How about we have a little fun and link the most absurd or irrelevant stickies on this site. Bet there is a long list. And maybe somebody will finally do something about it....

 

I'll start with one from my favorite stomping grounds, the LSx swap forum:

Hey, kids, check out this awesome tech thread how to do a Gen V engine swap!
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...-5-2014-a.html

Moderator: five7kid
Moderator: Apeiron (hasn't logged on in 1.5 years)

 

This one falls in the absurd category.

You newbies dare ask a question and I'll delete your thread!!! I will, I will, I will!
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/...nce-again.html

Moderator: Vader
Moderator: AaronIROCZ
Moderator: Kevin91Z

 

Back when that sticky was first posted, in 2003, during the Golden Age of forum-formatted websites, it was probably appropriate. Today, with forum traffic a mere trickle from what it was back then, not so much. For better or worse, FB and IG have pretty much taken over as the go-to source of all forms of information, leaving forums barely hanging on, traffic-wise. For other than outright trolls and spammers (of which this site seems to have practically zero number), it doesn't make sense to cut new posters off at the knees for not using the 'search' function.

Besides, this site, like most other interwebz forum sites, always has one or two regulars who never fail to jump on a noob and chastise him for posting a common question.

 

This is a trick to get people to read the stickies, right?

Several stickies are so old that links are dead, and pictures/videos are gone, hosted on websites that no longer exist or have been reformatted.

Some stickies seem to discourage participation in the forums, as you've pointed out.

Membership, itself, discourages participation by the lack of positive support when someone asks a question or has an idea. In the time it takes to compose a sarcastic reply to tell someone to "search" or read a sticky, the questions could've been answered. A lot of "longtime lurkers" for that very reason.

This summer, 2020, with so many people at home, these forums should've been blowing up! But instead TGO has been slower than ever, having been slowing for a couple of years now. The most recent topic in many forums has been stagnant for days, stickies stagnant for months.

True, social media has largely contributed to the death of web forums, but negativity on forums contributes, too. I'm not on any social media sites. I don't care. When I want to be entertained by humans, I'll watch "Ridiculousness," where people's, um, "creativity" is both, educational and inspirational, or I'll log onto TGO.

20 years is a great run, but all good things... TGO needs to encourage participation, not allow it to be discouraged, before it becomes too expensive to keep the forums open. There's already enough info, with nothing radically new left to add, that the hosts could justify shutting down the forums and making TGO a tech database only, after which every thread will become a sticky. It's probably been considered, if not already in the works. Newer features, such as COTM, might've been created for the purpose of trying to increase participation, but even that seems to have been fading.

What were we talking about?

 

You!... Get off my lawn !!

 

Gotta admit , I don't post nearly as much as I used to , and one big reason is that I'm kinda tired of taking the time to post an answer to someone's question/problem , only to never hear from that person again . Do I expect a pat on the head "like" of every post every time I help someone ? Of course not , but a simple "Thanks for the answer" would be nice every now and then .

 

The scenario you describe here is a symptom of the times we're in; for some---not all---posters, it's a matter of their having a sense of entitlement. And probably more people are online these days than any time in the recent past, making the issue appear to be compounded.

Indeed, it can be annoying to spend one's own valuable time attempting to help another poster, and then have one's efforts be ignored, but that's the nature of the internet in general, and technical forums such as this one in particular. Common courtesy---like common sense, unfortunately---seems to be in very short supply in this day and age; one only has to watch the national news to realize that.

 

Maybe we should archive all these old stickies and start over? Kinda like a cleansing so to speak. As OP said alot are outdated anyway so alot of the content maybe missing. I think in the 5 or so years I have been here I may have read 1. This site has become a social media outlet and we should encourage that, it will help with getting new members to participate and keep the forum current..

Here is my sticky that should have been gone years ago...It is in auto detailing and appearance, I have some adhesive remover to wipe the adhesive residue (not claybar) from the thread if needed!
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...ou-ask-if.html

 

In the 5+ years I have been here you have helped me on more than one occasion, you always have great advice sir! For that I want to take this time and THANK YOU just incase I didn't at the time of the post.

 

Thank You Vinny , I appreciate your kind words . To be honest , the regular posters here aren't who I was talking about , the regulars here are great , it's the new members who sign up , get their question answered , and then are never heard from again that I was referring to . I only answer a question when I'm 100% certain of the answer and to have the feedback of whether my answer was helpful or not helps me to frame future answers in a way that provides the most help .

PS , for my on topic part of this post I'll say that not all stickys are useless or out of date , I have provided only one sticky to TGO and it's a series of pictures of every component of a 700R4 in the transmissions subforum for anyone curious as to what the various parts look like , although it was 2014 when I posted it the info is still relevant today for anyone needing/wanting to see what it all looks like .

 

I was hoping this thread would generate more conversation.

Here's what I have to say about it....

Seems this site uses moderators to manage people. Don't need many roles like that IMO. Moderators should be charged with managing valuable tech content as job #1. Can't have lazy people in that role. Need people that are energized and keep up to date with the hobby. People that pay attention to new tech. People that treat stickies as living documents and manage the updates.

So here's a solution: There are some people on this site that are the top-tier tech contributors. We all know who they are. Those people should be given elevated rights to edit and manage the stickies all over the site (because they're often cross-trained in many topic matters). They're natural helpers, they've explained the same things hundreds of times, they know how to write good tech. Let them do what they do best and the site will benefit greatly.

And for heaven's sake, get rid of all the stickies that say,

READ THE RULES!!!
DO A SEARCH!!!
GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

 

It would be pretty devastating for me if this site went away. I have gottn so much help from people in putting my thirdgen back together after it sat torn apart for 18 years. There are things I forgot, and things I never knew to begin with. Facebook sucks, and the thought of some stupid social media site taking the place of a resource like this makes me cringe...

 

OrangeBird I'm "pretty sure" I've thanked you for your help, but just to be safe, I am very grateful for your replies to my questions (which were mostly electrical). I am also grateful for the many others who have answered my questions here. I've definitely learned a lot from you guys, and I don't take any of it for granted...

 

I started giving back because of all the good advice that I received here.

 

absolutely, same here. took me over a decade to get comfortable enough to start giving advice, but it is rewarding to "pay it back"

 

Personally, I have no issues with the status quo. That's why I've visited and read this thread, but not had anything to contribute.

As for more members with Admin powers, I'm a little concerned about that. I run a forum, and it's been through two owners before me. Co-admins, senior members, and regular contributors have taken their jacks and gone home over the years due to one issue or another. And in a few cases, when they did, they took everything with them that they could (photos, articles, posts, etc). It would be a much greater loss if the data were lost due to too many people having control over it, than it is for it to be disorganized in some way.

 

Sorry, I wasn't using the right terminology and confused the matter. Really I just meant elevated privileges to edit some sticky content. And Moderators (not admins) managing their tech stickies as living content.

I have this same problem talking to software developers at work. I say something using plain words and they all stare at me like I'm an idiot because those words end up being tech jargon that have different meaning in their world.

 

I hear ya. I have the same problem.

 

The VBulletin format used by this site allows moderators (with Admin approval of this feature) to 'stick' threads that they deem valuable/noteworthy. Any forum member can write a tech article, if they so desire, and then submit it to a moderator for 'sticky' consideration. IOW, you don't need to be a moderator in order to get a thread or article 'stuck.'

Additionally, forum members can petition moderator(s) to 'stick' a thread or post that they feel merits such action.

 

I am a forum moderator on a formerly very high-traffic, non-automotive website. By choice, I am no longer active there. That site's downhill slide began with the revolving-door firing of one Admin after another, and the current one, who,in an effort to maintain traffic, greatly relaxed forum rules, and restricted moderators' ability to keep the site on-topic and free of forum disruptors. The result of this has been the site taken over by constant trolling, non-stop spam posting, and multiple subforums blanketed with off-topic posts/arguments/BS. The results of these actions by Admin caused valued, quality posters to becoming frustrated by inaction of moderators to keep the forums clean, and those good posters subsequently left the site in frustration.

While I have no knowledge of this (thirdgen.org) site's financial health, IMO, it will continue to exist as long as site Admin keeps off-topic ('misc') discussions out, keeps spammers at bay (actually, they don't seem to be any problem here at all), and, most of all, forum members supporting the site by patronizing companies that actively advertise here.

 

 

I wasn't here during the hay day of high traffic but this site has so much information its still awesome. Personally even though I belong to third gen sites on Facebook this site is much better. Facebook is full of guys who just need to shut up. So much misinformation out there it's ridiculous. Then you have the addholes who think their 350 is king crap over a 305 (mine is a 350) and knock anyone down who ask questions about making a 305 run better. Facebook is pretty much useless. The only decent page is the one related directly to TPI.

As far as stickies. The post where painting interior plastics is a great one that many people asked it became a sticky and the mods never did sticky it.

How does this site stay funded?

 

The same as for the vast majority of all internet sites---by selling advertising space.

 

Its also annoying when you search a problem, you see all these people giving advice and the original poster never comes back and says if and how they solved the problem. Happens on pretty much every forum. You’d hope you’d hear a resolution, especially if you’re having the same problem. Sometimes they come back and thank people but it’s rare and it’s the least you can do. Sometimes the people giving advice even say. “Hey post back when you solve the problem and let us know what it was?” They just get ghosted most of the time...