Question... @ Edit Red Writing Community

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ThePenguin
Peter Budvietas
New Zealand

Is it just me, or is it so?

A year or so ago, this forum was always busy - new posts, lots of replies, and so on. There were always questions on just about everything, mostly to do with writing (and related).

When I looked at "My Ink", there were generally 15 to 20 people on line from my reader list. I haven't shrunk my reader list in ages, so why are there only 6 at the moment? That's HIGH of late.

So, where is everybody?

DrCarter2001 Online E-mail this user Add to Readers 03/05/2008	I think either a) everyone is out campaigning for their favorite candidate or b) everyone has turned off his or her internet to avoid the onslaught of online campaigning or c) everyone is glued to his or her TV set because Lost, House, and Desperate Housewives have new episodes. I actually have ZERO readers online. No wonder nobody's commenting on my work. Maybe there's an online writer's party somewhere else and we weren't invited.

Arley E-mail this user Add to Readers 03/05/2008	Hey Down Under, I've been wondering where the Mountain Man went. Isn't he overdue with some pearls of wisdom?

Yedwelsh Online E-mail this user Add to Readers 03/05/2008	dealing with chicken pox with my kids at the moment. I drop in to read posts, but don't have time or energy to write or post.

chrispavey E-mail this user Add to Readers 03/05/2008	Hey Peter, I myself haven't been on here for ages. There is a lot of competition out there for ones time on the internet. I was finding this site lacked much interest in fantasy/science ficition/historical fiction which is what I mostly write and love. I also found the change in format to mostly white highly irritating and cold. To me, the community was losing its strengths which was warmth, closeness, and a very concentrated look on writing as a pursuit. It was giving into the the advertising dollars and becoming way to much of a clique. As to now, I can not comment. That was probably at least 6 mths ago.. so I've stepped back in to check it out and see what's going on... and from this post, I'm thinking not much?!?

ThePenguin Online E-mail this user Add to Readers 04/05/2008	Hi,Chris! Guess the "oldies" have outgrown the site!

Suzanne E-mail this user Add to Readers 05/05/2008	Funny, I've had the opposite feeling. The number of active users might be down, but the level of conversation on the threads has gone up quite a few notches. I used to be frustrated at the Forum; although there were lots of posts and a lot of back-and-forth activity (including arguments as well as chatty conversations), very few of them actually had to do with writing. Moreover, when there was a meaty writing thread going, social cliques often hijacked them. I have nothing against social or chatty threads, and enjoy participating in them, but they used to be the rule, not the exception. It's different now. The Form threads are usually on the topic of writing and are not hijacked as often, and the fun, social threads that appear are clearly differentiated from the serious questions.

ThePenguin Online E-mail this user Add to Readers 05/05/2008	Hi, Suzanne - we can agree to differ! Back a couple of years ago, the forum was almost like a coffee house gathering, and it was almost more fun that writing. It might be selective memory, but even the most social threads tended to always come back to writing. I had about 150 people on my reader list (yes, I culled it, due to people who seemed to disappear, like Chris Pavey, who popped into this thread), and there was seldom a day when at least 100 of those people would participate in the Forum. Few threads would stay of the first page for more than a couple of days - we've a week's worth on the current first page; that's since the last posting to those threads. You're right - the number of active participants in the forum seems to have dropped considerably, even though the membership (based on new writings, not any count) seems to have grown. And the number of Forum postings by people who used to be very prolific has reduced. Maybe the reduction in hijacking is more due to lack of participants than cliques taking over?

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