Why is the Z community so fragmented?

[Indri]

It seems there's a few Z forums and all of them have little activity. I just got into Zs (previously a Rx7 guy) and it seems that there isn't a single forum that stays very active. Even this forum - the most active I've found - has sections that won't see posts in months. I was just curious, is there a reason all the forums don't converge into one? It seems that if we were able to compile all of the Z forums into one - the knoweldge base would increase exponentially and benefit everyone. Also, am I just not seeing it since I'm new or is there no classifieds section on this forum?

[joker72z]

Top of the page, a little task bar that says Welcome Forums Classifieds....etc.

[Indri]

Wow....really didn't see that little guy up there. :stupid:

[Inf]

If you just want to see activity, click the "new posts" link on the left. Every day I log in here there are plenty of new posts for me to read.

RX7s appeal to a much younger set of people than most classic Z owners. As such, most of them are more computer-savvy, having grown up with computers. I think you'll find there are a lot of active Z people who rarely come to internet forums.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Inf

[GreenZZZ]

Takes a while to figure out the differences in each community like it takes trying to figure out the difference in Tea Party vs Republicans or Blue Dog's vs Democrats.

The orginal community was IZCC (internet Z car club) at zhome.com and goes way back (I'm IZCC #78). IZCC is still there and a good hunk of those guys are on ClassicZCars.

If you read all the boards and end up hooked on Z's, you'll end up on one of the boards. I had an '79 Rx7. Had 300K miles and 4 motors before I sold it. Loved that car...

[Indri]

300K?! That's a lot of miles on a 7! Well...75K per motor, that's about right.

I sold off my FB back in 06 (Still regret that) and I lost my FD in a flash flood (CYM R1, I loved that car).

I suppose the age difference in the owners makes sense. Also, a lot of the activity on the 7club is a lot of nonsense and guys goofing off. I don't really see too much of that on these boards. These seem to be a little more tech-oriented. Also, I guess if you look at the older 7's section the activity isn't near as much as say the FC or FDs (second and third generations). Maybe people are just losing interest in these older Japanese cars.

[Indri]

If you just want to see activity, click the "new posts" link on the left. Every day I log in here there are plenty of new posts for me to read.

RX7s appeal to a much younger set of people than most classic Z owners. As such, most of them are more computer-savvy, having grown up with computers. I think you'll find there are a lot of active Z people who rarely come to internet forums.

That's true. Unfortunatley I'm out of the States right now so I can't attend any Z meetings. I attended a few of the 7 meetings and I have to say - actually meeting people and seeing the cars in person sure does beat the internet!

Off topic, by the way, what's the color code of the Z in your avatar?

[psdenno]

Just like with cell phones, toilet paper, and car clubs, it starts with just one and then someone either thinks they have a better way to do it or they get a mad-on for the inititial group and they come up with new spin on the original.

It's not too painful to internet hop from one forum to another and eventually, you'll find one or two that become your comfort zone. I base this observation on almost 30 years of managing a Porsche 914 organization, both off and on line.

Welcome to the group, hope you find it comfortable - I do.

Dennis

[Inf]

Off topic, by the way, what's the color code of the Z in your avatar?

918 orange, although I've had people insist it's 110 red on me before. Of course, the original paint sticker reads 918, and the outside of the car matches the untouched spare tire well, etc. I guess memory fades like photographs sometimes!

[spitz17]

Hybridz.org is a bit more active than this site, with a younger modify-friendly crowd.

Although there is a lot of older crowds on this site... keep in mind that is just more experience, especially if they've owned their Z cars for a long time

[mgmoreau]

It seems there's a few Z forums and all of them have little activity. I just got into Zs (previously a Rx7 guy) and it seems that there isn't a single forum that stays very active. Even this forum - the most active I've found - has sections that won't see posts in months. I was just curious, is there a reason all the forums don't converge into one? It seems that if we were able to compile all of the Z forums into one - the knoweldge base would increase exponentially and benefit everyone. Also, am I just not seeing it since I'm new or is there no classifieds section on this forum?

Indri,

Welcome to the club. As you spend more time on this board you will grow to really appreciate some of the expertise of the folks that frequent this site. I have learned a lot since I have joined this site. It has also helped me network with some of the top Z collectors in the country. The guys on this site tend to be more geared toward keeping our Z's mostly original. As another post said, the Hybrid Z site is geared to anyone that wants to heavily modify their Z's such as dropping a Chevy big block V8 or Vette engine.

My brother in-law has an 84 RX7 GSL. He loves that car.

[Carl Beck]

The orginal community was IZCC (internet Z car club) at zhome.com and goes way back (I'm IZCC #78). IZCC is still there and a good hunk of those guys are on ClassicZCars.

Hi Lee:

Actually - the original community was formed around "the Z Car List" which goes back to about 1985/6. In 1987 Bob Weissman set up our first "List Server Software" on a Mainframe at Boeing. As I recall we had about 400 people on that e-mail based Z Car Discussion Group by 1992.

In 92 - John DeArmond suggested that the discussion group become a "Club" so that we would qualify for Club Discounts offered by several vendors at the time. Thus the Internet Z Car Club was formed. Paul Richer simply took the names from the list and assigned IZCC Membership Numbers to them as list subscribers let him know that they supported the idea.

In 1994 Salman Shami built the first "Z Car Home Page", while working on his M.E. at Melbourne University in Melbourne, AU.

By the late 90's - we had about 2400 people on "the Z Car List". It covered all generations of the Z Car and the list traffic was very heavy. People were complaining about too many e-mails per day, and many did not want to know everything about ever generation of the Z Car. They were more narrowly focused on their own car.

One of the first "splinter" groups was this one. People that wanted to discuss ONLY Classic Datsun 240Z's broke off and established "the Classic Z Car Club". At that time, they did not want anyone other than Datsun 240Z enthusiasts and only people that wanted to keep their Z Stock. They didn't want to hear about Fuel Injection problems, nor V8 swaps ;-) Next it was the Z31 Group that split off, then the folks at HybridZ and the 90+ Generation with TwinTurbo...

The bottom line was - the Z Car Community because so "inclusive" - it failed to retain the following of the more exclusive interests of the individual members. Everyone felt that they had approached "information overload" and they really wanted to devote their time to their interests, and share their interests with like minded people.

That Indri is the main reason all the Z Car Forums don't converge into one... Kind of a "Big Bang" that happened long ago and in a far off Galaxy as it reached critical mass....

Of course we older people are less "computer-savvy" as well..

FWIW,

Carl B.