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Is it just me, or....

deeplist

Entrepreneur
NLC
is FWS slowly dying?

I get on here several times per day and check for new activity and things seem to be slowing down significantly.
 
People come, register, advertise their host here, and when they are out of business they disappear.
 
Yeah. Somehow I still come back though. A lot of forums are dying now. People only seem to care about social networks and porn.
 
Back around 01 and 02, this place was great, and even into 04 and 05. But that's about the time that I noticed things starting to go downhill around here. I actually stopped visiting here entirely for about 4 or 5 years because I got sick of it. I see a lot of the same people get on here once a week, post an ad thread and then disappear. They contribute absolutely nothing to the community besides clutting up the place with ad threads that they never even respond to when folks have questions. It's just getting to be downright boring. I get tired of logging in here and seeing 10 replies from the same person that all say, "I suggest you read the reviews and choose a time tested host."
 
Its all the same people talking. I've noticed this everywhere though.... Forums are a dying breed.... Which is unfortunate, because there's nothing better than having an outlet like a niche forum when you need help.
 
Activity comes and goes here. Used to be a lot more active, but it's been a lot more inactive too.
 
I would blame one or more of the following:

1) A decrease in interest for free webspace.
2) A general decrease in web development entirely.
3) The rise of social networking around 2005 and on.
4) Kids using the computer at younger and younger ages.
5) The obvious increase in stupidity around here in recent years.
6) A general decrease in hardware costs (ie/ less poor moochers)
7) Forum software becomming a thing of the past. (Similar to usenet.)

Just some theories...
 
It does seem as though social networking is overtaking forums as the primary means of communication between people on the internet. Just as you said usenet is essentially dead ... dial up BBS before that ...
 
Yes you're right. Social networking is taking over, but social networking can come and go too. Myspace is dying out... rapidly.

I think if forums adapt better they can hang on better. Some forums I notice still have loads of activity.
 
After the overture of social networks, people prefer them to any forums as the answers for most of the questions are sought there. Social networking sites are more than just social networking nowadays.
 
BBS's went, forums are just specific now, even social networking will hit the pavement when the 'next big thing' comes out.

Stop being such a grump Chuck :D it's called, oh what was it again, getting old you know...
 
BBS's went, forums are just specific now, even social networking will hit the pavement when the 'next big thing' comes out.

But what IS the Next Big Thing? I'm only a third rate prophet, I correctly planned for the "staring at each other in a fishbowl" effect, but missed the rise of "let's use our real names on Facebook so we can create the biggest privacy fallout in history!"

Weak prediction - free webspace might come back if the "viewing an illegal copy" bill floating around US Congress comes back. In a nutshell, viewing (!!) a non-authorized copy of something becomes a crime. So, all the big social services run on people posting their non-authorized copies of stuff. So therefore, keeping it simple for now, people would return to wanting their own web space to host the only authorized copy of something they made, and everyone else would point to it.

Then getting even fancier, we'd need a certification service to certify someone's copy as the only authorized copy of something. (Ignoring squatters etc.)
 
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Activity comes and goes here. Used to be a lot more active, but it's been a lot more inactive too.

With that being said, its not only FWS - the activity chaos is a significant issue with many other forums as well

what i feel about FWS at the moment:

I joined recently and took part in several interesting discussions, but i got mad when i have noticed that my replies are not being published until a mod approves them... and this is something which inspired me to look for alternate forums with instant approval - i took a break for around a week and now when i am back, i am quite surprised to see that i am not being restricted anymore :)
 
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