Why...just why? (Rant coming) (1 Viewer)

[Josh N]

Came here from the 80 forums after buying an LX for my wife. Seems like this forum in particular is rife with people incapable of making a decision to buy a truck. Every other day there are at least 3-4 posts popping into the front page feed asking if any particular truck is a good deal. Are you that unsure of your ability to conduct market research for your area? Your ability to negotiate a fair price? Your ability to examine a vehicle to determine if you want to buy it? None of your indecision is tech. This is a tech forum. If you can't decide if a truck is a fair deal you probably shouldn't buy an expensive to maintain 15+ year old vehicle. There are literally hundreds of threads on this forum asking the exact same question. Read them. This doesn't seem to be a problem on the 80 forum, if it is I missed it all through sheer dumb luck for the past 8 years or so. Nope that gold plated diamond encrusted underground bunker find with 25 original miles is not a good deal. OK, rant over.

 

[arcteryx]

Not only do I completely agree, I asked the same question 2 months ago why so many price threads? Some good ideas were suggested

 

[2001LC]

It has been truly amazing at the shear number new buyers of these old rust bucket. I suppose many post "what do you guy's think" "Should I buy" is really more about excitement over a find, wanting to share with fellow enthusiast.

One things for sure, we've never seen this much interest before. Is it that gas is under $2, current price point of the used 100 or just the word is out????

 

[Lexus Land Cruiser]

Yes.

D) All the above

The 100 is the new 80.

 

[re_guderian]

I bought my 80 in 2005. The 80 forum had a lot of that back then. MUD has grown, and the 100's are now in the price range that the 80's were in back then. It comes with the territory. Was a time I remember when a used 80 was selling in Toyota Trails for $32K, and all the 60 drivers were sneering, "Who would pay that much for a grocery-getter?" because so few people wheeled them. Yeah, they ain't tech, and people need to grow a pair. However, here's a techy post on purchases...

LX 470 vs Landcruiser: Values According to Joe

It's a bit dated, so just shift everything by a year, and you're golden...

 

[jLB]

While I don't disagree that the percentage of those threads in this subforum is quite high, it is becoming annoying, and there has got to be a better way to deal with these types of questions.


I wouldn't say that the 80 series is completely immune to it either:

Would this have been a good buy?

Help: how bad is this rust?

What areas to check for rust?

May I get a price check on a '97 FJ80?

Looking for information

Looking at a 92 FJ80 170K Worth it?
​

I think that the quantity of other active topics and number of daily posts in the 80 series section kind of spreads the pre-purchase questions out a bit better than the traffic in the 100 series section.

​

 

[RyanStl]

General discussion for each model run would solve this.

 

[wpsfan]

It has been truly amazing at the shear number new buyers of these old rust bucket. I suppose many post "what do you guy's think" "Should I buy" is really more about excitement over a find, wanting to share with fellow enthusiast.

One things for sure, we've never seen this much interest before. Is it that gas is under $2, current price point of the used 100 or just the word is out????

Agreed. People just want to know about their particular case. Sometimes things are pointed out about the truck that the OP didn't notice, saving them from a bad buy. Everyone likes reassurance, including you and I. And who knows, that new poster may stick around and become a main contributer to the community.

These people trust the knowledgeable ones here to heavily weigh in on a major purchase, possibly life altering, feel flattered if anything. In the end it's just a thread on a forum on the internet, funny to me how something so silly bothers people enough to create threads like these, which is quite often.

 

[ScubaJon]

the easy way to stop all the should I buy this LC is for the people it bothers to just not open them and read them. And to let the guys that want to help read them and give advice.

If you get to the point something bothers you so much it might be time to move on.

 

[120mm]

It's gotten so anymore I respond with "No, if you need to ask, you shouldn't buy a Series 80."

Which is probably the most accurate answer one could give.

Anyone who doesn't know if they should take on the burden of an expensive, complex, 20+ year truck prior to asking is probably going to get in trouble if they buy.

 

[rival1]

I sort of agree, but if you dont want to read it dont open it. When too many sub forums are added it dilutes the whole forum IMO

 

[aging fleet]

Yep, seems to be a very frequent topic, how about thread dedicated to purchasing questions? Make it a sticky so there is a better chance new people will see it.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

^ tried it, then folks complained they couldn't tell who was responding to their post, despite the ability to use "@". It lives in the classifieds thread now.

At least the threads are about the 100 and not tire threads or threads that start with "I know this doesn't go here, but . ."

Or chat threads with no tech.

 

[bucfl]

From a poster perspective....

I was one of those asking this question and was appreciative of the answers I received. It assured me of the issue the car had and I purchase it.

Sometimes we need reassurance from experts of the decision we are making.

I don't always answer these posts myself. They don't bother me as that's what this forum is for. We don't have to read every single topic posted....

 

[maxse01]

Isn't this forum all about shared knowledge and helping others? I think people should use the search function more, but that's like expecting people to keep right except to pass.

 

[Clunky]

Is it really that hard to skip over / not read the posts you aren't interested in? I think Josh needs to eat a Snickers

"Tech" can be interpreted pretty widely. It would be helpful to have a 100 series general discussion topic in order to weed out some of the posts that have nothing to do with tech.

 

[re_guderian]

What we really need is an artificial intelligence forum plug-in that would reject hopelessly retarded thread titles like, "Help" or "Should I?" Or "What do you think?" That'dbereallygreat....

 

[Output Shaft]

Scrolling to the next thread is so damn hard. Rant over.

 

[arcteryx]

Yes, we can choose to skip them and I do for the most part. But it's not tech, it's buying advice. And when there are 4-5 of those on the front page, it clutters the tech section. Like some of you, I choose to get alerts for new threads, so it's more "in my face" at that point. I skip over most of them now. Yes I can disable the alerts, but I do that so I can respond/read about threads I am interested in.

It's easy to point out problems, it's harder to fix them. In the thread I posted, we came up with some ideas but none were executed. I do like the notion of a buying advice sub-forum. If others have better ideas, let's hear them.

And I expect them to do that too. Every German on the road has it figured out, but most Americans just don't get it.

20 year ago people used to do that. I do this 95% of the time still, it's just good safety. Now with everyone texting and driving, that buffer of an extra lane may give you time to react and may be enough to save your life and the lives of others.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

We floated the sub-forum, but where does that stop? Sub-forum for buying, for selling, for tires, for new purchases, for videos, for pictures, etc. Then people complain about the 15 stickies at the top that they have to scroll through. So before you say nothing was executed, please realize that plenty of things have been tried, including:

- single thread where everything gets moved to. Complaints about can't tell who's responding to what post, despite the ability to use "@" as I already mentioned. Thread goes to page 2, newb doesn't know it exists, posts new thread. Mods have to merge.
- move all purchase question threads to classifieds. Complaints from sellers that their threads are being diluted, complaints from posters that no one goes to the classifieds so their thread gets no views.
- delete thread with note to post in classifieds. Complaints if mods miss one, "why did my thread get deleted but his thread stays?"