I think a lot of people have simply moved on and interests in life have changed. I still keep in contact with quite a few members who no longer come onto the forum and i can see that their lives are differnet to what it was when they were an active member, gotten families, moved houses, changed jobs etc which all impacts on the daily things they were used to doing.
I for one spend more time here than FB. I hate FB, its just full of mind numbing crap, and my thumb gets sore from scrolling too much. I wish I could spend more time on here, but im doing 10-11 hours days at work and all i want to do when i get home is veg out on the couch, then the weekends are just chocka block full with house reno's, which never end. I get the spare 5 minutes or every few days to jump on and see whats happening, then work wants to get in the way with that. Lol.
My 2c
AB (12th June 2025), BrazilianY60 (12th June 2025), Cremulator (12th June 2025), pearcey (12th June 2025), Touses (13th June 2025), TPC (12th June 2025)
Face ache sucks. I only joined it to sell stuff. Even that is a chore I don't want to repeat, but must, as the old ways of doing things are dying out.
If you want to talk, Plassy, P.M. me.
My advice is: not to follow my advice.
Thats a bit harsh Plas, Yes i am not here anywhere near how much as i was in the glory days and thats a shame. Yes Social Media has fuked this place and just about every forum with this type of format on the Net which is scary because Social Media is full of flogs and mis-information and there is no structure.
I come here far more often that you think mate. I would do a Spam sweep 2 or 3 times a week. Trust me there is Plenty of that. I generally use the same "Whats New" List as you do to chase down the spam and find plenty. As soon as i sweep the Spam out the Whats New list halves because there were actually No New posts there, just spam. That is Constant. I dont wait for Reports and probably ignore the reports anyway, i just sweep up a couple of times a week. The role of the Moderator here has always been the Sweeper, there is generally no Conflict to Moderate and there never really has been. A credit to the Members. The day i posted the above comment i removed a Spammer that had 120 spam posts on the forum! I'd never seen anything like it! blew my mind to be honest!
I think Mudski put it best, Life rolls on and people's priorities change.. New cars, Babies, New houses, Marriage, New Jobs. All of these things change our behaviours and our Priorities.
For me, I lost a 22 Year Job that i was going to Retire doing 2 years ago mate and lost an un-fair Dismissal that cost me my entire Long Service and payout to Loose. I did 22 years and Never took a sick day or any of my long service leave. Then had to figure out what i was going to do to save my fucking house as my wife is 5 Years on Workcover and No Income or compensation. I did Commission Only for 12 months and was 4 months between pay checks. I was working 16 hours a day for scratch, self funding everything to finally see a Commission a month before running out of Mortgage payments...What Forum!
I now work at a Partner level for a company and im still at my desk. 60 to 80 hours a week is pretty standard so logging onto the forum at 7:30pm is a Luxury i rarely take. Mortgage, Family Both trump the Forum.
My "Mates" have all got things happening in their lives that mean i dont see them much. I have a small group in a 10yo chat and thank fuck for those guys. half of those guys go missing in action off a group chat which is a safe space. If i cant find them there they aint gunna be here. Life took them in a different direction. A couple of those Mates have had some pretty heavy shit to deal with too that you are aware of, that aint their fault and it means they aint Here.
This place has help ground me many many times. Im not sure what life would look like if i had never come here. My closest and Dearest Friends are guys on met on the Internet... Some of their kids call me Uncle.
If you would like Moderator Access i can arrange that for you no problem. @AB can you sort out Mod Access for Plas please.
Dont Tell me i Dont Care mate.
Its a Nissan! =====> Its a Keeper!! ....... Got a TD42 in it BONUS!!....... I'm a lucky bugger! I've got 2 of em!
Check out my Toy --> MudRunnerTD's GQ From the Ground Up
The only good thing about an 80 series is..... the front end?? Wrong!!, the Engine?? Wrong!! the Full Time 4WD system?? Wrong!! Its the NissanPatrol.com.au stubby holder fitted over the transfer lever.
WARNING: Towballs used for recoveries can, and do kill people and damage property.
BrazilianY60 (12th June 2025), Cremulator (12th June 2025), Hodge (13th June 2025), jack (12th June 2025), mudnut (12th June 2025), mudski (13th June 2025), pearcey (13th June 2025), TPC (12th June 2025)
Thanks for the explanation Darren, this has been bugging me for ages. I check the forum from a couple of devices and couldn't understand why I only saw a couple of posts and nothing over a day old.
I went back and checked a couple of threads to find heaps of unread stuff, I haven't stayed logged in on any device so will see what happens if I stay logged in.
Cheers
Jack
2024 Isuzu MUX
Formerly 2012 Simpson 50th Anniversary Edition.
WARNING: Towballs used for recoveries can, and do kill people and damage property.
Ok I’m just going to say this: Darren I apologise. I don’t think I said you don’t care, but that you and the leadership team here in general were absent. I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that from the public face side of the forum.
@AB I apologise for maybe causing some offence to you. It wasn’t my intention and I only have admiration for what you have built here. I love the place and wish it was as vibrant as it was in its glory days.
I know there are guys here that have gone through, and are going through some serious shit way worse than what I have. But as for me, well I’m ok but nearly not. The past 12 months has been a train crash coming in slow motion. It hasn’t happened yet but it’s got to the last braking point before the bend so for me I need to get a few things right again. One of those things is working on an ever shrinking short fuse and the underlying causes for it. So for the time being I’ll be off air for a while getting some things sorted.
Thanks mudnut and TPC for the offers, appreciate it.
Gong him Red!!
My short stab at the forum/s, becoming digital empty hotel rooms. A lot of good points were mentioned above already.
I've been a piece of furniture in 3 different forums, one of them literally for 2 decades now. A Computer geek one, Plane spotters and this one (Patrol).
All of them have diminishing activity in recent, I'm gonna call it , 6-7 years or there about. Including this one!
People come and go. Some stay, some move on. Some poke their head in once in a while. Some people, cut the forum's interest out of their lives, and feel like they don't belong or nothing more to contribute to the forum. (For example if some sold their Patrol, they feel like they don't belong here no more). And a lot of them have... And then there is the obvious, social media, FB etc... A lot have moved to that platform.
I have a few folders or photos, taken from all the meetups Ive attended and 4x4 runs at Tallarook, Wombat etc...
And there's so many people in the photos and their Patrol, that were stout members here and regulars. And then all but vanished...
Natural progression of life I call it.
I my self have been generally quiet around here. Bit of lack of time, and bit of shit going on in life... Some may be aware of it, and have been PM-in back and forth, in the past. But as mentioned by a few of you above. People are going through shit. Some rough, some not so much.
I had a heart episode 2 weeks ago. Rapid Atrial Fibrillation, which led to a cardiac arrest an hour and a half later. Lucky I was already amboed to resus unit before that happened so they had the zappedy dooh-daahs to correct that.
Bit of a scare and an eye opener for a generally fit and healthy bloke in early 40s...
Life is short and can suddenly shovel shit in your face, so you gotta make the most of it every day!!!
So, in saying that... It would be amazing to have a forum meetup somewhere!!!
2005 TD42TI