I got to musing on this subject recently, when I was reminded about a bygone troll predicting imminent doom for the SDMB. Like most such, he was wrong. Overall, in Internet years, the SDMB has had a pretty good run. But will it still be here when I’m 64? I don’t doubt that the technology will change, the people will change, but will the community and the culture trundle on in a recognizable form? Will people still be saying “Hi, Opal!” when I’m cold and in the ground?
Maybe the fundamental question is how dependent the SDMB is on the Chicago Reader – is it a complete, or a provisional dependence?
My take on the whole thing? I don’t know! I’m just hoping the whole show stays afloat until my year’s membership is up.
It will last until lack of interest or the Chicago Reader shuts it down. A that point, we will all go somewhere else to argue, flirt, pick nits, and post pictures of our cats. I think the second scenario is more likely than the first; people come and go all the time here, but the Reader could end all of this on a whim at any time.
If the Reader were to kill the SDMB, someone else would likely pick it up. Quite frankly, I you could make a mint on it, no matter what has been claimed by TPTB.
There may come a time when we’re gone from “here”, but there will always be something. The idea is too strong to just die off. Kind of like when Bloom County became Outland.
Google will start buying the larger message boards soon just for the eyeballs as traffic drivers. If the price is right the Reader will sell us. Bank on it.
That hadn’t occurred to me but it is very plausible. The SDMB doesn’t even crack the Top 100 anymore and is sinking every month. I wonder how low they’ll go.
