Why are there so many views and so few reponses to threads????

Thats not always true though Karl.  I post around here alot, and I mean ALOT but my posts, WIPs finished projects, questions, they all get maybe one or two replies if that  I get no criticism at all, its why I dont post that many wips, takes a day for my post to get burried, not only on the forum but in my own 'my forums' tab.

The only times that I get alot fo replies is when people dont understand what im trying to say and take it the wrong way

smeagol the vile wrote:

Thats not always true though Karl.  I post around here alot, and I mean ALOT but my posts, WIPs finished projects, questions, they all get maybe one or two replies if that  I get no criticism at all, its why I dont post that many wips, takes a day for my post to get burried, not only on the forum but in my own 'my forums' tab.   The only times that I get alot fo replies is when people dont understand what im trying to say and take it the wrong way

I've learned that if you rub people the wrong way here, you get ignored--right or wrong. I can only offer that you've had some "controversial" posts, and often in your WIP posts, your photos are often pretty cluttered and poorly lit sometimes, making it hard to make out details. That's one reason I haven't commented sometimes. 

I think that you've also given up on a lot of your projects, and so when people don't see a finished project seen through to the end, I think maybe some peole might figure what's the point in giving advice for somehing that seems to go unfinished? Can you see where people might feel that way?

smeagol the vile wrote:

Yea, I can see what you mean, though, alot of the times my projects get shelved because I run into problems, and ask questions about how to fix it, and get no replies.

Half the fun of modeling is trying stuff on your own and fixing your own mistakes through your own ingenuity! Lord knows, I have a whole historyof mistakes to learn from!

Quite true, and I always try and fix my own problems before I ask here, its when I ask here that Iv hit a roadblock I cant get past

I can see the argument on both sides here, but when you have more than just a few people who feel there are cliques on any given forum, that tends to throw a flag that there may be a legitimate feeling of not belonging.  Now, whether that's intentional or not remains to be seen.  But, I have seen both forums and 1:1 clubs where, if you didn't build a certain way or to a certain level, you weren't regraded very highly amongst the peers of that group.

Now, I honestly haven't felt that way here.  I also accept the fact that this forum, like the publication is geared more toward military, aircraft and other modeling mediums, rather than automotive modeling, and that's fine.  We already have two publications dedicated exclusively to the automotive modeling genre, so it's not like we're not well represented.

I would just hate to think that any forum, not just this one, would lose members and interest from a fellow modeler because they feel they don't belong.  There's room in this hobby for everyone, regardless of tastes or ability. To make someone feel as though they don't belong is a sin in this hobby and we all should mae a conscious effort to include everyone ion some way, shape, or forum. Just my 2 cents worth on the subject. ;)

I lurked on these boards for a long time before I had the "courage" to post and reply to others work. Though I am not tearing up the boards with a large amount of posts I do look at many and am highly impressed by the work. Most often I don't have the skill set, or proper subject knowledge to give good input to help the builder along.

I am also not into the obligatory "Good Job!" because like many I think that sometimes they are platitudes, for the sake of platitudes.

To be honest, I am stunned by much of the work, of the many very good builders that are posted on these forums, in all genres. I truly appreciate many of the techniques that are demonstrated and I have adopted many that have only helped my personal skills.

So keep building, keep posting, and I will chime in when I can.

~Brian

PhantomPhreak wrote:

I have seen both forums and 1:1 clubs where, if you didn't build a certain way or to a certain level, you weren't regraded very highly amongst the peers of that group.

...such is life...to expect that a beginer or someone who only posts comments and questions but never finishes anything, is going to get the same level of attention as a "master" builder that is prolific on the Forum is naive'...

...those adjectives are not pointed at anyone is specific, by the way...

I agree on this...to a point.  Now, let me pose the question.  If someone does post WIP's and finished projects but doesn't get much in the way of response or feedback, then where is the motivation to continue participating?  The general feeling is there isn't much sense in taking the time to post pics and go into a detailed step-by-step account of what you've done if people aren't going to at least voice their opinion on the work performed. Some may call it naive, but the bottom line is, if someone goes through the time and hassle to post their work and they don't see any benefit from it, you shouldn't expect them to keep wasting their time.

PhantomPhreak wrote:

I agree on this...to a point.  Now, let me pose the question.  If someone does post WIP's and finished projects but doesn't get much in the way of response or feedback, then where is the motivation to continue participating?  The general feeling is there isn't much sense in taking the time to post pics and go into a detailed step-by-step account of what you've done if people aren't going to at least voice their opinion on the work performed. Some may call it naive, but the bottom line is, if someone goes through the time and hassle to post their work and they don't see any benefit from it, you shouldn't expect them to keep wasting their time.

EXACTLY!!

I bet if ChuckW's posts didnt get any replies he wouldnt go through the trouble of showing us his step by steps, let alone illistrating them, ya konw?

PhantomPhreak wrote:

I agree on this...to a point.  Now, let me pose the question.  If someone does post WIP's and finished projects but doesn't get much in the way of response or feedback, then where is the motivation to continue participating?

I've never seen anyone do that and not get a lot of responses---is your example a hypothetical??? 

I actually don't post a lot of WIP shots on my stuff (sometimes never) but still get a lot of responses to my threads...

I just got to say what I feel about this whole thing. I don't post much on these forums, but I've been reading and getting information from here for quite some time, and great information. The few times that I did post I got very few to no response. But being active in reading the forums I've noticed that those who post a lot and are more active (after a while you recognize who these people are) get faster and more response. I've also noticed in the aircraft forums there are a few builders who are extremely talented and when they post pictures of their builds they get many pages of praise about how great the build is, almost to the point where it wants to make me puke. Meanwhile the poor guy who does a so so build gets a few remarks. This is the guy that needs the guidance and comraderie to keep him active in the hobby, the other guy knows he can do a great build. That's how I see it. I still like these forums but I don't frequent them as much as I used to only because I've gotten back into my wooden ship building, which takes up a lot of my time and I go to other forums that deal with wooden ship building for help and answers to my questions and to help others. All I can say is, keep posting, don't get discouraged.

                                                                       Ken

KennyB wrote:

when they post pictures of their builds they get many pages of praise about how great the build is, almost to the point where it wants to make me puke.

Now this is funny, I dont care who you are! 

I don't think it is so much cliques as comfort level. You have to consider how some people accept (or don't) constructive criticism of their builds.

There has been enough drama of people accusing others of being rude or trolling when they make comments about things that can be improved with their build. While many would like honest comments some people only want praise and get take offense at any suggestions for improvement. As a result it seems like many just make simple superficial comments about builds unless they are fairly comfortable with the builder. As many have said they don't like to make superficial comments about a build so many choose not to comment.

KennyB wrote:

I just got to say what I feel about this whole thing. I don't post much on these forums, but I've been reading and getting information from here for quite some time, and great information. The few times that I did post I got very few to no response. But being active in reading the forums I've noticed that those who post a lot and are more active (after a while you recognize who these people are) get faster and more response. I've also noticed in the aircraft forums there are a few builders who are extremely talented and when they post pictures of their builds they get many pages of praise about how great the build is, almost to the point where it wants to make me puke. Meanwhile the poor guy who does a so so build gets a few remarks. This is the guy that needs the guidance and comraderie to keep him active in the hobby, the other guy knows he can do a great build. That's how I see it. I still like these forums but I don't frequent them as much as I used to only because I've gotten back into my wooden ship building, which takes up a lot of my time and I go to other forums that deal with wooden ship building for help and answers to my questions and to help others. All I can say is, keep posting, don't get discouraged.                                                                        Ken

I used to frequent a few photography forums and this is exactly how it was on there. The more you comment favourably on others works the more comments and praise you get on your own.  It's hard to be negative to someone who has praised your work in the past and you feel obliged to comment on their work and even if you don't like it and see problems you always had to find something positive to say. For me it became a chore after awhile

But that's human nature and it will always be like this. I've found the people on this forum to be very friendly, helpful and encouraging to everyone. If they want to only give positive feedback that's fine. There will always be people out there who will be happy to cut you down, so why not enjoy the good vibes while you can.

As for the original question I think the low feedback is just a result of the low numbers of car modellers on this site as well as the fact that FSM itself caters to the military modelers. The mag used to have a lot of auto features but they cut them out, I guess so they don't compete with Scale Auto.

I'll toss in my $.02 as a fairly new member to the forums. In my opinion the lack of response is rarely as personal as we take it or as it may seem. I tend to read a lot more and post a lot less for the following reasons.

1)TIME, life gets in the way of modeling for me. It is not my highest priority and I am not sorry for that. It is a hobby that I wish I had more time for (and someday will) but right now my time is very limited.

2) I simply read way faster than I type.

3) I am still learning how to attach other content such as photos etc, and that really eats into the time issue.

4) I am interested in virtually every type of model whether or not I build them all. I guess I have "modeling ADD", which once again contributes to less time for each forum's subject matter.

5) It is amazing to me how often I have miscommunicted intent via emails or forum postings in the past. I feel I need to read and re-read stuff in many conversations so that I do not come across in an offensive way when I absolutely did not intend it. I tend to be a very direct (and blunt my wife would say lol) person. It is amazing how much we (especially the 50 something year olds like me) rely on tone of voice, body language etc. to communicte intent during a dialogue. It is very easy to ratchet up the tension quickly in forums like these, so we probably all need a little "skin thickening" when we step in to contribute. Silence is not necessarily a sign of disapproval and we should not get too discouraged when that happens.

All that being said we really should try to encourage those just starting and struggling with the hobby. I am one of those just re-starting the hobby after a break of over 20 years and the time and encouragement given to me by experienced modelers from my past are one of the reasons I am excited to return to the hobby.

By the same token if there are experienced modelers who are regular contributors, and they get lots of atta boys (or girls) I have no problem with that at all. If they can find the time to help us all on a regular basis despite all of the issues I raised above, then I will try to praise them when I can to encourage their continued contributions. 

I don't know if I agree with the whole "clique" theory.  I think there are some different levels of comraderie, though.

Every single person on this forum started as a nobody with zero posts.  Very, very few, if any, people came here with a reputation as a great builder and none of them had some multi-thousand post count.  The people that automatically garner pages of responoses, earned it.  And not always because they build the most accurate whatever or have the best skills.  But mostly because they worked at making themselves useful around the boards; sharing tips, hints and tricks.  Honestly, having some building skill doesn't hurt either, but there's more to it than that.

Personally, I don't think I'm in any particular clique.  If I am, I don't know about it.  But a decent amount of my threads get multi-page responses.  Is it because I'm a master builder?  Hardly - at best I'm slightly above average.  And that's taken years of practice and trial and error building.  There's nothing I'm not willing to try, even if I have no clue how I'm going to do it.  And I'm more than willing to share all those tips and hints and experiences as to what works and what definitely doesn't.  But what I have done is built up friendships and trust by helping others.  That garners respect and that leads to more people willing to comment on my builds.

Another way to build up the comraderie is to join, or even start up, a group build.  At least in a group build, you know everyone in there is interested in the same subject.  On a whim, I started an F4U group build.  It's over a year old, 86+ pages deep and still active.  I made a lot of friends just from that build.  And I also learned a lot from people who have way more skill than I.

Just posting isn't enough to get, or expect, responses.  Unless your first build is especially extraordinary, it's going to take peole a while to feel comfortable enough to post comments.  Start slow, and work on building your skills.  With time and practice, you'll get a reputation as someone who does good work and people will post.

Honestly though, in a build thread, I'd rather no one posts than get a bunch of phony "attaboy"s from people just looking to boost their post count.  If I post on someone's thread to tell them I like their project, I'm going to tell them exactly what it is I like.  And I have no problem telling someone what could be fixed or done differently, either.  People won't get better without honest, constructive criticism.

-Fred

I do not respond to posts which have no interest to me.  As an example, there are currently Name Your Plane and Name Your Track posts running.  I have no interest in either though I looked at both.

I do not respond to posts on areas where I have no knowledge, although I may have looked at them.  

 I do not respond to posts seeking generic opinions such as Best Kit Of All Time, Worst Kit Of All Time, Most Famous Kit Of All Time, Best Kit Maker Ever, etc.

WIP posts usually have little interest for me.  We all build.

If u txt ur msg, I will not respond. 

I have an hour for lunch, which is when I do most of my surfing of modeling websites.  I visit 5 or 6 different sites.  It's not possible to post a response on every thread that I view.  I imagine it's the same for many others out there.

So, if something strikes my fancy, I may post a response.  But I view far more threads, than I respond to.

Regards,

Brad

i'll tell you why i rarely post. it takes too long on this forum. often it loads the top bit down to the advert, then it sits there for a while before loading the rest of the thread.

also it's a pain that there's not a 'reply' button at the bottom of the page, if it's a long post, you have to scroll back up to it.