Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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May 16, 2017 13:46:09 GMT
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I wasn't meaning to be negative, or even say those people have left because this place has changed, I was just saying people do ask from time to time what happened to the older members, and those are some of the ones I know have been asked about in the past, probably as they were kicking out some quite cool stuff. I get that people and their interests change and they leave for various reasons, I'm fine with that.
I get that not everyone has the same skillset or budget, but as tony says, there's no reason to let that hold you back. M-Bog is a prime example of that, he makes no bones that he's on a budget but he come up with some really innovative outside-the-box ideas for making the mundane cool.
I suppose the crux of the matter is just that. Effort and the ability to envisage something then see it through to fruition is as valuable when it comes to an engaging build thread.
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Last Edit: May 16, 2017 13:50:37 GMT by Dez
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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May 16, 2017 14:05:10 GMT
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If people feel that they cant find the stuff they like in a sea of stuff they don't, what about themed readers rides sections? That way people can zero in on the stuff they prefer? Car culture is a broad spectrum, and while I can see the argument of lont-standing members who want to keep it the same, like anything that attracts a broad spectrum of enthusiasts, not everyone will be into that. Or does that risk over-complication? My only concern with stuff like that is driving away people who can't decide where their car fits. My 2p A simplified 'search' facility might help? A text box which will search word or phrase and pull up relevant threads. The current complex search facility might be a bit daunting for people whose IT literacy isn't so good, (although good to keep for people who want to use it). Yeah that's good if you're looking for something specific. I quite like the search function, the quick search boxes are great and there's a more specific search if you need it. To be honest I probably should have said, I'm fairly happy with everything as is tbh...
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May 16, 2017 14:10:25 GMT
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I'd just like to add, this is no radical re-imagining of the forum, or anything, broadly I think people that visit the forum are happy, our numbers are both strong and stable and that is genuinely true unlike some uses of that phrase . Just wanted to see as I give things a gentle steer for the next 12 months where we want to put some effort in. I can encourage certain content and indeed source it from professionals. There are three stand out areas that people are clearly interested in, I would suggest that means we're meeting the desire for the others, rather than people not being interested in them. So I'll put some effort into making sure we do as much with these three things as we can, then have another look in six months time or so how people are feeling At some point I'm sure we're going to get a new/improved Proboards version, which will play nicer with mobile and stuff so I'll have to do a bunch of work on that when it comes out I imagine.
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May 16, 2017 14:31:37 GMT
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I agree with most of the comments so far. What I like about this forum is the diversity of cars on offer and some of the dedication and knowledge that goes into building them. I'm not interested in everything, especially most of the modern stuff, but maybe I am just getting old.
Incidentally, I had a look at Volkszone for the first time in ages the other day and hardly recognised it. It was one of the first social media type things I ever got involved with back in around 2001 or 2 (after the old Total VW forum of course!) but there seemed to be very little actual air cooled VW content on there.
In conclusion - keep up the good work everyone! (but maybe not as many standard cars from the 2000s!)
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Last Edit: May 16, 2017 14:33:38 GMT by discostew
67 VW Split bus 69 Beetle Cab 96 Jeep Cherokee XJ Sport
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May 16, 2017 16:22:41 GMT
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There are many threads in the readers rides section that have motors in the thread title that don't interest me at all, so the it puts me off from looking at the thread .... that has been for me a case of prejudging the thread without knowing what the full facts ..... i have learned that the hard way .... i can and do appreciate the work that goes into them ..... and who thought a thread about an old Japanese family car would turn into the epic JohnnyBravo thread .... and who really wants to read about an old Austin Princess .... i mean what can you do to one of them?? Retro Rides will educate you .....read and learn!
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May 16, 2017 16:33:48 GMT
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Ok I've read all the above As I've said many times this forum is the best I've used Met some great people from here and made some good friends , I'm totally honest when I say I'm a novice mechanic I will attempt most jobs but I'm no tech wizard But I get all the help I need here,and now my son George regularly gets on here and has been massively helped out by RR members with his two year escort build We're more than happy with the forum the way it is... But I'd love to see more event reports and I'm more than happy to add pics etc as I've done over the years and reports good or bad on events can only help us petrolheads We attended the national classic car show at the nec last year after RR members had nothing but praise for it And yes it was by far our show of the year So event reports would be great in our opinion Danny and George
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Fraud owners club member 2003 W211 Mercedes E class 1989 Sierra sapphire 1998 ex bt fiesta van
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May 16, 2017 16:53:57 GMT
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I've been thinking about this all afternoon, and personally i am happy with what i log on and view every day. This is, in my opinion the best forum i've ever joined. What i like about it is the diversity, in pretty much every section, there's all kinds of people doing all kinds of stuff, with all kinds of budgets. I like that, if you're into cars then there really is something here for everyone. I wouldn't mind seeing newer cars in the readers rides section if i'm honest. I wouldn't even mind if they were brand new! Personally i marvel at chaps like Dez who have the skill set to build cars pretty much from scratch, and i quite like looking at his threads, and others like it. but i don't have this amount of talent, or the time to apply it if i did. At the other end of the spectrum i quite like greeners 02 Mini cooper, or bricktop74 's 02 Saab. The thing is it all has potential. If you skill set is limited to changing a fuse, like SmokeEm has done today (well done mate, you did a good job!) then great, change that fuse, use the skills you have. The more you do the more you'll learn, and as you learn the further up the ladder you will progress. To me, it doesn't matter what car you drive, i like all manner of cars, from pretty much any time frame be they stock or modified. What matters is that you are enthusiastic about your car, whatever it may be, or whatever age. If you're a new driver, and enthusiastic about motoring, but the only way that you can get insurance is to buy a new car, something like a Dacia Sandero, then i say buy your Dacia, and tell us about it, tell us about your plans for it, et cetera, tell us why you love it, tell us about your adventures in it share your enthusiasm for your new wheels with the world! If you love it, and you're enthusiastic about it, this will come out in your tales about it, and that will be what makes the thing interesting. It wont be for everyone, but it will be for some people, and probably for the younguns it'll be pf interest to them, and might even bring in some new blood, to replace all the grey beards when they give up tinkering with cars (it does happen sometimes, you can't tinker forever!) I don't think it will be the inclusion of newer, less retro stuff that kills off this great forum. It will be the narrow-mindedness of other people who think that because it was made this century, then it's rubbish and not worthy of inclusion, therefore denying the next generation of would be car tinkerers a place were they think they can come for advise, and to be part of something. I like it here, there's a wealth of knowledge here, it's friendly, it's fun, and it's good. It's not got too cliquey, and precious like i feel other forums like rodsnsods has become. Its the reason why this is now the only forum i visit on a regular basis. Ooh, the new Dacia Sandero!
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fad
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,781
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May 16, 2017 18:04:38 GMT
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Quick reply. Will start a thread soon been busy with cars.
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May 16, 2017 18:42:54 GMT
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I've been thinking about this all afternoon, and personally i am happy with what i log on and view every day. This is, in my opinion the best forum i've ever joined. What i like about it is the diversity, in pretty much every section, there's all kinds of people doing all kinds of stuff, with all kinds of budgets. I like that, if you're into cars then there really is something here for everyone. I wouldn't mind seeing newer cars in the readers rides section if i'm honest. I wouldn't even mind if they were brand new! Personally i marvel at chaps like Dez who have the skill set to build cars pretty much from scratch, and i quite like looking at his threads, and others like it. but i don't have this amount of talent, or the time to apply it if i did. At the other end of the spectrum i quite like greeners 02 Mini cooper, or bricktop74 's 02 Saab. The thing is it all has potential. If you skill set is limited to changing a fuse, like SmokeEm has done today (well done mate, you did a good job!) then great, change that fuse, use the skills you have. The more you do the more you'll learn, and as you learn the further up the ladder you will progress. To me, it doesn't matter what car you drive, i like all manner of cars, from pretty much any time frame be they stock or modified. What matters is that you are enthusiastic about your car, whatever it may be, or whatever age. If you're a new driver, and enthusiastic about motoring, but the only way that you can get insurance is to buy a new car, something like a Dacia Sandero, then i say buy your Dacia, and tell us about it, tell us about your plans for it, et cetera, tell us why you love it, tell us about your adventures in it share your enthusiasm for your new wheels with the world! If you love it, and you're enthusiastic about it, this will come out in your tales about it, and that will be what makes the thing interesting. It wont be for everyone, but it will be for some people, and probably for the younguns it'll be pf interest to them, and might even bring in some new blood, to replace all the grey beards when they give up tinkering with cars (it does happen sometimes, you can't tinker forever!) I don't think it will be the inclusion of newer, less retro stuff that kills off this great forum. It will be the narrow-mindedness of other people who think that because it was made this century, then it's rubbish and not worthy of inclusion, therefore denying the next generation of would be car tinkerers a place were they think they can come for advise, and to be part of something. I like it here, there's a wealth of knowledge here, it's friendly, it's fun, and it's good. It's not got too cliquey, and precious like i feel other forums like rodsnsods has become. Its the reason why this is now the only forum i visit on a regular basis. I see what you're saying, and being open-minded and inclusive is a great thing that I believe RR has done well over the years, but at the end of the day the forum is for modified retro cars, not driving a new Dacia Sandero. If they were dropping it on coilovers and fitting some awesome wheels on it, then it becomes what RR is about. There's a fine line between being an inclusive broad church, and the forum losing focus. Edit to add: The person with the Sandero will of course always be welcome on RR. It has never been a requirement to own a retro car in order to be part of things.
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Last Edit: May 16, 2017 18:44:24 GMT by BenzBoy
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May 16, 2017 19:15:41 GMT
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Contrary to the usual stereotype I find I'm getting more broad minded as I get older. The thing I find interesting about this forum is that everyone has their own ideas about what constitutes "Retro" and posts material accordingly. Since joining I've discovered personal interest in all sorts of cars and style that I previously dismissed. I'll apply a similar criteria I would to a magazine- If you (i.e. the person posting a thread etc) can show me why you think something is interesting then I'm happy to read it.
I'm a visual person too so the threads I read most are the ones accompanied by lots of pictures, especially event reports and readers rides.
I don't have a problem with occasional modern content, as long as it's things that are a bit beyond the run-of-the-mill, on the forum but we should all bear in mind it's primarily all about old cars of every ilk.
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Last Edit: May 16, 2017 19:18:38 GMT by ratchart
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May 16, 2017 22:53:29 GMT
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I'm in complete agreement with pistonpopper with regards to this being quite easily the best forum in terms of content, interactivity and inclusiveness. While I appreciate this forum does have a primary objective towards retro 'older' cars, I suppose one really has to define what they consider to be 'retro' in their view. What's brilliant is the fact they are welcomed to share their experience on such a broad minded platform, I was hesitant to post initially being that the car was an 02, I'm glad I did. I've learnt so much from this forum and gained the confidence to tackle projects I normally wouldn't, seemed logical to share it here. Of course this is only my opinion...
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May 16, 2017 22:54:49 GMT
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I'm in complete agreement with pistonpopper with regards to this being quite easily the best forum in terms of content, interactivity and inclusiveness. While I appreciate this forum does have a primary objective towards retro 'older' cars, I suppose one really has to define what they consider to be 'retro' in their view. What's brilliant is the fact they are welcomed to share their experience on such a broad minded platform, I was hesitant to post initially being that the car was an 02, I'm glad I did. I've learnt so much from this forum and gained the confidence to tackle projects I normally wouldn't, seemed logical to share it here. Of course this is only my opinion...
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I guess for me it's all about the cars, and the lives we live around them.
I also love reports, but they seem to have tapered off over the last few years.
Technical, for sure.
One of the reasons I post the threads I do, is that hopefully someone else can learn from them, and not make the same screw ups I have.
Other than that, I still come to this forum every day, it is my home base.
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,726
Club RR Member Number: 94
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May 18, 2017 22:27:34 GMT
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Virtual family full of like minded people who just want to escape for half an hour or so, it's so much better than having to watch Eastenders! 😆
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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May 20, 2017 13:08:12 GMT
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Interesting thread and opinions. From my point of view, I've been visiting this forum almost daily for over 13 years and still find it the most diverse and friendly car place around. I think it's a massive credit to David and the moderating crew. Back in 2004 I browsed the forum on dial up from my Vic 20 or Spectrum 48k (that's not true, I probably used a PC of some kind...), now it's mainly via iPhone on the train when I get spare time, things change. I suppose the inevitable truth is that we're all getting older, and when I first joined up I had a modified 1983 Golf, so approx. 21 years old at the time. I have a few cars now, but one is a 1995 Volvo, which is now 22 years old. Whether that's as 'interesting' to other posters as my Mk1 Golf was back then, who knows? I like to read about any and all cars that others are putting time, effort and creativity into. I think all contributors, 17 - 97 years old or whatever have excellent valid info to share and contribute to. What I really can't be bothered with is people going on about their modern cars doing 48.1 mpg compared to the 52.4 mpg the brochure quoted, and thankfully we seem to be free of that here! I'd like more technical 'how to' type stuff and travelling content
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'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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May 20, 2017 13:25:04 GMT
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Hey folks, I'm just giving some thought to the next few months of work I want to do on Retro Rides, I'm planning to rebuild the home page as I've now moved hosts and it should work consistently again. I'm also giving some thoughts to content for the forum, and perhaps wider content (youtube, instagram etc.) ... I'd keep thinking of reviving the email newsletter to provide a digest of cool stuff that people may have missed too. Anyway, there is a little poll here for some types of content that we have on the forum, I'd love to know what you'd like to see more of. I'm sure there are a million and one things missing from the polls, so I'd love to hear some other suggestions to. You're probably aware, but your move has killed the links in the 'modus operandi' thread forum.retro-rides.org/thread/171684/retro-rides-operandi-guides-advertising
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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May 20, 2017 14:01:19 GMT
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I love this place and I really don't think it needs much in the way of change. I like the way you can go from the weapons-grade machining to welding as an artform to making machine tools no-one even knew existed to fibreglassing a modern(ish) Japanese sedan bodykit to diesel hotrod anarchy in the space of a page of "Recent Threads". It's got everyone from time-served mechanics to utter flap-handed amateurs (like me) so no-one need feel disenfranchised or out of their depth. If you don't like moderns, you can look at Healeys. If you don't like metal rot replacement you can look at plastic and ECUs. Right, that's the positivity over . I think a couple of new sections could be included. I've often said that I feel event reports need a separate section because otherwise they get lost very quickly. For some reason they seem to be a thread type that many people don't bother commenting on, so you get a load of "Like"s but no remarks and they slip out of sight very quickly. Yet build threads can run to pages of people saying "Oooh, cool, bookmarked" which very quickly makes them a chore to read. That's human nature, I guess, and it's difficult to suggest that people maybe ought to take a bit more time in how they respond, and why, to what because the informality and laid-backedness* would be damaged. It's my own personal prejudice, I just feel if someone has taken the time to write a thread up (whatever the content) then to reply with a single button press or three words is probably just a little rude. That's a conversation that's been had before, and the return of the Like button proves it's what people want, so who am I to gainsay? I prefer less moderation to more any day of the week, and the strength of this place has always been it's pretty much self-policing. I think forums work better the fewer sections they have, so it would be a mistake to introduce a whole raft of new categories. As has been repeated oft, if you don't want to read a particular thread then simply don't Well, that was a rambling pile of utter [/fox picture]. Don't think I added anything of any use at all. Errrm, nothing to see here, pass about your business. These aren't the droids you're looking for * actually is a word.
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May 20, 2017 14:29:10 GMT
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Thanks everyone for the feedback, I don't ask it often, but I'm always pleased when generally things are fed back in a constructive manner and enough detail given that I can divine the root causes rather than just having a "I don't like this section" or whatever type response. I think forums work better the fewer sections they have, so it would be a mistake to introduce a whole raft of new categories. I've got good new and bad news for you ... I too am very much a fan of less is more in terms of forums, however over the years Retro Rides has sprawled a bit more than I'd like, sometimes as we wanted a kind of sinkhole for some threads that were clogging up popular sections to go to, some times because we had an idea and thought it would work, and it has worked well enough for us not to want to get rid of the section, but equally not world transforming. So the good news is that I agree with this. The bad news (for you ) is that there will be some new sections, and what is more I'm going to be doing a bit of a forum re-arranging, however having talked it through with a couple of people it seems like it makes a lot of sense, and will make the forum a better place to be and easier to navigate. I'm sure when I do it everyone will hate it, because that is the nature of change. I'm hoping that it'll make this place nicer and improve our little scene further. The only issue I have is that I would like to divide down the Readers Rides section a bit, not because of the complaining about 'modern' cars or whatever, but because it is so so so fast moving. I put up a reply to my Datsun build just before I left the garage the other day, by the time I walked back to my house (about 10 yards or so), it was half way down the page. I made a cup of tea and sat down to edit my comment and it was near the bottom of the page. I fear things getting lost. However I'm not sure how I would divide it down yet, age doesn't feel right, type of modifications isn't right for the diverse nature I want, I've checked other forums and no one else has the answer either ... oh well something to contemplate for the next week or so.
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May 20, 2017 15:07:32 GMT
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On of my jobs for this weekend, fixed now
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May 20, 2017 15:53:42 GMT
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Maybe with the readers rides it could be divided into decades? 60's, 70's etc. Also with regards to Dez's comment on age, is that not more to do with the age of the owner? I'm 26 and retro to me is Sierras, Cavaliers, Astra's etc, while people ten years older is going to be more like Cortina, chebette etc. Also, meaning no offence, not all of us can afford the 60's or 70's cars, and even then not everyone can undertake the work required to bring them back. I can't weld, I've never had a head off, so I've got a throwaway mk3 Astra, if it goes and I can't do it, nothing lost.
Otherwise as a forum it is my favourite, it works, people are friendly and it's easy to use, I can't think of an improvement to be made, except with agreeing with the above, that threads in the project section get lost really easy just with forum traffic.
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