Is This Group Dead?

[Deleted]

There hasn't been a lot of activity here lately. Are we still a going concern?

[firefly]

It doesn't need to be. It is an excellent board.

My opinion, like my advice, costs nothing, and is worth every penny of it.

It would be interesting to know why so many excellent posters suddenly stopped posting as frequently, which led to less interesting reads, which lead to less posting, and round and round she goes.

It's been so long since I have first started feeling the urge to avoid posting on here that there are no current posts to use as evidence of what it was that troubled me into avoidance.

Because so many really great message boards have slowly become less and less attended, while others seem to become more and more attended, it is a puzzlement, and, I think, worthy of exploration.

I do hope that it is worthy of exploration by some other former posters.

A loss of a gathering place for excellent posters and an excellent administrator is, to me, a tragedy.

As I recall, there was one particular poster who just killed interest in what should have been interesting and discussion promoting posts because that poster seemed to be a "Johnny one note" who had only a couple of issue that meant anything at all to that poster.

Others in the group would have a good discussion started, or in progress, and somehow this one poster would get one of his few themes injected in the thread and then we'd be off to redundancy to the point of just backing out of the message board.

After a while, it became so obvious that some of the good posters, just responded by saying, 'Yeah, we know. What you said last time, and the time before that and the time before that," and the thread would pass off into oblivion.

It seems incredible that one poster with a fixed mind and narrowly focused issues of argumentation could have affected me to the extent that I was willing to forego all of the good posters just in order to avoid having to read the redundant, narrowly focused poster.

I do not see that poster appearing in the threads any longer, and maybe there were others who need to be made aware that the poster has slackened off, or just plain quit posting on this board.

I say that because I see that a whole bunch of the very active and thoughful posters have also disappeared.

It is hard to believe that the good posters would stop posting because their repetitive antagonist has left the board, but more likely that they left the board one at a time until there was no one left who had the stamina or interest in wasting time on the repetitive poster.

What do I know? Nothing. I only know I am saddened to see that such a great message board is losing ground, when the one truly annoying poster has apparently gone on to more welcoming opportunities.

[Pax]

I also find it sad that this board has died. There were a lot of good people and a lot of good discussions here. I think all in all it was a jewel.

There were I think two things that caused fatal problems for this board, however. One "fixable," one not.

The "not fixable" one is that the board is no longer part of a larger community. New people now will only find us through referrals or by stumbling on us somehow through a google search, neither of which at least as it turned out bore nearly enough fruit. The board was populated pretty much only with the people who came here from MSN boards three(?) years ago. Boards need new blood to survive.

The "fixable" one: Ugly abuse and condescension toward those who disagree. I don't absolve myself; through 95% of the existence of this board through all its incarnations, I was one of the abusers, gleefully punching with the rest.

I discovered what it felt like though when all those to my right had departed. Me the relentless moderate moved into the position of the right-wing punching bag. No rational argument was acceptable if it was contrary to the overall position of the board. It's a rare person who would stay long under such abuse.

And of course, once it finally happens that no one is left that disagrees in any way with anyone, then the dynamism of the board is lost. No one learns anything. No reason for passion. To return and see what was said. To respond.

There are those here who may disagree, what can I say, I understand. Any number of conservatives have marched through here over the years and finally said that they didn't like the way they were being treated, and left. With the rest of you I figured they just had a thin skin. But having sat in that seat, though, I'll repeat one of the quotes Beth found: "Pain is rarely acknowledged by those who do not feel it."

[joethree56]

Pax I for one agree entirely. Then againthe very fact that you btwgf, firefly and myself are still here rather points to a need for something very like this board. So let's keep faith a little longer and perhaps post here more. I will be honest though I find the format a bit limiting.

[wheelspinner]

I'm still around and visiting, although I'm not sure if the posts above are that encouraging. It might be politic to be non-specific, but it makes everyone feel tarred with the same brush when you make criticisms like being johnny one-note ot engaging in abuse without being specific.

My experience is that the mods here have never tolerated abuse. Chances are, if they have not acted on it, it is probably not as bad as you are feeling.

I have been posting a few things I would think are of interest, but getting no responses.

It is up to us to decide if we want this place or not. My suggestion would be for everybody who says they care about the site to undertake to start at least one new thread and respond to at least one other thread each day for a week. If that proves too much trouble well I guess we know what that means.

[patchoulli]

I thought we were all on summer vacation.
And that we would slowly trickle back as cool weather set in (but then, the Australians would have a different excuse wouldn't they).
I've checked the site quickly at times, but not in depth.
I also thought that much of the more in-depth discussions were launched by politics and there hasn't been much going on in the US until just the past few weeks. It promises to be another wild and wacky election season with no good choices anywhere.
I was surprised that the moderates of this group feel abused. I, for one, have nothing but the utmost respect for almost all members of this group. The only ones I can't tolerate are those who pop in and rabble rouse and then don't stick around for the consequences. That describes only one or two non-regulars thankfully.
As a far-leftie I sometimes feel abused by the right and moderates and even sometimes by the left. If that makes you moderates feel any better. IMO it might be that we could be feeling abuse only because no one is agreeing with us. Heh?
WS said, "It is up to us to decide if we want this place or not. My suggestion would be for everybody who says they care about the site to undertake to start at least one new thread and respond to at least one other thread each day for a week. If that proves too much trouble well I guess we know what that means."
Excellent idea.

[wheelspinner]

Well I have made a post. Feel free to lacerate it. And to give me something to talk about in return.

[MacBeth]

I really am at a point where I am willing to put into the board what others are willing to match. I check daily hoping to see life, but had to stop feeling like I had to post to keep it alive - seemed silly if others were not interested. Felt like I was giving what was no longer wanted or needed.

If you guys are here, so am I.

[firefly]

Wheelspinner, and everyone else on this thread.

You called it accurately. I was trying to be politically correct in not being specific about a poster who turned me off. I am sorry that it left the question "is it me?" hanging in the air.

I would still rather not mention the specific name, because, although I believed that I saw comments by others that shared my annoyance with that poster, my judgment was entirely subjective, and I should have omitted the existence of the "one note poster."

It was none of those who have replied to this thread, and I hope I may be forgiven for being so uncorrect politically while trying so hard to be the opposite.

ff

[patchoulli]

"It was none of those who have replied to this thread"
Whew!

[Peltigera]

It is not just this board - it is happening all over. One of my photographic forums no longer operates on a regular basis. The only forum that I use that is still active in the same way it was several years ago is Colette Sale's OUR on Yuku - the rest all seem to be either dead or moribund.

[firefly]

I followed a bunch of my favorite MSN groups when MSN closed them down. They went to various other group servers, like Yuku, Aimoo, Multiply, etc.

Two art groups have gone inactive and the third one is slowly fading. Law Questions went to Aimoo and then died. My garden group is barely hanging on. Three or four political groups have survived, but some very, very good ones have died or are dying.

Facebook, MySpace, MyLive, Twitter, and so on have captured the minds and souls of many of those people. I finally joined Facebook and Deviant Art only to discover that the computer jargon is so sophisticated I can't even understand what they're talking about. And there's a herd mentality to it that I cannot stand. Subgroups all being driven by quests, contests, and success and defeat depending upon an action completed (or not) of an imaginary character, in an imaginary place, at an imaginary time, for imaginary rasons.

I think my daughter, her husband and two of their children have all gone insane from becoming involved in various Facebook "groups" Games.

I think groups like this one are worth fighting for. I really miss some of the people I can no longer find. Everynow and then I stumble upon one of them in a group I never heard of and I want to tell them, "Hey, come over here." But they could just as easily say that to me, and I wouldn't go.

ff

[Pax]

I heard that a lot of the folks that used to be on our MSN board are here. I don't post this to encourage you to go, just to help you find people since you said you miss them.

currenteventsii.yuku.com

[patchoulli]

What kind of art do you do, firefly?

[Deleted]

Sept 16, 2011 12:43:19 GMT -5 Peltigera said:

It is not just this board - it is happening all over. One of my photographic forums no longer operates on a regular basis. The only forum that I use that is still active in the same way it was several years ago is Colette Sale's OUR on Yuku - the rest all seem to be either dead or moribund.

Pelt, have you checked out RedBubble?

www.redbubble.com

It's where I have a gallery.

[oskar]

I'm working on an excuse.
As soon as I figure one out that's plausible, I'll let you know.

[Georgina]

I apologise for the long silence and absence. There are several good reasons for it, although none are that I don't and haven't enjoyed the people who have been with this board -- in all of its incarnations -- for so long.

I think one issue is, as Pax pointed out, that this isn't part of a larger community where new people can browse around and stumble into new spots. I also think that the context for online discussions has morphed in different ways. I'm not certain that the message board format is the preferred way for people to "meet up" online any longer.

At any rate, hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been around. I'll keep popping in from time-to-time to see what's what, but largely, I really just don't have the time available that I used to. That's both good and bad.

Thanks everyone for everything. Thank you for all of your words, and kindnesses, and wisdom, and laughter, and hugely frustrating yet wildly satisfying arguments.

Anyone who wants to stay in touch, you have my email address. If not, message me here and I'll send it to you.

[joethree56]

Non of the substitute forums are as versatile or intuitive as MSN was and this I think is a factor. The ability to easily post photos, video and audio saved the boards from becoming ponderously wordy.