The Demise of the Metal Detecting Forum?

[John Winter]

A frequent question on many detecting forums, both home and abroad, is the one asking what has happened to all the members, and why so few post. This is then followed up by comments to the effect that the site is ‘dying.’

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The Demise of the Metal Detecting Forum? | John Winter

 

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[coinman123]

Interesting article, I have noticed that the big forums, like Treasurenet and Friendly Metal Detecting Forum, seem to have a steady amount of activity, I have noticed though, that out of the aprox. 100,000 members very few of them actively post. If you look up a random member that joined three years ago you may see that it is very likely that they posted one or two times than left. I have seen that I only see around 300 certain people or so on here that are on here every day (I think I can recall most of them too), that is just my experience though. I think that if some important contributors leave to Facebook or such and then things will start to fail. The thing is, I'm not sure that will really happen. They may join other sites but I doubt they will abandon the forums all together. On little forums I think that will not be the case though. I have left for certain lengths of time due to other places, I may spend two weeks or so focusing on the coin forum I'm a member of and then come back here, usually it's pretty equal though and during metal detecting season I will be here quite often,
I do not use Facebook much and prefer the forums though.

Anyways, Very interesting read. You always do such great articles that I look forward to reading.

 

[ARC]

Think I will stick with TNet.

Facebook is Myspace on steroids...
Myspace was the Undernet on steroids...
Undernet was the BBS on steroids...

So...
It would be safe to say... What's the next "big" thing ?

Tnet suits my MD needs just fine...
Call me "oldschool"...

I like it

Anyway...
No offense John... and have enjoyed your blogs...
Keep in mind... persons like myself who DO read your comments/blog... SOME of us are not interested in anything "more" from this experience...
Personally...
WHICH beings I am NOT on any other thing other than this site...
I would have never even known you existed if it were not for this site.

Being on a computer has "eaten up" enough of my life already.
My vanity driven self absorbed "promotion" via "Facebook" would and will ... only add to the workload and attention load...
which is already maxed out as it is.

I will b here... keeping Tnet "alive"...
If they will "have me".

 

[CincinnatiKid]

What coinman123 says x2. Great post!
Although, what is this "facebook" you reference?
Peace ✌

 

[George (MN)]

I think I understand the claim. Forums are now old-fashioned. And everyone knows you can watch videos of how the newest detectors perform, on sites like You Tube. Of course, the weather has just warmed up, so now many are detecting more & spending less time on the internet. At least now I feel I can get more caught up on my internet reading & hopefully be inspired to get out. Best wishes, George (MN)

 

[Tnmountains]

You can see the stats of people on line. Many read and do not join but this site is always breaking new records for number of people on line. I read more than I post. I learn a lot! Every web site is driven by Google and your key words. They are what put you on top of searches.

 

[coinman123]

You can see the stats of people on line. Many read and do not join but this site is always breaking new records for number of people on line. I read more than I post. I learn a lot! Every web site is driven by Google and your key words. They are what put you on top of searches.

I have noticed that, I always see that way more people just read the posts and don't join than registered users, that is how I was until I joined.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

TreasureNet is by far the largest and most active treasure forum on the net, both on unique daily visitors, active members and page hits. At any given moment we have several thousand members and guests on line.

Right now.....

There are currently 3016 users online. 343 members and 2673 guests

Most users ever online was 15,889, Oct 14, 2014 at 09:22 AM.

 

[ryaan21]

I still go to a few forums mainly for the cache of knowledge in the posts from the past. In my opinion as much as sponsors might be needed to run a forum, those are what are ruining the experience for me and many others. Couple that with power hungry moderators and it is not hard to see why some forums are struggling.

When sponsors become more important than members, it just becomes time to move on. Sadly though the sponsors are even starting to infiltrate the facebook detecting groups as well.

It is making it so it is hard to find reliable information on detectors and vendors. Every review or opinion has to be absolutely positive or it gets deleted and you might even get booted from the forum.

Luckily I have found a facebook group that does not have sponsors and is not getting them. Can post honest opinions without upsetting the herd.

It seems like forums are also trying to make money now rather than just be a metal detecting forum. The minute you make it a business, the less people will want to visit.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[TheHunterGT]

Facebook and Youtube are too big to fail....and IMO nothing will be replacing them anytime soon. While they are great resources for MD'ers.....I have learned more here in a few months than Youtube and FB ever could ever teach me.

I can read multiple posts worth of info in a half hour here and cover subjects from coil covers to pin-pointers to firmware upgrades. Some videos take that long just showing you how to use a single mode on a detector.

IMO TN is most likely too big to fail as well. With the number posted above by Treasure_Hunter...this place is not going anywhere.

If I want entertainment.....Youtube it is. If I want information...here I be.

I think a chat room would be the icing on the cake here. Unless there is one and I am oblivious to the link for it. Seems like an oversight for a forum this big.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Chat room is part of charter membership but is not very active...

 

[Slingshot]

Too many hardcore TH'ers gather here for this forum to die IMHO. As far as FB, many thinking people dropped that after the Snowden revelations, and I find the Utube videos mentally unchallenging and shallow. The real meat and potatoes is here, and I think we all will be able to enjoy this forum for many years to come. Cheers!!

 

[Tnmountains]

Facebook and Youtube are too big to fail....and IMO nothing will be replacing them anytime soon. While they are great resources for MD'ers.....I have learned more here in a few months than Youtube and FB ever could ever teach me.

I can read multiple posts worth of info in a half hour here and cover subjects from coil covers to pin-pointers to firmware upgrades. Some videos take that long just showing you how to use a single mode on a detector.

IMO TN is most likely too big to fail as well. With the number posted above by Treasure_Hunter...this place is not going anywhere.

If I want entertainment.....Youtube it is. If I want information...here I be.

I think a chat room would be the icing on the cake here. Unless there is one and I am oblivious to the link for it. Seems like an oversight for a forum this big.

Chat just never really took of Huntergt.

 

[ivan salis]

many folks here are just visiting "lurkers" soaking up as much knowledge and info as possible while giving little to no info in return--they read a lot but post little to nothing in "return" (these types of folks come and go from site to site ) -- then there are the " core folks" -who post a lot and help folks -- the "help and knowledge givers" who for the most part are long term members *

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I still go to a few forums mainly for the cache of knowledge in the posts from the past. In my opinion as much as sponsors might be needed to run a forum, those are what are ruining the experience for me and many others. Couple that with power hungry moderators and it is not hard to see why some forums are struggling.

When sponsors become more important than members, it just becomes time to move on. Sadly though the sponsors are even starting to infiltrate the facebook detecting groups as well.

It is making it so it is hard to find reliable information on detectors and vendors. Every review or opinion has to be absolutely positive or it gets deleted and you might even get booted from the forum.

Luckily I have found a facebook group that does not have sponsors and is not getting them. Can post honest opinions without upsetting the herd.

It seems like forums are also trying to make money now rather than just be a metal detecting forum. The minute you make it a business, the less people will want to visit.

Just my 2 cents.

Sponsors are not more important than members, but they run a close 2nd, they are a positive part of any large forum, without them TN would not have survived for 20 years. I have been on small forums with no sponsors and they are like ghosts towns...

It may be different on other forums but on TN equipment reviews are welcome both good and bad and are not deleted if they are negative...

Forums have rules to make it an enjoyable experience for all members and with out mods and admins who enforce the rules it would be a zoo as dominant personalities would run off or intimidate new members from posting...

There are a couple forums that have no sponsors and or rules are not enforced and it shows as threads and posts are spaced hours apart on some and not a very enjoyable experience on others...

 

[TheHunterGT]

I think sponsors are great for a forum. It is when the sponsors are treated like moderators/admins and are protected from negative reviews that trouble soon follows.

I used to moderate and admin a fairly popular mycology forum with about 25,000 members years back. It was owned by a single person who did not allow competitor vendors in his forum. If anything negative was discussed about his product is was not deleted...but it was not taken well. The "other" community that did allow sponsors and vendors had 8-10X our member base....and we were quite large at 25,000 members for an obscure subject like mycology.

Too bad about the chat room not taking off.....I love chat rooms for 20-30 minute stretches. I plan on chipping in for the Charter very soon. Had to make sure I was going to stay here and enjoy this hobby and forum first. I will check it out...dead or not. Perhaps a couple peeps will want to talk from time to time.

 

[ivan salis]

note the chat room was for paying charter type members ... which limited it to a small group that rapidly chatted out , with one another

 

[releventchair]

Over seas the forums I've viewed are "dry"in humor. Meaning don't fart sideways and topic better be detecting related.
Be so properly polite or, good bye.

Having seen sites evolve, grow and fade or not get far off the ground over the years, T-Net has been the site that often crackles with energy and activity in an exciting manner when others are near/or silent.
That is due to it's active members. Yes many folks lurk and probably walk away with the knowledge they were after,or a reason why they don,t.
Despite a decent relationship being one in which you get back what you put in to it, there are members willing to help without worrying about who takes advantage of it as a nonmember. Same with the sites administration.
Info could be limited to members by denying much access to lurkers till registered; beyond some basics to give a glimpse of this sites...
( wait for it John) .... AWESOMENESS..
But that is not how it is run. For their reasons . And it seems to work admirably.
T-Net has a history. It has evolved to what it is today but has a solid foundation. Between the two it stands firm as a leader in folks networking.
Thanks Marc!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

We have hundreds of new member each month, many of which were long time visitors who decided to join and contribute...

We have 366 new members so far that registered in April...

Currently Active Users

There are currently 5667 users online. 274 members and 5393 guests

Most users ever online was 15,871, Oct 14, 2014 at 09:23 AM.

 

[ARC]

Besides the only people That I am friends with that do use facebook are these folks...
Great party buddies in Med school.