Changing times, reduction in site traffic, etc.

[Saito2]

Just out of curiosity, has anybody noticed a reduction in site traffic here or any other RC forums in the past year or so? Some places I visit have slowed a bit like Clodtalk, others seem to have really slowed down like RCMT. Even old TC appears to not be immune. Perhaps its the introduction of some new sub forums like the Builds or Designs that are spreading out the post. A lot of the old members that used to post a good bit seem to have drifted away like TA Mark, Terry SC, XV Pilot, Skottoman, Biggusditchus,Live Steam Mad,taliesin and Mymonsterbeetleisbroken. I'm sure I could name a dozen more. Is Facebook to blame or is the hobby as a whole still shrinking? The good news is I've seen an influx of new faces in the past 6 months.

[Shodog]

I think Facebook has sucked up a lot of conversations that normally took place on the forums.  RC10talk has slowed also. 

[Saito2]

I thought RC10talk was affected as well. I'm not used to seeing gaps of up to two days in post at times in sub forums here but it seems more and more frequent. I hate Facebook. My coworkers constantly stand around with heads down on smart phones buried in Facebook. Its a miserable platform as a knowledge and research tool compared to a forum.

[Theibault]

I feel that this site is getting more traffic than ever. Granted, old members come and go but I see a lot of new users that have joined lately and the posts pile up. Maybe Netsmith or Twinset can chime in on our perceptions.

[Buggyjam]

I'm new (just over a year here)

 

It always seems really quiet on here to me. I use another forum on a theme of an industry I used to be in and it's very active, it's almost like a social forum. Lots of banter etc.

 

I hate Facebook, don't like Facebook groups because I don't want everyone who's listed on my friends list knowing what I've posted in groups or what groups of my private hobbies I've joined.  I also like that on here no one is watching (insert my real name)'s  parcipitation in my own interests like the Truman show.

[Backlash]

I have noticed that Tamiyaclub has been quieter, not only over the last 12 months, but the last 5 years or so.. Maybe people are just better educated these days, as we are not getting the usual posts like "How do I strip paint from my Lexan/ABS body?" every week.. LOL..

I do think Facebook is responsible for some of the down turn though.. Sharing pics on Facebook is so much easier than on most forums, but searching for past posts and info on Facebook is impossible..

AND Buggyjam.. If the group you are posting in on Facebook has its group setting set to "Closed" or "Secret" then the only people who can see your posts in those groups are the group members (not your wife)... The post you made may still show in your news feed, but only you should be able to see it..  The only time that your friends can see your posts in your groups is if the group setting are set to "Public", and even then they may need to be looking at that group....

[Buggyjam]

30 minutes ago, Backlash said:

I have noticed that Tamiyaclub has been quieter, not only over the last 12 months, but the last 5 years or so.. Maybe people are just better educated these days, as we are not getting the usual posts like "How do I strip paint from my Lexan/ABS body?" every week.. LOL..

I do think Facebook is responsible for some of the down turn though.. Sharing pics on Facebook is so much easier than on most forums, but searching for past posts and info on Facebook is impossible..

AND Buggyjam.. If the group you are posting in on Facebook has its group setting set to "Closed" or "Secret" then the only people who can see your posts in those groups are the group members (not your wife)... The post you made may still show in your news feed, but only you should be able to see it..  The only time that your friends can see your posts in your groups is if the group setting are set to "Public", and even then they may need to be looking at that group....

Cheers for info backlash. It still sounds far too vague and sieve like for my liking. Plus even though a group is closed, people can still see you're a member of it. I just don't like all and sundry knowing my beeswax.  I don't use Facebook primarily for other reasons. I have a profile (my misses took offence when I wanted to delete it:-)) but it lies largely dormant. Too many friends have had foul ups and private/work lissues caused by Facebook.

[Saito2]

I know people come and go but the folks I listed (and there are more) were pretty heavy posters. When forum members get like that they begin to have personality to me, especially after years of posting back and forth (I've been on here for since 2005 or so under the names Saito, Rockcrusher and now Saito2 due to forum hacks, lost passwords attached to no longer in existence email accounts, etc.). It's kinda neat really. When they go, they can be missed. My wife once asked about how we can continue to discuss Tamiya RC models without the subject being totally "talked out" one day. I guess for the vintage guys like me who mainly stick to the first 100, discussions could slow down over time. Fortunately Tamiya still churns out new models to talk about.

[Wooders28]

I've managed to keep Facebook life and rc life separate, up until I started back racing, mainly as other clubs post event dates and also 'for sale' items.

People's lives change, priorities change, interests change, job, wife , kids! 

[Buggyjam]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

I know people come and go but the folks I listed (and there are more) were pretty heavy posters. When forum members get like that they begin to have personality to me, especially after years of posting back and forth (I've been on here for since 2005 or so under the names Saito, Rockcrusher and now Saito2 due to forum hacks, lost passwords attached to no longer in existence email accounts, etc.). It's kinda neat really. When they go, they can be missed. My wife once asked about how we can continue to discuss Tamiya RC models without the subject being totally "talked out" one day. I guess for the vintage guys like me who mainly stick to the first 100, discussions could slow down over time. Fortunately Tamiya still churns out new models to talk about.

If it cheers you up Saito if anything in the USA rc is having a good resurgence of rc cars amongst the hipster types (I may not get hipsters but at least people are still into rc ). It may not be Tamiya cars but things like rock crawling. I guess Tamiya rc will always be fairly niche these days and subject to a dwindling following. You only have the manufacturer to blame for that.

I really like Tamiya but I'm not shy in their lazy approach and won't defend them to the end for the sake of it. I think they're lazy for a once forward thinking company and it's a shame. They have mammoth capability and design intelligence but choose the easy bucks dining out on the old photo album of their once great past. Whilst fine for us who like it, it's a finite seam to mine and  doesn't exactly make for long term sense. If they made themselves relevant as well as retro then there would be higher numbers of people talking about them engaging in chat.

I came back into RC last year. i love Tamiya but I've found it quite a frustrating experience revisiting a company who's products I once revered haven't moved on and quite sad in a way. Even their new releases feature 1980s shocks and craptastic grade plastic (tt02b). A re re isn't so golden when that's the main bulk of what a firm churns out.

 

its sad to say but I half expect a release from Tamiya in the near/middle future that they're giving up rc cars. They certainly seem to be on this path knowing that once the retro stuff is done that's ya lot. They almost defiantly are refusing to adopt new ways and methods, and given their savvy that only leads me to that conclusion. They have an exit plan ahead after the final bucks.

 

[Rb4276]

I joined about 18 months ago when i bought my first car since 1991 or so. Since the i have noticed a dramatic dropoff especially in the last few months. I would definitely blame facebook and probably alot has to do with most people are into rtr kits and really think nothing of tamiya 

[mongoose1983]

11 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Just out of curiosity, has anybody noticed a reduction in site traffic here or any other RC forums in the past year or so? Some places I visit have slowed a bit like Clodtalk, others seem to have really slowed down like RCMT. Even old TC appears to not be immune. Perhaps its the introduction of some new sub forums like the Builds or Designs that are spreading out the post. A lot of the old members that used to post a good bit seem to have drifted away like TA Mark, Terry SC, XV Pilot, Skottoman, Biggusditchus,Live Steam Mad,taliesin and Mymonsterbeetleisbroken. I'm sure I could name a dozen more. Is Facebook to blame or is the hobby as a whole still shrinking? The good news is I've seen an influx of new faces in the past 6 months.

Well, I understand Facebook is responsible for most of the traffic reduction here. I know because of the classic toy forums I also visit regularly the impact has not been small. And even though it is a popular platform to interact and barter I do NOT have a Facebook profile, and I don't see me opening one.

I personally believe there's also other factors involved. Constant updates, certain untidiness, and lack of solutions when a problem arises have caused old members to leave. "We are working towards a solution" could be a valid answer for some time, but nine months no solution is curious to say the least. I feel most people here believe this is a "Club" just because the word is part of the name, but this is a business website. I used to be a full subscriber for almost a decade and oh, I now regret I was. Other long-time TCers like @Rosey were not as patient as I was, and are now gone for good because of some similar "untidiness". I do feel TC is more interested in getting new customers ("members", some people say) rather than keeping their old timers. The specific line "we really wanted focus again on all of our fantastic member photos" that's on the brand new main page has left me thinking, and reliving some old unhappy moments back when I was a full subscriber.

I still come back to the Forums here, just to interact every now and then with my old buddies (say berman, Swarm, Crash Cramer, Regressing! blackfoot dave, beefmuffin, Pizzachaude, and some others) and also to complete the projects I started before the end of my paid-up "membership". I guess I'll always love the hobby and these old Tamiya cars, but I don't see me again letting go more money here. I sometimes look back and remember how excited I was about renewing because of the many projects I had on my work bench those days to add to what used to be my showroom, but no, I'm not a member anymore. And since my experience was not good, I can only presume it maybe was as unfortunate for other old subscribers here. At least that is what I can say about the subject from experience.

[Saito2]

I was never a full subscriber and thus was unaware of the complications that might bring. I suppose that's a whole facet of the club I don't know about. For my part, the only irritation I've had was retaining my screen name and post count. After various site crashes and or hacks I got locked out even though I still had my proper password. Emails to administrators about the problem went unanswered so I had to start a new screen name/account just to ask about my problem. I was basically told, just use your new screen name and move along please. I like the knowledge and camaraderie here so I just dealt with it and moved on. Glad to see I'm not alone on my feelings about Facebook.

[Ian_Gsi16V]

I think the same topic has been visited multiple times on numerous forums that I use. 

The general consensus is always Facebook, it's simply an easier way to interact and share for most people, personally I prefer the forum as to echo what others have said, I don't want every random aquantance on Facebook knowing my interests.

 

[qatmix]

Forums are better for deeper discussions. Facebook is better for quick comments and posting pictures. It's a pain to post pics here, Facebook is very easy.

This forum has suffered a lot because of all of the sub forums, they have had a compound effect as you have to hunt for new threads and basically you spend more time looking for things and just give up as it's a painful and slow experience. (especially on a phone which a lot of people use to browse the web).

So nowadays you pop here, there might be 15 or more new theads and lost of active comments but in the main sections there might only be a handful so the average person just thinks it's not active here and looks for another Tamiya forum / Facebook page. 

The only forum I have seen stay strong is RCTech, they keep it simple and have not fractured the conversations into pointless sub forums.

 

 

[mongoose1983]

10 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I was never a full subscriber and thus was unaware of the complications that might bring. I suppose that's a whole facet of the club I don't know about. For my part, the only irritation I've had was retaining my screen name and post count. After various site crashes and or hacks I got locked out even though I still had my proper password. Emails to administrators about the problem went unanswered so I had to start a new screen name/account just to ask about my problem. I was basically told, just use your new screen name and move along please. I like the knowledge and camaraderie here so I just dealt with it and moved on. Glad to see I'm not alone on my feelings about Facebook.

I know a TCer in Ireland had the same problem trying to recover his password. And he was a full subscriber. So that comes as no surprise. I don't know how it works in the UK, but even in poor countries like mine we do have consumer laws. The way the Tamiya "Club" website works is something that's a bit hard to understand.