Come back, people!

Originally Posted by Rich Z

Hmm, I forgot about that myself. I sometimes will shut down viewing of thread content on my forum sites in an effort to shake loose Chinese web spiders that seem to latch on and never let go unless you shake them off. And I just forgot to change that back here.

In any event, it has not been changed back, so non-registered viewers can now view the content of threads. Other functions (such as viewing images and searching) are still disabled, since that imposes an unnecessary burden on the server that I feel I can do without.

That SHOULD read "it has NOW been changed back"....

I got what you meant.

Originally Posted by Dragonling

I'm extremely pissed that the "other" forum even existed considering everything that was posted there that WASN'T posted here is now gone forever. Ugh!

The above quote kind of has been coming to mind lately, I guess what you are telling me is that you will be pissed at me too if I have to let this site go because everyone abandoned it. Quite frankly, that other site most certainly faced what this site is facing now, which is simply a lack of participation from the membership. So they were expected to just keep the site running, regardless of the fact that people had just stopped using it? What were their alternatives?

And in like vein, what do you all expect from me considering the projected future of this site? Take a look at the stats page I will attach below showing the statistics for posts made per month from January, 2010 thru January, 2017. The PEAK for this site was actually between 2009 and 2010, by the way. But if you were in my shoes what would you predict the situation will be like here 5 years from today? And what would YOU do about it?

Originally Posted by Rich Z

Take a look at the stats page . . . .

Well, I guess it is in our hands, as you said earlier. Time will tell, I suppose.

Kathy

Hey Rich, I would hate to see it go, but I respect the position you are in.

If and when you decide to shut it down, just please give folks some warning so they can save/print some of the stickies and their progression threads, etc.

I'll second that, I'm just a new member but this place is an awesome resource and I'd be sad to see it go as well. Guess I oughta step up and post some more pics of my kiddo. 🐍

Originally Posted by Rich Z

The above quote kind of has been coming to mind lately, I guess what you are telling me is that you will be pissed at me too if I have to let this site go because everyone abandoned it. Quite frankly, that other site most certainly faced what this site is facing now, which is simply a lack of participation from the membership. So they were expected to just keep the site running, regardless of the fact that people had just stopped using it? What were their alternatives?

And in like vein, what do you all expect from me considering the projected future of this site? Take a look at the stats page I will attach below showing the statistics for posts made per month from January, 2010 thru January, 2017. The PEAK for this site was actually between 2009 and 2010, by the way. But if you were in my shoes what would you predict the situation will be like here 5 years from today? And what would YOU do about it?

I can't say I know much about BB, but surely there must be some way to transfer an archive of the forums. I would happily host a searchable archive to preserve the history recorded here. Obviously some things are already lost, with the very oldest attachments having gone missing and dead links galore, but there are some things here which I doubt are recorded anywhere else. I suppose it's not wholly necessary to keep that history, but I know I've learned a lot from it.

FYI, I will be taking a look at the forums on this site and any that are unused for a substantial period of time will be eliminated to cut down on the clutter and streamline the site somewhat. Ones that are only lightly used may be merged together. On the chopping block are the HELL forum as well as the DYK section, among some others. If they are not being used, then no sense wasting space on them. Which goes for this entire site, eventually, of course.

I guess people just prefer to be assimilated by the FaceBorg. Way it goes, I guess. It is what it is.

I'd say do what you must to streamline this forum. The CS.Com guide to cultivars can be merged with the cultivars forum, the photography techniques can be merged with miscellaneous, and FAQ forum is seldom read by newbies anyway and can be merged with the general forum if there are questions that arise. The Hell forum I don't need as my wife can give me that option.

^ I agree with Twolunger's suggestions.