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Post by thelastresort on Oct 26, 2006 10:39:29 GMT -5
Since this board is on it's last days, I found it curious to take a few minutes to look over some old member posts, especially like when a name comes up on the birthday list and you see that they haven't posted in over a year.
More often than not, some posters that were really active just one day stop participating. I wonder why that happens? No big sendoff, no "falling out" so to speak, they just stop. I've even seen it happen right in the middle of the thread that a person started, they float something, get a few answers, float another question, then ...silence....
Was anyone ever even the least bit curious about this? Or maybe this is common and I just don't know since I don't belong to enough boards?
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Post by hulk007 on Oct 26, 2006 11:09:24 GMT -5
I guess its possible some people just lose interest or they are only going on the message boards to get specific answers to specific questions and once they are answered the person goes away.
Just a thought
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Post by Al Alven on Oct 26, 2006 11:11:33 GMT -5
I'm with Hulk.
Also, I guess some figure that the whole message board thing just isn't for them. They might post for a bit, then get bored with the concept.
Most of us find this to be a great way to communicate, but I also know plenty of people who just can't get into this as a medium.
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Post by hulk007 on Oct 26, 2006 11:14:29 GMT -5
It actually took me a while to get into this whole thing. There was about a span of 6 months between my first and second post. Now I cannot imagine not being a part of ths.
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Post by thelastresort on Oct 26, 2006 11:19:31 GMT -5
yeah, I agree with all of this, but still think it's amazing how someone can go from maybe 10 posts a week, and then just stop.
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Post by FlyinGN on Oct 26, 2006 12:13:57 GMT -5
life changes... Maybe something in their personal life changed making time for this board impossible..
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Post by dolfinmusic on Oct 26, 2006 12:22:38 GMT -5
Or maybe some just run out of things to say
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Post by wildwood4life on Oct 26, 2006 12:26:33 GMT -5
why are we losing this board?
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Post by Al Alven on Oct 26, 2006 13:47:32 GMT -5
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Post by firemansgirl on Oct 26, 2006 14:19:24 GMT -5
birthday list?? there is a birthday list somewhere?
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Post by fuzzyscorpio on Oct 26, 2006 14:43:35 GMT -5
birthday list?? there is a birthday list somewhere? It's the second line in the "info center" section toward the bottom of the main page (below the list of forum subdivisions).
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Post by fuzzyscorpio on Oct 26, 2006 14:49:06 GMT -5
All of the reasons mentioned so far are possible explanations for someone not becoming a regular on a forum/message board/mailing list. I think the most common probably is the one Hulk identified--a lapse of interest, either because it wasn’t that strong to begin with or because it was limited to specific topics that had been exhausted. Let’s face it, you have to be a fairly hard-core Wildwoods nut... or some other kind of nut ... to want to make this conversation a part of your daily life. More broadly, though: An online forum is a virtual community. People withdraw from a forum for the same general reasons they withdraw from real-world communities. One is that they just don’t get what they came for--they’re bored (other members’ posts don’t stimulate them to respond), they repeatedly get what they consider weird, irrelevant, or useless responses to their own posts, or they have too many experiences of posting and getting no response at all. Another is that the level of toxic emissions is too high . Some people really can’t abide bickering, sarcasm, personal attacks, vulgarity, etcetera, especially if it’s difficult to ignore because it keeps erupting in the middle of threads with innocent subject lines that seem to promise the sort of discussion they’re interested in (classic example: Jet’s last post, which briefly renewed my embarrassment about that little tempest, but I’m over it now . That’s why a lot of forum moderators specifically forbid “threadjacking.” If I wanted to try to figure out why a particular member stopped posting, I’d take a look at what was going on in the forum around the time of their last post. All that said, I belong to quite a number of online groups, although I'm strictly a lurker (if I can even find time for that) on most of them. From what I have seen, it seems typical that only a tiny percentage of the membership remains active for long. Forums that enjoy a sustained and lively conversation involving a large number of members are rare. Moderation helps. Sorry if this comes across too much like a lecture. Just my two cents.
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Post by hulk007 on Oct 26, 2006 19:53:45 GMT -5
There are only about 15 of us on this board that are consistant posters. Everyone else seems to disappear then surface again at various times.
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Post by Crippled_Visions on Oct 26, 2006 20:34:20 GMT -5
Another is that the level of toxic emissions is too high . Some people really can’t abide bickering, sarcasm, personal attacks, vulgarity, etcetera, especially if it’s difficult to ignore because it keeps erupting in the middle of threads with innocent subject lines that seem to promise the sort of discussion they’re interested in WAAAAAAAAHHHHH.
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Post by Crippled_Visions on Oct 26, 2006 20:34:51 GMT -5
One poster that I miss is the Church Lady. She was a class act.
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