The future of the RRT

enjenjo · October 07, 2008, 07:20:11 PM

I have been promising changes for some time now, and it hasn't been getting done. With Fatcat working full time, and going to school full time, he has not had much time to change things, and I am just a mechanic, and don't know squat about computers, so I can't change things either. Discussing things with Fatcat, usage is down, and neither one of us is sure why.

At this time, money is not a problem, there will be a donations post around the first of the year, and many members have sent funds, and I thank them all.

There is new software in the works, but there are some problems changing over, so we are still holding off on it. It should be coming soon.

If there are any changes you would like to see, PM me with the changes, and if we can, we'll take care of it. If there are any problems we can solve, we will take care of that too. If there is a problem with the adminisration, or moderation, I would like to hear about that too. I don't want this in public, so do it with a PM to me or Fatcat, or one of the other moderators.

Your input will be appreciated.

Frank

Jokester · October 08, 2008, 02:24:26 PM

How about cup holders?

.bjb

Danimal · October 08, 2008, 04:15:38 PM

Quote from: "Jokester"How about cup holders?

.bjb

And beer to put in said holders?

purplepickup · October 08, 2008, 04:54:17 PM

Quote from: "enjenjo"I have been promising changes for some time now, and it hasn't been getting done.

Frank you're sounding like a politician lol

I don't have anything to base this opinion on but I suspect that most members here pretty comfortable with the way things are and don't feel that big changes are needed. You probably get more feedback on that than I do but that's just my opinion. ...And then maybe the changes you're talking about will make your life easier too.

Regarding the slowdown of usage, I think it's more a sign of the times instead of an administration problem. Times are tough in the economy and some of us don't have extra money to put into our projects so without car things to post about we are pretty much left to make social posts, or none at all. Sometimes other interests occupy our extra time. I know in my case I'm doing a lot of home improvement/maintenance type things and it's using more money than I have. Maybe I'll stick some posts up in the Throne Room to show progress on those projects.

I don't have any suggestions for change. People here don't pick each other apart about every little thing and we have a nice mix of opinions and knowledge. Sometimes more members can mean more *. I really enjoy the comfortable camaraderie here and have made very good friendships over the years so whatever you guys decide is fine with me. I ain't going anywhere.

I guess I just felt like saying something since I haven't been posting much lately.

Danimal · October 08, 2008, 06:28:40 PM

George has a good point. It is summer and some are out more than on line. Who knows. It was a year ago this past weekend that I met a few of you at ididit's show. Missed most of you this year but made it anyway. I've enjoyed my time here and the knowledge I've gained. It is easier to keep up with than the HAMB. Too much over there going way too fast and too much BS/OT posts. I'm still there but for most of the technical stuff, I get just as good of an answer here.

enjenjo · October 08, 2008, 09:15:33 PM

There has been lots of good feedback keep it up.

phat rat · October 08, 2008, 10:37:24 PM

I agree 100% with George.

Bruce Dorsi · October 09, 2008, 12:57:19 AM

My two cents:

Change, IF, improvements are needed, is good.

Change, just for the sake of having something new is not always good.

Don't fix it if it ain't broke!

Although participation may be lower at times, we seem to have a solid and stable core group which still checks in here daily.

Tech info which is shared here seems to be highly reliable and accurate.

There has always been seasonal fluctuation in forum activity at the RRT.

Many RRT'ers read and/or participate at the HAMB, so I think they do not post as much here 'cause they think everyone here has already seen it at the HAMB. ......There's lots of great people and info at the HAMB, but I just don't have the time to wade through all the "clutter" to get to the good info. .....So, I choose to spend my time here.

My Dad used to tell me, "You're not learning anything while you're talking!" .....I took his advice, so I listen and read a lot. .....I (usually) only post to ask a question or share some info I'm sure is accurate.

That guy with the yellow dog and the purple pickup seems to have summed things up pretty well.

river1 · October 09, 2008, 01:03:07 AM

yup

34ford · October 09, 2008, 08:19:35 AM

Agree "Chaplin George"

said it rather well. I know for myself I've been busy with getting some things done before winter :cry: comes. Helping the neighbor with some of his projects. I check every morning for heading out to work to see whats up. Have a pile of car magazines that is growing cause I don't have time to read those either. Finally getting something worked out on the springs on the coupe so maybe I can enjoy driving it some yet this year. Thanks for the help from all so far.

bc

slocrow · October 09, 2008, 10:51:42 AM

Changes? Only if you want. Personally I usually check in twice a day just to look over the new postings. I seldom log in as that doesn't seem necessary unless I feel compelled to reply, which with limited knowledge happens seldom, technically speaking.
That said, I feel the boards nature currently is probably just to idle along until a pertinent subject is posted, which gets the accurate response in one to five replies or a compelling project is followed along, like the truck Frank just completed. There's a learning process that's associated with that type of post that's addictive.
Local, to the poster, show coverage is always a window into different areas of the country and an opportunity to see members mugs and rides which might not be readily available to all the members all the time. Like the recent IDIDIT thing. Always interesting!
I also believe that with the recent 30% asset devaluation folks may be watching their spending habits which causes stagnation in the market of projects and purchase. With less to install or modify, less general knowledge questions that can lead to different opinions and options.
This current financial status may tend to drive questions and comments of a more general nature or social commentary which generally doesn't lend itself to the meat of this boards Roundtable page, rather then a specific need.
And, it was kind of a strange car year for me personally, with the weather and increased costs associated with travel and lodging. Maybe for others too.
I slipped back into an old favorite, golf and gave the car thing a small rest.
So, in conclusion, I doubt that any changes will have any dramatic effect on the personally of the board and may in fact prove futile.
Anyway that's my .014 cents................Frank

jaybee · October 09, 2008, 12:41:47 PM

I also don't see much serious need for change, but if you want to keep it fresh there's nothing wrong with that and hey, it's your place. I haven't participated as much for the last few months, and maybe my reasons apply to others. The business environment is very challenging, there isn't a lot of money available for projects right now, and in any case the economy is causing my day job to take up more of my time, attention, and energy. I also don't go to the HAMB all that much. No problem with it, but as above you have to search through a lot of other stuff to find what you want. If anyone wants to go to the effort to post both places I'd appreciate it but it's your time. IMO tech and progress posts are key and I've resolved to start contributing more as I get in the garage. As a matter of fact I already have all the legwork and pics to put something up that hopefully will interest at least a few, but just haven't had the time.

Fat Cat · October 09, 2008, 05:28:21 PM

Just to alleviate any fears about the mentioned changes. The changes enjenjo has mentioned in the past were a new chat room which is now up and a change to the forum software from phpBB to SMF. The reason we want to change the forum software is that the software we are running on now was designed about 8-9 years ago. They have a newer version that is not as friendly to the administrator and does not offer the features we have here now. The SMF software is better supported and has more of the features included by default. I have played with the new software and like it much better than the current but I am having issues with integrating it into the current site design.

One of the key factors in any complete updates that are done to the site is that I want to minimize the number of times you have to sign up for the site. I do not want you have to sign up for the forum then sign up for the chat room then sign up for the next feature. I want you to be able to do many things on different parts of the site all based off one log in to the site. We now have that with the chat room and the forum. You no longer have to create a separate log in to the chat room. Another advantage of the new forum software is that it is much more flexible in hooking into the user login and accessing features.

All I need is some free time to get everything working in my head and on the computer and the updates will come. One of the reasons for this little survey was to see what you guys and gals might what to have on the site so that we did not go to some trouble to add something that no one but myself would ever use.

An example of this is the calendar and want ads section that I installed on the forums some time back No one seems to use it much. While it was not a big change nor was it hard to include it just seems that while I thought it might be helpful it has not turned out to be as useful.

I know for myself that making changes is a time consuming process and I am not making changes simply to make changes. The changes we are planning are being made in the hope that the site becomes more secure and to keep the spammers at bay for a while longer. But at the same time if there are features you would like to see let us know.

river1 · October 09, 2008, 07:06:28 PM

one of the reasons we don't have many change suggestions might be we don't know WHATS available.

i'm comfortable with where the board is at but i understand the need to have easier and supported software. i sure the rest of us trust your judgment on what needs to be done.

thanks as always for all you and the other mods do. );b(

later jim

Uncle Bob · October 10, 2008, 08:43:32 AM

Can't contribute much on the change thing as most of what's been said covers it. If I had to vote for something it would be for a little bigger picture size allowed. I have pics I've resized for other forums that I have to shrink some more to post here. I recognize it's probably a bandwidth thing and that's an important consideration. That being said, I'm not a frequent flyer here so it's a very minor issue to me.

As for traffic being down that seems to be for many forums and I agree with the comments about how most of us seem to run into one another at other outposts on the web. Just the same, I find the knowledge level here to be very high and learn something on a regular basis. I personally was touted off the HAMB years ago by the drama and too frequent for my tastes punk attitude. I've been reading that that's changed somewhat since then, but now the "problem" appears to be so much traffic there it takes too much time to try to keep up. Which brings me back to RRT; good folks, good info, a relaxed atmosphere, easy to handle, and doesn't suck up more of my life than I'm willing to invest.

Thanks for doing a good job and hosting a good site.