Have forums become irrelavent
There were times when this place used to teem with discussions. So many new threads. Heated debates. Now forums seem to be totally deserted. The fact that someone with 5 posts is a forum hero speaks volumes of the sad state of affairs. Back in those time people with 100 posts could not make it to heroes list.
I wonder if this is due to Facebook, the mother of all forums. Has all discussions and debates moved to facebook leaving no space for individual website forums?
But locked threads are just copy paste of posts. Not any interesting discussions.
Those were the good times of IB forum. I used to be there throughout the day, Ranjith, Pankti, Pari, Laxmi and a lot of others too, spent a good time of their useful day here only.
I think a lot has to be blamed to IB as well. Those were the days when we used to have Happy Hours, people used to start pouring in around the submission deadline, discussions used to happen, and a lot of things.
Those were the days when we used to fight over who will climb the forum heroes top, with Ranjith always capturing the top spot.
You don't think people have left here and instead spending time on Facebook?
count me in :P
#makeindibloggergreatagain
What should I say?
Say something about your book.
But the same used to happen in tech forums I used to be in long before I started what I am doing. Ultimately, it dies. People move on. They get busier or reach to a point they rather be a lurker than a participant. Unless there's something to bring back fresh crowd in the forum, forums eventually die. If one doesn't bring changes/improvements within a timeframe, everything collapses- like the older Nokia company who refused to switch over from Symbian and by the time they decided with windows which was med is already too late.
Also, Facebook groups seem convenient because its one sign in fits all, but its very disorganized and doesn't give the ability to people to search for solutions in the forums (though to be fair, a lot of people have become lazier now). Unfortunately, unlike the previous generation who started blogging only because they had a skillset to share in the form of writing/making content- now most bloggers start just any blog for SEO, getting things, participating in contents, edgy content to rely on click bait. Most blogs recycle and rewrite content.
Most newer bloggers now are either trashier or just plain toxic content makers. I've seen this trend as per people asking for reviews. Before, blogs which requested reviews had something to work on. Now? Most don't make sense. Most are recycled content with obviously paid content garbage. Who will even bother to read advertorials? We need quality in abundance. Forums will grow naturally. Some quality writers even quit blogging. Which is sad and discouraging to hear.
I really wonder if blogging is really the in-thing anymore. Even a couple of years ago when I used to read more blogs than now, there wasn't much content that I admired, it was just that I was a compulsive blog reader/writer. I've grown out of that phase, partly because most of the bloggers I used to admire, no longer blog or their blogs are not the places for most of their content. So a forum for bloggers is difficult to thrive.
I can see posts are still there on Indivine. But chat and forums have become dull. Chats and forums are what provide close community feeling. Actually Indiblogger is doing more to foster such feelings by bringing folks together to one location giving air fare and all but somehow all that don't seem to reflect on forums and chat.
I am also back here after a long gap... I almost quit blogging. but now slowly slowly started again. agree about this forum hero posts thing.. the day I joined back, I was feeling the same thing, no regular discussions, no hulchul !!!! even after the declaration of contest results, not much ppl bothered to speak anything....all old bloggers are almost gone (at least it seems so). ab to jyada contest bhi conduct nahin hote.
I rememeber the british airways contest, whem I wrote three stories in just one week and two of them made it in the list. each story was different and guess what the last story was written, finished up at the last moment and it was the best one!!! because the theme was soo good that it forced the bloggers to write somehting unique...
and then Borosil contest, when a hell lot of heated arguments took place and still we were together ... now all those things appeares like a story from old times. maybe I am becoming nostalgic !!!!!
Wonder why all the old bloggers left. And why new ones don't come so much to forums.
I have some really sweet memories thanks to IB .. in 2015 when my blog got selected as the top story blog (pan india ) then a blogger friend from IB gave me this news through indimail... yeah I wasn't aware till then ...
Forums are never dead... they may appear to have less participation at times. Sometimes what we perceive as intense participation is nothing but irrelevant banter amongst friends and so there is no point being nostalgic about it. So long as there are bloggers (and the tribe is increasing) there will be many who will want assistance or have questions that seem difficult. So long as there are questions and there are people to answer them coherently, forums will remain meaningful.
The forums here are not just tech help desks for people to ask questions and find answers. It was more a community with a place for heated discussions on various topics related to blogging. With so many interesting threads, the discussions would provide interesting material to lurkers giving them a glimpse of the bloggers and the spirit of blogging. The general lively mood is what I am talking about. Not some place where you can post how do I activate comments on blogger and get an anwer to it. A forum is much more than that.
Yes, of course... the 'lively' mood is essential, no doubt. Discussions that let you access the inner layers of any topic matter. True.
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