This one has 81,450 miles and runs like a dream.
This will be my last post because I feel unwelcome. Good luck to you all.
Captain is leaving the bridge!!!
That’s such a shame but I doubt it is anything to do with you personally - just the way the site is - a lot of comment on the the E-type and other XK powered cars, not much on the modern S type and later models.
I hope you find something that better suits your wishes.
Frankie
Jon,
Don’t jump too quickly, having been a member from about 1997 J-L has developed and evolved!
When I joined it was because it was largely a membership comprising knowledgable Jag owners who posted almost exclusively on the technicalities and maintenance issues associated with owning a Jaguar, especially an 8 year old one as my XJ40 was.
At that time in contrast to the other chatty and social websites we concentrated on maintenance and repair along with deeper technical problems.
There was a lot of banter amongst us which was constructive and also made it a pleasant forum to frequent.
Since the website upgrade was done the tone on the various Forums has changed to include chit chat akin to social media and this resulted in many of the serious members ceasing to being active.
The Pub and Lounge took up the slack and the social stuff moved there, in the early days I was to busy to check that out although I now check New posts and visit them both if a post looks interesting I may read it.
The rule IMHO is post the gushing tales of trips and the joys of ownership there and stick to business in the specific forums.
Hope this is of help!
To put it in perspective, when I first joined J-L (the Old Site) it was rigidly controlled by the Admins who were quick to react to any transgressions by posters. It had to be exclusively Jag related and also to ask for help or advice on owning and maintaining the various models and years.
Pre social media that remained so for years, members formed groups in the specific Forums and there was also a lot of banter in the background by posters myself included. Politics, personality, and all other non Jag issues were banned as you would be if you crossed the line.
I don’t remember seeing the Pub, Lounge these came with the New site and to be fair from the beginning it became pretty much social media and I commented, complained and didn’t like it, many longterm and knowledgeable members jumped ship, never to return. Because the posts became urbane and often lacked technical content, in short it became boring causing many of the serious members to avoid it!
Since that time I’ve checked in daily to the X300 forum and when that was totalled the S Type and because there is so little to reply I now just check for new topics and maybe glance at any I think may be interesting. I don’t think I’m alone with this view.
Neil,
You are absolutely right. You are not alone. I joined J-L in the 90s when it was an email only list for XK owners or anyone interested in XKs. As you say, it was very well moderated by John Littler who was quick to pick up on any transgressions. I, too, am not interested in the social chit chat and rarely post these days unless I know the answer to a particular technical query. Like you, I scan thought the topics and delete most of them. I think that once we became a forum rather than just an email list, it was inevitable that participants would start to regard it more like other social media. I’m not sure that is a particularly bad thing - it just uses more bandwidth than it used to.
Regardless of my personal preferences, I hope that the banter does not make anyone feel unwelcome. That really would be a shame.
Eric
Not to hijack the topic, but to clarify:
There has been a Jag-lovers «Pub» since 1996.
There has been a forum interface since the late 90s. (I forget exactly when Tony Bailey completed the mammoth efffort).
We changed to a different forum software a few years ago, but still offer the email format.
Not to get all defensive, but to offer some more perspective:
Back in the late 90s, we had around 10 different categories/lists and around 2,000 members total. We had at least one volunteer admin per category/list.
Today we have around 48,000 members, of which around 5,000 are active any given month. We have 36 active categories/lists, and our members post around 10,000 posts per month (so more than 320 per day). We have a total of 7 volunteers who try to keep an eye on things.
Also back then, we were often criticized for being too heavy handed. You may remember some of that controversy.
The Pub came about in 1996 because some categories (E-Type and XJ in particular) had so much off-topic banter that a lot of members were complaining, loudly. This created conflict, because some people loved the banter. The Pub was an attempt to keep the categories on-topic and still foster a sense of community, including cross-category, which had been a problem (each category/list tended to be a world of its own).
Lately we’ve added the Lounge as a place to direct that banter, in a politics-free environment. Those who come here for the community, and who love a vigorous debate, can enjoy that in the Pub. As you know, the Pub is only even visible to those who explicitly request to see it.
Running a site of this size and trying to keep everyone happy is a constant balancing act. We’re still learning how to do it. I’m sorry to hear that you’re not happy with how the site has developed, despite our very best efforts.
Gunnar
(Admin)
6 Likes
Been here since the late 1990s and part of the fun is to keep it ‘light’ and not always so technical.
A ‘bit-of-wit’ is usually introduced into the threads from time-to-time.
P.S. I was an avid reader of Mad Magazines annual ‘SNAPPY ANSWERS TO STUPID QUESTIONS’ back in the 60s and 70s so there is that factor.
Thanks for that Gunnar, I think you and I are on the same page in general and know that you can only please some of the people some of the time etc.
I guess the increase in the number of members is the major factor in this, as Bob has commented since most everyone knew each other in those days the posts did go off topic and contained wit, humour and general banter that goes in a fraternity of that nature.
I will say many thanks to those who run and administer Jag-Lovers, since is the best I’ve visited providing help and support on the technical issues that are part of owning Jaguars!
1 Like
I just joined, i felt the same way on a different site but it ended up becoming one of my favorite now. Just hang on and give it sime time.