Spoed:

Heads-up. Occasionally one needs to look around to see if you're still choppnig trees in the right forest.

Whilst certain snr members have been so engrossed in their own arguments, focussing only on what they deem to be important/interesting at the moment (is a turbo actually the same thing as a GT3? or why anyone considering a Boxster, Cayman, 993 or older Turbo should be scoffed at, albeit subtly with no respect for their taste), others may have noticed a dying forum. The guy that posts for the first time in 9 years get's a welcome along the lines of " (Unless of course you want to hear how bad the new Turbo is and how good older cars are (which you, as a 997 Turbo owner, could actually enjoy Smiley)" ?! ........ and no RC... you're not being quoted out of context and whilst, as you say, this board tolerates different opinions and "higher" debate I think you were out of line. Do you really think he enjoyed that remark? Healthy debate does not equate belittling or having the absolute last word of self justification on every topic.

Look at the rest of the boards - notice something? Look at the number of posts. When was the last time you saw any of the greats post an intereseting thread on this board? I do notice and follow some of them now on other boards.

Flame me as much as you like but I mean this as positive critisism. THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL ATTACK ON YOU. Occasioally one has to sit back for a moment and ponder what has changed or what should change to reinvigorate an enterprise. In the past I visited this board on a daily basis as I found it a good source of reliable information and genuinely enjoyed the comments, debates and views of a wide spread of posters on a wide range of topics. I sincerely hope I'm not watching a white dwarf.

I was actually prepared to give you the "big speech" here but then I said to myself: What for? This won't change a thing.

So here is the short (not really) version of the big speech: We are a privately run forum, paid and maintained by people who have a real life job to be able to feed their families and to be able to own the cars we love so much. We are never going to be able to "compete" with commercially run forums, which sometimes are even owned by media companies, forums run for one purpose only: To make money and to sell advertisement. Rennteam.com is privately financed, we do not make a dime out of it, on the contrary. This is a forum run by car enthusiasts and made for car enthusiasts. That said, I think that the information gathered here is pretty unique and valuable and while it may not be always accurate, especially when a new car comes out or is supposed to come out, people learn a lot from that information. I also noticed that many rumors and information bits available on this forum are very often found later on, check the dates, on other car forums, sometimes wrapped/covered in a different context or bit of information to hide the source.

While I appreciate your blunt words, I think they are a little bit unfair since you are comparing commercially run forums with a private forum like ours. Yes, Nick is right, our forum software is not a highlight but we are happy we have a FREE place where we can share our information and make friends. If this isn't enough for you, I understand but there is nothing we can do about. It is kind of a "take it or leave it" thing.

Would I want Rennteam to be different? Hell, yes. I would love to have a fancy software with the fastest server out there and I would love to have an official press status, so we get officially test cars and a direct communication to Porsche and other car companies but this is how it works right now and I cannot do anything about it. We are way too small to compete with others and we just don't have the financial resources to make something different out of Rennteam. I think we explained that many many times before but apparently it always gets back to hunt us. 

Last but not least, I would like to explain to you why I am sometimes a little bit harsh in the usage of my words. Imagine this: You sit on tons of information, accurate information, information received from people directly involved with a certain product. Now you know you cannot post this information because it would hurt these people and/or it would be a direct violation of a NDA. How do you make people understand that they are wrong with certain assumptions or claims without giving an explanation? Maybe now you understand. Smiley


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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Turbo S (Sept. 2013), Cayenne GTS (958), BMW X3 35d (2013)