Modern world?

[scott_e]

Interesting article on ShapChat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24925932
"Still, Snapchat has obviously tapped into a mood amongst a new digital generation that is more concerned with communicating everything to just a few close friends than telling the world their business on Facebook or Twitter."

FB hopefully starting to lose some of it dominance.

[IanD]

All I would like to say at this point is to thank you all for building a genuinely friendly community, one which I am proud to be part of.
I've made some great friends on here and without SE I doubt I would still have the Elise, at the very least it wouldn't be running!

Here's to Scottish Elises

I'm 2pages behind and in beer drinking mode and angry/frustrated/pissed off at work this week but.....my opinions...

I agree as per smee, I'm a fairly newbie but SE is what attracted me to buy a Lotus after speaking to Iain Watts at work and Graeme at Murray's. Great forum for advice and everyone is willing to help and provide advice on internet but also turn up, fix cars, drive cars and generally help each other out when required.
Agree it can be a bit intimidating for newbies but I do think that is because so many have moved on from the forum to be good friends in real life rather than tinternet and they are so friendly and comfortable as a group that newbies can be a bit left out, going on weekend camping trips spending time with the group and getting totally wrecked helps lots to meet and know the people although I still can't remember people's names.
I've enjoyed the lotus experience on SE greatly, realised my wife really doesn't like our Elise (and I've never taken her out driving anything like the speeds I do on my own) which is what time limits my time a bit in SE and Elise world especially as my Lotus buy was focused on meeting new people and have more fun and a release, indulging on SE camping weekends is bad for me as I realise when my drinking, lack of sleep and desire to have fun driving has no limits it isn't good, I really do wish I had been involved in the earlier days of SE.
SE and the people and loads of roads in Scotland I've never driven is what does it for me. I've mentioned it before but I would like to do more roads run with SE guys I trust on small roads, this seems to have died a bit and a bit of a backlash from the oldies, I do hope we can change that over time.
I end up going a lot of the Pistonheads run each year, all credit to Barry who ends up organising most of them and the effort he puts in, but I would really prefer to do more Lotus runs with guys I know and trust better in similar cars or back roads.
So my 2p or maybe £1 worth

[scott_e]

So just wondering why we dont have new folk coming onto the forum every year.

Had a look at PH today for the first time in a long time. Looking at the number of posts in the "Elise/Exige/Europa/340R" section i can clearly remember much more activity daily if past years i.e its not just SE that is suffering lower users numbers for a multitude of reasons it seems.

[campbell]

People are too busy posting their breakfast on Facebook to bother with a pesky old BBS forum

Although joking apart, Tapatalk definitely brings the phpbb platform into line with other smartphone or tablet social media tools. Recommended. Esp now it's free...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Shug]

Lets face it, also car forums in general have a bit of an image problem now. When they were a fresher idea, there was little or no stigma, nowadays the second you mention you're anything to do with a car forum people immediately associate you with the mouth breathing fraternity that have moved on from McDonald's car parks... There's a cliche about car forums which biases views - and in a lot of cases, is largely undeserved. In a wider context also, increasingly, being interested in cars is heading for a level of social rejection akin to badger baiting...

All we can do as a forum is to remain as open as we can & encourage new members. Perhaps if you want things to happen, organise them? I can only speak personally (and I didn't organise that much in the past) but life defeats me these days - I've got too much else demanding my attention. I know that also applies to several of the longer-standing members who traditionally forged ahead with runs and meets. If you've got time to organise and you want it to happen - do it. That's why we have a meets forum.

And if there are any further ideas anyone has, FFS share them with the mods - we still want the forum to grow, so anything that can help, we're delighted to look at.

[woody]

If SE started out now in a similar vein to how it did start, I think it'd be on Whatsapp. TBH an SE Whatsapp group is maybe not a bad idea, calling Sanj?


PS Campbell, Facebook is so 2010.

[Shug]

Good point - you're right. What I find interesting is that forums developed out of a desire to multi-thread conversations in groups and recent developments are reducing that back down to a single thread experience... I know one of the things that annoyed on SE1 was that (as you received posts as emails) any banter could be seen as distracting and annoying. Of course, we're now in the situation that banter has moved mostly to groups of mates that know each other and are connected on FB, so the forum is going back to a much more on-topic thing (which I don't necessarily think is good for the forum).

Being that I was one of the guiltiest of the drivel on SE1, I'm not sure I like the thought of going back to posts shouting at me and prefer the more take-it-or-leave-it experience of the forum...

YMMV, of course.

[Shug]

If you've got time to organise and you want it to happen - do it. That's why we have a meets forum.

Actually, while I'm banging that drum, if you think you want to organise something, but might not be sure of the best way to go about things to make the day as fun and safe as possible, there's a good bit in this thread about runs and some guidelines the longer serving members have figured out across the years - they work. http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... p?f=8&t=58

Also, don't expect a consensus in a post - formulate your idea and present it to people (perhaps with a couple of choices of date) All too often I've seen people post about wanting to organise a run and asking for ideas - to get nothing, or some vague interest, and nothing happens.

If you've got any queries, feel free to PM me or Campbell (forum Routemeister) with queries as well. If you want 2014 to be a year of fun runs out, crack on and get them organised

[scott_e]

I am really starting to enjoy twitter for keeping up to date with work related tech news. Added a widget to andriod so I see last post when i look at the phone. As long as you are really really careful about who you follow I am finding it very helpful. Key its to follow very few people.

[tut]

As a City Father I think the Forum is fine, as is the membership over the past 15 years. We are still getting new members at a reasonable rate and keeping a large percentage of those who joined many years ago. Some of us have had S1 Elises from the start and never changed, others have moved up through the models and now have the Exige V6, so we cover every model that has ever been produced.

The range of topics covered on here includes way more than cars, unlike most other single make Forums, and I think that is one of the reasons that we are still going strong. Many threads spring up and then carry on into interesting discussions with many views expressed which can differ greatly, but that is what it is all about, I can not be right all the time . Also personal insults are not tolerated nor straight out swearing, if it happens it is stamped on quickly by the Mods, on the other hand strong views or valid criticism is fine.

Home meets and events along with track days are still flourishing, Spazz is sold out as have been the SIDC days with Elises filling up more than half the places, so we are still healthy in that respect. However one of the biggest differences between now and then is that leaving me out of the equation, the average age 15 years ago was probably under 30, now it is more like 45, so attitudes and enthusiasm are bound to change, especially with members going from gay young things to responsible husbands and fathers(sic).

Even so as Shug said, any new ideas are welcome whether you joined yesterday or came along with the Ark, they add freshness to the Forum and keep us old farts on their toes.

tut

ps:- don't forget that Shugs so called drivel could be of immense interest to the rest of us.

[rossybee]

leaving me out of the equation, the average age 15 years ago was probably under 30, now it is more like 45, so attitudes and enthusiasm are bound to change, especially with members going from gay young things to responsible husbands and fathers(sic).

Yay!

I'm younger than the average age!

...even though that figure was plucked from thin air by tut

[tut]

Actually Ross, I went through the membership list, made out an .xls file, and put in all those that had included their birthday in their profile, which was actually a large percentage, and that gave me a figure of 44.86, so near enough 45.

tut

[rossybee]

Hahaha - haha - ha!

Did you really?

Errr my profile age isn't quite factual

[GregR]

I am really starting to enjoy twitter for keeping up to date with work related tech news. Added a widget to andriod so I see last post when i look at the phone. As long as you are really really careful about who you follow I am finding it very helpful. Key its to follow very few people.

I like twitter too

[tut]

Ross, have I actually ever posted anything on here that was not Gospel truth, if so then may I be smote down with the Lords mighty hammer.

tut