What the heck happened? The forum was impossible to access now it is okay?

[Kern Dog]

The last couple of days, the site has had something going on.
With as slow as the traffic is here, I thought that the site owner either sold the site or just let it die. I've been a member here for what...14 years? I remember it being a LOT more active when I joined.
I just tried to log on a few minutes ago and it popped right up.
I remember when I joined, there were some high dollar owners and a fair amount of budget based members. I'm disappointed to see that there are so few members posting about their projects, their road trips, car shows they have entered or any new products they have tried.
The 1970 Charger Registry site seems to have closed down. I really thought that the same thing was going on here.
Remember guys like Tufcat? Cooter? Invincible Extremes? Too Cheap To Smoke? BarfySpitz? Tan Top? Skip 68? Kominion? LukeDukem ? MoparStuart ? Krops Cars and numerous others?
Did those guys all pass away? The average age of the Charger owners seems like an unlikely group to join facebook and ignore this forum so what happened?
In 2014, I joined a new Challenger forum because the wife and I were looking to buy a new Challenger. Once we got the car, I didn't visit their site much but I have popped in a few times.
Is that what happened here? Have members sold their cars or just parked them after losing their passion for the hobby?
I've tried to stoke the fire here and I really encourage others to step it up. This forum has room for improvement. I wish that the moderators would chime in besides Charger Bodie. Has anyone read from HemiGeno or the Firefighter guy in the past year? That Chryco Psycho guy has been MIA for years but is still listed as a moderator. The site owner only seemed to come around during the arguments during Covid. I'd think that a guy that owns a Charger forum still has a Charger, right? With no ads, there is no revenue source from owning this site.
Come on, guys....let's breath some life back into this place!

[will]

I don't post very much right now. I answered the phone after I retired and now I'm working 12's. On the road so no car tinkering, but I'm finally getting paid what I think I'm worth. Hopefully I'll be out of here when this plant starts up.

[Kern Dog]

Part of what confuses me is that other forums seem to be doing well while this one struggles.
Some people like the fact that this is a model specific format. Dodge Chargers of the 66-74 era is all we do here. None of the front wheel drive stuff of the 80s, no LX based 4 door Chargers either. I like that this forum caters to this market. These cars are the #1 most recognizable TV/Movie car in history. Despite being outsold by the Mustang, these Chargers have appeared in more iconic TV shows and movies that any other model of car.
The Fast And Furious movie franchise sure drove the values up, especially the 1970 models.
Before 2001, the 1970 was often looked as a distant 3rd for desirability in the 1968, 1969 and 1970 second generation model segment. Nowadays, the 1970 models command prices often equal to the 1968s.
Did the outrageous spike in values motivate forum members to sell their cars and cash out? Has the forum suffered because people sold their cars and the buyers aren't interested in forums?
Has the rise in values made members less likely to modify their cars and because of it, NOT start topics here to discuss the changes that they are making?

[Charger-Bodie]

i think all the facebook groups have hurt this site the most. everyone want instant gratification. even if the answers they recieve are wrong.

[Kern Dog]

If that is true, you think the other Moderators went there too? I'd think that they would have felt more obligated to spend time here given their commitment.

[Charger-Bodie]

If that is true, you think the other Moderators went there too? I'd think that they would have felt more obligated to spend time here given their commitment.

i think the decline in traffic lead to atleast two of the moderators exiting.

[Kern Dog]

I can understand that if the site slowed down to where one or two people can handle the traffic but their names are still listed as Moderators.

[Nacho-RT74]

ChryCo Psycho moved to Costa Rica last time we talked.

Stuart is more less active at Fb (well since we follow each other is easy for to to track him)

About the slowing on the board is not exclusive to this. Moparts what is even more generic to ALL bodies and even trucks, with waaaay lot more members and with JUST ONE board generic section for technical stuff is going soooo slow than sometimes in two days doesn't even get a second page of new replies, when years ago you have to get up to the 3rd or 4th page to get updated on every new reply.

I think already have mentioned my thoughts on this:

-Projects finished
-life happens... ppl get sick, dies etc...)
-as mentioned, Facebook has made his job, being a multi use platform with no registration needed for multiple goals with same unique profile and easy access to multimedia, makes an pleasant transition but without filters for the wrong ppl and info as mentioned. Just getting the labor to register on a board and the NEED to enter intentionally to search for info/help keeps away the wrong guys and info on boards. It is what it is.
-the fashion for resto "hobby" allways gets ups and downs...


You can see even at TV... we get less shows dedicated to this than some years ago.

[Kern Dog]

Moparts died off partly because the Moderators and owner are complete assholes.
Seriously.
FBBO thrives. That is my go-to site. They are constantly adding members and the site traffic is fast.
Why?
Partly because an environment where the members don't feel like they are being messed with all the time sure inspires people to contribute. The staff at Moparts treated many members as they would a "servant" in 1860. There was no respect for whatever positive contributions a member makes, they would ban people without warning or without explanation. The majority of the demographic that own classic cars LEANS to one direction yet the Moparts staff leaned the opposite of that. Once a staff member noticed that you thought different than they did, you were a target and they did not play fair. It stifled growth and participation in discussions. Many were banned, others just thought it was a bullshit way of running a forum and they just stopped going there.
Think about this.....if a citizen in a country feels the heavy hand of the Police and Government always watching and waiting to crack down on you, the people often just withdraw and keep to themselves.
If a site allows freedom to the members to express themselves, (while only stepping in when things actually do start to go wrong) then they feel far more likely to express themselves, to share ideas and put themselves out there.

[Nacho-RT74]

Never have felt personally or noticed anything wrong at Moparts. So I can't support your thoughts about them. Not saying you are wrong, but just sharing my personal experience.

Maybe there is some language issue or difference about interpretations I can't notice and you of course are able to notice?  dunno, maybe

BTW, Skip68 and I think Tan Top have posted recently.

I have been around here since 2002 (at the old dodge charger board) and sure I miss a lot members more... but as I mentioned, life happens.