Can anyone new find Tanknet?

[Detonable]

  A couple times my Tanknet forum didn’t come up. So I went to Bing and tried to search for it. It was hard to find, partly because a producer of large tanks for liquid storage has a similar name. I wonder if new posters can find us. 

[Ssnake]

I always assumed that this would happen mostly through word of mouth propagation. That being said, if someone proposed a credible strategy to boost the popularity of this site (to what end?) and it wouldn't cost too much, I might be willing to chip in. But I think as far as classic forums are concerned, social media will always dominate the information space because they exploit personal relationships and have detailed profiles of all their members to suggest to them new content. The fact that you have to actively search for something like "tanknet" pretty much tells all that you need to know.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Start a Twitter page? Then when someone starts a particularly good thread, you can link it up.

Just a thought anyway. Or put up a Tanknet approved playlist on Spotify.

[Harold Jones]

1 hour ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Start a Twitter page? Then when someone starts a particularly good thread, you can link it up.

Just a thought anyway. Or put up a Tanknet approved playlist on Spotify.

Yes what this site clearly needs is an influx of twittiets.

 

[Mikel2]

It was the first hit when googling "Tanknet military forums".

[Steven P Allen]

I don't know that people will google "Tanknet miliatry forums," but we used to come up on more general searches for things like tanks and other hardware.   I found the old Brunk forum looking for info on US halftracks using Infoseek, I think.  How many hits would be above us on such searches i have no idea.

[Stargrunt6]

2 hours ago, Harold Jones said:

Yes what this site clearly needs is an influx of twittiets.

 

I too like running sewerage lines through my living room. 

 

I don't mind that it's hard to search for.  I like our secluded gated community.  Let the normies have fun with the home fish habitat page. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Stargrunt6

[Mikel2]

1 hour ago, Steven P Allen said:

I don't know that people will google "Tanknet miliatry forums," but we used to come up on more general searches for things like tanks and other hardware.   I found the old Brunk forum looking for info on US halftracks using Infoseek, I think.  How many hits would be above us on such searches i have no idea.

www.airfax.com/tanks

It's funny, I can't remember what I had for breakfast today, but I remember mid 90s www's 🙂

  As far as finding this site without looking for it specifically,  back in 1997 if you entered "tank forum" into Lycos or Altavista, the chances of finding this site were a heck of a lot higher than now, when there are 10000x the number of sites that fit that description.

  But the number of people looking for old style discussion forums can't be that large these days.  Oh, and I hate Facebook's format for historical searches... With a passion.

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Mikel2

[Ssnake]

I also tend to believe that the sheer growth of the internet as a whole has dramatically shrunk the footprint of the site in search results. That the domain name has changed several times hasn't helped.

The internal rift of the 2002...2005 years when the Iraq war associated politics spilled over into TankNet debates and poisoned relationships hasn't helped, but it's water under the bridge and cannot be reversed. I do think that, long term, we need more new members if we want to sustain the site, and be it for biological reasons alone. But then again, there's always going to be some place on the internet where tanks will be discussed (how much of that are we doing here, one might ask, we've gone through most topics multiple times ... and if we aren't doing that as much as we did back then, then what's the point of preserving the site ... some heretics might ask).

[Corinthian]

2 hours ago, Ssnake said:

we need more new members if we want to sustain the site, and be it for biological reasons alone.

 

Well, I better get to it then, find several women, make kids with them, and expose them to TN while they're still in their wombs.

 

For The TN Species.TM

 

😆

[Corinthian]

FB Groups and Pages have killed internet forums like TN. Just look at FB and see how many pages there are on tanks in general, specific tanks, specific tank units, etc etc etc.

 

It's also easier to access these FB pages and groups unlike internet forums where one has to register. On FB, it's a simple hitting of the Join button and in some cases answering some questions before admission.

 

Plus, it's much much easier to contact people who know the subject on social media, especially if these people actively use socmed to spread their knowledge. Why go to an internet forum when you can ask a question directly to Steve Zaloga or Cookie Sewell etc etc on something on their posts or socmed pages....

 

I also think that model-centric internet forums have helped keep people from and away TN. Some likely went here, saw that they couldn't get the answer to their model question, and left for other forums that were focused on the hobby. FWIW, I tend to avoid such sites because the walt-iness and cringe are strong there.

 

Personally, I am not so keen in seeing an influx of new members here who for the most part won't contribute anything to the knowledge base, and instead pollute the threads with stupidity. Then again, I don't visit this forum as much as I did years ago.

[Harold Jones]

4 hours ago, Steven P Allen said:

I don't know that people will google "Tanknet miliatry forums," but we used to come up on more general searches for things like tanks and other hardware.   I found the old Brunk forum looking for info on US halftracks using Infoseek, I think.  How many hits would be above us on such searches i have no idea.

My first internet search was tanks, got about 100 sites devoted to various types of storage tanks.  Then one day I searched for Heavy Metal, looking for the sound track for the cartoon, and up popped the Heavy Metal Forums.

[rmgill]

9 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Start a Twitter page? Then when someone starts a particularly good thread, you can link it up.

Just a thought anyway. Or put up a Tanknet approved playlist on Spotify.

So ELP's Tarkus on repeat?

Or with different versions...

Here it is in Japanese.  😲 

Edited August 26, 2021 by rmgill

[Stuart Galbraith]

10 hours ago, Harold Jones said:

Yes what this site clearly needs is an influx of twittiets.

 

In actual fact, there are some intelligent, serious military commentary on Twitter, you just need to know where to look. Ok, so there is clueless commentary as well, but its not as if Tanknet hasnt always has that over the past 20 odd years. You take the rough with the smooth.

[Stuart Galbraith]

4 hours ago, Corinthian said:

FB Groups and Pages have killed internet forums like TN. Just look at FB and see how many pages there are on tanks in general, specific tanks, specific tank units, etc etc etc.

 

It's also easier to access these FB pages and groups unlike internet forums where one has to register. On FB, it's a simple hitting of the Join button and in some cases answering some questions before admission.

 

Plus, it's much much easier to contact people who know the subject on social media, especially if these people actively use socmed to spread their knowledge. Why go to an internet forum when you can ask a question directly to Steve Zaloga or Cookie Sewell etc etc on something on their posts or socmed pages....

 

I also think that model-centric internet forums have helped keep people from and away TN. Some likely went here, saw that they couldn't get the answer to their model question, and left for other forums that were focused on the hobby. FWIW, I tend to avoid such sites because the walt-iness and cringe are strong there.

 

Personally, I am not so keen in seeing an influx of new members here who for the most part won't contribute anything to the knowledge base, and instead pollute the threads with stupidity. Then again, I don't visit this forum as much as I did years ago.

As we all inevitably get older and start dying off, which it has over the past 20 years, its going to keep getting smaller to the point nobody is going to post here at all.

I think we do need more people here. We really need to get over the idea that only we have opinions worth listening to.

Its perfectly true social media has eroded our base. OTOH, there is no reason not to try and fight back by using Social media to capture the more intelligent. The stupid rarely hang around very long anyway (Ok there are exceptions, but not many).

[Stuart Galbraith]

3 hours ago, rmgill said:

So ELP's Tarkus on repeat?

Or with different versions...

Here it is in Japanese.  😲 

Im just pointing out, rather than what I normally do, posting twitter posts in tanknet, what if we link interesting threads to Twitter? All you have to do is put a hashtag 'Abrams' and you are going to get damn near anyone interested in US tanks hear about Tanknet.

Think about it. Got to be worth a try, right?

[sunday]

4 hours ago, rmgill said:

So ELP's Tarkus on repeat?

Or with different versions...

Here it is in Japanese.  😲 

Or...
 

 

[DB]

I think when we look at the cross-over where people come from, say, the War Thunder forums, we tend to get questions that have been discussed in the past, and that gives this site a depth that may not be entirely present elsewhere. I think that rehosting the site recovered a lot of historical stuff that had become hidden as the old site search was simply broken, and this historical stuff can be a valuable resource.

In terms of attracting new members - we simply don't - and worse than that we probably present an unwelcoming aspect to people who join to ask questions that we've seen before. Obviously there are good questions and bad ones, but we don't always treat good (but well-worn) questions with the respect they perhaps deserve.

See also my ramblings about excluding people from "the circle" in the Culture Wars topic.

Overall, I'd like to see a lot less aggression in debates in all of the sub-forums - even when people aren't letting the FFZ personality clashes bleed into the "serious" forums we often see excessive stubbornness in the face of objective evidence and also condescending dismissal of others' contributions from some. It may be a forlorn hope, but maybe we could see some better manners throughout, without any need for moderation that ain't nobody got time for.

As always, I include myself in the criticism here - it's far too easy to be snide, sarcastic or dismissive as a response than to modify ones own position based on the evidence, and doubly so when someone provides criticism of one's favourite tanks.

[sunday]

5 hours ago, DB said:

condescending dismissal of others' contributions from some

Yep, some contributions from some place in the Cotswolds tend to elicit that kind of reaction.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Not to mention the General Franco appreciation society. How many are on your banned list now Sunday?

 

[bojan]

One does not have to worship Franco to realize he was probably the best of the number of shitty choices Spain had.

[sunday]

12 minutes ago, bojan said:

One does not have to worship Franco to realize he was probably the best of the number of shitty choices Spain had.

A bit like Mannerheim in Finland, or Cromwell in England, but that was discussed in another thread.

[Stuart Galbraith]

I don't disagree, but why worship any fascist on principle? They didn't do the rest of Europe any favours.

For my part, I don't like the backbiting, the sarcasm and unpleasantness either. For my part I can admit my own responsibility to that end, I've contributed to it, I deeply regret it. Mostly.

On the other hand it rankles to be lectured in civility by someone who never ceases to be unpleasant at every opportunity. I can admit my own flaws, but I think a few others, particularly those claiming ostensibly to be christian, could do with a good session of introspection and reflection.

that said, we could all do better, I believe I've said it before. At the moment Tanknet is to a community what Afghanistan is to a country.

[bojan]

Had a Franco entered a war on the German side he would be as villain as every other European dictator that did so. He did not, so he gets a (partial) pass.

[Simon Tan]

If only we could limit the number of posts per thread, per day.