Magnette, this place is something more than just points and guesses and allow me to reply to your observations ...point by point (pun intended
)
I have been a member for a few years but hardly ever go on to this now because having got over 20 points i am defined as an expert, and that means I am stuck only answering really obscure one off cars etc which is no fun as I never know any of those.
I read your posts and you are indeed an expert. You did not solve just easy cars but often obscure ones too...but you are the 'hit and run' solver: you guess a car and if it's not, you move to the next. All legit of course, but the challenge can be found also approaching to the solution with several questions, following your intuitions, doing a little search and, of course, with a bit of sheer luck. You need time and sometimes a good library helps, but, as you pointed out, there's no much competition and I'm sure you know at least 8-10 cars that are now in the Expert section.
Frankly the site is attracting too few people, as it relies on a small handful of people keeping it going because the whole premise is that it is only for an elite few who know every little obscure car and are called experts. If they get good enough to earn 200 points then they become even more rarified and never get a chance to answer anything ever again except the most extreme obscurities.
True, it is attracting few people, but the right ones! Here I found the people who wrote some of the books I collect, some true car historians, collectors...even the builders of some of the obscure cars I love or their relatives. This should give you the idea of this place: not only a site where you see a picture of a car and you try to recognize it (as you can find everywhere, from Facebook to dozens of nice websites), but a sort of meeting point, where you can not just prove your knowledge and improve it, but also interact with the real world you are interested in and take (and give) what you can. There are several cars you don't know? Good, here you know they exist and someone is presenting them as a challenge for you...at the end of the process, there will be several cars you know more! And it works also if it's not you the one that solves them!
I am no expert - I did manage to answer one car from the 'black hole' but generally have little knowledge of the cars in the expert pool, and without cheating - which defeats the whole object, and I don't want to do that - there is little point in going on the site.
Clearly I am not the only one as whenever I do go online - I've tried to do so more of late as my work hours have changed for the moment - O'm generally one of two or three people on the expert pages and it feels like the site has virtually no traffic.
For what I already wrote, cheating means do not seize the spirit of this place: you recognize 300 cars? You are not better than anyone, you just had fun in the process and let others learn something new. Who cheates, loose the good part from his side (I don't think he will get the thrill to spot a puzzle if he just finds it via Google Search by Image) but the others still will learn more.
Don't get afraid about the traffic, it follows its rules: sometimes there is a lot of movement around here and you can't just keep the pace, and other times it's quite slow.
This thread is supposed to be welcoming new members and was started in March 2010 - it has a total of 71 replies (72 now with this) and in five and a half years that must be worrying.
True, but we never 'forced' new members to present here first and they seldom do...it's their choice after all and not a measure of the new arrivals.
I belong to another forum group elsewhere and that just invites people (including me) to post pictures and others to answer the - no points, no banning people from responding to other answers.
It is mostly Americans, and I'm British, so I tend stay back if an easy British car is posted, to give them first go, but we deal with (postwar) production cars from everywhere ...
Me too, but I ...don't see the point (pun re-intended
). I see a picture of a Stanguellini on a website and I write down: hey, it's a Stanguellini! Then everyone moves to the following picture.
That's just my opinion, but I can't see not the challenge in reporting just what you know, nor the improvement in my knowledge on the subject. These websites are fun, but in a different way.
You "stay back if an easy British car is posted, to give them first go" means you know exactly what I'm talking about.
The point system is not a real way to define who knows more because people like me, that joined the site from the early years, when there was no separation between Rookies and Experts (and Pro board wasn't even born!) and all the biggest sources where still in use (now you have to reach the other part of the world to find an obscure source!) have (and received) a huge advantage. Furthermore, if you can spend many hours in the research, you'll be able to score more than someone who is much busy with the real life.
And still that little number in your profile makes you try to improve, to keep going and to better your score.
Here you won't be banned "from responding to other answers". You'll be banned if you act against this place. We have to protect the hard work some of us is doing (and did) to build and keep running this place. Few people ever get banned, and there was always a valid reason. This is the most friendly forum I ever joined, you won't read arguments of any sort and full freedom is granted in the expression of any point of view.
Not sure who will read this - it isn't a thread that attracts much traffic - but this site is only attracting a few people and I can't help feeling this is because the rules automatically preclude people looking at the rookie cars, and because not all of us have the time to trawl through everything that has ever been posted over the years to make sure it has never been posted before.
Don't worry about reposts, we exchange PMs with the posters to advise them and he'll decide if keep it running or replace it.
About rookie's puzzles, well, it seems that they are not solved in that section and they ALL reach the expert board.
