Please consider upgrading to a more modern forum
- Thread starter eBrooker
- Start date
Crazy Harry
Senior member
john-e89 said:It’s a sit in a deckchair on a sunny afternoon place.
This! Whilst we can all sit back (see what I did there?) and consider the reasoned logic whole of the discussion its not about the logic of which format is the most suitable. Those who have been around for a while have a connection to the forum on a whole different 'emotional' level. We're here more for what it is rather than how it works.
Crazy Harry
Senior member
..... and like all older people we're conditioned to resist change and stick with the known.
Pondrew
Lifer
No but there is something a little 'off' about returning after 5 1/2 years and within a week wanting everything changed IMO. No?eBrooker said:
"I'm thinking of getting an E89...oh and can I have a better forum web page, cos this one isn't up to my standards?"
How it looks to me. :wink:
I think there is a discrepancy between those that use the forum to help maintain their cars and understand them better and who might be 50++. And those that are younger who appreciate the abilities of modern technology. I think, at the moment, the old codgers outweigh the youngsters. We want info on how to fix this and that and frankly we couldn’t care how antiquated the forum might be if it gets the job done. I would agree with others that the demographic for z4s isn’t going to get any younger (basically we are the MGB generation of twenty years ago). As such it doesn’t matter because the people we might attract are the oldies anyway who don’t want instantaneous technology. After all we couldn’t really give a flying f**k about modern cars and their awful intrusive behaviour (I do have one by the way) and welcome some good old fashioned simplicity. The z4 forum is one of the survivors and it will continue to do so until we all die or the cars do….. many fora that instead to be involved with died not because of the state of the forum but because we had all stopped buying the product (eg Honda Fireblade).
Fred Smith
Active member
T
User retention and engagement depends on the forum and the content... and it depends on the user base.
IMHO "old fashioned" forums like this are dying - younger people all use stuff like reddit or facebook (even if they hate facebook and only use it for marketplace and car groups). Trying to modernize a site like this risks losing the older guys whilst gaining nothing.
ps - just looked up discourse, and the first example was western digital. Forums like this one are simple like the contents page of a book, then you have everything in date order. Simple simple simple and easy on the eye. Discourse is an image heavy mess, and Pistonheads is crap too the way it mixes up forum content and user content. I don't want to read their crappy articles I just wanna dip in the chat sometimes.
eBrooker said:
User retention and engagement depends on the forum and the content... and it depends on the user base.
IMHO "old fashioned" forums like this are dying - younger people all use stuff like reddit or facebook (even if they hate facebook and only use it for marketplace and car groups). Trying to modernize a site like this risks losing the older guys whilst gaining nothing.
ps - just looked up discourse, and the first example was western digital. Forums like this one are simple like the contents page of a book, then you have everything in date order. Simple simple simple and easy on the eye. Discourse is an image heavy mess, and Pistonheads is crap too the way it mixes up forum content and user content. I don't want to read their crappy articles I just wanna dip in the chat sometimes.
Fred Smith
Active member
Crazy Harry said:
You say that, but is it really that simple?
I own an Arcam amplifier that I have had for 30 years. I bought it for the sound quality and the simplicity (not much more than high, mid, low, volume, power and input selector knob). I like things that are very simple and clear. I like minimal techno and I like modern living spaces not dark panelled walls and lots of knick knacks and plush velvet. I love my Z4 but if anything wish it had a little bit less tech (but on balance 2006 seems like a good balance of modernity, performance and safety and not too complicated, compared to 90s cars which are a bit basic and underpowered, and massive overly large modern cars that are much faster than you need and have all sorts of unnecessary tech).
Yes, if I was 16 now I'd fall into the new thing (probably not forums at all, but if forums more modern ones than this). But it is not just stuck in my ways, it is more that I know what I like and works for me.
I cannot stress to OP enough how wonderful a site like is - a long list of all the sub-forums, click ont he one you want and look at the new threads with no distracting nonsense pictures and graphics, no unwanted curation from AI, no forum content chucked in with the user content to trick me into clicking on a crap article I have no interest in.
Scooba_Steve
Lifer
eBrooker said:
You are Sam Saffron and I claim my £5.
Fred Smith
Active member
Pondrew said:TBH those are the same thing, Frederico.
Fair. But there is a negative connotation that is implied that is unfair criticism when one is stuck with a way of doing things that you chose and continue to adapt.
As they say "you can't please everyone" and I would rather the forum pleased the knowledgeable experienced members (I am not one) who in general appear happy with the way things are.
I am not a member of any other forum but regularly come on here and have a nosey around. I've always found what I needed to by using the search function and view active topics to see the latest posts. I love it and don't consider myself an old codger, although getting there (mid 40s)!
A change (if indeed possible) could be to make sure that regardless of what tech device members use to login they can see the date of the posts (I seem to recall this being discussed in the past, although has never affected me). Then again...we might not see mega post revivals such as last week's 10 year old sciatica post revival which can be entertaining in themselves!
I am not a member of any other forum but regularly come on here and have a nosey around. I've always found what I needed to by using the search function and view active topics to see the latest posts. I love it and don't consider myself an old codger, although getting there (mid 40s)!
A change (if indeed possible) could be to make sure that regardless of what tech device members use to login they can see the date of the posts (I seem to recall this being discussed in the past, although has never affected me). Then again...we might not see mega post revivals such as last week's 10 year old sciatica post revival which can be entertaining in themselves!
Yes, it is, exactly. A nice friendly, easy going group of friendsjohn-e89 said:This gaff is like an MGB, might be getting on a bit but it’s simple, easy to work, does everything you need it to, and you know what you’re getting, personally I don’t see anything wrong with that, why does everything have to be up to date tech when as has been demonstrated by the amount of folk who think it’s fine as is compared to those that don’t, says it all. It’s a sit in a deckchair on a sunny afternoon place.
Pondrew said:
I'm not demanding anything, in fact I don't think how I could have been more diplomatic by saying "please consider..." :wink:
Either way I have done my bit, I've offered a suggestion which I think would almost certainly be beneficial for this forum and community and hopefully the admin will see the thread at some point - ultimately it's their forum, their call.
Fred Smith
Active member
eBrooker said:
Can you not see why many people prefer the style of a forum like this over discourse?
I just want a simple list of all the sub forums like you get here when clicking - https://z4-forum.com/forum/index.php.
I want to be able to glance down the list and quickly see which of the sub-forums I am interested in have new posts, and I want lots of text on one page of a laptop screen, with no unnecessary graphics. When I click on the sub-forum of my choice I want another clear simple list of topics in date order so I can see the newly update threads.
From my perspective pistonheads and discourse both offer much less clear navigation to the content I want, and are set up for people f-ing arond on phones, not makign serious long posts using a keyboard.
Tht might actually nail it. I want "proper content" when I am on forums, and that content comes from people who care enough to sit at a computer and type proper sentences. In contrast more modern forums - and facebook groups - are dominated by younger people who type a couple of quick badly written sentences (because they are in a hurry and using pissy little on screen keyboard)
Long time member here, but with a low post count. I also appreciate the simple, clear format of the forum but mostly the quality of content.
I joined in 2011 when looking at Z4M’s because this place was a wonderful source of info and advice. The Z4M didn’t happen for various reasons and I went back to TVR’s instead.
I hung around because it just felt like a pleasant place to visit and useful/relevant for insights into the N52 in my beloved and much missed 130i.
A pub analogy (bear with me, it makes sense in my head):
Visiting this forum is like sitting in an old and friendly country pub, listening to well informed people discuss interesting topics. I may not have much to contribute but don’t feel like I am intruding and if I did say something I wouldn’t get shouted down or excluded.
The patrons are grown ups with a sense of humour, not shouty, know it all drunken dickheads looking for a fight like the Facebook pubs. Nor does it have loud music, flashy trinkets, tacky decor or tattooed, aggressive bouncers on the door.
It feels like enthusiast forums of old, before social media encouraged people to act like assholes on the internet.
I’m looking for the right Z4 again (3.0Si this time) and this choice is partly due to the tech knowledge (I enjoy working on as much as driving cars) and community this forum provides.
I joined in 2011 when looking at Z4M’s because this place was a wonderful source of info and advice. The Z4M didn’t happen for various reasons and I went back to TVR’s instead.
I hung around because it just felt like a pleasant place to visit and useful/relevant for insights into the N52 in my beloved and much missed 130i.
A pub analogy (bear with me, it makes sense in my head):
Visiting this forum is like sitting in an old and friendly country pub, listening to well informed people discuss interesting topics. I may not have much to contribute but don’t feel like I am intruding and if I did say something I wouldn’t get shouted down or excluded.
The patrons are grown ups with a sense of humour, not shouty, know it all drunken dickheads looking for a fight like the Facebook pubs. Nor does it have loud music, flashy trinkets, tacky decor or tattooed, aggressive bouncers on the door.
It feels like enthusiast forums of old, before social media encouraged people to act like assholes on the internet.
I’m looking for the right Z4 again (3.0Si this time) and this choice is partly due to the tech knowledge (I enjoy working on as much as driving cars) and community this forum provides.
