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Forum or no forum, that is the question


Ma & Pa

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The above title is from the forum at Canada's Capital Cachers website in Ottawa.

 

Here is the first item posted on that thread by kirok who started the thread:

 

******************************

With the popularity of social media, forums are a dying breed. I personally find myself visiting this place so rarely that it seems pointless to continue it in the form it is today. That said, thee is a lot of useful tips, tricks and info still scattered about in these forum pages that we don't want to lose.

 

So, do we continue with a forum in it's current format (along with the mostly pointless CCC wordpress splash screen on the front end), or do we work up a Wiki of sorts to house the useful information and do away with this forum in favour of the groups on Social media?

 

What say you?

 

The irony of it is that nobody is going to read this anyway. LOL.

 

******************************

 

Here is the link to that thread:

 

http://canadascapitalcachers.ca/forum/index.php?topic=1890.msg14174#msg14174

 

I love forums like this one where you can discuss geocaching, read stories of caching adventures and tell your stories.

 

What do you think?

 

 

PAul

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Similar thing happened with the Calgary Area Cachers forum. It is almost a ghost town, with only a few people checking it occasionaly. Makes me sad. It was a good way for us locals to keep up on local activities and issues.

 

Now facebook is the thing, but it is less condusive to conversations, and I can't keep most caches facebook names matched to their geocaching handle's.

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I like the forums.

One of the reasons is I can look back and gather information on older thread searches without starting (yet) another thread on the same subject.

- Something not usually available on social media, which to me, seem created more for folks with short attention spans and need that info now.

 

A local site near me, now pretty-much all (a thread every six months can't be most...) are on a social site with the same name.

My sister has access and tells me of issues and it seems those same folks don't receive accurate info from each other, as many aren't even validated on GC.com.

- But they won't bother to ask the old farts on the local site...

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Call me antisocial but i'm just not into the typical facebook/twitter type websites. I'm just not interested in reading people's post(s) about what they did or what happened to them on any given day. Seriously, i'll call you if i want to know the details about your bowel movement. :unsure:

 

As you can see at the bottom of my post, we have a local geocaching website that i'd love to be more active. Unfortunately, it doesn't get utilized because everyone uses the face page instead. I've tried going to the face page but it's hard for me to navigate. Then there are the friend finder ads, the friend requests from total strangers (probably spammers), and the requests from face itself always wanting me to add a picture, my location, etc,,,. Socializing with fellow cachers is my goal, i don't care about any of that other carp.

 

I say,, Keep the forum! ;)

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We've been discussing this subject in the NW forums: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=320456&view=findpost&p=5359676

 

The NW forums used to have lots of conversations going all the time. Right now, there are only four threads active (two of them are detailing upcoming CMs, the other is about a cache series). It's almost gone the way of the dodo.

 

I just can't use facebook more than for a few likes and posts here and there to sort of keep of with some of my friend's lives. I can't use it as a discussion site. If these forums died, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I've been here for over 10 years. It's like home to me.

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For multi-user discussions I find forums far more useful than any social media app.

 

I'm curious about that particular forum and the person (kirok) that started the thread. I've seen that kind of post many times before in forums and it's typically by someone that recently joined the forum and thinks the forum should be changed rather than someone that has been an active participant in the forum in a long time. It see it like someone going into a country bar, complaining the the jukebox doesn't have the music they like, about he decor and how everyone interacts with each other, and suggests (demands) that everyone else and the environment should change to meet their desires. If someone doesn't like that bar they walk into, it's going to be a lot easier to find someplace else more to their liking then expect those that have had a vested interest in the bar (or forum) for a lot time to change.

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I'm curious about that particular forum and the person (kirok) that started the thread. I've seen that kind of post many times before in forums and it's typically by someone that recently joined the forum and thinks the forum should be changed rather than someone that has been an active participant in the forum in a long time.

I'm not a member of that forum and can't look at the gritty details for kirok, but the infobox beside their posts does say they're an admin for the forum and they have the 2nd-most posts of anyone in that particular discussion.

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I'm curious about that particular forum and the person (kirok) that started the thread. I've seen that kind of post many times before in forums and it's typically by someone that recently joined the forum and thinks the forum should be changed rather than someone that has been an active participant in the forum in a long time.

I'm not a member of that forum and can't look at the gritty details for kirok, but the infobox beside their posts does say they're an admin for the forum and they have the 2nd-most posts of anyone in that particular discussion.

I've seen similar from forum admins elsewhere, so had not even considered NYPaddleCacher's scenario (although I'm sure it happens too).

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Honestly, most local forums just can't generate enough traffic...just look at the regional sections of the forums here. If only a small percentage of a given group are active in forums, it stands to reason that roughly the same percentage of that smaller subsection would be active in the smaller forum. It's not really sustainable.

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Maybe people just don't wanna talk anymore about geocaching.

 

Around here there is a site in Nova Scotia with a forum and there is very little going on. There is a site in New Brunswick that is adamant about not having a forum and concentrates on news; it has mostly items posted by the owners/administrators.

 

http://www.cacheupnb.com/

 

There are a few local FB sites for geocachers and the ones I have visited have little going on.

Edited by Ma & Pa
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Full disclosure: I have never had a Facebook account for a variety of reasons.

 

Forums have an important place for maintaining a record of discussion and information that can be retrieveable even years after the discussion. Facebook strikes me as an "in the moment" communication tool and once something slides off the front page, it's gone forever. This seems fine for people who want to post a photo or broadcast to the world they are going to the grocery store, but is isn't useful for storing useful information. Also, few people really seem interested in past history and live/work in the present, making Facebook more revelent for them, but next to useless for me.

 

Forums and other social media sites seem to have their own best uses and there can be powerful synergy if used properly together. However, most people seem to make an either/or choice, opting for for Facebook or other and leaving the forums, thereby hastening the demise of storing and maintaining institutional knowledge.

Edited by Ladybug Kids
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Standard forum packages like this are indeed dying all over the interwebs, that is a fact. I run one, and it gets about 200 unique visitors a month, and 50 of them are Russian Spammers (Google analytics tells me that). :lol: A smartphone app called Tapatalk has been the saving grace for a few of them that are still holding on, but we can't have that here. No need for an official response, I've heard the whole story, the software used here has been modified to the point where that won't work.

 

I too have never had a Faceplant account, and most likely never will. I have seen some other options out there, sort of like a "Facebook Wall".

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Like Ambrosia pointed out, the NW forums on this site are effectively dead. I have looked in there from time to time and have not seen anything of note in a while. Most of the NW folks post either on Facebook in a group or somewhere else or not at all. However, I do think the forums have a big use here, allows all the countries to participate, at least in theory. Having them on one particular social media site does preclude folks as not everyone will use that external site of the current moment.

Edited by lamoracke
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Most of our local forum pages receive very few visits and even less action. The FB page for our area is VERY active with discussions, cache runs, questions, and polls. We have some charter members who post occasionally as well as some newbies. You get some of the FB crapola but most of the time it works very well for our group. In fact, it's probably one of the busiest pages of all the groups I belong to. The only other pages busier are my Navy ship page and the Chicago area geocachers FB page, which has so much stuff getting posted that you have to sift through it to make any sense of it. Most of the time I get the notification that there's a new post and I won't follow the discussion unless it's something of interest to me, which is maybe 10% of the time.

 

I'm one of the few from my area that participates here.

Edited by coachstahly
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I like the forums.

One of the reasons is I can look back and gather information on older thread searches without starting (yet) another thread on the same subject.

 

There, my friends, is the best articulation for bumping older threads that has ever been said.

 

But do the bigwigs see the wisdom in that point? No. So we have thread after thread after thread that rehashes the same points. It is no exaggeration whatsoever to say that the questions get answered with cut-&-paste text used again and again!

 

Amazing! :rolleyes:

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I'm curious about that particular forum and the person (kirok) that started the thread. I've seen that kind of post many times before in forums and it's typically by someone that recently joined the forum and thinks the forum should be changed rather than someone that has been an active participant in the forum in a long time.

Just the opposite.

 

kirok is the site maintainer for the CCC web site and forum.

He's been caching since 2005 and has just over 4500 finds.

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Ive been a moderator of a fishing forum for over 10 years. I see what you are saying as now most of the members are also friends on Facebook. Often I will post something on the forum and on facebook. Many of the members will post a comment on my facebook page but not say anything on the forum now. I still like the fishing forum but it is not as active as it used to be.

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I agree that as a tool, that forums (including the Groundspeak ones) works better than Facebook, in that

- It is easier to search

- It is easier to see what posts you have read and not read

 

But the "masses" prefer Facebook.

 

I think what is happening is that most people are using FB regularly anyway. And the one benefit of FB is it is "you centric". So on your page you see your friends, as well as all groups you join all in one place. So if you like Geocaching but also basket weaving, you don't need to make a special effort to look at several Geocaching forums as well as the basket weaving forum. You can just join groups then look at your single "news feed".

 

So with FB it is easier to see information (it is pushed to you), but harder to manage it.

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With the popularity of social media, forums are a dying breed. I personally find myself visiting this place so rarely that it seems pointless to continue it in the form it is today

 

Yes, of course...I don't find myself visiting the forum very often so there's no reason it should continue. Pretty entitled attitude.

 

That said, I agree with some of the previous posters....the forum format still relevant when dealing with very large groups, i.e., an international forum like this one. It doesn't work that well for very small groups like a local or regional group, unless the group is very active.

 

Our Baton Rouge Geocachers group seems to work more effectively as a Facebook group.

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I am a facebook junkie! Yes I admit it. :unsure:

 

But it is only as good as when you are reading it live (or close to).

 

Forums are fantastic in that it holds search engines which allows people to look for certain topics etc, before they come up publically to ask a question that has been asked every month for the past couple of years.

It holds a lot more information and allows you to come back and check on things you know you have read, but forgot about the finer details.

 

I find social media is good to get information out fast and for small talk.

Forums are great for more well informed documented information.

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Like Ambrosia pointed out, the NW forums on this site are effectively dead. I have looked in there from time to time and have not seen anything of note in a while. Most of the NW folks post either on Facebook in a group or somewhere else or not at all. However, I do think the forums have a big use here, allows all the countries to participate, at least in theory. Having them on one particular social media site does preclude folks as not everyone will use that external site of the current moment.

 

Ironically enough, this thread could be considered "of regional interest", and moved to the Canada forum. :P Which of course is dead, Jim. Sorry to hear about the NW forum, they were one of the last regional holdouts. That's not to say there aren't still a few "regional" sub-forums around here (mostly for European Countries) that still get decent action.

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The problem I have is now you have to find all the various regional, sub-regional, etc. etc. etc. groups on FB or wherever to find local information.

 

When I traveled to other states, I would come to these forums, and post "What are the best caches in xxx area" in the appropriate forum. Now I have to scour the web to find the right group to post those questions.

 

Here in New England, there are several FB groups that cover the area (where there was only one here at GC). There's huge overlap, with multiple groups covering any given area, and you have sometimes have to post in multiple groups to get everyone that could be affected. It's a major headache.

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For multi-user discussions I find forums far more useful than any social media app.

 

I'm curious about that particular forum and the person (kirok) that started the thread. I've seen that kind of post many times before in forums and it's typically by someone that recently joined the forum and thinks the forum should be changed rather than someone that has been an active participant in the forum in a long time. It see it like someone going into a country bar, complaining the the jukebox doesn't have the music they like, about he decor and how everyone interacts with each other, and suggests (demands) that everyone else and the environment should change to meet their desires. If someone doesn't like that bar they walk into, it's going to be a lot easier to find someplace else more to their liking then expect those that have had a vested interest in the bar (or forum) for a lot time to change.

 

Well said NY Cacher who paddles

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The above title is from the forum at Canada's Capital Cachers website in Ottawa.

 

Here is the first item posted on that thread by kirok who started the thread:

 

******************************

With the popularity of social media, forums are a dying breed. I personally find myself visiting this place so rarely that it seems pointless to continue it in the form it is today. That said, thee is a lot of useful tips, tricks and info still scattered about in these forum pages that we don't want to lose.

 

So, do we continue with a forum in it's current format (along with the mostly pointless CCC wordpress splash screen on the front end), or do we work up a Wiki of sorts to house the useful information and do away with this forum in favour of the groups on Social media?

 

What say you?

 

The irony of it is that nobody is going to read this anyway. LOL.

 

******************************

 

Here is the link to that thread:

 

http://canadascapitalcachers.ca/forum/index.php?topic=1890.msg14174#msg14174

 

I love forums like this one where you can discuss geocaching, read stories of caching adventures and tell your stories.

 

What do you think?

 

 

PAul

 

The NCR Facebook page is fairly active. I like it because it's integrated with a site I already use - I don't have to visit a separate site to check on things and keep up with the discussion.

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Forums have always served two roles: keeping in contact and discussing ideas. The keeping in contact aspect has been supplanted by modern social media mechanisms. Nothing's replaced its role as a place to talk about things. Until this came up here, I hadn't really thought about it, but now I realize that's why I'm not that interested in social media, since I'm not that interested in using a computer to engage in disposable communications. r u?

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The purpose of forums have changed. Having been involved in them for nearly 20 years the landscape has shifted. Most local forums are suffering a slow and lingering death. The discussions are somewhere else.

 

Many people used to gather in social forums to discuss common interests, holding discussions, sharing photos, etc. Those have steadily shifted into social media (Facebook, Reddit, G+, etc.) Many people say "I don't facebook (or something else)" Your loss, in my opinion, those social sites are designed to be able to share simply, quickly, and distribute content in way that is faster and easier than forums. The forums serve a purpose, but social media is where the people are, and the reach is father.

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I like the forums, i don't have a facebook account. I have been reading this forum since I started many years ago. I don't post much but I read quite a bit of it. I find this forum very helpful. I used to visit a local forum in the maritimes years ago when I lived there but no longer exists. Now that I live in Saskatchewan, there is a local page but is pretty much abandoned as I can't even get someone to approve my account. I visit the Mbga site on occasion but this is the one I go to most frequently. I hope this forum never goes away.

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I've been a member of a forum for a musical instrument for many years. I watched it grow from a couple of hundred members until (excitement! excitement!) we had 500 members. It now numbers in over 3,000 members.

 

I resisted Facebook for a bunch of years, but when I saw that my wife was contacting old friends from back in high school and college days, I jumped in. Besides my immediate family, I have friended a bunch of folks from the distant past, and I find it very nostalgic as well as friendly.

 

What happened to the musical instrument forum? Instead of dozens of posts a day it is down to like 3 or 4. People still have the same questions and still want to show off their instrument, but most of 'em have turned to groups in Facebook.

 

There seems to be a different feeling between them. I have seen very nasty replies in forums that I never see in Facebook. I think the main reason is that folks use their real names rather than hiding behind a handle.

 

Although either platform allows folks to ask questions and hopefully get answers, I don't think the forums provide as easy a method of showing off how you are doing and sharing at that level. "Oh! You do that? I hadn't thought of that. I'll have to try it!" To me, forums tend to be either too matter of fact, or (oddly enough) too opinionated, or too reticent.

 

I started a Waymarking North America group on Facebook, and although it only has a few members at present, the mood of the group versus the 3 forums in Waymarking is different. Lots of information exchange via "showing off". Lots of "Oh! You do that? I'll have to try that!"

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The purpose of forums have changed. Having been involved in them for nearly 20 years the landscape has shifted. Most local forums are suffering a slow and lingering death. The discussions are somewhere else.

 

Many people used to gather in social forums to discuss common interests, holding discussions, sharing photos, etc. Those have steadily shifted into social media (Facebook, Reddit, G+, etc.) Many people say "I don't facebook (or something else)" Your loss, in my opinion, those social sites are designed to be able to share simply, quickly, and distribute content in way that is faster and easier than forums. The forums serve a purpose, but social media is where the people are, and the reach is father.

 

I have to disagree.

After many years of having facebook as a teenager, and then adult, engaged - married - and then with kids, I finally cut loose.

It was the best thing I ever did for my confidence, self esteem, marriage and parenting. It's a newsfeed of comparisons and opinions.

Sure that's just me, my social group, and hte people I let befriend. But imagine the outrage if I just deleted off the family member who started with the backhanded compliments, or the old school friend who couldn't believe my 1 year old had free reign of the fridge. (Full of fresh produce, and now snacks on tomatoes, gherkins, fruit...whatever's going)

I LOVE that the forums are genuine like minded spirits wanting discussion, not just to show off.

I LOVE that it's focused. I really do believe there are groups of people who are far safer on forums, sensitive little souls like me among them.

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The above title is from the forum at Canada's Capital Cachers website in Ottawa.

 

Here is the first item posted on that thread by kirok who started the thread:

 

******************************

With the popularity of social media, forums are a dying breed. I personally find myself visiting this place so rarely that it seems pointless to continue it in the form it is today. That said, thee is a lot of useful tips, tricks and info still scattered about in these forum pages that we don't want to lose.

 

So, do we continue with a forum in it's current format (along with the mostly pointless CCC wordpress splash screen on the front end), or do we work up a Wiki of sorts to house the useful information and do away with this forum in favour of the groups on Social media?

 

What say you?

 

The irony of it is that nobody is going to read this anyway. LOL.

 

******************************

 

Here is the link to that thread:

 

http://canadascapitalcachers.ca/forum/index.php?topic=1890.msg14174#msg14174

 

I love forums like this one where you can discuss geocaching, read stories of caching adventures and tell your stories.

 

What do you think?

 

 

PAul

 

I vote: Keep the forum! :D:D :D I AM on Facebook and it's great for some local stuff, but I like this one for all over stuff. Plus, of course, there are more users on here. Oh, and I'm on Words With Friends, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, Whatsapp, Viber, Kik... just kidding. Mostly.

Edited by Bubbles&Bonkers
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But imagine the outrage if I just deleted off the family member who started with the backhanded compliments, or the old school friend who couldn't believe my 1 year old had free reign of the fridge.

 

Why are you afraid of their outrage, if they clearly don't care about hurting you? Sounds like these people, not FB, are what you need to cut loose.

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The purpose of forums have changed. Having been involved in them for nearly 20 years the landscape has shifted. Most local forums are suffering a slow and lingering death. The discussions are somewhere else.

 

Many people used to gather in social forums to discuss common interests, holding discussions, sharing photos, etc. Those have steadily shifted into social media (Facebook, Reddit, G+, etc.) Many people say "I don't facebook (or something else)" Your loss, in my opinion, those social sites are designed to be able to share simply, quickly, and distribute content in way that is faster and easier than forums. The forums serve a purpose, but social media is where the people are, and the reach is father.

 

I have to disagree.

After many years of having facebook as a teenager, and then adult, engaged - married - and then with kids, I finally cut loose.

It was the best thing I ever did for my confidence, self esteem, marriage and parenting. It's a newsfeed of comparisons and opinions.

Sure that's just me, my social group, and hte people I let befriend. But imagine the outrage if I just deleted off the family member who started with the backhanded compliments, or the old school friend who couldn't believe my 1 year old had free reign of the fridge. (Full of fresh produce, and now snacks on tomatoes, gherkins, fruit...whatever's going)

I LOVE that the forums are genuine like minded spirits wanting discussion, not just to show off.

I LOVE that it's focused. I really do believe there are groups of people who are far safer on forums, sensitive little souls like me among them.

 

Are you including this forum as a safe forum for sensitive souls? Be prepared. You have been warned!

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Facebook killed our local forums.

I imagine forums helped kill usenet too.

The world changes; adapt or be left behind.

I don't want to adapt!!!

 

Anyway... While face book did indeed kill our local forums, it in no way is as good as the forum was. There are much fewer conversations, less meaningfull or significant information to be had, and, as I mentioned before, it is hard to keep track of who goes with what geocaching handle. And of couse, no cool skateboarding avitar on Nicolo's posts!

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I like browsing through these forums, and do so more than Facebook groups. I don't really do facebook, but started an account with my geocaching name just so I could join facebook groups. So far, I've found there are fewer conversations in the Facebook groups, but they are good getting to know your locals. The few times I've tried to have forum-like discussions in Facebook, it seems like there is very little interest. Of course, I only am in a few local FB groups, so I'm not sure that what I see is representative of other groups. To be fair, of the Forums here, there are really only a couple that I check regularly. You can't be everywhere.

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I've used forums for several years, and for several different hobbies/topics. I find them very useful and informative and as others have mentioned, it is much easier to search specific topics in forums. I did a lot of searching and reading of prior threads in this forum before buying my first GPSr, rather than posting a new thread. I've always been more of a reader than a poster, even back in the newsgroup days.

 

I have a difficult time finding past conversations in Facebook. Conversations are also difficult to follow in Facebook, as there's no quoting of previous posts.

 

In my opinion, the utility of a forum should be based on whether people use it or not. This forum has plenty of activity on a daily basis, so it's obviously useful to a number of geocachers. If some geocachers prefer to use FB, then they're welcome to use that platform. One platform shouldn't preclude the existence of another.

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Facebook killed our local forums.

I imagine forums helped kill usenet too.

The world changes; adapt or be left behind.

 

Nailed it, in three short sentences. :P How dead is usenet? To the point where like 90% of the people reading this never heard of it. It too is "easily searchable" like classic forums such as this. By the way, Geocaching was invented there. Sections of this forum are already dead, and it will die. It's merely holding on longer than most of them out there. Usenet isn't completely dead, nor will forum like this one ever be, as long as people are willing to pay the bills. I already said I run one that gets 200 visitors a month, with 25% of them being spambots. :o

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Forums hold a purpose, focused forums will have that purpose longer. There is no discussion of closing the forums or any groups here that I am aware of. So there is no need to fear.

However it is like when big box store moves in, the smaller stores need to change to be around. I think we see that now. Many users never come here to see the issues, pose questions or to browse.

Edited by BlueRajah
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People come and go from forums. They come, I think, generally out of curiosity and a desire to be a part of whatever the Forum represents. Many leave... as I will soon leave this one, because some Forums have way too many "bullies", who prefer to criticize rather than contribute. No matter what someone shares, the bully finds a negative to it. I've noticed some bullies here, in my short time aboard. I'm not likely to stay around too long, as doing so is to condone their behavior.

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I agree but all forums do this. Even the original BBS had them. They are by design easier to hide behind and what one wants without ever being known. If something goes wrong I can leave and come back as a whole new person to start again. Assuming my ip was not blocked from the site. Even then there are always ways around even that with a bit of know how.

 

They are a fact of life, even in the real world.. not saying it's ok but they are what they are. I will not run from them because they are mostly just cowards in the real world that can pick on some one because they know you will not ever know them or meet them.. So they hide behind a user id.

edit; hate auto correct! !!

Edited by doc73
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