Forum decline

I'm going through this a lot with my latest interest in the two stroke RD world. There are (were?) good forums in support of the wonderful little twins, but they're pretty dead on a daily basis for responses or new content.

Thankfully Im pretty resourceful at using the search features and finding many answers to my questions or just to satisfy my curiousity as to what works well and what doesnt (ignitions, expansion chambers, etc...).

I feel like Im always late to the party with all of my wide and varied mechanical interests, lol.

There are indeed the usual group pages on facebook but as mentioned theres so many that talk out their proverbial asses on there it becomes frustrating very, very quickly.

I think the problem is...Im absolutely spoiled by this forum. It is indeed THE gold standard when it comes to information and great folks to communicate with. :thumbsup:
 
When I had my Suzuki V-Strom , I was on a very popular, very active forum Stromtroopers. The funny thing was that there was
( at the time ) a super strict moderator who ruled with an iron fist and he wouldn’t allow anyone to start a new thread on a subject that had already been covered. Some newby would post a question about brakes or tires or whatever and the moderator would immediately stomp on it and say that’s already been covered and redirect the post. He would deny a newcomer the opportunity to post about his bike or interact with knowledgeable people. It really stifled forum growth.
 
Vincenthdfan said:
I'm going through this a lot with my latest interest in the two stroke RD world. There are (were?) good forums in support of the wonderful little twins, but they're pretty dead on a daily basis for responses or new content.

Thankfully Im pretty resourceful at using the search features and finding many answers to my questions or just to satisfy my curiousity as to what works well and what doesnt (ignitions, expansion chambers, etc...).

I feel like Im always late to the party with all of my wide and varied mechanical interests, lol.

There are indeed the usual group pages on facebook but as mentioned theres so many that talk out their proverbial asses on there it becomes frustrating very, very quickly.

I think the problem is...Im absolutely spoiled by this forum. It is indeed THE gold standard when it comes to information and great folks to communicate with. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
If you need any help or advice on RDs feel free to ask. I worked for Yamaha from the mid 70s to the early 80s so I have a fair amount of knowledge still left in my head.
 
I can see stopping the dreaded oil and tire posts, I'm pretty sure I see atleast 3 posts a week in the drz groups asking how to check the oil level. You'll even see multiple posts about very basic info that a Google search would turn up daily. But you have to let new people actively participate or they'll leave.

Unfortunately some parts have less options now than a few years ago. With pamco gone the budget ignitions are dwindling, Hoo's has been slowly clearing things out to get ready to retire from what I've seen. Specialty parts like the high ratio primaries and 270* pins have a good chance of vanishing if Ivan Hoey decides to stop. With this I expect to see newer people asking where to find parts, the number of sources is getting smaller.
 
I really have only two forums I visit. I am only intererested in XS650 on two wheels and this forum is the best and Ihave made friends here through the Rallys and on line. I raced sailboats since I was 14 or 15 so I am on a Sailing forum too, SailingAnarchy. I have been here since roughly 2020, I have been on Sailing Anarchy since 2005 or so, can't remember exactly. SA (sailing anarchy) covers all aspects of sailing. I have been active in many aspects there and learned a ton of arcane trivia. There have been many back and forths over the years. Almost all stay behind a title/name. I adopted my real name here a year or so ago. My great grief early inn February led me to share on that forum.
1711412449109.png
The picture of my late grandaughter spurred an out pouring of love from 4 continents and I was humbled.
 
The collective knowledge here is huge. I mean like the Library of Congress huge. So much of the advice given on FB is just plain incorrect and totally wrong. This thread has inspired me. I'm gonna make a donation here, right now! Rock on XS650.COM !
 
Several years ago, I created a FB group for OIF Triumphs. There wasn't much activity, until I announced I'd be opening up the forum to other makes.
All of a sudden the heavens opened and there was a flurry of activity, most of it abusing me, the rest negative. A heap of members left and one of the chief abusers, who to that date, had not contributed to the forum at all, started up another OIF Triumph forum and so I shut mine down. I believe that group is still open.

What a lot of people don't understand is only about 1percent of members actually contribute, the rest just sit on the fence. In order to have a successful, busy forum you need tens of thousands of members just to get a few contributions.

Around the same time, I created another group for Wind up Campers. There were about 4,500 members, most of whom simply sat on the fence. The ones that did contribute mostly advertised their campers for sale, despite group rules saying 'no advertising' and there being several posts reiterating the group rules.

When it comes down to it, people really are quite stupid - give me a dog any day.

Dogs - smart. People - not so much!
 
toglhot said:
Several years ago, I created a FB group for OIF Triumphs. There wasn't much activity, until I announced I'd be opening up the forum to other makes.
All of a sudden the heavens opened and there was a flurry of activity, most of it abusing me, the rest negative. A heap of members left and one of the chief abusers, who to that date, had not contributed to the forum at all, started up another OIF Triumph forum and so I shut mine down. I believe that group is still open.

What a lot of people don't understand is only about 1percent of members actually contribute, the rest just sit on the fence. In order to have a successful, busy forum you need tens of thousands of members just to get a few contributions.

Around the same time, I created another group for Wind up Campers. There were about 4,500 members, most of whom simply sat on the fence. The ones that did contribute mostly advertised their campers for sale, despite group rules saying 'no advertising' and there being several posts reiterating the group rules.

When it comes down to it, people really are quite stupid - give me a dog any day.

Dogs - smart. People - not so much!
Click to expand...
In this forum we seem to share a common civility.
 
"Civility is the lubricant of society."

I'll add a couple of Dadism's handed down through the generations.
"You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar"
"If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all"
"If you can't be a help don't be a hindrance"

I'll part with -
Ego is a brain parasite that destroys its host and any it comes in contact with, if they let it.....
 
Quite an interesting thread. I recently joined having bought an XS650 back in 1976, not liking it and going back to two strokes a year later. Fast forward to now and I have an XS650 again.

This forum is the only one I know of that still has a flavour of what turn of the century internet forums were about. Yes, social media has killed off forums. Forums WERE the social media of the day.

Long may it continue. The fact that the subject matter is bikes that have been out of production for four decades is astonishing. I'm very grateful for the help I've received the last few months since being here.
 
facebook can sometimes yield quick results when you have questions. Very often with much sarcasms in the responses or "try the search bar" type responses. Its easier to set up and manage but then you have to join the facebook page very often to search it. Plus Facebook searches on a group is pretty bad. When I have issues with any of my other bikes, I tend to google it and get very old forum posts or videos. Many videos are pretty poor. It takes more work to search facebook groups though so you have to join them all and search them individually.

Harley forums were pretty productive (sold mine though) cause Harley people tend to be older and more old school.
Struggling to find a good forum for the BMW touring bike I just got the 2000 R1000RT. I hate posting on facebook for every little question I have and much prefer a continuous thread where those interested in following will respond. That is harder on fakebook to make new posts to get responses cause adding to existing posts don't always garner visibility like on a forum where people will scan "new posts"
 

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