Do forums have shelf lives?

It's very hard for a newbie to just jump in and contribute.. I DO think that they feel they have stepped into a Clique.. I am going to make an effort from now on to comment on a newbie post.. perhaps we all should. As for those that introduce themselves and then never post or contribute.. it is impossible for us to know why. It could be for a lot of reasons.. all we can do is speculate.
 

QuickSilver said:
It's very hard for a newbie to just jump in and contribute.. I DO think that they feel they have stepped into a Clique.. I am going to make an effort from now on to comment on a newbie post.. perhaps we all should. As for those that introduce themselves and then never post or contribute.. it is impossible for us to know why. It could be for a lot of reasons.. all we can do is speculate.
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Me too. Some newbies have actually apologized for jumping into a thread. And I think some members just like to lurk.
 
One thing I've found helpful is the ability to find out what a post is all about without opening it.

When I point my arrow at the post, a brief synopsis appears. If I'm interested, I open it.

If not, I DON'T open it. I never use the "ignore" feature. If I did, I might miss something that person posted

that interests me.
 
QuickSilver said:
It's very hard for a newbie to just jump in and contribute.. I DO think that they feel they have stepped into a Clique.. I am going to make an effort from now on to comment on a newbie post.. perhaps we all should. As for those that introduce themselves and then never post or contribute.. it is impossible for us to know why. It could be for a lot of reasons.. all we can do is speculate.
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It's more like joining a family....as a step-child hahaha! Speaking for myself, I expect a period of adjustment, but I expect it will be brief.

I agree with what seems to be the general consensus, that if a discussion gets too unpleasant, find or create another one.
 
In my experiences with many message forums over the years, the topics seem to ebb and flow with the seasons, and participant activity level. I kind of feel the quick Social media sites of late, Think FB, Twitter, Instagram and whatever else, have pretty much slowed down participation in general interest forums such as this one. I have seen a few of the forums I have belonged to in the past pretty much curl up and go away over the years.
I had mentioned in another thread here that the big focus is politics, at least in the US. In two weeks the race will be over, then there will be several weeks of speculation of what the new Pres. will do.
I know that come winter, I will be a more active participant here, and hope to have a lot to talk about. Or not. LOL.
 
A king sent two messengers to a city to explore the city and report back to him. The first man came back and said " Sire the inhabitants of the city are wicked, adulterous thieves, drunkards, and boorish people with no scruples or good in them." The second man came back and said " Sire I found such lovely, friendly people quick to lend a hand and generous in nature. Such wonderful people abound in that city." The king then said " Each of you found what your true heart was looking for. Each of you sought out what interested you."
 
I like that thought, Blunder. I think we all came here looking for something different. Did we all find what we were looking for? Maybe, maybe not. I do feel a lot of the success or failure of a forum is based on it base of contributors. Some of us are able to post regularly, some are not
 
When I first joined the forum some months ago I had that newbie thingy going on. I hadn't been here more than a few weeks when I read Lon's thread, "If you have an erection for more than 4 hours who do you call?" (I about fell off my chair when I read that.)

You know, I think that was one of the most funniest/entertaining threads that I've ever read. What I really liked was the way it was handled and the thought that was put into the responses. And the way the thread morphed as it ran it's course. I even made a few newbie posts which I got responses, wow.

I thought to myself, "I'm Home."

It is the members who make it and that's why I like to drop in. You never know what the next thread/post just might be.. :untroubled:
 
When I first joined here I missed a lot of posts because of the games. They just overwhelmed the page when you hit "new posts" and you couldn't find the others. It was a month or two before I got that straightened out. I don't have anything against games at all. Just saying.

I've actually gone back and tried to read many old posts to get a flavor of what things were like here when the forum first started. Surprised to find out not much different contrary to what I'd been told.

Btw, can you sort threads according to date of original post?

Added: True there wasn't much politics back then, but didn't this forum start in 2013, just after a US Pres. election year? Or at the tail end of a ho hum election.
 
One thing I've found helpful is the ability to find out what a post is all about without opening it.
When I point my arrow at the post, a brief synopsis appears. If I'm interested, I open it.

A king sent two messengers to a city to explore the city and report back to him. The first man came back and said " Sire the inhabitants of the city are wicked, adulterous thieves, drunkards, and boorish people with no scruples or good in them." The second man came back and said " Sire I found such lovely, friendly people quick to lend a hand and generous in nature. Such wonderful people abound in that city." The king then said " Each of you found what your true heart was looking for. Each of you sought out what interested you."

Both of you got it exactly, it's about finding your fit on a site...

WhoooooooHooooooooo! You know who really welcomed me big time the first few weeks here? I followed Philly around, it was so much fun finding someone who got my sense of humor and was even wackier than me sometimes. Jeez I miss him...
 
I tend to stick with the "General Discussions" section. I too joined here to find out what other "seniors" are experiencing in retirement. I rarely even look in the "Politics" section. I see enough of that stuff on the news. I'm still new here, so I am trying to find my way around.
 
Forums do indeed have a shelf life and if nothing is done to counteract the downfall the forum falls flat. Many once visited forums have closed and it happens when too many heated arguements are not resolved with a simple agree to disagree. Hurt feelings result and are compounded when another posters again brings up that same subject over and over again posters not interested in that subject seem to get turned off by the forum in general and move on especially if they are in the minority.
 
Ameriscot said:
I think many newbies come here, introduce themselves, then if they click on new posts they are flooded with games and politics topics. Newbies aren't aware they can put a certain area on ignore. All the politics topics right now could scare someone away if they are not interested.

I rarely go to a specific section when I come here. I go to Quick Links Today's posts. New Posts doesn't always show everything I've missed.

The sections I'm most interested in are politics, current events, general discussions, humor, health, fitness, photography, entertainment - books, tv, films, and of course, travel, etc.

I'm on Facebook, used to be on American Expat forums, was on Eons before it went belly up. I've been a moderator as well.

So who is volunteering to set up the poll? :D
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Thanks for the reminder about ignoring certain sections!

This morning I edited out the "Games" and it makes a huge difference for me.
 

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