This is one of the livelier boards I have seen - when I was looking for a message board that had not been taken over by trolls - I found message board after message board that was basically doa.
I don't know where people are going unless it's over to Facebook and Twitter. Personally I do not care for Facebook - I find it far too invasive.
I ended up here doing a g-search on the decline of message boards. Should have looked around more b4 registering. Duh, somehow I thought the name was like... just symbolic?? I am mostly interested in science discussions, but did enjoy a thread about best movies on Secular Cafe, one of the sites I visit, so since I've logged in maybe I'll look around a bit.
Will have to read all the replies here before expiating on my own observations about message board decline. I have been thinking and posting about it for many months now, and observed it on all the sites I frequent. One thing I will mention-and apologies if this has been covered-is that I believe part of the problem is the declining costs for starting a new site. It has engendered a lot splits by those unhappy with how certain sites are moderated. I've witnessed this trend increasing over the last year or two. More when I'm up to date.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Glad ya liked it. I coin a lot of my own shorthand, like 'eddress'. Not very in synch with the millennials though, being a pre-boomer, and I sense they rule here so I doubt I'll stick around unless somebody is left here who has anything interesting to say about the rapid decline of boards. Most of the replies I've read itt read like tweets, a trend I see growing in most places.
I can't speak for other forums as this is the only one I'm not partially active on but this forum is at least partially to blame for it's diminishing activity outside of the comic forums. Many very active members were banned permanently for arguing with moderators. Heavy handed moderation is, from where I'm sitting, at least equally responsible as any other factor. Although I'm obviously not privvy to the entire details it just seems that regular members drop off the face of the earth then you'll check their profile and see at the bottom they've been banned permanently with usually a 1 word explanation as to why.
It also doesn't help this board that the vBulletin that it runs on is pretty useless when browsing on a mobile device unlike many more updated forums which can run on mobile forum reader apps such as tapatalk.
It also doesn't help that the mods are having to fire fight against constant spamming without sufficient powers to combat it with more permanent solutions than banning individual accounts.
Then there's the fact that the generation of young people coming through their teens now seem far more interested in their own opinions than those of others and so will spend their time putting out worthless drivel on twitter and facebook thinking that other people give a shit about anything they have to say.
But then again, I'm an old grumpy bastard so what do I know?
Our telescreens have detected criticism of the administration. You have hurt our fragile egos, Jaden. Contrary opinions will not be tolerated. Prepare for imminent ban.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Thanks for the reply Jaden. I was born in Philly and grew up just across the bridge in Jersey. Good place to be from.
It's tempting to blame moderation for a site's demise, and for sure that is often a contributing factor. But at the site where I've spent most of my time since '09-TalkRational-if anything it appears to be a near total LACK of any moderation that has driven many away. Sadly once a board gets a rep for no rules it attracts outlaws and before you know it you have a digital lord of the flies happening.
I believe the decline of MB's is owing more to cultural shifts and social networking than anything else. Doubt it's just a coincidence that it is happening in conjunction with 400 million tweets a day and Facebook going mega-global.
As to vBullitin, Talk Rational and several other sites I frequent use it and all can accept tapatalk. This site must use an earlier version. Ironically, I think the way more people are using mobiles online is a huge contributing factor to the MB decline. Perhaps a breakthrough in the long awaited voice recognition software is the only thing that might save them.
Yeah I'm sure a lack of moderation would result in masses of poor content that can ruin a board.
I'm not from Philly, by the way. Fat Albert is though...I'm from Scotland...I should probably get around to changing my avatar etc...I think I've only changed once in 8 years.
You'll find some science discussion on the boards in the general discussion forum...A few members have more than a passing interest in various fields...Mostly physics.
The place could use with decent contributors, if you have the time. I don't, unfortunately. I used to but I can go spells of weeks or months without posting because I often totally forget the place exists.
The site would need a full-scale revamp. If the main page isn't attracting new audiences, the forums will slowly dwindle, as we've seen.
It seems like the news aggregator still functions on the main site, but many elements are hilariously out of date.
On moderation: One, yeah, Raz would need to be around more. And we'd need almost a full rotation of new mods. The number of mods that aren't active or are barely active is laughable. Mods do help forums. Trolls/spam/ads would overrun this place otherwise. But it's just plain dumb to ask people to do the same modding job for upwards of a decade without regularly infusing them with new help to replace long-gone members.
Case in point: I volunteered to be demoted. I'm not nearly as active as I once was. But it was with the stipulation that new mods be brought on and/or a new comic global be promoted. Neither happened, so our modding abilities are nerfed considerably.
Raz is probably a decent enough guy, and I can't be mad at a site that's been so cool for many years. But the general apathy toward KMC means it's never going back uphill.
Once upon a time, I was going to buy the site from Raz. Seems like a lost cause, at this point.
One thing I was going to do, had I gone through with it, was do income sharing with the moderation staff. A paid moderation staff sometimes makes a happy and active moderation staff.
It seems like Ushgarak is the only global active across all forums on KMC. That's a lot of work, for one person, if he's doing without any pay.
Everything else you mentioned is true though. This site is so out of date it isn't even funny. I hate to say it but everything is going mobile in some form for fashion. People want quick access with ability to generate quick easy message and feedback on a subject. People sitting down on message boards and typing out long responses is probably not how most users care to interact online anymore.
Adding some kind of social media backing would be crucial to KMC surviving along with getting moderation back up to being highly active.
__________________ "Your Lord knows very well what is in your heart. Your soul suffices this day as a reckoner against you. I need no witnesses. You do not listen to your soul, but listen instead to your anger and your rage."
Welp, I'm glad to see this topic has been revived, and thanks to all for the input. WRT using tapatalk, I think that would dramatically enhance your member input, and as I've mentioned earlier I know for a fact it is available on some versions of vBul.
I tend to evaluate most things quantitatively, and the first anomaly I noted on arrival here was the huge gap between the total membership and the number of users logged in compared to guests. Never in my limited experience have I seen such a disparity as exists here.
I think updating your vBul to a version that accepts tapatalk would do wonders for the activity level here. I believe your audience-based on the content of the forums-is far younger than most of the sites an old timer like myself usually visits, and are following the discussions via mobiles. (cont. below. I will say here 1k limit doesn't work for me. I'm used to 3 times that. Just sayin.)
I'm still trying to analyze the increasing decline in MB's, and looking for answers. But for KMC, where you see 500 guests yet only 40-50 logged in, you clearly need to make some server changes. On most sites the ratio is about 4 to 1, guests to users, while here it's more like 10 to 1. The aughts are over and in the teens it's all posting on the move. Time to hit the road, Jack.
While bringing in the mobiles might help a lot at KMC, even the sites that already do so are in rapid decline these days so any suggestions on that would be appreciated. Sorry for being so long winded. Character limits are a big part of why I'll never be a tweeter.
Last edited by Arpie on Sep 30th, 2013 at 06:53 PM
KMC Community Forums
Aug 16th, 2011 05:09 PM
