Site revamp, aggressive marketing, etc.

[UltArc]

What brought me to this site was that things I already did were quantified and turned into an accepted method, not just me trying something. Although I agree that not all growth will be healthy, not everyone who is interested in elements of this site (basic engineering, efficiency) will necessarily search for it. Raising social awareness may help bring in contributors who will value the site.

For some reason, I never thought to modify a car to make it travel more efficiently. EM gave me the confidence to try, and the proven results have inspired me to get another car and take it to basjoos levels.

[Xist]

As I was going through updates, I thought about how on other sites the first response might simply be "First!", often followed by spam, and generally lacking content.

I only have people that I know and consider friends (or family) on Facebook, but I am much more active here. If I posted on Facebook "Well, my car blew up and I needed to be hospitalized," I would have people responding with "Laugh out Loud" or just hitting the "Like" button.

[jeff88]

Originally Posted by UltArc

Although I agree that not all growth will be healthy, not everyone who is interested in elements of this site (basic engineering, efficiency) will necessarily search for it. Raising social awareness may help bring in contributors who will value the site.

X2 Couldn't agree with you more UltArc. I found this site from Googling various things, but somebody devoting their time elsewhere might not think or have the time to search for 'improving MPG'.

Originally Posted by UltArc

For some reason, I never thought to modify a car to make it travel more efficiently. EM gave me the confidence to try, and the proven results have inspired me to get another car and take it to basjoos levels.

Again, couldn't agree more. There is no way I would be where I am at today in terms of car knowledge (theory and practice), if it were not for this community. I have learned a lot and gained confidence in 'modding' without the pressure that I might blow the engine or some other catastrophic event.

I always thought car companies could do so much better and although they certainly can, I can augment their inabilities with my own modifications and this site is the reason why I can even consider it let alone attempt it.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by jeff88

Metro, you've mentioned oil prices being a major factor, have you noticed anything else contributing to new membership?

Nope. That is the biggie.

EG, see: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ord-21268.html

Also:

Here's a picture of "active members" (people who logged in at least once in the previous 30 days, including brand new members) vs. US gas prices over the past year....

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 680x325.

Think they're related?

EDIT: that's our all time high, by the way, low 1800's. For the past 3 years, we seemed to have bounced around between the 1000 and 1500 mark. Let's call it a 1250 average.

FROM: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ers-19978.html

Would you be willing to let a select few create a social media portfolio on behalf of EM (either with or without collaboration with the admin team)?

Yup - we would definitely appreciate that. Thanks to input from cbaber, we're going to work out some FB/Twit/YT plans this week.

[user removed]

Just my opinion.

I think if visitors could read about different levels of "hypermiling" they MIGHT be more amenable to adapting the different levels of technique.

Presenting the different levels as steps to progress might be more effective. My best example is my wife. The last time I drove her Sorento, I noticed she had an average of 31 MPG in the Sorento (new rating 29 highway). I complemented her on that number.

She is a very non agressive driver and averages 26-27 in the Sorento. In her previous vehicle, a Nissan Rogue, she could consistently beat EPA highway tank after tank.

I think many people come here who do not feel like they can contribute to the discussion, so they just read and adopt methods that they feel are acceptable to them for their driving situations.

Things like average speed, rate of acceleration, coasting, and light timing all can make a significant difference in average MPG. Most of these are very easy to do and they do not interfere with other drivers habits, even though those habits are terrible.

I also think that when threads go down the path of confrontation, they can turn people off to techniques that could be useful, but the argumentive nature of some possibly could cause those less confrontational to just stop reading some of the posts, or believe the information is not constructive.

I do like the light handed moderation, generally allowing threads to go beyond the point where I might lock them or delete tham altogether, which is one reason why I would not make a good moderator.

Been here 5 years + now. I like to try to help people when they have a problem that falls into my level of experience, which dwindles as time passes.

Not so sure about "agressive" marketing, which personally turns me off, however as long as the "flavor" of the site remains, I will be hanging around, probably indefinitely.

regards
Mech

[MetroMPG]

Thanks (!) to cbaber who massaged the header of the site and made it a little more fetching. (Did anybody notice? I uploaded it this afternoon. FYI, the old images may still be in your cache.)

Not "in your face" changes - but it definitely looks more refined to me.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Thanks (!) to cbaber who massaged the header of the site and made it a little more fetching. (Did anybody notice? I uploaded it this afternoon. FYI, the old images may still be in your cache.)

Pretty subtle changes, but it definitely looks more refined to me.

I noticed! I thought "Hey wait a second..."

[LeZX2]

When looking at the forum activity are you looking at the number of posts, or the number of vistors to a page? I ask this because i often come on here and dont sign in(lurking)

I also agree that with more posters on a forum it tends to take away from the overall quality. I have always admired this site because of its overall maturity, lack of trolls, and arguments compared to forums with hundreds of thousands of members

[UltArc]

I recently had a thought on the design[of the site]. It seems, to me, very clean, and very clear. I appreciate that. Watching a bit of insightcentral.net, mustangevolution.com, and other forums I randomly come across (guns, random cars, other things), I find this to be the most refined. It's not complex, not obnoxious, not confusing. It's nice.

Although, I must say, attempting to use this site on a mobile phone (pda, smartphone) it is pretty rough. When I had an ipad, it was decent, the Galaxy Note 8.0, it's a tiny bit rough. Not nearly as bad as the mobile phone, though. It is important to get others perspective on the mobile android experience as I use an older version.

Didn't mean to end on a negative note, from color scheme to layout, I really like the site. As odd and boring as it sounds out loud, I really like beige and green lol

[Jyden]

I like the site, just as it is!