A dying breed or a growing society

[Dalboy]

Three pen forums I used to belong to have closed their doors, the IAP has shrunk drastically.
Aussie forum, 8 threads since Les posted his cheap blanks on 1st June, Peter will remember when each there were pages of new threads.
The penshop someone post once in a bluemoon.

I occasionally look in the pen turning section of the Aussie forum but mainly post in the Toymaking section. I tend to post my pens here first (when I make them)

 

[fortress]

It'll all be over by Christmas.

 

[silver]

Turning Pen is
increasing in size
on a daily basis

Then make a few smaller ones Johnny. sorry, i will get me coat..

 

[Penpal]

More like a dyeing need and a falling bank balance I know I have been thirty years contributing.

Peter.

 

[wm460]

IAP 2 members viewing it, when I joined it there were hundreds viewing at the times I looked at the forum.

 

[Penpal]

Did you notice the swap draw I received my PITH Swap today.

Peter.

 

[Doug]

Personally I think it's forums that are the dying breed, over the last nine years of partaking on forums when I look round now they aren't a patch on what they used to be, they all seem to have their day & then go into decline which I think has a lot to do with the growth of social media.
That said the membership of my local turning club has diminished by around 20 due to either serious ill health or deaths of older members over the last few years, most of these folks were taught turning at school & took up turning again when they retired. Without some sort of push of turning to the younger generations it's inevitable that turning will diminish, it's good to see organisations like the AWGB have taken this onboard & are trying to promote turning to the masses.

 

[ataylor]

No contradiction here pal, i am stating that there are more sellers now than ever but i will bet you as much as you like that some will disappear as quick as they came when they can't sell due to the diminishing members.


Forums will always serve a specific purpose, and therefore, they'll always be around.

They'll be around for a long time yet because there are people like me who prefer them to other means of communication especially social media.

They are good for discussions that appeal to niche audiences like ourselves, content is soon lost on social media.

Facebook is all about quick consumption, you read and trash it just like you would a newspaper.

Forums are more comparable to an encyclopedia, informations contained in forums stay on the web and get indexed for future use.

 

[Penpal]

Rather concise Andy beaut sentiments.

Peter.