So many things have changed since I first joined. I remember a lot of you. I still hunt you down now and then, for the inspiration.
I have had some things change in my life, that's the way it goes.
Still working, trying to spend more time with grandkids. My Mom fell last week, laid in her kitchen for 36 hours before rescue. 5 hospital days later, my sisters and I, well, it's a long story. It will be ok.
As a very recent, WW leader, our group is struggling. The old people, are dedicated. Young, just want an app!
Seems to me, that the younger, want an app, data, data, data, instant, this or that, but are so busy being, on an app for this or that, or whatever it is they are doing, they have no clue, about, slowing down, and actually DOING something.
Apps, do not, feed the dog, apps do not change diapers, take out the trash, etc. Apps are a tool, nothing more, nothing less. It's how we choose to use it.
One thing I also forgot is that last year? year before last? There was an anti-virus program for Windows users that was falsely reporting the site as having malware. We investigated and determined it was a false positive. After that though, we did notice a large drop in the user population.
I'd also say that throughout the year, the interests ebb and flow as well. Summer is typically slower than other parts of the year.
I know I've stopped posting nearly as much as I use to. Most my posts the past few weeks have been confined to a single thread with a few exceptions. We bought a house and getting everything paints and situated to move has been hectic. I stopped posting in WW threads because I switched diet plans. Less time to cook with working more and it just wasn't something I was successfully sticking to, so I switched it up, at least until we're settled.
It was more active in general when I joined, or shortly thereafter, but that was also around the holidays. Most the folks that I keep up with I have on outside communications (Skype/Texts/MyFitnessPal). Those are all easier to do on the go, and with Skype and texts I don't have to rely on people coming to check the forums, or a particular thread. They'll get my message either way.
For right now, a lot of people may be going on vacation, kids are getting out of school.. typically people are a little more busy and spend less time on the computer.
It makes me sad as well, although I must admit that I'm another one that isn't here very much. There are things we wish we could change to try to bring people back (hopefully) but my hands are tied. When IB acquired the website several years ago, my role here was eliminated, other than in name only.
The site is usually slower this time of year. Summers grind the forum to a virtual halt, since so many of our members vacation or share their computers with the rest of the family when the kids are out of school. That said, this month has been slower than the month of May many years ago. Nelie brought up a good point that we lost a large chunk of members when the antivirus programs had misidentified something as malware and they did not correct it quick enough. Members fled and never returned.
Another thing to keep in mind is that when we created this community in 1997, there were literally only a handful of weight loss forums online. Us, Dottie's, Diet Talk, and Weight Watchers. WW had software problems and their members came here, and we grew extremely quickly. Since then, forums have cropped up online more quickly and are a dime a dozen. Social media is gradually squishing the forums, taking yet more of our members away.
There is a facebook page for 3FC, but we don't have groups. Facebook groups are fantastic, I even belong to a few (not weight or health related tho). The FB app makes it even easier.
People move on for a lot of reasons. For myself, I work long hours, help take care of my grandchildren, and now my mother's health is declining so I spend more time with her. None of that has anything to do with the state of the 3FC forum. Its' still a fantastic group of supportive people, even if it doesn't hop like it used to.
well don't leave, guys! That will just make things worse!
(Maybe everyone has been waiting for the return of BerryBlond?)
Seriously, I don't see how facebook could be a good substitute. Not a fan of facebook. at all. Let's increase our posting activity and see what happens, eh?
I love facebook - it's how I've kept in touch with (or better put - got back in touch) with people from Kindergarten on up. I moved quite a bit as a kid and as a married person. Without FB, I would feel so disconnected - even some of my job is working with FB, but... FB is not the same as a forum. Nope. No sirree!
yeah.....Facebook is where you lie to your friends...3FC is where you're honest with strangers....as the saying goes....ha
Yep the forum allows for something more like conversation. And a place for your avatar to air your deep, dark, secrets (which everyone in the world can read). It's interesting to see differences and commonalities in thought processes and behaviors.
I don't really know the answer. I am on weight related Facebook group. It is a closed group for WW members in this area. It is a very active group. I like this format better, though. I like being able to search for old threads and see things formatted by topic/thread and so on.
One thing that I have seen happen here in the forums I go to is that moderators seem almost non-existent. When I first game here, the moderators drove a lot of the discussion. Many years ago (I'm talking in the 90s) I was a Sysop at the Weight Management forum at Compuserve. A lot of our job was, of course, looking for and dealing with rules violations or answering member questions. But, a very primary part of our job was to start discussions and take part in discussions. In the areas I focused on, it was very much part of my role to help drive discussion. That seemed to be part of the focus here when I joined, but hasn't been for a long time in the areas that hang around out.
I really think that is a big part of the downturn in members' activity.
I came back after being gone for over a year and it seems like a ghost town! So sad that blogs don't work, it's killing me that I can't comment because an old blogging buddy of mine who is still blogging posted that her husband died. I so badly want to respond but I can't :'(
Very sad to see things are going downhill here in terms of numbers.
I'm not sure mods here ever drove the discussion. Generally, mods were active in their forums, supportive members, etc to become mods. Since its a volunteer position, it was usually someone who cared about the specific area and all that stuff. So you'd see mods posting just because that is how they came to be mods.
Right. I'm not saying it was ever required for mods to post a lot. But, in some forums when I was first here the mods were often posting, starting regular threads and maintaining some that were ongoing. I know that when I first got here the Weight Watchers forum had a mod specifically in that forum who was really active. But, then she moved to a different forum. For awhile there was no one specifically in that forum. Then one of the regular members became a mod there and really did post a lot and got people discussing more, but then she left. And we had another mod for awhile, but I haven't seen that mod posting in the forum for 2 years or so.
I think that when there is a mod specifically assigned to a forum and the mod is regularly posting and trying to grow the forum that it does help. I see that in some of the forums where mods are very active. That just seems to have lessened in the last couple of years. And, indeed, that may be due to lack of enough mods and being kind of thinly spread out. Not saying it is the fault of the mods. From my experience, I know that it is often a thankless job, very underappreciated.
I have never even been aware of who the mods are. I don't think it had anything to do with them being mods, but just people who seem active and then we're asked to be mods.
