It seems like the site has slowed down.
 

What has happened in the last twenty years?

Members aging out, very few of the young generation getting in, egg beaters and Mark Zuckerberg’s
sh!t show just to name a few.

I frequent a very good dirt bike site with organization moderators topics etc. It has slowed way down over the last few years as well, primarily due to fragmentation with multiple Facebook sites that are pretty much useless no categories and it's just a screaming match with all the same questions answered over and over again on multiple boards

Unfortunately it has slowed, but member quality remains.

like JayTees said just a shift several areas - demographic, platform, etc…..

I’ve noticed it on most every forum I participate in other than corvetteforum.com - those mother****ers will show up to argue about ANYTHING and since they are mostly retired they have plenty of time to do so…..

Someone said it a year or so ago, 10, 15 years ago youd be logged on here reading something, leave your desk to have lunch and there would be a page and a half of new threads or comments. Fb has killed forumns. people on fb and here have also become dumber and dumber, IDK if its a lack of reading comprehension, legal weed killing their brain cells or commenting on discussions on their smart phone and NOT reading any details, IDK but its gotten full blown retarded.
I saw a post in the Scarab section on FB the other day, a picture of a boat and OPs question was my boat dont start, do you think its a fuel pressure issue?? No details on year, what engine, efi, carbed, new build, sudden etc. So people that were actually trying to help had to ask WHAT ENGINE, carbed, efi??? Then the brain damaged comments started, best one was a guy said " my efi boat wouldnt run either, I had to buy a new VAPORIZER for my efi. WTF is a VAPORIZER??? And of course comments from people with no clue, ie, you probably need to change your spark plug wires (yeah, boat ran fine, wires went bad overnight, right??). Op DID finally say he had changed fuel pump in the comments and it wouldnt start after that. .
Then on other post, "my boat runs bad, I checked fuel pressure, it was at factory spec, I changed plugs, cap, rotor, fuel filter, wires, still ran bad" then the commenters proceed to say: did you try changing the plugs yet?, change wires?, check fuel pressure?. Did you change filter yet? Umh, did you miss reading class?? I could go on and on.

Is this the real Smitty......^^^^^lmao..........dont forget the guy who was trying to do a compression test by turning the engine over by hand.

Yup pretty bad out there. In oerson too. You should have been around for my last few interviewees at work. Holy fuk. )

He must have the dual fuel LPG option ;)

Just this AM a guy posted a pic of his drive reservoir asking what goes in there,
then the condescending comments started to fly.

You have a variety of people on there from those that don’t know where the gas cap is, to some to seem to know what’s going on, but most seem to by smart ass, holyier than thou know it all’s, I tried it for a while, but gave up
on posting there…… it does provide some entertainment tho.

Every forum that I am on has suffered similarly, and yes I blame FB for a lot of it. But as JaayTeee noted earlier the demographics have changed so much as well. One of the uh...manufacturer specific...forums I am on has next to NO traffic at all, used to have several hundred members and a plethora of topics being discussed...not any more.
One of the things that I find the most disappointing is the "posting to fight" crap; someone will deliberately post a controversial topic, then proclaim how their POV is the ONLY one, and challenge anyone to disagree, THEN nearly immediately go into the disparaging comments, name calling, escalation crap. And I find myself deferring to that old adage, "Don't argue with ignorant people as they can beat you with experience", or something like that.
The gems of course in any forum is the people helping people with problems, projects, advice, etc. To me that is still what makes it all worth it.

He learned that on Facebook.

Where have you been all these years to keep the site active don't think Ive seen you post since Ive been a member....I like it when the OG's come on to bring some content to a post but your comment ?

Here's a little history if you guys care to read...

A lot has changed since OSO originated back in 1999---that's when I actually joined the forum, but it was just beginning to form and take shape along with the internet back then---and OSO was not even an official website yet back then.

If I remember correctly I was somewhere around within the first 200 original members or so. I had the opportunity to become a Charter Member, but missed the due time during that period when it was offered to certain members that were qualified by a certain membership date, etc.

People/members you may have seen that used to post comments, etc., today you don't see those people posting much anymore or have left the OSO website altogether for their own reasons or some may only observe from time to time. Anyway, life is too short and precious and since that time I have known members who have passed away since then as well.

As time has gone on I haven't visited the OSO website as often. I don't post anything near what I used to anymore either, but I have always liked and enjoyed Offshore hi-perf boating motorsports since I was a teenager in high school.
Our next door neighbor bought a new 1975/76 30' Scarab that was the only known offshore boat in the area that we knew of back then... and I had read and learned about Betty Cook of the KAAMA offshore boat racing team in the 1976 article of Motorboat & Sailing magazine and their 482cid/680hp velocity stacked mechanical FI engines as I grew up in a small town along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

A lot of controversy and Internet etiquette, etc was a new and different twist for everyone as internet forums were popping up everywhere---lots of awareness started since those beginnings back then when OSO began. I have met some good people and friendships on OSO as well.

I can also remember when members were interested in horsepower upgrades for the earlier MerCruiser 454cid 330hp, 365hp, 370hp, 400hp, etc, etc engine packages were some very big and popular topics back then---today you hardly hear of many of those subjects anymore----from carbs to EFI, Cnc ported heads, MLS/Cometic head gaskets, improved machining processes, etc, as engine technology continues to rapidly escalate.

Its funny because just after this post went up, someone inquiring about a 454 365hp engine upgrade.. As well as myself Im new to an 88 454 mags in a formula 292, and I'll be posting some more questions on upgrades. Let's hope there will be lots of interest, in the older boats with stock engines..

How come this site is so slow!?!? ... sais the guy that hasn`t been here in 20 years .

I make comments simply to create activity and maybe spur a conversation somedays, sad to see the site dying, so much great info and a buttload of laughs over the years . Not a FacePlanter .

It's interesting what gets a thread really fired up...not always obvious.

I'm very grateful for the OSO archive of data, and the current Brotherhood Community.

Love this place!!

I spend a lot of time here and try to check-in at least once a day. I read - a lot! The wealth of knowledge here especially if you know how to search, is invaluable. Some pretty darn cool people here, too. Happy to be a part of the OSO family.

Facespace ruined the forums in my opinion. I caught myself joining groups there and less time on forums. Ive since turned facebook off. I still pop in like currently, using the search function... to look for information. I was on a truck forum for a while that had a lot of members in the beginning, but over the years it fizzled out. So slow that it was like only us Mods and Admin posting. Sad to see it go when we pulled the plug on it. We had tons of info and comedy on the site.

While everything said in this discussion rings true- especially the dumbing down of America by FB- there's one other factor: I also used to post a lot more questions than I do now. The reason for me is that even though the search engine on this site is not very accurate I usually do a search for my question before I post. If I dig deep enough I get my answer or at least close enough to help me solve the problem. Even though there's always been a lot of people who reply on this board who don't read the previous posts well enough to understand the topic, there's always good information offered by people like Smitty who know what they're talking about so I usually don't have to post. OSO is kind of a victim of its own success I guess.

I love this site, tons of great info and im on it daily. Just in the finishing stages of my triple bravo xr to full staggered #6 conversion and ive had alot of luck with buying new parts and selling takeoffs, wealth of knowledge along the way from alot of different members. Im 31 and did the whole project with a great friend (happens to be a glass expert). I dont know if the site is slowed down per say or if there is so much knowledge already on it that people dont hafto ask as stated in a previous post.

I joined in 2000 when the site was very active. I read as much as I could before diving into a 502 crate motor project that later was transformed into a B&M 250 setup. Very successful and reliable package not because I knew what I was doing but because I asked enough questions to get the right engine builder, oiling (coolers, pumps), crossovers, drives and other assorted things. Could not have had as much success on my own. Pretty sure I had to rely on the hodge podge info available (now, not then) from FB it would have had an unsuccessful project.

I think the increasing cost of boating has priced most of the younger generation out of the market.

I always hated the “UsE tHe SeArCh FuNcTiOn” post. Just seems mindless. If it’s not an easily searchable question, I wouldn’t have posted it. Besides that, I’d love to put a 731 cam in an engine…. Just the problem is, it’s discontinued. Technology has changed and there’s got to be something later and greater. One can find a hundred threads from 10-20 years ago that talk all about it. As if that information is gospel and can’t be improved upon.

You're 100% correct. I'm 33 years old I'm just running a single 500efi in a 26' boat, and a lot of my friends cant even fathom the money that we spend on a toy. Which is miniscule compared to a lot of guys on here.

Though it does seem that sub-forum searching has improved some, Google is your friend for searching OSO (search topic and "offshoreonly" does pretty well).

731 cam - it's still a great cam for the majority of what people are doing. It's no longer made, yes, but the specs are readily available by (wait for it) searching. Then you take those specs to your cam grinder of choice. Bam - you have a 731 cam. Personally, I like the 621 ;)

If you do a lot of reading, you'll find that things haven't changed all that much over the years because the parts just work. Tweaks are made for aftermarket cylinder heads, but for those cases, you're dealing with very specific inputs to come up with the right parts to support - those things are talked about, but more times than not, you're looking at custom-ground cams to take advantage of a cylinder head's flow characteristics. Sure, something off the shelf will work (and they do to a point), but you may end up having a lot of the advantage of those high-dollar heads going right out the exhaust.

Ask questions and be specific. Still lots of very knowledgeable people here to answer. That's my thought anyway.

:ernaehrung004:

Notice when you do a search on google about a topic the results from forums tey seem to be 10 plus years old.
Facebook is a $hit show and you can`t search topics and thats killing google search results.

Facebook sucks.

I can get pretty decent results with Google if I search specifically - really depends on how often the site is harvested.

Fair point for sure. It's why I don't mind resurrecting some of the older threads when new info, solution or tech has a meaningful contribution. An update of sorts, that often hers some interactive traction.

I also think alot of us younger guys dont start threads because the negative comments arnt worth dealing with. I've been debating of making a thread about my build for the 2 years its been going on, but wanted it to be completed and water tested so people can see the whole start to finish without nit picking it apart, like i said before ive had alot of advice and help from some longtime members but negative comments dont help with guys wanting to start new build threads. FB is 20x worse. This site has by far the best technical data.

Probably time for a website refresh/rebrand.

Outboardsonly.com
whatsasterndrive.com
rememberwhenyoucouldaffordaboat.com
performanceboatarchive.com

I don't see an issue with nit picking - been around long enough to know there are those that are just being a-holes vs those that have been there and done that and now know a better way.

I wouldn't let the negative comments deter you from posting. There's always the option of ignoring.

Were updating my buddy’s boat this winter with some better cams and cylinder heads. He has a lot of good parts to start, it’s just tracking down some of the good old reliable parts combinations. We had a cam go bad on one of the engines after 10 hours… but the time warranty ran out. Slid in a new cam and broke it in again, been pretty maintenance free for a couple years now. Now he wants to put a little more pep in its step. 475-500 will be just right for him and the boat. I’m trying to keep it more on the reliable side vs hatch up all the time😂.