Is forum participation changing?

[Silent Invader]

I love this forum and try to visit every day .  What stops me posting more is that my photos often appear upside down , a problem which does not occur with other forums . I note that some other members have encountered this problem. 

Presumably you are using images taken with an iPhone? In which case you just need to run the image through a resizing app after it has been edited for aspect.

[stone-cold-lead]

Personally my use of forums has dropped right off. I only really check out LAF these days and even then it's a very brief visit most times. I was active on a few forums but after getting a website, a blog and then a Facebook page I found the amount of time it took to post my own updates across that lot plus perhaps 3 or 4 forums (I don't like the copy/paste forum post approach) was just too much. Also, just trying to stay active on a number of forums that all cover the same basic hobby can end up being more like work. With some of the forums there's quite a big cross over of users as well so you're talking to the same group of people.

Social media has certainly drawn me away and replaced my use of forums. Maybe it's a little different for me being a full time painter because FB is far better for self promotion and reaching people. It's also quicker to post on FB because a quick pic and an 'I painted this today' comment is all that's needed. On a forum that same approach tends to be over looked more by people I think. We expect a little more effort from a post, a bit of information, some sense of excitement or achievement from the poster. A forum post consisting of nothing but a single photo or even worse just a link to someone's blog just doesn't cut it.

Generally though I'd say LAF is pretty healthy looking as far as a forum goes. For some reason whilst other forums have tended to splinter or devolve to a small hardcore group LAF has kept chugging along nicely. Maybe the banning of all off topic content has helped it do that? I'm sure FB etc has had some impact on the forum but nothing like as happened on the Oldhammer Forum for example. There was quite a vibrant community on that site some years back but with the creation of now a number of FB groups (and the shit show that that seems to be) it's a shadow of what it was.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Thank-you everybody. This is very interesting.

I enjoy LAF a lot and it is the main forum that I use. I find it a nice place that is supportive of hobbyists.

I am also a supporting member of TMP but that appears to have a significantly smaller active membership than in the past.
(TMP has a number of issues with forum bugs, right wing US politics and general nastyness that have probably contributed to the decline).

Regards


Mick

[Plynkes]

Seems to me that a lot of posters these days have topics which are simply links to blogs that take people away from the community here to view the content. Now this is perfectly acceptable and well within the rules of LAF, but you do tend to get fewer responses to such threads (I think comments are more likely to get left on the blog itself) and I'm unsure whether it altogether helps foster a sense of community here when things are "outsourced" in this way.

I've even seen people complaining that they didn't get enough LAF responses to these kinds of posts. It just seems in my experience that people are less likely to engage with a link than a fully-fledged thread. And it seems pretty rich to me to complain that a post that is set up to leech people away from the community to content somewhere else, doesn't get much of a response from that community. How can you complain at the lack of a community response when you're the one dragging people away from the community to be clicks on your blog?  

But people love their blogs, and I totally understand that (and I like reading them too), so what can you do? There's little point having a blog if you're going to post the entirety of it on a forum as well.


I think Facebook and such is the way things are going, but not for me. I can't stand any of that shit, the world of social media. All those people walking around like zombies all day, phone in hand, eyes locked on it, hardly noticing the world around them. I know so many people who are like that all the time, you can barely have a conversation with them. I'm a bit old-fashioned, but forums are as modern as I'm going to get. As long as I'm still interested in painting and gaming, and as long as there is a LAF, this is where I'll be.

[Eric the Shed]

The Stats on here suggest that the number of posts in the last few months is slightly down but does not appear to be significant

As far as my posts to the TMP are concerned and the corresponding linked hits to my blog are concerned there has been a definite down turn. Aside from the comments mentioned about TMP already I think the site is starting to show its age - it appears to be riddled with bugs (poster headings bearing no relationship to content is a big one)


  

[tin shed gamer]

I'd agree there's a minor decline in comments on the forum. But I don't feel its related to a decline in interest. Rather a change in social etiquettes. If you look at older threads you'll see page after page of one sentence platitudes (in the nicest sense possible) Now people seem to avoid parroting others comments.
I'll admit it's important to receive comments . They help to qualify your efforts. Like a lot of members I prefer a question led conversation on my topics rather than pages of wow's( don't get me wrong I'd be wounded if there wasn't any wow's!)
I also think time. Alot of regular topic posters are snowed under at the moment.
But I suspect it might be a ripple effect after the changes to photo bucket.

As for TMP. I still view topics but not longer post. Just reading topics its plain to see its riddled with fan boy trolls and lackies.
I much prefer the adult attitudes and conversations on LAF. The moderators here's a probably some of the best and fairest out there.

Mark.

[westwaller]

It might also be something to do with the fact that the Perry brothers haven't had one of their box sets out for a while? There seemed to be a period a few years ago where they always seemed to be some exciting project or other, but it seems to me that they and others have slowed their production rate to some extent (except Warlord possibly)

[Malebolgia]

I have been an active LAF-user for years and still post everything I create. But I must say I'm having more fun with Facebook at the moment as you get more responses to something you post. Sometimes here I don't get a response to a post...and that doesn't motivate.
I will stay here and post images and react to others. But my activity has gone down a lot since I'm using Facebook and I don't see it going up anytime soon. I do prefer the way a forum works to the chaos that is Facebook.

[robh]

Seems to me that a lot of posters these days have topics which are simply links to blogs that take people away from the community here to view the content

.....<snip>.....

I think Facebook and such is the way things are going, but not for me. I can't stand any of that shit

As my general thoughts but would just have been a word for word repeat of and total agreement with, Plynkes' comments,  I have just a few specific instances that put me off posting:

Posts with no info/pics just a link:
I don't bother to click to see an external link, you want me to see something and comment on it, post it here.
I have noticed several manufacturers have started doing this as well now.

Fanbois:
Some members seem to take any non favourable comment as a personal attack against their manufacturer of choice. LAF is one of the few fora I have visited where criticism is always constructive and fairly given. Accept that not everyone thinks like you do and accept that restrained criticism is appropriate to post.

No follow up:
If you post something, at least have the courtesy to revisit the thread later and respond, even if just to say "Thanks".

The only other thing I would comment (and is an accepted failing on my part) is about Photobucket. I got so pissed off with seeing page after page of grey Photobucket hosting on fora and websites that I have /photobucket/ as a personal wildcard entry in my ad-blocker software. So I no longer see the damn grey boxes, but unfortunately I don't see any other Photobucket hosted images either.
So I apologise as there are several threads on here that I would (and have) normally post on that I now don't see the images for.

[Hammers]

This might seem a little odd but it’s actually set-up to discourage reaction. It’s very much a place for me to record what I’m doing for later reference (as I bounce between projects). I get the occasional email but comments aren’t solicited by me. I do sometimes get a bit irritated where I find content copied to other places (without asking and/or crediting) so the Website  is now coded to prevent hot-linking of images etc. Visits from links placed at some other pages are also automatically barred.

To summarise: Website is almost exclusively for my later reference rather than a tool of engagement. 

Got it.

[Emir of Askaristan]

This is my go to forum for most things and one of only three which I regularly participate in. There's a great bunch of folks on here and it's pretty good for keeping up to date with the general aspects of the hobby, (new figs, ranges, suppliers, rules, reports, etc) I'm interested in and plenty that I didn't think I was interested in but it turns out I am now

The other two are very period specific and give me that deeper dive detail on 18thC warfare which is my favourite period.

I don't use facebook for anything other than keeping up to date with my family and friends and not for the hobby. I find that most stuff goes on in here, on webpages or in blogs - if it aint on one of these formats its passed me by, and that's never been a problem, because there's always someone here who is in the know.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I don't like Facebook for hobby projects.

You get the instant gratification of likes but the post is dead after 24 hours. There is also no continuity if you are doing a project.

I have created threads on LAF for my big hobby projects and I like to revisit them (often months later) when I do an update.

Mick

[vodkafan]

 Having got back into gaming only a year ago after a 5 year hiatus   I have found LAF a valuable resource in all ways. I don't do facebook or other social media and never will. As others have already noted, there are limited hours in the day and I generally want to be painting and gaming, not on social media. The photobucket thing was a major knockback for me, I was just getting into sharing our game reports and painted stuff online.
I do find the forum discussion threads interesting, I read all that are relevant to the periods I game (or might want to game) although I don't often have much to contribute publicly.

[Jabba]

I tend to post here, on TMP, and on Facebook. I find each has it's uses.

Agree with some of the comments about TMP but there as still some knowledgeable people there who have provided useful advice.

The linking to a blog post I am also guilty of, but I try to post at least a few images and a precis and not just a link and the blog was created after prompting from a couple of members here Also when visiting blogs if I leave a comment there I also try to remember to leave one here too.

As for replying, I tend not to comment unless I have something useful to add. However if something really makes me go wow, then a great post, figure etc may be posted. It's also easy to see which topics you have commented on here so keeping the topics updated and replying to comments is easier than on some of the more outdated forums out there.

Hopefully this forum keeps going in the long-term as it is a great source of friendly advice generously given.

Tony.

[Elbows]

I still use forums frequently - though admittedly only a very few, because most don't have the traffic to warrant swinging by.  Facebook has become a much larger part of my hobby - in fact I never used Facebook for it's "normal" use prior.  I have had Facebook for a long time and didn't start actively using it till I realized there were some great hobby groups and it was really easy to follow manufacturers.  It's obviously much easier to like a company's page than visit a dozen forums each day.

I don't "follow" people, including friends and family...so my Facebook page is nothing but hobby companies and my local gaming group.  I run a couple of threads on LAF but barely visit other forums.  I definitely do not visit company forums as most don't have any kind of traffic which generates interesting discussions.

I stick to LAF because the general level of quality and civility towers above other forums I've been on.