Where Did Everyone Go?

[ctres]

Hey Guys, ever since the transition to the new forum I've been a bit out of the loop since I've been distracted with other things outside of airsoft, so I've been mostly absent on the forum for the past few months. I notice that every time I log on here it seems pretty dead though, so I figured I'd ask if anyone knows what is going on? Michigan6mm seems pretty empty as well. Did all of the long time MIA members just move on, or is there another board or something that I'm just not aware of?

Anyway, I'll be at the MIA vs. Ohio game this weekend (on the Ohio side though, I don't own woodland camo and don't have time to scramble any up before Saturday) so I'm excited to get back out on the field again. Looks like there should be a good turnout so maybe everyone has just been lurking like me.

[Gimpalong]

Some of us are still kicking around, but it seems like most everyone has taken the discussion to social media.

[Stinger]

The vast majority of people have moved to Facebook and other similar forms of social media. Forums are slowly becoming outdated.

[Combat Junkies Airsoft]

Tis a said day when these boards become a grave yard of information.

[ctres]

Tis a said day when these boards become a grave yard of information.

I couldn't agree more. I think forums are an excellent way to establish a community as opposed to social media groups. Social media is constantly changing whereas a forum is more fixed, which in my opinion is one of it's strengths. Just because the format is different it doesn't make a forum out of date. The forum doesn't exist to serve the fleeting needs of 14 year olds who only want to buy and sell stuff or ask which gun has the most FPS. It's a place where people can share years of cumulative experience in a format that is easily accessible to people in the future. It promotes community and its rules help weed out people who don't want to contribute or participate respectfully, whereas the same can't really be said for social media.

[Stinger]

...its rules help weed out people who don't want to contribute or participate respectfully, whereas the same can't really be said for social media.

Unfortunately, it seems that the number of such people is also decreasing.

[impulse76]

...its rules help weed out people who don't want to contribute or participate respectfully, whereas the same can't really be said for social media.

Unfortunately, it seems that the number of such people is also decreasing.

A common bias. Really I've had a statistically significant decrease in people being immature as years have gone by.

Anyway, my perception has been that people set in their ways find forums to just be a source of drama, rather than actually informative

[luke213]

I think there has just been allot of change over the last while. I'm not willing to say forums are going away if I thought that I wouldn't have put all the work into getting this new site running But Mia over the years has been up and down but still keeps going. There have been times when regular posters move on to other things in their life etc. Facebook has been getting allot of traffic but ours here is growing since we setup the new site as well. Really I think the commerce section and the inability to sell pushed allot of guys to Facebook and some of them haven't made the move back to the forums yet. Some of them might not but I think over time the forums will come back to life.

Really the key to keeping the forums alive is using them. Posting questions and answers etc because like you I think they do weed out some people with the rules but also organize the information in a way that is a heck of allot easier to keep up with. Also for even hosting I think they are miles ahead of anything Facebook currently has. More than anything forums allow control of the way the interface works and all the other details that Facebook just doesn't let you change.

So yeah for me it's forums, if there is a point in the future where forums as a whole are gone I'll likely lurk places like Facebook but I don't see me participating often it's just too much work to keep up with.

Luke

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[Gimpalong]

It is unfortunate that forums have declined so dramatically over the last several years. I was a member of Airsoft Canada and Arnie's Airsoft long before I was on MiA and it is sad that those communities are a shadow of their former selves.

The moderating staff has had several discussions over the last few months about getting more participation and a lot of ideas have been tossed around. I'm a big proponent of attracting new folks/bringing people back by offering better, or higher quality content, but that requires people to step up and contribute.

Definitely part of what we're seeing is that younger folks are more familiar with social media and go that route as their source of airsoft info, while a lot of the older guys who made use of the forums in the past are getting out of the sport. Speaking for myself, I rarely get out to play these days with job, education stuff and a new baby at home.

[Sunset]

Eh, maybe I'm just oldschool and basically hate facebook's anything... But I've always gone to forums first to find groups/info.

Sorting thought the piles of shit on FB is too much of a pain for me.