Where's Aussie been?

I haven't seen our favourite bloke from down under posting at all. Anyone in the OH area seen him?

I was wondering the same thing the other day after reading the send Swank a card thread.

Dunno about around here, but he's alive and well on the Book of Faces.

Probably taking a break from the board like a lot of us have been lately.

Aussie prefers connecting through the book of faces to the forum.

I was just reading a thread on another forum yesterday about how Facebook is contributing to the demise of many once vibrant forum communities.

I refuse to be assimilated by the book of faces. I've never had an account, plan to never have one. I appreciate that the GRM forum is bucking the trend.

Sorry if this is a thread jacking, it seems relevant.

HappyAndy wrote: I was just reading a thread on another forum yesterday about how Facebook is contributing to the demise of many once vibrant forum communities. I refuse to be assimilated by the book of faces. I've never had an account, plan to never have one. I appreciate that the GRM forum is bucking the trend. Sorry if this is a thread jacking, it seems relevant.

Is the GRM forum bucking the trend though? I ask because a lot of the regulars have been leaving for FB.

In reply to Mazdax605:

GRM has a book of faces profile....

RealMiniParker wrote: In reply to Mazdax605: GRM has a book of faces profile....

and I would know that if I wasn't a luddite...

i have recently deleted my Book of Faces app on my phone, so I wouldn't be distracted by it. I have to say, it is so refreshing to just work without that junk!

I, also, haven't heard from the Great Aussie recently. Hopefully everything is okay.

HappyAndy wrote: I was just reading a thread on another forum yesterday about how Facebook is contributing to the demise of many once vibrant forum communities. I refuse to be assimilated by the book of faces. I've never had an account, plan to never have one. I appreciate that the GRM forum is bucking the trend. Sorry if this is a thread jacking, it seems relevant.

It is. Especially the BRZ pages. The forum is FILLED with information.

But multiple times per day lazy kids will ask the same "Hey bro, like, how wide of tires can put on my car?"

Well, glad he is ok even if he doesn't visit as often.

I have heard of many groups that I once frequented moving to FaceBook, and I do have an account and try to get involved, but I apparently am not invited or don't understand. Other than a few basic posts, I seem to miss everything going on over there. Plus, ever since the Donald threw his hat into the ring, FB is so full of toxic vitriol, I can't stand going there. From both sides. From all sides. It's just a place to spew hateful opinions about everything and anything. I just want to talk about cars and see pictures of cool places you've been.

It seems FB has affected some forums. My local SCCA region forum hasn't had a new thread or post yet this year. Their FB group is much more active.

I'll say one thing about you guys who love trolling CL for cheap stuff. If you aren't on FB and a few local trading groups, then you may be missing out. I have been seeing some incredibly cheap cars. That said, searching on FB is near-on impossible, so finding something cool seems to be more by chance.

I went to his lair a few weeks ago to grab an engine. He is still tweaking and fine tuning that devilish MG...plus his other horde of projects.

Personally, I miss reading about his 996 Turbo....

Selfishly I miss reading his post in an Aussie accent in my head. I mean I can do it with any of the post, but it isn't quite the same.

I dunno. I didn't interpret it as a positive thing for GRM.

I don't want to put words n his mouth, but I assumed he felt he couldn't freely say the things he wanted to say here, nor easily post pictures. Which led him to start a place on FB for people to discuss the things he wanted to discuss.

Aussie has been almost a good enough reason for me to get a FB account. Almost.

Ugh, I clicked onto FB yesterday for the first time in a while. After chatting with a buddy for a few minutes and trying to diagnose overheating issues on his bike, I was quickly reminded of why I hate that place. It certainly hasn't gotten any better since November

I'd be really sad to see FB groups completely displace the forum format. So much easier to archive and search useful information, plus you're (somewhat) insulated from the BS of all forms so prevalent on Facebook.

What I do find a little bit disturbing is that there seems to be a bit of a trend in long time members here "taking a break" or seemingly drifting away entirely. I'm still a relative newcomer here, but I certainly don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon. GRM has become pretty much my sole car forum hangout these days, unless I'm looking for specific information or reading a particular build thread, and it's because of the unique personalities and community on this site. Start losing people and eventually we might run out of the necessary ingredients for the GRM special sauce.

So, I'd be very curious to hear a frank and honest assessment from some of those individuals, with an eye towards what can be done to improve this place as a community.

FB completely killed off my local car forum - now I mostly stayed out of there since I got my original account banned because I was done with spending time on a forum infested with massive jerks (and one of them was a moderator!), but I continued to use the classifieds sections. Apparently over time everyone shifted to a specific Facebook group and the forum was eventually shut down due to a lack of activity.

Facebook is all bad, I have no interest in being on there. In fact one of the major reasons I wish I was born a bit earlier is that I would've done well to get more career-building and dating done in the pre-Facebook age.

SVreX wrote: I dunno. I didn't interpret it as a positive thing for GRM. I don't want to put words n his mouth, but I assumed he felt he couldn't freely say the things he wanted to say here, nor easily post pictures. Which led him to start a place on FB for people to discuss the things he wanted to discuss. Aussie has been almost a good enough reason for me to get a FB account. Almost.

If GRM moved their discussion to FB, my interpretation is that they STILL have the ability to control the discussion. It's their site. Same for pictures.

The only picture issue here is the blukyness of the message board.

For this particular page, the editing of subjects is quite fine with me- I'm here to deal with cars, and some of the higher level issues about cars. Not about policy around cars, or policy that surrounds everyone else. There are plenty of other places to talk about that. Same with the picture restrictions.

As for getting a FB account- given my issue with google, that's never, ever going to happen. FB is more invasive to your life than Google is. FB can control their content at a drop of a hat, too.

BTW, people stopped posting WELL before FB became a real thing. It's call moving on.

alfadriver wrote: As for getting a FB account- given my issue with google, that's never, ever going to happen. FB is more invasive to your life than Google is. FB can control their content at a drop of a hat, too.

This is originally why I didn't trust FB - their site is all locked down and you need an account to even see anything. External search engines have no access.

This was before they began inserting spyware on your computer. I don't know if they ever implemented it but they had algorithms to monitor where on the screen you were hovering your mouse. Not what links you clicked, your mouse movements. Google does creepy things but FB is scary.

From what I've seen, the formats are very anti-archival. This is anathema to me, the whole point of doing things online is so you can search and find information from last year or 2008 or 1995 or even earlier.

Knurled wrote: From what I've seen, the formats are very anti-archival. This is anathema to me, the whole point of doing things online is so you can search and find information from last year or 2008 or 1995 or even earlier.

Wasn't aware of that. And that kind of information is important to boards like this one.

Anyway, it's too bad he is gone. But if it's because there are too many conservatives or liberals here (which ever it is), that's not a great reason. This is one of the very few boards where there are barely any shouting matches.

alfadriver wrote:

SVreX wrote: I dunno. I didn't interpret it as a positive thing for GRM. I don't want to put words n his mouth, but I assumed he felt he couldn't freely say the things he wanted to say here, nor easily post pictures. Which led him to start a place on FB for people to discuss the things he wanted to discuss. Aussie has been almost a good enough reason for me to get a FB account. Almost.

If GRM moved their discussion to FB, my interpretation is that they STILL have the ability to control the discussion. It's their site. Same for pictures.

AFAIK, Aussie doesn't hang out on the GRM FB page. As I understand it, he hangs out in a group specifically dedicated to the GRM Challenge, but he owns it. Several long time Challengers and board members have been known to be there regularly.

So no, I don't think you are correct on that.

I agree with your opinion of FB.

alfadriver wrote: This is one of the very few boards where there are barely any shouting matches.

I don't think it's about shouting matches. It's about open discussion.

The easiest way to have no shouting match is to have no discussion.