PAGING EVERYONE

[troyboy162]

IMHO it is dead and I dont like it anymore then anyone else

the old members are dead..none of them wheel and thus no time should be spent trying to revive the past


how to fix it (again IMHO or maybe not so humble lol):
-hire someone to fix the website up or replace it.
-post fun trips
-invite noobs
-post pictures/video of trips
-rep UY by wearing apparel or having stickers.

[YotaFun]

-Lance is working on fixing it up, mind you its not his primary job but he is doing his best.

-I'm all for posting fun trips, I just wish I could get to more here on the east coast, I hope to be going to the NE Takeover as well as the East Coast 4Runner Jambo this year, I will be in full UY gear.

-I do invite noobs as much as I can, even when someone asks me about my lifts or my truck, I tell them to check out UY first for our builds (since I drive a 3rd gen its usually 3rd gen guys)

- Once I get photos I will post more, I will start bringing over trips from my local ttora chapter when I actually go on them to share.

- Sticker is on the back of the truck, Maybe I should order some more to hand out around here as I meet people.

[4x4mike]

I'm in the same boat as I was on page one. Busy with life and family. As it is there is so much going on with that a lot of the trips we don't aren't wheeling trips. I could post a bunch of boring questions or look what I did today kind of stuff but I don't want to be that annoying guy posting crap all the time (anymore than I do).

As far as mods and things to do with the 4runner, I don't have much. Hell I washed it this past weekend for the 2nd or 3rd time this year.

I check in here a couple of times a day when I have a little down time and yes it is dead but I still read everything. This is where I get my reading in. I go to YT, t4r, etc about once a year or when it comes up in a random search. Honestly I don't have time to keep up with any more BS than I run into on a daily basis so I stick to the basic.
A guilty pleasure is the PBB but I just read. Even the tech I read has nothing to do with what I'm doing it's just interesting.

[troyboy162]

Lance cant do it whether its lack of time or what. At this point killing it with fire and starting with a more admin friendly version is probably the way to go.

Avy if we had a handful of members as knowledgeable and active as you then we wouldnt be such a ghost town. The recommendations I listed were aimed at everyone myself included.

I figure not many new members find this place from google, but instead meet someone from the forum on a trip. we dont have enough tech or trips to get search results.

[elripster]

Trips are a good thing to get some activity.

From a tech side many sites have done a great job vetting all sorts of modifications and issues to the point it's hard to ask a question that has never been asked. I try to think hard about just telling folks to search and leaving it at that. Sometimes it's best to give some info to get the discussion going and give a link. So often I see someone new just shot down right away. Although I'd say this isn't one of the sites more known for that it's something to keep in mind.

There is another issue too. Aside from the FJ Cruiser Toyota moved severely towards the mainstream and away from the more enthusiast appealing vehicles that brought so many of us to be Toyota owners. Since so many sites cater to a specific vehicle like just the FJ Cruiser (which pops right up when you google for a forum) the more general sites that have been around a long time can suffer as new owners go to those sites. Fewer older vehicles means fewer folks to go around to the various older forums. I don't know that there is much one can do about it but it's a fact of life. We go where the info is and as our older vehicles die off we search for the hoppin' site it's often not the old standbys unless they had a load of traffic to begin with.

I'd say get try to generate traffic through more trips and more creation of community. With so many people being uprooted in the pursuit of gainful employment we are probably very well in a rebuilding period. I check the trip planning section and it's pretty thin.

As individuals we can do our part here. If you are going to plan a trip consider not limiting the number of rigs. I did 5 day trips in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with 25 trucks when the limit was supposed to be 20. It had its moments but in the end everyone was glad everyone got to make it and it made for many more friendships. The forum benefited accordingly. Cutting down the number means those folks with less predictable schedules are at a serious disadvantage (I'm often one of them).

Frank

[4x4mike]

From a tech side many sites have done a great job vetting all sorts of modifications and issues to the point it's hard to ask a question that has never been asked. I try to think hard about just telling folks to search and leaving it at that. Sometimes it's best to give some info to get the discussion going and give a link. So often I see someone new just shot down right away. Although I'd say this isn't one of the sites more known for that it's something to keep in mind.

Frank

I agree with you Frank. There is a ton of info already out there. I've only had my 4Runner for 4 years and with it being a '99 a lot of guys had already blazed the trail and documented it. When something comes up that isn't too noob I try to post it on here.

Heck I posted about the replacement bulb in the 3rd gen glove boxes. I didn't know there was one until I was on my back looking under the dash and saw it burned out. I had trouble finding one, stumbled upon the Toyota part number and put it on here. Just little things like that to get stuff here, even if it's been done somewhere else.

[4x4mike]

how to fix it (again IMHO or maybe not so humble lol):
-rep UY by wearing apparel or having stickers.

I knew the birth of my son was going to be something that I'd remember forever. Knowing this I grabbed the first piece of UY gear I could find once the contractions started

I'll leave this picture here. My wife might not want it here but don't worry, you're right, this won't show up in a search. She doesn't care about the wine being in the picture, just her over due belly. The wine was another benefit to a home birth. She only had a few sips but she had been craving it for so long and thought it would mellow her out. It took 2 beers to mellow me out. I'm not sure you can do that in a hospital.

[04 Rocko Taco]

We're all still here. Staff is around, but the folks who had the time and for some, the willingness, to put forth the effort to be staff, when we started aren't neccesarily in the same place these days.

I think it is important to remember that all forums ebb and flow, and people come and go. I agree there is not a lot of reason to try and resurrect the past, if members have moved on for whatever reason then that is that.

The thing is to involve everyone who is still here. Get the new guys in here. I think a LOT of automotive sites, be it offroad, on road, racing, imports, etc have taken big hits with the economy, and thats a reality everyone has to deal with.

Also - when we started there was a lot of NEW info to post up, new tech, wiki articles that needed creating, etc. as things grow you run out of NEW tech, when is the last time there was a MAJOR innovation in something for an offroad Toyota?

not to say you cant still make known tech interesting and post worthy, but it really doesn't have the draw factor.

Another thins to remember, look at the sites that havent taken a big activity hit - i.e - Pirate, (in our case) and you see that they have a focus on a lot of crazy one off builds that are really cool, and do things people dont normally think of.

That has never been the focus of UY, we never tried to be Pirate. We didnt cater to the "big boys" or the "hardcore crowd" alone. we watned to keep this site equally friendly and entertaining for the hardcore crowd and the newbs with the stock 4x4's and that is a HARD line to walk.

As, staff, I can tell you that we are open to ideas on improvement, and will do our best ti implement the ideas that we think merit it, but the calls of "kill it off, and start anew" are uncalled for, IMHO.

You would create the SAME rush of activity and cool stuff on the NEW Yota site as we did when UY was born, but it would more than likely follow the same curve of declining posts.

[Seanz0rz]

i have some mods to post up, some that need completing, and some that need starting. I'm in the midst of my senior project as well as 3 very demanding classes. money is tighter than ever, so there's that too.

if you want, i can post about my senior project. it has NOTHING to do with toyota trucks, or automobiles for that matter, but i think it is an interesting topic.

i still need to post up my projector retrofit, and i have some LED projects on the drawing board, and my switch panel that is a day away from being installable. very little time to do these things. come summer, i should have a better schedule to complete some of these items.

[DHC6twinotter]

Looks like I"ll be doing a big road trip coming up. I can do a trip in progress report for it, once I get going. Not sure how much of it will be off road, but I can post something up. Trip should be about 6-8000 miles, although with this being a job search trip, my schedule is very fluid. I'll post a thread about it in a few days.