Yep, I noticed this in 2018 when I rejoined, the atmosphere was quite toxic and I did my best to point it out. It has gotten better because the principal offenders have either left or have started posting a lot less.

There's also the major gripe I had/have about a certain toxic person who unfortunately has their name in bold. That situation is apparently irreversible and has caused at least one potentially very interesting poster to bail.

But hey, whattayougonnado...

thank you trolls but you give me much more credit than I deserve. I agree that more participation is actually what makes the forum active, which relates both to features like guybrush suggests (such as plug/discord voice chat) and to initiatives like you mention (you do the 6pack thread for instance and YorkeDaddy had some good ideas a while back when he was more active). I doubt that moving to another place would help with that though. We have a forum that's very easy to find, a discord for the voice chat stuff, and the means for all these initiatives and opportunities in our hands. It's mostly just passivity, of which I'm guilty too.

I think there is an aspect to the decline in activity of this forum that's hard and maybe pointless to fight. Forums are outdated so we don't attract many younger people (and we're insular which doesn't help) and the older people often seem to become less active exactly because they're getting older. We're busy, lives change. And I think switching to a medium that attracts a young crowd might defeat the purpose of this place.

I would imagine a lot of involvement dropped when people started posting more from phones. I mean even social media based around phones is based around short posts that probably don't even qualify as paragraphs.

Unless you're a boomer using Facebook mobile posting a novella about your day on your wall

Ye I notice that too in my own case. If I'm busy and quickly check mb on my phone during breakfast I'm less inclined to contribute more than a ****post and a banned spammer

You can get the internet on your phone now?? :yikes:

When you're such a long-winded poster as me, writing on your phone is right out. I have no reason to do so; I could (but I don't) check in while downstairs if something was important, but I'd be just as likely, were a reply to be needed, to leg it up the stairs and bash at my keyboard. I bloody hate writing on my phone, including texts and whatsapps.

When I started this thread it was merely to inform everyone that I had a lifeboat waiting in case the ship went down; it quickly metamorphosed into a "let's sink the ship" or "let's threaten to sink the ship" or even "let's abandon the ship", none of which was my intention. For now, I think we accept our - in some cases metaphorical, in others literal - middle age and settle down to do what we do and not worry too much about the future. Putin will probably sort it all out for us anyway. Let's just enjoy what time we got.

Thanks everyone for your comments and I do agree with all of you to a great extent. Apologies if my post seemed overly negative (this is why I don't banter much, because I'm not very good at bantering!). I actually have mixed emotions about this whole discussion. My point was that there was quite a corrosive atmosphere here for many years - and I think once that problem took root and was allowed to fester for so long, members bolted and we became the much smaller community existing here today.

No he doesn't. I also noticed a positive turn when you became a Mod, Marie. You keep things in line without being a spoilsport, as TH said. And you are honest and fair and an extremely decent person (which I've been the lucky beneficiary of more than a few times in the past).

:beer:

I'm a millennial and I can't stand typing on my phone. Granted, I'm in the tech industry, so I'm accustomed to a keyboard, but I can't fathom how so many of my generation are perfectly comfortable with it. There's not enough haptic feedback to be a true replacement for a keyboard. I actually use Google Messages as my SMS app so that I can use the web version of it on my computer to send texts with a keyboard.

I think the discussion overall we're having here is a productive one and one that we probably should've had properly a while ago, and once again Trolls, I just wanted to extend my appreciation for all the work you've done in getting a replacement set up. Even if we don't use it any time soon (or at all).

You're too nice! You've got nothing to apologize for. Your point is a valid one. Toxicity and spitefulness will drive some new (and old) members away, to some degree. In the early days of the internet (think late '90s), people would communicate crassly and often times vulgarly. There were much fewer rules than there are now. To that extent, we carry on the tradition in some ways here. Other parts of the internet are more strict in their moderation approach, some subreddits even having rules about not being mean to people.

If every member on here was as nice as you, we'd certainly be a more welcoming place, no question about it. But on the other hand, a little antagonism now and then livens this place up and even if emotions get involved, it sometimes results in a more productive or interesting discussion. I guess there's a balance and a trade-off with it, ya know? I guess what I'm saying is that I wouldn't want our moderators to crack down on members being mean to each other - at least not with passing snide remarks you know? If it got to the point where it was sustained and continuous targeting of a member, that would be another story. I think I'm rambling a bit now, so I'll just leave it there.

EDIT: As others have noted, Marie interjecting in threads that are getting heated/personal with "Don't be a dick" and not outright threatening to ban people is probably a good balance, and that's we seem to be at now.

Exactly. I actually left here twice because of the toxic atmosphere, the second time being especially so bad that I even started a goodbye thread to make my point. Anyway, I also think Marie is the big difference. She'll give you some leeway, especially in the political arena, but she doesn't mess with personal attacks like they would have here before her.


So, never leave us, Marie. We really need you :)

*** Googles haptick feedback *** Thanks for that, SGR! :laughing:

And yes, thanks once again to TH for creating the alternative forum (and who knows what that forum might grow into), which took a lot of hard work. No surprise there, though, as TH is one of the most active and industrious posters here - he does so much to keep this place alive!