RIP Aussie Streetfighters

[zx12argh]

Sup fellow fighters,

Long time no see. Thought I would drop by to see the old site and see whats going on. A few of you probably remember me, most of you probably don't but I was the keen red headed fella who stalked the site incessantly for a few years with a custom ZX-12R. This site was the shit, a bunch of smart arses, giving each other crap, talking bikes, riding bikes and having a general good time.

Unfortunately the operative word here is "was". I mostly dropped by to see if things had changed since the last time I decided to stop coming here.

Hmm not really.

12 odd posts in the main Streetfighters Talk section this year, the rest possibly hidden behind a paywall that I have no intention of coughing up dollars for.

When I joined this site it was constantly updating, new stuff popping up all the time. Shit, I'd sit there hitting refresh just to see what was new. Times have changed, last time I was here (couple of years ago) I had posts deleted because I was trying to sell some stuff (at a loss to me) because I wasn't a full financial member. Lets forget the time spent behind stalls setting up, selling shit, promoting the website. Sour grapes from me? Maybe. I don't really give a fuck. I've moved on. It's just a bleeding shame that such a great site has become a shadow of its former self. The fact that I am still in the top 20 of posters two years since my last post is proof that this site has really wound down.

What do I reckon caused this? Segregation of the site. Having paid and unpaid sections turns newbs off faster than a fat kid on veggies. Ask yourself, why should a new guy sign up and cough up the dough to see the members section when people wont even spend 99 fucking cents on an app these days.

People advertising shit on this site to buy/sell drove traffic here, but then the "members" section was created and you had to pay to sell stuff or see the "special" sections. It used to be that new people would check the goods and maybe move on, but others would stay and contribute, adding to the forum. Now you almost have to be a financial member just to give shit away (check turbokats post).

Really do you think that shit works? I always thought the point of a Streetfighter was "I crashed my bike but I'm too hard up to put the original plastics on". Paying to get access to this site is antithesis to the core of fighting. Pay for a site? You may as well be riding a ducati.

I'm not saying I have the answers. I know Si has bills to pay to keep this site running, but I'm telling you that this site has losts its relevance to the streetfighting community.

I didn't write this post to stir shit. This is just my honest assessment of the state of play. There was a golden era for this site, and pardon me for saying, but this ain't it. How do you fix this? Remove the paywall. This site was always hard to get on board with considering the way newbs are often treated. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's just one of the idiosyncracies of the site but who is going to pay to be called a fuckhead no matter how nicely it is said.

How do you make this site financial? Ads. Yep its a dirty word but it works to a degree.

Add a donation button with a metric - i.e. We need x amount of dollars to maintain the site. Sure it's close to begging but its got more honor then asking people to pay for information that is free on the internet.

Sponsored rides, get a group of ASFers together for a ride, throw the hat around and there is months worth of bandwidth.

Not saying this is the be all and end all of ideas but its INCLUSIVE of new members rather than EXCLUSIVE.

Right, the rum is wearing off, time for a refresher.

Flame on guys'n'girls.

I hope this is taken as constructive criticism... haha yeah.<

tl;dr; the site has gone to shit since charging people. fix it so it's inclusive and not exclusive.

[MattyDucati]

Some good points for sure! I'd for one would keep paying just help out with site. I haven't been here for that long but i must say its not as fun as it was when I got here

[stiffsimon]

Tend to agree with the not being as much fun as it used to be. Too many people spitting their dummies out, getting into absolutely pointless arguments and using the site to promote their own political beliefs that have absolutely nothing to do with bikes.
Having said that I don't mind paying the membership fees, but that's just my thoughts.

[RevHead]

Tend to agree with the not being as much fun as it used to be. Too many people spitting their dummies out, getting into absolutely pointless arguments and using the site to promote their own political beliefs that have absolutely nothing to do with bikes.
Having said that I don't mind paying the membership fees, but that's just my thoughts.

x1 agreed

[Tony Nitrous]

Edit:

[DCRacing]

x2 Tony

[Redmohawk]

Your point on the cost putting people off my be a valid one , a solution needed to be found though and Si did what he thought had to be done.

I hope you plan to stick around , as to regain the original "Feel" of the old site we need to retain as many thinking members like yourself.

Welcome back.

On a side note , I wonder if opening the chat room to all members would be a better option. I'm a gold member to support the site so others don't have to pay heaps (and I'd bet the other gold members feel the same) , more than any extra privelages. The ASF pub needs drinkers Si, no fun drinking alone.

[Tony Nitrous]

Edit:

[wackyrider]

Sadly what you have said is true, things have changed a lot over the last 6 years or so that I've been a member. There is a lot more bickering nowadays, but a few people want to sit on their high horse and feel important so they chew people's heads off before we even have a chance to find out what they are like.

As was mentioned the site unfortunately cannot run for free and I don't mind paying the member fees nowadays, however when I did join up I was a bit hard up on cash for a couple of years and every cent counts.

I would still keep 'donating' if I had no extra area's to see. Here's and idea that can be put to vote to see what people's opinions are. One way to find out if the money is a deterrent for new members is to open up the full members are to non donating members and they can keep the 'privilege' of having an avatar or a photo as a signature.

For this to work though, the people paying for membership would still have be keen to 'donate' the same amount of money that they are now. I would say that this is a worthy topic to have a poll on to see what people really think.

[El_Hefty]

When it changed to a pay for access it certainly dropped off the traffic. About the same time there was a running battle between a few folks here that became a little tedious all around a rating system.

Theres also facespace which seems to be gathering momentum and while it does i guess it can only take away from here.

While its here ill always support it, as Tony's pointed out its really bugger all for what can be an informative fun place. Maybe some folks need to agree, myself included, to not drag the place down with bickering etc ....

I for one now vow more pics of my bikes since i have a few projects going ATM and no more slander...

[Yella]

A majority of the forums I am on have a members/ paid area all part of running a site not a big issue. Not much goes on behind the wall anyway.
I don’t pay for a special area I pay because I can (didn’t always have the spare cash) and I think the site is a great resource and if I can help support it all the better. Different avatars and the like maybe a good thing but again not essential. I have been around a little while now with varying levels of involvement ( depending on other life demands) ,never been a big poster but log in a couple of times a day to see what's happening and catch up and I have seen changes. Has the site lost some of its "feel" Yes.
Some of it is due to keyboard warriors attacking people for little or no reason it has always happened but seems to be more lately and people trying to promote some bullshit mindset but this forum has always been the wild west of forums anything goes so its going to come with the territory, its only a small part.
The main reason I see is the site just doesn’t have the bike related posting traffic that it once had people are building bikes but not posting updates or threads ( I try to post updates even when I don’t really have an update or pic’s helps keeps me focused ). I remember when someone could post a question in a thread and you would get 15 answers now you lucky to get 1 or 2 and normally from the same members in most cases. I am sure facebook contriubutes to this because of how easy it is to access but I still like the forum style.
I see a core group doing 90% of the posting. Do the non paying members still have to jump through hoops to post? Doing the verification each time? If so I can see why that would push people away. Even members seem to have backed away maybe it’s just timing with people working life ETC.
I don’t know why I don’t have any answers.
Is the ASF dead far from it people are still here it just a quiet time it will kick off again. Just my 2c

[kroosn]

For me the decline came about after the last big successful fools run at Casino. That last year was a blast and there were so many members and potential new members that turned up. It was the decision after that to turn it into a business. The next year was a flop. A combination of bad weather and trying to turn it into a carnival attraction and turn a profit from it. It was the arguing over that where the forum lost several involved members. Then remaining were too many who would just argue and abuse any member they saw fit.

Custom bikes are expensive but if you are going into this world street fighters is a cheaper way to start so we attracted those members. These members would then be quickly shot down because they weren't paying a professional to build their bike and it wasn't matte black.

Anyhow I wish I had the answer to bring it back to the eclectic gathering that it once was but I just don't know if it will turn around now.

[Yella]

Not sure about getting shot down for doing it yourself as that is what its all about for me but the Matte black thing I can see.

[Weaselman]

Ive been kicking around here a long time and I agree. Even my posting's has trailed off.

The quality on here is thinning out sure enough. I too used to be plastered to the screen because so much in depth shit was going on. Weather it be builds or discussions over riding and the riding life ect.

(Dont forget I ran Riders Against Bureaucracy)
I pay the money gladly because Ive been to the events I've done the time and I have a loyalty to this site and the many friends i've made on it.
But things have changed.

Lets take the impending AFR for example. People talked in circles about it and when 1 member finally put his hand up and organized something he was completely shot to shit by other members who didn't like the plan.
Did they do anything off their own bat? No they fucking didn't.

If its not getting done for them it wont get done and when in the past you'd have people coming from all over to get together its become an us and them state to state affair.

We used to hang off fighters like nothing else mattered but now like it or not we are all turning into lazy keyboard heros.

The spark has gone out of ASF but we are all ourselves to blame.
But there's no way in hell I'd ever quit it.

[ozzy1100]

the captin always goes down with the ship you strange rooster :-)

[Weaselman]

Fishes... Fishes everywhere

[Mr Ed]

Time and tide wait for no man. I don't know what this site used to be like but apart from the odd completely un- bike related shite that rears it's head, it seems to be pretty friggin good. I haven't posted much but then don't have much to say, my bike's only lightly? modified but time and greenbacks will change that. Maybe the site needs a bit more input from some of the new peeps, and a bit less wining (moaning, not drinking wine). Anywho, that's just my thoughts. Keep it real.

[Weaselman]

As a new member your thoughts are welcome. It cant just be the old schoolers banging on about things

[Hagarr]

Interesting post.

I have no objection to paying the fee's.

I do agree the site is changing,
some good members have left or backed off their input to a minimum.
I'd be more interested in why that was ?

Personaly, I used to be keen to promote this site, but the amount of racist,
political, sicko, and back stabbing bitching posts means that I really give it
some thought now, some of it is mildly entertaining but much of it does the
forum no favours, I like the lack of moderation on here, but some folk seem keen
to abuse it, but thats only my personal view.

Tony.

X3

Evolution is always a challenge to the unchallenged or unchallengeable!

Peoples lives and importance to what they do always changes constantly and no disrespect to Si but you would need to have a team of experts to try and keep the site operating to how public sentiment expects it to be run or the content allowable.

Facebook probably has taken away most of the decent discussion side of things that I can see.

If someone wants to (or is allowed to) rant white supremacist or Muslim is better dialogue, it's very difficult to keep the lid on.

Just look at the WASF, since Billywhizzes personal circumstances have changed the WASF section has dropped off substantially, IMO, although we have managed to keep in contact outside the site which is a great thing and many friendships have grown from this site.

Interesting times ahead for the site, but yes things are changing and for a good reason.

[Weaselman]

"Facebook probably has taken away most of the decent discussion side of things that I can see."

LIES!!!!!