Did the new forum kill TeamTalk?

[MC25]

You Too?!?! LOL!

Me too!!!!!

[JohnE]

You Too?!?! LOL!

Nice to see you here Rick.

[Huckelfin]

Seriously though, for opening a thread, is it really that hard to make it an option for defaulting to beginning, latest comment, or latest unread? It can't be more than a couple mouse clicks to make this happen.

[PrestigeLakeWide]

UhhhhhhGgg. I'll chime in.
I dropped off here after selling final boat in July 2020.
I joined in happier times of 2013 and became a regular poster , reader, and contributor.
my post were typically well received.
I stayed away as much as possible from the political tilted comments. While I am left leaning I am not anti-right. Most of you know that about me if you are still here.

2020 was a rough year in my world. Covid shut down my business "Event/Concert production " almost 80%... the type of business were in was omitted from any of the Government aid/assistance/grants/handouts you here people talking about. There were no loopholes for us.
we took a $2million SBA disaster relief loan to get buy. Non forgivable.
burned through most of our personal savings in the 18mon that followed. But never missed a payment on anything.
my credit score is still 840 to this day.

In a parallel world, my Marriage of 22 years came to end, I witnessed the tragic death of a family member. My daughters all are out of Highschool and moving on...

During this time, FB , teamtalk comments and post seamed so petty. Lots of jabs, arguments of things no one had control over.

I cut all of my FB back to like 20 friends related to my industry only. No family no real life friends were kept either. Teamtalk fell to the side as well.

now over 2 years later , my business is recovering, I have a new girlfriend , moved back to the beach area after 20 years. "Mission Bay San Diego " , were I see people Wakfesurf , Board and Ski by my place daily.
for now...it's enough to watch from the shoreline.

I'm a lurker and always looked forward to your updates across all your threads. It's great to hear that things are on the upswing for you.

[waterlogged882]

Seriously though, for opening a thread, is it really that hard to make it an option for defaulting to beginning, latest comment, or latest unread? It can't be more than a couple mouse clicks to make this happen.

More to it than that. This is a templated vBulletin shell that is licensed with its content.

.

[ProStar5000]

The prostar and I are still here! That's gotta count for something?

[MasterCraft Ranger]

Here are my 25 cents on the two topics. I was an avid reader and poster on the old format. As an app on my phone, it was easy to scan what new posts and respond if appropriate. After the switch to the new format, I admit I got frustrated trying to get set up and the 5 boating groups I follow on FB quickly took over. I picked up a new to me X22 in November and used that as a reason to get re-aquainted with TeamTalk as I was psyched to post my big news in the Official X22 Thread. I through up some photos of the new rig and about the only person who responded was someone I recognized from Facebook.

As for the state of boating and role a forum like TeamTalk plays, my wife and I are 58 and still slalom behind our 1991 ProStar as well as wakeboard and surf behind the X22. I suspect that makes us pretty unusual. Our 27 year old son and his wife also slalom, board and surf. He has 3 friends who have all purchased their own late 80's/early 90's ProStars. All of them spent time on our ProStar when they were growing up so it is very satisfying to see them enjoy skiing enough to buy their own boats.

In 2020, we took a group of twenty somethings to Lake Powell. Despite having two brand new XT surf boats available, the hottest ticket was behind the 30 year old ProStar. They have since planned their own trips to Powell with slalom skiing and even bare footing are a top attraction.

Despite this, I don't see slalom skiing making the kind of comeback snow skiing has (vs snowboarding). Families are short on time and surfing is easy for most people to learn. (Same reason pickle ball has exploded in popularity.) It's very social since no one has to sit on shore or the dock "to keep the weight down" or because there just isn't any room in the boat.

In our marina community, there are many young families. A few have a top of the line wakeboat, some have a "budget" line (ATX/Axis/NXT) boat but most have a 10-15 year old MC/Tige/Malibu. Based on conversations and observations, they either surf or tube. It is very rare to even see a wakeboard in their racks.

My ProStar is parked on the main dock of our marina and every weekend, 1/2 a dozen people stop and ask about it. "Wow, I used to have one of those." "Oh man, now THAT's a fun boat." Then they continue walking to their surf barge or pontoon.

As for TeamTalk, while my boat is under warranty, I let my dealer handle most problems but it's still a big commitment for me to get it there and it's to my benefit to shorten the troubleshooting time. Before my X22, I had 2 out of warranty v-drives and TeamTalk was invaluable in keeping them on the water.

As long as I have to go to a browser on phone to access TT, I'll scour the Facebook groups first for troubleshooting as well as quick "what's happening" type scrolling.

[gwozhog]

State of TeamTalk since the wakesurfing took over

https://youtu.be/AI2uSIQOGp0

[ProStar5000]

Newer forum member pov.

There's no enthusiasm. Like MC Ranger said, he posted up his boat and barely got any replies. I did the same thing last summer and not many people were even interested in my post.
You post a boat up on FB/Reddit groups and people can't stop replying. It feels like there's a select few on this forum who know each other and everyone else is just passing through, myself included.

One big difference between this forum and others are the amount of "likes" that are received. A dopamine rush from that like button is a scientific way to keep people returning.

[bturner2]

I would be one of those guilty of not commenting on members new boats. I have to admit I'm not much on responding to another "how do I set up my monster surf ship to get the best wake" either. I personally save my efforts for people looking for help where my personal experience or background may be appropriate to chime in and do so maybe too much. I can see how it can feel like there's an inside group as some of these guys have been here for 10+ years. While that may be the case most any of these guys will jump to assist nearly anyone asking for help. That said I have noticed that not as many people lately seem to respond these days. Not sure why, maybe they're spending more time stroking egos with likes on $200K+ boats on Facebook..... :-)

[bcd]

I didn't even notice there was a like button...

[OH PS197]

I initially joined TT in 2008 while working at a MC Dealer. Was somewhat active off and on over the past 15 years, and then purchased *my* very first MasterCraft in fall of 2021 - a 2013 PS 197 TT. TeamTalk was a HUGE help for me when it came to learning how to restore the gelcoat. Though I was at the MC dealer for 3 years, it was on the boat and pro shop sales side of things and unfortunately for me I didn't get a lot of experience in the service department. I gained a wealth of knowledge from TT and tackled the exterior cleanup with what I feel are excellent results. Seeing the experience bturner2 2 had with skiboatcovers.com, I ordered a custom fit waterline cover from Mike and am very pleased with the end product. Lastly, when it came time to winterize in the fall, great advice and write up from MattsCraft.

My frustration is that there is no support from the forum administrator. With the new forum update my saved password stopped working. Despite multiple messages sent through the forum over a span of multiple months requesting assistance accessing my account, I never heard from anyone. My original email I used to setup the account was a former work email, so I am unable to use that to recover my account either. Ultimately I gave up and elected to create a new account.

[lakedrum03]

I am a relatively new member of this community with joining in 2017, before I had an MC. For me, members are more than willing to help out and provide their experiences. However, just like anything, you GET what you GIVE. Meaning, if you stroll and and just post a long thesis of questions, then you shouldn't be expecting an outpouring of love. You need to post and add to our knowledge base, even if its not specifically about boating. Doing that a few times will let people know you are not just some interloper looking for an easy answer.

I find this to be accurate in the other forums that I frequent (weldingweb and tundras).

Just my $0.02.

[tex]

How do you check and send private messages

[Double D]

How do you check and send private messages

Across the top you see Messages and clicking on that should give you the Message Center option. What I found, and others have found, is that your mail box will be full and unable to send and receive. My inbox was mainly what I saw in the old system as I kept a 95% full inbox with important messages. However, the outbox was packed full of every message I had ever sent and I had to delete page by page to get to a manageable level and allow my messages to work again. Many people today have not done that so they cant receive any messages.