What has killed car forums?

[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.]

Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS

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

[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.]

Originally Posted by noclue

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. 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,

[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.

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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.

Spoiler!

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...