Does anyone even visit this forum anymore??

[roguetoaster]

Let's remember, we, and by we I mean people with E30 builds, likely inspire thousands of younger prospective E30 owners, even if they never post for whatever reason. Also, without r3v, the E30T archive and similar places the next wave will simply have to relearn all of the accumulated knowledge of those places, which is wasteful.

[89_325i]

Facebook is so mind numbingly stupid for anything like these types of topics. Every tom dick and harry asking inane questions. I cannot stand to watch 99.9% of the youtube videos out there because they suck, car enthusiasts are not natural born entertainers for the most part. I know anything I make would be awful.

You'll never convince me that the forum format isn't the best way to document a project. I guess thats why I'm posting project updates on here even though theres very little engagement. My thread on e30zone has one reply that isn't me. I will probably stop at some point, since the real reason to post updates is for people to chime in with helpful experience, tips and tricks.

I help moderate a Kawasaki KZ650 forum, we have some fatigue from keeping it going for a long time but we still try to have active discussion on project threads and questions, even if its just the mods engaging with the member who has issues. My suggestion for the mods and admins here would be to throw up a post if someone asks a question or if you see something on a project thread. If you dont want your forum to die off. People posting questions and projects are going to give up posting if they're just getting crickets.

This place is a great resource and the search has helped me a lot. Its a real shame it seems to be close to defunct. I've seen it before, when the general chat is more active than the rest of the forum, its not a good sign. Maybe the comments about quality vs quantity is the reason for few replies. My thread has a lot of views but few replies. Is it because I seem like I know what I'm doing? I think I do but my E30 knowledge isn't the same as some of you guys.

[mjweimer]

I still spend too much time on this site, and heavily prefer a proper build thread over a YouTube video of someone vlogging their build, which seems to be the trend. With so few folks left, though, the fun in writing engaging content in my own build thread has largely dwindled.

mjweimer and Matt@EDC need to get their rears in gear with build thread updates- their work is fantastic and highly detailed.

You got me there. My updates have been shameful but I have at least been trying to share knowledge with others when I can...I will try to get an update together soon.

Well yeah, forums were relatively new at that time, e30s were dirt cheap and everywhere, so people in their late teens to mid twenties were buying them. Now those people are in their 30s, have a wife/kids, and shit posting on forums just isn't a thing to do anymore.

One of the things I notice is that although there are less build threads, the stuff being worked on is much higher quality. People have a bit more cash and a lot more knowledge. No one is doing a shitty m50nv swap to get that 30hp anymore, now people are building 200+ whp NA m20 cars and reliable 400hp+ turbo m20 monsters.

All the "tits or gtfo" and "search n00b" mentality is gone. The remaining posters are actually helpful to the new people. When did we get old and turn into mye28 or bmw2002faq?!?!?!?

This is a very good observation. Other forms of media are interesting but offer no real archive or method for searching and finding an answer to a question/problem/etc. The past work documented in this forum has answered or inspired my work countless times and when I've asked members here specific questions, I have always received a helpful answer - great folks on here!!

[rturbo 930]

Some of us still prefer words and images to video. Very off topic, but I cannot stand the changeover to every yahoo doing a video DIY that I just do not want to watch instead of writing it up. Different strokes I suppose.

The problem with videos is that a lot of them are just fucking boring. To make a good video you need charisma and a decent ability to edit a video, and a lot of people simply don't. And with DIYs, it's a lot easier to refer back to something written than a video. A written DIY with photos is ideal.

I don't understand how FB has managed to steal away so much traffic considering how poor it is as a substitute for a forum. FB is for current events, a forum is an archive. Not even remotely the same.

As I see it, what we have on R3V now is quality over quantity. No dumb kids doing rocket bunny stance builds, or whatever the latest shitty trend is for people to get likes on IG and FB. The wheat has been separated from the chaff.

[McGyver]

Well people still make new threads on here so yeah there’s traffic. My guess is R3v was much more active back around 2008-mid 2010s when the E30 was in its heyday as an enthusiast car and online forums were still popular

Well yeah, forums were relatively new at that time, e30s were dirt cheap and everywhere, so people in their late teens to mid twenties were buying them. Now those people are in their 30s, have a wife/kids, and shit posting on forums just isn't a thing to do anymore.

One of the things I notice is that although there are less build threads, the stuff being worked on is much higher quality. People have a bit more cash and a lot more knowledge. No one is doing a shitty m50nv swap to get that 30hp anymore, now people are building 200+ whp NA m20 cars and reliable 400hp+ turbo m20 monsters.

All the "tits or gtfo" and "search n00b" mentality is gone. The remaining posters are actually helpful to the new people. When did we get old and turn into mye28 or bmw2002faq?!?!?!?

[Vincenze]

Some of us still prefer words and images to video. Very off topic, but I cannot stand the changeover to every yahoo doing a video DIY that I just do not want to watch instead of writing it up. Different strokes I suppose.

I wish Jordan made detailed videos of his restorations.
They would attract millions of views.

[808ETA]

I still check it out daily and appreciate the people that still post. Not really into the Facebook page, if it wasn't for the Buy/Sell I wouldn't even be on there.

[ZeKahr]

Well people still make new threads on here so yeah there’s traffic. My guess is R3v was much more active back around 2008-mid 2010s when the E30 was in its heyday as an enthusiast car and online forums were still popular

The E30 subreddit is pretty active. The E30 classifieds on FB is active. It’s just what the Millennials and Zoomers who are into these cars use

[2mAn]

Still check in every day, but there's not much happening unfortunately

If someone would finish their swap we would have something cool to see!...

[e30austin]

+1,000,000

x10000000000000000

[roguetoaster]

Especially if you can read fast - listing to some bro crap on about how they're doing something that's actually pretty straight forward for 10 mins, and then getting it wrong or spreading misinformation is pretty mind numbing.

Give me pelican's photographic step by step guides (or the good write-ups done here) any day.

+1,000,000

[AWDBOB]

I still spend too much time on this site, and heavily prefer a proper build thread over a YouTube video of someone vlogging their build, which seems to be the trend. With so few folks left, though, the fun in writing engaging content in my own build thread has largely dwindled.

mjweimer and Matt@EDC need to get their rears in gear with build thread updates- their work is fantastic and highly detailed.

[E30SPDFRK]

Still check in every day, but there's not much happening unfortunately

[lukeADE335i]

Especially if you can read fast - listing to some bro crap on about how they're doing something that's actually pretty straight forward for 10 mins, and then getting it wrong or spreading misinformation is pretty mind numbing.

Give me pelican's photographic step by step guides (or the good write-ups done here) any day.

[roguetoaster]

Times have changed.

Pictures are not enough.

Film a high-quality video and narrate it to attract comments.

Some of us still prefer words and images to video. Very off topic, but I cannot stand the changeover to every yahoo doing a video DIY that I just do not want to watch instead of writing it up. Different strokes I suppose.