Facebook Groups

[JeepZilla380]

FB "Jeeping" for me seems to be mostly sharing pictures or using it as another Craigslist like buying site, using the marketplace. Most of the FB Jeep groups become big p*ssing matches lately, lots of folks just too damn angry on social media nowadays.

FB Groups I like: LJ Nation, 2005 Rubihara Owners Group & "Southern CJ Jeep Sales / Trade".

 

[Chris]

Most of the FB Jeep groups become big p*ssing matches lately, lots of folks just too damn angry on social media nowadays.

I noticed this as well. There's a whole lot of really angry people on social media these days. Like you said, a lot of it turns into pissing matches, insulting each other, etc. It's pretty crazy the amount of animosity going on there.

 

[JeepZilla380]

I noticed this as well. There's a whole lot of really angry people on social media these days. Like you said, a lot of it turns into pissing matches, insulting each other, etc. It's pretty crazy the amount of animosity going on there.

I blame “angry eyes” Jeep grills for all the social media angst. All of it!


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[Chris]

I blame “angry eyes” Jeep grills for all the social media angst. All of it!


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Haha, that and the JKs, which have quickly become the new ricers.

 

[lovemachine]

I only have Facebook to stay in touch with family and friends. But I really occasionally get on there anymore.

As for groups, I’m in a bunch of mountain biking and wood turning groups on FB. And these I rather enjoy. There’s no drama

Because of god thread, I just joined a few TJ groups. Just for curiosity

 

[lovemachine]

I also think you're always going to have people who gravitate more towards social media, just because they don't know any better. I was born in 1983, but I grew up in the 90s when forums were the big thing. I think that some of the modern generation doesn't know what a forum is to begin with, but they also don't know what a desktop computer is either (all they've ever had is a phone or a tablet).

a/s/l?

 

[Chris]

a/s/l?

Hahaha... I remember that all to well!

 

[jeep_boss]

I want y'alls opinion.
This came up recently for a brief moment on the Jeep Wrangler TJ/LJ Owners group on Facebook. Someone stated how online forums (wrangler forum, jeep forum, tj forum ect..) are dead or dying. When I got my TJ 6 and a half years ago forums where the s*** and Facebook didn't have groups yet. I feel the forums are far more useful and over all better than FB groups. Easy to navigate, everything is organized and not laid out in essentially one big thread. Which had me wondering why FB groups are more popular and growing.

So, what's your guy's opinion?

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This is an interesting topic that I have pondered being someone in the tech arena, so I'll rant. First - I never have nor will I ever have a facebook account. According to statistics that I can palate, there are as many as 40% of Americans that do not have a facebook account an whom never will. That said, sssessing whether or not their groups would replace online forums requires that you look at them as a content provider competing with other content providers.

Many people live in facebook's walled garden, only venturing outside if those boundaries to shop. I do not see them being a replacement for online forums anytime in the forseeable future. For that to happen, facebook would need to be motivated to hurt independent operators. Their revenue model would have to be threatened with the existence of digital content outside of those walls before they waged full out war against external website operators. Anytime an external content provider adds an embedded like on facebook button, it contributes information back to their aggressive data mining operation that feeds their data management platform (aka DMP), Their DMP makes up nearly all of their company's value. If website operators were to stop embedding those sort of embedded facebook assets on a global scale, then I could see them campaigning against external content providers, such as this forum.

Google is the crowned king of this type of data mining. Nearly all websites on the internet have some form of embedded remote google code that is loaded into web pages. When that code is rendered in your browser, any past or present google sessions that you have / had are tied in with the page that loaded that digital content. This record's "Bob's" activity at X date and time, so they know that Bob was searching or browsing for some sort if content that can be catorgorized for future delivery of interest based advertising (or sold to a third party). We all have one or more infinite sessions in greater than 1 DMP's.

Fun fact, facebook is part of a consortium proposing a "new" internet a decade from now that would require people to have a digital ID to access the internet. Kaspersky is driving a good portion of that effort and has proposed that facebook be used for the authentication piece, because (in their words) "everyone has a facebook account". If that does in fact happen, it could impact facebook's revenue model and thus affect things like the costs associated to run an independent content site like this one.

The bottom line in my view is that as long as the internet is an affordable space for anyone to publish self-hosted, independent content, online forums will thrive.

 

[TJ_2000]

Another upside to forums. You don't see this shit.... smh...

 

[Serbonze]

Forums have their place and Facebook groups have their place.

I think of forums firstly as a repository of information and idea exchange, and secondly as a social gathering place. Facebook is mainly a social gathering place, and secondly an information and idea exchange.

However, there is crossover. There is some good tech to be found in certain Facebook groups, and I think it's good to get opinions and views from people outside of your "go-to" group. Regional Facebook pages are incredibly useful to see what people are actually using in your local terrain. An example of the crossover in a forum is the ongoing "What did you do to your TJ today" thread. Really, how is that any different than a "look what I've done" post on Facebook?

 

[mrblaine]

FB "Jeeping" for me seems to be mostly sharing pictures or using it as another Craigslist like buying site, using the marketplace. Most of the FB Jeep groups become big p*ssing matches lately, lots of folks just too damn angry on social media nowadays.

FB Groups I like: LJ Nation, 2005 Rubihara Owners Group & "Southern CJ Jeep Sales / Trade".

They turn into pissing matches for the same reason they turn pissy on forums. Folks are dumb, stubborn, reluctant to learn, and wish to remain willfully ignorant. Watch the GM filler neck hose mod topics as a "solution" to fueling spit back, slow fill, or combinations thereof. Those of us who appreciate knowledge and getting to the root cause of an issue fully understand that there is no reason that a problem can't have a root cause and fixing the root cause is far better than tossing on a Band-Aid regardless of the ease of doing so. Especially when the Band-Aid doesn't fix all the symptoms caused by the sticking or stuck roll-over valve. That means when you explain why the GM hose is a Band-Aid, the full understanding that getting to the actual cause is a better solution should be welcomed and appreciated rather than derided and argued against. There should be at least a singular or perhaps a group epiphany when it is fully explained and instead, it's taken as a personal attack.

If you want to get into or avoid a particularly dumb pissing match that is as simple to explain as the difference between the sun and the moon, try explaining to some dumb fucking asshole the difference between a row and a core in radiator discussions. There is no such thing as a 3 core radiator. A radiator core consists of 1 or more rows of tubes connected to a header. Moron used as a reference the bastardized Chenglish Shipping Label on a Chinese radiator likely written by the only guy in the packaging department with Google Translate on his cheap knock-off smart phone who read on the internet that Americans like 3 core radiators so he used that on the label. He further deepened his hole of ignorance by insisting that heat exchanger manufacturers had now recognized that core and row were interchangeable terms and accepted.

 

[Chris]

Moron used as a reference the bastardized Chenglish Shipping Label on a Chinese radiator likely written by the only guy in the packaging department with Google Translate on his cheap knock-off smart phone who read on the internet that Americans like 3 core radiators so he used that on the label.

Too funny :risas3:

 

[Umbra]

Are forums fading? Yes, a lot of them are.
I agree with Chris that age matters, for the forum and the users. The forums that I am/was a member of began in the late 90s or early 2000s and have become much more useful as libraries. The remaining members on those forums are cranky old guys that think it's some sort of exclusive club that belongs to them. They often post threads along the lines of "Why has all traffic died off?". Duh.

Someone said that FB groups are for mean shitheads. So are forums when they have "knowledgeable" veterans. Many of them suffer from group think. This forum exists partially because of the other TJ forums being populated by assholes. "Do a search stupid noob" has has killed many of them because that's exactly what the lurkers do, rather than joining. The forums that have been around a long time have answered most questions over and over and there is no need to join and contributing is discouraged by the jackasses that post all day, every day doing nothing but criticizing and bitching. They are protected by anonymous user names and disinterested moderators.
FB isn't necessarily any better, just different.

The admins are what make the difference on both. Most forums are owned and operated by disinterested corporate overlords who allow stupidity for the sake of advertising dollars. They are aloof. Most forums changed dramatically and began slow deaths when sold off by the orig owners. Folks that started those forums cared about the subject matter and monitored the traffic. Usually after being sold, the admins became some faceless corporate hack with no interest in or knowledge of the subject. Downhill from there.

FB is similar. If the page runner cares about the subject and monitors traffic, the FB page can be useful and fun.

This forum works because Chris gives a shit, knows his stuff and keeps and eye on things.

FB can work for the same reason.
I run a page dedicated to a type of weird old car. It's a closed group so I can screen members and boot trouble makers. I check it often and have several moderators who do the same. We delete offensive and non-relevant stuff. We care, therefore it's a good page.
Our page has pretty much killed off 2 other pages dedicated to the same subject that became hostile and stupid. We knew the trouble makers and kept them out. The plus side of FB for admin is that it's difficult for baddies to hide behind anonymous user names.

"Public" FB pages suck because the page runner usually loses control and eventually interest, or they find a way to make money from it and allow stupidity for the sake of $$, same as forums.

(PS> It is interesting that often when a question is asked on my FB page, the answer is a link to the archives of a dead or nearly dead forum page)

 

[Dawghouse]

I had a friend ask me about five years ago to help start a FB groups for jeeps. It was at the time I was pretty much done with some of the forums. Don't get me wrong tons on great information and some really knowledgeable guys on some of the forums. So I said I would, and before I knew it the FB had grown a lot. At first it was really cool and you could help a lot of new jeepers. But then it turned into a drama nightmare, a place to hook up, and way too many people knowing way to much about you.

I decided to leave the group I help start. I still have my FB but I'm not on it that much. Then this amazing thing happen one night not to long ago. I was doing some research for a friends jeep issues he was having. I stumble on this new type forum. I trolled through it and suddenly realized it was different from the others I had been on for a long time. No bashing, no short answers, no BS. It was full of great information, the members seemed to enjoy conversing with each other and helping. It was like a fresh breathe of air. I realize the guy whom had created it thinks like me. As far as creating a place to go to and get good help, or just post something and not get hammered. Then I joined and became a supporting member because forums aren't dead. You just have to look for the right one to join. Jeep Wrangler TJ Forum is the best forum I've been a part of.

Thank you @Chris

 

[Daryl]

Haha, that and the JKs, which have quickly become the new ricers.

We call them Mall Crawlers here.

 

[TJ_2000]

Haha, that and the JKs, which have quickly become the new ricers.

No joke. The JK ricer crowed is giving the Jeep world a bad rep. What’s worse is it’s starting to flow over into the TJ world. All the different variations of ugly angry grills.


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[Chris]

I had a friend ask me about five years ago to help start a FB groups for jeeps. It was at the time I was pretty much done with some of the forums. Don't get me wrong tons on great information and some really knowledgeable guys on some of the forums. So I said I would, and before I knew it the FB had grown a lot. At first it was really cool and you could help a lot of new jeepers. But then it turned into a drama nightmare, a place to hook up, and way too many people knowing way to much about you.

I decided to leave the group I help start. I still have my FB but I'm not on it that much. Then this amazing thing happen one night not to long ago. I was doing some research for a friends jeep issues he was having. I stumble on this new type forum. I trolled through it and suddenly realized it was different from the others I had been on for a long time. No bashing, no short answers, no BS. It was full of great information, the members seemed to enjoy conversing with each other and helping. It was like a fresh breathe of air. I realize the guy whom had created it thinks like me. As far as creating a place to go to and get good help, or just post something and not get hammered. Then I joined and became a supporting member because forums aren't dead. You just have to look for the right one to join. Jeep Wrangler TJ Forum is the best forum I've been a part of.

Thank you @Chris

That's the problem with Facebook. When you combine the whole "social media" aspect along with trying to ask intelligent questions, it just doesn't mix. I used to run one of the largest Facebook groups for Jeepers out there (with 50k members at the time). You'd get smart people asking good questions, and smart people answering them. But every single day it was just countless amounts of drama... It really started stressing me out. I finally gave that up entirely and focused on the forum.

While I won't deny that Facebook has it's place, it will never be a replacement for forums. Anyone who thinks otherwise simply doesn't understand Facebook. I agree with what @jeep_boss said as well. I'm a computer guy, and what he's saying is indeed correct. Facebook isn't trying to compete with forums. That is a blanket statement. Facebook created groups as a way to categorize users by similar interest, so that it could better serve ads to people with said similar interests. It's genius from a marketing perspective, as people who advertise on there can target those "groups" of people.

I deleted my personal Facebook page a while back though anyways, and it was the best thing I ever did. I don't care who tries to defend Facebook, I firmly believe it's doing more harm in the world than good. People are glued to their screens and can't detach anymore. It's like watching the human race devolve.

Anyways, I'm glad you found the forum, and I'm glad you appreciate it. I think the younger generations have no idea what a forum is, but that's only because they didn't grow up with forums like I did (before social media existed). However, I think they'll eventually find them, because ultimately if you search for something in Google, a forum is bound to come up in some of the search results.

 

[Chris]

No joke. The JK ricer crowed is giving the Jeep world a bad rep. What’s worse is it’s starting to flow over into the TJ world. All the different variations of ugly angry grills.


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I know! I wasn't kidding when I said Wranglers are becoming the new ricers. In the 90s when I was coming of age, it was Hondas that were always riced out. Now it's not the Hondas anymore, it's the Jeeps. It's mostly the 4 door models I notice, but you're right, it's starting to trickle over into the TJ crowd as well.

I guess "to each their own", but I just cringe when I see some of these monstrosities.

 

[jdsouther]

Facebook is a shithole altho I used to be caught up in it. Forums is as social media as I care to get

 

[Chris]

Facebook is a shithole

It really is.

And Zuckerberg is an anti-American loser. These days I refuse to use any product from Meta.