[VRYALT3R3D]

Yeah yeah, I know social media exists but if you need to search for specific information about your cars, forums were where it was at! It was the easiest way to interact with like minded people and find valuable tech information.

I am happy to see Revscene is still around. So many forums have either been bought out by large companies or they the domains no longer exist. The problem with the latter is that all that information is completely lost in time. The problem with the former is when companies like Vertical Scope would buy out forums, they would completely kill them and they would be barely active.

What can we do to make forums popular again? I feel like Instagram is a great platform for showcasing your build journal but for so many other reasons, I feel forums are way better. Man, I feel old and I am in my late 20s.

[BIC_BAWS]

People our age don't like to use the search button and would rather post new questions on Facebook, or now whatsapp. All my car groups are on WhatsApp chats. There's no information retention in there. Some are on Discord for that reason.

Also late 20s and you posted a thread with pics from 2002?? Dude we would've been like 6 years old.

[donk.]

#doublemypost2009

[donk.]

Also late 20s and you posted a thread with pics from 2002?? Dude we would've been like 6 years old.

Speak for yourself, i would have been 4 :badpokerface:

[noclue]

Its gone man, you need a new generation of car enthusiasts.
Latest gen would rather make tik tok videos in an uber than drive (Look up the stats when teenagers get drivers license)
And the ones that do like cars, dont like modding/DIY which boosts forum engagement

RIP car forums like manual transmission

[donk.]

RIP car forums like manual transmission

Speaking of manual trans, i keep seeing e-tron GTs on the road, im not an audi fan, but thats one car i could see myself abusing.

So i search, "does e-tron GT come in manual", and sure enough, nope, auto only. Sadge maybe when im a geezer and my left knee is half way out the door i can pick one up

[Hondaracer]

EV in a manual.. seems pointless? lol I agree though great looking car.

[asian_XL]

Hi,

https://i.imgur.com/J49GNSx.jpeg

[dark0821]

donk has to be trolling, no way he googled if E-tron GT came in manual lolol

But on the other hand, seeing how the Ioniq 5 N has mimic the DCT, I can see a similar feat being done for a manual in EV. I know Toyota already has it in prototypes and such.

So far the feedback seems good, yes it will be a gimmick... but hey thats awesome (I am getting old)

Fake sound, fake transmission, fake clutch here we go, if the experience is close enough, I dont see why not~

++ I will no longer alienate my wife for buying a car like that, she can flip a switch and drive it like a traditional automatic.

================================================== ================================================== ===============================


Back on topic

My kids are just not into cars, its my failure as a father, they know more about cars than their peers because their dad wouldnt shut up about them. But no.. they are not super excited about this car or that car....

[trollface]

It's very hard to work on modern cars as a hobbiest.

No one can afford anything anymore, let alone toys.

[underscore]

A few factors, but probably the combo of photobucket wrecking all the images right as social media was really taking off was a big one. Most people struggled with posting images on forums to begin with and places like IG let you tap a couple things and fire it right from your phone easy peasy.

It sucks though cause like you said all the information on those platforms is basically just an unorganized mess, so there's no long term access to it. And even then the format of all of them is shit so there's less info. I've never seen a proper build thread or DIY guide on any social media platform.

[!LittleDragon]

What killed it was age... we grew up. My MR2T has been in the garage for 15 years. I bought a new car thinking I would take my time and restore the MR2 but I haven't done a damn thing to the car and I'm on my 3rd new car now... I still poke around on RS here and there... sometimes I'll post a few weeks apart, sometimes, I'm gone for months or years... we just have better things to do these days and forums just didn't attract the amount of new users to replace us.

[SSM_DC5]

15 years and haven't touched it, maybe it's time to sell it.

[bcrdukes]

I don't think there is a silver bullet to answer the question, but here are some of my observations, a few which several members touched on already.

Spoilered because long.
1. We are getting older (at least here on Revscene.) Our priorities have shifted.
2. *Edited* The advent of social media and more interest-focused forums detracted from general sites like RevScene, which are more regionally focused
3. There's just so much more information these days on the internet. People used to ask how to open the hood of a car on this forum. Now, you can just Google search and get an answer without fear of being judged.
4. This one might trigger some people, but I think cars just got better and faster. 200HP back in the day, Intake, header, exhaust swaps and the money formula have lost its relevance in today's market.
5. Maybe we got dumber? We complain about how bad plastics are in new cars, but this is something we've always complained about, but lust over the interior of 1990s Honda Civic.
6. Social attitudes towards cars have shifted. Why spend your limited salary on an entry level car worth more than your take home pay? Uber and public transit will get the job done.
7. I think we, as car enthusiasts, also haven't done a good job on succession planning. What I mean is setting things up for a new generation of car enthusiasts to get involved in the community. Meets fizzled out, cliques formed etc. It became harder (I think) to get together and to be a more inclusive community.
8. This is highly subjective and open to interpretation, but I think cops don't hate us for the same reason anymore. Back in the day, law enforcement and the general public waged a war against car enthusiasts for being street racers. They were a common enemy and that united enthusiasts. Now that war is over, it's about VPD VIs, and even that sort of fizzled out. People can now drive in Richmond without fear for being pulled over for their rice.
9. Rice is dead. RIP body kits, Altezza style lights, and stuff like that. Hellaflush and Stancewars also fizzled out (at least I think so, in Vancouver.) Mods cost money. People don't really have money.
10. Scammers and bot accounts on forums are annoying as hell!

Any way, that was a long brain dump. Hope that sparks the conversation further. :)

[Harvey Specter]

Most young kids nowadays can barely afford a bus pass let alone a car so there's no reason to visit car forums. It's a sad reality but car culture is now for oldies.

[trollface]

Just pull up your bootstraps or someting

[!LittleDragon]

Another reminder that we just got old... was listening to Aaliyah the other day and realized she died like 25 years ago... wtf...

[fuzebox]

If Rennlist ever goes down I'm fucked :(

[snowball]

I noticed that a lot of car forums are still very much alive, but everyone's talking about mechanical issues or almost stock cars and not really modding.

[EvoFire]

bimmerpost is very active. Almost seems like either cars with lots of issues (lol) or higher priced cars that have active forums.

[Manic!]

Why sign up to another forum when you already have a Facebook or Reddit account. Facebook as a lot of car groups. Also setting up a group on Facebook or Reddit is free and you don't have to worry about servers going down.

[fuzebox]

Why sign up to another forum when you already have a Facebook or Reddit account. Facebook as a lot of car groups. Also setting up a group on Facebook or Reddit is free and you don't have to worry about servers going down.

Lots of fragmentation in model-specific FB groups (5-10-20-100 random groups trying to cover the same make or model), plus the search function sucks, and the spammers/scammers are becoming a huge problem :(

[Badhobz]

VWvortex is still going strong. That’s because hitlerboxes are always breaking down.

:pokerface:

[pherio]

What killed it was age... we grew up. My MR2T has been in the garage for 15 years. I bought a new car thinking I would take my time and restore the MR2 but I haven't done a damn thing to the car and I'm on my 3rd new car now... I still poke around on RS here and there... sometimes I'll post a few weeks apart, sometimes, I'm gone for months or years... we just have better things to do these days and forums just didn't attract the amount of new users to replace us.

So now I don't feel so alone having my project sit for 10 years. Although its not from me not trying to get it back on the road.

[spoon.ek9]

As much as it has to do with us getting old, it also has a lot to do with this current generation and below having the attention span of a gnat. They only get amped up with instant gratification which is why platforms like tiktok have excelled because you can only keep their attention for like 10 seconds at a time.

Locally, I really do think the end of our yearly meets really killed things and began a large fracturing of car groups. Yes, we had specific forums for certain makes/models (vancouver civics for example) but after the meets died I noticed 8th gen Civic, FK8 etc groups branching off (a bit of elitism there) and similar things among other groups too.

RS meets really were the melting pot of all car groups showing up to show off for better or worse. We certainly didn't need dudes in Mustangs pulling off burn outs in our parking lots but having all makes and models come together was one hell of a thing to witness.

Heck, even the Byrne meets were iconic for awhile there before it was ruined again by the idiots. That was kind of the peak for me. My EK was in top form (still in the exact shape now, just older lol) and it's just become a core memory for me when I think back to all the meets we went to in our 20's.

But yeah, I digress. Geriatric Motor Club it is from now on.. we old bruh.



PS: there is a BC EF club on FB that is a collection of mostly younger owners than me, but even that is nowhere near as active as what we used to have on forums

[donk.]

GS8 found a post on RS FB group, on apr 1, stating that there would be a meat on the 3rd.

We both thought it was a troll post, but went out anyways.

Low and behold, as im sitting in the HD poco parking lot waiting for cars to show up, shitbox after shitbox roll by, coincidence? Nope.

We repark our cars at the back of home depot, and there was probably 40 shitboxes, and im talking 84 civics with 4 mismatching paint colors, 02 jetta with front grille glow, vw caddy rattlecan painted teal, you name it, it was there. A couple of nicer / mid range cars. Not gonna lie, i was 1/4 hard from the epic scale of shit in one place. I LOVE shitboxes.

We asked how these people heard of it, it was cars and coffee IG / FB / some other clubs. Apparently there are like 3 meats a week in different locations.

Probably another 10-20 cars came and left within the 30 mins.

The shitbox scene is very much still alive, and those of you who say "kids cant afford to mod cars", what are you talking about.......
You can buy a shitbox for 2-3000$ (1000$ - 2010 money), slap on some wheels (500$), and rice out some other shit for 1000$ and off you go. 150hrs x 20$/hr. Eager hardworking kids can buy a brz / frs on their grad year of highschool for 10k. 500hrs / 20$/hr.

The funny part about the meat was: at one point we looked at each other and said "yup, not a single person off RS here, car quality too low and too old"

Should also add, yes, every 5th car leaving the meat was either letting all 3 cylinders fire full bore, or showing off their fartcans. #2013spanishbanksmeat

In GS8 i trust.

[donk.]

donk has to be trolling, no way he googled if E-tron GT came in manual lolol



I did :okay:

Tells you how out of touch i am with electric cars. (Or low iq, probably both) Sadge

If they can make "engine" noises, add self lowering parking features, pointless electronics and gimmicks, they can easily add a speed/torque limiter and a few gears to simulate it.

You just wait, someone is going to DIY it and make a video on it soon enough. Probably on a cheap EV tho, not a 150k GT

[underscore]

Lexus and probably others have been working on a simulated manual for EVs for a while now. I don't think it's available in anything yet but it'd be neat to try when it comes out.

As for the social media group meets idk how people end up actually at them, I've joined a couple of the groups but because of the stupid algorithms I never see posts about meets til after they've already happened.

[tofu1413]

Probably should set up a classic RS/ revscene meet this year in honor of us forum era car guys :accepted:

[bcrdukes]

I'm looking to set up a Stock and Noob meet in late September. Keep an eye out!

[yray]

land rover guys just post on facebook groups now and you will get an answer on some of the most bizarre questions within a couple hours

beats any forums

[twitchyzero]

ease of access is the big one i think

1. apple google facebook account without creating a new one for each site
2. sharing/resharing media without basic html, the generation that grew up creating geocities asianavenue windows command cs scripts etc dont find it cumbersome to plug photos in

it's like explaining why manual cars are fun, just seems super convoluted to most people

[bcrdukes]

My brother's response to car culture and cars in general: "What's a car?" :derp:

Fuck this guy.

[trollface]

Why is the meat so late?

[bcrdukes]

Why is the meat so late?

Ok, then it's tomorrow. :whistle: