Is forum participation changing?

[dampfpanzerwagon]

Is it possible that the Photo Bucket ransom thing has reduced the number of posts and therefore replies?

Tony

[Malebolgia]

Unfollow them all.  Seriously - my "feed" is nothing but stuff I choose to see.  My adblocker blocks most of the advert stuff - but it's still there in the margins.  It's quite palatable when you get it dialed in correctly.

And installing Facebook Purity helps a lot with all the crap Facebook forces down your digital throat. Doesn't work on mobile Chrome as far as I know, but excellent for desktop browsing.

http://www.fbpurity.com/

[Andym]

Is it possible that the Photo Bucket ransom thing has reduced the number of posts and therefore replies?

Tony

I would totally agree with this statement! I’ve noticed a lot of the guys threads that I tend to follow(there’s certain people, no matter what they do, I’ll check it out when I see their name against it. Ancients, sci fi OR Mylittlepony!) And they seem to have gone quiet. I think the Photobucket thing has knocked the wind out of some people’s sails! It also a crying shame(I’ve mentioned it elsewhere) but the library of information we used to have before the Photobucket thing has been severely damaged!

[Kommando_J]

I find this all fascinating discussion, LAF has always been my go-to forum (when I got into things online TMP had already had a very dodgy/bizarre reputation), I find that I am now using facebook more and more but find that while it allows me to interact directly with creators their is also several undesirable elements:

- Lack of anonymity, i'm not ashamed of my hobby but disagreements about sometimes hotly contested subjects can get more dicey when you can get back-tracked and have your inbox filled with hateful PM's.

- I have noticed(and this is not a criticism) that LAF tends to be the older end of the age distribution, while fb tends to be the younger fellows(of which I am technically a part at 26), as a consequence we see alot more of the kind of issues young people are grappling with on FB(I have noticed that young people tend to be more liberal but also intolerant of other viewpoints, something that research has backed up) while the denizens of LAF are more practical/don't seem to care which I prefer.

- On this forum you have a level headed group of experienced mods to calm things down/lock threads, on FB groups their is a tendency towards 'image' over substance so permanent bannings are a risk, although thy don't have the same impact as you generally are only banned from one group at a time.

- The above points can lead to a risk of mob rule the odd time, for example the recent controversy on the gangs of Rome FB page where one user questioned the historic accuracy of female fighters and all the implications therein(to be fair to the guy he asked in a non-emotional/clinical way) and the subsequent shit fest that sprang forth.

I was impressed that the mods didn't go ape at the fellow for asking...was less impressed by the follow up thread (now deleted it seems) where the mods then blanket-called everyone that went against the grain of the argument trolls and proceeded to get very (in my opinion)childish about the whole thing, when a simple no trolls announcement that doesn't encourage the mob would have sufficed.

Personally I will not be making the full switch, I prefer things on here.

[Dr. Zombie]

I would totally agree with this statement! I’ve noticed a lot of the guys threads that I tend to follow(there’s certain people, no matter what they do, I’ll check it out when I see their name against it. Ancients, sci fi OR Mylittlepony!) And they seem to have gone quiet. I think the Photobucket thing has knocked the wind out of some people’s sails! It also a crying shame(I’ve mentioned it elsewhere) but the library of information we used to have before the Photobucket thing has been severely damaged!

Agreed. I know for a fact that my activity has taken a hit with the whole Photobucket debackle. I don't post near as many wip pictures as I used to, because I have not yet found a provider that easily lets me do that via my phone.

[Dr. The Viking]

I have more or less ceased to post.  Mainly because I don't have a private laptop anymore and posting via the mobile outs a hassle.

Facebook and blogger is easy with the mobile so that's where I go.

I do hate Facebook though. It's like screaming out the window trying to get attention briefly.

Blogger is good as an archive of my past and present.

In fact, just writing this on a mobile is clunky.

I miss the laf fellowship though

[Cubs]

- I have noticed(and this is not a criticism) that LAF tends to be the older end of the age distribution, while fb tends to be the younger fellows(of which I am technically a part at 26), as a consequence we see alot more of the kind of issues young people are grappling with on FB(I have noticed that young people tend to be more liberal but also intolerant of other viewpoints, something that research has backed up) while the denizens of LAF are more practical/don't seem to care which I prefer.

It's tough to tackle that point without sounding patronising, which I'm honestly trying not to be. But I think when you get a few grey hairs (a few?!) you realise you've seen the same sort of arguments/passions/issues go round and round a few times (perhaps with a few cosmetic changes) and frankly life's too short to get worked up about things that aren't that important. Maybe not so much wiser, but certainly older with a bit more track record. It can seem cynical to the younger generation and frustratingly pessimistic, but then that's exactly how I felt when I was in my teens and twenties, and now I'm nodding along with the rest of the oldies, saying 'Yup' when I realise I'm saying much the same thing as the oldies back then!

Having said that, I have bucked the trend in that I'm getting more liberal as I get older and less judgemental.

[Kommando_J]

I agree fully, things tend to come round in cycles, ive noticed it even with trends towards specific periods/aesthetics, for example VBCW was all but dead among the majority, then operation: sealion came out and suddenly we have a massive resurgence!

[Daeothar]

I think a lot of the (perceived?) decline of on-line forums can also be atributed to the shorter and shorter attention span of people, in this age of Twitter, bite-sized news snippets and all other shared information. All of these are formatted to be easily digested. On mobile phones.

Since everyone is now used to those small pieces of text, and the TLDR (Too Long, Didn't Read) caption under a written piece (followed up with a one line summary of the text) is becoming more common, the traditional forum platform, which caters to longwinded posts (which I'm no stranger to ), is becoming too slow for a lot of people.

Also, the use of mobile phones for surfing the web is damaging full on participation on forums, because the medium is not suited to the format. in fact, several people have commented that this is the case for them.

So video killed the radio star, and mobiles killed the online forum...

Btw: as proof of this hypothesis, check the 3rd reply in this thread; it's longer than most and already mentioned a lot of the points made again by later posters. Was my long text skipped because of TLDR?

[Plynkes]

You know, I do kind of miss the early days of LAF, when it was small and I felt like I knew everybody and read almost every single post. Nowadays I seem to stick to my regular LAF haunts and can't escape the feeling that I miss a lot of the good stuff because of the sheer volume of it.

So at least if the predicted triumph of Facebook over forums comes around we'll get to have a second childhood in LAF's twilight years in the old people's home, and those days will return. Every cloud, eh? 

It's not just FB either. I find it utterly obnoxious for some reason when a forum might have a private board or thread that only a select group can take part in.

Good job LAF doesn't have any of those, then! 

[stone-cold-lead]

Good job LAF doesn't have any of those, then! 

Don't tell me there's a super secret thread for the LAF Illuminati!? 

[Daeothar]

yeah; one can only be invited when one has 5000 posts or more... 

On a serious note though; I know the forum software from my time as a Moderator on a different forum many years ago, and the option does exist. Usually simply reserved for moderators to discuss forum things in peace... 

[A Lot of Gaul]

Agree 100% with Kommand0_J and Cubs. I have been participating in various online wargaming discussion fora since the early 1990's, beginning with Usenet groups such as rec.games.miniatures.historical. During that time the same kinds of wargaming discussions and debates have tended to appear again and again, including the 'greying/declining/death of the hobby,' often with the very same people taking part!

When I was younger, I enjoyed participating in such lengthy discussions and debates, supporting my views with walls of text and carefully researched evidence. Now as I approach 60, I still frequent a few fora such as LAF, and I still enjoy viewing the results of other peoples' painting skills and answering questions from newer gamers in my selected areas of interest. But I also find that I prefer to spend most of my free time building, painting and playing with my armies of miniatures. It is definitely in the cyclical nature of things - I have 'been there, done that,' and it is time to hand things over to the next generation!

[stone-cold-lead]

yeah; one can only be invited when one has 5000 posts or more... 

On a serious note though; I know the forum software from my time as a Moderator on a different forum many years ago, and the option does exist. Usually simply reserved for moderators to discuss forum things in peace... 

Private threads for mods or playtesting make perfect sense. Private threads for what appears to be for the sake of having a private thread is what seems a bit cliquey for my liking. I suppose that's more likely to happen on forums where a clique exists in the first place though. LAF really doesn't appear to have any kind of group or boys club influencing the site or moderation.

[Lowtardog]

You know, I do kind of miss the early days of LAF, when it was small and I felt like I knew everybody and read almost every single post. Nowadays I seem to stick to my regular LAF haunts and can't escape the feeling that I miss a lot of the good stuff because of the sheer volume of it.

So at least if the predicted triumph of Facebook over forums comes around we'll get to have a second childhood in LAF's twilight years in the old people's home, and those days will return. Every cloud, eh? 



Good job LAF doesn't have any of those, then! 

Totally agree mucka, in some ways a victim of its sustained success a refuge form all the issues already covered. I continue to visit and post where I can but less than I used to mainly for points already raised. I do find as getting older I struggle with technology so the speed of developing apps, devices I see myself as I would have seen my dad back in the day