Staff @ CAFz

iTrader: (5)

Ownership has been the same since end of 2005. Over 6 years of the same people running the site. Ads have come and gone, obviously more have came and stayed. Certainly, the only person to blame for ads is me. I have tried to change with the ever growing rates and costs of running site(s), most people have to realize it just isnt 1 site 1 server but a group of sites with server management and a small bank of boxes... it costs, it isnt hostgator hosting we use. But regardless, the ads are here because I put them here.

If for a moment we exclude forum talk all together, the industry has been changing. I deal with a few shops here and there not only in car audio but in performance, parts and general maintenance. Everyone seems to be struggling due to the economy. People who have cash may be spending it more wisely than before and those people with no jobs and no income if remotely responsible arent putting all their savings into their car.... now, that being said I believe people will maintain their cars which is another world away from adding 4 12" subs and amps. So car audio.... how many shops have we seen come and go from the old CCA? I am thinking maybe 20 or over the course of the 6 years. More have jumped ship in the last 2 years than ever before, heck, 2009 seemed to bring a ton of pain. The industry is changing. The cars manufactured in the last 10 years come with nice stereos and even some proprietary systems which make upgrading lame. My 2006 car had 11 speakers, all Kicker stock, I never seen a need to upgrade. Heck, how many new vehicles come with remote start even? The aftermarket industry is getting squeezed by the manufactures. Legislation and policing has cracked down on the hobby. Its hard to have a nice car with rims and big stereo and not be pulled over by the police or stopped by MTO etc. The industry is changing and shops either roll with it and die. If you want to see a company who has their together, check out selective sound. There is a guy who is tackling the industry and the changes head on and from what I see does a hell of job still providing quality work.

Over the years I have attended the odd show here and there. The competitions rarely seen new blood, not a whole lot of new faces came out. Its a small core group of people who have all the power in the hobby to make it grow. But when you factor in all the politics associated with being those people it seems that the group that exists is only worried about keeping that group of people around, not growing. I also have a ton of faith in some of these people with regards to being great spokesmen of this hobby, i think they are the ones who can really make or break the hobby locally. But the Canadian vs American market is two very different worlds with regards to amount of draw. The USA just has more people, Canada is a small market.

The forum. CCA has always had a shelf life to some degree. In 2005/06 the previous owner was looking to offload the site. Why was he looking to sell, I dont know but there was a time when it wasn't going to exist at all. I think CCA was lucky to last in its shape and form until recently. Going to CAFz was a change that I feel was bound to happen and infact maybe happened about 2 years late because of me wanting to keep CCA going. Change was needed, our draw here was becoming smaller and smaller. I didnt want to kill off CCA but give it new life. And heck, look at Dukk, an original from even before me is still here making a go of the sport / forum.

With a forum itself comes a ton of politics. There is always someone who can do it better, there is always spin off sites, spammers and haters. The self entitled people are every so present making sure you know that they are owed. Its hard to love something when it doesn't always love you back. Just like the hobby, industry and forum, people change too. More people have left that were important to the site than we have gained and while we still have an amazing amount of resourceful people, we have lost a ton of great people over some of the petty stuff. That being said when the forum itself made the big change I personally felt a ton of relief that it had finally happened. Statistically speaking we took a hit on the change over. Numbers are down, traffic is a bit less. As of this exact moment we are worse off than we were before, but that all said I still believe it was needed and in time things will figure itself out........but if it doesn't Dukk and I will still be here managing a ghost town I suppose.

Being an alive forum isnt easy these days. Some of the most active sites I have been on have fell victim to sites like facebook, reddit, twitter and to social changes like the economy. We all do our best, I personally will do my best to keep CarAudioForumz alive and kicking.

Now specifically to you Junkinthetrunk. I never understand why people criticize a site for being dead. Its as if they are criticizing themselves. CAFz is driven by user content, that means users posts and more people talk and chat be it about SPL, SQ or even box design. When I consider the fact you take issue with the site, the ads and its a dead site and I review your contribution to the forum as a member, a member who would play a roll in it being alive vs dead I see:
Total Posts: 295
Posts Per Day: 0.19
Join Date: 10-12-2007
Again, why you dont contribute more than you do, I dont know. You have had tons of time to do so on a more positive note than to jump into the forum is dead thread. Same could be said about Car Audio2. You going to tell me that advertisements stopped people from participating? I would call bs, you participated in this thread and those ads were present.

If you dont like it being dead, participate in more threads than this one. If you have nothing useful to contribute then just disable your account and go away.

Junkinthetrunk

iTrader: (2)

Rick, in all fairness to you, as you wouldn't know but Paul will back me up, I use to be a huge contributor to this site and was here way before you came onboard. 2007 was a re-registration. I know exactly how this place was. And I've seen the decline to date. Yes, it's dependent on the users contributing, but something else has happened. A big part is the industry itself which is a monster onto it's own right too.

Staff @ CAFz

iTrader: (5)

Tom, Ill entertain the notion that you had multiple accounts. I do see one where your username was Homie
Join Date 12-28-2006,
Total Posts 16

then there's another load of accounts which share the same IP as you
LaZyLuke, Menace, ShockingCanada, avidedtr, f4llen0n3, ndinadis, MTA, Killer_klown187, da_beaver ...now I have met 3 of the group listed...soooo

Now when I look over those names I figure you must be local. Perhaps you are a Tom I know?... i dig futher (so PI of me)..

TomK ?
Total Posts: 1,649, Posts Per Day: 0.47

So if I am right you are the same guy. 1665 posts since 2002. That's a long time man. Now I am not saying (if I am right about who you are) that 1665 posts isnt good or bad, its just lacking. There is a ton of people who have way less and since the idea of a forum is to be driven by a users content, when a user isn't active he isn't contributing content.

So yea, its easy to say the forum is dead when the people who make it dead are you or have posting attributes like you. There are people who try and make the site enjoyable and fun, but times change. Why you have been inactive, I dont know. Some people leave because of life changes, perhaps their financials changed, maybe even a ban or a boycott, who knows.

I just have never been able to understand why those who dont participate criticize a site for being not so active when they are for all purposes a part of the problem and could change it right this second.

Now, looking back to the Kankar days. If I am right you were an advertiser with a banner at some point. You were part of an immediate to me banner rotation system, not what I would call an affiliate. Though at the time I am pretty sure Kankar was sharing the CCA geography with other advertisers such as Google & others. While I can say for certain that 2005 vs 2011/12 banner layout has certainly changed, I dont ever recall a vendor complaining that their own banners were disliked..... I suppose when its good for you it cant be bad for me etc.

As for what took place 10 years ago when Wade and gang ran the site, I dont remember too much of that as I am fairly certain I didn't join until March-2004. Since 2004 a lot has changed, in fact since meeting you a lot has changed. If you are who I believe you are Kankar / Treo was once a very popular brand but you and Mark have since disappeared, separated ...whatever. I think the whole industry overall has taken a beating, not just forums. We have tried to stand the test of time, we are still up and running for those who want to talk Car Audio. I could point to your very own website and ask where did it go?

We try. We do what we can. We cant please everyone but we certainly haven't given up. If you want to see the site succeed, participate. If not, dont complain that you arent participating.

Again, if I am wrong on who you are, my apologies. I am just not 100% sure I am right since you claim you were a huge contributor in the past. The guy who I think you are certainly never was that.

Dukk

Did I hear my name??

I'll agree that any board's activity is at the hands of the membership. If they don't post, not much goes on. Now, being here a couple of years I can recall that a post just like this pops up every November or so - not surprisingly when the weather turns to and people aren't so into their cars. Come April, guess what, it picks back up.

I belong to a number of boards. This one looks like Grand Central Station compared to many of them - even the other Canadian ones I'm on that popped up because "CCA suxxorz".

Meh - people can have their opinions. I used to have toy trains. I no longer have toy trains as my interest in them trailed off. I don't, however, go onto toy train websites and say they're dead, it's a dying industry, no fun, whatever..

Me, I like car stereos. I put my first in when I was 16, have been employed in car audio in one form or another since 20, and at 41 I am excited to be buying new gear in the next couple of weeks for my new car and starting a new build. It's been 7 years since I built my own car and I am totally looking forward to it!


Just sayin.

Junkinthetrunk

iTrader: (2)

Rick, I'm not hiding who I am. I find it a bit odd you feel the need to spend an hour typing how you think you found out who I am and post a page of sleuthing facts!! You really have that much time? I just would have told you and saved you a boatload of time there.

And for the record, your facts are wrong. I've posted 3 times today. Thus your numbers are way off brother! My count is now way up for this month.

Listen, just because someone may or may not like your site format, who cares. You can't chase after people and call them on the carpet with a mountain of facts. Who has time like that?? You?? Maybe not everything that gets posted, including my opinion, is 100% valid. But it is a forum whwre opinions get posted. You and I both know you can't make everyone happy. And opinions are like bung-holes, everyone has one!! Yeah, I'll admit I was a bit harsh in re-reading the first post I made, but I'm not only disappointed with the forums lately but the state of the industry. Car audio has been and still is a passion of mine, regardless of the crap I may or may not post. And I'm no longer in the industry. I work at Walmart greeting the seniors and putting stickers on their inbound bags.

Staff @ CAFz

iTrader: (5)

took me about 10 minutes to figure out who you were. you should have 1 account, you dont need 5. the rules of the site is 1. Your TomK account is still active, why arent you using it?


The count is an average. Its a default of the forum. If you posted 100 x today but had been a member for a 100 days, it would say your avg is 1 post per day. Reality is you have been really inactive in the past on all accounts and the average shows that. Its not speculation, its the facts. You can go look at your accounts yourself.

You made a claim and I was interested in knowing who you really were. I wouldn't call that vengeance and I wouldnt saying it was calling you out on the carpet. I corrected you in the very same thread where you made a mistake. You lied / stretched the truth etc, I fixed it. Its not a big deal but when the majority of your case is based around the inaccurate facts you provided it should be made clear to everyone reading what the real deal is so posts can be taken into context.

You are misunderstanding why I corrected you. I am not trying to run you off, I was trying to figure out why a guy with 200 posts is claiming he was a HUGE contributor in the past. I pointed out that your claim was inaccurate, it bolsters my opinion that instead of complaining about the site being inactive, be active Tom, make a difference.

*shrugs*
I dont have anything to add.

Mahna Mahna

iTrader: (4)

I'm on a few car hobby sites, and traffic seems to be down across the board (no pun intended). Could be the economy or could be sites competing with facebook for participation and attention.

Either way, I think the traffic will pick up as there is lots of good info here.

Now, where is that 'like' button.

luke99

economy , the cost to compete , the cost of reg fees , the keyboard comandos . the lack of shows , the lack of advertisment , all theese tie into why the scene is down

Junkinthetrunk

iTrader: (2)

I only have one account that I know of that is active that I'm using. Is there an over-lapping of some account usage that you can dig up and post up all the facts to show the community that I'm abusing your site with multiple account usage all at the same time? Really? Can you really prove this Rick??

My comment about my post count being up for this month is a joke. C'mon. Are you that stiff.

What's my lie(s)/mistakes/stretched truth? Inaccurate facts? What's the real deal? It's my opinion as I see it base on more than your time here. There's more ads. Lie? Restriction for example on responding to ads. Lie? Do I go on? C'mon. More? Isn't this stuff you brought on-board to this site. Is that a lie too?

You think that I've posted only around 200-ish times since the beginning of this site and never really contributed. Sure. Whatever floats your boat and makes you feel good about all this.

dbs

even tho i do not post much i do like checking the site everyday to see whats going on

personally i think car audio competitions will come back just like before
but maybe i am just a dreamer

my 2 cents

ps i did sign up with facebook about 5 years ago but i never went on and prefer sites with car audio like this one