Future of the board

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Bus-1809
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Bus-1809 »

One of the other things that's always p***ed me off with the board, is that silly things like the debate of what the correct model designation for the Mercedes Benz Products introduced around 2003 was... I really didn't appreciate the admins changing the board settings to automatically change O(C)500LE to the designation that they dictated was correct in all forums except the WA one... Who really gives a flying f*** what each of us call it. We all know what we are discussing and it easily could have been made clear in a sticky post, that nobody is to correct another person on what they call them.

Yes it probably didn't help that it was blown out of proportion a few times by a few particular members, but you get my point. I still have people try to "Correct" me on the terminology on BookTube or whatever is fashionable this week, at times... I just ignore it.
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Fleet Lists
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

Fleet Lists wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 4:26 pm Today is the last day of April so at 4pm I again finalised the month's statistics. It started off great on April Fools day with no less than 80 but it has been downhill ever since then with one 24 hour hour period only having 11 edits resulting in a daily average of just 35.4 posts for the month.
The end of another months so at 4pm we had averaged 34.6 posts per day during May. This weekend has been very quiet with just 33 posts in the last 48 hours.
There was a bit of a spike just after the new version went up but otherwise nothing to get exited about.
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hugh45
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Re: Future of the board

Post by hugh45 »

My interest in the ATDB and other facebook groups is my interest in buses and finding details of buses operating in Sydney since the 1950's. I have always wondered why some fleet lists have not been added as was being done a few years back. One list I would like to see included is of Westbus when owned by Bosnjak's. I know it would be a large task to undertake. I thank the administrators for there effort in updating the current fleet lists.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

Fleet Lists wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 6:36 pm The end of another months so at 4pm we had averaged 34.6 posts per day during May. This weekend has been very quiet with just 33 posts in the last 48 hours.
There was a bit of a spike just after the new version went up but otherwise nothing to get exited about.
Another month about to end - with a daily average of 36.60 for June. Going back about a week we were only averaging about 28 with things picking up since then but a lot of edits relate to Lunch Box items with very few real transport items.
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Bus Suggestions
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Bus Suggestions »

Although this wouldn't be necessarily enough to say anything, I think that the summary given by Fleet Lists does show that the transport side of things is definitely slowing down. Whether because of cultural influence or the COVID-19 situation is beyond my ability to answer, but I think it's at least an indication that there is slowly less interest or movement in the transport field.
I'd post any important, bus-related links I had, but they're outdated anyways.
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Campbelltown busboy
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Campbelltown busboy »

As of 7:00pm on 7/7/20 this forum has gained 5574 members 864299 posts and 63522 topics in 16 years with a lot of years Of this forum and increase in the number of members posts and topics in this forum to come. How long was the BusAustralia.com website around for before this forum was created?
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ScaniaGrenda
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Re: Future of the board

Post by ScaniaGrenda »

I ran a WHOIS check on the BusAustralia.com domain (Just pop the URL into a whois website if you want to know) and it returned that the domain was first created on 2000-08-03 so a good 20 years or so, just to further confirm I also went to the earliest web archive of the domain and it was the 9th of March 2001, this is what I get taken too when I click it

https://web.archive.org/web/20010123220 ... u/busaust/

I was able to find some very old not possibly seen in ages photos as well, who knows what forgotten information is now hiding on archives about this forum & website.
Transport enthusiast & photographer / videographer since 2016, documenting & preserving our local Transport History through videos & photos.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

STA Fleet List https://web.archive.org/web/20010217220 ... fleet.html was dated 23 December 2000.
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Campbelltown busboy
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Campbelltown busboy »

Check out these old Australian Transport Discussion Board forum entries from January 2001 I wonder if any posters from the old forum in the link are members of this current forum
https://web.archive.org/web/20010123220 ... transport/
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

There are at least three people there including myself under a different name, who are members here.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

I forgot to post this yesterday but the average number of posts for July was 29.74. The first time below 30.
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ScaniaGrenda
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Re: Future of the board

Post by ScaniaGrenda »

Does that take into account posts made in areas like the lunch room and Ask a question where posts made there aren't counted towards how many posts a user has made?
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

They are included in the stats I do my calculations on.
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moa999
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Re: Future of the board

Post by moa999 »

I do wonder how much is to do with the seeming loss of Tapatalk access that got removed with the upgrade and hasn't been added back.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Bus Suggestions »

Although it is discouraging to see a drop in posts per day, it can, in another way be encouraging - it provides a little basis and a goal for the future, to get the board back to its previously active state. How that happens is up to all of us on the ATDB, whether it is sharing the board to others, potentially new members, or creating positive discussion topics.
I'd post any important, bus-related links I had, but they're outdated anyways.
tonyp
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Re: Future of the board

Post by tonyp »

ATDB's greatest attribute is that it has always been a pool of great and varied knowledge and experience and most discussions are very informative. Many also lead to some wonderful PMs from individuals who have more to contribute on many subjects and discussion sometimes continues very fruitfully at this level. It's one of the most valuable transport forums I've come across on the internet. The fleet lists are also a wonderful resource.

Most people here are also very broadminded. The example that comes most to mind is the comparison with some tram forums where many enthusiasts are quite one-eyed and disdainful of other modes and are incapable of looking at transport issues broadly - particularly anything concerning buses! People on ATDB on the other hand share some very valuable impartial insights about such issues and there is little evidence of the old "tram vs bus" mentality that used to be quite destructive to discussion in the past.

I think that we've entered an era where public transport is coming to life again around the world, to various degrees. In NSW it's a particularly exciting time with the greatest changes since the 1930s now in progress and in full cry for at least the next decade it seems. It's been a little downscale in some other states and territories but overall the picture is bright and there is plenty of meat for discussion to keep such a forum alive for many years. The Board might go through periods where it slows down a little but I don't think this should be read as a broad long-term trend.
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Campbelltown busboy
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Campbelltown busboy »

I've spent the last 15 minutes refreshing the board index page watching the overall usage numbers and the numbers where between 46 and 105 the summery of the 105 was made up of 8 members 0 hidden and 97 guests
Nugget
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Nugget »

One other thing that has occurred, and I fall into this category is time of life. There were many enthusiasts or gunzels who don't work in the industry but are just in that time of life where posting to a message board is not a priority. Many have also moved to other countries and just have other interests now.
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kamnet
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Re: Future of the board

Post by kamnet »

tonyp wrote: Fri Aug 07, 2020 4:01 pm ATDB's greatest attribute is that it has always been a pool of great and varied knowledge and experience and most discussions are very informative. Many also lead to some wonderful PMs from individuals who have more to contribute on many subjects and discussion sometimes continues very fruitfully at this level. It's one of the most valuable transport forums I've come across on the internet. The fleet lists are also a wonderful resource.
I 100% agree here, boards like ATDB are important in preserving our collective knowledge. It's great that we have books written by individuals who have a keen interests in transport, but those books can't include the broader wealth of knowledge that comes from individuals who lived and worked with these vehicles and systems.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Nugget »

One thing that would make the board more readable in the Sydney section is the division between private and public observations. If we keep the division it would be more useful between say Sydney metro and Regional. There's no real difference between private and public buses.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

That is certainly something that is coming - I expect from next year.
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385BUZ
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Re: Future of the board

Post by 385BUZ »

One thing that has come out recently is that We keep breaking records for the most users online ever!

There has also been a lot of new members joining the board and actively contributing
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

Yes and most of those are spammers.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Bus Suggestions »

Would be interesting to see the August figures Fleet Lists, whenever ready. I do think it's a shame that most of the new users are spammers who have found the ATDB and are exploiting it for their own purposes, however, luckily there are still quite a number of new members that aren't spammers and are actually interested in this board.
I'd post any important, bus-related links I had, but they're outdated anyways.
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Re: Future of the board

Post by Fleet Lists »

32.55 for August. Very quiet in the middle of the month. At the 20th the average was below 30 but it has picked up since then.

The Lunch Box seems to be getting a lot of hits. Unfortunately I have not got any figures splitting the Lunch Box and serious posts.
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