What happened to this place?

[Justler]

Months ago this place used to flourish and had tons of supporters and people hanging out in the fish only forum... what happened?

[jwtrojan44]

I hope it's only a temporary thing, but Ihave to agree. This was the first board I joined, largely due to the volume, and knowledgeable people. The activity seems to have dropped way off, particularly in the FO forum, but even in other forums. There are some "hopping" boards out there,with multiple responses to most questions. Thats not to say the caliber of the responses are better, but a lot of folks are drawn to the busier boards in hopes of getting their questions answered. I like coming here, but when a forum has'nt had a post in 4 days, I tend to look elsewhere. I hope it picks up one of these days. JWT

[Aragorn]

I'm sure it'll pick up soon. I made a couple of suggestions in the moderators forum. We'll see what happens. This too was my first board and I like it here.

[schrocat]

Don't know about you guys but I've been glued to the TV for 60 days.

[saltjunkie]

True there are a few more, other pressing issues going on right now?

[Salty Dog]

That doesn't seem to be hurting the other boards

[jwtrojan44]

You're right Salty Dog, it hasn't. Frankly, as tragic and mesmerizing as the events of the last two mos. have been, things keep moving on, and those same events should not be having a long term impact on the traffic of this or any other board. Just an observation. JWT

[drlowz]

It always slows down during the holidays.

[saltjunkie]

It could also be the lack of customer support that some recieved from us in the not too far distant past. But that should all be behind and of no concern to those that did not purchase anything from shopping@reefland.
Rick

[Mikeman]

I like the community small, why do we want thousands and thousands of ppl here flaming members?

[newreefman1]

Boards go through fluxuations. If you just keep the routine, theyll all come back. I moderated on aqualink for a little while and watched the board go to hell and then come back and thrive again. Its just the cycle of life.

J

[FishKid]

just a little high on nitrates, we need a water change

[MarkS]

I think that there are just too many BB's around. The actual number of unique members between all of the major boards probably is less than 25%. About 2/3 to 3/4 and maybe more members are members of other boards. This could be defined as the "core" members.

The members move between boards depending on the state of the boards. For instance, Reef Central has been growing by leaps and bounds while all of the other boards seem to be getting slower and slower. This can be anything from the general mood of the management of a board ticking people off to seasonal migration. Every year, usually around a major holiday, the posts start to slow on some boards while pick up on others. I suspect that all boards slow down at the same time, but some faster than others. The one's that slow down the slowest start to pick up because the other boards are slowing down faster. Eventually, RC will start to slow down and one other board will start to increase. As this change is noticed, more and more members of RC will slow their posting on RC and start posting on the faster board. In essence, the members are jumping ship. This all creates an endless cycle.

So, basically, there is too much information spread too thinly between too many sources. If one or two boards were to "disappear", there would be a marked increase in posting among the rest of the boards and the seasonal flow would slow or cease.

Clear as mud huh?

JMO,
Mark

[Ironreef]

fwiw I've never seen RC slow down like this ever unless they are having bb probs. I seen aqualink use to be the biggest and one of the main bboards is slow. reefs was slow but is picking up. I've haven't seen this one slow until now.But most ppl go to rc and here some just decided to post at one= time for family and other things.

[jwtrojan44]

I agree that there are too many boards to choose from. I'd be interested to see how many members post on different boards and which ones. RC and SWF.com have consistently heavy traffic and I tend to frequent them more often because of the reasons I stated above. BTW, reeflands FO forum hasn't had a post in 11 days! That could certainly be discouraging for a newcomer. Seasonal fluctuations aside, I don't think there can be much doubt that reefland is slowing down. If it picks up again,great, however if the traffic remains slow, many new folks might just look elsewhere. Hope that's not the case. JWT. Happy Thanksgiving, btw!

[Bamm Bamm]

Yeah, even I am never around anymore..

[Caesar Augustus]

I also have found myself busy as hell

[mastaJ]

I like the fact that RC has the "expert" forums and species forums and whatnot. One thing I hate though is when some people post the same question to all of the boards (I never do, even though I visit most of them) I agree, Reefland has been awfully slow lately and I hope it picks up alittle. BTW, Reefland was my first board ;)

[MarkS]

Originally posted by mastaJ
One thing I hate though is when some people post the same question to all of the boards (I never do, even though I visit most of them)

What's wrong with this? It help to get more responses.

Mark

[mastaJ]

Maybe its just me because I visit alot of the boards.