What Happened To The 'older' Members

[shroob]

Now that you mention it there has been a lack of recognisable names, not all but a a few have disappeared. I did notice that there has been a slow down of forum activity over the past few months. Be nice to see the site with the activity it had say a year ago.

 

[The-Wolf]

all i can say is why i don't post as much as i used to.
there are a few members here that have a vast array of knowledge and when they give advise
(admittedly sometimes in a cold and unemotional way) it is either ignored or argued about.
I got sick and tired of upstarts trying to disprove what is/was sound advice even from members with PHDs.

I do come here daily but mostly to see if I have any PM's, rarely do i post and even when i do it is often ignored,
in favour of some numpty that thinks they know all because some website said it is the only way to go.
experience means very little unless some random website has said the same thing and god help us
if two websites contradict each other.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Imo Cliques got rid of alot of people

 

[andywg]

Imo Cliques got rid of alot of people

Damn that "Imo Cliques". I never liked him from the moment I saw him!

Wolf has some very valid points. I occasionally look at a post, start posting and then realise how hard it will be to convince someone of the error of their ways and just drift off elsewhere. I can't help but feel I have forgotten that

 

[Ace Of Spades]

YOU HAVE FOILED MY POSTS FOR THE LAST TIME MR. GOODSON!!!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Imo Cliques got rid of alot of people

In the sense that groups of people drift out all at once? Everyone has specific posters that they feel most friendly with and when those people stop saying much, there's not an incredible amount of incentive to continue participating. Me? I'm mostly here just for drama and reading about puffers. I've pretty much got my tank set up and don't have much experience with diseases (or patience in general) so I'm not very interested in anything besides Oddballs, Brackish and Board Announcements.

I somewhat agree with Andy that a General Chat would increase my interest in participation, but that's only because it would be a steady source of mild internet drama. At the same time, that's the reason that I agree with the mods that GC is more trouble than its worth.

As an "older" member, it's my opinion that this forum just has a high turnover rate--"what happened to all the old folks" gets asked every few months. Yes, the majority of posters wander off after a year or two, but the forum is continually growing and most of the general information persists. There's not any one member who is the only authority on cycling or breeding bettas or setting up a mbuna tank. Sure there's some concentration of knowledge, but the newbies pick up a lot as they go on. The questions are repetitive--which means that what one person learns is bound to turn up again later. I don't think that the gradual drift of older members is a problem for the forum.

 

[kribensis12]

^ PURE GOLD

 

[Ludwig Venter]

^ PURE GOLD

Dunno if it's my imagination, but since this thread started floating around, I'm beginning to feel better about the general atmosphere..... Still cannot put my finger on it, but it seems to be getting better again.

 

[dnn3]

it probably has to do with word "old" in the title.most of these posts have been by members that have been here a while.most kids follow fads and i'm sure some of the recent members are young kids doing that,following a fad.not all the kids on here but some.honestly their are some kids on here that have alot more knowledge about fishkeeping than i do.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

it probably has to do with word "old" in the title.most of these posts have been by members that have been here a while.most kids follow fads and i'm sure some of the recent members are young kids doing that,following a fad.not all the kids on here but some.honestly their are some kids on here that have alot more knowledge about fishkeeping than i do.

Sure there are.... I'll always acknowledge worthy advice and there's a lot of that floating about on this forum from all generations.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

better put the kettle on them mate. yeah, i think attitudes have changed recently and ever since the outbreak of the 'adult material' on this forum, (not that im saying that has anything to do with it!) alot of the older members have gone, over that last 2 months or so. no MW, no The wolf to name a few. ade hasnt been around for a while (shrimp guy)

Well thanks Nick, always nice to know your missed. I've had some issues recently, I'm really quite poorly and the docs don't know what's wrong with me, in addition to this me and my partner have both been made redundant, currently living at his parents house and generally having a bit of a pants time.

normally i pride myself on the fact that i will stick around and answer the same basic questions over nad over again and give everyone the attnetion it deserves, we've all got to start somewhere and I know I appreciated the advice I got starting out and like to give something back. But with everything thats going on recently i've been super stressed and haven't had the time or inclination to do what i normally do. I'm still popping on every few days just not posting as much. sure i'll be back to full speed when life works itself out a bit!!

I will also suggest another reason for a downturn in people posting - admin issues. As William is the only admin and is not actively involved things that only he can sort out take far too long to sort out for impatient people who are already somewhat disenfranchised with the forum. Take the links to live chat, aquarium calculator or even the search function. All of them have been borked in one way or another for over week now with no signs of any progress on them being fixed. Trying to reply to a post that requires reference to previous posts is pretty frustrating when you can't search. I would be willing to bet that there are no other forums with a membership as large as this with only 1 admin to try and hold it together.

well you know i've said this myself before on more than one occasion. correct or otherwise the impression that members get is that William is not interested in the forum anymore. I appreciate he may do more behind the scenes work than posting and everyone has their own lives to live. but i do think there is a significant amount of evidence to show that problems are not being fixed quickly enough, i know i've got hacked off with it in the past so I'm sure other members have as well. I do think another admin would be of significant benefit to the forum.

 

[Dave Spencer]

I learnt an awful lot of this forum when I first started out a couple of years ago, especially from the planted section. I owe this forum quite a lot, which is why I still frequent it.

Unfortunately, I feel my knowledge base has moved on, so I visit and moderate on plant specific sites now. There is very little subject matter that interests me here anymore, so I rarely post. Especially when the good old "sand V gravel" question pops up in three separate threads on the same page (why don`t people use the search option or Google)?

My problem is that I only seem to post when I see something written that is obviously wrong, so it makes me look like I am a miserable sod....which I am.

Dave.

 

[Ben]

Pffft, everyone just got soft and needs to harden up

Wow its been a while since i posted here. Whats going on

 

[Declan]

Well, Nick, looks like you started a real 'humm-dinger' here mate.

D.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

better put the kettle on them mate. yeah, i think attitudes have changed recently and ever since the outbreak of the 'adult material' on this forum, (not that im saying that has anything to do with it!) alot of the older members have gone, over that last 2 months or so. no MW, no The wolf to name a few. ade hasnt been around for a while (shrimp guy)

Well thanks Nick, always nice to know your missed. I've had some issues recently, I'm really quite poorly and the docs don't know what's wrong with me, in addition to this me and my partner have both been made redundant, currently living at his parents house and generally having a bit of a pants time.

normally i pride myself on the fact that i will stick around and answer the same basic questions over nad over again and give everyone the attnetion it deserves, we've all got to start somewhere and I know I appreciated the advice I got starting out and like to give something back. But with everything thats going on recently i've been super stressed and haven't had the time or inclination to do what i normally do. I'm still popping on every few days just not posting as much. sure i'll be back to full speed when life works itself out a bit!!

I will also suggest another reason for a downturn in people posting - admin issues. As William is the only admin and is not actively involved things that only he can sort out take far too long to sort out for impatient people who are already somewhat disenfranchised with the forum. Take the links to live chat, aquarium calculator or even the search function. All of them have been borked in one way or another for over week now with no signs of any progress on them being fixed. Trying to reply to a post that requires reference to previous posts is pretty frustrating when you can't search. I would be willing to bet that there are no other forums with a membership as large as this with only 1 admin to try and hold it together.

well you know i've said this myself before on more than one occasion. correct or otherwise the impression that members get is that William is not interested in the forum anymore. I appreciate he may do more behind the scenes work than posting and everyone has their own lives to live. but i do think there is a significant amount of evidence to show that problems are not being fixed quickly enough, i know i've got hacked off with it in the past so I'm sure other members have as well. I do think another admin would be of significant benefit to the forum.

yes i agree, another administartor would be good, as i man i emailed william a couple of times about the same thing and hes yet to still get back to me and that was about 2 months ago, so defo a good idea