Is forum participation changing?

[FramFramson]

This partly explains why I never understand those Scandi detective series. As an English man I am familiar with reserve, but you Nordic types dial that up to 11, or is it down to -11. Many a time in Wallander there is a complete emotional devastation on screen and the guys just stand around muttering or staring, as though the coffee machine has just broken down. It's a complete mystery to me what's going on inside those heads. 

One of the few times I saw an outbreak of emotion was in Oslo when I was waiting for a tram. A local was at the stop too, checking his watch. After a few minutes he checked the timetable on the stop, checked his watch, tutted and walked off. I checked the timetable too and, shock horror, it was one minute late. Sure enough, it then arrived. He's obviously never been to England, where "on time" is defined as "within 10 minutes of the advertised time". And only about 80% of trains manage that in my area, while the buses seem to run on a whim. 

I don't know whether I should be upset or not that that aspect of Swedish genetics did not survive in my mongrel admixture.

[JamesValentine]

I recommend healthy doses of non-GW/non-Warlord Pulp and SciFi skirmish with some It Came From Beyond The Still and zombies thrown in. That'll get you back on your feet in no time 

well warlord has lost my custom anyway.
I was gonna get the 3 halftracks and 30 grenadier deal on Friday the 22nd as the original end date was advertised (and I confirmed via phone call to be told it ends when they close or later on friday). but now its been changed to 20th when I have no cash.
so they lied about that.
so I gotta cancel my Maus from Blitzkrieg as it'll be useless to me.
so no need to worry about the rivet counters now. 

[grant]

If I'm honest, I'm more of a lurker, unless I see the chance of annoying people with a weak pun. I don't have much to say on stuff most of the time and my threads are usually just about displaying the last thing painted. But I enjoy flitting about looking at what others have said and done.

I stalk cubster.

That’s all. 

[ork56]

well warlord has lost my custom anyway.
I was gonna get the 3 halftracks and 30 grenadier deal on Friday the 22nd as the original end date was advertised (and I confirmed via phone call to be told it ends when they close or later on friday). but now its been changed to 20th when I have no cash.
so they lied about that.
so I gotta cancel my Maus from Blitzkrieg as it'll be useless to me.
so no need to worry about the rivet counters now. 

Not sure if you're the chap, but Warlord offered to keep their offer open for one bloke in the same situation, it may be a bit Late to ask now though?

As to the OP, FB is easier to post pictures to, which is a massive part of the hobby. Esp with forums being held hostage by photobucket etc. But for searching previous queries/threads/how tos etc. Forums win hands down.
It is shocking to me how the likes of frothers has declined, thank god that LAF remains as a varied, well written forum covering (I think) all the major gaming areas. I'm still waiting for Warlord forum to get back online, there seem to be less trollish posts on forums than FB. Maybe it's the general user age? I admit it is much easier to join FB groups than forums which may explain their booming use?

[MagpieJono]

I'm not on Facebook for various reasons including my profession.

I really like the LAF. A veritable soup of different genres of the hobby, always something new and interesting to look at. I doubt you'd get the same anywhere else.

I'll continue to post here. It's a nice way of keeping track of my hobby progress.

[horridperson]

Different itches.  Part of me is most partial to forums where I can write a bit about pictures I'm posting.  Facebook groups are a different kind of useful where I can post up pictures quickly with minimal text and no image reformatting.  My blog is the one sided conversation where I can be as long winded as I wish and be a control freak about layout.  All of them balance in a limited window that takes away from actual hobby time so the time I spend in any is mutable.

[Kommando_J]

I've never found LAF to be 'strict' in the way you describe, threads get locked if things threaten to spiral(as in the case of gangs of rome) in my experience the only consistent 'no-no' ive found is threads involving colonists versus aboriginal australians which tends to get locked fast...

[Lowtardog]

funny that, do you know over 40,000 people in one city alone turned out to protest the date of australia day due to it being the date the british invaded? This is an ongoing and serious issue in Australia and one that is utterly divisive.

For comparison, If I said the english was the best thing to ever happen to scotland and the scottish should be grateful for every injustice heaped upon them by the english or they are just being a bit thin skinned ....I suspect you would go full warface in a heartbeat.

I am certain that Scottish members on the forum will have voted for independence, the law of averages would tend towards that. The forum does however not to develop into a political discussion, for example a thread on Culloden, Bannockburn, Glencoe, or whatever historical events in the British isles led to or involved warfare/conquest/colonisation of some description, Ireland, the British empire and colonisation through Empire is also potentially highly contentious in this vein. North, Central and South American and subjugation and what amounts to genocide in some conquests is equally contentious.

Recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to a ban on these topics and the control of the boards, I wasn`t overly chuffed personally as I game modern conflicts but can live with it.

I appreciate people can feel passionately about a topic, injustices whether historical or contemporary , this is a forum about playing with toy soldiers not a political message board which is the reason it these topics are closed down. For me if it annoys or irritates I don`t bother replying. Life is too short to argue with members from differing countries, continents, political predilections whatever our personal, national background is.

Variety is the spice of life

[Captain Blood]

I appreciate people can feel passionately about a topic, injustices whether historical or contemporary , this is a forum about playing with toy soldiers not a political message board which is the reason it these topics are closed down. For me if it annoys or irritates I don`t bother replying. Life is too short to argue with members from differing countries, continents, political predilections whatever our personal, national background is.

This sums it up. We all have pet injustices we could bang on about, but we don't, because this is a forum about playing with toy soldiers, not politics - however strongly one feels about a particular topic. The 'no politics' rule is there for a good reason. When talking about toy soldiers, it's quite difficult (although not impossible!) to get angry and start flaming other people. As soon as you cross the line into politics or real world issues, the flaming kicks off. And that's not what this forum is about, and not the atmosphere the overwhelming majority of LAF members want. Overwhelmingly and endlessly, people say they like and value LAF precisely because there is (near) zero tolerance of the vitriol, aggression, trolling, macho posturing and generally obnoxious behaviour that occurs in some other forums connected to the wargames hobby.

It seems there are essentially two kinds of posts you can make on LAF and two replies you can make. Beyond that it can be hard work.
You can either post a picture of your latest paint job/game or you can post a 'where can I find...' request.
To which the only approved answers are either 'that looks great'/'you can find it here' or you can keep quiet.

Really?
You can talk about whatever hobby aspect you like here. You can criticise or disagree - provided it's not in a way that's calculated to start a fight or cause offence to others. The only things you can't do is talk about things that are nothing to do with wargaming. Or be rude or offensive towards other members.

For what it's worth, I promise you that moderation here is actually incredibly light. I don't have stats, but my guess is that there is some form of moderator intervention in one post in a thousand, at most? And most of the time that's moving things that have been put in the wrong place, removing duplicate threads etc.

Perhaps it's just that YOUR posts have been subject to rather a lot of moderation? It could be that the things you are posting or how you are putting things are not in line with the forum rules sometimes? Because that's the only time things get moderated - when they break the rules. It's not a question of the moderators being inflexible or uptight. Our job is to apply the rules of the forum. And everyone can see the rules when they sign up. So if there are some rules that people don't like or can't live with, they shouldn't sign up. That's the case for every club, society or community in the world. But it's a bit rich to sign up and then say 'I don't like your rules or how they are enforced'.

The Prof has near superhuman levels of tolerance and a magnificent commitment to treat everyone with a degree of compassion, care and fairness beyond the call of duty - often in the case of people who are not at all fair in their behaviour towards other members. In 11 years, I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who have actually been banned from LAF. So while moderation may feel tight to you, I suspect to 99% of other members, it feels about right. The civilised, courteous, constructive atmosphere of LAF is a big part of what they come here for. And that's only achieved with a degree of moderation.

[cdm]

My experience, aside from a couple obvious serial hyperbole posters, is that this is the most brilliant wargaming forum I have ever come across, and the only one I stuck with. While I don't contribute much as no one is interested in my areas of expertise, I voraciously consume the contents of this forum that are of interest me, and where I have sought input from others, the support has been pure win.

[Sunjester]

The Prof has near superhuman levels of tolerance and a magnificent commitment to treat everyone with a degree of compassion, care and fairness beyond the call of duty - often in the case of people who are not at all fair in their behaviour towards other members. In 11 years, I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who have actually been banned from LAF. So while moderation may feel tight to you, I suspect to 99% of other members, it feels about right. The civilised, courteous, constructive atmosphere of LAF is a big part of what they come here for. And that's only achieved with a degree of moderation.

I completely agree. I have not noticed the moderation in any way limits my participation or enjoyment of this forum. On the other hand, if you want to behave like a complete (insert anatomical description of choice here), TMP is still accepting members.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I think that the moderation on LAF is very good.

Actually, I can only remember one intervention ever... last year, I mistakenly posted a photo of a WW2 German Uniform where a Swastika was visible and Captain Blood asked me to change it - which I did.

[Nord]

Breathe in the love, breathe out the love. 

[Anselm van Helsing]

I have a feeling that fewer people are taking an active part in the forum discussions both here and on TMP.

I have noticed it, particularly on The Miniatures Page, but also here too. I wonder if this is really the case or just an illusion.

I've had this feeling on some other forums (too new here to really notice), and this has led me to do some research on those forums. What I've found is that the number of newly joined people and their activity are a very good indicator of where the forum is going.

So, these are the questions that need to be answered, if you want some objectivity to back up or counter your feeling:
- Is the rate of newly joined people the same it was a year or two ago, or is it lower or higher?
- Is the percentage of newly joined posters the same it was a year or two ago, or is it ower or highter?
- Is the percentage of newly joined active posters (active = x posts per month) equal in relation to their time on the forum?

Usually, all of these indicators move in the same direction.
If none of these indicators show substantial changes or decrease, the forum is as it used to be, or may actually be growing.
If one or all of these indicators show a decrease, you can say forum activity is decreasing.

Over my 15 years on internet fora, I've seen forums blossom, wane, re-blossom and die. It also looks like it's a rather small group on a forum that makes it blossom. If that group grows tired and moves on, the forum will wane. It's extremely rare for a forum to re-blossom without the people of its first blossoming. Then again if the old guard stays, a forum will never fully die, and will be having a social function, even if the activity wanes.

I have also noticed that a lot of manufacturers are using Facebook to show their new launches and product development. It may be that this is the reason behind reducing traffic on the forums.

I think the new generation simply doesn't find forums sexy, and the gamers don't find this kind of forums sexy. Facebook allows a much more instant access, and it allows Likes, which very few forums do. Then again Facebook is full of groups and small manufacturers which generate very very little activity. It's full of dead groups. Forums that establish tend to be more durable. Of course some forums struggle to estabish, remain forever small, and die easily. In general, there are more social platforms, and this naturally leads to a more splintered scene, as people use this or that platform and maybe completely avoid some other platforms. So splintering is true. However, the multitude of social platforms has also helped more people to join the social media. Most tend to group around where the others go, i.e. sexy places, which means some platforms/fora/FB groups are huge whereas many stay small. Then again people tend to frequent many different platforms/fora/groups. I'm member of at least a dozen.



I think LAF is a great place, full of interesting stuff generated by talented people, and very professionally and invisibly moderated. I also like that is has no place for non-miniature, non-wargames, non-hobby discussions. The mission statement is clear, and the moderation is clearly in keeping with that.

When it comes to the style and quality of comments, we all comment what we want, how we want. Most questions of quality tend to be about goals and opinions. It's useless to play a critical miniature-elitist for someone who is starting to build an army purely for gaming, often cheaply. Recognize what the others are doing, ask if it's unclear, and make sure your cheers, suggestions and criticism are fruitful for HIS/HER project, not a celebration of YOUR attitudes. I'm pretty sure the forum guidelines say the same.

[Paratrooper 42]

For comparison, If I said the english was the best thing to ever happen to scotland and the scottish should be grateful for every injustice heaped upon them by the english or they are just being a bit thin skinned ....I suspect you would go full warface in a heartbeat.

As a Scot I find that a wee bit offensive, we're a patriotic race to be sure, but to assume we're going to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation is a bit patronising.  Maybe Australians have got a warped view of Scotland and its history, I know one that certainly has; Mel Gibson, I'm looking at you - FREEDOM!