It's become dreadfully dull compared to just a few years ago.
A few years ago was dreadfully dull compared to a few years before that.
Part of this in endemic to forums, repetition of the same topics with no new findings or other new info resulting. There's even the repetition of the same bad advice, which suggests that people aren't listening anyway. After one's 4,000th "How Do I Clean My Pipe" thread, it's not easy to feel the rush, the thrill, the excitement.
This is why people eventually leave, not enough new to keep them coming back for more. It's not always about croaking out.
The forum works best when it provides the opportunity for the inexperienced and experienced to mix it up. Both can learn from one another. But people, take ten seconds to do a Google search about pipe cleaning and spare us. Come up with new questions or observations.
It also depends on the quality of posters here. We do have a number of very fine correspondents here, some of them very engaging, and that livens things up quite a bit. We've lost quite a few of them as well.
And we have some whose posts read like they were typing with their nose, and/or for whom English is their native tongue and they don't speak it.
I like this place as an escape from the pressures of work, a short break from production. Once I retire and this forum isn't needed for that purpose I don't know whether I'll still pop in or move on.
But, for now, let's dance.
JK
