[ihartley]

A lot of that comes down to the quality and composition of the community you're looking at. The site admins have a lot of switch and levers to adjust the look and feel of a default vBulletin or phpBB install, and most communities' forums tend to end up having a similar aesthetic to the cars owned by the user base; anywhere from super bling'd out to subdued professionalism. The informational content seems to follow similar lines: some forums are populated by people who need hand holding through every step of an oil change, and others have more seasoned shade tree mechanics that just need some tips on how to do something without access to the factory tools.