is there still life in the forum?

[peanut]

is it just me that has seen a sharp decline in the number of posts and contributors to the site recently ?

The odd thing is there still seems to be plenty of visitors but they don't seem to post?  Why are there only 4x posts in one of todays threads for example and yet over 130 visits to the thread ? Its not an isolated instance either.

I struggle every day to find forums with recent discussions  because there are so many forum headings and sub headings !    It seems that it is the same few passionate members that post regularly every day and keep this forum going

There are ninety four forum headings 94 ? and then there are further sub topic headings . Surely that is too many ?  There are 9x boards that appear to have never received a single post ?

The board with the most prolific threads is the  'Discussion forum' yet that is buried down the page at number 72x   I have to scroll 3x pages on my notebook to get to the busiest part of the forum whilst above that there are endless forum headings that do not have a single post in them !  ever !   whats the point of that ? 


Take this board  for instance the last topic raised here was back in early February and that was mine too !  not that that got any discussion , just a simple cursory dismissal really.

I fear that this forum is in decline and I think we should do something constructive before its too late and either apathy takes over or members migrate to a more lively forum .

This is not intended to be a critism but an attempt to raise a constructive discussion on the issue and hopefully some action

[Neil]

It's always a bit quiet at this time of year as land gets scarcer and the rallies tend to decrease. That said though I have just come in from an evening out and there are 12 topics that have had new replies or are new since I was last logged in at about 6pm. If you go to Home rather than  Forum it will show you the latest replies as New, but you probably already know that.

We have always had a lot more readers, than posters and I can't see that ever changing - I'm the same myself on other detecting, football and antique forums where I just read and never reply. It's not a problem and is part of 'web life'.

Just go to home rather than forum and you should never need to do the scrolling mate.

We have plenty of rallies lined up later in the year, including the 4th annual 2 dayer, a few return visits, etc. we are just struggling a tad with getting land at the mo. Rob, Geoff and I all have a few other things on at the moment so we may have been a bit  quiet on here, but the forum is definitely not losing its life.

All the best and keep the faith.

Neil

[peanut]

I'm afraid I'm  not convinced  Neil   There are 15 posts showing today  and all of those are from  the same six posters that post every day

if 3x of those posters didn't post today the forum would have lost 50% of its posts    Two of the posts are items for sale ! hardly discussion ...
I'd be interested in other members thoughts about the prolific number of forum headings many of which are completely empty  but I'm not holding out much hope of any response to be honest  .

Lets hope things pick up a bit soon because it would be a real shame for the forum to fade away.

[Chef Geoff]

As Neil has said, every year around this time it goes quiet. I personally never used to bother detecting between April and October as arable land was scarce and pasture was too dry or in silage, it was only 3 years ago that I started bothering but my heart is't in it in the summer.
The majority of the visitors are guests and so they can't post. Once again, as has been suggested by Neil, just load the "Home" page, that way you only ever have recent posts.
There have been nearly 13600 topics, so having a greater number of boards does help if you are looking for something particularly.

[peanut]

well I don't quite get the correlation between lack of detecting land and less posting on the forum ?  I should have thought that members would therefore have more time and inclination to post but I guess i know when I'm beat 

[Chef Geoff]

When people aren't out detecting, the hobby isn't so lucid in their conciousness and they either don't bother coming onto the forum or don't feel they have anything to post.
And as with many forums and the hobby in general, the people are very transitory,  a huge percentage of people who start in the hobby have within a year packed it in.
If you look at the total membership of this (and any other) forum the membership says 1680 but if you look back at any 6 month period since the start you will probably find that their has been less than 100 active members at any one time.
Wait until October and I guarantee you will see a much more active forum

[handyman [Alan}]

...and with the long sunny summer nights with us, who wants to spend time in ealry evening on the computer, when one can get onto the fields. 

besides which, in one months time, the nights start drawing in and winter is on its way!   

[Napoleon]

Well what is summer lol  because so far it winter all year long .

[waltonbasinman]

You will not be suprised how many join the forum just to get some detecting at rallies. Many members only post to sign up for rallies. I have spoken about this many times with people and they have openly admitted they use the forum to expand their detecting experiance only. A lot use computers owned by their kids just to check for rallies. Quite a few pensioners use the site for the same purpose. I myself use to post regular but the time spent in front of the PC  has given me health problems which now restricts my use and for a multitude of other reasons once the rallies start you will see a change Peanut.

[WeCan-Octavian]

The seasons again will reduce the amount of people coming on here as often, take myself for instance early in the year when i joined i was on very frequent, not just to make posts but to gain vital knowledge and tips from the more seasoned detectorists. This has only bolstered my enthusiasm for the hobby. Hence the hours ive put in in a very short few months (must be hundereds!!!!)

 I certainly wont be losing interest within a year !!! now the weather is turning i have more work commitments and not so much leisure time!!! so a cursory glance and the odd post is all i can manage some weeks.

I have certainly made some good friends locally, who otherwise i wouldn't have known  without this forum, its a Hub for people with the same enthusiasm and interests to share and promote the hobby in all the right ways.

[win]

I guess if we're not out as often at this time of year, there's less to report in the way of finds, incidents, requests for i/d etc. Personally I'm very happy to be a forum member, attend the occasional rally and keep up with people who have the same interests and great sense of humour.

[rjm]

I think Peanut is correct.

There hasn't been many DW rallies over the past few months. It's nothing to do with the time of year as this is the leanest spell ever on DW!

I have drastically cut down on detecting posts on most forums and more or less just stick to one now after my posts were deleted on here. Like already said above, I was spending too much time in front of the screen. There's more to life!

I know a couple of others who don't post here much, if at all, now.

We will see if rallies pick up...hopefully on new land. 

[Neil]

Bob - I think you'll find your posts have been deleted either for persistent swear words, pornographic images or a blatant advertising campaign - take your pick out of any of them - they all apply.

The lack of rallies has every thing to do with the time of year, but that's beside the point.
When we launched Detectingwales.com it was never originally about arranging rallies, they have just been a added bonus of the site. First and foremost it's a forum for chatting about detecting in Wales. - the rallies have always been just an added extra for the members. We have always had peaks and troughs in the amount of rallies we arrange each year due to our other commitments.

Cheers
Neil

[Napoleon]

 ;)Hello all, Please remember Detecting Wales is a forum where members can find some interesting source of informations  chat with others all related to metal detecting , since day one I never expected a forum to organise rallies so please appreciate this option because many forums don't do it , many of us have joined clubs  where its the place for rallies as you pay a membership ,on DW its all free so rallies are a bonus to us ,    if you find less you don't post as much we all agree , I always like what people find in their own land , see the metal detecting news ,videos and so on all this informations its up to us to post them on DW.Happy hunting everyone. Nap.

[LUCKY]

The topic discussed and the replies given were all good reading. This time of year, out of season for us detectorists, gives members a chance to recharge their batteries.Once harvesting starts the interest that will be shown by members on the DW forum will dramatically increase.The DW forum is a credit to all Welsh metal detectorists. Great post  "peanut"  .

Can I add a silage crop is harvested from the second week in June every year. Usually a second crop from the same fields is harvested about four weeks later. Clearly these fields are available to DW for holding outings. Watch the interest in the DW forum surge if a rally is organised on a silage field.