evolution of a forum...

[Darren Dirt]

the tumbleweeds have got me thinking, and then I saw the following posted on the official Full Tilt Poker forum, wow it's (imo, anyway) full of Universal Truth (when it comes to internet forums, anyway).

I think it's a natural part of a forum's lifecycle that all forums go through.

In the beginning, there's a novelty to the forum and the first members help the admins/mods establish the direction, form, and tone of the forum. They also work to establish their position in the forum.

Once the structure is in place and people settle into their roles, the forum takes on its adolescence. There's lots of growth, things are fresh and topics are discussed for the first time.

Eventually, new users join and try to figure out where everything is and where they might fit in the social structure. Attempts may be made to rush up a post count to fit in with the elders, or some may be wallflowers, casually reading from the sidelines but rarely if ever posting.

In the later stages of forum maturity, the regulars become less regular (and no, this isn't a commercial for laxatives). It seems like the arguments the new users bring up have been had and hashed out before, sometimes many times over (see the "Rigged" thread). When things seem old-hat, the users who were instrumental in forming the forum fall by the wayside and the forum takes on a life/identity of its own.

Will this forum ever be like it was when Rick started it? No. It's grown beyond those small, tight-knit, family days. Does that mean the forum is worse than it was? Not necessarily. There were lots of pointless posts, flamewars, etc. in the beginning as well, but maybe people look back on those days with rose-colored glasses.

If anything, be happy that we have new users still joining, as it at least keeps things fresh, even if we've had the discussions before. As part of a private forum where we're not really open to the outside web, things just kind of stagnate. There's still some good posts, but there's not nearly the traffic that this place gets.

[Thorin]

Well, one of the biggest posters no longer checks this forum from work...  That could have something to do with the reduction in posts.

But also, several forum members are now communicating through Facebook and/or Twitter about the kind of stuff that used to get discussed here.

[Lazybones]

A small % of what I would have posted here now gets fed into Facebook, but I still tend to primary post here. Again it is the busy summer killing posting as well, it will likely pick up as we head into fall and winter.

[Melbosa]

I don't even log into my FB anymore.  I am here daily... but I haven't posted like I used too... busy and all.

I'll try and fix that.

[Darren Dirt]

But also, several forum members are now communicating through Facebook and/or Twitter about the kind of stuff that used to get discussed here.

Traitors!


Seriously, I get that new tools and community sites are better for certain functions, but some of us are happy with things that are simple, that Just Work(tm) ... plus I'm scared of Facebook, too many cool plugins and whatnot that are sucking up the time of many around me.

I like forums because of how "permanent" they are (or, at least, feel) -- and I hope that, at the very least, this will be the place to announce plans for dinner at BPs or seeing an opening night theatrical blockbuster release... feeling kinda isolated lately in that respect, mostly my own fault of course, but now that summer is over, maybe there will be less individual busy-ness and instead a few more group gatherings than so far this year...

[Thorin]

lol, I get more busy when summer's done!  Back into the sports schedules...  Not everyone has Wallet Nibblers eating their money and time, though, so maybe for others it might be different.

You're right that Facebook can very easily take up a whole bunch of your time.  Just have a look at the people playing the farming simulators (as an example) - it takes time every day to maintain and grow your farm.  Same with all the other little games they've included on there.

[Darren Dirt]

You're right that Facebook can very easily take up a whole bunch of your time.  Just have a look at the people playing the farming simulators (as an example) - it takes time every day to maintain and grow your farm.  Same with all the other little games they've included on there.

lol funny you mention that one, my son is hooked on "Mafia Wars", but Dionne is always playing Farmville... now my 8 year old daughter wants a FB account just to play it too. (I recommended against her getting an account, but hey I'm an older-generation curmudgeon so what do I know anymore...)

[Bixby]

Some observations from the sidelines. I am certainly not a regular here or much of a contributor, so take these comments in context. These are things I look for in a forum...

I am a member of about 10 forums, I am active on about 3. I have never engaged in a flame war or a heated discussion, mostly because I tend to avoid those threads anyway. Discussion tends to be transient and unless you keep up with it regularly, you get left behind. Some forums have become information repositories and that creates a long lasting value for what I am looking for. For instance, threads that become a go to resource for boardgames, paintball, poker, beer, events. Some of these have discussions that add information and the first post gets regularly updated with the distilled in formation in the thread. That has the benefit of having a running discussion and also all pertinent information is captured and catalogued in the first post. For instance, a thread on premiere beer may have many people discussing different types of beer and links to the brewery, and the first post gets updated with beer names, types, links, and where they can be found. All of teh discussion is intact and there is a handy reference post.

The forums I run are mostly used for event planning so the Calendar is a very valuable resource. Events such as poker games, boardgame nights, paintball games, charity events, dinner outings, parties, camping trips, etc are placed on the calendar and linked to the thread. The forums have become a valuable planning tool. It is rewarding when other people start to use the tool for that purpose as well. Our forums are only a year and a half old, but they have become very useful in planning gatherings and events. Our forums also, have very little discussion, which is too bad, but they do get used for the above items with great regularity. I guess our membership, just is not that discussion focused.

Anyways, the point of my rambling is that by using forums for event planning and as a valuable concise reference tool, you can evolve from a discussion only format. Just some disjointed thoughts from the sidelines...

[Tonnica]

Due to the fact that there is a small active user base the impact of one or two of the more prolific posters going on hiatus is easily seen and felt. It's not so much a phase as it is a lowering of the usual post frequency causing a trickle-off of interest. A good example is D&D, it's off for now so there's no extra activity to be seen that might be caused by D&D posters checking the board.

The question we as the community members have to ask ourselves is if this is really a problem what can we post about that'll generate some genuine interest?

I'm not on here very often for a few reasons including trying not to visit personal sites from work too much. I've fallen out of the loop. I don't feel I have much to contribute outside of threads about movies and occasionally video games at the moment.

My interests are pretty specific and not good topic starters. Unless that is someone actually wants to argue about the upcoming Bayonetta or discuss The Protomen.