Trying to save ElantraClub Rating Options

[elantragt]

First, an important fact. I don't want ElantraClub to shut down.

However, the community is not where it needs to be. What we are talking about, is inactivity and passion (really the lack of passion).

First the prerequisite background for newer members...

I bought an Elantra GT back in 2002. Something I never imagined doing... buying a Hyundai. I was a Hyundai disser back in the day and looked at them as garbage. But, I loved the look of the hatchback, the price was right and the warranty great. My wife Tammy bought an '02 GLS within days of my purchase. All of the sudden we were a Hyundai family. Well, I fell in love with the car. Since there was so little online about the car I decided to start a site about them... "The Elantra GT Club". It was basically me showing off my car and asking people to submits pics of their GT's. Well, to my suprise it really took off. I started to research aftermarket stuff for the car and created a list of customizations. I posted every review I could find on the car. I was obsessed with making this site work. Then I decided to start taking "members". It wasn't a fancy set up like this forum. It was basically me asking for people to give me some info about their car and me posting the info in a "Member List". I created polls for people about Hyundai and the car, had a jokes page... got as much info for people as I could. Basically I worked day and night to make it work.

Then I decided to start a little forum in addition to the GT Club site. No, not this one. A crappy place called "Hostboard". I quickly "upgraded" to EZBoard and even though that wasn't great software, we really started to take off. I pushed for a DIY area. And as always worked hard behind the scenes. I logged thousands of hours on the community. After doing all this myself and seeing us with a 1,000+ members, I took on a couple of moderators to help out. We outgrew EZBoard and we outgrew the GT Club name so I moved the community to IP.Board where we are today and changed the name to The Hyundai Elantra Club (later shortened to simply ElantraClub).

When I made the move in 2005, it was a big step up for us and I wanted to create the best forum online, not just the best car forum. I've always known there's more to all of us than the car we own/drive so I've always had added features like puzzles, games, an arcade, chat room etc... And I developed some terrific features not seen on other boards. Later came the blogs and Product Review Zone and ElantraWiki and Garages. There is no doubt EC is a full featured community. And I pride myself on the community aspect of this place. Long term members tell me it has a family feel to it.

So here's the rub. Somewhere along the way, membership changed. The passionate loyal members we had during the XD days left or lost passion. Few HD owners are passionate about their cars and MD owners join here but rarely post or get involved. After spending over a decade perfecting this place, putting love into this place... it wrenches up my stomach seeing the passion and activity withering away. Where we used to have 400-500 posts a day we often get less than 40-50!

I realize there is much more to do online than there was in 2002 when the club started. There is much more Elantra and Hyundai info out there as well. But... for the person owning an Elantra or thinking about buying one EC is still a great place to be a member. I'm proud that I'm the founder and sole owner of EC and that we haven't been bought by a corporation and some faceless admin put in place.

I've dealt with some difficult times with my wife Tammy's Lupus and other illnesses. I pretty much do all the cooking and shopping and cleaning and driving and on and on as Tammy isn't able to do as much these days. Losing her job has made things financially difficult. But through it all, I've kept EC going and here for you.

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So, what can we do to save EC? Or, do you even care?

The current issue facing EC has been going on for some time. It is not monetary. Thankfully, our fund drive was a success. No, the real issue with EC is it's inactive members sitting on their hands. Everyone here says they like EC. Well, mostly everyone anyway. Yet when the mods or me ask members to do things that will help the community, we get silence. How hard is it to fill out your profile? Or to add your car to the Garage? When did people get lazy like this? Literally some won't even click a link to get to their destination (our VIP Chatbox, for example). It blows my mind.

As the owner, you'd expect me to want EC to survive and expect me to be the most loyal active member. Yep, that's a given. Next you'd expect the hand picked moderator team to be the most active, but that isn't always the case for a variety of reasons. Heck, sometimes I don't even get replies to posts I make in our special staff forums. And there's the trickle down effect, I think. If members see inactive moderators, they may wonder why they need to be active, right? I'm not trying to be tough here, I'm simply pointing out facts and trying to save our community from fading away.

Back in the day it was a challenge to get people to write DIY's, but, with some pushing they came through in a big way. Those DIY projects number in the triple digits. But today, members rarely write product reviews or give Trader feedback or add to the Gallery and almost never contribute a DIY. Things that would make our site better. New members join but few stick around to really become community members. Most never even post actually.

Look, I'm am not saying all this to put down anyone. I love my mod team. I am proud that people join here. What I'm trying to do is to get us back on track. To get people to just try a bit harder. But to do that, the people who are reading this need to care. If people don't give a rats then all of my begging and pleading won't matter. Maybe the fact we're a "mom and pop" outfit versus the other forums being corporate doesn't matter. Maybe the the time and effort I put into this for members doesn't mean jack shitt to most.

Remember when I deleted those 9,000 inactive members a while back? that was hard for me to do. After all, I built this up over the years and 14,000 members looked impressive. But if they weren't active, the 14,000 number was meaningless. I thought maybe those deletions might also light a fire under the members that were left standing, but it hasn't. We still have many days we're only getting a handful of new posts. Having said that, I still think removing the inactive members was a good thing.

If you like EC and if you like the idea of a community that's independent, try a little harder. This is a good place for Elantra owners and one that has the potential to be the best, the very best.

Get the satisfaction of knowing you helped make it better.

[slowgls]

Read and agree with. Everyone should read and reply.

[elantragt]

Kyle thanks and you're right, everyone should read and reply. But again, it will probably mostly be moderators as always.

We want regular members to speak up but they almost never do. That's the problem.

It took a long time to post what I did, I felt it was good stuff and important. When people don't reply, isn't that sort of a disrespectful thing?

[rstnick]

I'm here, and looking most days.
Appreciate all the info I can find for my Elantra here.
Keep up the great work.

[hyundave]

I love and have always loved EC.

I go on this site at least 3 times a day and will read every single topic. A lot of the time though I find I don't know a solution or have no knowledge of the topic. For opinion pieces, or things dealing with audio and lighting I usually post. I usually make it a habit to do one post a day. Some days I simply don't have something to say, and others I'll find three or four topics interesting and write.

I agree more people should step up on doing stuff (and on a side note I'm actually half way done my member showcase haha sorry I know it's been taking me a while). At the same time though I think being active could also mean just going on each day - even if there isn't something to post about

But as always, I love what you've been doing Mitch

[elantragt]

I'm here, and looking most days.
Appreciate all the info I can find for my Elantra here.
Keep up the great woirk.

Here's the thing. I appreciate people liking the site but there are little things members can do to help make it better.

Perfect example, you got new rims and tint, right? Well, that's a perfect time to add reviews to our Review Zone. Is it hard to write a review? Nope. Takes maybe 5 minutes if that. But that 5 minutes might help a member at some point.

Again, I'm not trying to make your time spent here "un-fun", only trying to get members to see how important they can be. And that's just it. I wonder if members realize how much they can do to make this place the best. In that sense, all members are VIP's.

[justin0426]

Because of this site, I've come to love my car even more. At first I was discouraged to keep my HD because it was hard for me to find parts and stuff. But every since I've been trying to get use to this site I've come across a lot of good stuff and ideas for my HD (Kendra) I love Kendra I can't sell her now! I am trying to become more active.

[afob3]

I'm still here almost daily even though I don't have an elantra anymore. Mostly because of the people here. Sometimes I don't have anything to share but do when I can.

I spotted this when I logged in today. I had a thread idea I saw on another site I was going to share here.... Off to contribute...

[CanuckElantraGT]

But i like being the quiet guy in the corner...

[elantragt]

Yeah well there are way too many of those quiet in the corner people here. Forums owned by AutoGuide and Internet Brands (the majority of the major car forums) don't care. As long as you log in you might click on one of their ad links. They only care about traffic so they can charge bigger ad rates. I only care about making this site the best. I can't do it all myself.

[Kate31]

Agree with ya Mitch, I know I've been one on the quiet side lately but am on here a few times a day if not more! Lets all keep motivated and focused on this awesome forum

[xdforme22]

I'm still here almost daily even though I don't have an elantra anymore. Mostly because of the people here. Sometimes I don't have anything to share but do when I can.

I spotted this when I logged in today. I had a thread idea I saw on another site I was going to share here.... Off to contribute...

I plan to move on from the XD as well, but I can still relate to this. I started grad school this fall and between classwork and being under staffed at my day job, I have had very little time to pop on here. Yet the reason I was back lately was to IM Bob with a question and get his opinion on something and it made me realize how much I missed the community. So I guess you will be seeing me on more when I get the chance!