Forum dead

Although I started this thread in the Mexico forum many of the comments are for the forum in General. For technical info IRV2 is far superior. They do not allow name calling and posters are civil. I agree with many that Facebook is not the answer. It won't be long before the entire rv.net forums will all be dead
A real shame. Btw since I started this thread 3 days ago there has be no other posts in the Mexico forum.

Moisheh

There are more people camping than ever. And many Internet forums (RV and otherwise) are alive and well. I personally really hate Facebook groups. It's a clunky platform for these sorts of discussions.

Here's my view. Some years back when this forum was really busy, there were a lot of people that just caused a lot of issues. Name calling and backbiting were common. Even the least controversial of subjects frequently went off the rails. Lots of good people got discouraged and left, myself included. Then the moderators tried to clean it up. Then some moderators got heavy handed. More people stopped posting. This is what is left. We seem to have a good bunch of hard working moderators now, and very civil useful threads, but few people left to participate.

No one is mentioning the elephant who seems to have stepped out of the room for a moment. Mexicowanderer has stopped posting. That slows things down a lot. I do not always agree with him or even understand some of the things he says, but he has been a key player in this particular forum. His comments are thought provoking, and often simply provocative. (Not quite the same thing, but you know what I mean.)

I sure hope he's ok.

In response to the comment about lurkers, I plead guilty. The problem is that although I am interested in travel to Mexico, it has been more than ten years since DW put her foot down and said we are not going there again. So my info is out of date, and so I rarely chime in.

briansue wrote:
I haven't posted on this forum for a long time and not sure I should now. I do not want to argue. This used to be a very good forum with lots of useful advice. Now it has deteriorated to a small handful of people posting things that have nothing to do with RVing and often nothing to do with Mexico or SA. Last year I was trying to help with the questions about pickup trucks that were not being allowed into Mexico. Lots of people wanted to know. I contacted many Mexican gov't agencies and was getting some responses about the rules. I posted as I learned. Someone said they were sick of it and the moderator closed the thread. There was still lots of useful info I was getting but I quit posting and will not be back. If you are sick of a topic all you have to do is not read it. Why a topic which seemed to have great interest to forum readers was cut off by the moderator was never explained. I broke no rules. The information was requested by many and was current. So I - like so many others - am done with this forum and the many useless posts that continue to plague this forum. Sad that a once very good forum is now of little or no use due to being taken over by a small handful of posters. It is supposed to be a forum about RVing - by and for those who are current RVers in areas south of the US border. That is no longer the case.

I hope your post stays up and can be seen by all.
Mine were deleted for saying the very same thing.
I wasn't trying to cause trouble but expressing my opinion as to what I saw from being a noob.
I also broke no rules but was only informed to read the guidelines.
Hopefully more posts like yours will sink in to those responsible

OK, I have tried to stay out of this, but it's time to chime in.

This is a great forum and shares a lot of important information.

Unfortunately at times, discussions/topics have gotten out of hand, but like the political situation in both/many countries, things have changed.

Many of you that are or have become "lurkers" are missed and your input is again welcomed and you are encouraged to participate.

Moderator

briansue wrote:
Sad that a once very good forum is now of little or no use due to being taken over by a small handful of posters.

There are a bunch of us that appreciate your efforts, remember the silent majority.

On all of the forums I follow there are those that respond to issues they have no knowledge of or to issues of equipment they do not own or have knowledge of.

Please do not let them discourage you, we are listening.

I very rarely post, however if I had to guess it would be because no matter what the post or in what topic you have 1 or 2 people that are experts in all matters and write multiple paragraphs I say multiple on how they think they know everything, or the ones who answer with something completely off the subject matter. Just look at some of the replies to this post.

I haven't posted on this forum for a long time and not sure I should now. I do not want to argue. This used to be a very good forum with lots of useful advice. Now it has deteriorated to a small handful of people posting things that have nothing to do with RVing and often nothing to do with Mexico or SA. Last year I was trying to help with the questions about pickup trucks that were not being allowed into Mexico. Lots of people wanted to know. I contacted many Mexican gov't agencies and was getting some responses about the rules. I posted as I learned. Someone said they were sick of it and the moderator closed the thread. There was still lots of useful info I was getting but I quit posting and will not be back. If you are sick of a topic all you have to do is not read it. Why a topic which seemed to have great interest to forum readers was cut off by the moderator was never explained. I broke no rules. The information was requested by many and was current. So I - like so many others - am done with this forum and the many useless posts that continue to plague this forum. Sad that a once very good forum is now of little or no use due to being taken over by a small handful of posters. It is supposed to be a forum about RVing - by and for those who are current RVers in areas south of the US border. That is no longer the case.

Mr Elliot is spot on. The prime reason is the decreasing number of travelers. We don't care to just stay on the West coast so tend to travel on the eastern side. We spent 2 weeks in Cd Valles as friends there and the only other visitors were a French family for 2 nights. Then to Palenque and people were German, Belgium and Aussie surfers in a Tuk-Tuk, one night a couple from Vermont. Horgar Infantil, a Spanish couple, now in Oaxaca it is the Belgium folks again, Dutch and British. These folks follow ioverlander as most are full time travelers. We momentarily meet a couple from Oregon who actually owned a restaurant near us for a while, but now live in Chapala.

The Mayabell camping area is 1/3 the size it was and last time at Chimulco it was almost deserted(3 years ago) as compared to 10 years ago being in the overflow area. Folks don't appear to be starting traveling (as we all know that it so terribly dangerous down here)and the rest of us are getting older.

You must admit also that driving around is not without its hassles and quite stressful and the costs are increasing. The first day from Reynosa cost us $180 in fuel and tolls.

I could go on.

DutchmenSport wrote:
RV sales are declining also. Maybe there is a correlation?

You know what's really sad?

Every time I go into the Indianapolis, Indiana location Camping World, I always take a moment to talk to some of the employees, including the salesmen. There's almost always someone standing around. I'll start a conversation over something RV related and they will begin to chime in.

Now, I will begin to manipulate the conversation, which always leads to the question: "Have you ever heard of the internet forum site, RV dot net or OpenRoads?" And every single person I ask that question to, and I'm talking every Camping World I've ever been in, from Sturges SD, to Georgia, the answer is always a resounding, "No."

And then I tell them they should, it's their company's web site forums. And then I suggest the next time they get on a computer they look up RV.net and start reading.

Now, if Camping World won't even advertise or promote their own services, and their own employees don't even know RV.net exists, then how does other RV enthusiasts ever know.

Maybe if Camping World would let their customers know this web site exists, and the portals are Camping World, Good Sam, Coast-to-Coast, and MotorHome magazine, maybe participation would increase.

I'm just saying Camping World? Why not educate your employees?

Camping World does not promote this forum at all let alone to its employees. Know why? Because it does not generate any revenue! Do you really think they would even talk about anything non-revenue generating at a sales meeting? The whole business model of Camping World enterprises is revenue generation without regard for anything in its aftermath. It is only a matter of time before Camping World pulls the life support plug on this forum. It costs money, does not generate revenue, and helps to spread bad customer experiences with Camping World and Good Sam. Don't forget I told you so!