Proposed structural changes in the forum - was: Is this site dying a slow death?

I hope not, I log on almost every day, and have been doing so for 4 years since I wanted to buy an 8. However apart from enjoying and driving my 8 (which I did yesterday - awful weather for summer though), my tech knowledge is limited, but I enjoy reading everyone else's posts, and will continue to do so.

I know exactly what you mean.

I try and keep everything alive with my "How To" posts with lots of pics to keep it interesting and enough detail to keep both the new owner and the proficient long termer interested.

It is disappointing though to do a post, some of which can take many hours by the time the pics are taken, cropped, resized, uploaded, a first draft done, then added to the pics downloaded from Photobucket, to get almost no response.

It should give the enthusiastic owner the nudge to go and play with their cars, but does it?

The only really long threads are disagreements and these are harmful to the whole forum experience.

I would add though, that I know of 2 new owners who have tried to join the forum and cannot figure out how to do so and have registered with "Bimmerforums" instead.

Naturally we will inevitably lose members as they move on to other cars but we still need to attract the new owner of the car here to refresh the discussions,

I would add, that in my opinion, telling a new poster to "search the forums" is not conducive to encouraging membership. If its been discussed before, either discuss it again or dont join in that post, eventually EVERYTHING will have been discussed before on a car thats been around 20 years so the new owner just wants to chat about their car or a problem, if they can just get the solution from a search, why bother posting at all?

I try and keep the interest up making my nick-nacks for the cars, trying to make them better and keep owners involved. We may be seeing new owners who are buying a car worth less than a 3 year old Saxo and treat it as such, but I think we are also seeing more mature owners who remember this "Supercar" as a dream from their youth and now they can afford to own one just as a weekend toy along with their family hatch.

These are the owners we need to see here.

Just my opinion.

8Tech.

One thing that might help is to open up the forums.

Most forums allow anyone to view, but only members to post.
It looks as though here you need to be a member even to view anything but meeting dates?
I discovered this when I forgot to log in once.
Couple that with reported problems in joining this can't help viewer interest.

We must accept that the number of running cars (few to start with) is dwindling, so a "decline" is inevitable. Fewer can be viable, so decline need not lead to fall if those left wish it.

I have found this site invaluable and wish it to continue.

Hey Steve,

I also check in everyday or so, but as my car is holed up in the garage at present (with a recent house move and renovation ongoing - preventing me running it) I've not had any issues good or bad to report. Let face it, I didn't really contribute factually that much before, just learned a lot from others who have offered their help and advice periodically to me !

I would be a real shame if the site died, though it is far from doing that I think. It may be in part due to the formal nature of discussions these days predominating over general banter ? I certainly remember a lot more light hearted stuff flying around a couple of years ago.

No one can deny that 'how tos' etc are unbelieveably good, and fantastic resources to have stored in a site like this for posterity. I read every one just in case I get the same problem oneday !

Ahem, and yes, mine is up for sale at the moment..... (but pssst, no one is ever going to pay that much for it are they ??? ) I never was that good at estimating the value of cars, something my wife is fortunately not aware of

I'm here several times a day.

I have noticed a decline in posts, but perhaps one of the good things about this forum is also one of the worst things.
There are just too many sub forums and "national" forums.

I'm sure there are plenty of posts in the German and French forum that I would have found interesting, but I dont understand what is written there.

Bimmer forums was mentioned, and I'm there too.
My impression of that forum is that it's 90% American users there, and there are a lot of threads there that I have no interrest in reading, but that forum is more "alive" than this.

I'm sure I could make more new threads than I have done, but I think people after a while would be sick of "look at my 8, showoff/bragging" threads.

Since we are making a 8er club in Norway all the people we have talked to have been asked to use this forum, and been informed about the vast technical database and the expertice of this forums users, If any new ones have joined I do not know.

One thing to be aware of, there may not be all that many posts in the Englsih speaking section but don't forget that there is also considerable activity in the German langauge section and also activity in the French speaking section.

Having said that, I also visit Bimmerforums and a number of members are also present there, BF seems to be popular with English language speaking owners - for obvious reasons I think.

Gerry, your topics are usually received quite enthusiastically at bimmerforums.com. So the effort is definitely not lost and I hope it doesn't discourage you! 8er.org has a much smaller active community so you cannot expect to get the same quantity of replies here as on bimmerforums.com, but that doesn't make your postings less appreciated! Also, don't forget many members here are also member at bimmerforums.com and may have replied over there.

Anyway, I agree the lack of traffic in the English speaking sections of 8er.org sometimes gives it the impression of a ghost town. Ukzero and Noggie point out a two very obvious issues:

• The closed nature of this board prevents fresh blood from flowing in. You cannot browse the forums without registration. Registration may be free of costs, but not knowing what to expect is a considerable threshold to many. Most forum residents become member of a place after lurking for quite a while. That's not possible on 8er.org. A second issue resulting from the closed nature is the forums are not crawled by search engines. If you search for information about the E31 on the Internet, forums like bimmerforums.com and roadfly.com dominate the search results. This works like a magnet on new owners and other E31 enthousiasts. So I completely agree with ukzero the forum should be publicly browsable with registration only required for posting.
• A topic not posted in "Main Discussion" is often simply lost in the mess of subforums and international forums. I found out only recently there's also a "Main Discussion" under "The 8series all around the world > United Kingdom"! As long as the amount of forum traffic doesn't demand it, there is no need for many of these subforums. This should be simplified considerably.

I am a fairly new user here and I bought my first 8 less than a year ago, but I want to add that I am also visiting the forum almost daily. I read the new threads and find a great deal of help in just searching around, finding both old and new guides for a lot of technical things on our cars.

That being said my technical knowledge is still limited. I am here to learn and I read all the guides with big interest even though I am not replying directly.

I also know Noggie several times have tipped the Norwegian car owners to register here, but as mentioned maybe the forum should be open too, at least for reading.

Edit: I have also noticed that some areas of the forum is still closed for me. And the BMW 8 Series FAQ area is completely empty.

I've been off-line for a few months but I too was surprised to find very few new posts in the the time I was away.

Anyway, I'm still an 8-series fan and hope that things will improve, particularly if some of the commenst about accessibility of the forum are taken on board.

My distinct impression is that while the German section is overflowing with great contributions from many enthusiastic owners, the english section has almost no input going on. Seems like there is an inherent imbalance in contributions. I wonder if this is what has made roadfly and bimmerforums deteriorate? A few bad apples etc...

I'm here every day too. I agree about the amount of sub-forums, it is all a bit confusing. Finding information is difficult, the 'How-To's' get swallowed up in the general posts. A separate 'How-To' section for the E31 would be a real plus, we could then move the information into one area to make it more accessible.....

Zitat von Timm;77162

I'm here every day too. I agree about the amount of sub-forums, it is all a bit confusing. Finding information is difficult, the 'How-To's' get swallowed up in the general posts. A separate 'How-To' section for the E31 would be a real plus, we could then move the information into one area to make it more accessible.....

We can change everything (forum structure, topic names and so on), no problem.
Makes a few suggestions and let us know.

HI Guys

I´m online nearly every day..
I read your english postings as the german ones.. (also some french)

My opinion is that this page is one of the best sites i´ve seen !

Of course some members will left and new ones will come.
i think MANY members ONLY read the postings.. and the Information helps them

so send you nice greetings!

And BIG THANKS to ALL who Post and fill this site with life!

@ matin.. can you post an oversight of statistics?

@all.. sorry for my bad english

I visit most days.
I personally don't use the search features on any forum. (JUD will confirm this )
I would rather post a new topic or a repeat the topic. I find the search facility anti social.
If everyone used it then no one would bother to post.
How ether Bimmerforums have to many personal attacks on people asking for help or posting frequently asked questions, The mods seem to allow the same people to make the attacks. I have been on the receiving side of at least 2 attacks. DILLIGAF
You don't get the same treatment here. (more civilised)
I for 1 will make an attempt to post more often.

Zitat von Martin;77168

We can change everything (forum structure, topic names and so on), no problem.
Makes a few suggestions and let us know.

Martin, given that a number of people have voiced concerns about 1) apparent difficulties with registration and 2) a bewildering array of sub forums might I suggest a simplified approach to joining and a consolidation of some of the forums? Does the club currently have a membership secretary? If not maybe this is a post that could be created meaning that any prospective club member would only have to contact one person to have membership processed. Perhaps this could be made obvious on the home page : "To join the club, simply send an email to blah blah blah".
Ref 2), there are a lot of sub forums, some of which are sparsly populated, maybe some could be combined?

Ref language, I know that there is a button to switch language but this is at the bottom of the page, how about have language flags highly visible at the top of the home page?

Cheers,
Jason

Another every-other day visitor here!

A lack of posts from me equates to a lack of problems; which is the way I want to keep it

Also I find the site very complicated. Sections within sections, with topic area duplication.

It took me a long time to decide to join because I had to surrender so much personal info - home address etc. I am always nervous sending that anonymously into the internet unknown! Verifies if a user is genuine i'm sure, but a reason for slow take up perhaps?

Another thing that I dont see, coming from the Porsche Forum, is the thread "Other 8's spotted out and about" with locations etc - which was always interesting - perhaps only to sad people like me! I think that would increase traffic to the site.

Some thread titles that interest me are blocked as I do not have permission; which gets my goat a bit.

However, saying all this, the 8er is a rare car, and the site is dedicated to that model alone - so I dont think it will ever be mega-popular.

This is my only forum that I am registered to for my 8er.

I question the need for splitting up the forum so much.

Why are i.e UK here in this section along with other English speaking countries AND has it own forum in the "around the world section"?

And why so many sub Forums?

In my book, all we need for the English speaking users is one English forum with 3 sub forums. (I.e called International)
-Main Discussion
-Technical
-Classifields

I only read the Main Discussion anyway.

Perhaps something similar could be done in the German and French sections?

Why does Germany, Austria and Switzerland have 2 forum section and a total of 25 sub forums???????
(and possibly sub-sub forums as well)

The "Around the world" section is pointless to me, there are hardly any posts in those forums and any owners from those parts of the world would probably find what they need in the English section anyway.

If you ask me we would need the following forum groups.

-International (English)
-German
-French
-Alpina
-International information (i.e meeting postings, articles, history, links ect.)

Just my thoughts.