The online message board decline

Originally posted by Newjak
I got promoted to modship

You're the lone exception. But the bigger issue, sadly, was that I got demoted without a new global coming in. Have you seen the ban requests that go unheeded these days? Yeah.

Originally posted by Oliver North
what we need is some internet equivalent of squatters rights...

👆

Originally posted by Oliver North
I'd imagine that is a result of the comic forums, especially the Respect forum, which I believe is considered among the best on the net.

As far as I can tell, it still is. Probably my best lasting contribution to the forums (seriously, I don't take credit for much because I didn't do anything that others wouldn't have, but that forum exists solely because I campaigned for it very thoroughly to the other mods).

But even that's in jeopardy, because the editing limits on posts make it impossible to fix dead links a lot of times without remaking the threads entirely.

Originally posted by Digi
As far as I can tell, it still is. Probably my best lasting contribution to the forums (seriously, I don't take credit for much because I didn't do anything that others wouldn't have, but that forum exists solely because I campaigned for it very thoroughly to the other mods).

But even that's in jeopardy, because the editing limits on posts make it impossible to fix dead links a lot of times without remaking the threads entirely.

I talked with pr about this not too long ago when they were looking for input on updating the forums. removing editing limits and being able to lock or remove other spam/trolling (seriously, people debating feats in the freaking respect threads...) seemed to be absolutely necessary for it to survive. I mean, I've got my Man-Thing thread which is terribly outdated and would need a complete overhaul, not even for the links, but just to keep it in a readable format (keep feats of type X together, general aesthetic). I've got a list of maybe a dozen characters I'd love to do threads for, but given the time I'd want to put into it to make them good threads, it really isn't worth it. pr was saying similar things (to be fair, so were many other users), though, I don't think anything ever came of it.

big ups though, I never realized that was your baby 😄

Gracias. That and helping to standardize many of the processes for comic tourneys are my two real contributions (though the latter was only relevant for a time, what with tourneys being largely dead and buried these days). Still, it's something.

I actually had other sweeping ideas for the comic forums once upon a time, but I think the repsect forum was the only one that got implemented.

Its sort of unfortunate. afaik the comic forums are the most active on the site, and are really only being held back by the fact Raz isn't around to implement any needed changes. Hell, even a name change... how popular are the movie forums at this point?

(though, I suspect that would cause lots of problems with web addresses and what not)

Originally posted by focus4chumps
lol what ridiculous rubbish.

Do you want me to still purchase it, or something?

Well, that's the website revamp I mentioned. If the "movie" site KMC is would get move past, say 2002, it could draw traffic regularly that would eventually re-infuse the forums. But the forums alone - and the traffic they bring - won't sustain anything. Even a somewhat self-sufficient community like the comic boards.

All in the abstract now, though. Talking about changes is just intellectual masturbation at this point. The options are clear. Enjoy the remainder of KMC as-is, find a new board to frequent, or stop entirely. It's quite obvious that there will be no overhaul.

Originally posted by dadudemon
Do you want me to still purchase it, or something?

do you suspect anyone here believes your fantasies?

Originally posted by Arpie

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.

2 things generated a lot of traffic back in the day...George W Bush and the Iraq war was a massive topic....But the biggest generator of traffic, so far as I remember, was the run up to Star Wars ep 3...Being a movie forum, there was a lot of content being put up here that a lot of people wanted to see. I'd hope that the new films will generate an equally large amount of traffic that will then spill over into the other forums.

The topics need a massive overhaul as well...Too many main forums that have no traffic because nothing is happening on those front.

There seems to have also been some kind of massive error with the foreign films forum.

Either it needs the mods having powers to make those changes or an active admin which we don't have.

Originally posted by focus4chumps
do you suspect anyone here believes your fantasies?

What fantasies? You're being weirdly ambiguous.

Originally posted by jaden101
The topics need a massive overhaul as well...Too many main forums that have no traffic because nothing is happening on those front.

There seems to have also been some kind of massive error with the foreign films forum.

Either it needs the mods having powers to make those changes or an active admin which we don't have.

Originally posted by Digi
All in the abstract now, though. Talking about changes is just intellectual masturbation at this point. The options are clear. Enjoy the remainder of KMC as-is, find a new board to frequent, or stop entirely. It's quite obvious that there will be no overhaul.

Originally posted by jaden101 The topics need a massive overhaul as well...Too many main forums that have no traffic because nothing is happening on those front. [/B]

Even as a newbie I would affirm there are way too many topics here. On another site I suggested they lump more of the forums together so when people look in it doesn't give the appearance of a ghost site with so many forums showing that the last reply was days or weeks ago. It helped some, but as I've said you're up against a growing downturn in MB's in general. So the larger question that remains, is why. 😕

Originally posted by Arpie
So the larger question that remains, is why. 😕

you don't understand why message boards are becoming less popular?

because more and more cool hip websites are being built everyday...now you can make your own.

Originally posted by rudester
because more and more cool hip websites are being built everyday...now you can make your own.

Yup, your own private echo chamber. As I said in my first post here I think that's part of the problem. 🙁

@Ollie: Well, I can see a lot of reasons for the decline, but remain unsure about the primary driving force. It is happening so quickly over the last 2 years it's hard to pin down.

Let me try asking 2 questions for any who read this thread. Are YOU spending less time on boards now than you were a year ago, and if so why?? Also, are you spending more time on social networks??

I like to believe that I'm the most active moderator on this board.

The Movie forum, Movie Versus Forum, Anime Versus, and All Versus Forum are pretty much my only active places; all others are as dead as Heath Ledger.

My job allows me to have a lot of down time while working on the oil field/pipe line and I can just use my iPhone to log onto KMC several times a day to participate and moderate.

It's easy enough to ban spammers, bots, and trolls, but it's very infuriating not being able to ban people who are past two weeks of membership and not seeing them banned, despite ban requests.

Digi is absolutely right about Ushgarak. He's pretty much THE only active global mod and his work load is becoming overwhelming with so much pile up and clutter.

KMC needs a 100% overhaul of forum space, topics, and moderator staff. I try to help out as much as I can, but I'm just a local mod. We desperately could use more help.

I believe that while KMC's traffic is stagnant at at a snail's crawl, it is not truly dead. We just need Raz to come back and either get in gear to shake up the boards, or pass the torch over.

Originally posted by Arpie
So the larger question that remains, is why. 😕

It may be that the number of active users on message boards is stable or increasing but the message boards themselves are just so numerous that the membership is spread thin. Many are for extremely specific topics and have low numbers of dedicated users.

Like I said, I think an increasing number of people are only interested in projecting their own vapid opinions hence the popularity of twitter, blogs, instagram etc. There is no need to engage in discussion like their is on message boards. People chasing fame in the age of the internet celebrity.

Pathetic really.

Originally posted by focus4chumps
do you suspect anyone here believes your fantasies?

I fantasize about large women in labcoats wanting to touch my private places.

I agree with the idea of a name change. This forum really has little to do with the actual killer movies website.

Posting in the relevant thread to not derail another. This is a reply to focus about why purchasing KMC is a fantasy/lie (because we want to improve the place, not let it decline).

Originally posted by dadudemon
Okay...whatever.

So why is it a lie instead of a fantasy?

I would be interested in seeing some accounts given another chance through a probationary period type thing.