I read this forum often and post occasionally as both a controls well as a fact finder.
Isn’t that what this is about and how it got so “big”?
I would suggest eliminating the solicitations from so called “ l can get you xxxx @ $xxx “ posts.
You mean Marketplace? New posters doing this? Hoping you can expand a bit.
The mods stomp on non brokers posting that.
Reading through this, i can’t help but wonder what the purpose of this website is and who it’s aimed towards? Is it supposed to be inclusive or exclusive?
Is this an industry expert website or one that exists to help people both hack a lease, and if they want to stick around longer, become leasing experts?
I definitely wish that people spent more time getting educated about leasing and car buying in general, but I also understand not everyone has time to read through the various leasing guides and how-tos and marketplaces and search histories, especially if they have a busy life of work/kids/obligations and may suddenly be in the market for a vehicle.
At some point, the “experts” on this forum might alienate too many newcomers.
I respect there’s a balance to be struck, but calling people that aren’t taking a lengthy amount of time to understand the resources available to them “lazy” is not a way of being inclusive and inviting to new users.
Finally, so what if someone asks if $900 is a good deal on a Corolla? Just tell them it isn’t or that we don’t have the info needed to answer it. When did it become such a chore to help people who don’t know anything about cars that X payment is what they could expect or that something is a bad deal or that Edmunds is the right place to ask about MF/RV?
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But if they don’t have time to do that, then they probably aren’t going to contribute much (or anything) to the forum in the short- or long-term, including ultimately posting what deal they got (good or bad). So I’m not sure why there is a need to be especially “inclusive.” Most of such posts end up, IMHO, just being “junk” and “distracting” from the threads and posts that are actually helpful.
I agree that people here could be more polite and refrain from making (so many) value judgments.
But it’s important to keep in mind that most of posters here are doing this on their free time. So they are volunteering their time to help total strangers save $. If the regulars here think it’s a chore, it’s b/c it can be, at times. Certainly nothing wrong w/ them voicing that opinion. If the new posters can’t handle that, how are they going to handle the tactics used by dealers to get more $ out of them?
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I joined maybe a year ago in prep for a lease ending read a whole bunch, learned a little bit and then went out and bought an old Land Cruiser instead.
I don’t post much at all but lurk quite a bit in case there’s any hot lease deals and I have any cash burning a hole in my pocket.
Having more of a barrier to entry would have kept me away but a FAQ or a weekly NOOB questions thread might work.
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I do think we have to give a little less attitude to new users (ones who aren’t ignoring good suggestions), it can sound unwelcoming. I went back and read some of my questions from when I was new here 2 years ago and some of the questions I asked were cringe, but I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It definitely takes more than an hour or 2 to get up to speed here. However, I agree there should be some more requirements before new users can post.
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I think you missed the rest of it where the forum spent a great deal of time trying to help and offer alternatives, only to be dismissed. Maybe you haven’t come across many of these types of posts, but many new users have already decided what they are going to do and they get argumentative whenever anyone tells them they would be better off to do otherwise.
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Lots of people have attitude, that’s a problem in itself that people just wanna be nasty to each other on the internet.
That aside, in my perspective most of the new users are pretty lazy or unwilling to read/understand.
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I don’t really understand how new user restriction would prevent or discourage you from lurking?
That’s the big idea, people should lurk before they post. In my own opinion anyways.
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One thing I’ve noticed whether on this forum or another two that I look at is the mental block people have from searching for the answer. On any forum it should be required to read the last 10 posts ( at minimum ) and use the search function. I promise your not the first person looking for a “deal” on a Tacoma, Frontier, 4Xe.
I do think perhaps templates for some categories would cut down on the noise…for example on the “Wanted” ads, please put your location and all sorts of other relevant info. I think the “Group Buys” or Broker postings, are great, however it isn’t a stretch to think it would be more efficient to have Brokers post the area the dealer is out of. For example: Vehicles are to be picked up or shipped at your cost in / from the DC/MD/VA area or Louisiana and so on. Also to include the broker fee, since we preach TCO here and maybe even incorporate into the calculators.
With all due respect to the true “experts” on the site, I take it with a grain of salt.
I certainly don’t have the time to be as active on here as them.
I work hard running a business.
I enjoy the value of the site