2014 Overland & 4x4 Forum Statistics

Four years ago I started collecting overland and 4x4 vehicle-based forum statistics.

Overland Internet Forums & Magazines

I was interesting in tracking the number of registered users, threads and posts on the forums and providing a comparison on the top websites.

The challenge for 2014?  Could the popular forums keep the growth momentum up and were the thread counts increasing?
What about the magazines?  Are they challenging the forums for content or are web users divided between the content creators (forum users) and content consumers (magazine & facebook subscribers)?

Here is an overview of the previous years: 2012 | 2013 | 2014

A few websites stand out in 2014 which include ADV Rider, Expedition Portal, Horizons Unlimited and Prado point.  A detailed list of all the websites (forums & magazines) are at the end of the blog post.

2014 to 2015

Shoutout: Horizons Unlimited Travellers Meetings

Looking for some overland inspiration?  Be sure to check out the many events that Horizons Unlimited (@horizonsUnlimit) will be hosting throughout the year, including a four new events for 2014.

Google Image Search: Horizons Unlimited Travellers Meeting

Link to the website: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/events

HU Events

I was hoping to be able to attend the inaugural Australian NSW event taking place in November but unfortunately I will be exploring Fraser Island for the first time.  Perhaps next year!

Internet Forums - Love 'em or hate 'em

The overland and 4x4 world is full of them... love them or hate them, internet forums are here to stay.  Regardless if you are an overland enthusiast, a Land Rover or Toyota Fan, there are more forums for you to join and threads to read than time allows. Some are very active, some are dormant so here's the top 19 internet forums...

What makes a successful forum?  Timely topics, active users and good moderators.

I took time to actively search out the most popular Overland forums (vehicles & motorbikes), Land Rover specific and Toyota Land Cruiser forums.  Here's the list (details below) I generated and the number of registered users per forum, number of threads and posts per thread.  Congrats to the Toyota Land Cruiser Forum ih8mud for being the only forum to list active users. Two additional forums are worth mentioning: UK GSer and ExplorOz : Both charge a membership fee.

Internet Forums - Registered Users

The HUBB Forum Review

In a recent post I reviewed the Southern Africa Overland.co.za forum and the North American Expedition Portal.  In this post, I explore the huge UK based forum run by Grant Johnson (Horizons Unlimited) and more commonly known as The Hubb.

This forum is huge! At the time of writing this blog, it has over 25 000 registered members.

The forum is web based, however it does offer a RSS feed.  An example of a website using the feed is the Overland Live website.

The audience the forum appeals too are primarily adventure motorbike fans. The site is categorized into Planning, repairs, 4 wheels, events along with numerous other categories.  Each section is moderated which simply means that someone oversees the content and manages the level of flame wars.

The forum is busy, and the content generated is good. The forum members are encouraged to search the site prior to requesting information due to a lot of duplication occurring in the content. This assists in preventing general questions being asked by new members.

Summary
A clear benefit of this forum is the fact that you can read a category relevant to your topic.  Registration is required to post however reading entries are open.  This forum is well known especially amongst the adventure motorcycling clans.  Well worth registering as a member and contributing with relevant content.

Forum Overview
Advertising: Low
Spam level: Low
Forum activity: high
Forum Content: Good (UK focus)
Off Topic Content:  Encouraged in the HU Bar section
Language: Primarily English with a slight mix of european languages.
RSS Feed: Yes.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/horizonsunlimit