First a bit about where I'm coming from: I consider myself quite savvy about computers/IT and the workings of the internet having taught computers and coding in a high school setting. I have designed and maintained my own websites (none of which are still up since I stopped teaching) and I ran an IT company for years on the side. I have also been a mechanic all of my life having done just about anything one can imagine on automobiles and trucks for myself, my family, and anyone who needed help. I use the forums on many different websites so I have a good knowledge base for comparison.
Now my critique: I run older vehicles. I bought into hptuners last May to tune my chevy gen 3 lq4. I immediately hit the forums in order to learn what I was doing and spent many frustrating hours digging. The biggest problem that I ran into is old/broken links. It seems that all of the info which was posted to the forums that pertain to the older vehicles contain links that are no longer there. It got to the point that I started checking posting dates and didn't bother to look at anything over 5 years old. Now I am trying to learn how to tune my 06 LBZ and I have successfully found many dead links. Even some of the stickies contain long dead links. I know that the forums advise notifying the webmaster of dead links but, some of the dead links already contain long outdated notifications as well.
Another thing that I found frustrating is the seeming lack of willingness to help on the part of many forum members. Often I see comments similar to this; "I know how to do that but I'm not willing to share that info." or "I know how to do that, just keep searching the forums and you'll find it." May I suggest that if you are unwilling to share your info that you just don't bother to reply? I understand the whole intellectual property thing but, this is a help site after all. And it's difficult to just steal a tune. Even if you borrow heavily from a tune to learn how certain changes affect your vehicle it still takes a lot of learning and work.
And, one last thing, re; the tune repository. I was so disappointed to learn that only stock tunes were allowed now. Someone on here referred to the repository as having been "castrated." Perfectly phrased.
My two cents worth. Feel free to call me names.