road check out my -14 camber' crowd. I am not at all saying that people who choose to modify their cars, making them unique, and their own, is bad, I'm just saying that generally this kind of 'crowd' seems, in my opinion and experience, to be somewhat un-accepting of those of us, myself included, who believe in taking the original restoration/ slight modding route with our cars. But, I guess that's the way all kinds of gear heads are, no matter what kind of car you're talking about. What's cool is cool, and that's the fact. With that said, how boring would it be if we were all driving regular stock e30's? Extremely boring. Believe me, I've experienced an m52 swapped e30 on lowering springs. It was really cool, really fun to see, and sounded mean. But that's not MY style. 'To each his own' is a phrase we use a lot here for a reason. I promise you, I love everyone here, regardless of what you do to your car, regardless of who you are, and regardless of whether you're a member of the 140 club or not. You all are special and really cool people, and I never stop being amazed by some of the crazy awesome things I see here. V8 swaps and beyond, airbag suspensions, etc. Wow.

That's what makes this forum so great, is how differently everybody does things, and yet how the end result is the same... We go crazy for old BMWs.

I know I'm no OG, so please don't take any of this as over-generalizing or 'hate', its just the way I've seen things around here and on r3v Facebook. fact is, I'm really sort of a noob (•Y•) boobs myself.

That said, I love this forum. Always something new, always a perfect balance of comedy, knowledge, and enthusiasm. And don't even get me started on the site's vendors. Unreal. The type of service and expertise you don't find in the world anymore is right here.

R3V is love, R3V is life ;) :)

Downfall? I see no downfall here.



And if any of you think I'm soft... Well fuck you I eat nails for breakfast and I never wash my hands, even after I wipe.

And I poop with the door open.

Even at restaurants.

--Mike

[george graves]

The Ginger thread was amazing, a real life r3v soap opera and boom, disappeared.

The "ginger" was using the forum for attention, and the only way he knew to get it was being destructive, and dangerous to himself and others. Pulling a thread like that was a no-brainer. At some point the kid was going to be on the top of a building to get attention, and someone would yell "do a somersault!" to which he would for the attention.

Unless it's a new product, everything has been covered pretty well in the archives. Same with S14.net, just more people buying as an investment.

I'll say, yes....but...I think there is still a lot of ways to make these "old" cars better. I'll point again to m60 swaps. Something no one would even try 10 years ago, is now becoming common. You've got Luke making really old school crossovers. Other guys making LED upgrades, headlight upgrades, and all around awesome useful stuff....Plenty of good stuff coming from the forum and not someone big company - but e30 guys - and that's cool.

I did however find it quite bizarre that I was judged for my actual car that I bought. Some members found it rather necessary to criticize me for my purchase

That's cause you just might have more money then brain cells. But Don't worry about a little rubbin'. You're welcome to the club. Here's why....

R3v can be like highschool gym class - if ya'all remember, everyone makes fun of the odd balls in a communal effort to help that one guy to stop being so socially awkward, raise him up(and eventually get laid). It's not just for the sake of being mean - guy that are mean just to be mean are just doing that to make them selves fell better (and if you think about it, you can spot those guys a mile away). What I think it is, is something programmed into us...built into our nature as a group dynamic - to help make the weak stronger. But don't listen to me - what do I know?

[rwh11385]

This isn't the r3v I knew and loved.

repost. There were many threads like this over the years....Strange hearing it this time from a n00b tho

[Grackle]

I know the endless bot posts don't help any.

[rlich8]

Okay.

Brother, I have got to tell you. I APPLAUD you buying your 'new' e30 from EAG. I genuinely think that is incredible, and I wish could be so fortunate one day. I think the reason you got some flak is due to two things. First is jealousy. A lot of us started with a dirtbox e30 and put in a lot of man hours and effort into improving or even fully restoring our e30's ourselves. Now of course you had to put in a lot of time and effort to buy your car, but in a different way, of course, like making the money to buy it in perfect condition. Does that make you any less of an enthusiast? In my eyes, no, but in someone else's... Maybe.
The second reason I believe you got some flak is for not being a 'Hi just got my new e30 I'm about to swap a (insert non m10 m42 m20 engine here) right away' person, or a member of the 'my car is so low I scrape on pebbles in the road check out my -14 camber' crowd. I am not at all saying that people who choose to modify their cars, making them unique, and their own, is bad, I'm just saying that generally this kind of 'crowd' seems, in my opinion and experience, to be somewhat un-accepting of those of us, myself included, who believe in taking the original restoration/ slight modding route with our cars. But, I guess that's the way all kinds of gear heads are, no matter what kind of car you're talking about. What's cool is cool, and that's the fact. With that said, how boring would it be if we were all driving regular stock e30's? Extremely boring. Believe me, I've experienced an m52 swapped e30 on lowering springs. It was really cool, really fun to see, and sounded mean. But that's not MY style. 'To each his own' is a phrase we use a lot here for a reason. I promise you, I love everyone here, regardless of what you do to your car, regardless of who you are, and regardless of whether you're a member of the 140 club or not. You all are special and really cool people, and I never stop being amazed by some of the crazy awesome things I see here. V8 swaps and beyond, airbag suspensions, etc. Wow.

That's what makes this forum so great, is how differently everybody does things, and yet how the end result is the same... We go crazy for old BMWs.

I know I'm no OG, so please don't take any of this as over-generalizing or 'hate', its just the way I've seen things around here and on r3v Facebook. fact is, I'm really sort of a noob (•Y•) boobs myself.

That said, I love this forum. Always something new, always a perfect balance of comedy, knowledge, and enthusiasm. And don't even get me started on the site's vendors. Unreal. The type of service and expertise you don't find in the world anymore is right here.

R3V is love, R3V is life ;) :)

Downfall? I see no downfall here.



And if any of you think I'm soft... Well fuck you I eat nails for breakfast and I never wash my hands, even after I wipe.

And I poop with the door open.

Even at restaurants.

--Mike

I'll have to find some photos of all the ratchet cars I've owned over the years. Shitbox MG's, a Triumph with a frame that looked like a piece of used solid copper wire, a garbage Porsche 928, a Kaiser M151 military jeep with a trashed gearbox and transfer case. It's amazing I have even been able to sell some of the cars that I've had over the years.

I did all kinds of work on all kinds of vehicles to get to an E30 that I'm happy with. It just wasn't on an E30.

Again I'm not upset - I signed on for commentary when I started the thread, plus, it's the internet; I can take it. I just thought it was interesting.

I have wanted an E30 for over ten years and looked on and off at points, when I have been able to afford one. I have enthusiastically researched and read about E30's for years as well. I do not know many other people who have done as much pre-purchase reading as I have.

There are individuals who buy a car like an E30, and buy the first one they see due to ignorance and then they lose interest in it and it ends up on Craigslist as a project. Well that doesn't do much for the hobby now, does it?

What I'm saying is it's different strokes for different folks. I know that part of what made the E30 community great five years ago is that great cars could be had, sorted, and gotten to a very enjoyable level for a few thousand bucks. Those instances are increasingly more rare. Larger amounts of people are realizing what kind of products BMW was producing in the 1980's and how awesome they are.

It is actually incredible how many people have begun to once again prefer an analog driving experience.

Personally, I'm enamored with the fact that our cars have a future. There are arguably more E30's on the road today than there were 5 years ago due to it's inflationary nature. I know that the prices are higher, but if you love it enough, you'll find a way to make it happen.

As well, we all seem to have gotten the attention of BMW... there are more parts available today than there were x time ago.

I love my E30. It's the perfect mix of everything for me, and I love this community too...it's a fantastic resource. I hope that it can stay around and that it isn't dead but just beginning. There's an ebb and flow to all things.

[e30onBBSs]

I know the endless bot posts don't help any.

They are so bad at it.

Good read, idk about how it was before but r3v is awesome to me. Without the e30 wizards with all the knowledge noobies like me don't necessarily have, or that the bentely doesn't have, I would have been quite lost sometimes. It's also sweet to meet people who do tons of other stuff besides e30, like playin gta with gab and agent every once in a while, it's awesome. Somehow these cars have bred a great community.

In France I was walking with my friend one day and there was this blue e30 under a tarp, I could see the tails and the bumper and what not. I'm like "Lucas this dude owns an e30! Then my friend points to the driveway and there is another blue one on alpinas, and a minty e21 in the driveway. I'm like "No way!!!" Real euro e30's right in front of my eyes.

A few days go by and we are walking by again and the dude is inside his garage working on a vert, and I'm telling my friend like "hey will you go talk to him a bit with me because my french isn't fluent?" He says OK and then just walks by and I'm like f u dude. I tell him "these cars bring people together, I can't explain how or why but I am going to speak to him even though my french is trash." I walk up, we talk for a super long time, he speaks pretty good english. The alpina is real, the interior mint. We keep talking and he's like "ever been in an e21?"
"no"
"do you want to take a ride?"
"Sure"

We get back and he asks me if I want to drive, and of course I say yea! I ended up driving this minty e21, opening it up on the straights, in France, all because of these cars and a lot of the knowledge about them came from here, which helped when we were talking about 3 piston calipers and alpina badges and hartge wheels and everything, and made one of the best if not THE best night of the trip. Everyone on here is pretty like minded even though some have 800whp, and others have like 100hp. As long as there are e30's I think r3v will be alive.

[endeavor]

I have seen this happen to another forum I follow. The forum started off small then grew larger with lots of posts, get togethers, pictures being posted, funny arguments and ribbing threads.

Then over time people's lives moved them into different directions and that is ok, but we are all car fanatics so that is why some people still come here even though they have moved on from the E30.

This thread changed my mind about going to an E30 meet last night. I was feeling lazy and I did not want to drive one hour just to a attend a meet that might not have a good turn out, but after reading this thread I realized that if I don't take advantage of these moments that there may not be future opportunities to turn down.

So let’s all try to reaffirm our bonds of fellowship and forge new bonds with one another.


Here is the link to the pictures from last night’s meet. These are vitalip pictures, thanks for taking them and blazinxpk for setting up the meet.

http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af203/clean95_vr/San%20Jose%20E30%20Meet/P7310009_zpsno5zuwqn.jpg