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State of the Board Address; One Year Anniversary!
Topic Started: Jul 15 2007, 05:46 AM (926 Views)
Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Its been a year since the Garage soft launched (the 20th being our official launch date anniversary). I want to thank all of you for being here. :) Without all of you, this board is nothing.

We've had some good times, and we've had some bad times, as any message board does. Right now I'd say we're having a bit of an extended slow time. And I'm open to suggestions on how to fix that. Tell me what's working, and what isn't, and I'll make the necessary changes. Honestly with as little discussion as we have here, one can take a two month break from the board and catch up in under half an hour. When I have more than a quarter of the total posts on a board, I know there's a problem.

My own suggestion is to clean up the seperate diecast bays. Do we really need seperate forums for Greenlight, Jada, and Matchbox considering how little traffic each gets? Does anyone mind me rolling them into General Diecast or shall we keep them seperate?

Would our own domain name (swiftysgarage.net for example) help? I know most people can remember hobbytalk.com off the top of their heads, no matter where they go.

Did people enjoy the car of the day threads I did back in December? Is there interest in reviving this?

A lot has changed in the diecast community over the past year. We had a lot of activity last year when we opened, right through Jam and 'Fest '06. And after 'Fest the posting activity nose-dived and never picked back up. Or are any changes now just a case of 'too little too late'?

I'd like to know why we never caught on. Please be honest- there's no need to hold back- the truth only hurts when you try to deny reality.
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mookie427
I like this guys lack of style
aaah, it's been a year already :o my, doesn't time fly? I've just seen it's been a year to the day that I joined!

I think, as far as the diecast stuff goes, JL and HW have the most traffic, so maybe just thin it down and roll Jada, Greenlight and Matchbox into one with the General diecast board

In expanding it, registering a domain name is the next big step I think. We would certainly get more members on here if we broke free of the Invisionfree label
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bray
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Hot stuff
mookie427
Jul 15 2007, 07:03 AM

I think, as far as the diecast stuff goes, JL and HW have the most traffic, so maybe just thin it down and roll Jada, Greenlight and Matchbox into one with the General diecast board

In expanding it, registering a domain name is the next big step I think. We would certainly get more members on here if we broke free of the Invisionfree label

Happy anniversary! :yay:
I have to go along with Mookie on this, I don't see a problem with combining some of the forums. If in the future traffic picks up, you can always go back to the way it is now.
I think the name is THE issue. The site needs to be easier to find/remember. I think a great deal of the members here were refered by other members. I get the impression that not too many just wandered in here and registered. Many HTers heard about this site, but I wonder how many couldn't find it. It appears that participation on most diecast boards has been down for a while, maybe due to lack of interest within the hobby itself? Things seemed to nosedive later last year when JLs were no longer being shipped. The pegs were empty for a long period, and other brands didn't seem to try taking advantage of this. It was a diecast low point from my perspective, and has never fully recovered. My own collecting habits have been altered considerably since then, and I don't have the same drive/interest I had before. I guess my question here is, will this trend continue? Minimal participation on the boards, people giving up the hobby, less new people getting involved in diecast. Make the site as easy as possible to find and hope for the best, I don't know what else you can expect.
Just a few of my thoughts, but I probably don't know what I'm talking about :pancakebunny:
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
No, you're making complete sense. I believe there are now too many boards competing for dwindling traffic. Its sad, really.
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CenterShock
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©SwiftysGarage2014
Congrats on the first anniverasry Garage-mates!

I think www.swiftysgarage.### would get more traffic, even if it leads directly to this site.

Hmmm. How to increase activity. Lets see, if I had a nickel for every post..... That's it! Send everybody a nickel for each post! LOL Kidding of course. Send me a nickel for everybody's post.

:lol:
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STUTZ
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Diecast junkie
Congrats on the first anniversary Swifty! :thumbup:

Having more members would be nice, but if they are new members who don't post, it doesn't matter. We are ready have those members. I try to stop in everyday and post, even if it's in the Playgrounds. Active and partcipating members are what we need. You may have the most posts here Swifty, but it's because you have the courtesy to answer everyone's thread. Other boards may be bigger, but when a person starts a thread and can't get one post in their thread....it's disappointing. That doesn't happen here. You have replied to every thread that I started. I'm not into Banger racing, but I think it's great that our members have this forum. What other board is as active as your Banger forum?

Keep up to good work, be patient, we'll grow!
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AQUA XK8
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Fullsize
Swifty
Jul 15 2007, 05:46 AM


Did people enjoy the car of the day threads I did back in December?  Is there interest in reviving this?

I'd like to know why we never caught on. 

I have to concur with all of what Bray said, above. This year my computer crapped out and I had to buy a new one. I had a heck of a time trying to locate this site again on the new computer. I finally had to email someone to give me the correct link. So I'm sure it's tough-to-impossible for others to find your site too.

Although I visit here several times daily, and read what interests me, there are also six other boards that I read daily too. After doing so much reading, I'm too tired to post anything, or running out of time. Well, basicly, I just don't have too much to say about things.

Car of the day thread...I read it while it lasted. It was cool. But I can't say I miss it.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Well, as promised actions have been taken. The Jada and Greenlight forums have been condensed into General Diecast.

And thanks to a generous donation from Air_cooled65, swiftysgarage.net will start directing people to the board sometime in the next day or so.

Thank you very much, Andrew!
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19GMC63
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*custom member title goes here*
no problem. If it wasn't for you Swifty, this board would not exist. (duh, its named after you! :lol: )

As Sean mentioned, it will take 12-24 hours to take effect, right now it will just give you an error, but soon it will automatically redirect you to the board.
So don't freak out if it doesn't work for a day or so. :P
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
http://www.swiftysgarage.net/

Working now! Now we'll never have to worry about finding the Garage ever again. :thumbup:
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AQUA XK8
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Fullsize
Swifty
Jul 16 2007, 03:46 AM
http://www.swiftysgarage.net/

Working now!  Now we'll never have to worry about finding the Garage ever again.  :thumbup:


Cool! It's working for me too. :thumbup:
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Chris W
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Midsize
Congrats on keeping this site rolling for a year. I'll try to remember to mention the new domain name and URL in the Pennsylvania Matchbox newsletter. (Thanks, Air_cooled65)

Personally, glad to see that Matchbox keeps its own forum. (Don't collect Jada and Greenlight so to me those are General Diecast anyway.)

I don't post too often, but one of these days I will get some sort of photo hosting set up and then post images.

Thanks for the fun.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
I toyed with the idea of rolling Hot Wheels and Matchbox into one Mattel forum, and then I thought about and realized both brands have very different types of collectors. And it seemed unfair to Matchbox, really the brand that started things rolling, to be lumped into General Diecast. So it stays seperate. :thumbup:
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Sak
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Ezekiel 25:17
Thanks, Sean. Matchbox should have its own board. Any brand name with name recognition enough to be used to desribe a product in general (a la Kleenex) should have its own board.

How to get the word out about this place in territories that can be considered...um...hostile? A challenge, indeed! :lol: However, a very worthy one.
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Celica Baby
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Can you see what I'm saying?
Congrats Swifty on a wonderful year...And here's to many, many more :happy:
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James
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Mr.Bowtie
:wave: There are several reasons why I come and visit the garage most every day.

1. The atmosphere, everybody plays nicely with one another, Some of the other boards there is too much sniping and backbiting of each other.

2. While you foster a discussion where any comment goes, there really isn't much harsh critism of the companies, constructive yes, harsh no. I like that

3. You personally take the time to answer if not every post, most posts and every lonely post, where there have not been replies. It shows just what kind of man you are, passionate about the hobby, and kind to your fellow collectors and board members.

4. the patience of the active members here with those of us who are rather new at this hobby, and whilst I have been collecting diecast cars for close to 20 years, This past year has been the one where I set out to learn more of the hobby and seriously organize my knowledge and my assets.

5. the variation of the topics, from CotD to banger Racing, and where as I am not really into bangers, I enjoy the threads, and our British friends who seem to be so passionate about it. Our British members also bring a unique flavour into the garage, that classic british whit and humour, and different collecting habits that make this place very interesting.

5. I wouldn't worry to much about size, and member base, its not quantity but quality, and the quality of the people here is awesome. There may be at times some banter about whether Chevy's or Fords are God's gift to the world, when you get right down to it, its all about the diecast. And from what I have seen here we have some very knowledgable people, who have amazing collections, and know so much more then I do regarding diecast. I have learned so much here at the garage aout the world of diecast.

The one thing that I am not fond of here is the coffee you serve, frankly it sucks, no wait I don't like coffee anyway, so I guess I have no negative things to say about the garage.

Keep up the good work, I certainly appreciate it, and I found another Yatming for you, I believe it is a Datsun, Just putting it in the basket with your name on it and one of these days will parcel up the ones that I have. I am so far behind on some very important parcels now, So I better get busy and get them out this week.

Cheers


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James
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Mr.Bowtie
Ok I remember this now, fascinating reading then, still is, yeah and the coffee still sucks........ everything else is still true.

keep it up Swifty, this place still Rocks, or is it spelt RAOKS. Can't remember.

And it is still all about quality and frankly, Swifty's still is a quality place.

THANK YOU, GOD BLESS YOU, and many more years here at the garage.

j
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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

I'd agree with James, the coffee is not very impressive. You need to look into that Swifty. Assuming this thread was started on July 15 of '07, the 2nd anniversary is quickly approaching. Congrats on the 2nd Swifty. :wave:

For the better part of the first year, I really didn't post very much on here mainly cause I always forget the address. Seems like the more I've posted in the last several months the more I've enjoyed the Garage. I think it's safe to say that SG has grown a bit in the right direction. The CoTD threads are always a great treat to look forward to everyday and acts as a median to view castings that I did not know even existed.

I've met some really cool people on here in the last year which have expanded my knowledge of diecast greatly. Also made some great trades across national borders as well which I previously had not given thought to.

What this meandering reply is trying to say is THANK YOR SWIFTY for this site. I visit a handful of boards everyday, but this is always the most comfortable place to hang out at.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
I'm blushing right now. Thanks guys! :)

But as I've said before- without all of you this board is just an empty URL in cyberspace. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you all! :)




On a side note regarding the coffee situation. With all of the recent Starbucks retail outlets closing, there seem to be a lot of coffee servers out of work. I'll see what I can do to hire some to work here cheap...
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