Has the SDMB lost critical mass?

The BBQ Pit
301

I share the concern of many that the Board is attracting an insufficient number of new members. I don’t share the view that the way to change this is to mute our attacks on trolls, socks, and cranks.

We need more contributing members. We don’t need “guests” whose first post is a diatribe about everything we’re doing wrong, or a Pit thread about how they were banned in 2001, or shit-stirring about why some ethnic minority smells bad, or an incomprehensible Creationist or 9/11 conspiracy theory diatribe. The odds against a person starting out that way and becoming a valued contributor are long indeed, and I see no reason to roll out the Welcome Wagon for them.

302

Not sure if this was aimed at my post or not. I’m not concerned with who’s a sock or not, I was just looking for the word “Member” under the user name, and heppened to notice at least three that, having paid, haven’t actually posted.

I regard such folk as patron saints of the board, subsidizing the rest of us idiots.

303

Back when we went PTP, and guests were not to have post counts displayed, I started a thread saying we ought to be able to see guests’ post counts. I thought that it might make the place more inviting, allowing us veterans to give low post counters a hearty “Welcome” and/or a bit of leeway in posting style.

Now you can’t tell who just walked in and maybe needs a gentle tap with the clue stick, and who’s been hanging around for 28 days making a pest of themselves.

304

I certainly agree. What we current members need to do is to post, and thus contribute.

Understand, Freddy, I mean no disrespect. (And just for interest’s sake, I used to enjoy the Freddy the Pig books too.) But perhaps what we current members ought to do is ratchet things back a bit. Of course, we should post as often as we can (and looking at my post count, some of us could do more), but I think we need to look at the bigger picture.

If we have a GQ, we should post it. Never mind if it was suitably answered five years ago; it’s still a valid question. Heck, some of the GQs I asked seven years ago when I first came here are no longer available. Why not let them be asked again?

If we have the substance of a GD, let it out there. And be tolerant; for example, telling rabid Christian Fundamentalists that they’re wrong (period) is about as effective as telling rabid athiests that they’re wrong (period). Attack the other point of view with reasons and cites; don’t just attack and sit back smugly because you’ve posted that “the SDMB is athiest/Christian” (as the case may be) and 'nuff said. :rolleyes: If you feel that strongly, defend your position. Fight ignorance. It’s a never-ending battle; such a fight will never end.

As for IMHO, MPSIMS, and such, I think we also ought to revisit some things. I can remember fondly some threads, unavailable now because they’re so old, that made me laugh long and loud, or that made me stop and think. Some of them were games, others were pure silliness, and some were just plain … whoa! But they were fun and interesting, and I see no reason why some Charter Member can’t restart them and see what today’s Dopers could make of them. Yes, of course, mea culpa and all that.

I honestly don’t think the SDMB has reached “critical mass.” A message board is what the members make of it. If we choose to let it wither and die, then it will wither and die. But if we–the collective “we,” not necessarily “newbies” or “99ers” or whatever tag we choose to call ourselves today–make the effort to make the SDMB what it once was, then it will be what it once was.

'Nuff said for now.

305

As a relative n00b, I’ll give some quick impressions.

As a guest, your posts are suspect at best.

As a guest, I was actually banned, because I had no idea that socks were not permitted, I just naturally assumed you could have more than one name**. Tuba **took me back, thankfully.

Pile ons are tough, and especially for n00bs. Part of the reason that they are getting worse is because we only have one or two going at any time. If we had 10 fast and furious pileons going at any time, the hardliners would be spread too thin to cause much damage to new guys.

I like the fact that there is accountability in having the same name all the time, and the ability to look up posts. On the other hand there is definitely times when I won’t post to a thread (there’s a couple going right now that I would have some good information to contribute,) but I won’t post to them, because of the possibility of it coming back to haunt me in real life. Quite a few of my contributions would be mildly interesting, and a couple could potentially cause trainwrecks, but I’m not gonna do it. I have to believe there are many posters out there that have similar situations. This self editing makes the board a little less interesting.

When I was banned for a couple of days, I wandered around, looking at other general boards. I was underwhelmed, to put it mildly. There is something to be said for lack of avatars, and the standards of spelling, grammar, and minimal use of smilies. Content is good.

We’re maturing, and we are starting to get bored and boring. Is this just here, or netwide on MB’s? I dunno.

306

This raises a good point… I wasn’t here for the 2000 election, but I did join up shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Follow that with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, then the 2004 election and you have a lot of debate material. Now it’s all old hat, been done to death.

Maybe, just maybe, if a war would break out in Iran or North Korea we may have more to discuss. Fingers-crossed? I kid, I kid :stuck_out_tongue:

307

I strongly suspect the new administration in 2009 will revive debates. Especially if a Democrat wins as looks likely. If it is HRC, she will have lefties and righties bashing her. Look forward to some less bloody fun she would cause.

Jim

308

Sure you can. It’s simple enough to see the post count and exact join date of guests. All you have to do is click on their name in the thread and then click on their profile. It takes about two seconds.

309

For what it’s worth, here’s another anecdotal reason why I’ve drifted away and post extremely rarely when compared to earlier years. Quoting from Tombstone, that greatest movie of the silver screen:


                     WYATT
          Well, excuse me for askin', Milt,
          But isn't it kinda dead in here?

Joyce points to the faro table in the corner where JOHNNY 
TYLER, an unshaven plug-ugly with a big D.A. Colt .45 carried 
ostentatiously in a shoulder holster, deals to a couple of 
scruffy-looking drifters.

                     JOYCE
          You see that bird at the faro
          Table?  That's Johnny Tyler.  He
          Barged in here one day, said he
          Was takin' over the game, started
          Slappin' customer, wavin' his 
          Gun around, scarin' off all the
          High-class play.  Only trade comes
          In here now's just bummers and
          Drovers, just the dregs.
310

You think bullies have chased off all the high class posters? You want Wyatt Earp in here?

311

I’m a little curious now for an example of a high-class poster that was driven away. Aeschines has lamented that boosters of the paranormal get driven away, but the only examples I can think of were blatantly self-inflicted because they were nuts, paranormality notwithstanding. Peter Morris is still around, as are cosmosdan and Aeschines himself, and I think… what-his-name… the cat, or something.

312

It’s certainly not a perfect analogy, and it unfortunately points the finger at the bartender who wasn’t able to maintain the standards of his establishment. In no way am I implying that the moderators and administrators haven’t managed this place fairly or exercised their authority unjustly. I don’t think we need someone to come in and clean up the riffraff. Rather, it seems to me (whether correctly or not) that there are people here with tens of thousands of posts, who have parked themselves at the figurative faro table, and who wholly-within-the-rules discourage new people from staying.

As for high-class posters, I’m certainly not claiming that I’m one – far from it. I’m just mentioning that I have the subjective perception that good discussion and debate has lessened over time, by virtue of people with contrary opinions finding less hostile places to post. I can’t give you a list of names of people who have left, either, as I don’t know who they are. I just see fewer threads and fewer posts per day.

Of course, there are probably countless reasons why that is so, and I’m no expert as to why participation has slowed. I just have the feeling that the SDMB is slowly becoming more and more of a ghost town. I also realize that I’m not the first to say this, nor the last, and the usual responses are “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” or “If you want to save it, you need to do your part! Post! Tell friends to post!”

I hope that membership and participation rebounds, or at the very least, doesn’t slip away any further.

313

Did you see the data I posted? This at least is not objectively true; the average number of posts per day has been pretty stable since March 2005, and hasn’t declined that much since September 2003.

Now maybe you find the posts or threads less interesting, and that’s fair enough. But most of what people have been complaining about here is highly subjective. It’s virtually impossible to disentangle any real differences in the board from people’s perceptions of it.

As for me, I mostly have always hung out in GQ. I don’t perceive that the forum has declined markedly in any significant way. There are still a lot of good questions being asked, and good answers being given. I wouldn’t maintain an interest in the place if that weren’t the case.

As for GD/MPSIMS/Pit, I can’t say because I don’t spend that much time in those forums. Maybe there is a factor that in a long-established community it’s more difficult to find new things to say.

Maybe we should propose a merger with some neo-Nazi or creationist board. That should liven things up. :wink:

314

I agree with this completely. I think the members who contribute less frequently or don’t like to start threads need to re-think that - everyone has something to contribute to a message board conversation. It’s like going to a party and no one is talking - everyone is just standing around staring at each other, because they think they have nothing interesting to say. I think it’s important that we get rid of the idea that only the intelligentsia have anything worthwhile to contribute to this board (we still need to write decently, though - our only method of communication is written English). I’ve been guilty in the past of presenting this board as something high-falutin’ - I’m re-thinking that now.

315

Fair enough. Do you have metrics on whether the average number of posters per day has declined? (If it’s above in the thread, I apologize for missing it … seven pages is a lot to read at my age, and I’m overdue for my nap.)

It’s entirely possible that I’m seeing a dearth of long-time posters while not recognizing the contributions of newer posters, and lamenting the “fact” that “everyone has moved on.” That happens to everyone in every community at one time or another, I’d think, so there’s no blame to be spread to the SDMB as a whole regarding that.

316

I wasn’t going to post to this thread because I didn’t think anyone would read my post or respond. But what you’ve said is quite interesting, so here goes.

I’ve stopped starting threads because they usually sink like a stone. Now that may very well simply mean I’m not good at coming up with interesting and compelling thread topics – so be it. The longest thread I’ve ever created was the “Sopranos Finale” thread in CS but I think that would have generated multiple responses no matter who started it.

Whatever threads I’ve started, I’ve usually been quite concerned with whether they’re going to generate any interest at all and when they would fall off the front page. Your post made me re-think that and consider just starting a thread(s) (with the intent to be interesting anyway) and seeing what might happen, thereby participating in in attempting to keep the board lively, no matter what the result. I need to just submit (in every meaning of the word) and say que sera, sera.

I do quite frequently feel there is an “intelligentsia” rubicon to be crossed in terms of threads and posts. Occasionally, I’ve submitted posts that seemed to have been ignored, only downthread to see exactly what I’ve said repeated, by those of an “inner circle,” if you will. Whatever I think that means in terms of individual and groups of posters, as well as board dynamics, it does cause me to sometimes say “Why bother.”

This is not a whining submission about being ignored so much as an attempt to participate in a thread discussing what factors would continue to make this Board an interesting and lively one. I can’t speak to whether it was better “back then.” I can only say it is harder for me to find topics here that are thought-provoking, but I think that’s a matter of familiarity; familiarity with the general range of topics, with the attitudes one will run across, and with the inevitable knowledge one will come to have of the types of responses almost any well known individual poster will submit over time.

I also don’t know if encouraging members to post just for the sake of posting (not your suggestion – Spoon’s) would necessarily add very much in the way of more “interest” at the Dope.

317

Yes, see my postnumber 268 in this thread. The rate has not declined substantially over the last few years. Since March of 2005, we have added posts at a rate of about one million every 10 months, or a rate of about 3,300 a day. Between September 2003 and March 2005, the rate was slightly higher, one million every 9 months, or 3,700 a day.

318

lno was after the posters per day, I think. No easy way to get at that information though, at least not through the main interface. Apparently there’s a statistics and logs section where such data might be found, but it looks like it’s only for administrators.

319

What I was getting at was whether we had the same # of posters - which I did glean from the bottom of your linked post.

That was my guess; that while the volume may be the same, we have fewer voices. Say, there’s only 200 people who post on a given day, whereas before we had 500 people, and those 200 people are self-selected over time as those who tend to post more than the average bear.

So just somehow magically rewind things to oh, say, summer of 2001, and this board would be gangbusters. :wink:

320

Wow, how did I complete miss Dead Badger’s post half an hour before mine?