Comradery and Community | GTAMotorcycle.com

Comradery and Community

bigpoppa

bigpoppa

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Been browsing a bunch of forums lately, and it seems to me the sense of comradery and community is far stronger with euro bike owners.

This seems evident when you look at their forums, everyone is looking out for each other, or willing/happy to help out with any sort of questions or troubleshooting.

At least on the Triumph, KTM or Moto Guzzi forums I have visited.


There's more riffraff on jap bike forums it seems and they tend to be infested with useless clowns and mid level trolls.

Im sure there are exceptions, and I am generalizing, but this has definitely been my experience

Maybe its just the law of averages and exclusivity has its perks?
 
It changes all the time. There are no hard and fast rules. I've seen strange behaviour from Goldwing riders and BMW riders. Ducati owners are very diverse tho.
 
Which Triumph forum are you on?
 
I have had to gone mining for information a few times on TL1000S stuff since I got mine... I noticed more than once somebody had asked a question on a Suzuki forum, some recusant comes in who is 100% dead wrong but completely convinced they are right gives an answer, then there is an all out brawl as they insult every person that comes by and points out their wrongness. This is more a product of relaxed moderation I think.

It has been a while since I had to try a Triumph forum, but I did notice the answer to a lot of questions is "spend money" and then "why did you buy an X if you were going to cheap out on Y". This covers many other European brands as well, as far as I can tell
 
TwistedKestrel said:
I have had to gone mining for information a few times on TL1000S stuff since I got mine... I noticed more than once somebody had asked a question on a Suzuki forum, some recusant comes in who is 100% dead wrong but completely convinced they are right gives an answer, then there is an all out brawl as they insult every person that comes by and points out their wrongness. This is more a product of relaxed moderation I think.

It has been a while since I had to try a Triumph forum, but I did notice the answer to a lot of questions is "spend money" and then "why did you buy an X if you were going to cheap out on Y". This covers many other European brands as well, as far as I can tell
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I've found the opposite both on BMW and Ducati forums. Both for example often state how overpriced their in-house branded gps units are or where to look for replacement parts without suggesting oem parts. No elitism or random dbag comments on either of those bike forums either.
 
bigpoppa said:
Been browsing a bunch of forums lately, and it seems to me the sense of comradery and community is far stronger with euro bike owners.

This seems evident when you look at their forums, everyone is looking out for each other, or willing/happy to help out with any sort of questions or troubleshooting.

At least on the Triumph, KTM or Moto Guzzi forums I have visited.


There's more riffraff on jap bike forums it seems and they tend to be infested with useless clowns and mid level trolls.

Im sure there are exceptions, and I am generalizing, but this has definitely been my experience

Maybe its just the law of averages and exclusivity has its perks?
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My guess is there are more squids on the Jap forums. Euro bikes initial cost and ongoing maintenance are pricier so it stands to reason owners are more affluent and possibly older and more mature. And the number of euro owners and old euro bikes is much smaller.

Your observation makes sense to me.
 
Not my experience at all. Both the ZX-10R and RC51 forums I've been a part of were full of helpful folks with lots of good advice. Burgman forums are helpful but definitely have a higher percentage of strident weirdos. Aprilia forums are mostly great, but have a few rumour spreading weirdos obsessing about anecdotal evidence of reliability issues without any first-hand examples. "A friend told me he'd talked to a mechanic who said his cousin had an issue with valves. Should I be worried?"

On the other hand, a good buddy had to step away from a local BMW-MOA group because of the relentless infighting, cliques, and general bad behaviour. Similarly, a RAT group became a weird insider club for another buddy that took all the fun out of participating, especially as it evolved into a GS and Multistrada club for people who still liked to wear 'vintage' Triumph t-shirts.

In other words, some bad people can ruin a good thing regardless of 'exclusivity' or other perceived stereotypes.
 
That’s sorta the same vibe for Harley forums.

Most people who give advice or opinion has never owned one
 
Wingboy said:
It changes all the time. There are no hard and fast rules. I've seen strange behaviour from Goldwing riders and BMW riders. Ducati owners are very diverse tho.
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I used to frequent a Goldwing forum that outgrew itself and went from private ownership to M/C.com. All M/C.com seems to care about is ad revenue. It was like having a family gathering to having a family gathering with everyone drunk.

The bar was lowered to the point that most of the regulars stopped posting. I suppose they are still considered members if that helps in setting ad rates.

Moderators and admin staff make the forum. It can't be easy. Moderation isn't censorship.
 
I've had those groups try to buy out my websites as well. I say no thanks, they keep coming back every couple years. They're the worst. Many a quality motorcycle website, not just forum, have gone to **** once sold.
 
adri said:
I've had those groups try to buy out my websites as well. I say no thanks, they keep coming back every couple years. They're the worst. Many a quality motorcycle website, not just forum, have gone to **** once sold.
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It's a tough call. If they offer you many years of profit right now and you don't need to do anything anymore and forums are in general declining in participation (and therefore value), selling is probably the right financial call. If you want to avoid the death spiral, you could decide to put pride in front of money and keep grinding. I'm glad Paul/CK haven't sold but wouldn't fault them for doing it.
 
ToSlow said:
That’s sorta the same vibe for Harley forums.

Most people who give advice or opinion has never owned one
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HD forums are a special kind to themselves. There are some really bright people on there who clearly have hands on knowledge, and can demonstrate troubleshooting, and build some creative tools etc. Then there are the others (the "had to lay'r down" types), and the other people who will say, "since you are in there just replace everything else". Generally good people with nice intentions if not well executed.
 
Im also active on the Ducati Supersport forum. My impression is that its really well organized with great support and input from the members. Alot of people from all over the world willing to help out.
 
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