Did Facebook kill the forums/scene?

This is sort of a rant... Recently I picked up a motorcycle again after a few years... first thing I do, check a few forums I used to frequent to see what's going, get up to date on stuff, see who is still there, etc...

WTF... Forums are EMPTY, it's all on fucking Facebook.

But there is a huge problem with Facebook... everyone can create their own little group, kick whoever they want out, moderate content.

So instead of a larger forum with tons of good infos, some local sections for rides, a good For Sale section, and some great content I am now left having to register to 3425423 stupid groups, half of them seem empty or useless, others are too active and I don't have time to browse 45 pages of boring useless blablabla in Facebook style to see if there is anything interesting. This is even worst when you want to know what's going on in another city, I tried to look into groups around Montreal, holy fawk... 95% of the posts are "Look at my new bike> with a bunch of likes... no content, no discussions, no good talk about the new bike Yamaha/Suzuki/Kawasaki released. Just social media look at me crap.

I don't have time to keep up with all those Facebook Groups... This is nuts!

I'm gonna sound like an old fart but I really miss the early 2000s era of Internet Forums, it was awesome and we did not know it.

Yes it did... no content organization whatsoever either. Good luck finding useful info on facebook... Times keep changing man...

it did and its cancer

darkestfenix said:

Yes it did... no content organization whatsoever either. Good luck finding useful info on facebook... Times keep changing man...

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Indeed... people are not doing write-ups, tutorials and such anymore, some are on youtube but it was nice to have something to print with torque specs and such because someone took the time to write something nice about a certain task or repair.

ThermalAce said:

it did and its cancer

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funny how social media was supposed to "open us to the world" and now, it's slowly putting everyone into their nice little box with people who think like them only so they are not offended and don't see what they don't like... giving everyone the false impression that everyone agrees with them because they never see anyone/anything that says otherwise!!!

These Facebook groups are cancer indeed... Supposed to unite people but the opposite is happening often, it's isolating small group more and more.

Someone once said a great war tactic was to divide and conquer your enemies... Yeah I may be going a little bit far there but that's what I see long term.

plus unfortunatly many DIY on different forums with the Photobucket ransom are no longer there.....

facebook, have one, log in 1-2 twices a years and I hate it.

Wish forums would stay, tons of info into one place....

millennials were a mistake.

t. millennial

But seriously the whole internet is garbage and only old dinosaurs like us remain. Never again will you surf the toile anonymously. It's sad. The internet is now built around appealing to the common denominator whose IQ is about equal to the temperature of my pool this morning. So you step back in real life and turn on radcan to see endless identity politics built for the masses of morons out there. You can't even make a joke with out someone taking grievous offense nowadays.

Nikkonos said:

plus unfortunatly many DIY on different forums with the Photobucket ransom are no longer there.....

facebook, have one, log in 1-2 twices a years and I hate it.

Wish forums would stay, tons of info into one place....

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This makes me wonder if some big Social MEdia comany name is not behind this fuckin ridiculous change.

c'est vraiment la galère. Juste pour les VW, je dois bien être sur 5 groupes et j'ai vraiment limité mon nombre a ça.. il dois y en avoir des dizaines et des dizaines. L'info est hyper dilué, la recherche impossible et les doublons a l'infini

Maybe if Forums would log with facebook, there could be a new rise of forum traffic.

I guess for Millenials... having to type their username and password is too much to ask.

labatt50 said:

Maybe if Forums would log with facebook, there could be a new rise of forum traffic.

I guess for Millenials... having to type their username and password is too much to ask.

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You really want the forum to be filled with people @theirfriends while simultaneously making Kossak's orthography look perfect?

Nikkonos said:

plus unfortunatly many DIY on different forums with the Photobucket ransom are no longer there.....

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Usually a good DIY topic ended up 50+ pages with updates, more pics, new tools to make the job easier, etc... it was awesome.

Then again, someone mentioned millenials... when was the last time a millenial did not pay a shop to get something done on his car/bike? that's when he owns one to begin with because he takes the bus instead.

We are a dying breed I think...

Red96EK said:

Usually a good DIY topic ended up 50+ pages with updates, more pics, new tools to make the job easier, etc... it was awesome.

Then again, someone mentioned millenials... when was the last time a millenial did not pay a shop to get something done on his car/bike? that's when he owns one to begin with because he takes the bus instead.

We are a dying breed I think...

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I am a millennial and rebuilt my engine on my own in my garage and bought my house at 23. Then again I never fitted with my cohorts and hold extreme reactionary views.

NewShores said:

I am a millennial and rebuilt my engine on my own in my garage and bought my house at 23. Then again I never fitted with my cohorts and hold extremely reactionary views.

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You even point it out yourself... an exception, an anomaly in the system. There is not many "of you".

I'm surprised to read that you found dead forums.

Research is impossible on Facebook, that's why it's a pile of shit, but to my knowledge and experience, forums might've lost some traffic, but they're alive and well.

I think Reddit is quite good now, its just not really popular in qc

ex: https://www.reddit.com/r/MontrealCycling/

Structure of the internet changed, there isn't much room for discovery anymore. Either you're browsing or search and forums aren't particularly great for either of those things.

ThePapi said:

I'm surprised to read that you found dead forums.

Research is impossible on Facebook, that's why it's a pile of shit, but to my knowledge and experience, forums might've lost some traffic, but they're alive and well.

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M4E for example... used to have hundreds of posts per day, a very active community, rides posted every day, new bikes for sale, ect...

Just look at MontrealRacing, it's the shadow of the booming online community it once was.

Red96EK said:

M4E for example... used to have hundreds of posts per day, a very active community, rides posted every day, new bikes for sale, ect...

Just look at MontrealRacing, it's the shadow of the booming online community it once was.

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I agree for M4E, not so much for MR. MR is just more diversified so it's chugging along.

Completly agress with OP. I realized it when I went to check on older forums I was browsing a few months ago. Clubnissanquebec, RHDquebec, even CCQ are dead or irrelevant. Now every forums had its alter ego on FB, wth!? It just sucks to get all those random and useless notification 10000x per day. I disabled the notifications and now I'm lost when it comes to finding back some info or relevant post.

Bring back the good old days of car magazines (SCC PLEASE!!!) and real hardcore enthousiasts forums please!

oqcgp shut down last month. Used to be getting 10k messages a month in 2010. Specialized forums are more at risk as a car become rare there will be less people interested in the forum..