Are Forums Dying, And Why?

[brian64]

Political comments are not allowed here, but social comments are...and the line between the two is often very fuzzy and subjective (especially since we live in a time where almost everything has become politicized...including tobacco of course).
Point being, not making political comments is often not as simple as it sounds. There's a lot of grey area where those who are looking for something to get upset about can always find it. I never understand why they don't just move on to a different thread if they don't like what's being discussed.

 

[hawky454]

I’m just surprised you guys have enough time to peruse more than one pipe forum.

 

[hawky454]

I’m just surprised you guys have enough time to peruse more than one pipe forum.

I really don’t, I just spend a couple of months more active over here then I get sick of y’all and go hang with my other crew and vice versa. Lol. No I don’t get sick of y’all but I do tend to go back and forth between forums. I’m currently more active here now but honestly, when I see MLC active at PSU I tend to be more active over there myself, that guy really knows how to liven up a forum and I have to admit I’m kind of a fan boy.
I have a Facebook account but I am not a fan. An ex forum member invited me to a pipe smokers Facebook group and I thought I’d give it a try... I lasted about a month and stopped all together, there is no real conversation happening over there just a bunch of people hitting the like buttons. I want to have stimulating conversations and I find that these kinds of forums are the best platforms for that.
Don’t know how I got a double post out of that... sorry.

 

[fatbob]

My experience tells me some are dying; absolutely. But I also noticed that the early warning signs of demise seem to be stringent parameters arbitrarily applied, bottle necking conversations to fit some agenda and plain old squeaky wheel mentality. I enjoy the depth and breadth of knowledge on this forum and I think the tangential meanderings of some of the participants ensure health and longevity. At least that's what keeps me coming back and sometimes actually responding.

 

[saltedplug]

I've been own some forums where the moderation is extremely heavy-handed, where pm's are not private, all of it done unapologetically. I leave in a hurry. I'm glad that this board's moderation is moderate, but I'm not sure every thread that gets heated need be closed. I'm sure I don't understand, but who cares if a thread has virtual fights and creative bird flashing?
It's only words. Yes, people's feelings will be hurt, but in the end I decide what I will allow to upset me and how vigorous a counter-attack I will wage, or if I will wage an attack at all. No response is quite often the best course. I said what I wanted to say and now they have, too. If I walk away I'm done. I got the virtual bird yesterday and responded with restraint. I thought of pm'ing and making nice but decided the birder was immature and not worth my time and added a notch to my "ignore" list. If the thread hadn't been closed will members come away angry and start fights in other threads? Is the tone of the board then threatened such that members leave?
I don't know.

 

[didimauw]

My loyalty runs strong here.

 

[quint]

Deathmetal, I was going to start a new thread a while back regarding this exact same topic.
Yes, I think many message boards are dying. I have been a member of certain boards in the past that basically just withered and died with zero posts for months.
But not all boards are dying. I think mainstream-themed boards are still very active (watches, cars, etc).
The reason for increased message board deaths?
- Social networking sites like MeMeMeBook and Twatter have become insanely popular with younger people.
- Too many message boards on the net = too much competition. Not enough people on the internet to support them all.
- Too much moderation and moderator abuse. I have seen message boards die quickly from heavy-handed moderators with god mentalities.
- Smartphone and tablets are replacing PCs. Many message boards are not implementing apps that work with these devices, and the text is too small and hard to read on them through browsers.
- Many people are beginning to shun social networking and message boards in favor of face-to-face interaction. Yes, even some young people. I call it technology burnout.
I do know that the other pipe smoking message board is slowly dying, for a variety of reasons that I won't mention...

 

[sablebrush52]

This is a very interesting topic, one that came up while I was in Vegas this weekend. Here's what I heard. There is a feeling that forums are less busy than they used to be. Some of the people who I spoke with, who are well known in the community, said that they look in from time to time, but are reluctant to post for several reasons. Mainly they are turned off by the fights and they are turned off by the political asides. To them, pipe smoking is one of life's great pleasures and strife diminishes that pleasure. There's enough of that in life in general. They feel that it's counterproductive, unhelpful, and unnecessary. So they stay away and don't share their knowledge, which is a shame, but there it is.

 

[mayfair70]

I've come close to leaving a few times because of the political crap and am trying to avoid it like the plague. I've only been around a couple years, but have seen plenty of folks come and go. I hate watching people I like and respect (mostly) go at each other's throats with recycled and rehashed pundit talking points. Makes me ill.
I don't come here and get my panties in a twist much anymore (Mmmmm...twist!). I pre-twist my panties before I visit the site and things seem to go smoother. The music thread is a fantastic aspect of this site and there is NEVER political BS there. It is hard to care about Senator so-and-so when Joe Walsh's Life's Been Good To Me So Far is playing and I have a bowl of St Bruno waiting for me.
Keep it simple. Keep it civil. Long live Pipesmagazine. :puffpipe:

 

[nevadablue]

Lazar, I agree, I have been part of the 'off topic crap problem' here. I assure you I slapped myself silly for falling into the trap, and apologized by PM to one member already. I MUST stay with the pipe fun.
Mso, I find it interesting that 'old people' text in sentences. That is a big DUH for youngsters I guess. Our language and most of our normal communication is based on sentences. Kids are too lazy and in too big of a hurry to bother I guess. Then they wonder why they are misunderstood. Listen to any support person on the phone or newscasters, or nearly any 'youngster' talk. They can't spit the words out fast enough. I can't tell you how many times recently, I have had to tell a support person to be quiet and listen. Loan officers, internet providers, telephone company people, OMG, every service organization I have dealt with. They think that I want them to talk, but won't listen long enough to see what it is that I need their service for. This is related to our recent move and we are still recovering from 'incomplete sentences'. Grin...

 

[mikethompson]

That's terrible that wise old pipe experts are reluctant to share their knowledge and experience because of the toxicity of some forums. Can't say that's happened around here thankfully.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I prefer panties to be on the floor. ::

 

[nevadablue]

Or sticking to the wall... better even. 8O

 

[hawky454]

Well said, Mayfair. I keep meaning to visit the music thread more but I haven’t figured out an easy way of posting the links from my phone and I enjoyed it when it actually showed the image of the video in the post but I think it was cluttering the pages? Idunno.
Listening to Ween right now.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ween is some good stuff.

 

[brian64]

The music thread is a fantastic aspect of this site and there is NEVER political BS there

Actually there's been lots of politics in much of the music there...but that's just one way we can get away with it. :mrgreen:

 

[nevadablue]

I noticed text size and iOs mentioned. I run an iPad exclusively. Go look at icabmobile browser. I use it for almost everything. It makes this forum readable for me. It has a text size option that isn't the usual 'resize' thing. Works very well for this forum especially. It also allows direct download of youtube videos, so my library of pipe work videos grows daily.
The browser also makes Flickr work like a charm for forum posting. It is very easy to get the address of almost any image, anywhere on the net too.

 

[sablebrush52]

That's terrible that wise old pipe experts are reluctant to share their knowledge and experience because of the toxicity of some forums. Can't say that's happened around here thankfully.

Unfortunately, the PM forum is part of that equation. I had suggested that it would be pretty cool if they contributed here and that's how I know that.

 

[hawky454]

Just done posting at PSU and there has been absolutely no activity for 3+ hours. I’ve never seen it that slow... sooooo, looks like the answer is a definite yes, they are dying a slow death.

Ween is some good stuff.

Love em!!! They just played two night, back to back shows here in Austin so I’m trying to make up for missing them... my 9 month old daughter really loves them too!

 

[hawky454]

I noticed text size and iOs mentioned. I run an iPad exclusively. Go look at icabmobile browser. I use it for almost everything. It makes this forum readable for me. It has a text size option that isn't the usual 'resize' thing. Works very well for this forum especially. It also allows direct download of youtube videos, so my library of pipe work videos grows daily.
The browser also makes Flickr work like a charm for forum posting. It is very easy to get the address of almost any image, anywhere on the net too.

Thanks for sharing! I’ll look into that.
Edit* Aaaaah shucks! It’s 2 bucks! I’ll have to think about it really hard now. It’s so weird, I don’t give a second thought to buying tobacco but I’m a total cheapskate when it comes to anything else... I guess I see it as, that would be 2 bucks less I could have spent on baccy.