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[Muz]

Hey, haven't been active in a while.

The forum seems a lot less active than I remember. I remember back when things were really active, pushed things off the page. There's still a lot of people on all the time.

I think I ended up active on Facebook and Hacker News. Mostly it's that they have an easier mobile experience, easier to check at late night or early morning and get hooked on. They're not as fun. Discussions are not as deep.

Dwarf Fortress ironically I end up discussing outside the forum; there's just books for that and games like Rimworld which are easier to play on and off without wondering where I left off. Last I played the game, I ended up getting lost looking for a vampire in the sewers lol.

I do wonder how many people moved on to social media or 'improved forums' like Reddit, and how many people found it better here. One thing I do love about this forum was that it was the best place for games discovery, and still is.

[itisnotlogical]

I went to Reddit for a while. It was novel at first having a whole community for any niche topic I could imagine, but I got sick of the same old memes and "discussion" dominating everything. They're so goddamn self-congratulating over there, too. Top comment on a given thread is usually somebody patting themselves on the back for having a totally controversial stance like "murder is bad" or "water is wet."

[MrRoboto75]

I'll do you one better

Why is everyone?

[Frumple]

I'll do you one better

Why is everyone?

Something

At some point

Fucked.

E: Though to the thread title, grindingly miserable brought on by trying and failing to adequately take care of the grandparents that have been functionally near abandoned by the rest of the family, as they steadily lose cognitive capability and my body steadily breaks down. I basically drown myself in reading and other idle pursuits in order to temporarily stave off the constant droning awareness I'm fucking myself over far into the future in order to barely juggle the ball the rest of my family is dropping, stuck in a fucking shithole of a town I hate with great intensity, that at this point I'll probably never leave due mostly because of who else it would fuck over and substantially because I'm probably too fucked up to manage a substantial relocation, due in no small part to how utter and complete fucking shit US welfare et al is. I've got another thirty or so years of steady or increasing misery followed by suicide as a retirement plan, made palatable only by small pleasures I've mostly convinced myself will be sufficient to get by on.

Being among the american poor fucking sucks. Sucks giant donkey balls.

[scourge728]

ptw

[Folly]

Why is everyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6fcK_fRYaI

[George_Chickens]

I went to Reddit for a while. It was novel at first having a whole community for any niche topic I could imagine, but I got sick of the same old memes and "discussion" dominating everything. They're so goddamn self-congratulating over there, too. Top comment on a given thread is usually somebody patting themselves on the back for having a totally controversial stance like "murder is bad" or "water is wet."

Reddit is utter trash and to call it an "improved forum" is kind of an insult to forums, because it has a completely different style and flow of discussion. It's a content aggregator, which is designed for the purpose of posting (other people's) funny images and (also other people's) funny comments for a spot on the top of the page. Which makes it very difficult to actually discuss anything, partly because of the terrible, echo-chambery community that style of website creates.

I very rarely see actual discussion when I go on it, it's all people looking for the first authoritative-looking poster they agree with and spamming it with upvotes and "THIS... SO MUCH THIS!!", because that's just how a content aggregator works. You upvote and save what you like and downvote and hide what you don't.

But to actually answer the OP, I don't think many people moved to other sites. It's more that people naturally rolled off as they came into things which made them have to prioritize life over posting, and because most internet newbies seem to find forums 'outdated' or inconvenient, they just go to Reddit or Discord for discussion instead. So little new blood comes in.

IMO, there was a slow drop in discussion (this is in multiple communities, not just Bay12) that began around the time non-human cities were removed from adventure mode due to glitches. I noticed people seemed to lose interest in discussing the game and just never come back to their communities. DF 2014 didn't generate the same hype as the game leaving 40d either. Hopefully the up and coming release and myth and magic can draw some more people in.

[Folly]

Reddit is utter trash and to call it an "improved forum" is kind of an insult to forums, because it has a completely different style and flow of discussion. It's a content aggregator, which is designed for the purpose of posting (other people's) funny images and (also other people's) funny comments for a spot on the top of the page. Which makes it very difficult to actually discuss anything, partly because of the terrible, echo-chambery community that style of website creates.
I very rarely see actual discussion when I go on it, it's all people looking for the first authoritative-looking poster they agree with and spamming it with upvotes and "THIS... SO MUCH THIS!!", because that's just how a content aggregator works. You upvote and save what you like and downvote and hide what you don't.

Honestly, it sounds like your issue is more with people rather than Reddit. And I agree, people are terrible and ruin everything they touch. But that's not Reddit's fault.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I check my threads fairly frequently, but these days I rarely post except to Ameripol, and even then it's pretty obvious to me that political discourse in Twenty X K 9teen has shifted beyond what B12 can handle.

It's always the one you never see coming, ain't it? I remember when people were clamoring for moderators because we'd become too populated. Bay 12 gave me a lot, but I'd be lying to say its age isn't coming to an end.

Haven't played DF in five or six years, played LCS maybe a year ago. The Steam plan is smart to keep development going, in my opinion.

[Magistrum]

Maybe it's because it has been around for so long, but DF has this ageless aspect to it, so it may keep drawing new members to the foruns till the heat death of the universe.

I would say the slowdown in activity is due to the overall shift from old style "simple machines"-like forums to those sparkly content aggregators. Reposts went from an annoyance to the top form of expression.

[MaxTheFox]

I've been brought in by one of my IRL friends (KittyTac is his Bay12 username). I have been staying away from politics. Mostly been having fun hosting forum games.

[NRDL]

I just stick to the forum games section, mainly. Still hop onto the new RTD or cool suggestion game that shows up in my email.

Reddit's my main social media addiction right now, for all my fiction discussion and geekiness.

[Yoink]

Terrible, thanks for asking!
I remember your username.


It has been quiet around here. I've been pretty quiet around here. I think a lot of people get their kicks on Discord and such nowadays - I tried it for a while but found it stressful tryna keep up with things.

[Flying Dice]

Fair ta middlin'.

And yeah, a lotta the old guard have moved on. When I dip back in from time to time I only see maybe a dozen or so of the folks I remember from back when I joined.

That said, it's not that there's anywhere better to go to. Social media is godawful, reddit is a cesspit, 4chan has lost everything that was attractive and retained everything that wasn't, and every other forum I've been to has some combination of biased moderation, admin drama, heavy censorship, narrow focus, or shit community. B12 is still far and away the best online communication platform of any sort I've ever participated in, which is why it's the only one I keep coming back to and don't shitpost on.

[scriver]

I'm going bald