Q1: What is quieter than a TCH ?

A: This forum, lately ! (We've dwindled down to a post or two a day.)

Q2: What are the top 10 reasons why has this forum become so quiet lately ?

10) When all is said and done, there's nothing left to do or say.

9) We're all burned out following the unintended acceleration debacle.

8) We've all tired of talking to each other.

7) We've all run out of new and interesting questions and info; all of the interesting questions have already been answered.

6) We were put off by the recent posts by spammers.

5) We're all too worried about the Greek debt crisis and/or the BP oil spill to even think about automotive stuff.

4) We're all bored with hybrids and just waiting for the Volt to come out so that we can move on to the next stage of life with less gasoline.

Anybody got 3 more ?

 

Forums in general, are more active in the winter. In addition, the initial learning curve has been mastered. At the end of the day, it's a car. I think the forum generated a ton more interest and excitement than a normal Camry forum would have.
Finally, you're comparing this to a typical geek forum, where there are new things (both positive in the form of new software or hardware, or negative, in the form of malware, etc.) creating excitement and interest.
With the TCH the cars we have don't change all that much and there's nothing new on the horizon, for the most part.

 

No. The effect I'm noticing is much more sudden than that.

For months, and up to a few weeks ago, it seemed that we were getting 6, 8, 10 or more posts a day.

Recently we've been getting 1 or 2.

 

At the end of winter, people go outdoors. Some people even actually *drive* their cars to go places where they didn't go all winter.

I have been busy preparing for hurricane season (I live in Florida). That takes several weekends, each year, in addition to the normal chores.

 

I have noticed this, too, for quite a while. I joined the forum in late-summer 2007 when we bought our first TCH. (We now own two.)

The earlier posts had lots of info on the technology, how to maximize mileage, etc. I found it quite interesting, but like anything else, over time the topics get fully explored.

Posts for the last year have been very similar to other car forums, requesting assistance with maintenance issues.

This is probably an inevitable part of the technology becoming more mainstream. While this may be less fun for many of us, it's also what many of us were hoping for several years ago when we first bought into the hybrid technology in the first place.

I'm still motivated to have the car give me an "EXCELLENT!" as often as possible... that's ANOTHER thing the summer is good for! :-)

 

I'm involved actively with three forums (and sporadically with about ten others).
One is a Windows Security forum (I'm admin), one is an Apple forum and here.
IMHO, there are two types of forums, large (over 100 active members) and small (20-30 active members). This one is, obviously, a smaller one.
From my perspective, once a forum achieves a critical mass (>100 members) the forum sustains dry spells with conversations on ... nonsense topics. Unfortunately, the smaller forums live and die by the event, for example, unintended acceleration or a new product (iPad) or a problem (Blaster worm, etc.). In these cases, there is a lot of interest, so everyone chimes in. Otherwise, forums can become dull and quiet. This happens at all small forums. I've been trying (at the forum where I'm admin) to figure out why, or how to reverse this course , but realized it's simply human nature. Unless you're a zealot, chances are you'll only visit when you have a need. Nothing you can do about it.

 

Like Larry mentioned, most forums start off with a bang and then die off to a whimper. It starts with “We have a new car, it's a hybrid and how does it work”. At the end of the day people realize that the TCH is still a car, it has an engine, wheels, tires and you still fill the tank with gas and nothing has changed. Once the new "tricks" to increasing your mileage are known, there is not much else to talk about.

I belong to several forums (bitog, garage journal and garage hangout as well as Toyota nation and the HAMB) that tend to go with my interests a bit more than here. I happen to like working on cars in a nut and bolt way (my future son-in-law thinks you can read about replacing the clutch in his Firebird and it will magically happen....) and I tend to gravitate in that direction.

Most of the posts that I make here are about technical aspects of the car and repairing or detailing them. I didn't buy it to be "green" and I am far from being the ideal Komrade from the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia. Quite the opposite in fact so I don't get into the "feel good" discussions on hybrids. I do like saving money however and enjoy seeing what this car is capable of doing.

 

Hooah!

 

I sense a fellow knuckle dragger on the site.....

 

Nah, just someone who took a few courses in economics, balances his checkbook daily and doesn't expect someone else to pay for his purchases.