Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
- Aug 31, 2010
- 17,034
- 1,320
I have been on detailing forums for about 8 years now. I always thought the primary purpose of forums in general was to pool community knowledge, help others, and perhaps advance a profession or industry by advancing the standards of that profession or industry. Of course, I was a little naive, forums cost money and I found out that the primary purpose of forums like this one is to sell products, but that still leaves the above as the secondary purpose.
So continuing in my naivete, I also thought that Show N' Shine subforums were a way for members to show how much they had learned from becoming members of the forum, and perhaps get a little constructive criticism. On another forum I used to spend a lot of time in, their "Show N' Shine" seemed to become more and more commercially oriented, until it was almost exclusively pro detailers.
I also noticed that rather than follow on posts being questions like "how did you get that xxx clean?" or "what technique was required for under that spoiler", or suggestions like "if you unbolt that spoiler it will be a lot easier and faster", virtually all the responses were from other pro detailers and went something like "great job!" and "another success for XYZ Detailing" and "Joe Bloe is the king!" etc.
Beyond that, any questions or constructive criticism seemed to elicit an asymmetrical vitriolic response from the OP and even from other pro detail posters. I slowly began to catch on that these type of subforums are basically unpaid advertising for pro detailers. They invite prospective clients to view their posts on XYZ forum, and what the prospective client sees is a shiny car, with a never-ending stream of kudos from other pro detailers.
This works great as 99% of detailers work in a limited geographic area, and that means that very few if any forum members are competitors, so everyone can just pat each other on the back. However, if you disrupt that narrative by asking questions, etc., you are attacked like you were graffitiing their truck.
We recently had a thread in the S n' S which provided no product or technique rundown. Arguably this thread was of no value to the community because other than showing a dirty swirled expensive car turned into a clean shiny expensive car, there was nothing to be learned from it. No products mentioned that people could buy from Autogeek. Questions about the length of time spent and the lack of product/machine/technique info were met with withering attacks from the OP and other posters.
Which brings me to the point. What is the point of Show n' Shine threads? Is it to help the community/forum sponsor? Or is it to sell pro detailing services? If the answer is the latter, perhaps the pros should have their own subforum for that, where all the responses can be attaboys, and then have a community Show n' Shine where people are "allowed" to ask questions and make constructive criticism.
So continuing in my naivete, I also thought that Show N' Shine subforums were a way for members to show how much they had learned from becoming members of the forum, and perhaps get a little constructive criticism. On another forum I used to spend a lot of time in, their "Show N' Shine" seemed to become more and more commercially oriented, until it was almost exclusively pro detailers.
I also noticed that rather than follow on posts being questions like "how did you get that xxx clean?" or "what technique was required for under that spoiler", or suggestions like "if you unbolt that spoiler it will be a lot easier and faster", virtually all the responses were from other pro detailers and went something like "great job!" and "another success for XYZ Detailing" and "Joe Bloe is the king!" etc.
Beyond that, any questions or constructive criticism seemed to elicit an asymmetrical vitriolic response from the OP and even from other pro detail posters. I slowly began to catch on that these type of subforums are basically unpaid advertising for pro detailers. They invite prospective clients to view their posts on XYZ forum, and what the prospective client sees is a shiny car, with a never-ending stream of kudos from other pro detailers.
This works great as 99% of detailers work in a limited geographic area, and that means that very few if any forum members are competitors, so everyone can just pat each other on the back. However, if you disrupt that narrative by asking questions, etc., you are attacked like you were graffitiing their truck.
We recently had a thread in the S n' S which provided no product or technique rundown. Arguably this thread was of no value to the community because other than showing a dirty swirled expensive car turned into a clean shiny expensive car, there was nothing to be learned from it. No products mentioned that people could buy from Autogeek. Questions about the length of time spent and the lack of product/machine/technique info were met with withering attacks from the OP and other posters.
Which brings me to the point. What is the point of Show n' Shine threads? Is it to help the community/forum sponsor? Or is it to sell pro detailing services? If the answer is the latter, perhaps the pros should have their own subforum for that, where all the responses can be attaboys, and then have a community Show n' Shine where people are "allowed" to ask questions and make constructive criticism.
rops: and of course to try and duplicate such awesome results!
