What killed the forum? How can it be revived?

[Jhucke]

I saw this exact thread topic come up in a different forum I frequent so I wanted to generate a discussion here as well.

I got out of skis for a couple of years, but have recently had a bit of an interest spike after purchasing some property on a lake. When I was participating more about 3-5 years ago, the X was buzzing with new products, build threads, users, new hulls starting (and dying), PWCToday was in effect in process of dying but people still posted there sort of. Now I come on here and there is almost nothing, seemingly the same as what PWCT was 5 years ago, which was just another source to post classifieds with the occasional good thread. I know that the common response here with be facebook groups, but is facebook really that much bigger now that it was just a couple years ago?

Some reasons I was thinking:
Facebook
Cost of everything went absolutely off the rails, but what didn't? Long gone are the days of finding a $1000 superjet, RIP.
Death of the 2T superjet - I feel like there is a strong correlation here as aftermarket support for everything ranging from billet engines to oem components looks to be dropping off. I think this is a big reason why we aren't seeing ANY more product development except for a small amount of manufacturers.

What else?

Next thing is, can it be revived? If so, how?

 

[Quinc]

Every possible question about jetskis has been answered now. So a quick google search of the site gets you what you need.

 

[KMN]

The community is small, seasonal, more sources available for information than just forums, limited availability of parts, and I kind of think we've just about maxed out the innovation/potential of these skis.

After World Finals is typically the least activity, except for those November sales. People are gearing up for Daytona Freeride so there is that to look forward to.

I'd say you get much faster and more response from a Facbeook post. Where you'll probably get a more technically correct and knowledgeable response on the X, but it'll come at the cost of time and excitement.

Hard to say where this sport is going. The interest at World Finals is so low anyone can get a front row seat, on the water, and high five all of the athletes, for FREE. It's cool for me.

There is still a lot of excitement around the sport. Best advice is finding local groups to ride with, build skis with, and build general interest in a variety of skis. Hang out and stay in touch with them in the off season. Encourage your friends to blow their money on cool jet ski parts, regardless if it's in their best interest, right @800750 ?

 

[Jhucke]

Every possible question about jetskis has been answered now. So a quick google search of the site gets you what you need.

I know this seems like a joke sort of, but this is actually very true. How many times can a person post a new thread about how to convert a 650 superjet to 701?

 

[fastgtfairlane]

Simple. Delete disgracebook and people will come on back to the forums. It's kinda funny because when Facebook started, you had to have a college email to even sign up. As soon as everyone was allowed to have an account and marketplace started, the forums have started slowly getting less and less traffic. Every forum site has seem less and less traffic because of disgracebook.

 

[waxhead]

Winter

 

[SXIPro]

Once Zuckerberg gets indicted, arrested, and jailed Meta/FB will slip into obscurity where it belongs and the X will be booming again.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

The fix is simple, make a post, encourage others to do the same, I often post stuff on PWCT just so there will be new posts to view, without content there is no forum.

 

[Midlake Crisis]

I am going to blame it on back flips for the masses. With all of the innovation happening I quickly got priced out of the game. I ponied up for a B-Pipe and even some Jetworks porting, spent many hours learning and doing fiberglass and turf work to modify my SN. Most Thursdays and a few Sundays for 9months of the year (Yay for California weather!) I got a half day on the water. I loved it and enjoyed it, but the conversation and associated costs moved so far past those quaint days that I couldn't prioritize what it cost to stay current, and there isn't a lot more to discuss about my aging equipment.

 

[Quinc]

How about some guesses on the next big old thing? Jammers, Jetmates, Chickens; vintage 550 racing seems to be getting more and more popular as well.

 

[kevbo]

I know this seems like a joke sort of, but this is actually very true. How many times can a person post a new thread about how to convert a 650 superjet to 701?

Or ask what jets to use! This hobby has never attracted very many long term participants and kids now have so many more choices. The industry needs a lot of flow through people in order to survive. I know all the parts and supplies I have bought over the past 30 years would add up to a few pennies in a barrel as far as the industry is concerned. Do your best to invite a kid to ride and hope they will come back for another.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

In my experience the customer base turns over about every four years, there are exceptions of course but ion general that is how it works, I have been in it long enough to see everyone come and go a couple of times now.

 

[smoofers]

I don't think the forum is killed, far from it. There's quite a few hardcore members on here that prefer the X over facebook and for good reason. Facebook is the absolute worst for ski advice. You'll have 50 wrong answers to a question, with the one right answer from a knowledgeable dude who gets trashed by idiots. Some people are too impatient to use the X and chose facebook, often with poor results.

I do remember a few years ago this site turned into a bunch of for sale threads for high end parts flippers and any useful content got lost in the fold. Looks like most of those people moved on, thankfully.

I'm okay with the site the way it is now as the conversation is meaningful and perpetuated by people who actually want to learn and improve.

 

[kevbo]

Yes, one of our local riders organized a get together and noted that this was the fourth set of new faces since 1990.

 

[800750]

Fb and Instagram I think are the main reasons, plus age. I'd be curious what the average age of us are on here

 

[McDog]

I'm old. Jr. and Big Kahuna are ancient.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

If Jr and Big Kahuna are ancient I am prehistoric.

I keep thinking that something new and shiny will come along and replace Facebook, people will flock to this new and shiny platform and Facebook will all come tumbling down like the house of cards that it actually is, not that that will actually help forums like this, like I said if you want the forum to survive post up something, whatever you are doing to your ski , make a thread about it, someone will be interested , read it and comment on it, that's how you keep a forum alive.

 

[bird]

Not sure about your ride groups, but mine all got old. Careers, marriage, kids, and becoming lame are the top excuses. No time to ride, let alone post on forums....They're all busy on social media though, posting lawn mowing videos and sharing Karen memes.

It's a weird world we live in when you have 30 people viewing your posts on Snapchat, but only 3-5 people posting original content daily. Instagram turned to crap two years ago when your feed got invaded by people/things you DON'T follow.

People stopped posting original content(no your kids don't count), too many shares(easy button).

 

[Jhucke]

Not sure about your ride groups, but mine all got old. Careers, marriage, kids, and becoming lame are the top excuses. No time to ride, let alone post on forums....They're all busy on social media though, posting lawn mowing videos and sharing Karen memes.

It's a weird world we live in when you have 30 people viewing your posts on Snapchat, but only 3-5 people posting original content daily. Instagram turned to crap two years ago when your feed got invaded by people/things you DON'T follow.

People stopped posting original content(no your kids don't count), too many shares(easy button).

Side topic, but I discovered that in the upper left on instagram all the way at the top, there is a dropdown to change from 'favorites' to 'following'. It makes the experience tolerable again instead of 3 ads followed by 1 post you might be interested in, then maybe a post by someone you actually follow. Either way, I am with most people on here, I absolutely despise facebook. Even marketplace sucks.

 

[fastgtfairlane]

Disgracebook!!