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Author Topic: Is the forum dying?  (Read 11140 times)

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Offline Taffeta

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #15 on: December 18, 2018, 03:32:45 AM »
I hate social media. I hate sitting on a train and seeing people unable to look up from their phone for ten seconds, or being pulled into commenting on really stupid pictures or whatever because they have to keep up with whatever. I have it but only to keep in touch with people I can't see often in real life. The few pony friends on there are those I've known for years in real life, but I only really use it to message people, I rarely post otherwise. I couldn't imagine doing transactions through it. Facebook doesn't do a great job of protecting its users and their information and there's very little protection. I don't want to post about ponies with my real name out there and my location and whatever else.

Forums probably are somewhat outdated, like mailing lists were when the forums came about. But that doesn't mean they're a bad thing or necessarily dying.
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Offline Ringlets

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #16 on: December 18, 2018, 06:06:44 AM »
What everyone else said :nod:  the Arena won't die, it's usually slower around this time of year anwyays, but also I agree with what others have said about peeps spending more time on social media in a number of groups  :awake:
Personally if I want to talk about ponies or buy ponies, I much prefer the Arena. Social media is a good way to keep up with friends/family  but for something specific like this it's nowhere near as good as a forum  :lovey: Plus I don't like the idea of doing transactions via facebook, or the fact that I;ve seen banned dodgy members from the forums are active on there.

I can't speak for the other mods, but I've been through a rough few years and have had less time in general to join in more fun stuff... there have been a lot of life changes that messed me up but I'm hoping to be around more again soon :)   
The thing with photobucket really messed up my ability to share pics here for a few years as well. That's sorted now ...so ..I'd like to get back into pic spamming :P    ;)  :happy:
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Offline bladed

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #17 on: December 18, 2018, 07:45:27 AM »
The thing with photobucket really messed up my ability to share pics here for a few years as well. That's sorted now ...so ..I'd like to get back into pic spamming :P    ;)  :happy:
i loved reading your picfics! :P
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Offline mlp4me

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #18 on: December 18, 2018, 09:23:28 AM »
I'm still on here Mon-Fri, I don't post nearly as much as I used to.  I have good reason, computer blew up and we went into the dark ages with no internet...

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Offline aquamarinemolly

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #19 on: December 18, 2018, 09:49:35 AM »
I'm in some of the fb groups and I have an ig account which is fun, but NOTHING could ever replace the 90's forum magic of the Arena :pillow: The swaps rock my world, plus the unparalleled Nirvana content; this community is a wealth of knowledge. The Arena quality is more enjoyable to me than the "quantity" of users on other social platforms.
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Offline Leave a Whisper

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #20 on: December 18, 2018, 09:53:37 AM »
Seems fine to me?  But I don't frequent FailBook, or any other social media platforms.  Not interested in being the product.

Neither do I. Nor Twitter or anything else like it.
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Offline LadyMoondancer

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #21 on: December 18, 2018, 11:55:07 AM »
A couple of years ago this place was really busy, everything from the corral to sales,

Sales on the Arena have slowed down significantly for me too, except in cases where I'm selling a HTF mail order or a Mountain Boy or something.  I would guess the main cause is that most people who are on here have been collecting for years, and already have most of the easier-to-find ponies they want in their collection.

eBay is where I get the most buyers, followed by Facebook.
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Offline Prince_Sunbeam

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #22 on: December 18, 2018, 05:08:43 PM »
What has contributed to me personally using the Arena less both for conversational posting and buying/selling is how annoying it has become to post photos vs on social media.

I know its not too complicated to find free image hosting and use the img links but its certainly more of a hassle than quickly uploading images to Instagram right off of my cell phone camera roll. So for example Brag posts- I pretty much exclusively post that content over on Instagram.

Lots of sellers dont bother posting direct image links any more either, and as a buyer I want to see at least one photo before I have to contact asking for more so that also draws me over to Facebook for the sales groups.

I love the Arena and would certainly prefer it stay the predominant force in the MLP community, but the inconvenience factor of image posting in comparison to how convenient social media is has definitely affected my usage.

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Offline Ringlets

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #23 on: December 19, 2018, 04:17:24 AM »
The thing with photobucket really messed up my ability to share pics here for a few years as well. That's sorted now ...so ..I'd like to get back into pic spamming :P    ;)  :happy:
i loved reading your picfics! :P

Aww wow really?!!! thank you so much!!!! you made my day :hug:  :lovey:  :hug:  :lovey:  :hug:
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Offline Taffeta

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #24 on: December 21, 2018, 01:39:17 PM »
What has contributed to me personally using the Arena less both for conversational posting and buying/selling is how annoying it has become to post photos vs on social media.


I can't kind of relate to this because I am a pony dinosaur. By which I mean I come from the age of the online community in which posting a wantlist on the trading post involved emailing a list to Jenn and waiting for her to post it or by joining a mailing list. Pictures were rare, and when they existed they were either photos you had to take, get developed, scan in and then attach (via dialup) or use ad-saturated free hosting sites...or you had to put the pony in the scanner and create deformed terrified pony prisoner images to send to people via the same method.

Given that, I find that the fact photobucket has died and thus it's harder to add pictures to the forum kind of irrelevant. I feel like convenience has taken over rather than the sense of community, because social media is never a community - it's what Baby Sugarberry said, with users as a 'product' constantly targeted by ad spam and with very little protection.  Inconvenience is not having to find a different place to store and then link images. Inconvenience is having to wait several days and pay for a hard copy image of a pony which you then have to scan in and find a place to send without using all your data and thus adding to your bill...meaning it was probably only possible to upload at weekends anyway. It's all about perspective. I have webspace but on this PC I often upload pics on a pic hosting service. It takes all of ten seconds.

In addition to what was said about scammers operating in those places but not on here, I also remember how much we policed the community by watching and identifying scammers, sharing information and how much work that took. Now it's way too easy for a known scammer to slip into a social media site and scam someone with absolutely no protection. Plus, you just gave some personal information to a scammer, despite the fact that the community (again, that word, community) has spent ages tracking down information to protect people from that kind of incursion.

I wouldn't sell on social media. If that means I end up taking my pony doubles to a carboot sale then I'll do that, I guess. But I would rather sell them here. If at a push I have to, they'll go to ebay, because even though current ebay is horrendous, it's still preferable to social media.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2018, 01:41:13 PM by Taffeta »
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Offline Noasar

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #25 on: December 21, 2018, 01:55:34 PM »
I think things have been a bit slower because of a Christmas. Are there less posts per day than there used to be? Probably yes. But I prefer the Arena to social media when it comes to discussions, sharing brags, swaps etc. Instagram and a Facebook just seem so impersonal compared to here which is our spiritual pony ‘home’.

Offline LadyMoondancer

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #26 on: December 21, 2018, 03:51:04 PM »
Communities can absolutely arise on social media and offer a different experience than on a forum.  Not inherently better or worse, just different.

But also, not everyone is looking for "a community".  Some people are just looking for MLPs to buy because they collect solo.  My personal feeling is that a sale is a sale.  If people buy from me here, on Facebook, or on eBay I am equally happy to be sending ponies into their life.  :)
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Offline nhal039

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #27 on: December 21, 2018, 08:31:47 PM »
I'm in some of the fb groups and I have an ig account which is fun, but NOTHING could ever replace the 90's forum magic of the Arena :pillow: The swaps rock my world, plus the unparalleled Nirvana content; this community is a wealth of knowledge. The Arena quality is more enjoyable to me than the "quantity" of users on other social platforms.

Totally agree. I actually left a whole bunch of pony Facebook pages cause they are to fast past and information just doesn't stick around due to the Pace. Facebook pages actually became a stress on my life but here will always be fun :)

Offline Loreofyore

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #28 on: December 21, 2018, 11:55:45 PM »
I'm in some of the fb groups and I have an ig account which is fun, but NOTHING could ever replace the 90's forum magic of the Arena :pillow: The swaps rock my world, plus the unparalleled Nirvana content; this community is a wealth of knowledge. The Arena quality is more enjoyable to me than the "quantity" of users on other social platforms.

Totally agree. I actually left a whole bunch of pony Facebook pages cause they are to fast past and information just doesn't stick around due to the Pace. Facebook pages actually became a stress on my life but here will always be fun :)
Awk... Facebook has made it's self stressful on purpose sometimes... I won't digress down a human rights politics tangent here... but this is just an FYI Y'all in case they toy with your hearts in the future:
https://slate.com/technology/2014/06/facebook-unethical-experiment-it-made-news-feeds-happier-or-sadder-to-manipulate-peoples-emotions.html
Me, I feel the arena is a safer space most likely.  :grouphug:

Offline achab1984

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Re: Is the forum dying?
« Reply #29 on: December 22, 2018, 03:31:22 PM »
I have also though this site has slowed down! But then I come on this site each day! Or at lest I try to come on each day.

I used to post a lot and share lots of pictures on here! But its so hard and take a long time to get pictures on this site anymore. So I have stopped! I don't buy as much on here either. I do all of my buying on ebay anymore.

I also have a lot more luck selling on pony facebook sites! Have not had any luck on here anymore. I do have a sales post that I will bump time to time if I have ponies on ebay! But that also is not the best place for me to sell anymore either! The fees are getting so high!

I don't want this site to ever leave! That would be a sad day! 

 

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