it is me or
 

Is it me or has this forum kind of died off a lot when I first joined there was about 240 active members and I have just noticed that we are down to just 90 active members

thoughts?

yeah its not the best, i tend to use locost builders but still post on here hoping it will help pick things up abit, also i don't think it helps as im sure the forum doesnt really work properly, the new posts button never really works for me so i have to manually look though each section to check

It's certainly not the most active forum I've been on and as mentioned the problems with the forum don't help when you have outages for days. I still haven't started my build after taking delivery of my chassis but hopefully that will change soon. I tend to keep one eye on this place and the other over on locost builders

Its one of those things when building something where you get lots done in a short space of time and then fits and starts and the possibility of jacking it in all together and not bothering to come and visit here cos you are sick of it.

Human nature....

I've been using this site since 2009 both as a resource for information and a platform as a supplier and I've come to the conclusion that there are two different types of forum user. There are active forum members who will sign in and post about their progress or lack of it with their builds and comment on just about every thing, and others that will just sit and read the forum using it as a resource and never post a single thing. There are also other online means such as face book which is a much more actively used site and is tied in to much of daily life with mobiles and tablets.

My ten pence worth, being fairly new to the forum I have no comparison to previous years. However i am not sure how well advertised the Haynes was all them years ago, and the attraction what brough builders to consider this site.
I came across the Haynes by pure chance (I was 90% convinced to go Westfield route before actively searching the hell out roadsters).
Maybe in today's era the likes of Gbs,etc all seem to be pretty proactive in enticing and maintaining relations with there customer base and owners clubs.
On here it's more of a social environment divided across wherever for general build advice.

I do think there is great potential to use this site as an owners club or similar, would just need someone to take the time to arrange things, find deals and create site chat. These sort of areas surely would generate some activity?

Further ten pence worth, it's also noticeable as a newer builder that suppliers of Haynes parts are also diluting. Of course metal work is available but there are limited suppliers bodywork etc...
I have heard stories of Saturn sports running bbqs at weekends with builders just for general chat and banter.

I think it mostly depends on the number of cars being built now. When I started mine 4 years ago, I think there were more than 10 cars being built at the same time, so it gave a lot of activity on the forum, both with build threads, and problems/questions/answers. How many car are being build now? Perhaps not even the half of what it was at that time, so this should explain the lack of activity on the forum.

Even if my car is finished now, I read the new posts every day, and try to help whenever I can (when I don't raise a problem I'm having myself.. still :) ). But more and more built are MX5 based now, and I wish I could help more, but I can't because I have a Sierra based Roadster experience (and perhaps many members from the "completed-car club" feel the same?). So we are in a transition period between these 2 concepts, and this might be another factor.

Just my humble opinion :)

No offence to anybody reading this so don't take any.

In the days of Saturn and the very start of this forum there were people involved and making a living from the roadster and there was a hardcore of builders always present on here ready to go the extra mile and as Neil said Saturday was open house and good banter and lots of help from them too,through no fault of his own and circumstances changing Spud sold the business and the sad loss of a lovely lady that I was privileged to meet saw Handy Andy selling his car and no longer doing chassis kits.

Things happen and the new Saturn owner was no more,people don't tend to come on here who's car is finished,its a crying shame that the things that go happen through the common cause (building a car) could not be taken into daily life,who goes to someones house they don't know and have never met other than on here and helps/lends tools etc,no one.

It is what it is and lets hope the marque continues.

Was not meant to be a sermon .:D

Just re-reading the post and I have been here since 2008 !!!!

The single seater did not go down well either.

i Come in here almost everyday, I stopped building the Haynes when I found a local build chevron in NZ. I used an MX5 donor so this is great resource for coming back to builds and seeing how problems were solved. I use the search a lot. Not posting but Im here.......well on the other side of the world:)