Are we plateauing?

Le Fanu

Weirdly, I have a hunch that we get new people, new posts, "same old" question stuff (which I don't mind) but that people aren't actually staying around much.

It's been a while since a new face came along, provoked and stimulated us all and stayed around and became a regular fixture. Maybe it's just an impression, but...
 

jema

I can only speak for myself, but sometimes you kinda need a long break from this place to come back with fresh and curious eyes. Yes, it is the same questions very often but then I simply don't read certain forums a lot, I stick to the deck one and the more general cause I am not up to write on my views of how the 10 of swords would work as 'how does he see me'

When you think of it, most of our friends or family tend to regurgitate the same stories over and over too, at least mine does. I don't love them any less and really don't mind being there to listen and give advice even though I said it many times.

As for the old post - new posts. Well, in some cases like very specific resource threads I prefer to just add to an old. But other then that, post on!

Le charior got a good point there too. Lol, must be quite tricky to try and navigate the personal drama still lurking on the ancient threads. I think the historical forum might perk up with new posts, a lot of new people (and some oldies) would be more likely to post then.

Just add something to a thread when you start it and it should be fine and dandy.Also a tip when refering to an older thread on the same topic is to do it in a way that dont make the thread poster feel like they done something wrong. (i am guilty of that too at times)

I gotta say that I am glad to be back here after my year long breaks now and then. Sure a lot of old friends are gone, but that don't mean I got plenty of fun from hanging out with the new ones. Kick off your shoes and head to the fun and games forums too. A great way to get to know people. Join a study group! The resources are all here, it is up to us to use them, dismissing the whole forum and calling it stale has more to do with you then the other hundreds of active people.
 

Grizabella

Well, something I've noticed is that we've had several people who have been gone for quite a long time have come back. I'm glad to see that.

There were a whole lot of folks who had been regulars of longstanding who just disappeared en masse but I think that's pretty normal for forums. Things go a long swimmingly for quite awhile but then some kind of schism happens and a bunch split off to go elsewhere. I've seen it happen on several forums I've been involved with. I think many of the new folks will settle in and become "old" friends here after awhile, though.

Personally, I'm not going anywhere. I like it here and have had roots here for several years. I just don't feel like going somewhere else is constructive when you make friends and put down roots. You stay around, learn from it, grow from it, make amends where needed, and don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. That's how true friendships are supposed to work, after all. My dearest friends are here and my heart is here, too.
 

euripides

Le Fanu, I think people use the Net a little bit differently now.. and there are many competing forums, so perhaps people are going elsewhere - whether it's Facebook or another Tarot group or a subgroup from some other community. Facebook has certainly taken a lot of traffic - it's easy for people to form groups there and things are all in one place. Casual interaction around an interest is easy on Facebook.

The structure of AT, with chats restricted to subscribers, probably puts off a few potential regulars. I don't feel that's necessarily a bad thing, I like that people who are here have the commitment to put a few dollars towards it. It keeps out the timewasters and trolls.

The only forums that I've seen stay really vibrant are ones that gather around an individual writer who has a fairly high profile. They attract people. They also attract trolls, too....
 

Kosjitov

There's alot of "TLDR" that goes on nowadays, so I find posting a new thread to be more likely to get a response than reviving (and possibly hijacking) an old thread.

It is entirely possible to outgrow a forum- I actually noticed yesterday that of the 25k members Aeclectic, only about 9% are considered active. Likely, some were banned, some outgrew the forum, some are too shy to post but didn't want to lurk forever, some had one hit wonder questions, ect ect.

I find that when I started I had this fire to just blurt out whatever question I had in my head at the time. Now I monitor threads, use the search function, and sometimes find a noteworthy old post. Sometimes, typing in words to the search function that are a part of a good many posts gets you a scolding from the search function so I find it easier to just post and pray that no one fusses "find a new topic."

I think another part of it is that this forum is such a wealth of knowledge that it's a bit... picked over? There are some really brilliant minds here. It's not to be dismissed lightly.

I now stick to the occassional peek at Decks, Using cards, and Your Readings. I visit Talk Tarot and the Reading Exchange a few times a day.

In spite of the rehashing, no one has really gotten on a high horse and trolled off newbies into nonexistence. I appreciate that. Other forums I've joined, I've watched people who had a spark of interest get squished into oblivion before they're even out the gate. Their welcome area may as well have been a turkey hunt :rolleyes:

As far as other forums? Yeah, there's other forums, but not of the same caliber. I... was surfing the other day to see if there was another (Yes, I'm sorry. You've no idea) but the one I found was FAR and BELOW the standard set here. Literally, there were just posts shouting out to members for a reading. Very little learning, no organization, just "memememe" questions about readings. Let's just say I came back here and ended my search very quickly.
 

Barleywine

Weirdly, I have a hunch that we get new people, new posts, "same old" question stuff (which I don't mind) but that people aren't actually staying around much.

It's been a while since a new face came along, provoked and stimulated us all and stayed around and became a regular fixture. Maybe it's just an impression, but...

You've expressed something I've been feeling too for some time (and I'm not an "old-timer" here). It's one of the reasons I decided not to become a subscriber at this point. One of the contributors to this nagging sense of "sameness" seems to be the influx of newcomers to the tarot experience (which, of course, we should all welcome in this unenlightened age of increasing religious fundamentalism and narrow-minded parochialism). I notice that there isn't a "Beginners" forum here where the basic questions can be concentrated, thereby slanting the Talking Tarot forum toward a broader (and hopefully deeper) spectrum of topics.

For my part, my equally long-standing interest in astrology has overtaken my tarot involvement. I now spend most of my time here following the Astrology threads, and when those are inactive (much of the time recently, it seems), I go to the other astrology sites. Of course, those have any equally large population of neophytes asking "What's my Sun in Leo mean?"
 

Kosjitov

On second though, instead of just mulling what's currently happening... let's be proactive.

What would make you really feel like AT was fresh and new? Is it just the post quality and feeling like you're watching children in a sandbox? What would improve your feeling of engagement with those of us who are newer and trying to find our way? How do we find a middle ground?

The beginner questions forum seemed like a good idea- a place where we can toss the generic starter questions.

An adopt a newbie program?
 

Debra

This forum is pretty complicated and I get worried when people generalize too quickly about how it's going overall. A handful of people saying "no" doesn't mean the forum's turned negative; a bunch of old-timers advising the same thing doesn't mean they're right. I've gotten some fantastic insights from newcomers, especially in the "your readings" threads, and I've changed my mind plenty of times after reading threads here. :heart:
 

Barleywine

As far as other forums? Yeah, there's other forums, but not of the same caliber. I... was surfing the other day to see if there was another (Yes, I'm sorry. You've no idea) but the one I found was FAR and BELOW the standard set here. Literally, there were just posts shouting out to members for a reading. Very little learning, no organization, just "memememe" questions about readings. Let's just say I came back here and ended my search very quickly.

I did the same thing a few weeks ago and also found the standards at the other tarot forums to be uniformly lower, and the focus largely on "me" questions and readings. I don't recall seeing a single question with any meat to it. To further that analogy, the format was more "sizzle" and less "steak" as well (but, of course, as a "mostly vegetarian" I may not be the best judge of that :D)
 

euripides

I used to be quite active in the Historical thread, but I have a passion for actual history, so I tend to only enjoy conversations along that line if they focus on research on history and actual historical documents, rather than conjecture. Most people like to apply more imagination to the TdM, which doesn't really work for me personally. So I've drifted away from that. Plus, it's very time-consuming to come up with anything solid. It's a vast field.