Facebook like Myspace will pass. I don't think forums are dead. Or maybe I am just hoping. There already signs FB is cracking under its own weight. I believe if we can show people the value of our forums they will use them.
As far as searches go, weather they work or not....at MA we never ever tell someone to search. We answer the question even if we have answered it several times before. This builds the community.
It is ok though, to tell them to check their battery, even if they have checked it and its new......its always the battery!![]()
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On the plus side, I do see our "google" search increasing.. but I have a lot to there.
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DneprDave Well-Known MemberSupporting Member
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Whine not Walnuts Active Member
The folks that developed V-Bulletin were bought out by IB in the same period that they also bought allot of forums including that which Mark started. Those folks than went out on their own, similar to Nathan, and developed a new forum platform that I am pretty sure MA is using. It appears that a good search function was not their highest priority and MA is about in the same place NAM is relative to trying to find something on the site via the site search function; you find everything but what you want. We even have a Google option on our site but it still will not provide the same information you get if you go out to Google and perform a separate search.
MA might have a better chance getting its search function to work better. We have tried on the other side but I do not see it going to happen.
In the forum business there is also the 1% rule whereas as of all those that visit a site, only 1% will take the time to join and then respond/participate. There are so many FB types that if they do not get a response back in 60 seconds they go someplace else. We call them OHWs.
I saw some folks that I had been on TarHeel MINI Club runs and they had no idea that either NAM or MA existed, "we use Facebook to interact today." Yes, we using forums are dinosaurs, unfortunately.-
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Whine not Walnuts Active Member
You know what the best MINI forum out there is? Its any MINI forum.
For me the typical millennial is not using a car forum. I will attempt to find out how many members log in via FB. When I envision the average MINI forum member, that person is a a boomer that listens to rock music. The millennials that I know with a MINI have no knowledge of a us.
On searches, I have made allot of posts and read even more. OK, my brain has seen better days so many times I know I read something somewhere on the site that can help answer a question but for the life of me cannot find it even with the search function. No, I do not close the fuel door without screwing the gas cap back in place, at least not yet.-
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Whine not Walnuts Active Member
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@Sully On a "searchability" and tag note, I'm not sure why but when searching for threads on this forum most of the time nothing pops up. I've been posting how-to's just to add some helpful content for newer R56 owners and there's been a couple times that my initial search yielded no results then after posting I searched with more (more than should be needed) key words and found that something has already been posted.
Also, when searching for threads using the Googles NAM pops up on the first page, the MA posts are most times on the 2nd or 3rd page. I'm sure that's why one draws more new users than the other, which is both good and bad for MA..... -
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Agree on the Facebook and typical search options. I recently implemented a new search feature on MA. I believe it works MUCH better than before. Have y’all tried.. would love feedback... or maybe this is feedback post search.
I just tried a search for “fuel pressure” here is the results: https://www.motoringalliance.com/threadloom/search -
wmwny Well-Known Member