Defibrillator [U]STAT[/U]!!!

[bartmanS4]

I just posted on another thread about what I think this site needs to bring it back to it's quite recent glory. What do you thin it needs and how do you think that can be achieved? I believe this site is too valuable to let die. I will re-post my comments from the other thread if that's OK rather than reiterate them here.

[bartmanS4]

Originally Posted by Moncha.
The life support is the members. What do we need to bring it back to life?

That's a good question.
I really don't know why the old forum look/form/function was "Better" or perhaps it was just a critical mass of users that made it more compelling to visit and partake in etc. The forum is such a valuable resource to VX owners and created a tight sense of community. The FB group has taken the flow of VX info but as a forum it just really lacks in content. If we could increase the usage here perhaps we could meet that critical mass again. This will take a concerted effort among a group of core users. I fear if the effort is not taken or fails to increase traffic substantially the forum will fail with it.
Agree? Disagree? Willing to make the effort? Do you think it's worth it?

Scott

[MSHardeman]

Scott (bartman), it seems like a tipping point was reached at some point and the site has been slow to recover. When the site went down for maintenance and came back in a different format I know that there was a lot of resistance (to change) and a lot of people complained, but to be fair the site only came back up as a shell of it's former self. A lot of the how-to's and other historic information was not accessible. When the site went dormant, due to Moncha's health, I believe that is when everyone fled to Facebook. Facebook is more accessible and some members are on Facebook a few times a day (an hour) so they can just check in on the VX page, make a comment, and move on. As many have said before, Facebook doesn't have the ability to store the massive amounts of information that VX.info has and there is really no way to search back through past Facebook threads to mine information from them like you can on info.

I really don't Facebook so I'm sure that I have missed a bunch of fun conversations, questions and information. I still check in on VX.info a couple of times a day and will do all that I can to make sure that the site stays alive. I agree that it will take a concerted effort from a few of us to direct traffic back to VX.info, but it seems like we have lost quite a few "old timers" that were to core group before everyone went to Facebook. Gill has sold his VX, Greg has sold his VX, Lisa doesn't really post on the Facebook page, I haven't seen anything from Jay Dunford in a while and many of the other old timers have moved on or seem to be "fading away". Maybe if they knew that VX.info was back up and running they would come back and help make this the tight community that it used to be.

[bartmanS4]

Agreed. I'm not sure it can recover here either. The old site had that je ne sais quoi that drew me in and I would check it all the time. I really have mostly abandoned FB because it became a political soapbox (maybe it always was) where everyone has taken and is entrenched in their side. I just don't give a crap about arguing if there is no point besides yelling your statements with closed ears.

[Y33TREKker]

Agreed. I'm not sure it can recover here either. The old site had that je ne sais quoi that drew me in and I would check it all the time. I really have mostly abandoned FB because it became a political soapbox (maybe it always was) where everyone has taken and is entrenched in their side. I just don't give a crap about arguing if there is no point besides yelling your statements with closed ears.

If we're all being honest, the same thing happened here. If you didn't "side" with some of the usual (those who practically lived on the site EVERY day) posters regarding some of their insider BS designed to reinforce their cliques, you were ganged up on and tried to run off...even though in the next post they would claim they were "all about the VX community".

Then, heaven forbid a person point out THAT hypocrisy lest the snowball effect just escalate even more.

Not surprised to hear that old attitude from this site was carried over to the FB page though since that kind of entrenched mentality doesn't just go away on it's own. I have to admit it's funny to me personally to hear that kind of attitude is still present now on the FB page, because to hear how any of those aforementioned usual posters used to tell it, the cause of the attitude that used to be present here was posters like me....and I don't and never have posted to the FB page where all those members went.

As they say though, the truth usually has a way of outing itself.

[Thelgord]

I discovered the FB page and this site, apparently, after the glory days. However, I am not new to online forums or FB. Such behavior is quite common. The Tacoma World forum (as an example) is full of such people and conversations like those discussed are a near daily occurrence. The point is, it happens, a lot.

One thing I have noticed about the FB page, as others have stated, there really is no way to store historical information that can only be built over time. This is something that a forum excels at. People just need to be reminded of that. So, having said that, how do you do that?

You start right here on the forum.

Locate as many of the old HOW-TO’s as you can. Yes I know most were lost a long time ago. But there is information still available spread across what is left of the forum. Consolidate or even re-write as much as we can. Start collecting information and posting it here. A good place to “store” information (at last for now) is start a build a thread for your VX and catalog as much as you can. While it would be nice to get the HOW-TO section reopened (even if it was blank and we had to start over) I really don’t see that happening anytime soon. The recent outage only demonstrates the moderators lackluster motivation for maintaining the site. So, for now anyway, we will have to do without it. I actually have a lot to add to my build thread due to the site being down for so long.

Go to the FB page. When someone requests information, point them back here to forum as often as possible for answers. I have even been going to various Isuzu forums, some are more dead than this one, and reviving old thread trying to point people back here.

But that is also were the danger lies.

When people who have no actual stake in a site (or even a FB page) do their best to help make it grow, they become emotionally invested. Right or wrong, it happens. It falsely inflates ego’s, which makes them easier to bruise. This is how keyboard ninja’s are made. It happens on every forum (and every social media platform) ever created. I recently did a class as part of a social media marketing class and we spent eight weeks studying this phenomenon. It is actually quite fascinating. In the end, only consistently fair and firm moderation of a site with strict adherence to the publicly stated rules of conduct can prevent what many see as an inevitable self-implosion. Once the moderators start making exceptions or taking sides that are not in line with the rules, it is the beginning of zombification. Sites generally take years of zero activity before they completely go away and usually live a very long time with ever smaller traffic numbers.

Can zombie sites be resurrected? Of course. With time and a lot of effort. You just have to be mindful to not let history repeat itself. In the end, it is the moderator(s) that will make or break or site.

[89Vette]

What has it been...at least 2 (if not 3) years since this site was "updated"? As pointed out, FAQ's pages, How-to's, DIY stuff weren't readily found after that. (I'm not sure how good it was BEFORE due to a "stingy" method of archival that didn't leave enough...in forums that weren't accessed THAT much anyway. The absence of DIY posts/articles/info is the biggest missing link.

In the past, KAT and LDub were also great "human" directors of traffic and sign-posts. They could easily direct users to information and ways to simplify what people were looking for. As for "factions", I'm not sure it helped/hurt that much. Users of any forum should know this is somewhat inevitable...and not necessarily a deal-breaker.

Finally, the broken links were also a big detriment. I'm not sure if they ever got fixed but you had to add/remove the word "forum" or something like that? Without knowing that for a long time, I got better at using any internet search engine to "look into" and find posts/information. So...the loss of key players, consolidation of procedures, and botched conversion ended up being the death of this forum. To make it interesting again, I think you need all three elements back: Regulars, catalogs of procedures, and flawless operation. It wouldn't hurt to be less stingy with archival either. It wouldn't hurt if 3, 4, or 5+ years of info were readily viewable under select forums.

[JoFotoz]

Oh Trekker....

Scott ( Bartman ) was talking of facebook as whole..not the VX facebook page.
There is NO politics on the FB VX page.. rarely an argument or bad vibes either.

But hey..if you had taken a look at it..instead of misconstruing Scotts post to suit your position..
..you'd know that.

Now have at it... as is your want.

Jo

[JoFotoz]

A few thoughts...

Moncha..this sites originator, boss man and "keeper" has not been well at all..so his stewardship of this site has not been up to his usual excellence.
He's doing his best given his situation.

I agree with Scott (Bartman).. the set up previous to the upgrades of this site, had a certain user friendly vibe .
Now maybe this was simply due to being familiar with it... but I think maybe more than that..it had a certain ease of use.

And..while I agree wholeheartedly with the wealth of info etc available here... the facebook page often offers an advantage in terms
of immediacy of reply...
Which when you are part way through a Fix project , STUCK somewhere and looking for help , starting to order stuff, or simply pondering issues .. is an attractive feature.

Jo

[PK]

I discovered the FB page and this site, apparently, after the glory days. However, I am not new to online forums or FB. Such behavior is quite common. The Tacoma World forum (as an example) is full of such people and conversations like those discussed are a near daily occurrence. The point is, it happens, a lot.

One thing I have noticed about the FB page, as others have stated, there really is no way to store historical information that can only be built over time. This is something that a forum excels at. People just need to be reminded of that. So, having said that, how do you do that?

You start right here on the forum.

Locate as many of the old HOW-TO’s as you can. Yes I know most were lost a long time ago. But there is information still available spread across what is left of the forum. Consolidate or even re-write as much as we can. Start collecting information and posting it here. A good place to “store” information (at last for now) is start a build a thread for your VX and catalog as much as you can. While it would be nice to get the HOW-TO section reopened (even if it was blank and we had to start over) I really don’t see that happening anytime soon. The recent outage only demonstrates the moderators lackluster motivation for maintaining the site. So, for now anyway, we will have to do without it. I actually have a lot to add to my build thread due to the site being down for so long.

Go to the FB page. When someone requests information, point them back here to forum as often as possible for answers. I have even been going to various Isuzu forums, some are more dead than this one, and reviving old thread trying to point people back here.

But that is also were the danger lies.

When people who have no actual stake in a site (or even a FB page) do their best to help make it grow, they become emotionally invested. Right or wrong, it happens. It falsely inflates ego’s, which makes them easier to bruise. This is how keyboard ninja’s are made. It happens on every forum (and every social media platform) ever created. I recently did a class as part of a social media marketing class and we spent eight weeks studying this phenomenon. It is actually quite fascinating. In the end, only consistently fair and firm moderation of a site with strict adherence to the publicly stated rules of conduct can prevent what many see as an inevitable self-implosion. Once the moderators start making exceptions or taking sides that are not in line with the rules, it is the beginning of zombification. Sites generally take years of zero activity before they completely go away and usually live a very long time with ever smaller traffic numbers.

Can zombie sites be resurrected? Of course. With time and a lot of effort. You just have to be mindful to not let history repeat itself. In the end, it is the moderator(s) that will make or break or site.

Thelgord, I agree with a lot of the points you make, but man, the section I highlighted is so far off the mark, you need to apologise. Scott (Moncha) is the sites owner and only Admin, and for years has been battling serious (life and death) health problems. Despite his health problems and the pathetic American health benefits system, he has continued to work hard, within his limits, to keep this site going.
The only possible criticism, is that maybe he should have asked other members to help run the forum, but that is his decision to make.

I just hope Scott ignores your comments, and continues to do the best he can to allow us access to this forum.
Scotty, all the best wishes for your continued health improvement, and I hope you can give some consideration to allowing others to help out.

Regards
Peter
PK

[Thelgord]

The filestore thing has been an issue since I created an account here. I am sure the moderators ar every nice people, with the best of intentions and do what they can when they can. But, as the recent outage, the listing of the site as a possible phishing site by not only Goggle, but also by the DOD and other sites (still black listed by DOD btw) clearly demonstrates they are either unable or unwilling to be as affective as they could be.

You can take my comments anyway you like, or don’t. You can read as much or as little into them as you desire. However, by saying things like “I really hope Scott ignores your comment” only highlights the fact that the whole “clique” thing that Y33TREKker mentioned is still here. You are attempting to make more out of a comment than there is. If all you have to add to the conversation is personal attacks, and invitations for others to do the same, then please refrain from commenting. The whole “clique” things really has to stop, and you’re not helping.

[PK]

Oh the exuberance of the youthful and un-informed.
Go for your life man, but the Trekkie side of the team can be very lonely.

PK

[Thelgord]

Hahaha!

[89Vette]

A few thoughts...

Moncha..this sites originator, boss man and "keeper" has not been well at all..so his stewardship of this site has not been up to his usual excellence.
He's doing his best given his situation.

I agree with Scott (Bartman).. the set up previous to the upgrades of this site, had a certain user friendly vibe .
Now maybe this was simply due to being familiar with it... but I think maybe more than that..it had a certain ease of use.

And..while I agree wholeheartedly with the wealth of info etc available here... the facebook page often offers an advantage in terms
of immediacy of reply...
Which when you are part way through a Fix project , STUCK somewhere and looking for help , starting to order stuff, or simply pondering issues .. is an attractive feature.

Jo

Not trying to be an azz, but this site was restored more quickly than I anticipated...for the health reasons cited. If that level of response is possible, then what prevented better response in the past? Is it a combination of health, depression, and/or the possibility this site can't provide the monetary pay-back necessary? Politics and our currently mentality show people aren't willing to look out for the ailing, slow, or sick. Capitalism is what people seem to want. "Make it" or "break it" has to be applied here. Frank replies are actually more helpful to discovering action/fate than hope. It made be sad, but it's true.

I can see where people have an advantage hitting up users of Facebook for fast replies. There is GREAT value in asking "the community" for an answer...and being connected via phonelink to other users. A new TV show "Wisdom of the Crowd" explores this idea. It may actually be a peak into the future. It's hard to say if a tool/messenger could be added to a user forum like this BUT it adds emphasis to what I already emphasized: Information needs to be here and readily available. The only alternative to asking users of a community for a quick answer (Facebook) is having an online encyclopedia where the answer can be readily retrieved without much need for asking other users questions.

The users LDub and Kat were the librarians who made fast answers possible AND may have done so while more and more information became "archived". Disk space is so cheap these days I question how little is displayed/available here. It's like have a front room to a library while needing a key to the archives or the right "code". Finally, to be honest, there might be something to this "clique" thing. I try to contribute where possible and rarely feel like my posts are read/noticed. Maybe it's just a testament to how few people are here these days?

[Thelgord]

89Vette, you bring up a lot of valid points. When I first found this forum, it was a ghost town, so I starting posting anyway. I started the build log mainly for myself and I have received more feedback that I ever thought I would. I honestly didn’t (and still don’t) know if this will be around in the future. It’s a niche market to be sure. One that seems to be getting smaller everyday. There have been more VX’s offered for sale in the last few months than I have ever seen. Even the unicorn is for sale. In a way that makes a site like this one even more important, but it can also make it irrelevant if it cannot be funded or maintained with any level of consistency.

As for messaging on a forum, I am no expert on forum software, but I do know that another site I visit has both messaging and chat as well as a member map. Just google Overland Bound dot com and you will see what I am talking about. The downside is that it seems to require a LOT of maintaining to keep it working well, and the page load times leave a lot to be desired. Again, I am no web designer, but I do know it is possible.