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It Appears to be time

4K views 48 replies 29 participants last post by  CrystalPistol 
#1 ·
That we as a whole platform seriously consider a full merge combining mamn12, sccoa, tccoa, and any other mn12 platform sites into a single entity. The numbers around here are dropping like a rock. I see the three same people in the chat box everyday, and finding a fresh post in a thread is like wishing for snow in summer. I thnk everyone needs to set their V8 V6 5.0 egos aside and look for the best interests of preserving the platform. Combining would also rejuvinate marketplace for all, and increase post counts while contributing information that has been scattered accross numerous sites. It would make our community appear larger, allow increased interests in meets, and the list goes on. We still have many of the same dedicated members around, but we can only circle jerk for so long. We need to liven things up a bit. Tccoa used to be the first thing I check when getting online, now it's the last because suprise suprise there is almost never anything new or that I'm missing. Just seems like a huge waste of resources and talent to keep these entities separate anymore. Sccoa is on fire still, while we look like a ghost town. That's just my two cents.
 
#2 ·
There's already been some talk at MAMN12.com about closing up shop and shutting the site down next year after the final Summer Blast and continuing their posting here...

Like here, there aren't that many active members over there and activity only really peaks around the time of Summer Blast anyway.

SCCoA has a much more active - and close knit - group.

I'm just glad that the TCCoA is still around and just received a long overdue face lift. Thanks to AG for taking the site under their wing.

I don't see combining SCCoA and TCCoA ever happening.
 
#4 ·
That's the problem. In the interest of maintaining...interest lol. I think it's worth a shot for us to attempt some form of merger. It would be mutually beneficial for both groups
 
#3 ·
I have had my t-bird for 20 years, of which it was not really being used for the last 10 years. I decided rather than selling it, I would bite the bullet and put the money in it to get it back to 100 percent and back on the road.

This Forum was instrumental in doing that as even a Ford Dealership can no longer service these cars in my area. These cars were great new and made excellent second hand cars as well.

But I read here and elsewhere that people are throwing in the towel. Many can live without appreciation to look forward to down the road, but to not have parts readily available is a problem as many states do away with the junk yards I grew up with.

The aftermarket manufactures are cutting back on many parts. Some are essential and others window dressing. I had to find a power antenna replacement 2000 miles away. I bought a Ford anti-lock bleeder tool as no Ford dealership even had one and the "slamming on the brakes" method simply was not getting all the air out.

Forums like these may not stir conversation at this point in time as many questions have already been answered in threads from years ago. While there is more information here on this forum then even Ford itself has, its value may slowly start to fade if people decide to call it a day and sell their cars.

I do not intend to make money on my t-bird but unlike a 1968 Mustang where every part ever made is still in aftermarket production, I too find it difficult sometimes to invest in my t- bird rather than sell it and buy something like a Mustang from the 60's that I can readily buy new parts.

Absent "new" owners, there really will not be any heavy posting going on. I personally wish I had found this forum years ago and I hope the "die hards" stay on here.

Having said that I appreciate all the people that contributed and continue to contribute here. I check the posts every day and even know there are not many new posts, I imagine there are plenty of people reading threads from years ago.

Chapman
 
#7 ·
They are only running on 6 cylinders!

Al
 
#9 ·
The supercharged V6 is a really special vehicle.

V8's are a dime a dozen.

Our heaps need our own site.


Now my beef, why are the Mark8 and the birds all together at the top of the page, the cougars are off to the side like *****es on time out.
 
#10 ·
Cougars are the ugly red head step child.. Kidding kidding

The Facebook TCCoA group has been pretty busy. I think because it has a more appealing layout, easier/simpler to operate, also instead of searching people just ask questions. Frequent picture posting which is also much easier and faster there. Not as in depth or useful as here but for quick questions and fast replies it's hard to beat. The face lift here has helped.
 
#12 ·
Cougars are the ugly red head step child.. Kidding kidding

That's a damned lie!



...Oh wait :tongue:



Me personally the more and more I look at that banner I realize how much better executed the 88 Turbo Coupe front end is than the 96/7, despite being rather similar designs. That hood to bumper cutline directly above the tiny grille opening is driving me crazy! Cougars are much better since we have real grilles, hood ends nice and cleanly :D
 
#14 ·
I don't agree with it being "time"..

TCCoA just underwent an upgrade that was long overdue..Support by the site owners is at an all-time high! :)

The SCCoA group is even more of a niche group than we are..I really don't see much benefit for them to combine with us..

It would benefit us more than them..If they decided to take on all of our tech, and add it to their website..

Which some might consider "watering down" their specific tech over there..

Not to mention a lot of their tech is only available to paying members..Which I personally don't have a problem with..

We are way behind on paying members here though..Compared to what they have..

Yeah,Yeah, I know.."Well shouldn't we get something for being a paying member".. :rolleyes:

I think it would be great if the both sites combined, and continued on being owned by MN12 enthusiasts..

Like others have echoed..I just don't see it happening right now..

Besides, we don't need to be the "most popular kid on the block"..

It's not necessary for this sites survival that we are the most popular MN12 site..

It doesn't matter how many posts are made each day..TCCoA will continue to go on as long as there is enough web traffic here..





Rayo..
 
#15 ·
Aha, I see what happened here now.

Anyways, the question is, do the new site owners have Thunderbirds of their own to actually warrant them engaging in creating discussion with the community they bought?

Cause it doesn't cost that much money to run a forum that gets very little traffic, and a vBulletin instance like this could be spun up in like, a couple days with a handful of adderall. So unless the people actually moderating and keeping the community alive are getting paid, y'all could easily just jump in with another community-owned community, cause it sits kinda weird to put work into keeping a community alive for someone else's wallet who only "keeps the lights on." Really curious what the profit numbers here are.
 
#16 ·
It would benefit us more than them

That line right there is specifically what makes this whole notion utterly unrealistic to me personally. SCCoA has no reason to desire a merger of sites even if it were logistically possible, combining all of the content, archives and going through a possible name change(unless we're all good with being the non-Super end of the Super Coupe Club?) just to gain our small numbers doesn't seem at all desirable. Not to mention Autoguide owns the whole shebang, whereas SCCoA is owned privately, so unless they were to buy the site off AG(unlikely) or AG buy SCCoA and combine the two, I just don't understand how this ever repeated notion even bears discussion.

The real problem is Facebook, all forums are feeling the pain from it to varying degrees, and in our case it's particularly destructive since there doesn't seem to be any real connection between the two besides the name.
 
#17 ·
Facebook is a huge blow to forums. So many boards I've been apart of over the years have died out because forums don't draw new users the way they used to, cause everyone is on social media and the groups blowing up there.

I just deactivated my Facebook for the fall just to get rid of it as a distraction, and I'm seeing just how dead so many boards I used to lurk really are now. Even the big ones I'm at are dropping down. It's jarring.
 
#18 ·
I'm going to also add to the FB is taking away from forums voice. If it wasn't for it, these forums would still have much more traffic than what there is going on now. Although I realize these cars are older and traffic would be dying off anyways, Facebook is making traffic here at TCCoA an epidemic.

When browsing TCCoA, or any other forum I visit, the first thing I do is check out my User Control Panel to see what threads I'm subscribed to have new posts. After that's checked out, I go through the "New Posts" section to see what threads are out there that I haven't read yet.
 
#19 ·
There was a split years back that led to the creation of the two separate sites, years back, iirc.

Seems like there was a previous site, and war happened, and we ended up like this. :)

Any of the OG members want to comment?
 
#20 ·
Being a part of both sites, I have to say that they should be separate. I have tccoa for all my 4.6 stuff and sccoa for my quirky SC.
 
#21 ·
I've been thinking that the communities in general should be unified to some extent just to keep the interest levels up and the information out there. And there's a pretty simple solution. Any one remember the internet back around the windows 1995 era ;) I do but only vaguely as I didn't get a internet enabled computer till Win98 SR2. But something Does come to mind. Back when I first sat down at someone's computer in 96 or so there was something called a Web Ring. And it was a simple collection of linked sites relating to one interests. In this case my interest was 67-68 Gen 1 Cougars. Specifically S Code Big Block cars. You would surf from web page to web page via links.

There's really no reason this can't happen again. All we and the SCCoA need to do is add a banner of web links to each other. EG for the life of me I can't understand why we don't have links to Eric Dess's excellent AeroCats site. The SCCoA, Lincolns of distinction etc somewhere prominent here. Most of these sights are not engaged in eCommerce so it's not like anyone's going to lose anything by offering up links to some related sites. And frankly someone really needs to copy AeroCats format and put up a year by year resource for the MN12 Thunderbirds.

A simple banner of related sites are all we need to get the ball rolling as far as circling the wagons. Everybody wins. The next step would be to opening up some of our meets to each other.
 
#22 ·
To be honest IMO, SCCOA has more collectors/restorers (the 35th, and rarity/obscurity of a SC) so in general attracts people more interested, more involved and more willing to spend money. Where as TCCOA brings in everyone else (I was only here and GTbird for years) and so many kids wanting to put a 5.4 in or make 300hp with $50 or just people with no real interest. The two groups by in large clash.
 
#25 ·
Everyone has always been invited to the shootout. Just gotta get off your butts and get there. Buncha bench racers I guess.

Carlisle is a great turnout and a ton of fun.

But like said before a merge isn't gonna happen cause of the owner ship.

The tech here is great. I would suck to lose that.
 
#27 ·
Maybe we should come up with a login with Facebook type thingy? Idk I try to talk to people about their mn12 when I'm out and about but usually I get the look of why do you care so much about my car? An maybe it's just me but not alot of people seem to care about their cars like we do. I've been saying forever I want to be a paying member but I'm just a broke college student who has to find things to pawn just to have gas to get too and from school every week. My newb ridden 2 centavos.
 
#34 ·
Actually it is quite interesting over on the Facebook Page. I see a fellow that is a puller over there willing to hit the yard for some folks. Facebook is much more than social media, rather the groups on there are the new "Newspapers" where you can get local news instantly and sell anything including cars in a flash.

I was not interested in it until I found out about the groups. You do not even have to Friend people, you can just join the groups. Before Facebook many forums were red hot but now many resort to it and it has all but killed Forums. People spend their entire time on Facebook. Sad but true
 
#36 ·
Yeah I actually am in the TCCOA group on FB. I'm also a member of cougarholics and team thunderbird. In each of the aforementioned groups I posted on the wall of the group telling people about this site specifically and how anything and everything you could ask has been spoken about atleast once before. I really cherish this site for what it is and what it has done for me and I'd just like to help someone learn atleast one new thing about their car. Which is a a win in my opinion.
 
#38 ·
Same here. It's one of the first things I check out whenever I go on FB. While I know that this specifically is what is killing the TCCoA FB group, along with many other forums, is all the activity there is there from all the members. A question, comment, or picture is posted, and within no more than a few hours you'll have a few replies to your topic. However, FB is definitely not for finding permanent information, so I like to come here for that kind of stuff.

I'm also a member of a few other Thunderbird groups, but I find the TCCoA FB group to be the most interesting. Perhpas, that's because many of us from here are there.
 
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