Is eLightbars dying out?

I 26

Member
Sep 9, 2010
315
Vancouver, Canada
There just doesn't seem to be nearly as much traffic or activity on here as there was 15, 10, or even 5 years ago. Where has everyone gone? Is it a lack of interest or another platform?
 
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RyanZ71

Member
Jun 14, 2011
1,001
Denver, Colorado
Facebook is slowly on it's way out, give it time. Same with Twittie Twitter, eventually instagram.. and so on. Remember MySpace? AOL? yeah. Everything has it's prime and then fades away as the crowd moves onto the next big thing.
 
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OSP959(R)

New Member
Mar 22, 2011
720
Ohio
I fully agree. I've owned a website for over 20-years, and I've seen websites and groups come and go. Many people have migrated to facebook. Especially the younger generations.

I don't like facebook. I believe in privately owned forums. Plus it's easier to follow conversations in a forum than facebook.

I miss the days when elightbars was less commercial. When people could list all there items in one thread instead listing things in multiple threads. To me, a thread full of items for sale is like going to a swap meet. There's pleasure in sifting through everything. It just doesn't seem like there's as much stuff being sold lately.

I don't think elightbars is dying. A forum is a community. We as a community just need to liven things up some, and try to steer people on facebook in to the forum.

Honestly, I come here looking for vintage items for sale, and to see the older stuff people have found and added to their collections.

There's another swap meet coming up near Cincinnati. To far for me. It would be nice if we could set a date here for a virtual swap meet, and get people to go through their stuff and see if they have anything they're willing to get rid of.
 

RyanZ71

Member
Jun 14, 2011
1,001
Denver, Colorado
I don't think this site will die out either. I am on a number of forums/sites.. automotive, snow blower, lawn mower, electrical, HVAC, I've seen some where activity really cuts down for 1 or 2 years and then one year things really pick up again. I think we'll see that happen here in time. It has been a rough year. Let's hope for a better future. But I suspect for 2021 and maybe even into 2022, COVID will still be a big issue. Even with the promise of vaccines and such, it takes time. all in good time.
 

Sparky_911

Supporting Donor
May 15, 2013
2,648
Central Illinois
It does seem that things have slowed a bit. Ebb and flow is normal though. I've been reading a lot but not selling anything cuz work and life are in the way right now, which I'm sure is going on more these days with everyone.
 
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2004p71

Member
Aug 27, 2010
367
canada
I have been on crownvic.net since 2003 and even with 46k members is still dosent run as it used to be . Like it's been mentionned facebook is the new hip thing in town and it's more convenient,faster for the younger gen that cant wait more than a minute to get a reply or seeking attention .
Post, on forums are generally of a better, higher quality more detailed with proper grammar but it takes time to do so but it keeps quality people around .
 
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MtnMan

Member
Dec 20, 2012
1,533
Eastern PA
I enjoy this community of good people and their expertise, but traffic has slowed to the point that I visit less often. Unfortunately, I think the loss of archive files hurt, and it seems like there's been an increase in transient members who drop in to ask a question or reply to an ad and then disappear.

Social media platforms like Facebook are very effectively engineered to "engage" (i.e., provoke, capture, and manipulate) their users with constantly churning content, ads, ads disguised as content, notifications, reminders, invitations, events, etc. It's tough for and old-fashioned text-based forum to compete.
 

Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
Yes but don't forget those other apps and places like facebook take your info, contacts, etc etc and put them to their use. I was invited to use WhatsApp for my canteen and 9463 foundation and after reading it's terms and conditions I found it to be unacceptable to me, I refuse to have it take my info, data, contacts etc and put it out for sale. To hell with them.
 

Turd Ferguson

Member
Jul 3, 2011
2,250
Sumner, Wa
I'm an administrator over on another, unrelated forum and we're seeing similar stuff. Traffic is slow right now what with the crapid19 stuff, and between some places reopening and people going back to work, others still out and worried about their future, the forum life kinda takes a back seat. Also we just had a major election in our country (I know we have a few members here from outside the US) which adds another layer of stress for some. On my other forum, more than a few member over there are farmers, so they've been busy with harvest and all that. I think it's just life and all the unusual circumstances that have come with this year that shall not be named by me again.

Now if you wanna see a dead forum, go look at hamsexy.
 
Jun 18, 2013
3,709
PA
Is it dying? Not sure TBH. I still mostly lurk in the vintage sections when I get a chance during the work day. Things are slow but that is to be expected with all the Covid Shenanigans, and because of that I haven't been able to get out and see the people I normally do so my side has slowwwwed way down.

As for Facebook.. no thanks I'll pass, I have enough of an issue dealing with scammers and creepers online and I don't need any more of it.

I was posting content to Youtube, but I really dislike what google and all social media platforms are doing in relation to what you can and can't post. I haven't given up on it yet, but it's coming to that point sooner rather then later.
 
May 25, 2010
7,072
Tunkhannock, PA, USA
As a few have said, I don't see the site "dying"... This site has always had its "ups and downs", as with just about everything... I wouldn't say I'm an "OG", but I've been around since '02/'03 ish and have seen this sites influx rise and fall a bunch of times...

And I agree @dmathieu , It does suck that we have lost a lot of great reference materials in the multiple forum upgrades/iterations...
 
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May 21, 2010
1,256
Minnesota
I have noticed a lot less traffic in the forums I read for a good year or 2. I don't think this site is dying off but I have wondered where that traffic is going. It is a specialty site aimed at a target market. If you are looking to buy a door lock you can go to any big box retailer (plus get your milk, shampoo and diapers too). If you are looking for a specific or higher end deadbolt, a local locksmith store will have the knowledge and service to go with it.

When a website makes changes I tend to branch out a bit and see what else is out there. About a year ago was when I first started using Facebook Marketplace for the first time. I have found some great deals in that time but have had more then my share of issues with it too. It takes a lot of searching and they heavily filter results. I have done the same search on my phone vs a friends phone and gotten better results on their phone. In general Facebook is more local too. Ill get a few results from across the country but those are heavily filtered too. I also find that the same things get posted in a lot of the groups because the same people are members of those groups. Craigslist is just a pile of scams, overposters and keyword spammers, that is a site that is dying IMO. It will be interesting to see how the Classifieds might be effected with Ebay all but shutting down this category.

As for Elightbars... I think the admin does a great job of knocking down the spammers, scammers and other crap. It would be nice to have more random posts to read (I think their is a free for all forum behind a paywall). A site worth while is a 2 way street though. Posting decent content helps a site be more attractive for readers. I only have a handful of saved websites but this is in the top 10.
 

Skulldigger

Member
Aug 23, 2015
1,739
Georgia / USA
I will be honest. I loved this site until the last updates that lost all of the work and images we had compiled into great forums and information. I held out hope that would be remedied but it has not. I don't have the desire to build anymore or share a lot on here anymore expecting it to happen again and all being lost. I have been on various FB forums now for a while. My interest is primarily in Vintage and Collectable and there are a lot of options out for that interests that seem more stable. If there was someway to rebuild the old pots or recreate them and feel comfortable they would stay, I would be all into here again. I wold volunteer to work on those old forums to rebuild.
 

OSP959(R)

New Member
Mar 22, 2011
720
Ohio
I've seen this happen when forums switch from vbulletin to xenforo. Either the photos don't get imported, or you can't import photos from a gallery. Usually the photos are still stored in a folder with a weird numbered file structure, but there's no real way to link them to a discussion, or search the folders.

I don't do facebook. I'd rather support a private owned site than Mark Zuckerberg.

I highly doubt elightbars will migrate to another forum software, so anything uploaded now should be safe.

It would be nice if people would edit old posts and reupload their attachments.
 
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John Smith

Member
Oct 19, 2010
304
CO, US
My 2 cents.

First, the site is over-moderated. Seems every post I make gets moved or something of the like. Discourages me from posting at all.

Second, the folks of the site are stuck in the 90s. I love a good Aerodynic just like anyways else, but let's face it, the amount of information on modern LED bars leaves a lot to be desired. And I get why, most modern bars are north of $2,000, way over the. Budget of volunteer FF's, which are most of this group it seems.

But my experience, we wouldn't dare touch anything name Feniex. It's Whelen, SoundOff, or FedSig. That's it. $100 a module and $2000 a bar.
 
May 21, 2010
1,256
Minnesota
My 2 cents.

First, the site is over-moderated. Seems every post I make gets moved or something of the like.
Says the guy who posted the same post 4 times in this thread, lol.

With the mutiple categories I can understand a post getting moved to the appropriate categories (or deleted if the same post is duplicated). If things are not organized, they would be more difficult to find. Just curious as to why admin moving a post to a (more) appropriate category is discouraging?
 
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May 21, 2010
1,256
Minnesota
Overall, I think the admin does a great job behind tge scenes. Hopefully they will consider some of this feedback too.

Curious as to some of the info that was lost, was it technical info, personal posts or what is considered the big losses? I search and threads go back to at least 2010 on items I have looked at.
 
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Jun 18, 2013
3,709
PA
My 2 cents.

First, the site is over-moderated. Seems every post I make gets moved or something of the like. Discourages me from posting at all.

It is? mayhaps reading the site FAQs or doing some lurking before you post will give you an idea of what is expected here on elb. You can always PM a moderator if your unsure.

Second, the folks of the site are stuck in the 90s. I love a good Aerodynic just like anyways else, but let's face it, the amount of information on modern LED bars leaves a lot to be desired. And I get why, most modern bars are north of $2,000, way over the. Budget of volunteer FF's, which are most of this group it seems.

So there are different forum sections for different interests... I do not spend much time outside of Vintage and Collectable because.. Aerodynics are life! The sooner you come to terms with that, you will be on the path to enlightenment... :p

In all seriousness though, as someone who tinkers with all manners of bars, I find LED bars to be disposable after they fall out of warranty. Unless your specifically collecting a bar I find frequently I can replace the bar with another equivalent bar for cheaper then attempting to rebuild it. On the flip side ironically I find it easier to find parts for vintage bars (most of the time), then I do attempting to locate say a specific (insert vendor here) LED module or component.
 
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EMT-BLS

New Member
Oct 28, 2011
2,640
Waterbury, CT
Of course, without Jman, my following thought goes nowhere - hopefully he'll be back soon.

The issue I have, and I think many others as well, is that the site is waaay too broken down. If I have a question about a lightbar, I need to post it in Category X, subcategory Y, slot 4, position 19.

Simplifying all that would make posting less 'scary', and much easier for gurus to help. The good ol' set up - Questions about warning products, tips and tricks, selling/buying, off-topic, and the Ring for adult time. That's it.
 

Tony P

Moderator
Sep 13, 2015
1,940
Midwest, USA
Of course, without Jman, my following thought goes nowhere - hopefully he'll be back soon.

The issue I have, and I think many others as well, is that the site is waaay too broken down. If I have a question about a lightbar, I need to post it in Category X, subcategory Y, slot 4, position 19.

Simplifying all that would make posting less 'scary', and much easier for gurus to help. The good ol' set up - Questions about warning products, tips and tricks, selling/buying, off-topic, and the Ring for adult time. That's it.
That had been discussed and he was slowly removing some subsections, but then he vanished. I have someone who knows him personally that has told him we could use some of his time.
 

EMT-BLS

New Member
Oct 28, 2011
2,640
Waterbury, CT
That had been discussed and he was slowly removing some subsections, but then he vanished. I have someone who knows him personally that has told him we could use some of his time.
Yeah, I was speaking with Jman myself, before he vanished...I made this point, to de-clutter the site with all the super-specific sections, and he agreed - but obviously, we're dead in the water without him.
 
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John Smith

Member
Oct 19, 2010
304
CO, US
The over-moderation goes with what you are saying, where there are so many categories that sifting through them is more of a pain than it is worth. And I don't want to waste time reading the FAQ or PM'ing a moderator when picking a category should be easy and common sense. LS1Tech has less categories than here it seems.

Like I said, I love a lot of the older bars. But there is zero information or knowledged users for the LED bars. Beyond repairing, swapping parts, etc, just the knowledge of programming and options is really far behind that of the information available on the rotator or strobe bars. In order to fix this we need to get more users, and new users, ones who have LED bars and have interest in changing/repairing/upgrading them. I'm not sure how we attract these users, but that's what we need I think.
 
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JakeNShake121

Member
Jun 12, 2014
22
NJ
It's sad to see this forum to where it is today as this is where I started back a few years. Sorry, but it's just easier doing everything on facebook. There are a ton of more people along with a vast amount of resources. I'm in a group for Whelen Command and we constantly have reps from Whelen interacting in the group. Not to mention, it's also a lot easier to buy/sell as you can see an actual profile to make the determination if it's a scam or not.

I will say though, I do like the product selection on here a lot better sometimes.
 

JazzDad

Member
Aug 5, 2011
5,165
USA
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1863650

Member
Jun 2, 2014
111
Colorado
I don't know about overmoderation, but I'm guessing the mods were overburdened in the way it used to be structured, and I don't seem to be receiving any notifications anymore, for whatever reason, to remind me to drop by when a thread I'm following gets updated or someone sends me a PM.

I think the classifieds threads, which are mostly what I come here for, are a lot more clumsy to post & use than they used to be, but I also just haven't had as much time to photograph & sell the growing inventory of surplus I've been accumulating, and I'm not buying as much as a result, either. Natural ebb & flow, as others have mentioned.
 

Da-Sarge

Member
Feb 27, 2020
393
Canada
I found elightbars forums in a search when I was getting into emergency equipment I find it a great resource for lots of information from owners of the same equipment sites tend to act like fads over time they die down then come alive consider it like hibernation lol
 
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Da-Sarge

Member
Feb 27, 2020
393
Canada
Depending on the systems architecture forum posts are in one database on one server while the site is on another its most likely a communication error between servers or something like that
 

Turd Ferguson

Member
Jul 3, 2011
2,250
Sumner, Wa
Maybe it's old age, the computer server is getting old and forgetting how to do things and needs to be replaced.... Lol

I didn't realize our servers were made by JDI.
 

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