# Site in decline......



## Guest (Aug 23, 2010)

Was just looking at my photobucket stats, and this graph shows the number of views of my pics from this forum.....









Shows the decline of the site since the 'upgrade' :?

There used to be 7-8 pages of new posts when i got in at night, and i'd read 90% of them, now there are 3-4, and i only click on about 3 of them


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## Ikon66 (Sep 12, 2003)

always the case luke at this time of the year, it'll pickup come September / October


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## SteviedTT (Apr 10, 2009)

I don't think it's a matter of this site being in decline, more a case of established members jumping ship. While having signed up to other forums, out of curiosity, I shall be remaining faithful to this one.


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## robokn (Feb 21, 2006)

Been there done that, this is by far the best site for TT's bar none


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

It's not just recently. In it's hey-day the site would have a whole bunch of people posting constantly - just not like that any more 

Having been a member since 2001 I've seen people come and go - it's a shame to have lost so many great contributors :?


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

head_ed said:


> It's not just recently. In it's hey-day the site would have a whole bunch of people posting constantly - just not like that any more
> 
> Having been a member since 2001 I've seen people come and go - it's a shame to have lost so many great contributors :?


Seconded.

Having been around since 2002, I have seen the a total change in the personality of this site, gone is the great enthusiasm and camaraderie, today the whole TT scene is a shadow of it's previous self.


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## DAZTTC (May 20, 2005)

There's lots of us that are still on this and the other tt forum. But i know what you mean this forum has just lost something. :?

DAZ


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## Mule (Jul 12, 2010)

It is due to the software used.....

It is confusing to use and the template is not very good colour wise.

It is by far the busiest forum I have visited, and I wouldnt use the current layout, if it was as busy as before.

In the Webwiz I use, all the active subjects are lying under their own seperate forums and not just the root....


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## SAJ77 (Nov 16, 2008)

mighTy Tee said:


> Seconded.
> 
> Having been around since 2002, I have seen the a total change in the personality of this site, gone is the great enthusiasm and camaraderie, today the whole TT scene is a shadow of it's previous self.


I have also noticed a decline in the short time I have been a member  As you say, the 'personality' has changed!


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## Charlie (Dec 15, 2006)

Let's not forget it is holiday season and a lot of people are not about, yes there may have been a bit of a drop off due to certain prolific posting members selling up and moving on, but that is the nature of forums and they are very cyclical from my experience.

As the newer members start to post more and more things will change again  there have been around 7,000 new members since about this time last year which is a fantastic amount.

I was not a big fan of the change in forum style, however I have now got used to it (as people said I would) and Jae has made some key changes to appearance and functionality which has had a dramatic positive impact on usability.

I don't think you can use your graph as an accurate portrayal of your claim that the forum has declined, it is too specific Luke, just imo of course 

It is without a doubt the most active forum I have ever been a member of and it is also without a doubt the most valuable resource a TT owner can have in their arsenal to keep their car on the road.

I agree that it has changed over the last 6 months, but that is just a part of any forum cycle and not to be worried about.

Charlie


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

head_ed said:


> Having been a member since 2001 I've seen people come and go - it's a shame to have lost so many great contributors :?


+1


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## SteviedTT (Apr 10, 2009)

I personally think it's a good thing that certain members have moved on to pastures new. This forum was a very daunting place when I 1st joined and seemed to be frequented by a certain "click" who didn't make new members feel very welcome. If a question was asked the only reply would be "use the bloody search engine", or a "why do newbies ask such stupid questions" rant in the flame room. As far as I'm concerned it feels more like a proper forum now and not "us" invading "their" private club.


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## marcelloTTc (Nov 20, 2008)

I think that it is typical of August or summer period,because many users are on holiday...I noticed the same decline in many other forums...


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?&w=400&h=220&o=f&c=1&y=r&b=ffffff&n=666666&r=2y&u=********.co.uk&

You may want to check this one, perhaps it will quieten some of the comments


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## Guest (Aug 27, 2010)

Absolutely massive drop at the end, just after the new theme?


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## SteviedTT (Apr 10, 2009)

And then rising again, after they checked the "new theme" out :wink:


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

manphibian said:


> Absolutely massive drop at the end, just after the new theme?


check again! I can see two peaks, then a drop and then the curve goes up again 8)


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

General strong rise on average I think - notice the bottom of the scale is zero so on average the site seems to have gone up by quite a lot over the total time.


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## Mule (Jul 12, 2010)

Jep 



manphibian said:


> Absolutely massive drop at the end, just after the new theme?


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Past six months:

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?&w=400&h=220&o=f&c=1&y=r&b=ffffff&n=666666&r=6m&u=********.co.uk&


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## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

John-H said:


> Past six months:
> 
> http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?&w=400&h=220&o=f&c=1&y=r&b=ffffff&n=666666&r=6m&u=********.co.uk&


Which shows the upward trend after everybody's feedback was implemented to the new style.


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## Mule (Jul 12, 2010)

The only thing missing is to divide the active topics into subforums, so one dont have to read what one doesnt want....

For my sake, I am not interested in all the Mk1 talk in here. It would be nice to have that in a seperate category....


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## TTMBTT (Jul 22, 2010)

Mule said:


> The only thing missing is to divide the active topics into subforums, so one dont have to read what one doesnt want....
> 
> For my sake, I am not interested in all the Mk1 talk in here. It would be nice to have that in a seperate category....


 I know what you mean, not that much on mk2's could be difficult to raise enough interesting subject matter. I take
it thats what you were trying to say. :wink:


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2010)

I've just been saying similar things on ttSteve's thread.

I agree that the forum isn't what it used to be and, frankly, I don't buy the cyclical argument. I've been a member for 19 months and that ought to be enough time to see a drop and a pick up, but I have only perceived a drop from the start of this year.

Sorry guys, but unless a big turbo build goes belly up, Charlie designs some new and exciting product or there is a new and interesting Anneymouse style appeal, I fail to see where the new interest is going to come from on this forum. There does seem to have been a glut of petty arguments this year too.

I only wish I still lived in England and, if I was single, I'd be coming along to meets and stuff to get some interest and see members' terrific cars, but I feel a bit out on a limb here in Scotland.

Funnily enough, this forum is still miles better than a few others I've sampled, so I'll stick around! 

Doug


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Doug Short said:


> the cyclical argument. There does seem to have been a glut of petty arguments this year too.
> 
> Doug


Now this in itself is cyclical: I'm a member here since December 2000** and have seen this sort of thing umpteen times over the last 10 years ,,,,

** I know there is a different "join - date" under my avatar but that has something to do with the fact that at that time the forum had been hi-jacked and needed to be sorted, so you'll find a similar joining date to mine for many people.

As for you living in Scotland: there are quite a few meets up there and of course you could always make a weekend of any meets south of the boarder :wink:


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## ttsteve (Nov 1, 2007)

Just for the record (I often get misinterpreted!), now that it has undergone a mk2 phase in the process, I think the new site is quite good. And I think the owners and moderators are trying hard to make it a good site. It's "US", the people on here who are failing the site. The people who use a site are the ones who make or break it. For example, if the site seems to take a 'direction' as a result of the majority of people who are using it, then others will simply use it less, or not at all if they feel that strongly. That's a democracy, albeit a sad one sometimes. As often the keen ones - who may not be representative of the majority - are the ones doing the most posting, and people are pissed off by there views and attitudes etc. But that's just my opinion, as I have said on my similar post on the subject.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

So all you need to do now is join the TTOC Steve :wink:


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## ttsteve (Nov 1, 2007)

BTW, not withstanding what I said in my last post, there is a lot of scope for better information on the site. That would be a great source for all of us to use, and it would also help stop newbies asking the same old questions over and over.

As quick 'off the top of my head' we need a folder entitled, 'TT facts and information' (or something like that). Then a number of other folders within that folder which COULD be:

Model information. Facts and figures (model release dates and specs etc, colours etc etc)
Common faults. List em, and provide info about how to recognise, diagnose etc
Modifications. The mods that people do to Mk1s and the unbiased (!) pros and cons.
How to's. How to fix things, how to perform mods. For the mechanics amongst us.
Vagcom. Fault codes list, getting started with Vagcom etc.

I'm sure there's more. A great deal of the above info already exists, it is just not easy to find and it needs collecting and presenting in an easy to find manner.

That would be a GREAT addition to the site; to make it a great source for info that is EASY to locate and use.


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2010)

Isn't part of the problem that new owners have a significant issue with their car, they panic, sometimes at an estimate they've had to fix it, register for the forum as newbies, don't do a search, don't look at how to sections or any other section and just put up a post asking for "help ASAP"?

How do you propose legislating for that?

BTW. I'm still sticking around and am happy to engage in technical discussions, give opinion, post photos, look at ETKA & ElsaWin, etc. Just don't antagonise me or else I'll be off too! :wink:

Doug


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## ttsteve (Nov 1, 2007)

Doug Short said:


> Isn't part of the problem that new owners have a significant issue with their car, they panic, sometimes at an estimate they've had to fix it, register for the forum as newbies, don't do a search, don't look at how to sections or any other section and just put up a post asking for "help ASAP"?
> 
> How do you propose legislating for that?
> 
> ...


Well yes that is the problem, but if they came onto the site and EASILY saw a folder that appeared to answer their questions, then I'm sure they'd take a look.


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