Then or now

I was doing some digging like I always do when I get curious about things of the past. I remember when I first got here the moderators were a bit different. Joe and jake were still here. Now I wasn't really aware of much that was going on at the time and I didn't know the whole situation with them at the time. I just wasn't a very active member back then. But upon reading the threads from the past especially the one where it seems jake got banned everyone had such a bleak outlook on things. There are quite a few members that were around then that are still around now. Someone even said they thought that Joe and Jake were the glue that was holding this forum together? Obviously that wasn't really the case. Now my questions for you, espcially you old timers is:

How do you think things are now compared to then?

I personally feel that we have made our section of AF a very positive place to be.

Do you like things better now or then? If now or then, why?

What do you like now?

What did you like then?

Do you feel that our part of the AF is better or worse than it was amost two years ago?



This isn't a discussion about joe or jake. But about the state of our forum then and now.

I believe that our part of AF has grown more and more into a tight knit community, and I find that we have a wealth of knowledge at our disposal.

I'm an old timer. I like it now. We have cool people being mods who know stuff. Sure the rest knew their stuff too, but it seems "friendlier" now. I'd rather be here now then before. I like everyone here now. It's more peaceful and relaxing here. No one acts like a no-it-all.

I liked both then and now, but it was a tad rocky in between there at times. Back in the day, I liked how we had four uber wisemen and that seemed to know absolutely everything about DSM's, but everything seems much more friendly now.

For a while there we seemed to not have quite the knowledge base, but I definately think we are rebounding from that. Seems everyone has blown a motor or two, many of have rebuilt an engine or two, and theres a few that are getting good at tuning. Not to mention dealing with all the little bull shit problems DSM's encounter in the process. I bet at latest by the end of next summer, assuming all of the regulars stick around, we will be atleast back to the knowledge base of yesteryear. We all just gotta stick around and get traffic up... the ETL section is going up.

I haven't been here as long as some, but I like the way it is now more. I remember when I first joined, there was a lot of hostility all the time. Everybody was on edge for some reason. There was just a weird sort of tension between mods and average users. But it was a place where if you had a question, it would get answered as long as it was a coherent post. They knew what they were talking about, and they answered the tough questions that not many others could.

That being said, I almost think the way it is now is too lax at times. It is a lot more friendly and orderly, but it just feels like people get away with a lot, myself included. All the threads that go completely off-topic and run for pages on end (not talking about the word association thread, that was a designated shit thread) and people just go overboard. Not saying it's always a bad thing, but for some reason it annoys me sometimes when I read a post about something and somebody switches it by telling a story not really related at all, and then every fucking person has to chime in and tell one so the thread goes 3 pages of nothing and the original poster who had a problem or something dosn't get much out of it. Not gonna mention certain people or threads, but I notice it a lot. But maybe I'm just being lame, who knows.

Just my :2cents:

I ahve to agree with | Eclipse | too. Sometimes it does go overboard with some topics. Also, I hate how someone answers, and then 8 people ahve to agree. Someone posted a while back how people respond to posts, like how it takes one person to make a post, 8 people to agree, 1 to tell a story, and so on. It's exactly like that. We don't need people going "Yes" or "I agree" to something that someone just said. If you disagree or think something else, then say it. But don't be like "+1", or "Yes". We get the point. I'm guilty of doing that too, but I think that could change.

I liked both, then and now, but different things about then then now. Like everyone said, there was like 4-5 members that seemed to know EVERYTHING and could answer almost any question, but most of those guys were way to "moody" it seems. Either they answered the direct question and said NOTHING else (no personal opinions, input, etc) or they just flamed the shit out of them. When I first joined, I wasn't on alot, but it was a very good forum, then it started getting rocky and jake started getting into shit and everyone was being bitches. It has rebounded some, but we're still not up to where it came from when I originally joined, but we're getting there! I agree with Dustin, if most of the regulars are on here in a year from now, we'll be back to where it was when I joined, if not better.

Back when Jake & others were the mods, I was roaming around the site under a different name and only stuck around the DSM forums because of the drama. I noticed that quite a few people who thought highly of themselves were stuck up. Now though, the DSM forums here is like a real community where the mods asked for community input, and the cummunity depends on the mods to keep this forum in order (which they do an excellent job of :)), which I like. The mods now are people who I would actually be comfortable with meeting in real life and having a couple beers with and seem to have a lot in common, which makes the member-moderator relationship easy going for new people and automotive lifers, heh. I find it very easy to trust the mods here, and that's another important thing, and the past can really back this one up. I always see this forum improving and moving forward, and I couldn't pick a better team of mods than the ones we already have. Yeah, I'm a kiss ass :D Good job guys.

Everything is now so much more laid back and a nice place to hang out and shoot the shit, or find some pretty damn good tech help. :2cents:

Jake = assclown
Joewagon = cool guy, but sometimes too harsh
Joemathews = cool guy
Lando = cool, but a smartass lol

I like it better now, eventhough the above mentioned people were true DSMers with some undeniable knowledge.

I agree, we may have lost some of the more knowledgable people, but the atmosphere now seems a little more laid back, and everyone is a lot friendlier with each other. I think we've grown more tight knit than before, and also, this "new era" has seen some important changes to the structure of out forums, such as the implementation of the sub-forums, etc.