I just got back from vacation and guess I missed quite a lot.
Not sure I will be able to make my comments in a linear or logical fashion but I will try.
chohdog wrote:Old Club4ag:
"You should always save up and get the best parts you can afford. Shoot for HTS or TRD shocks, a KAAZ 2 way and go have fun at a track day!"
New Club4ag:
"Do you even lift bro?"
Old Club4ag:
Most money spent on tires and track/drift day fees
New Club4ag:
Most money spent on expensive cellphones so you can take photos of your car and apply "filters"
Old Club4ag:
Lee Slone (reminder that some white boys who have Corollas are actually awesome)
New Club4ag:
I hear this kind of C4AG trash talk all the time but on the forum I see very little of this.
The opinion above would closely match my opinion of the facebook group especially as it was before it was made private.
I am particular about what threads I spend the most of my time in and where I contribute but there are dozens of recently added forums that are pushing the 4AGE and A series chassis well beyond what they were in this fantasy glory day of yours.
There are still people who abide by those “old C4AG” beliefs. And just as there were back then there are people with different beliefs. You really think there were any less stupid questions or noobie threads on this forum 10 years ago? If so you are deluding yourself and should go back through the forum of yore.
ronny wrote:old club - " my 4ag is using low impedence injectors - if i switch to standalone - does it make a difference if i go high imp or low imp? calculating my true compression ratio - i don want to max out my injector duty cycle. 11.5 comp do you guys feel that 310CC enough?
We have discussions like this all the time. In fact many would say these are the stupid noob questions that people like me get sick of answering day in and day out. Those questions are like first grade 4AGE and obviously asked by someone who has no idea what they are talking about.
ronny wrote: there is nothing to be learned reading club4ag. its almost been 7 years since the site went down?
It sucks you feel that way. I still learn new stuff here every time I sign in.
The only thing lacking is people willing to update old outdated articles, make new ones and contribute to the growth of the community but if you are going to have the above attitude I'd personally rather you not be here at all. No loss to the community as far as I can tell.
AoyamaJPN wrote:usability wise, this site is horrible. when you build a website you create user stories and build based on use cases. this site enables newbies to muck everything up. there is not enough access to information for newbies and proper sections for people that are more experienced. i really think this is the real problem. this site needs an overhaul. but, it's not that easy, someone needs to curate all the old content and divide it into categories that will be easily accessible to newbies. then, they need to recreate the forum categories into something more segmented. then, they need to create a working SEARCH.
the problem with this site is not its newbie wannabes, it's how it enables them to muck everything up. good content curation, structure, permissions, etc would help greatly. can you imagine how much less frustrating (and profitable) this site would be if it were overhauled? I'm down to help however I can.
Lack of older wiser active members and overwhelmed moderators is the only thing in a forum that allows “noobies to muck everything up”
Quite honestly this is what I really dislike about anyone I have seen talk about 86FC and most of the people who bitch about this forum. It's this holier than thou, I don't have the time to deal with lowly people like you attitude that so many have. Honestly there are probably 5 people in this community who even deserve that right and in my experience they are some of the few who remain humble and helpful.
As far as access to information it could be improved but I have no trouble finding the info I am looking for. Most people don't even try and it should be our responsibility as more seasoned group members to try to stress to people that research should be your first step always and then to help them find that information as well as show them how to more effectively search for it in the future. The sad truth is that our society is pushing people towards this spoon fed, ask before you look mentality. The only way to fight it is actively.
As far as noobies mucking stuff up. I would love some direct examples because I really don't see what you mean.
Structure comes from the members as much as mods and administrators. You don't like peoples behavior then speak up. If a noobie isn't following the forums rules or even just social standard of behavior then tell them.
If you want to help then I would say one of the best places to start is by making suggestions. Make a thread, post in a thread like this or message a mod.
Instead of complaining about the darn noobs mucking everything up use detail. What exactly is bothering you? Even better what would be good ways to improve it?
AoyamaJPN wrote:Clouds wrote:Could you explain that for me real quick? I'm not grasping what you mean.
Basically, I'm advocating for a restructure, update and consolidation of content, as well as a search function that searches both the "old" and "new" sites.
You will see in other threads updates that the old forum archives are being integrated into this forum. Once it's complete it will all be under the same forum and all be searchable.
AoyamaJPN wrote:So, for example, tech articles, this should be required reading for first-time users right?
Maybe if we took the time to go through them. I have stopped referring people to most tech articles because they are so outdated and have so much misinformation that they do more harm that good.
I would love to go through these and start editing and updating them. If someone wants to pay me $60/hr I would be happy to make this part of my actual work week. Otherwise it has to happen in my free time which doesn't really happen.
AoyamaJPN wrote:But these are deep-dives, sometimes pages and pages of printed text on the subject, but the common user is probably looking for something more consolidated. *EDITED WILL NOT POST WITH THIS SENTENCE FOR SOME REASON*, perhaps a quick sticky with what size, offset and tire combination fit the stock wells, that right there may reduce 50% of the wheel section posts. And speaking of the wheel section, why is suspension lumped in there? Now, I have to track both "parts for sale" and "wheels and suspension" classifieds. These could be broken up a bit more.
Unfortunately in ghost town forums the last thing you need is more sections that don't get any activity. At the rate the A series forums are decreasing in activity I am all about minimizing the number of sections. Better to have one forum that covers chassis setup, suspension, wheels, tires and braking that gets a few posts a week and has some activity than having those all broken up into sections that don't get a post for months and people stop checking and using.
AoyamaJPN wrote:I'm probably not making much sense here, but I think a general overhaul with a content-first approach would do wonders
I completely agree but it needs a lot of work to do that and work takes time. Especially when you have less people contributing less.
AoyamaJPN wrote: and also having a space for more seasoned veterans.
I completely disagree. This leads to elitist thinking and also withholds information from the people who need it most. Everyone should have access to the same information, the same sections and the same discussions and it should be up to us to police the members and keep the social environment that we want.
AoyamaJPN wrote:
*also, i could not post this message at first, it took me 15min to take sentances out line-by-line to see which was causing the error. it just started with "for example, and talked about lists of wheels but no usable info". but this is my point! update the site! how many others get a Error code: ERR_CONNECTION_RESET when trying to post info and do not go line-by-line to find what words gave the error? *
The site is being actively updated. The guys working on the back end are still working on a lot of things that we will never see and therefore it may not look like much is happening but it's laying the groundwork for the next step that should address many of the things you have mentioned.
If you are seriously unhappy with something then bring it up and as in a situation like this maybe someone can tell you that these are all things that are actively being worked on instead of you assuming the forum is completely stagnant and that no one gives AF.
AoyamaJPN wrote:is anyone else willing to volunteer their time and knowledge to "clean up", code or design?
instead of just complaining, I'd like to help!
See now that's the kind of pro active response I am talking about.
For code and design I would probably suggest dropping Moto a PM. I can't help much there.
If you wanted to make write ups or modify or update old tech posts that would be great.
I would be all about contributing to notes or suggestions. I just don't have time to go through and modify each one and I am sure there are others who are better at that kind of thing anyway.
Here is a thread that I started before I was made a mod. Like I said in this thread I think it would be best just to delete the thread in question but first someone would need to go through and see if there was any valid data that needed to be saved.
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=14289Threads like this are why I don't refer people to old tech articles.
I would love to get the tech section laid out better and easier to navigate but until the articles themselves are updated they don't have a lot of value for me since I would rather just take 15 min to answer a persons question and know that they wouldn't be learning outdated or flat out bad information.