Activity seems way down. What am I missing?

[Drew]

I’m sure many members have noticed but activity on the forums seems way down, yet the club numbers appear strong. I know there’s been a lot of debate about forums slowly dyeing off in general, which may be true, but what’s keeping people off the forums. We used to have a very vibrant club, and lots of ideas and new members seemed to flow through regularly. Is it the forums, club, activities, life getting in the way, other outlets?  Not looking to turn this into a bash session, just curious to hear members ideas on why it seems slow.

 

[jenkinscrew]

Would be interesting to get member's input. I am on almost everyday, but I am connected to a computer all day

 

[Drew]

I’m curious if people are just stopping by as well, and if they are moving on because of the lack of threads, or if they just aren’t stopping by at all. 

 

[Opus]

After they stopped letting my kids have a WWE Smackdown in the middle of the frag swaps I slowed down!Good to see you today.   Looked like you were getting some nice zoas.   Sure a lot bigger selection at the swaps than we used to have years ago.   Wish there was enough interest to get Next Wave going again.  The one at Texas Stadium was one of favorites.   Hope to see you at the frag swap next month.   I'm already putting my wife on a budget so I can have money for it.

 

[cmcoker]

I'm probably in a small minority for this, but loss of Tapatalk has me on here less than I used to. I'm rarely on the forums on a computer and the Tapatalk format is easier for me to use on a phone or tablet. I also notice lots of dfw folks on the national forums, like reef2reef. I try to encourage people new to the hobby or area to join the club. It's hard to compare the activity level there to here though, they've got an insane amount of users and the online now list is always huge.  

 

[Drew]

After they stopped letting my kids have a WWE Smackdown in the middle of the frag swaps I slowed down! "]Definitely one of the most memorable moments we’ve had. I don’t think we’ll ever forget it and I doubt your kids even have a memory of it. I still laugh about it.  Good seeing you as well. It’s been a while since I got excited about new Corals, but today was a ton of fun.  The BOD did a great job with the venue and the seller selection. 

 

[Drew]

I know this was discussed, but I think I missed why it hasn’t or won’t come back. Maybe chris or Steve can fill us in. The new site has some great new features, but I agree that it needs some tweaking. 

 

[cmcoker]

Last I heard was people were always complaining about the Tapatalk prompt when you came to the forums, and when it was gone people were happy. I agree it could be annoying, but I dont know if tapatalk has changed it, or has a setting now to turn it off or what.  Now when I go to reef2reef in a mobile browser, I dont get any prompt. If I go to reef central, I get a small popup at the top of the forum that's easily dismissed.   

 

[chriscurtis]

I think the rise in popularity and proliferation of Facebook groups has a lot to do with it. I know I belong to several DFW saltwater related groups including the DFWMAS one. I see quite a few other members on there as well. Buying and selling has always been a big driver of traffic to our site and now there are several alternatives. Which is a pity since I think you're a lot safer buying on the DFWMAS forums with the rules in place.But more people visit FB as a routine matter day-to-day and I think they're getting their reef tank fix while they're there. (Yes! Homonym trifecta!)