Influence of social Media sites on forum membership

[Eneto-55]

I'm curious how many recent new members come here (and stay) as a result of seeing a reference to this site on social media, like FaceBook.  I have seen a number of different groups there that fit within out 'umbrella' here, and some have lots of members.  I have participated on at least one such group, and often refer to P15-D24 as a good place for reliable information & help.

 

I have also been a member of other types of discussion forums that died off due to the main members (as in the Admins) all switching to a social media group, usually on FB.  So does the reverse work as well?  Anyone here now who heard about P15-D24 on a social media site?

[plymouthcranbrook]

I found out about this site from Bill Ward who had his own forum in the early 2000’s.  I have found the other boards I frequent by google searches. I don’t do Social Media. That’s my wife’s job.

[P15-D24]

Interesting question! First, I've worked in the software industry since the early 1980s, (yes last century) My personal opinion is Facebook has the worse user interface I have ever seen and for something like a question/answer forum it is worthless. That's why I license a commercial forum software.  I think the trend of many sites to move to Facebook is financial because it is basically "free".  No license fees, hosting fees, security certificates etc. But the experience basically sucks. From an admin point of view the forum software in way ahead of what I can do on a social media platform.

I have a p15-d24 Facebook account, primarily so members can use those credentials for registration and login if they want. Really haven't focused much on posting on Facebook just do to time constraints. At some point I will look at making it more active, primarily as a"recruiting" activity back to this site. 

[keithb7]

When I dive deep into a hobby, I almost become obsessed with it. Digging in to find as much info as I can. I hunt for an on-line home for my hobby. The best place for support specific to my chosen passion. I found P15-D24 while seeking out options in a Google search. This site is without a doubt, the world-wide home for flathead era Mopars. I am a Facebook user too. I am a member of many FB groups specific to flathead era Mopars. I certainly don't learn much there on FB. I don't feel connected with any FB group members. Here we seem to have friendly, caring people who want to help. The age demographic here lends to respect and kindness. 

 

I have recommended this site countless times to FB users in specialized Mopar groups. I cannot tell you for sure how many come here, then register and stay. I have a suspicion that some users in here have different profile names on FB. So we can't really tell who's who between here and FB.

 

I agree that the FB user interface is terrible. Yet it does help feed my seemingly endless desire to feed on flathead Mopar era information. However, indeed here at P15-D24 it feels more like home. @2nd place would be the AACA forum. I like it there too.

Edited January 15, 2022 by keithb7

[Eneto-55]

1 hour ago, keithb7 said:

When I dive deep into a hobby, I almost become obsessed with it. Digging in to find as much info as I can. I hunt for an on-line home for my hobby. The best place for support specific to my chosen passion. I found P15-D24 while seeking out options in a Google search. This site is without a doubt, the world-wide home for flathead era Mopars. I am a Facebook user too. I am a member of many FB groups specific to flathead era Mopars. I certainly do learn much there. I don't feel connected with any FB group members. Here we seem to have friendly, caring people who want to help. The age demographic here lends to respect and kindness. 

 

I have recommended this site countless times to FB users in specialized Mopar groups. I cannot tell you for sure how many come here, then register and stay. I have a suspicion that some users in here have different profile names on FB. So we can't really tell who's who between here and FB.

 

I agree that the FB user interface is terrible. Yet it does help feed my seemingly endless desire to feed on flathead Mopar era information. However, indeed here at P15-D24 it feels more like home. @2nd place would be the AACA forum. I like it there too.

You did a good job of expressing how I feel about this place as compared to FB.  (I'm on at least one group there, but under my legal name, Ernest W. Buller.  My name here is my name the way it was changed by the Banawa tribe, with whom we lived for 17 years.   I have used my nick-name in that language on several other forums, but it was already take here, or anyways it wasn't accepted, and I had to add my birth year to the end to get this one to work.  My nick-name there is 'Neto' - they make nick-names of the last two syllables of a person's name.)

 

The 'culture' here is just different than on a lot of other forums as well - friendly, helpful, and positive, like you said.  The Admins get involved in the extreme cases, but in general if someone comes here and doesn't know how to "play nice in the sandbox" they either settle down & change, or drift off.

[pflaming]

“Drift off” well, not always. No forum is perfect, this one remains my only source for Mopar Flatheads, google also works well for me. But then, I have slowed way down. 

[JBNeal]

FB in some ways reminds me of the website from '99, where questions could be asked and answered, but research was a little tricky.  Many of the FB participants are either just wanting quick answers to their projects or want to mooch freebies from ppl cleaning out their workspaces; some actually share their progress; and a few want to drunkenly argue about the correctness of details found in a book on a Saturday night before they vanish

 

And then there is Eric Bannerman aka Townwagon, who has not been active on here for years but maintains several FB pages as well as several Dodge Truck related web pages.  He is a wealth of information and quite helpful in Dodge Truck historical matters, and still continues to gather information for his truck and flathead databases, but not a high profile forum participant.  I got the impression that the FB pages keep him quite busy as there is a higher volume of participation on there, but from my perspective, many of the same questions get asked repeatedly on FB as no one really does any research on there, as it is quite difficult to dig up info on FB.  I get a chuckle at the questions on the DPETCA FB page, and I point out to the inquisitor that the information they seek is on the DPETCA website, that they were completely unaware of its existence

[48Dodger]

I started out on the DPETCA (Dodge Pilot-house Truck Club of America) website back in 2006, I believe.....the 1st Monday of the month chat room led me to Pilot-House.com. Been here since 2007. It led to the Annual Clements, Ca Tailgate Truck Show I started in 2008. Facebook is a different animal all together...its not a resource so much as a chat room. Here I feel like I'm part of a club.....on FB, I feel like I'm meeting people at a car show....sort of a hit run conversation, see ya at the next show. Its not a criticism so much as an observation.  When I really need to follow up on how something works on the truck, I come here and do the research. 

 

48D 

[ggdad1951]

For the truck side there are about 4 or 5 (that I know of) FB groups that generally everyone is a member of and when a question is asked on one, they ask it in all of them.  Lots of redundancy, but it DOES trick out a few unique replies.  But in general, as JB said, it a one shot looking for quick answers or parts.

[John-T-53]

I found this site just through the web in the mid 00's, when I finally started to work on my truck after having owned it for several years.

 

I've never been on Fake Book or any other social media (instachat, snap face, myface) and never will.

 

Zark Fcukerberg is (one of) the enemies from within.

 

Now days when I need a quick answer to a truck question, before going to bed I ask emeritus forum members Greybeard (Dave), Don, or Gary what they think, and when I wake up, the answer is in my head. ?

 

 

 

 

[Dan Hiebert]

I found this Forum back in '96 or '97.  As far as I know, social media didn't exist then.  FB certainly didn't.  I found the site quite by accident, since I didn't yet know much about how to use the internet.  I am not impressed by FB at all.  But I have an account to keep tabs on friends and relatives who swear by it as the "only way to keep in touch".  None of them are flat-head MoPar fans, so no referrals there.  I very rarely post anything, and then just comments.  I don't use the notification feature so I only find out what's going on maybe once or twice a week when I'm bored.  I've visited a few old car groups on FB to see if they would be helpful.  They aren't to me.  Information may be there, but it's too time consuming and confusing for me to look for it.  I do, however, refer folks to this site whenever I get the opportunity, usually when they lament their inability to find info or help on our cars/trucks.  Many don't think to look anywhere but on social media sites.  

[Eneto-55]

I can't remember for sure when or how I first "found" this forum, but I think my younger brother referred me to it.  I may have occasionally "lurked" here during the period between 2003 (when we moved back to North America) until we ditched dial-up internet service (end 2005), but probably not much, if at all, because using dial-up meant that no one could use the telephone, or call us.  My "profile" shows me as having joined in March of 2010, so I'm still one of the 'new-comers' in comparison to some of you all, and considering how long this site has been running.  

Certainly a LOT of good information here, and a lot of it I have downloaded for off-line access should the whole internet crash forever.  (More likely is that the photos that members have posted links to will disappear, as have many or all that Don Coatney was hosting on a separate site.)