BirraImperial
Pura Vida!
I've notice a worrying trend in which fewer and fewer new threads are made...I don't know if it's because of the new board format or what, but I think the boards are slowly dying...
Is this board dying?
- Thread starter BirraImperial
- Start date
Perfection
The Great Head.
CFC now has to compete against Reddit communities for Civilization. I don't see the forum as no longer being vibrant, but that trend does worry me some.
Timsup2nothin
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2013
- Messages
- 46,737
Isn't this one of those sequential numbered threads? Random Raves, Member Photos, Are We Dead Yet?
It wouldnt hurt if one of the next Civ games would be made as really good one...
Yeah, I've come to revise my opinion of civ5/6 in retrospect. They're not bad games per se, but if you're playing to win, they don't have much replayability past the ~100 hours it takes to master either one, whereas civ4 is an all-time great.
Terxpahseyton
Nobody
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
- 10,759
OT is like a lucky cancer patient. Its death always on the horizon but never getting there.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Could be worse, it could look like Apolyton.....
Lexicus
Deity
I dunno, I don't notice that the level of activity in OT seems to be going down. I mean sometimes it gets quiet but that doesn't usually last longer than a few days.
Could be worse, it could look like Apolyton.....
Yeah, totally different level of dying.
Kozmos
Jew Detective
Yeah, but how does it track historically, like back in 08'-09'?
warpus
In pork I trust
IMO all the American political specific threads are driving people away. You might as well rename "Off-topic" to "American Politics & friends"
Not very appealing to an international audience and those who don't care to discuss politics
Not very appealing to an international audience and those who don't care to discuss politics
Synobun
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2006
- Messages
- 24,583
OT talks about the things with the greatest implications and nuance. For the past few years that's been fairly US-centric. It's not like the membership refuses to talk about other things; Russia and Turkey are big topics here as well.
And as always, be the change you want to see. If you don't want to see political threads you can start making threads that aren't political.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Well I just hung out with some cfcers on short notice so I'd say no
warpus
In pork I trust
I understand that but I do honestly think that a lot of people are just tired of seeing the same thread topics over and over and over. You peek into OT, and every 2nd thread has the word Trump in it.. I'm not surprised that it'd make people think "Ok, they discuss American politics there mainly, and that doesn't interest me, so I'll go elsewhere". I mean, we all know what happens in those threads. It's predictable. It's "liberals" vs "conservatives" and each side has the same usual predictable views on the situation, and the obvious disagreements arise, and so on..
I'm not suggesting a solution but just pointing to a part of the problem, the way I see it. I understand that democracy rules and the topics people want to discuss are the ones created as threads. But if there was an American politics sub-forum I would avoid it completely and stick to off-topic, entertainment, science, sports, humour, and sometimes history.
The main issue really I think is that off-topic attracts a lot of regulars and we've discussed everything already. So "current issue" type threads are popular because it gives us stuff to talk about.
So yeah, I can try to create more threads about cheese flavours and haircut preferences, but again I'm not here to suggest a solution, but rather just pointing out why I think some people might be not so eager to engage in discussion in OT
I'm not suggesting a solution but just pointing to a part of the problem, the way I see it. I understand that democracy rules and the topics people want to discuss are the ones created as threads. But if there was an American politics sub-forum I would avoid it completely and stick to off-topic, entertainment, science, sports, humour, and sometimes history.
The main issue really I think is that off-topic attracts a lot of regulars and we've discussed everything already. So "current issue" type threads are popular because it gives us stuff to talk about.
So yeah, I can try to create more threads about cheese flavours and haircut preferences, but again I'm not here to suggest a solution, but rather just pointing out why I think some people might be not so eager to engage in discussion in OT
On the first forum I ever joined (a tabletop RPG forum) it wasn't unusual for some members (including me) to make 30 posts/day. I had a lot to say there, and that forum didn't even allow politics and religion unless it was in-game fantasy/SF stuff. That forum had some activities that I tried to bring here, but one was shot down because it was considered "elitist." Iron Pen was somewhat more successful, but it's still sporadic because there just aren't enough people here interested in friendly writing competitions. The folks who do take part have done well, I think, since it takes a leap of faith and/or confidence to do competitive storytelling and have it critiqued.
I'd be willing to start a Handmaid's Tale thread in OT rather than in A&E due to the broader scope for discussing politics, religion, and the dreaded "f-word" (feminism)... if it was Red Diamond and strictly moderated. If TrekBBS can have TWO threads dedicated to that (one in the regular TV forum and the other in the forum where the majority of the political and religion-themed topics get discussed), we should be able to manage just one.OT talks about the things with the greatest implications and nuance. For the past few years that's been fairly US-centric. It's not like the membership refuses to talk about other things; Russia and Turkey are big topics here as well.
And as always, be the change you want to see. If you don't want to see political threads you can start making threads that aren't political.
Unless, of course, I'm the only one here who has been actively watching it and has read the novel. If that's the case, I'd just end up talking to myself and what's the point of that?
Gen.Mannerheim
Grand Moff
While CFC isn't dying, it is facing three major problems:
1)The general decline of forums on the internet in the past few years
With the rise of reddit and similar sites, there has been a general decline in the membership and user participation on online forums since 2010. Interest and activity on online forums have across the board gone down by over 2/3rds since their hey-day from 2003-2009.
2)The average shelf-life of internet forums
All internet forums, just like all other social groups, tend to have a shelf life. While the coming and going of members does help a forum continue for longer periods than other social groups, eventually interest starts to wane. The one of the usual culprits is a declining interest in the binding forum topic. The internet is filled with forums which are graveyards of old fandoms. Many on here can probably remember being involved in communities that have died out (personally I loved the Zeus city-builder game and that community, but sadly that started to die about 10 years ago)
The second culprit is that over time forums tend to attract parties that are too aligned in mindset. If everybody agrees on most things, what’s the point of posting comments? Debates on the World History section were what drew me to CFC, and no insult to any of the people still commenting, but the debate has really slowed down over the last few years.
3)Lack of topic diversity
This is largely a result of problem 2, but as mentioned elsewhere there has been a drop in the diversity of topics and in the opinions on those topics on CFC in the last couple of years. Most political debates on this forum tend to turn into a back-patting session for usually liberal-leaning people with the crazies on the other side entering into tit-for-tat arguments. This causes most normal right-leaning or centrist to just avoid commenting. (This isn’t a slam, in other corners of the internet the same thing happens in the other political direction) The best example I remember recently was the Brexit threads, where anyone who even hinted at supporting Brexit or being Eurosceptic was quite literally run out like a mob after Frankenstein’s Monster.
The less political threads that keep dominating the OT, the healthier the forum community will become IMO
1)The general decline of forums on the internet in the past few years
With the rise of reddit and similar sites, there has been a general decline in the membership and user participation on online forums since 2010. Interest and activity on online forums have across the board gone down by over 2/3rds since their hey-day from 2003-2009.
2)The average shelf-life of internet forums
All internet forums, just like all other social groups, tend to have a shelf life. While the coming and going of members does help a forum continue for longer periods than other social groups, eventually interest starts to wane. The one of the usual culprits is a declining interest in the binding forum topic. The internet is filled with forums which are graveyards of old fandoms. Many on here can probably remember being involved in communities that have died out (personally I loved the Zeus city-builder game and that community, but sadly that started to die about 10 years ago)
The second culprit is that over time forums tend to attract parties that are too aligned in mindset. If everybody agrees on most things, what’s the point of posting comments? Debates on the World History section were what drew me to CFC, and no insult to any of the people still commenting, but the debate has really slowed down over the last few years.
3)Lack of topic diversity
This is largely a result of problem 2, but as mentioned elsewhere there has been a drop in the diversity of topics and in the opinions on those topics on CFC in the last couple of years. Most political debates on this forum tend to turn into a back-patting session for usually liberal-leaning people with the crazies on the other side entering into tit-for-tat arguments. This causes most normal right-leaning or centrist to just avoid commenting. (This isn’t a slam, in other corners of the internet the same thing happens in the other political direction) The best example I remember recently was the Brexit threads, where anyone who even hinted at supporting Brexit or being Eurosceptic was quite literally run out like a mob after Frankenstein’s Monster.
The less political threads that keep dominating the OT, the healthier the forum community will become IMO
Tahuti
Writing Deity
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,492
Anonymous should perform DDOS attacks on Reddit then.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Anyone remember CDGroup/Evolution games?
warpus
In pork I trust
I think one issue might be that we have all these subforums that don't see a lot of use. History doesn't see much action for instance. As a result I only check in there once a week or worse. Personally I would be tempted to merge all subforums that are essentially off-topic and don't see a ton of action into one big off-topic forum.. The way things are now we spread out our discussions so thin, so I think a lot of people pretty much forget that the other subforums exist. Or assume that nothing is going to be going on there anyway, so they focus on hanging out in off-topic where most of the action happens. But then off-topic is so packed with American political discussions that I think it ends up making some posters disinterested in sticking around to some sort of a dedicated degree that would spur more discussion
I'd personally split out politics into its own subforum as well, since it's guaranteed to get a lot of action. I can't think of another topic that would warrant its own sub-forum. News/politics? But that's me and I have not considered all sorts of other things the mods and admins know about that we don't.
I'd personally split out politics into its own subforum as well, since it's guaranteed to get a lot of action. I can't think of another topic that would warrant its own sub-forum. News/politics? But that's me and I have not considered all sorts of other things the mods and admins know about that we don't.
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