No wonder web forums are dying

[mtnbkr]

I tried to register at a smaller, topic-specific gun forum and got this message:

Registration denied. We check new registrations against a database of known forum spammers. At this time, we are unable to contact this database to verify your registration. We are sorry for the inconvenience but please do try again later.

I'm not sure I'll bother.  This is not a high volume board, they probably get in a week what a board like TFL gets in an hour.  I doubt they have a significant problem with spammers. 

I tried registering at a trumpet forum several months ago.  My registration has to be approved by an admin.  Nothing.  Attempts to email the admin, based on the system generated email I got, have gone unanswered.

Chris

[K Frame]

I've noticed a significant slowdown in the sites I'm associated with, including TFL. It's becoming almost glacial.

I think Facebook groups has a lot to do with that.

[mtnbkr]

Are Facebook groups that much "better"?  I've not been very active in the few I joined (and eventually left).  They seemed to attract more derp than the forums (at least the reloading group I was in for a while).

Chris

[K Frame]

No, not at all. I think it is more a 'package deal' kind of thing.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[zxcvbob]

The local Freecycle group seems to have died without an announcement or anything.  I sent in a giveaway over a month ago and it hasn't posted (nothing else has posted either)  A note the the moderator about it never received an answer. 

[Ben]

Are Facebook groups that much "better"?  I've not been very active in the few I joined (and eventually left).  They seemed to attract more derp than the forums (at least the reloading group I was in for a while).

Chris

I'm sure facebook is a large part of the drop, including here. I'm not on it, but having seen how "posts" are setup on it, it seems to me it would be difficult to carry on the same types of conversations we have in topics here in any logical structure. Much in the same way viewing Twitter conversations confuses me. The only way I can abide them is via Twitchy, where a dozen or more "conversations" are combined into something similar to a single post on a forum. Maybe they make more sense if you have a Twitter account, but the randomness drives me crazy.

Also on the email thing, I occasionally run into sites that won't accept my gmail address because of their spam filter.


Tangent: An analog is email and texting. Nobody wants to email me anymore, they all want to text. Especially bad with the 30 and under crowd (and I'm sure they say the same about me in the reverse). I don't mind texting that only requires short replies (in fact I prefer it over a phone call), but I hate getting texts that require me to type in long answers. I'm selling one of my dad's rentals for him right now, and the real estate agent, who's probably in her late 40's, constantly texts me questions that require long ass answers. My response is always "check your email", where I answer her using a freaking real keyboard, which is ten times as fast for me as using the dinky phone virtual keyboard and having to correct autocorrect on every other word.


EDIT: For clarity, my tangent is equating email to forums and texts to social media.

[mtnbkr]

Also on the email thing, I occasionally run into sites that won't accept my gmail address because of their spam filter.

I considered that, but I got the "your account is awaiting approval" message and there were no warnings about using Gmail.

Honestly, in today's world, I'm not sure why webmail accounts are treated differently than "traditional" email accounts.  WhoTF uses non-webmail-accounts these days?  I stopped using my ISP-provided email years ago because it was nothing but spam.  Plus, if/when I change ISPs, I don't want to have to tell everyone my email has changed.   

Tangent: An analog is email and texting. Nobody wants to email me anymore, they all want to text. Especially bad with the 30 and under crowd (and I'm sure they say the same about me in the reverse). I don't mind texting that only requires short replies (in fact I prefer it over a phone call), but I hate getting texts that require me to type in long answers.

This drives me up the freaking wall too.  I'm fine with texts for short messages, but if you need to send me something or need a lengthy response, just use email or call.

Chris

[K Frame]

Excellent! I'm driving Chris nuts with my desire to text!

WINNING!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[BlueStarLizzard]

I'm sure facebook is a large part of the drop, including here. I'm not on it, but having seen how "posts" are setup on it, it seems to me it would be difficult to carry on the same types of conversations we have in topics here in any logical structure. Much in the same way viewing Twitter conversations confuses me. The only way I can abide them is via Twitchy, where a dozen or more "conversations" are combined into something similar to a single post on a forum. Maybe they make more sense if you have a Twitter account, but the randomness drives me crazy. 

You can with the 'reply' function, but the longer conversations get unwieldy and FB doesn't seem to be able to load them right.
As far as twitter goes, I still haven't completely figured that out, but the design doesn't seem to be for in depth conversation anyway. It's more just people trading quips. Twitter makes me feel old. I see it as a possible downfall of civilization and to societies ability to communicate in an intelligent fashion.

I also get really annoyed with long texts. Texts are for quick and dirty messages that rarely require response. My step father (who is NOT in the under 30 crowd) seems to be obsessed with trying to plan out our projects with text messages/FB messenger and it drives me up the wall. (With my phone set the way it is, FB messenger works out essentially the same as texting)

[mtnbkr]

Excellent! I'm driving Chris nuts with my desire to text!

WINNING!

Oh, that is independent of the texting.

Chris

[Scout26]

I have talk to text on my phone.  My sister is notorious for sending texts that require long answers.   So I hit the talk-to-text button, and start rambling.

Misspellings and all... 

[gunsmith]

Are Facebook groups that much "better"?  I've not been very active in the few I joined (and eventually left).  They seemed to attract more derp than the forums (at least the reloading group I was in for a while).

Chris

FACECRACK seems to be designed to grind down and do away with free thinking, conservatism and especially gun keeping and bearing

[gunsmith]

i think web forums are definitely dying, most folks use devices like phones now - they don't lend themselves to real in depth conversation.
facebook is part of the problem, I had to get two profiles because my elderly mom would follow me around commenting on my conversations with young alcoholic trans gendered science fiction fans - she would talk about the influence of "satin" and want to talk about how mean my dad was in 1965 
My AA friends can get psycho, i get into epic useless fights - but it used to be better- there used to be good deals on guns, but it got shut down, political activism regarding gun stuff is much better on forums, that's why ( imo ) the radlibs in sillycon valley do their best to fubar the social media platform.

[mtnbkr]

FACECRACK seems to be designed to grind down and do away with free thinking, conservatism and especially gun keeping and bearing

And that has *expletive deleted*ck all to do with what I said.

Chris

[K Frame]

And that has *expletive deleted*ck all to do with what I said.

Chris

What? You're shocked that someone went off topic?

Cute. 

[bedlamite]

And that has *expletive deleted*ck all to do with what I said.

Chris

At least his post doesn't contain duck penis.

[gunsmith]

At least his post doesn't contain duck penis.

see!
I have no idea what that reference is, I missed a lot by not being here.
i only had phone so didn't participate.
We used to have this thing called "thread drift" in the old days.
I would ask a question about this thing called "myspace" and the thread would end up about how dumb it was to even use myspace.
Which, in its day, was a wonderful way to find out about music and date  girls with similar taste in obscure country metal bands.

[lee n. field]

I've noticed a significant slowdown in the sites I'm associated with, including TFL. It's becoming almost glacial.

I think Facebook groups has a lot to do with that.

I don't find Faceplant to be all that useful.    An occasional nugget of information.   It's easier to throw up a picture or video, not so easy to do (or find) an extended review.

A lot of the utility went away when they killed private gun sales.   I moved 3 guns in 2015.  Price it fairly and put it on the local gun buy/sell board, and they sold almost instantly.

[mtnbkr]

This wasn't thread drift, this was walking into a room where the adults were having a conversation and start yammering on about something entirely unrelated.

Unless we were talking about conservative politics the entire time and I was unaware.

Chris

[K Frame]

This wasn't thread drift, this was walking into a room where the adults were having a conversation and start yammering on about something entirely unrelated.

Unless we were talking about conservative politics the entire time and I was unaware.

Chris

You're cranky. Do you need a nuk and a new nappy?

 


And you should know by now that it is ALWAYS about conservative politics.

Even when it isn't.

[Blakenzy]

Internet forums are definitely dying... it's the phones I tell you, the phones!

If it can't be put on teh Fbk or wsap then it won't reach 95% of the interwbz population. As a consequence, no lingering conversations of any depth can be had, no archives are kept, everything is fleeting and "for the moment", in 140 characters or less, snapping a 10 sec image, anything more is too long...

What was I talking about? Nevrmind I have got to get to swiping on mah tinderrrr for a onenight hookup... Whatevaaar!

[KD5NRH]

The local Freecycle group seems to have died without an announcement or anything.  I sent in a giveaway over a month ago and it hasn't posted (nothing else has posted either)  A note the the moderator about it never received an answer. 

I am the mod for the local Freecycle group, and it's gone from 2-3 posts a day to maybe one a quarter.  No new members in over a year, though no unsubscribes in several months.

I suspect a lot of formerly useful email lists just get lost in the noise of all the other junk email.

[KD5NRH]

What was I talking about? Nevrmind I have got to get to swiping on mah tinderrrr for a onenight hookup... Whatevaaar!

SinglesAroundMe works better for that.  You can sort them by range, and check everything on a map to find ones in the most convenient direction.  And when they say they're looking for a NSA hookup, they generally mean it.

[230RN]

Boy am I out of it, like, totally, man.  Had to look up NSA hookup.

I've been noticing a drop off of posts on various sites, too.  I expect the comments about other social media "cutting into" site activity are accurate.

Change is the only constant.

Terry

[gunsmith]

Boy am I out of it, like, totally, man.  Had to look up NSA hookup.

I've been noticing a drop off of posts on various sites, too.  I expect the comments about other social media "cutting into" site activity are accurate.

Change is the only constant.

Terry

Now I hear about these phone swipe things, I've gotten more serious about Christianity and won't be hooking up with anyone - marriage only-
the only possible exception is if Kate Upton hits me in the back of the head with a shovel and drags me to her lair.
I guess I would have to comply.

I fail to see what this thread has to do with national reciprocity.