The future of Hydrostream Forums

[Hippie459MN]

UPDATE - Oct 15th 2017: Update to this topic - http://www.hydrostreamforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2771&p=22671#p22671

After much thought and careful consideration I have decided that no later than Jan 1st 2017, possibly sooner, Hydrostream Forums will be locked down and become archive only and will not be accepting any new members, taking donations, or allowing anymore posts and will be a read only site for a short time until I decide to take it off line.

The reason for this decision is due to the likes of Facebook and it driving almost all of the members away from the site in favor for the Hydrostream groups on Facebook. We went from being a very active forum getting an average of 15+ members a day and 10+ new posts a day on average with many days being much higher for almost 5 years solid since it started back in March of 2009 and the last 2 1/2 years we have went to an average of 1-2 visits a day from members and down to an average of one new post over a 2 week period at best. I still check in ever day when I can and still do a ton of work behind the scenes to keep things updated and running smoothly for everyone and am saddened by the lack of use of the web site now days and its become to expensive and troublesome to keep running with zero participation. Trust me, its not something I want to do but I just cant see myself keeping things going if its not going to get used anymore.

So with that, its been a good ride and I cant thank everyone enough that was there for the whole ride, or even a part of it. I'm not getting away from the Hydrostream scene what so ever in any way shape or form personally but unless something changes here with the user participation, I am going to be forced to close up shop here.

With that said, sorry for any inconvenience this may cause anyone.

[AdamDK]

Noooooo!

That being said, Kevin, I will PM you later. I'd gladly take the site over. I have 10+ years of forums experience.

[ Post made via Android ]

[RussF]

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[Hippie459MN]

If we can get people back here and people posting again I would be way more than happy to keep things going here. Dont worry, I wouldnt just delete the site but rater just turn it to a read only site and go from there. Its not that I dont have the time to and what not to run it, its just that I have other things online here could really use my attention over something that is no longer being used. Just bums me out sometimes to see that so many people have stopped coming here or people dont participate here anymore.

By all means, im open to suggestions if anyone has any.

[AdamDK]

I noticed that some members just quit showing up and posting. There's quite a few threads in the projects section where members started their rebuild/resto work logs, they made some posts and shares some pics of their work, and then nothing.
That's why I asked earlier if there was any significant site downtime that may have resulted in people to stop showing up.

With winter approaching and boating season over except for those in the south, hopefully we'll see people on the forums again. But I know theres only so much you can do to generate traffic.

I should get a start on my viper project in a few weeks....and will maintain a worklog here on the site. I may post a pic or two on Facebook, but I plan on always linking it back to the forums.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Hippie459MN]

QR_BBPOST I noticed that some members just quit showing up and posting. There's quite a few threads in the projects section where members started their rebuild/resto work logs, they made some posts and shares some pics of their work, and then nothing.
That's why I asked earlier if there was any significant site downtime that may have resulted in people to stop showing up.

Nope. in the 7 1/2 years this site has been up and running, we only had one instance where the site was down for maybe 24 hours tops due to a server error taking the site off line 100% and that was only like 3 months ago and that was my fault. Other than that when we have been doing updates or major maintenance and down time is planned, I let everyone know well ahead of time and the site doesnt go off line at all but rater you just get a message saying we are doing some site maintenance and approx what time we will be back online.

I have been brainstorming some ideas and will be working on it soon hopefully. Im not totally ready to give up just yet. Im open to any suggestions and or comments or anything.

[Don B]

GM put the hault on my boat. I will be back at it soon Hippie459MN this was a long change over and we get to work 12 hours a day. joy my wife made me buy a sea Ray just so we had a finished boat to use. no extra time dont count my out.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Hippie459MN]

Well, After some thought and looking at a new game plan, I have decided to keep things up and running but plan to make a few changes over the next few weeks. I am going to be adding, removing, and changing a few things so keep an eye on the web site as I will be posting all the info here. Lets see if we cant get some traffic back here. Enjoy!

[AdamDK]

Good to know.

I think you, well us, the membership, really need to start using Facebook to our advantage. The Hydrostream Boat Lovers group on FB has more members (1324) than the forum (1259). The Hydrostream Boats group has more members overall (2870).
We need to at least try to get people coming here to post content, ask questions, etc. rather than on FB. It just gets lost there. But i understand its hard to advertise content when new content is rarely created. There were only 2 resto threads created in 2016; 5 in 2016.
We need to make it known that the forums are still the best place to find what they need.

Except a windshield. Those things are f'n impossible to find. In Canada anyways....

[RussF]