another forum gone

[82eye]

just acknowledging the death of bcbimmers here in canada. we keep losing resources faster than i'm losing my middle age hair.

i'm wondering if it's all forums, or if folk have just naturally gravitated to other newer cars to have fun with. the skyrocketing prices of anything fun to drive has to be having an effect as well. if i hadn't got my car before the price explosion i'd never be looking at one now. probably be driving a brz or similar.

[Tom Galloway]

This is my third bimmer forum in ( many) years. The first one just blew up with squabbling ( 320i.com). The second ( Pelican) just went crazy during the 2016 election lots of "Texans with Porchas " a.k.a. Russian trolls - just hammering everybody with made up stuff. Now this space is to valuable to e30 people to let it go bad.

[nando]

It's pretty much Facebook and other social media. Facebook is a cesspool of idiots though, I only still have an account because one of the clubs my kids are in only communicates through Facebook. The car groups are unbearably awful.

It seems like for newer BMWs, it takes 2-3 generations for there to be any DIY activity at all, if it ever happens. The E90 has a pretty good forum scene, and I don't know about the F30, but finding anything DIY for my X3 is impossible. All the posts are "take it to the dealer". Ugh.

I don't think the E30 is getting less popular. it shows up a lot on Youtube for what is realistically, a pretty obscure car (outside of the M3). This forum is technically under the BMW SCCA now, so I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon. Just gotta make sure it doesn't completely die, and I think we have a big enough group of core users that it's still useful, especially for buying and selling E30 stuff. Outside of Ebay, I don't know where else would be better for used and rare E30 parts.

Regional forums like bcbimmers were probably always doomed though. Too specific and too small of an area to support itself, especially as forums shrink overall.

[82eye]

It's pretty much Facebook and other social media. Facebook is a cesspool of idiots though, I only still have an account because one of the clubs my kids are in only communicates through Facebook. The car groups are unbearably awful.

fb suspended my account. still don't know why. i wasn't very active at all, posted a total of 3 times, and i missed the 3 day period they give to appeal. once it had passed, there was no way to reactivate.

it really pisses me off as it is the only local portal to connect with other local car guys and businesses. little shits are still sending emails asking if i want to buy "space" in meta.

It seems like for newer BMWs, it takes 2-3 generations for there to be any DIY activity at all, if it ever happens. The E90 has a pretty good forum scene, and I don't know about the F30, but finding anything DIY for my X3 is impossible. All the posts are "take it to the dealer". Ugh.

pretty much everyone with an e90 up here is more in to the brand than the car. there's a few e46 guys that are core though.

the local dealer tries stupid hard to create and promote the idea of belonging to an an elitist community in their clients, which really doesn't help. one of my friends got hired at the dealer solely because he is fluent in mandarin and passable in a couple other chinese dialects. he hates the attitudes and keeps a toyota 86 as his personal car, driving various demos when he goes to work because they don't want him seen in it.

I don't think the E30 is getting less popular. it shows up a lot on Youtube for what is realistically, a pretty obscure car (outside of the M3). This forum is technically under the BMW SCCA now, so I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon. Just gotta make sure it doesn't completely die, and I think we have a big enough group of core users that it's still useful, especially for buying and selling E30 stuff. Outside of Ebay, I don't know where else would be better for used and rare E30 parts.

i'd be completely sunk if this forum ever went down. there is no e30 scene local. there is something like 6 e30's total where i live.

Regional forums like bcbimmers were probably always doomed though. Too specific and too small of an area to support itself, especially as forums shrink overall.

there is only a couple areas up here with enough population to support any sort of enthusiast drivers. most of us are pretty rare here. you don't get clubs or groups built on a specific brand or model like you do elsewhere.

[e30davie]

Facebook is just a bad way to represent forum type data. Stuff doesn't even show in the same order. and after a few hrs it disappears into the abyss. build threads arent really a thing.

I have a cynical view that for 30yrs or so, the internet became a fantastic resource from an enthusiastis point of view, but over the next 5-10yrs or so it will all disappear and it will be back to pre-internet days where people in sheds just figure stuff out and don't tell anyone. Bit of a shame.

[SkiFree]

I'm going to say that this forum will actually grow.

There are a LOT of people who are getting off of social media (deleted all of mine [including instagram] in 2019) and returning to forums as a way to enjoy more quality car guy interaction. I've actually seen an influx on returning/new members on a handful of forums. It's nice to argue over what the best motor option is .... rather than be bombarded with trash comments/pictures/adds/political-hot-button/dopomin-hits.... aint nobody got time for that.

What mods here may want to consider is consolidating the sections a bit. Use tags instead.

[SkiFree]

WOAH ... wait... this is my original account. I thought I'd lost it. Go figure!

[nando]

What mods here may want to consider is consolidating the sections a bit. Use tags instead.

I was thinking that today actually. we have a lot of forum sub-sections that haven't been posted in for many, many years. Archive those, and drill it down to a short list of sub-forums that are active. Makes it easier for new people especially, but even me, I have to scroll through our huge list of sub-forums (most of which are not used) to find what I'm looking for.

[Northern]

I would love that.

Bring in an N52/54 subforum

Axe the PRO3 subforum

Amalgamate some of the classified sections since they don't get a ton of traffic individually

Bring all the "24V swap" stuff into Engine & Drivetrain

Hell, maybe open up to (gasp) E36+ and other non-e30/28/34 platforms, only since a lot of people with e30s these days are going to own an E90 or something as a daily.

i'd be completely sunk if this forum ever went down. there is no e30 scene local. there is something like 6 e30's total where i live.

Oh same here. There's maybe 6 people I know and maybe 6 more old people

[Panici]

I'm going to say that this forum will actually grow.

There are a LOT of people who are getting off of social media (deleted all of mine [including instagram] in 2019) and returning to forums as a way to enjoy more quality car guy interaction. I've actually seen an influx on returning/new members on a handful of forums. It's nice to argue over what the best motor option is .... rather than be bombarded with trash comments/pictures/adds/political-hot-button/dopomin-hits.... aint nobody got time for that.

I agree 100%.
People are getting tired of social media; I find a forum is more relaxed.

It's like the difference between reading a paper book/newspaper vs scrolling through a phone screen.

I started getting home delivery of a newspaper last week. More relaxing to read a physical paper in the morning with coffee and breakfast.

Bring in an N52/54 subforum
Axe the PRO3 subforum
Amalgamate some of the classified sections since they don't get a ton of traffic individually
Bring all the "24V swap" stuff into Engine & Drivetrain
Hell, maybe open up to (gasp) E36+ and other non-e30/28/34 platforms, only since a lot of people with e30s these days are going to own an E90 or something as a daily.

Great suggestions. Time for a cleanup to keep things relevant and useful.

[DEV0 E30]

Long live r3v.

Great suggestions in here too.

[2mAn]

R3V will Survive.

-Simon 8:30am PST 9/6/22

[82eye]

R3V will Survive.

-Simon 8:30am PST 9/6/22

i'm at the point where i'm hoping to get it done and not holding my breathe on it ...
i've seen way too many resources go down.

[Nairb]

Speech and public opinion is being cancelled. They will simply raise the costs on the administrators of the service and eventually this place will be shut down. It's not a big tech platform with AI moderators and it will be targeted. It's not a matter of if but when. It's all about control. "They" don't want you to maintain your gas vehicle in any capacity. Enjoy your car while it lasts and then you'll most likely be in an AI electric vehicle being shuttled to approved destinations.

[82eye]

Speech and public opinion is being cancelled. They will simply raise the costs on the administrators of the service and eventually this place will be shut down. It's not a big tech platform with AI moderators and it will be targeted. It's not a matter of if but when. It's all about control. "They" don't want you to maintain your gas vehicle in any capacity. Enjoy your car while it lasts and then you'll most likely be in an AI electric vehicle being shuttled to approved destinations.

we're at the precipice of a shift in technologies. the buggy whip makers held the same opinion 150 yrs ago. we should have come further by now.