I never understood why a lot of people did not jump on forums to learn or find things. Last year someone on the M30 page told me that forums “were irrelevant and are hard to navigate”.
Now, most of the groups I follow are of older cars. So these cars have been thoroughly researched.
When I bought my cars, I always did heavy research into them. I looked on forums, blogs and articles. Even older magazine articles. I consider myself an enthusiast, so I want to be knowledgeable about my cars. I want to know the ins and outs of my cars. And I never try to blindly ask questions that are easily solved by either reading the manual or posted on forums/websites. When it is a car that hasn’t or wasn’t thoroughly researched on, this is when people started doing research together and help with the community of that specific car.
I feel I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t research my car and know the basics.
Often times when someone asks some basic question or something they can research themselves, I always reply, “forums” or “manual”.
A guy with a fully done VIP Lexus LS400 with newly done up animated LED lights asked where the fuse box was in his car. The enthusiast in me always questions those people who don’t know the basics of their car. While the guy was cool, I asked about the manual, and he mistook it as “manual transmission” and his friend had to point it out to him. Owner’s manuals have basic information for the owner of the car.
On a 240sx fb group, some guy got mad and at me for just putting, “forums” as my response. He said I was wasn’t helpful and negative. My response to him is that pointing someone to a forum or a resource site should NEVER be looked at as a negative. In fact, his basic question could be answered right away if he would have put effort in researching his car.
The same guy responded that forums are difficult to navigate.. which I had to laugh. I told him to register and search. Simple. Even some topics have been pinned. Some forums have step by step write ups and things that could be help to ANYONE learning the car. Again, this was someone who picked up a 240sx… a car that has been thoroughly gone through.
This was in 2017. The 240sx came out in 1989. This question, asked a million times on forums YEARS AGO.
While forums are not as social as before, they have a historic and research component to them. Many specific forums are just resource sites now and it is sad that many new owners and new generation of car guys ignore forums.
When that guy told me forums were hard to navigate… it made me laugh in a sense that you are the most technically advanced generation, yet the patience to figure out how to “navigate a forum” was difficult.
Maybe people need to step by step guide?
After registering and logging in, look for a forum or sub forum of interest:
In this case, 240sx forums on Nicoclub:
After clicking on which forum you specifically want, it will bring you to all these topics:
So you have options here: you can click and read (and learn!!!) or you can post a topic or question (make sure to search) or you can reply to topic giving or asking for more information.
Another point some idiots like to make is that “the forums feel outdated” or something along the lines that reference something is “older” and “not relevant”.
Yes, having an older car, but not wanting to read how people solved these issues YEARS ago is irrelevant because “it’s on a forum”. SMH.
Acuralegend.org forums
Many forums have RELEVANT information that an owner of an older car can learn from. Even though the information HAS been out there, some new owners want to feel like they found or discovered something new on an older car.
Now, unlike a facebook group page, many topics/threads continue, so if you wanted to follow someone’s build thread, you would find all the info there. Now on fb group pages, it’s sporadic. Also forums are dated, you can see when people made posts, including write ups and discoveries. Often times, on fb pages, people keep posting up the same topic or info because the organization is not there. It is just current post on top.
I do get the convenience of being on facebook and jumping on a group page and asking questions and conversing… but again, I think as a car person, it is your duty to learn about your car in different ways.
Again, while forums are not as social, they are archives of information. In fact, if newer owners actually put the time in, they would continue information by putting in what they have learned or recently discoveries/repair ideas…
The sad thing is, many informative forums and sites have gone down and away. Other forums and sites, including f31club, are evolving to these changes. As someone who is keeping f31club going, I’ve decided to keep the forums up and archive and rebuild the forums (our forum got hacked and pictures were lost). Every time I learn something new, I put it on the forums in the proper topics. I do this because I know long term, I will be an owner of the M30.
In closing, while people try to find excuses to AVOID going on forums, you are doing yourself a disservice by not learning. Yes, many forums are from another era, but so was the mindset, the history, the car builds, the ideas… but much of the information is there for maintenance or upgrades.