I've learned a ton already, Slowly preparing to do a full detail on my truck. The hood came out pretty good

 

Come on over John, the only way you get better is learn and practice. Now that I think of it that may be why I am so damn cranky right now. Not enough Hyperdressing in the blood

 

Alrighty.. I logged in And I'm sure we can find a syringe to inject some into you

 

If I ever need anything detail oriented answered I go to the cafe. I don't frequent there so much though because I'm a noob at detailing and I feel I don't fit in well as result. Great forum though.

I agree the detailing section here is not what it used to be.

 

I will take it mixed with Grey Goose on the rocks please. I don't like needles....

 

Caffeine free diet coke and hyperdressing is my poison..literally.


Hey Stealth! Good to see ya buddy!


Ok, they just opened the ice cream bar at the cafe, gotta run!

 

I'll let them know Dave

 

Back to the original topic of the post, I'll stop by on occasion to see what is going on, knowing that most of the new posts are threads about why one should buy a small $16 bottle of wheel cleaner and $100 in brushes to go with it for the best results and then another $30 in tire dressing and "wheel wax" to finish the job properly. Car wash soap and a basic wash mitt/brush do just fine most of the time.

Is this area what it used to be as far as real information and discussion about detailing? Not even close.

 

Everyone is a noob at some point. Asking questions is the best way to learn, other than hands on experience. Come on over.

I am always happy to show someone how to do this. Just give me a shout if you are in my area. You are welcome to come by the shop and watch, leanr or help. Do one, teach one, as they say.


I don't spend a lot of time over here any more because most of the discussions can go to crap pretty quickly, for various reasons. Because of that, I sometimes only get involved if bad info is being posted, which is probably not the best thing for the health of the forum.

I also get frustrated by the ads, but more more specifically, it bothers me to log onto the detailing section of F150 online, and see Toyota and Armor All ads. It is like reading the ads in the back of a comic book, all a bunch of crap.

My only issue with Autogeek and Detailer's Domain is the frequency of their posts seems to have drowned out the useful discussion.

I do log in almost every day to look and see if anyone has questions, but I probably miss them on occasion since they can be few and far between.

 

When F150online.com gives you lemons, some people can't help but make whine.

 

You are complaining about people complaining?

This section doesn't see a lot of activity anymore because people are leaving to go to other forums where they don't have to deal with most new posts being sales pitches either directly or indirectly and having ad banners covering everything on their screen except the small post boxes. For example, the large ad I'm looking at to the left of my screen for "Motor Trend's 2011 Truck of the Year: The New Silverado HD." All of these people that have left are the same ones that helped you, not tried to sell you things, when you first came to this section "two weeks after buying your truck" asking how to get your truck looking new.

The forum makes money by people coming here and clicking on those ads and buying product from the sponsors. If those people aren't here, both the site and the sponsors lose out so why wouldn't it be a concern to them either?

Why is creating a thread about a real problem such a noncontributory and "whiny" thing?

 

I'm not complaining. I'm observing and commenting.

Yes, the sponsers have been posting a lot, but AutoGeek and Adams have been members for what, five months? The Detailer's Café came into the picture a good while before the sponsers showed up and started posting all of their threads.

Because I was expanding on what the OP stated. Lack of content.

I was just stating, the last two threads he started where concerning the same thing. The last thread he started with content that belongs in the Care & Detailing forum, was posted 1.5 years ago. The sponsers aren't blocking people from posting or starting new threads. Members could easily reverse the numbers and post more than the sponsers. F150onlines member list is currently at 151,620. Obviously we don't have that many active members, but I'm pretty sure there are more than 3. If people wanted to post, they could.

Blaming the lack of activity from members on the ads is just stupid. Ads are everywhere. When you drive down the highway, there are billboards. When you watch TV, there are commercials. Even Youtube has ads. Is the problem that yall can't rationally think and make decisions when you see these ads? Are you some how forced to buy their products, or open and read their threads? Are they that hard to scroll over?

 

I apologize then. Your first and main post up until this point didn't sound like simple commentary.

Yes, but the "elders" and other major participants aren't coming back and participating at all because of it. They would pop in occasionally and offer advice and suggestions, but nowadays, not really. One will on a rare occasion, but nothing like it was. Heck, most of the time I end up posting in this area anymore for some O/T thread like this because people actually get involved in it. This is probably the most active thread in a couple of months! There is discussion on a discussion board. The same cannot be said for all of the sponsor threads. The majority have 0 replies. Yes, some of the how-to step-by-step kind of threads are nice, but 3 or 4 threads in one day about buying their products?

If someone "new" comes into this section and asks what to buy, the sponsors jump right in and say "buy our stuff we sell." That isn't the productive contribution you or the OP are talking about. The point being, if someone is wondering what product to buy, they are there in an instant. Any other situation...haven't really seen a noticeable presence overall.

So is that horrible logic, which is also a fallacy. If the majority of people who browsed this section are leaving because of it, then yes, it is because of it. There are more people than not (you being the only not thus far) saying they are leaving or not hardly participating because of it. Why would you believe it is "stupid" to say that then? As for seeing ads while you drive your car (which is a horrible comparison and also a fallacy), you can't simply not drive somewhere because there are ads on billboards. You have to get to work to have a job and you have to get to the grocery store for food. Do you have to listen to ads on the radio in your car? No, you turn the station. Do you have to go to the address bar in your internet browser and type in this website and come here to see advertisements? No. You can go somewhere else where it isn't overrun with 'em.

More advertisements are the only major change I've noticed and there are less and less people here now? It's got nothing to do with one being forced to buy a product, but IMO, having say 7 out of 10 new threads being a "buy this" thread. Why bother stopping in if you expect all of the new threads to be another "buy this" one? The majority of my posts on F150online are in this section; same as the majority of my time browsing and participating on this forum, so I think I've been around to see the change happen; perhaps more than others.

 

The ads do make a difference. I very seldom come here to ask questions, haven't for several years, but I do stop by almost daily to see if anyone has questions. I miss a lot of them, like the "how to clean the top of my Screw" question that I just saw today, because it is sandwiched in between 15 posts by advertisers. I did a quick scan, and missed it.

So a member posts a question, and doesn't get an answer because people miss his posts, so goes somewhere else. That is a contributing factor to the decline of activity, imo.

 

I know that sponsors are a big part of keeping this site up and running as well as showing us new products and techniques that we may not see other wise. The other thing is that we do enjoy the sponsors, becasue they work on some specialty cars that most of us except a select few would ever get to touch and we get to see a step by step process on how they take care of the finishes on those cars. But lately it just seems to be more advertising than showing there work or giving advice on how to correctly solve an issue for a member.