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Post by 79corona on Aug 27, 2007 9:11:58 GMT -8
We really need to do something about the slow participation in the forums! I just can't see to get a discussion going, nor do I see it elsewhere.
Come on people!
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FinToy
Toyota Fan
Dear Lord, please give me more patience. NOW!
Posts: 148
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Post by FinToy on Feb 27, 2009 3:18:16 GMT -8
This thread has been starded ages ago, but no responses... There are more than 1 000 members on this forum, but where are you all? I sure would like to read all your stories, view your project photos and also give (and get) some comments wherever I feel like. Where are you all, people?!
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Post by Frenchy Dehoux on Feb 27, 2009 8:27:21 GMT -8
I was going and post the same question. As big as this forum is I am surprise that we do not have much of any responses with all of the various topics that this site has to offer. Lets wait and see.
Thanks for posting your comment
Frenchy
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 1, 2009 23:08:11 GMT -8
In one form or another, this is a question I have asked myself (and others) ever since I been involved with TORC. Unfortuntately over the years I have learned there are no simple answers or solutions. I'll just randomly go over some of the reasons why I think there is a lack of member participation. Please note that the following comments are my own generalized personal observations and opinions, and do not reflect the opinions of TORC.1) There are numerous other sites and forums that are dedicated to specific models (i.e., Celica, AE86, Land Cruiser). What that basically boils down to is: if you have two or more forums that you want to post on, and you know one or two is 90% more likely to get responses or reactions, which ones will you post on? Chances are the ones that are more active... 2) You can't make people do something they don't want to do. It's one thing to join a forum, and another thing to participate. Unless people want to actively take part, it's generally up to a few to keep the ball rolling. Even in our own count of moderators, very few are active. Also, it seems that a large number of the restored, stock and original crowd (see item 3, below)... well, they just aren't computer savy; they aren't internet literate. A lot of those people want a paper newsletter that they can read whenever & where ever 3) The Toyota "old school" crowd is divided (in more ways than one). There are two main branches for old school enthusiasts: RESTORERS that like to keep their cars original and stock, and MODIFIERS that like to modify and customize their cars. In numbers, the modifiers far outweigh the restorers. While most modifiers seem to acknowledge an appreciation for restorations, I've gotten the impression that most restorers just don't like modifications - period. TORC was kind of founded with the restorers in mind, and over the years has encompassed and included the modifiers (and then newer cars, and even Lexus and Scion...), and that has turned many of the restorers off and away. I personally favor restorations, stock and original condition cars over modifications, but I can and do appreciate modifcations, especially when done nicely. One thing I have noticed, after seeing a number of years of vehicles registering for Toyotafest, that some people don't quite understand the REAL DEFINITION of restored vs modified - Restored means "restored back to original, showroom condition", and a Modified car is anything that is not in factory or showroom condition. All too often modified cars are registered as restored, yet these cars clearly are not factory condition cars - they are not a stock color, or not equipted with stock parts, but in the eyes of their owners... they have restored the car (So you see, even modifiers have various ways of modifying - a car can be modified to period correct changes, or the opposite - they can be modified with modern parts and accessories). Once again, as far as this concerns the TORC Forum, it boils down to the fact that many of these guys already have another place to go, like the Club4AG Forums or the 3TC Froums as well as others. Visiting different forums, I've noticed the USA and Australia has more of a following for modified and performance vehicles, while the European countries (including the UK) has more of an appreciation for OEM and stock vehicles (true or not, I'm not sure, but that's how I see it). Here on the TORC forum, we have a small following of Corona people, and actually a bit more for the Stout trucks. The rest, I think is taken care of elsewhere, and it would be hard & difficult to take people away from those other model specific forums. I think all we can do here, is to encourage people to join, and to get active. I get involved where I can, depending on what I know and what answers i have, but since I'm not technically or mechanically oriented, I tend to stay away from those discussions ( Personally I would love to see the TORC Forum become something of a Toyota Restorers Central, a place for restorers to hang out and talk restoration and maintenance of their vehicles). I think if the Forum had a more involved staff that could and would address technical & mechanical issues, then things might get more active. But an active staff and moderators is only part of it, it is the actual members that make it happen. It is up to the members to get involved - show your cars, talk about your cars, reply to other peoples cars postings. So, participation starts with you, and you, and you... If you're active stay active. If you know of people that might be interested in joining invite them over, and ask them to be active. Otherwise, I've learned to just accept what happens. Those of us that have something to say will say it, and hopefully there is someone out there listening. During the many years that I've been involved with TORC, I've also maintained some of my own websites, my Classic Toyota Town Yahoo Group being the longest, running since 2000, and I've seen it's popularity wax and wane over the years. For me it doesn't matter how many participants it has, it's just the fact that is is there and still has a role to play. Finally, I'd like to say that I've been involved with TORC since around 1998 and I've seen lots happen since then. Our Toyotafest (which is the 'original' Toyotafest) has become one of the the biggest and best Toyota car shows around. Sure, TORC has had it's ups and downs. Over the past 14 years the staff has gone through changes, we suffered financial woes and the lack of staff resulted in termination of subscription membership and the loss of our newsletter, but we saw an improved website and the birth of our current Forum. TORC has come a long way, and yes, still has a long way to go. I'd like to reach out to everyone and ask that if you want to make a difference, contact a staff member and ask to become directly involved. We need people to maintain and update the website, to become team leaders on the Forum, and to organize regional events (large or small) in the name of TORC.
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Post by Frenchy Dehoux on Mar 2, 2009 15:14:03 GMT -8
Mike
Thank You for your honest feedback on this issue. I personally like all type of cars. But I am also partial to the Toyota due the fact that I am working for Toyota for the last 32 years it is the best company to work for. And my dream as a lot of you know was to locate a 58 Toyopet now I will be moving on to doing my other 58 Toyopet but this one will have to be modified because it is in need of a lots of original part which are not to be found anywhere in the world. This Toyopet will receive a Lexus V8 at one point in the future. Once we have an idea of what it will look I will post pictures of it
Thanks again Frenchy
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 2, 2009 17:20:20 GMT -8
Frenchy,
And I need to thank you for bringing the Toyopet Crown to everyone's attention and doing it with such enthusiasm. The public displays of your nicely restored 58 and your demonstrations of the 'crank-start' have excited hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
I look forward to your future Toyopet "hybrid' project - adding a Lexus V8 will be the ultimate Pièce de résistance! Definately can't wait to see that one. ;D
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jeshua
Toyota Novice
Posts: 32
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Post by jeshua on Mar 3, 2009 9:44:46 GMT -8
I'm new to this site and when I signed up I was expecting a lot more activity. This place has the potential to be a great place for people to come to learn and share knowledge about Toyota's, especially the older rare models like the Stout, Carina, Corona & Crown were there isn't much else on the web for owners of these vehicles. I joined because of a Stout purchase hoping to find a good strong community to help me but its not there. I plan to stay though and offer what I can to this community.
toyotageek you made some great points. For this place to be successful it needs to have tech info and a lot of support from its members even if you don't know the answer to a question in a post or thread we still need to interact with each other and at lest give it our best try letting them know we are not 100%.
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 6, 2009 8:12:44 GMT -8
jeshua - glad to hear you'll be staying! ;D All we can do is keep trying and hope that more people will join-up, get motivated and post post post! Try to spread the word if you can and get other old school Toyotaheads to join and participate. I think if we can focus on the restorers and home mechanics, we can fuill a niche that still needs filling. But just don't get discouraged if that doesn't happen
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jeshua
Toyota Novice
Posts: 32
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Post by jeshua on Mar 6, 2009 9:26:49 GMT -8
I know I'm looking forward to when I can start working on my Stout project. When I do I will make sure to keep a good log of my work posted on here.
You do bring up a great point. If we could make this place filled with all the tech info on the classic cars and parts it would make this place very desirable. Have a bunch of "how to" threads, rebuilding a 3R with all parts needed and part #'s.... Part lists... stuff like that would increase traffic & participation I'm sure.
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 7, 2009 8:36:12 GMT -8
You do bring up a great point. If we could make this place filled with all the tech info on the classic cars and parts it would make this place very desirable. Have a bunch of "how to" threads, rebuilding a 3R with all parts needed and part #'s.... Part lists... stuff like that would increase traffic & participation I'm sure. I agree, but that can be a time consumming endeavor... As for myself, I know a big fat SQUAT when it comes to tech & mech stuff, so you won't see much from me in that category. I'm mostly into collecting old Toyota stuff and toys (brochures, diecast and other Toyota related things), and I'm into early Toyota history, so I occasionally post something in regards to those topics. Mostly though, I guess my role here is as unofficial greeter ;D Time is my biggest enenmy. Between work, family, and my own websites, that leaves little time to spend here at the TORC forums. But I'll always be here, in some form or another!
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FinToy
Toyota Fan
Dear Lord, please give me more patience. NOW!
Posts: 148
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Post by FinToy on Mar 15, 2009 19:43:55 GMT -8
Wow! I never thought my reply in this topic would start a conversation this big! Thank you all for sharing my worries.
It's been really nice having a place to come to when I have had any questions about restoring my Corona. It's also been amazing how people make me feel like I'm part of a great team working all together for the common goal (which, in my topic, is restoring my vehicle).
I'm not actually sure (and I was too lazy to find out) how are the TORC members located worldwide. I'm not even 100% sure if the most of the members are in the us. I don't know whether the original idea was to collect the American enthusiasts together but the Internet makes it possible for the people around the world to come here. However, when thinking about the fact that Toyotas are restored around the world and there must me more than 1000+ enthusiasts around the world, it must be true that they just aren't "internet-people". Sorry about that.
And yes, I'd like to participate. However, it's impossible at least at the moment. I have a (non-paid) "job" in TCoF, I'm also a member in a charity organization, I'm trying to work and pay my house and I also have three kids. That makes it impossible for me to participate. Of course one of the problems is language (but to be honest, I believe you all understand my english even if all the words are not 100% correct).
OK, the message of this post? I don't know. It's 5.30 AM here in Finland and I just had some extra time before I need to get to work. ;D
Thank you all for reading and please keep up the good work for this forum! I also want to thank all the people who helped me with the restoration project. They have become good friends of mine - even though We've never really met!
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 16, 2009 10:46:07 GMT -8
Hi cman! Believe it or not, you have already been participating in Forum activities! ;D Your RT143 rebuild thread is very popular!! But you hit on a very important issue, and that has to do with personal time. While we are a sort of 'family' here, real family and friends and work should always come before spending time online here or elsewhere! A little background on TORC - when the club started out back in the early 90's, it was very local to Southern California. But with the inclusion of a newsletter it soon reached Toyota enthusiasts across the US, as well reaching some overseas enthusiasts. During the time we had a paid membership and newsletter, the actual number of members hovered around 150 members. It wasn't until we went online with this current forum that our following really grew. Even though we now have over 1000 forum members, only a handfull of those are active - many are what you might call lurkers, or most probably never even come back (from the looks of who signs on). Nevertheless, no matter how many 'real' members we have, I think as long as there is some interest we'll be here for some time to come.
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FinToy
Toyota Fan
Dear Lord, please give me more patience. NOW!
Posts: 148
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Post by FinToy on Mar 16, 2009 21:15:00 GMT -8
Believe it or not, you have already been participating in Forum activities! ;D Your RT143 rebuild thread is very popular!! Yes, I got your point - and I'm sure you got mine ;D
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 18, 2009 6:35:52 GMT -8
LOL - Yeah, I got your point too! Just keep doing what you've been doing ;D
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 18, 2009 7:29:47 GMT -8
Here's some Forum member trivia for you: Out of 1024 forum members, 538 have posted a message at least once - that means there are 486 members that have NEVER posted a message. Out of the 538 that have posted, approximately 300 member have posted only once ot twice - meaning that 238 have posted at least 3 times. And out of the 238 members only 61 have posted 10 times, and ONLY 26 Members have posted 20 times or more AND ONLY 12 have posted over 50 times. That means ONLY 1.2% to 2.5 % of our members are or have been fairly active!
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FinToy
Toyota Fan
Dear Lord, please give me more patience. NOW!
Posts: 148
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Post by FinToy on Mar 19, 2009 7:49:08 GMT -8
That's really weird. I would think that when a forum like this is open to anybody it would be much more popular. Perhaps it's just that there's too much forums where one can discuss about many other things than just restoring his old Toyota. We'll just have to do our best, discuss things and hope that the others find this forum in Google search results. (actually I'm not even sure how did I first come here) Thank you for those numbers
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jeshua
Toyota Novice
Posts: 32
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Post by jeshua on Mar 20, 2009 13:55:37 GMT -8
I found it through Google when looking for Stout info.
Those numbers are pretty low, kind of a bummer.
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Post by mnstout on Mar 20, 2009 20:33:23 GMT -8
I have been very pleased with the TORC site. The people are helpfull and I have gotten a lot out of it. I plan to do a lot more posting as the spring approaches and I can actually start working on my Stouts. I have one that is in fairly good shape, and a basket (some would say it would be better just to part it out, but I just can't do it).
Have fun, post often, and don't expect replies to everything. People aren't being rude, they, like you, probably aren't too sure either.
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Post by toyotageek on Mar 21, 2009 19:06:46 GMT -8
Have fun, post often, and don't expect replies to everything. People aren't being rude, they, like you, probably aren't too sure either. Well said! The most import thing is to have fun! As long as we can all contribute in our own small way, and have fun doing it, then the forum is achieving something.
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Post by highcast on May 25, 2009 2:59:05 GMT -8
Does this forum have any activity anymore? Seems pretty quiet..
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Oz_Stout
Toyota Enthusiast
I Really Need Hubcaps For My Stout
Posts: 270
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Post by Oz_Stout on May 25, 2009 21:34:20 GMT -8
It is pretty quiet but still has activity. I think the reasons for it being a quiet forum have all been covered well in above posts. Personally I check here on average once a week and scroll down to the link to the "20 most recent posts". I will have a read of them and often follow the "Link to Post" of anything that catches my eye. Mostly I find that I catch up with what is happening in a matter of 5 minutes and don't have anything to contribute. I also fall into the category of neither technically nor mechanically minded, hence I find that I don't have a lot of worth to contribute. People are into different things and have different reasons for being here. They have different ideas of what they want out of a forum. Mostly, as Mike said above, people belong to a model specific forum where there is a greater concentration of people with knowledge on their vehicle. I found TORC the same way many people did by searching for Toyota Stout in Google. I was relieved to finally find a place that had a couple of other people that owned these vehicles as I had never even heard of one before I stumbled on mine. Since I joined up I have steered anyone I come across that has a Stout to this forum and I know some have joined up. I am a member of many many different car forums. I am predominantly a classic car enthusiast. I love them all. No matter if it is a Toyota, Mazda, Isuzu or Ford, Chevrolet or Desoto etc etc. I have owned a bunch of different make Classic cars and currently still have a few and will own many more. It's a disease. I am a modifier mostly, but have owned a few very very original classics also. I am now starting to appreciate resoration over modification as it is so very rare to see a nice original example of any sort of classic car. I am also into later model modified cars. I consider this category to be anything around 1990 to today. It doesn't impress me to see these cars stock standard original because it is not rare, so I like to see them nicely modified, preferably individualised. I like to know what is being done and what trends are about locally and overseas, so for this reason I am a member of a large number of forums. I am on hotrod forums, performance forums, street machine forums, rat and hoodride forums, mitsubishi, ford, toyota, nissan/datsun, mazda, japanese, lowrider, minitruck etc forums. The point of all my ramblings is this: We all have different reasons for belonging to a community such as this. The Stout area tends to be the most populated as there is literally nowhere else on the net for Stout owners to come together (apart from the new yahoo group now). In my opinion this is a brilliant forum as it brings together a huge variant of Toyota enthusiasts. It is not full of young people that type in the same bizarre language that they sms with. Many car forums are full of that rubbish. There are many die hard enthusiasts here with huge knowledge, whether it be technical or otherwise. Also I have noticed that everybody here is very friendly which is a nice change to some of the forums I keep an eye on. I too hope this forum grows. I will be keeping an eye on it either way.
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Post by toyotageek on May 26, 2009 6:06:31 GMT -8
Does this forum have any activity anymore? Seems pretty quiet.. Ditto what Oz Stout just said. (thanks for the well written explanation! ;D ) After our recent Toyotafest, there seems to have been a small growth spurt in forum members, with most new postings being "want to sell" or "want to buy" ...
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