Disappointing forum - too much trouble to respond?

[audi999]

I think this deserves its own thread. This is easily the most disappointing car forum I've ever used. My most recent post about potential DPF issues on newer engines received no responses except for a supportive comment from an admin. There must be lots of you with diesel engines out there. It seems that plenty will read posts but almost none will respond to offer advice or share experiences, good or bad. Looking back over the forum, some posts have hundreds of views with few or no replies. This is not what car forums are about, people. I've previously used Lexus, Jaguar, Skoda etc. forums and they are a lot more helpful. I'm a big Audi fan, I've had an Audi 90 and several A4's, and I'm now considering a Q5, so it's disappointing.

[Hammie1982]

I have thought the same thing! 

However unless your prepared to put in the time and respond to other peoples posts then you cant really complain when they dont reply to yours!
Forums are a 2 way street.  I have run several forums and some go this way due to participant reluctance to answer other peoples posts, and some end up the other way with every thread going off script!  

 

when you dig into it, you might find that people are reluctant to give experiences for several reasons,  1. They are busy people that just dont have time to browse.  2. Their own experience isnt vast enough to be able to answer your question,  3. theres been a history of abusive messages when something isnt 100% and they dont want to face abusive messages. 4. not enough regular visitors and people only come online to post when they have a problem.

[Magnet]

Thanks John for posting this under a separate topic. I am the ‘an admin’ you refer to in this post, and the person (Gareth is the name) who tendered apologies to you for the lack of response to your original post. Just to keep the record straight, I didn’t mean my earlier comments to be ‘supportive’, but simply to have been an out and out apology - and a plea for Q5 members to respond. 
Yes, hands up, responses from (in caps) members, is generally a fraction of the responses tendered to (in caps) members, and the ‘to’ responses are usually returned responses in replies to assistance given to the original poster. 

What can we do about it? A good question to raise -? Or are we to accept that ‘Generally Audi drivers want help, but seldom offer their help to anyone’. Does that sum it up forum members? 

The Moderators always attempt to do their best, and I’m sure I’m not alone in believing we do it freely, and to the highest standard we can, and are always open to be informed ‘you could have done better’, but apathy is quite a burden to carry! 

Apologies once again John, and regrettably, I have to admit in my experience on one of forums you mention, it certainly does point to a far far greater member member-to-member interchange that rather occurs on here. 
Perhaps I shouldn’t admit that, but…

I really would be interested in any ideas you have John to improve the situation on here. We are always prepared to listen. 
 

FINAL PLEA on this topic:- 

Q5 OWNERS - PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES  WITH JOHN. ( no apologies for caps). 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

 

[audi999]

6 hours ago, audi999 said:

I think this deserves its own thread. This is easily the most disappointing car forum I've ever used. My most recent post about potential DPF issues on newer engines received no responses except for a supportive comment from an admin. There must be lots of you with diesel engines out there. It seems that plenty will read posts but almost none will respond to offer advice or share experiences, good or bad. Looking back over the forum, some posts have hundreds of views with few or no replies. This is not what car forums are about, people. I've previously used Lexus, Jaguar, Skoda etc. forums and they are a lot more helpful. I'm a big Audi fan, I've had an Audi 90 and several A4's, and I'm now considering a Q5, so it's disappointing.

 

5 hours ago, Hammie1982 said:

I have thought the same thing! 

However unless your prepared to put in the time and respond to other peoples posts then you cant really complain when they dont reply to yours!
Forums are a 2 way street.  I have run several forums and some go this way due to participant reluctance to answer other peoples posts, and some end up the other way with every thread going off script!  

 

when you dig into it, you might find that people are reluctant to give experiences for several reasons,  1. They are busy people that just dont have time to browse.  2. Their own experience isnt vast enough to be able to answer your question,  3. theres been a history of abusive messages when something isnt 100% and they dont want to face abusive messages. 4. not enough regular visitors and people only come online to post when they have a problem.

These are fair points but as a potential Q5 owner, I have little to contribute until I own one. I've commented quite a lot on other forums, including the A4 forum and try to help when I can. On my last post, I imagine plenty have newish diesel cars so would have expected some replies as to whether they'd experienced any problems, no vast experience needed.

 

[Hammie1982]

Again your absolutely justified in your train of thought.  But in my experience DPF's are a complete pain in the ar** as theres so many things that do go wrong with them.

Ill be honest i didnt read your post about the DPF, so i couldnt give any advice.  

I have a Seat Alhambra 2015 at home (wifes car) that has given me quite a few issues with the DPF.  but it turned out that it was a symptom of a different issue all together.

The turbo was on its way out and the flexi pipe on the exhaust had more holes than a collinder. so the DPF was not auto regenerating and was clogging up causing the car to throw up all sorts of weird and wonderful codes! main dealer told me to buy a new dpf, the one in the car "probably had a crack in it". Another garage told me i was driving the car wrong, another garage told me the injectors were fec&**.  all without doing anything other than putting a code reader on the car.

Sorry you didnt get the responses you need to give you the info you need, but i wouldnt consider myself impartial enough on DPF's to answer questions on them! My idea of a DPF is Take it off, hollow it out and put it back and pretend its still there!  Same as ADBlue - delete it out of the car and pretend to know nothing about it! 

 

[Sbss80]

I also,on other manufacture forums seen lots of interaction and as soon as I ask for some information…… nothing ? I just try not too take it to heart and move on, not any help but…….

[audi999]

15 hours ago, Sbss80 said:

I also,on other manufacture forums seen lots of interaction and as soon as I ask for some information…… nothing ? I just try not too take it to heart and move on, not any help but…….

No doubt a psychologist would read something into it. The type of people who buy Audis vs Skoda, Lexus, Jaguar, Mercedes owners etc. Audi owners having enough time to read posts but not to respond (speaking as someone who's owned all these marques). 

[enc]

Over the past two years I’ve  noticed Internet forums have much less traffic than before. At least two forums of which I  was a member have closed completely. 

Edited February 19 by enc

[Steve Q]

On 2/18/2024 at 6:46 PM, Sbss80 said:

I also,on other manufacture forums seen lots of interaction and as soon as I ask for some information…… nothing ? I just try not too take it to heart and move on, not any help but…….

We've found this that other manufacturer forums get more footfall. I'm not sure why the Audi one isn't as positive. 

Myself and fellow admin team do our best to respond to posts but please bare in mind we are all volunteers who do work full time jobs (I do 74 hours a week!). 

[audi999]

9 hours ago, Steve Q said:

We've found this that other manufacturer forums get more footfall. I'm not sure why the Audi one isn't as positive. 

Myself and fellow admin team do our best to respond to posts but please bare in mind we are all volunteers who do work full time jobs (I do 74 hours a week!). 

I don't really understand it. Q5 owners have spent more than they need to on their cars, so are clearly not just buying a "white goods" car to get from A to B. many owners seem enthusiastic about their cars, yet seem unwilling to share experiences and opinions. The Lexus owners club, for example, are far fewer in number, but they are far more responsive. It's a pity, because having looked at many options to replace my A4 Avant, I've just about decided that the Q5 TFSi will suit my needs. I just need to decide between the Sport and S Line, as I want good ride comfort.

[Magnet]

Many thanks for your further observations John. As has been said, the forum cannot defend the lack of response, and regrettably I/we cannot suggest ways of encouraging more ‘sharing of information’. It seems a high % of forum-joining members, do so because they have queries they wish to have resolved, and at the risk of upsetting, some are yet to learn the principles of please and thank you, but it is what it is. You might get non-quest-for help posts, stating that they have had performance boosts carried out, or fancy wheels fitted, but indeed any posts relating to  likes and dislikes of the standard features are few and far between. 
I think comparing Lexus and Jaguar forum responses with the Audi forum responses is not that much of a like for like comparison, but yes, of interest. 
Our dog used to lay on her back with all paws in the air when some wrong doing had occurred, and I think John we, the unpaid-near-the-helm have openly done that. What more can we do?? 
I think I recall asking you for your ideas for improvement John, in one of my earlier posts - we still welcome your ideas that would lead to a better interchange. 
Many thanks again and kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Steve Q]

I think social media has affected footfall for forums too. 

Regarding your question on sport and s line. S line will have more kit and different body styling and seats. 

[Hammie1982]

As i used to say on other forums i ran a good few years ago.

Sometimes you have to lead by example.  If you want more responses, you have to post more on other peoples threads and not just your own.

I know that sounds a bit like tit for tat kinda thinking, but what i mean by it. If theres more interaction on the site in general and more discussion around mods, fixes, upgrades and so on. you will have a higher % a chance that someone is going to see a topic that they can answer.

I happen to be at a computer most days so i can access forum whenever.  But theres things i wouldnt know the first thing about! So ill refrain unless i have read about it or seen it posted elsewhere before.

[enc]

11 hours ago, Hammie1982 said:

As i used to say on other forums i ran a good few ago

Sometimes you have to lead by example.  If you want more responses, you have to post more on other peoples threads and not just your own.

 

This

[audi999]

1 hour ago, enc said:

This

Good point, but as I don't yet own a Q5 but am looking to buy, I obviously have questions but can't help with answers. I have contributed plenty on other forums, for which I am or have been an owner

[Stevey Y]

On 2/16/2024 at 9:28 AM, audi999 said:

I think this deserves its own thread. This is easily the most disappointing car forum I've ever used. My most recent post about potential DPF issues on newer engines received no responses except for a supportive comment from an admin. There must be lots of you with diesel engines out there. It seems that plenty will read posts but almost none will respond to offer advice or share experiences, good or bad. Looking back over the forum, some posts have hundreds of views with few or no replies. This is not what car forums are about, people. I've previously used Lexus, Jaguar, Skoda etc. forums and they are a lot more helpful. I'm a big Audi fan, I've had an Audi 90 and several A4's, and I'm now considering a Q5, so it's disappointing.

Hi if you could be bothered to do the leg work the information you require is already there I cite the case of jdragon who posted a copies amount of information about his DPF, A5 Q5 A6 A4 all use the same engine but with different engine designations,CNHA DETA etc but the common denominator is they all run the same SCR system that is prone to blocking the low pressure EGR cooler, even if you had googled it that would have produced multiple pages on the subject, p2002 DPF trap 1 above threshold, this job is expensive around a grand, when you buy a second hand Audi it should be observed that this anomaly will occur at some point during your ownership due to Adblue crystals blocking it the only preventative maintenance is use good quality Adblue/fuel and a proprietary fuel additive, with reference to the views how are people find out what you require without looking at the post, maybe they looked and didn't have any experience of the problems and moved on without posting something stupid in reply, what annoys me most is people posting on a subject without the most basic research pertaining to problems they may encounter, they then expect a spoon fed reply, mostly because its FREE their sense of entitlement is breathtaking, it comes under the sub heading of educating yourself, even if you had posted P2002 might that happen to the car I am about to purchase that would maybe get a response, this is a good forum where people will only either post based on experience or at least give an educated guess, I personally have learned from this forum and can concur with the theory that why spend time and effort telling you about a problem that may never occur during your ownership if its got no real milage and you are likely to do not a great deal more during your ownership.

[audi999]

Firstly, I did google it extensively and I did find a lot of information about dpf/egr issues. What I did not find was information relating to more recent cars/newer models. I made this reference to newer engines clear in my post. I have no idea what the different engine designations are, I prefer to refer to the year of a car. I thought it was reasonable to find how many owners of more recent cats have had issues, to get a feel for how widespread they are/or not. I think your sarky, passive aggressive comment assuming I can't be arsed to do my own research is unnecessary and unhelpful. I think I prefer no response.

[Stevey Y]

22 hours ago, audi999 said:

Firstly, I did google it extensively and I did find a lot of information about dpf/egr issues. What I did not find was information relating to more recent cars/newer models. I made this reference to newer engines clear in my post. I have no idea what the different engine designations are, I prefer to refer to the year of a car. I thought it was reasonable to find how many owners of more recent cats have had issues, to get a feel for how widespread they are/or not. I think your sarky, passive aggressive comment assuming I can't be arsed to do my own research is unnecessary and unhelpful. I think I prefer no response.

Thats fine by me

[Magnet]

Thanks again John,

Through all my responses , I haven’t excused the reason for your dissatisfaction, and it certainly would be great to encourage the interchange you seek. 
I’m pretty sure I have made two requests to you to suggest ways to improve this, but regrettably, nothing has been forthcoming, so come on John, what are your progressive suggestions. 

As our Welsh poet says ‘Look on our good side, not our bad’. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Steve Q]

On 2/24/2024 at 8:18 PM, audi999 said:

Firstly, I did google it extensively and I did find a lot of information about dpf/egr issues. What I did not find was information relating to more recent cars/newer models. I made this reference to newer engines clear in my post. I have no idea what the different engine designations are, I prefer to refer to the year of a car. I thought it was reasonable to find how many owners of more recent cats have had issues, to get a feel for how widespread they are/or not. I think your sarky, passive aggressive comment assuming I can't be arsed to do my own research is unnecessary and unhelpful. I think I prefer no response.

But coming here and being negative about the forum is also unhelpful if you're not going to suggest ways to help improve it? 

Why don't you stay and help improve it? 

I'm assuming you've looked on YouTube at buyers guides. 

As stated issues with dpf, egr are documented as well as issues with adblue systems. 

Cars that have missed services or had poor maintenance will most likely have most problems. 

[Magnet]

A little over the heads of most of us, I fear Jason. 

[gsmdo]

19 hours ago, jasonj said:

les tricotuses

 

13 hours ago, Magnet said:

A little over the heads of most of us, I fear Jason. 

It was the name for the women who sat by the guillotine, knitting the names of those being executed into scarves during the French Revolution...😆

Edited February 27 by gsmdo

[audi999]

21 hours ago, jasonj said:

les tricotuses

Not sure if that's a dig at what seemed like a perfectly reasonable original post, or at those who criticised the OP (me) for not contributing, despite not yet owning a Q5.

[Magnet]

Thanks Mike,

I did gather that, but it’s progressive relevance to the thread, does indeed go over my (and most others?) head. 
 

Thanks John, 

Regrettably, I cannot answer which of the two possibilities you mention was being referred to. What I can, and want to do, is to apologise on behalf of the forum, if any offence has been taken. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[audi999]

1 minute ago, Magnet said:

Thanks Mike,

I did gather that, but it’s progressive relevance to the thread, does indeed go over my (and most others?) head. 
 

Thanks John, 

Regrettably, I cannot answer which of the two possibilities you mention was being referred to. What I can, and want to do, is to apologise on behalf of the forum, if any offence has been taken. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Absolutely no need to apologise Gareth. It would take more than that to offend me. I look set to buy a Q5 in the next few weeks and I'm sure I'll manage if I have any queries.