Team-BHP - Other Indian Web Forums are dying | That's a depressingly big loss for Netizens

I could think of multiple reasons.

Social media-based groups where the focused discussion takes place (look for ownership groups). Some are curated but most are not. Ease of access and relatively simple editing setup makes difference too.

Whatsapp groups are flourishing, I started one for Brio ownership (curated) and I am surprised to see it grow and there are ample Brio specific/ cars related general discussion on daily basis, however, our Brio thread here seems to get occasional updates only.

Most of the forums use legacy platforms which are very hard to live with and scale. Its time to realise design languages have evolved and overall user experience need a major overhaul. Heck, even 3D car logos are going flat!

I don't think the spirit of community-based information exchange is dying, just that people are finding convenient places to exercise.

I've been a regular follower of TeamBHP. I used to frequent IRFCA but lately, I visit it occasionally. It's a good forum for trains. My interest dwindled when they stopped updating the open line section which used to have daily updates with new snaps. Some snaps are really beautiful. But the forum discussion still goes on and it's good.

With advent of Facebook and YouTube, most of the forums have lost charm. I don't use Facebook but for satiating the railfan in me, I visit YouTube. And similarly for other needs too. Google also plays a part in lesser forum discussions now as anything you search on Google will lead you to some or the other answer. And one important tech we are missing that's worth mentioning is the smartphone, it has reduced dependency on computers. But the forums haven't been able to shift in a better way to be smartphone compatible. With newer technologies and different ways to look up things, the forum discussions will indeed shift in some better way. I would not like these 2 forums to die.:unhappy

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 5029513)

XBHP had merely 7 updated threads in 24 hours :disappointed. Sucks for what was once a major motorcycle community

Boss, they're making a big time impact in real life, meaning, they exist in real life more than virtually online.

I'm not supporting them, just taking a different perspective. xBhp has traveled/ridden through several countries, ridden every exotic motorcycles (and some cars), made several great Indian road trips, CONNECTED with all possible motorcycling groups in India, most folks in the community know Sundeep Gujjar by name & face and some may even have Sunil Gupta's personal number, they even run a extremely high quality monthly (printed) magazine with high quality contents aimed to higher shelf life, they've arranged track days for their members.

What I mean to say is, though their website may attract less attention, almost no valuable content, Their Model of Business is Different & they're growing stronger over the years.

Edit - And they're even hiring :D

I think the social media based influencers are a big reason why the community based platforms are dwindling. One would like to think of the social media (YT/FB) as communities, but really they are a sect or a cult , once critical mass is achieved. A truly secular, democratic ,unbiased approach is all but gone. Either you are a fanboy/girl or a troll. It is also reflective of the sad fact that people don't want to think, research, discuss and debate anymore.

The power of a community forum is the ability for people to freely express their opinion, no matter how much vitiated it becomes at times. And of course, the presence of moderators is vitally important to stop platforms such as ours from becoming another personality cult.

In the Vedic ages content and knowledge was shared by verbal exchange and learning by rote. Then came the written word. Then came printed books and their offshoots, magazines & comics. Then came Radio & TV. And now the internet which in turn went from public forums to semi-private forums to mobile based mediums such as WA and Instagram etc.

Of course I'm stating the obvious in the paragraph above. Through all these changes of medium and methods of delivery remain two constants - (i) depth, relevance & meaningfulness of content; and (ii) quality of discussion and exchange. So let's get a bit deeper into both.

Depth, Relevance and Meaningfulness of content comes from all of us the members. That makes it original, genuine and sincere. Even if you don't agree the other guy is writing what he genuinely believes or has experienced. This quality of content and the way it has been channeled by the founders and moderators is what makes Team BHP stand out. Forums that are focused on a subject in a manner that is narrow enough to know whom it is meant for and deep enough on that subject(s) to excite the true enthusiast/professional/buyer will, IMHO always have a place on the internet. That is one attribute where Team BHP scores.

Coming to the next constant - Quality of Discussion & Exchange - here the credit goes entirely to the moderators and founders for their incredible hard work , objectivity and consistency over a decade and a half. This attribute, I believe, is rare, very rare in forums. And it is this attribute which is the internet world's quality by design & control {to borrow from the industrial world} that makes Team BHP so attractive to most users and has led to its steady growth. It is this that has kept the unsocial style and polarization, found sadly across most sites, out of Team BHP. It is the reason that keeps so many of us in on Team BHP.

So what about tomorrow. To stay relevant for tomorrow Team BHP needs to get onto - Video, Voice and Vernacular. I'm not mentioning superior mobile experience as that is now a given; but yes that too. Increasingly, watching tech shifts from a balcony seat I see this interface on a typewriter like keyboard in English language giving way at least in part to Video, Voice and Vernacular. IMHO from what I see in internet and e-commerce businesses is that any one ignoring these three will hit swampy ground very soon. I don't have any information on how tech wired up the moderator-founders-management group of Team BHP are but I would seriously request them to look at this to keep our forum alive for the next generation of users.

Moderation has been the differentiator for me when it comes to TBhp. In my opinion all the great work that the mods do in the background to ensure that discussions remain relevant, focused on the topic, non-political/religious, not personal, non-commercial, and to ensure that the topic moves forward is what makes this forum different.

What would be great now on Tbhp is more diversity. And no, I don't mean more female members (though that would be good), but a diversity of opinion. While we do have people from different parts of the country and even some parts of the world, the overwhelming majority of members are from a certain demographic, age range, experience range, socio-economic status, and predominantly urban (that includes and describes me perfectly too!). That is understandable given the nature of the medium but that also reflects in the views and direction (often predictable) that most discussions go. Most of us might think it's diverse, but it's more like the typical MBA batch in most Indian B-schools (80% engineers, male :)). Which is to say, not really diverse when looking at the overall demographic of the country.

(Just my 2 cents, I really enjoy reading posts on this forum, even more than posting, I do learn a lot.)

Thriving online community depends on a number of factors - the expert level contributors, subject matter, the number of people willing to learn and contribute and so on. I was a moderator in Searchengineforum about 20 years ago. It was a pioneer in disseminating information about the search engines and Web technologies. But sadly after the demise of its founder, it died out.
The reason why Team-BHP is still growing strong is - it has expert level contributors from a wide range of fields - from aviation to cookery even though the focus is on automobiles. Look at the level of enthusiasm shown by GTO - over 60,000 posts which were thanked 195,000 times - ie each post was thanked in an average of 3 times. He takes the time and effort to prop up new posts in any topic. It is a full time job. Most of the moderators are working hard to sustain the quality and infuse enthusiasm here.
Like I said earlier, this forum covers everything under the sun - not just cars. So any new comer who arrives on the scene looks at the topics and gets sucked in for good. It is addictive. Thank you GTO and your moderators for the splendid job. May your tribe increase.

If this discussion filters out non-Indian websites, then xBHP will be the go-to for anything related to two-wheeler's. That website may not be as lively as T-BHP but has all the information under the sun related to two-wheels. For cars, it is T-BHP, no doubt there and there is competition.

Even Facebook has individual groups for models on sale - the other day I spotted a Kia Seltos GTX+ DCT group with ~200 members and 7 posts a day. I am in Hyundai Creta group with ~14,000 members. Drop in a question and one gets an answer in half an hour. Since YouTube has everything then why will many bother to open websites, search and 'read' whatever they want. A few clicks and a video is available.

In General - Laziness.

There is very little enthusiasm to actually do some research about a topic, people in general like to follow someone who they think is a legitimate authority on a topic - its that simple. The way this content is served is often through Youtube, its a one way broadcast with people battling it out in the comments section.

A Forum like T-BHP will often poke a hole through such content. Here people would like to read, but I wish more people would look through our archives, its a treasure trove of information.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 5029513)

As a BHPian, you will have undoubtedly learnt a lot from this community, not just on cars, but even other stuff like Astrophotography, Philately, Fighter Jets & Bodybuilding!

True.
This, along with some forum protocols and moderation is one major USP for Team-BHP.
Kudos to every single active member of this forum

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 5029513)

P.S. Our forum activity levels have gone up by 25 - 30% in the last 2 years. We're growing, but we're an outlier among online communities. Team-BHP has hundreds of teenage members signing up too, clearly proving that youngsters serious about sharing & learning are attracted to forums.

Every time I hear about the volume increase (not specific to Team-BHP), only this comes in my mind

Other Indian Web Forums are dying | That's a depressingly big loss for Netizens-8crqpc7gjvu51.jpg

I don't mean to hurt anyone and I repeat, this is not specific to Team-BHP. These days we get to have a plenty of new threads on diversified topics. But I personally feel some content (especially the poll types) don't have any meaningful take-away end of the day.

Recent example is on the Car Graphics (no offense to thread starter)
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...t-factory.html
This is purely subjective and to each his own. End of the day what we are trying to get out of it is nothing but a web traffic IMO.

And in recent past we had threads on timeless car design and ugliest cars. Every car in the market can be found in both the threads.

PS: I won't be surprised to see a thread elsewhere asking for a suggestion "Please suggest a European 1.0L turbo petrol hatchback in Red color with 15" alloy wheels & 9.92L OTR"

Quote:

Originally Posted by akshay380 (Post 5029823)

Similar story with Bharat-Rashak forums. I learned so much there.

There was a time when there was very civilized and in-depth analysis there especially from many knowledgeable members.

Many left that forum and from there on the quality went downhill - reasons were many, including infighting between members, ultra nationalistic views etc.

Sad to see that independent / opposing views are not tolerated much in the present society. The attitude 'respectfully agree to disagree' is fast disappearing in the present world.

As for the other automotive forums and discussions, I think the general trend is to view those youtube videos for information rather than taking the trouble for reading and asking questions.