What has happened to this website?

[mamos]

This used to be a very active forum that had countless posts a day and loads of regular contributors but at the moment it is almost dead and you are lucky if there is one post a day.

What happened to the Hamilton brothers. Do they still have anything to do with the site?

What can we do bring this forum back to it's former glory?

Paul

[ina]

I think the Hamiltons have pulled out altogether - other things to do. I'd been wondering myself what to do - would be nice to have a bit more traffic on here.

[mamos]

It can be a bit demoralising when you post something and a day later no one has replied. This is something we need to do ourselves if we want to save this fantastic website.

I am going to try to post at least one new thread a day and reply to as many as i can.

If we all do this we can encourage others to start posting.

Do we have a facebook page

paul

[Odsox]

We had a lot of problems with the server that the forum runs on a couple of years ago. There were months on end when it was impossible for some people to log in and in consequence they gave up and drifted away.
Last year a few of us took over the running of the site ( the Hamiltons are no longer involved) and have been trying to get back to how we were in our heyday, but it's a slow process.
But if we had a few more like yourself answering posts and thinking up new topics, we just might manage it.

[mamos]

Thanks Tony

It is not just this site. Most forums are having a hard time as people spend more time on things like facebook. Maybe we need to use facebook more to highlight interesting topics on the forum.

It is too good a resource to loose to be honest.

Paul

[Odsox]

There is a Facebook forum page Paul, the link is over on the right side bar "Find Us on Facebook", but that has even less activity at the moment.
Facebook is fine for what it was intended for, but no use whatsoever for a forum like this. Anything posted on Facebook has disappeared off the bottom in an hour or two, at least on a forum you can view all the posts ever made, right back to the very first one.
Nothing lost or forgotten.

[Green Aura]

Thanks Tony. I have to confess to seeing this a day or two ago and have been trying to work out how to answer it. It can be quite demoralising when you spend a lot of time and effort to put new articles on the blog site and keep spammers away from the door, but of us who took it over are all very committed to keeping it going during this hiatus - and I think it is just that.

I've been on other forums that are going through similar doldrums. But I agree with Tony, Facebook etc is great for some things, not for information sharing of this type. New members are always stunned by the sheer volume of knowledge on here.

So we'll keep it going, for a long time, hopefully.

[trinder]

I do lurk and still revisit the lovely MKK posts regarding my haphazard attempts at wine making,

[mamos]

Well I am just a guilty as anyone else. I drifted away for quite a while but I am back now and ready to contribute.

paul

[Bulworthyproject]

This doesn't help this forum, but I find this group on FB to be really good and active https://www.facebook.com/groups/1463715887259136/

[diggernotdreamer]

I think a lot of our problems are that some of the people that used to be on here have now dropped off. I even miss old Dargan and his bizarre recipes, slightly off the wall, but it made for an interesting read and sometimes there were people who posted material that made the sparks fly a bit, which is always far more interesting than the telly. I still have a problem with notifications, I rarely get notified if someone makes a comment on a post I am following, but I do try to check in at least once a day.

I would say to the lurkers, please stop lurking and start contributing, you must have something to say, don't be shy. I still think we need some kind of button to say you have read the post and like what is said (yes a fb like button) but it does make you feel that people are reading what you have written and whilst they might not want to comment, they are making the writer feel a little more appreciated.

I will also get off my arse and write something about something

[mamos]

A lot of forums do have a thanks button. It is nice to be thanked but it is even better if someone takes the time to comment so it keeps the thread on the first page a little longer.

paul

[tosca]

I check in most days and comment occasionally when there is a topic I can contribute to. But being in a different country with different climate, laws and customs it's hard to come up with something which might be pertinent to the other members,

I ave to say though, being self sufficientish here is much easier than the UK. I will make more effort to put my view across if anyone is interested. It would be a shame if it all ground to a halt after all the hard work put into it.

Agree about facebook, surely that should be kept for what it is good at, chatting with friends....though I have to admit to being a member of Ex-pat groups with a self sufficiency theme, but being small groups a lot of us know each other anyway

[mamos]

I for one would be very interested in what you have to say Tosca

There may be a lot of differences but I bet there are as many similarities.

Paul

[Odsox]

But being in a different country with different climate, laws and customs it's hard to come up with something which might be pertinent to the other members,

Oooh no, I don't agree.
I find it highly amusing to wind up people who endure a self inflicted existence in Arctic regions.