Exploroz Forum - one true place for genuine, relevant, informative...?

You are pretty close to the mark, Joe.

Just looking yesterday (Friday) and there were only six postings all day including the Friday joke page. In times gone by it was sometimes difficult to catch up if you missed a day or two.

I have similarly been put off by the 'holier than thou' attitude of some contriibutors and 'exerts' (so called), especially when dealing with new people.

I gave up on membership, and cruise by every couple of days for a look then get out. There are now better alternatives, apart from a few very good, well informed diehard contributors.

Sad but true.

OBJ

All the forums I frequent have been pretty quiet for the last few months. There are still plenty of readers, just not many posters. Some of the topics on here have been so uninteresting I haven't even open some threads, but if you start bagging Land Rovers then things start to liven up. Have I mentioned that I think Toyotas are over priced crap? I only mentioned it as a forum post stimulus of course... :-)

I,m with you mate. Facebook is a joke. I think a certain radio announcer summed it up beautifully after an idiot rugby player had his stupidity placed on for all to see.

Facebook....The media of morons.

There are some good aspects for sure. Seems to me that some people without a real life jump on there too often to tell us what they had for dinner. What movie they saw last night, photo of their goldfish, picture of a cake they made.etc,etc.
Get a life.

If those people on Facebook "need to get a life" then perhaps you should say something to them, as after all they are the friends you have chosen.

You only see what you have chosen to see.

Agree patsproule. I have found that a lot of people have a limited view of Facebook and have only looked (or maybe just heard about) members pages.

In my experience FB groups - not pages - are quite useful and there are groups on all kinds of topics as well as the closed groups that you describe. There are numerous groups catering for caravanners, those looking for free/low cost camps and other topics generally covered by EO. Those groups have thousands of members. But they do not offer the kind of aggregated in-depth information available on this site and meaningful conversations are difficult because of the thread structure. They also become very repetitive as they really cater for the lowest common denominator in terms of knowledge and awareness of issues that get discussed.

I have no problem with the owners of this quite exceptional site talking up their business - its what every business owner does or should do if they want their business to have a future. In these times of rapidly developing technology running an online business must be very challenging. David and Michelle have done an outstanding job and if I had to choose between their business and a mulinational one I know who I would rather support. All strength to EO I say, but accept that FB and other sites have a place too.

Not just Pajero, all the vehicle based ones are strong and some I once frequented 4wd action, overlander, 4wd australia, eo are all very quiet and rarely contribute now.
I know my vehicle based one has very few know all's with most trying to be helpful.

John & Val,

" I have found that a lot of people have a limited view of Facebook and have only looked (or maybe just heard about) members pages. "

Couldn't agree more. I'm a member of a closed group for 40 series owners. I find more useful info there in 5 mins than I would find in days of trawling open forums (with possibly the exception of ih8mud).

Also starting to find alot of self-righteous know-alls on this forum at times who it appears have the agenda of shutting down open discussion (imho). A few times I've been tempted to offer an opinion on some topic, only to decide not to because either someones getting agressive or you can see the flame war coming......

Forgot to add, Forum posts may seem to be down but the overall site hits are rising.
Testament to the fantastic resource David and Michelle have produced in my opinion.

Agree John,
Many questions have been answered before, so post numbers will decline as the query is found by searching the archives.

Also, many FB pages contribute to single issue discussions, such as off-road caravans for example, but do not promote the whole spectrum of 4WDriving, Caravanning, and Camping as EO does.

I agree with all you say Kerry. It is the best site for information.

I think though, it is suffering against the competition which allows social interaction.

As a long term member like you, I remember the exodus of members when the owners laid out the new laws of "no more chit chat".

If I was them watching this great site limping along in the face of competeition which allowed social interaction, I would make some big changes.

And I would forget about making dubious rants on the news letter !

Cheers,

Willie.

I agree with your comments Kerry

You noted 1385 people logged on - in addition this post has had some 8 replies and 9 follow ups - but 670 views.

Willie this topic comes along every now and then, the old “It would be so much better as a chat room”.

I think it’s important to remember that you are talking a very different entity to a mainstream social media site like Facebook. EO is also different to many of the forums set up on common, garden variety forum platforms provided by Yahoo and the likes.

The suite of tools provided with EO are far superior to anything you’ll find on a facebook page, and many other 4x4 specific sites as well. Opinions, and anecdotal info, well you’ll find those anywhere including here. What you don’t get here is the dross associated with banal conversation within the post. I’d presume that David and Michelle set up the forum guidelines and rules to provide exactly that, specific, relevant information and opinion on the matter specific to the post. No “Wow look at what I’m having for dinner” in the midst of a specific question about 1HD FTE overheating issues for example.

The EO forum is a great resource, not a chat room and the forum policy is aimed at keeping the forum pure to the core themes of the site. There is still a bit of banter going on though and it's a lot more relaxed since those 'special ones' moved on. You’ve also over looked that fact that as a member, you can still indulge in as much chat as you want through the MM system (A bit clunky admittedly but it’s a way to get in touch and have a chat.)

"Dubious rants"..I don’t think so, I think Michelle or Adele were merely (and quite accurately) outlining the benefits of the forum. You managed to cherry pick one little piece out of 5 paragraphs, info that sits well as a whole and does nothing more than extol the virtues of the site. Something the owners of a commercial site are surely entitled to do.

I’d hazard a guess and say that just about every forum user also frequents other sites/forums along similar topics or otherwise. That’s the joy of the internet I suppose. You can fulfill all your needs easily. If you need to ‘chat’ more, you can pop over to facebook or any number of public forums. If you want specific, relevant info, you can pop along here. Choice is a wonderful thing.

All the very best for the coming festive season and safe travels for 2015.

Mick

You put it beautifully Mick.

Well put Kerry. Mick O, it is contributions like the ones you make that add to the real 'richness' of this site.

The forum nowadays I can take or leave. Some regulars who like to offer an opinion on everything (which is fine), but what you never hear about from some of these 'experts' is anything to do with actually travelling the country. I do wonder if some regular forum 'cut-and-pasters' ever actually travel anywhere. But to each their own I guess.

Much, much more to find on this site than just the forum. So to those who do contribute to the knowledge bank that is ExplorOz, my thanks for your efforts.

Cheers,

Matt.