- 114
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
Why is no one posting new cars, voting and commenting?
Running the cool wall takes a lot more time and effort than you'd expect. A member takes it on, runs it for a while, but eventually the enthusiasm runs out as the realities of running something online take their toll*, and it goes quiet for a while. Then someone else takes over and the cycle starts again. Make an offer to run it and be the change you want to see!Why is no one posting new cars, voting and commenting?
Not sure that'll help with people voting and commenting. Just clicking through the 45-ish pages of Cool Wall threads, and interest has clearly declined irrespective of the effort made by whoever is running the coolwall.Make an offer to run it and be the change you want to see!
Just my personal observation, but at some point the debate became more about what actually makes something cool, and what doesn't - rather than the car itself, and then every thread ends up becoming the same discussion, which gets boring. The epitome of this is probably something like "SUBRC". Maybe that's a fair sentiment, maybe it isn't, but it doesn't really invite discussion, not more than a couple of times anyway.Also, in most recent threads, fierce debate about the coolness of a car is absent, while this was much less the case in older threads.
I think all this is very much true, especially the fact that anything historically interesting or controvercial has probably already been nominated.As someone who used to run the Cool Wall, I can think of two immediate problems that can't be readily fixed.
1. Lack of interesting cars to nominate. Given the sheer amount of threads, well over 1,000, most cars which people have an interest in have already been nominated. The exception being very new models. It's just not as interesting if the cool wall is inundated with everyday cars like a Toyota Camry for instance.
2. Less "car people" on the forum. It's no secret that in terms of diversity of membership and contribution, the Cars and General forum as a whole is less active than it used to be, and this is only continuing. Many of the members who made very thoughtful posts in cool wall threads during it's peak (2013-2015) simply do not post here anymore. New members aren't just going to come out of the woodwork, and I highly doubt many of the inactive members will just return.
There are other reasons, too. As @MatskiMonk mentioned, it does get tedious after a while. Also, in most recent threads, fierce debate about the coolness of a car is absent, while this was much less the case in older threads. Part of this had to do with there being members with outlandish opinions about cars (JMoney, W & N, The87Dodge) not posting anymore, but I do genuinely believe that members were inclined to give more critical analyses of cars in threads years ago.
I tried to facilitate the Cool Wall by reducing effort needed by the nominator (I would find pictures and stats for the nominated car), and having it get its own sub-forum. While these changes were beneficial, they simply didn't increase turnout to the Wall, and unfortunately, I think the chance of it coming back and flourishing is slim to none.
The subforum was created due to some members taking issue with the CiG forum being overcluttered by Cool Wall threads. This was especially due to the fact that I made threads more frequently than my predecessor. In terms of traffic, the new sub-forum didn't really change anything; those who already participated in the Wall continued to do so, and very few new members were brought over.I don't think that making it's own sub forum has actually helped. New threads/nominations are hidden behind another layer of clicks and have become out of sight, out of mind. I used to always contribute an opinion or at least vote on the Cool Wall, but i just forget about it now more often than not. I know the amount of threads was making the CiG sub forum look 'messy' so i can see why it was created, but i just think it's maybe been the final nail in the coffin.