This place feels like waiting for paint to dry sometimes

[BlurredBoundaries]

I hope VE won't be offended by me saying this  but, I can't help but notice  that most members have left CB, and it's been a steady decline ever since the update. 

Whenever I check who is online there's usually only  about 6 -20 members (plus like 100 guests) It used to be AT LEAST  double that all the time.  

It's discouraging because  CB is still my favorite forum but it's getting kind of boring when no one is around to share, read, and respond. 

What can we do to bring back old members, and get new ones too? I miss how this place used to be so busy! 

 

 

[TakeAChillPill]

When was the update and what changes did it bring?  I am totally unfamiliar with the whole scenario.

[BlurredBoundaries]

I don't know exactly when it happened but I think the update was in the summer of 2015?

 There were lots of issues for a while and people got frustrated with the navigation and usability.  

Ever since then, more and more people left. 

[Czernobog]

I've lurked off and on for a couple of years now. It does seem to have quieted down. 

I think forums, as a communication platform, are being slowly abandoned in favor of other social media outlets. 

It'll be a cold day in Hell before you'll find me on Snapchat, though. 

[Hopelessly Broken]

Yep. I have only been here since April 2015, and it has died since then, dramatically. I have never seen more than 30 people online. 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by Hopelessly Broken

[BlurredBoundaries]

Hmmm, that's an interesting theory, Czernobog. That may have something to do with it too! 

The only reason I really think the upgrade has a big part in the abandonment of CB is because I visit another forum daily, and they did not do an upgrade, and it's really busy over there. But I have only been on that forum since the winter of last year so maybe it's gotten slower there too, I'm not sure. But it's way busier than CB. 

[cloudmonger]

I've been wondering myself why the forum seems a bit slow moving as far as posts (although I've only been around here 6 months). It seems like there were more posts/more members in years prior. I don't know about you guys, but I ventured here from the now-defunct CrazyMeds forum. That board was so informative. Unfortunately, it was starting to crash like crazy & there were nonstop pop-up ads that would slide across the entire screen (and you could not close them).

This forum does not seem to have the above issues, so I'm also curious as to why there aren't more people here. I have yet to explore other psych forums because I like the theme/members/layout/humor of this one.

[Duelist]

I've been a member for a long time, just 6 years, and I think it's no where near as busy as it once was. But I don't want to hazard guesses as to where people are or why they don't come around anymore. I miss so many CB members, but some have passed on, others still have moved on, and who knows if they might pop in for a visit from time to time. I am not on all the time anymore, but there's reasons for that which have nothing to do with the software or its updates. I agree with Czernoborg said about forums as a communication platform are slowly dying off is true.

 

[water]

I was also sad to Crazy Meds go. I didn't really post there but it was nice that an alternative, different crazy focused site existed.

Over the years I've seen many people leave, some go and stay gone, others come back after years and years. For myself it has everything to do with my life. NOTHING to do with crazyboards. This forum is a huge reason why my DOD - depression on drugs - is manageable.

Right this minute now there are SIX HUNDRED guests, 20 members. A ton of people reading around the posts, only a few getting the nerve up to pop in.

WE - as CB members - are writing the guidebooks. We post the topics, argue and cry, and leave our words for prosperity for others to learn from. 

It doesn't really matter how many MEMBERS are here right now, what's important is that many many people are here. Reading our words. Learning how to fight the good fight. Living with a disease we did not choose and want to discard every moment of our lives. But somehow someway we persevere. 

[iaawal]

12 minutes ago, water said:

I was also sad to Crazy Meds go. I didn't really post there but it was nice that an alternative, different crazy focused site existed.

Over the years I've seen many people leave, some go and stay gone, others come back after years and years. For myself it has everything to do with my life. NOTHING to do with crazyboards. This forum is a huge reason why my DOD - depression on drugs - is manageable.

Right this minute now there are SIX HUNDRED guests, 20 members. A ton of people reading around the posts, only a few getting the nerve up to pop in.

WE - as CB members - are writing the guidebooks. We post the topics, argue and cry, and leave our words for prosperity for others to learn from. 

It doesn't really matter how many MEMBERS are here right now, what's important is that many many people are here. Reading our words. Learning how to fight the good fight. Living with a disease we did not choose and want to discard every moment of our lives. But somehow someway we persevere. 

I love this response.  

[Duelist]

18 minutes ago, water said:

I was also sad to Crazy Meds go. I didn't really post there but it was nice that an alternative, different crazy focused site existed.

Over the years I've seen many people leave, some go and stay gone, others come back after years and years. For myself it has everything to do with my life. NOTHING to do with crazyboards. This forum is a huge reason why my DOD - depression on drugs - is manageable.

Right this minute now there are SIX HUNDRED guests, 20 members. A ton of people reading around the posts, only a few getting the nerve up to pop in.

WE - as CB members - are writing the guidebooks. We post the topics, argue and cry, and leave our words for prosperity for others to learn from. 

It doesn't really matter how many MEMBERS are here right now, what's important is that many many people are here. Reading our words. Learning how to fight the good fight. Living with a disease we did not choose and want to discard every moment of our lives. But somehow someway we persevere. 

Well said water.

[JustNuts]

On 11/27/2016 at 1:01 AM, Czernobog said:

I've lurked off and on for a couple of years now. It does seem to have quieted down. 

I think forums, as a communication platform, are being slowly abandoned in favor of other social media outlets. 

It'll be a cold day in Hell before you'll find me on Snapchat, though. 

IMO destigmatization plays a significant role as well in enabling shifts onto less-anonymous forms of social media (as well as enabling a reduction of demand due to better detection and treatment).

On 1/7/2017 at 1:38 PM, cloudmonger said:

I've been wondering myself why the forum seems a bit slow moving as far as posts (although I've only been around here 6 months). It seems like there were more posts/more members in years prior. I don't know about you guys, but I ventured here from the now-defunct CrazyMeds forum. That board was so informative. Unfortunately, it was starting to crash like crazy & there were nonstop pop-up ads that would slide across the entire screen (and you could not close them).

This forum does not seem to have the above issues, so I'm also curious as to why there aren't more people here. I have yet to explore other psych forums because I like the theme/members/layout/humor of this one.

The CrazyMeds forum was a extremely valuable one-of-a-kind resource, but sadly, Jerod accidentally destroyed all of that during a IPB upgrade (>200,000 posts and >10,000 members in a completely unique niche forum all gone in the blink of an eye because he didn't have any fucking database backups whatsoever). Pretty fucking stupid, but given the state his server was in, not that surprising - just extremely frustrating given how easily avoidable the whole thing was and how huge the impacts were. I can think of two ADHD communities that somewhat started to approach the quality and depth of discussion that happened on CM, but I can't think of any communities for any of the other categories that would be even somewhat comparable to CM (CB is certainly the closest overall but it's just not the same).

The CM site is still up, and is certainly another very valuable one-of-a-kind resource, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down for good too within the next few years. Jerod's issues combined with the sorry state of CM's server and the declining ad revenue are not a good mixture... At least that content is almost completely mirrored directly to another site (for now at least), and a significant portion of the content has been captured by archive.org over time as well.

I find most other psych forums to be intolerably bad outside of a few partial exceptions (the two ADHD communities and a few assorted communities of varying scales, although I tend to avoid them in favor of CB 99% of the time).

On 2/7/2017 at 8:09 PM, water said:

I was also sad to Crazy Meds go. I didn't really post there but it was nice that an alternative, different crazy focused site existed.

Over the years I've seen many people leave, some go and stay gone, others come back after years and years. For myself it has everything to do with my life. NOTHING to do with crazyboards. This forum is a huge reason why my DOD - depression on drugs - is manageable.

Right this minute now there are SIX HUNDRED guests, 20 members. A ton of people reading around the posts, only a few getting the nerve up to pop in.

WE - as CB members - are writing the guidebooks. We post the topics, argue and cry, and leave our words for prosperity for others to learn from. 

It doesn't really matter how many MEMBERS are here right now, what's important is that many many people are here. Reading our words. Learning how to fight the good fight. Living with a disease we did not choose and want to discard every moment of our lives. But somehow someway we persevere. 

That's a very important point. Viewership to participation ratios are unreal, and the kind of discussion that happens on CB and used to happen on CM is/was a invaluable and startlingly unique source of information.

[water]

12 hours ago, JustNuts said:

but sadly, Jerod accidentally destroyed all of that during a IPB upgrade (>200,000 posts and >10,000 members in a completely unique niche forum all gone in the blink of an eye because he didn't have any fucking database backups whatsoever).

omfg, I had NO idea that's what happened. What a tragedy. THe forum was a wealth of information and insight. What has happened to all the members?

[JustNuts]

On 2/12/2017 at 1:38 PM, water said:

omfg, I had NO idea that's what happened. What a tragedy. THe forum was a wealth of information and insight. What has happened to all the members?

Some moved here, a few occasionally post on the facebook page for crazymeds, and the rest seem to have vanished.

[jt07]

10 hours ago, JustNuts said:

Some moved here, a few occasionally post on the facebook page for crazymeds, and the rest seem to have vanished.

Which is a damn shame too. CrazyMeds had a lot of members from India and points elsewhere and we really don't get those here.

[Velvet Elvis]

FWIW, it just looks less active because the number of active users online is measured differently.  Traffic has been consistent over the past few years.  What has changed is that the number of people on mobile devices keeps going up, likely resulting in fewer long posts.   

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I've just been unwilling to check each forum for topics I want to talk about for a little while. I've also not been struggling with my mood for some time so I haven't had the feeling to talk about that sort of stuff. I should contribute to other people's problems. maybe I will again. I guess I just haven't been in the mood to do so. 

[Velvet Elvis]

1 hour ago, Southern Discomfort said:

I've just been unwilling to check each forum for topics I want to talk about for a little while. I've also not been struggling with my mood for some time so I haven't had the feeling to talk about that sort of stuff. I should contribute to other people's problems. maybe I will again. I guess I just haven't been in the mood to do so. 

You don't just repeatedly click on "unread content" like everyone else?

 

[iaawal]

55 minutes ago, Velvet Elvis said:

You don't just repeatedly click on "unread content" like everyone else?

 

Nah, VE. I just click "All Activity"  

[Southern Discomfort]

10 hours ago, Velvet Elvis said:

You don't just repeatedly click on "unread content" like everyone else?

 

 

Never even noticed that thing existed.