if you’d do a synthesis on how the SDMB has changed/evolutioned over the past 20 or 10 years … what would be your thoughts?
Here are my gut-anwers:
we got collectively old! - I still recall 20 or so years ago, there was a lot more “love/dating” advise seeked … now its mostly old-person-stuff (retirement, medical problems,…)
there is a lot less traffic going on (I suppose social media wicked away part of it towards FB/TW/…)
related to the traffic: there is less “widths” in posters … there seemed to be experts for any odd topic around, and people from all walks of life e.g. homeless people
I don’t recall seing an: I am an XYZ - Ask Me Anything post in ages … those were fairly frequent in the earlier days, or is my memory playing tricks on me?
there were more “characters” in the earlier days, some funny, grating or just cynic … posters today seem more streamlined - and those who aren’t - seem to run into bans pretty early
SDMB was way crazier then (fighting jehova witnesses in underwear with a sword comes to mind, … … possibly being a derivative of point 1)
ps: not judging, describing it as I see it
( FWIW: I am a long time low profile lurker with on-off periods over the past 20 or so years)
Pre-Google and Wikipedia SDMB was a fantastic discovery. I remember how exciting it was to see an OP in General Questions with no replies and realizing I knew the answer and could be first to post. When it became easier to find answers to questions on larger, faster, and better organized websites it’s just became a salon for argument and reminiscence. There’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not why I originally joined.
I just checked, and I can’t believe I joined in '05, so 18 years ago. What was different then: I had just lost a boatload of weight, we had bought our house the previous year, and I was glad to have reached 55-1/2 years old so that if I was laid off (a real fear in the newspaper industry) I could fall back on my 401(k) if necessary to avoid defaulting on my mortgage.
I think the OP has it mostly right, about the aging, and the less traffic, and fewer experts in random subjects. But I still get my woodworking project questions answered.
The atmosphere has changed, mostly to keep up with changes in society, and I think that’s mostly a good thing. The changes seem to me to have rubbed off a lot of rough edges, so that either posters mellowed out or they self-selected out one way or another. There are fewer characters, and I’m not complaining about that. I prefer the straightforward to the peculiar/if entertaining, most of the time. Politically, the trump phenomenon has changed things drastically, and not (I think) for the better. There’s too much spume and not enough thoughtful consideration of what other people are saying.
I don’t expect this place to go on forever, I don’t understand how it even exists now when we can’t pay our memberships. But I do treasure it while it’s here.
Exactly. I’ve had questions occur to me, but before posting here, I either Googled the question or looked in Wikipedia and often found the answer. And of course, plenty of people (including me) just provide Google or Wikipedia results.
Cafe Society used to be a lot more vibrant. It used to be, major TV shows would garner 30 - 40 posts per episode and it was pretty much guaranteed that every major movie would get a dedicated thread with some interesting discussion. Now it’s a lot more random. There’s still not a Killers of The Flower Moon thread in CS, for example, so I’ve been going elsewhere to get my thoughts on it.
I have to say I’ve enjoyed what it’s evolved into. I wasn’t here early days. But I’ve read some quite surprising threads. Some so mean a vitriolic I’m glad that doesn’t happen so much. Others sweet and endearing.
I love you all. In all your ages, colors, ilks. Your words make me happy to read everyday. And probably post too much. But still…
That’s a good point; a popular, must-watch show like Lost would have follow-along threads for every episode. I think we had two threads for each Game of Thrones episode; one for those who had read the books and the other for those who had not.
Part of the reason we don’t do this any longer is that few shows are aired or released an episode at a time, so we’re not always at the same point in the program.
I remember the straight dope from the AOL days, which I think that’s part of it. The SD was many of our introduction to a web based forum, and even when the SD moved to the internet, it still had that uniqueness as a established online community and was more mature than many other web based startups. So it was a go to place. Not so anymore as there are many alternatives.
It was also coming around when CompuServe was fading out, which as I understand it was where people did exchange such deeper levels of thought.
Right. It’s not the only factor, but there just aren’t as many “major TV shows” of the sort there used to be, that get broadcast an episode a week as opposed to streaming on demand.
And seasons are shorter. 8-10 episodes is a standard length for most TV seasons - 20 years ago it was closer to 25-30.
If someone pitched a TV show today where the premise was that every season took place over one full day in real time, they’d get laughed out of the room for expecting to get a 24-episode order.
I think one of the big differences is related to points 2 and 4.
Back in the day, people actually would stumble across the SDMB via web searching, following links, from the SD column Chicago Reader page, and so on. So there was always a pretty large contingent of the general public coming and going- some would stay, some would go.
At some point, that influx of new members seems to have slowed down, and dried up. For the past 10 years or more, the membership seems rather static- there aren’t many new posters.
There’s less in the way of interesting new people showing up, and the ones who are here are generally the ones least likely to pick fights.
So now we have good discussions, but they’re awfully one-sided, and somewhat lacking in perspectives IMO. There’s a serious “Progressive = good, everything else = bad” sort of mentality that goes on here, when AFAIK, it used to be more center-left.
All that aside, it seems like our sense of humor has left us as we’ve grown older. I recall there being some absolutely hysterical threads about sex accidents and injuries and funny pooping stories in the 2000-2005 time frame, that wouldn’t even make it off the ground these days.
True, but I still find the SDMB to have an extremely impressive depth and breadth of knowledge compared to other message boards where questions are asked and answered. Also very well thought-out replies.
Heh, I came out of years of lurkerdom in April of 2010 to participate in discussions of the last season of Lost. It’s where my username came from. My kids were babies back then, now my youngest is about to turn 18. I remember being happy when they moved Lost from 8 to 9pm because it ensured my kids would be asleep and Mrs. solost and I could watch in peace. Seems in some ways like very long ago, and in other ways very recent.
(Incidentally, I’m still ‘so lost’ when it comes to the last season of that confounding show, on which I wasted so many hours )
Yes, it sure was fun at first, and joining the SDMB as an official guest member to participate in the Lost episode discussions was a lot of fun, too (that’s my subtle attempt to un-hijack the topic by relating it back to the OP ).
But that last season, oof. Mrs. solost said “it’s pretty clear the writers no longer have any clue where they’re going”, but I said, “no, I have faith that they’re going to wrap it all up nicely, you’ll see!” even as I became increasingly concerned with the Jacob / brother / mom nonsense. At least the one good thing that came out of that season was convincing me to stop lurking and join here.
I think the major change was the end of the column. The column was out in the world and it directed people to this message board. We no longer have that gateway and we don’t have a regular source of new members like we used to.
… possibly being a derivative of point 1)
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