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Where did everybody go?!

martin-bernstein

Anything Lava!
Used to hang out here 7 or 8 years ago. Haven’t been on this forum in a good long while. Still have reptiles though. Seems like there were a lot more classifieds back in 2010/11/12. Like a lot more! Anybody noticed a drop off in interest for corns in recent years?
 
Many of us are still raising corns, but speaking for myself, I don't ship. My sales are usually wholesale clutches to pet shops or local ads. I just make enough money to pay my rodent bills. It seems that there are few corn breeders with large collections still on the forum. I know of 5 or 6, but there may be more.
 
A few of us are still here.
Unfortunately, FB happened. I don't like it for this kind of thing. It's too easy to lose posts, and it's no where near as good of a resource for finding information.
 
I took a few years break as well. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of discussion anywhere, kind of a bummer!

-Tonya
 
I took a few years break as well. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of discussion anywhere, kind of a bummer!

-Tonya

There are many discussions that can be initiated. I just don't know if the discussions I'd like to see are of interest to the general forum members. I don't know what the actual ratio of forum members is, but I'll throw out a number based upon what I read in the posts. 85% of the members keep one or two corns, usually in a vivarium or tank. 10% keep and breed a small colony of between 5-20 corns. 5% are breeders who keep, breed, and sell corns in colonies of 20 to 100 corns or more. You can guess that most of the 85% don't want to read about rack systems, incubators, egg production, health maintenance, etc. The 5% don't usually reply to vivarium issues, emergency health problems, morph identification, or feeding issues.

If you want to discuss a topic, start a thread and tell us what's on your mind.
We will jump in if we have experience in that topic.
 
There was actually a discussion here about this problem last year or so -> http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144733

I have already accepted the likelihood that sooner rather than later this site will likely go away because of lack of participation by a former membership base.

I really don't have anything to post about cornsnakes much any longer since I retired from the business. I do post some things of general interest (obviously not of interest to most folks, however), but that is the best I can do concerning my own participation.

So the fate of this site will be based on what you all show me that it means to you to keep it around. But to be perfectly honest, I truly believe that the previously active registered members of the 28,490 TOTAL membership here have already voted.

:shrugs:
 
There was actually a discussion here about this problem last year or so -> http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144733

I have already accepted the likelihood that sooner rather than later this site will likely go away because of lack of participation by a former membership base.
:shrugs:

It is extremely difficult to give up a site that has helped many over the years. The members still provide good info on a daily basis, or as needed, but the posts have slowed down drastically. Only you will know when the time has drawn near to shutting the site down. It's like when your youngest child has gone on to college, but your wife still has a Sponge Bob blanket on their bed. Time to face the reality that it's time to move on, unless the child returns and asked why the blanket was removed. The members have to participate in the forum or it's time to move on.
 
I've spent the morning going through some older threads, from when I first joined, back in 2010.
There is so much good information here, I really love having that available!
 
I've spent the morning going through some older threads, from when I first joined, back in 2010.
There is so much good information here, I really love having that available!

I too go back into the archives to read some of the older posts, or to find information about a topic. One thing that struck me was that in the older posts there were obvious friendships that had formed between members. I read posts that mention adult breeders being lent between members, or a member donating a specific morph to another member to assist in a project. I don't see a lot of that today, except for a couple posts from long time members.
 
I too go back into the archives to read some of the older posts, or to find information about a topic. One thing that struck me was that in the older posts there were obvious friendships that had formed between members. I read posts that mention adult breeders being lent between members, or a member donating a specific morph to another member to assist in a project. I don't see a lot of that today, except for a couple posts from long time members.

I agree, it is sad that so much has gone away. I really miss those days.
I don't want this valuable resource to end.
 
Agreed! The information is still quite valuable, so easily searched for. I miss the social aspect. I had friends all across the country (and pond) and this is how we kept in touch, discussed non-corny stuff and the like.

The facebook groups that I've found don't have that robust discussion, and is definitely not as easily searchable. I'm pretty bummed.

I do hope that the site isn't shut down, as the information is still pretty good.

Ugh.

-Tonya
 
This reminds me of when I was a small child. My parents used to take my brothers and myself to a Carvel's ice cream stand on Pulaski Hwy in Baltimore every week or so and this was always quite a treat for us. Well, one evening my parents hauled us into the car and then on out to the local Carvel's where we were shocked to find that it had gone out of business and closed up. We were flabbergasted! How could they DO that when we bought ice cream there all of the time?!? I kept turning my head away from the building and then looking back, hoping that my eyes were just playing tricks on me.

This had a lasting impression on me. It was the first time in my life that a business going under had an impact on me. I just could not believe something like that could happen. It was just as unbelievable to me as it would if the moon had suddenly just grown a purple smiley face on it.

But I did come to understand it as I learned that the universe just did not revolve around me. Sometimes what you want has no influence over reality. It wasn't enough that my family went to that Carvel's every week or two. It was not enough to keep them in business, no matter how much we liked it and wished otherwise. Obviously not so many people as I would have hoped liked Carvel's ice cream as much as my family did. So they just could not stay in business and did what was best for them, not me. And that abandoned building was there for quite a long time, seemingly just taunting me with those childhood memories of all those ice cream cones. For a very long time I always hoped it would come back, but it never did.

Anyway, silly memories, yeah, I know. But like I said, an impression on me. And a lesson. A lesson that the world really doesn't care about what I want.

I certainly do not want this site to go away, neither. Not after all the time and effort I put into it over the past, what, 16 or so years. But if things continue the way they are, I predict that if I do close it down, very few people will even notice, much less care.

So if you all want this site to survive, YOU have to help make the effort for that to happen. Certainly you must have something to talk about? Give other people something to read about and hopefully incentive to respond and maybe talk more about something else.

Seriously, this site isn't going to survive by merely hoping that someone else does all the posting.

So do I need to start talking about politics and guns again? :laugh:
 
I used to spend hours every day on this site, reading, posting, debating and occasionally rubbing someone the wrong way. I loved it! And learned so much here. Almost all my corns came from members I chatted with here.

What I liked most about it was the sort of friendly tribal aspect of it, where some people were really into cinder morphs, some were obsessed with kastanie (is it even called that anymore, or is it buff?), and others like me were into all things lava. And red coat! I left right before tessera hatchlings hit the market. Now I don’t even know what new morphs have been “discovered.”
 
Oh, and that guy Wade was great. Troublemaker, no doubt. Rich, you can attest to that. But funny. Anyone know how he’s doing?
 
I miss the social aspect.

So do I! As kind of an introverted loner, I don't interact much with other humans, in person. Coming here, and chatting with folks about whatever, gave me social interaction with other like-minded people, without having to actually speak with them, lol! Sometimes things would get heated, and the offender(s) would get a couple days off to reflect on their lack of impulse control.

I don't breed snakes any more, but still keep many. Corns are probably still my favorites :)

I do hope the site stays up; at least for awhile. Farcebook is the scourge of our times, and I have no interest in hanging out there.

Rich, do you keep any snakes as pets? I wondered if maybe you had a favorite morph or two that you weren't ready to give up yet. I can't see myself ever giving up snakes completely. I probably won't keep the number that I have now (about 40), but I think I'll end up with a couple corns until I die.

Kathy
 
Rich, do you keep any snakes as pets? I wondered if maybe you had a favorite morph or two that you weren't ready to give up yet. I can't see myself ever giving up snakes completely. I probably won't keep the number that I have now (about 40), but I think I'll end up with a couple corns until I die.

Kathy

No, we didn't keep anything. I think Connie would have liked to have kept her leopard geckos, and I told her that was her decision to make. But in the end she decided to move them on to someone else. We really thought we would have done a whole lot more travelling than we have done since retiring, and figured the reptiles would be a real burden trying to make plans with them needing care while we were gone for weeks at a time.

I really wasn't sure how I would take it when I decided to retire the business, but honestly, it is quite nice not having a bunch of animals dependent on us. Connie has "her" wild lizards running around here, and that seems to satisfy her. Especially the little fence lizards. I caught a baby black racer hanging out near where a couple of baby fence lizards are located, so we hauled the snake out to the forest and sent him on his way. I'm just glad it didn't have a lump in it's belly the size and shape of a baby lizard.

Haven't seen a corn snake around here in a long time. Did find an eastern diamondback out back of the house not too long ago, but beyond the occasional gray rat snake near the bird feeders, and a black racer passing through thinking it is going to snag one of Connie's lizards, not too many snakes to speak of.

It's a lot of fun watching the native wildlife, and not nearly the burden of responsibility associated with keeping them in cages. So that is OK with us.

Heck, just playing hide and seek with the tree frogs who think our trash can is a great place to hide is more fun than normal people would think it would be.
 
So do I! As kind of an introverted loner, I don't interact much with other humans, in person. Coming here, and chatting with folks about whatever, gave me social interaction with other like-minded people, without having to actually speak with them, lol! Sometimes things would get heated, and the offender(s) would get a couple days off to reflect on their lack of impulse control.

Kathy

It's funny but until I started going to the reptile shows I didn't realize how many people kept snakes in your area. Basically, I kept and bred reptiles in my own little world for my son's pet shop. Also my son would drag me along when he was going to look at snakes to buy from a local breeder. We would start off at one house and that person would tell us about a friend who also kept snakes, so we would all drive there. That person would call friends to ask if we could all come over and see their snakes, and before you know it we had a convoy driving all over between Detroit, Romulus, and Mt. Clemens. We developed friendships that have lasted years. Some of our friends were in the military, so we would hold their snakes for them while they were deployed.
 
I've noticed this happening in a lot of forums I used to participate in across the board. When I was in high school and looking for an easy to care for pet I came across this forum and was convinced that corn snakes were one of the best exotic pets to keep and I still feel this is absolutely true. I think they're one of the most beautiful reptiles available in the hobby, even when you just consider the colors in classics, but then you have all the hundreds of crazy morphs too. They're easy-keepers and really require just a small amount of time and effort for maintenance compared to so many other pets.

I also keep a large goldfish aquarium and in the past I have spent a lot of time on a different forum for goldfish where I've noticed a similar drop-off in activity in the last couple years. I do think everyone is right in bringing up the fact that facebook groups and communities are outcompeting the forums, which is a huge bummer. I've tried to participate in a few facebook groups for fish and reptiles but I always end up dissatisfied with them. I much prefer the type of community that can be found on a forum, and this forum is probably my favorite out of all the forums I've been a part of. I have to add that I'm really glad it's still around. When I decided to get another corn after taking a break from keeping reptiles the first thing I did was hop online and log into my account here. I hope it can stick around for a lot longer!
 
OK - I'm new to reptile forums - be it sites like this or some more UK specific ones (Ian's Vivarium, reptileforum uk) and a few on Facebook.

Given the choice - I'd go to boards like this one and the others I mentioned over Facebook. The smaller, quieter ones where I am likely to talk to people who actually know what they are talking about. They've chosen to remain on sites like this rather than the mass free for all known as Facebook.

Yes, Facebook is easier to access, it's available to anyone and everyone. And that's it's main drawback in my eyes. I can type "corn snake" on Facebook like anyone else and join who knows how many groups. Or I can hunt down the non-Facebook resources.

Lack of posts on these sites is an issue and the site owners will be facing the question of if it's still viable to run the site for whatever efforts they have to put in to do so. It's not an easy decision. I run a few blogs - one is a paid for service - I faced the same decision 4 months ago whether to continue paying for it, I did, but to be honest I don't think I will next year unless the people visiting the site show that they want the site. This isn't just a money thing (thougb that'd be nice), but also the fact that I get next to no interaction with the people visiting it.

I've learnt more from these forums than I have from Facebook. I'll just leave it at that.
 
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