"the vast majority of the people on this website are such tight asses that they could probably squeeze out diamonds - but they'd never spend the money to buy the coal' - Steve F. 2012
"Don't be obsessed with your desires Danny. The Zen philosopher Basho once wrote, "A flute with no holes is not a flute, and a doughnut with no hole is a Danish" - Ty Webb, 1980
When we think about how old these trucks are there is a lot of 3,4,5th owners and most people arent modding them so no need to post or join. They dont have the following mustang camaro has or even lightnings and lets face it not as easy to get power. Didnt say not possible just not as cheap. I have the 3rd r/t in my neighborhood alone but 1 is bone stock cc 1 is all stock motor cc with Hotchkis suspension and my light mod rc. My friends use theirs for towing their toys and daily life so they wont mod them. I think thats where most r/ts are in life now only a few of us never lost the spirit. Here in NC i have seen more r/ts than any other state (not a statistic) but like even most mustangs, they are mostly stock. I always thought to myself, if my r/t was on street outlaws everyone would want one. People dont want to be different anymore thats why they use facebook, see what someone else thinks
I'd say if you follow the posts on FB there is still a willingness to mod them to a significant degree. But there is minimal club presence.
- Josh
2000 Solar Yellow R/T - Cam Only Truck
1987 Buick Regal T-Type - WE4 and Blackout
2008 GMC 1500 Quad Cab
1989 Jeep YJ - Real Jeeps have Square Headlights
1971 Buick Skylark - LS SWAP THE WORLD
If the drtc were to do Facebook, it needs to be a completely new group send up and moderated by 2-3 execs. Not the entire exec board. Maybe make that a position On the board as mentioned before. Also before I left the Dakota groups on Facebook, there was a lot of people who thought the R/T owners group WAS an official DRTC page. I left the Facebook group because one as just filled with highschool shit talking by a few trying to prove they were better than others, and the other(which became the classified group) was filled with people asking about light bulbs and which wheels looked best. And she. They made the decision to make one an R/T only group for talking and the other a classifieds only group it just made it even worse. Just got tired of the bs on both groups. Also if the drtc wants to put its best foot forward, execs need to be held to the same standards when posting to any Facebook group as they are here on the forum in regard to thier actions and how they treat others.
But as tonhow to get activity up here, promote the forum more. Especially in the Facebook groups. Having a lot more stickys with technical I do to make it easy to find answers to common question, and instead of telling people to use the search, or belittlingnthem for asking easy question, you can direct them to the stickys if they apply, or so.old a seed the question. Some people spend more time bitching about the people asking the questions than it would take to just answer it with correct info.
Get rid of the mobile version of the forum and install Tapatalk add on. I know a few who don't use the forum because the mobile version sucks a d they only use their phones for internet. And not being familiar with forums they don't know how to change the it to the normal full webpage, which is what I use because the mobile version sucks so much for navigation and finding posts.
RYAN/TUNED
Got questions?!? Get the answers ->>> http://www.dakotart.com/forum/showth...estions-thread
For fastest response please text or email at ryan@frptuning.com ,please no PM's!!!
I'm not so sure the majority of the club really wants to do that... Maybe painful but likely true. Lots of OGs just do not like tolerating the "newbies".
Also I posted the link for the meet 3 or 4 times on the FB group but it was buried what felt like instantly.
Also, I'm not sure who dropped the ball on taking over the FB site but I for one never heard a line was drawn in the sand of "end of October". I think a constant link to this page would be helpful but anyone who thinks this page or the club will ever be what it once was is delusional. The club will stay small and likely maintain 100 to 150 members as it has for the last several years. A national meet at this point is becoming highly unlikely. Small local gatherings are about all that is realistic at this point IMO.
Josh - 98 BLK RC - Mad Milkshake Maker
Previous
99 BLK RC - Mad Trash Hauler - sold
99 DA RC - mad dak - Danno Stole it
01 SLVR RC - mad sexy - retired - then died
99 IB RC - mad RT - gone to heaven..
Former Certified member of the 11 Second NA RT Club
Having more smaller regional meets will actually draw more attention and help with getting membership as opposed to one large national meet. But they need to be promoted regionally, and not just on the forum. Get flyers made up and hung up around the area of the meet. Find local car groups to post info on outside of the DRTC. Get more people involved. Maybe sponsor a local bracket race, set up car shows, get the clubs name out there again. Some people don't really know what they have when they buy a R/T. They just see it as a V8 Dakota.
I don't know if this will help, but most companies have a "Live Chat" icon on their home page to let all know someone is there and logged in. This website place could have that to let members know when one of the Division Members, or Moderators are on here, so they can ask a question, and get an answer. If none of them are online here, then the icon would be off. No one has to be on it 24 hours a day, just when anyone in the selected group is here, they can choose to sign in to this Live Chat if they want. Having people sign up for this site will still filter out just anyone from asking. Something to think about?
If there is something like this already, then please disregard this suggestion.
DRTC #1176
2000 Bright White CC (1/553)
Dyno'ed 07/05/13 (126,000 Miles) 230 Hp / 308 Tq
14.6 @ 93 mph (2.18 60 ft.), 4130 lbs.(1/2 tank gas)
Truck Pictures --> http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v9...Clough/Dakota/
1985 Kawasaki GPz550
2003 SV650S (Race)
1973 W100 Powerwagon
Mater: I don’t need to know where I’m goin’, I just need to know where I been!
Mods - TB Spacer, Short Throw Dipstick, Performance Auto Zone Intake "0.30 over bore", R/T Cam, Performance Chip, Radiator Delete
Rev limiter? that's what valve springs are for!
I don't understand how the DRTC doesn't want new membership. Some of you apparently just want to hang out here with each other, indefinitely. That's fine I guess, but I don't think you have the pulse of the majority you speak for. The club will certainly never resemble any feature of its former self with that attitude. Can the guys that don't like new people keep the lights on around here? Because…. If you don't get new membership, I hope you are retaining 100% of everyone else to pay the bills.
I would like to add these trucks still have a following and even this weekend at a Mopar show we had a OG member flag us down. Guy's name was Harry, and he was in the 20's on his DRTC member number. He was at the meet in Topeka, and at the meet where you guys had it at the plant that made our trucks. He's from LA and might be signing back onto this site, with a new name( he forgot his password and email). He had a yellow 2000 RT, so there still is passion with these trucks. I really like the idea of regional meets stated, updating the site to be mobile friendly. The live chat is another cool idea, and a Facebook logo with more DRTC involvement is a must. We can get this club back to strong numbers, granted will never be like it was when these trucks were new.
I'm newbie but I feel the need to chime in. I have always wanted an R/T since Duner and I raced in the final of the Mopar shoot out SW way back when. His little Dakota was not only running in the regular bracket but a special Dakota race at the same time. I watched him kick ass in both races and bolt his street tires on and drive back to Pheonix.
Needless to to say I needed an R/T . It took me several years and a lot of looking to find my truck.
So here I am in love with stupid little truck that puts asmile on my face when I get behind the wheel..I'm hooked.
The passion is still there.
1999 R/C Solar yellow
My truck is 'done' for the most part. Not doing anything to it worth posting. I've shared everything I've done with mine. One of the real issues is that there just isn't a lot of money in the hobby. New guys WANT to mod these trucks, but can't afford more than a cold air intake. Or the knowledge base to understand that you can't just throw a big cam at a stock motor and expect it to make real power.
They want to make 400 hp but can't afford $700 headers, $700 heads, $500 intake, a $500 throttle body, $500 cam kit, and $500 tuning/data logging equipment.
--Tom
**Photobucket can suck my nut**
I'm a douchebag
FB is convenient because you get an update when you subscribe to a page. Our site sends an email here and there when subscribed to a thread. My experience with FB is an abortion when it comes to good information. Its 10x's worse than here with needless bs comments and the same can be said for RM. There are a lot more guys on FB with RT's who conveniently participate with their meaningless banter. People who are serious about their build come here and to RM for the right info whether they join or not. I think it just goes to show who's doing what in the RT world. What we need is someway to say hey were here and we have what you're looking for. RM is a great place for anything magnum, but this is the Dakota RT place to go and now that we have die hard RM guys back into out fold, we just need to keep trucking and hold true to club. At the very least we collect enough dues to fund the site and as long as we have guys like Todd who can Webmaster there is hope. I'm a member of the FB group, but most of the posts as replies are duplicate posts from here and RM or aren't worth responding to. FB is good for many things, but this platform is the best out there for our hobby IMO.
2000 CC
11.37@122
Appealing to 2nd/3rd/4th owners that are young. Facebook. Sorry but most teenagers now don't browse the internet haha it's Facebook.
Make a club specific fb page, and direct people to this forum for stickies and shit
1998 Silver RC SLT - Hughes 2.02 Heads, Mopar M1 4bbl Intake, Mopar 4bbl TB, 230/236 .515/.515 on a 110, 1.6 Roller Rockers, 4.10's, Spintech Headers, 3" Duals, X Pipe, Chambered Mufflers, 4/4 Drop, 727 Full Manual w/Transbrake, PTC 4500 Stall
12.90 at 104mph
The forums are a much easier place to find information as it's organized in a format that is much easier to browse and search through - as well as find old (but still relevant) information. With a little bit of patience, thick skin, and use of the search features there is A LOT of good information on RM, by the way. That being said the site is not dedicated to the Dakota R/T so the point is moot unless you're searching for something specific to the drivetrain or suspension.
The Facebook groups occasionally have a few good gems of information but usually get buried in a matter of minutes or hours. Pete and I have to stay on top of the two groups we admin just to try to keep it from being swamped with spammers, and people who don't know (or read) the rules. Typically this make us (mostly me) "the bad guys" for deleting off topic posts. I believe if the DRTC gets a Facebook group that it should primarily be used as a "front page" for announcements and pictures with multiple references to the forum.
Jason Weltch (Another Jason!)
Maricopa, AZ
-Black 2003 CC Dakota R/T 59,000mi (Under the knife for a long time, unless I hit the lottery or something.)
-Blue 2014 Hemi Ram 1500 26,000mi
-Silver 2014 Hemi Jeep Grand Cherokee 60,000mi
-Red 2001 Durango R/T 240,000mi (SOLD)
I'm not a huge fan of the FB pages. I prefer the forum setup. It's much easier to find information. The FB groups tend to get derailed with the first reply. A lot of really silly questions get asked on those pages. And I've seen how those get answered here. It's even worse on the group pages. Some of the people on those pages(also members of the club) leave a bad impression on non members with negative responses to simple questions. Or snide remarks when they post a picture or video of their truck. FB just brings out the worst keyboard warrior in everyone.
2004 SRT4 Moar Pah Coming DD
2002 Dakota R/T 12.376@110.84
"Is there any way to make this easier? I'm way confused now. I just tried to post a video, but instead I got my dick caught in the ceiling fan" Wyotech_Cuda440
I agree. The website is much more professional, and well laid out. In my opinion a FaceBook page will never be able to do what a dedicated forum was built to do. I feel a way to integrate posts to facebook would help boost site traffic. But Facebook is starting to become something people of my generation are starting to shy away from because, "NO ONE WANT'S TO KNOW THAT YOUR DAUGHTER GOT HER FIRST PERIOD!!!"
I personally think the website is well laid out and functions beautifully. I especially like the "what's new" button we just need some better publicity.
I personally haven't used my facebook account in 7 years because I personally view Facebook as stupid, I use other social media platforms.
Mods - TB Spacer, Short Throw Dipstick, Performance Auto Zone Intake "0.30 over bore", R/T Cam, Performance Chip, Radiator Delete
Rev limiter? that's what valve springs are for!