Are internet forums Dying?

[Clad2Silver]

Don, you & I are two of the only stamp collectors remaining alive.....

Wanna' buy some stamps? I dabbled in stamps for many years but never got totally into collecting them and don't own any that would be considered valuable, most of them are good for postage and not much else. It was still fun but the only stamp dealer in my area closed up shop a couple of years ago due to declining business. Stamp shows are sparsely attended and it seems there are more dealers there than customers.

 

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[Clad2Silver]

Don, you & I are two of the only stamp collectors remaining alive.....

People come and go on forums but it seems as if more are going than coming. There's a lot of "newbies" getting into the hobby but I wonder how long they'll be around when they realize they won't be getting rich quick.

 

[Silver Saver]

It does seem like the detecting forums have been slower compared to when I first joined up, which was only 4 years ago. Although even I do a lot more browsing than posting these days.

The place that seems to get the most posts for detecting is over on reddit. But that place is just more well known to the general public

 

[Oregon Viking]

Don, you & I are two of the only stamp collectors remaining alive.....

Nope! In my small town of around 6,000 I know two stamp collectors. And I have witnessed quit a few guys with metal detectors. Also we have a lot of gold prospectors.

 

[Honest Samuel]

Only: First Contest is dying.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

I think so. Metal detecting in general is dying out. Most of what you see around here is insignificant finds.

I see a slave tag, a GW button, a CSA buckle and a 1652 tree coin in the banner finds! I wouldn't call any of those finds insignificant. But I do know what you're saying. Lots of Mercs, silver Rosies and IHC's posted here. I no longer post any of those finds, but to each his own. They're a thrill to find if you've never dug one before, so I understand why people post them.

As for metal detecting dying out, I'm not sure. Seems like there are more and more metal detecting videos on YouTube every week. I have noticed that there are a ton of beach metal detecting videos lately. I guess hunting in the woods isn't as much fun as digging gold rings and checking out the scantily clad women at the beach. I'll stick to woods hunting. No distractions there and lots of history to dig up.

 

[CASPER-2]

10 yrs ago I was known by many - you could go to an east coast beach and ask guys hunting if they know Casper and 9 out of 10 would say "heck yea!"
I had guys at work go on trips up and down the coast and would do that on vacay and were shocked how many said yes
They'd come back to work and tell the other guys "you cant believe how many guys out metal detecting there know him"
Tons of guys now do the You tube thing - Ive joined many live chats and many 1 out of 10 have heard of me - most of those guys I know
now - never go to forums at all - everyone tells me to do more vids - I like to write and I like posting pics and seeing pics of others finds

 

[pepperj]

It does seem like the detecting forums have been slower compared to when I first joined up, which was only 4 years ago. Although even I do a lot more browsing than posting these days.

The place that seems to get the most posts for detecting is over on reddit. But that place is just more well known to the general public

Never have done the FB-probably never will either.
I would loose the $$$ if I had to give an answer on "What is a reddit?"

The finds on the Banner are only a small snippet of what the membership believe should be awarded the header space. (Well that's to be taken with a grain of salt)
Popularity of the forums is just there's only so many folks in the hobby to go around-and only so much time.
Many probably grab a hunt here and there-and never post up the finds-because of the time it takes isn't there.

Personally if the hobby died tomorrow well so be it-less folks digging in the dirt raises the odds of my dirt digging being successful.
Was digging in the dirt 35+ years before any of this was happening-the only contact to the outside world was a couple of monthly magazines at the corner store where it was purchased and gleamed over till the pages and stories were worn by all in the household. Now that's another thing that has died-the written stories on a shiny piece of paper, bound by 2 staples.

Many on this forum probably never held one of those magazines-no, if it's not on the device in the paw it just never existed it seems.
There's just an example of a part of this 5 decade long detecting history has gone, lost, except for those that wrote, got published, and for those that read those articles-thanks to you all if your still out there.
Go back 55 yrs ago, and that's what dreams were made of reading about the adventures-gee even the first copy of Oak Island was a story to be told-now it's a click bait piece of sorrow.............

 

[ARC]

10 yrs ago I was known by many - you could go to an east coast beach and ask guys hunting if they know Casper and 9 out of 10 would say "heck yea!"
I had guys at work go on trips up and down the coast and would do that on vacay and were shocked how many said yes
They'd come back to work and tell the other guys "you cant believe how many guys out metal detecting there know him"
Tons of guys now do the You tube thing - Ive joined many live chats and many 1 out of 10 have heard of me - most of those guys I know
now - never go to forums at all - everyone tells me to do more vids - I like to write and I like posting pics and seeing pics of others finds

Well... ya know... like... um......

I am still a legend in my own mind.

:P

 

[DizzyDigger]

Well... ya know... like... um......

I am still a legend in my own mind.
:P

Thank you for qualifying that...like many of us, your legendary
status is limited to a small geographic area.

 

[ARC]

Thank you for qualifying that...like many of us, your legendary
status is limited to a small geographic area. View attachment 1935701

It is in my humble opinion that an empirical fact exists...

That almost all legends stem from some form of truths.

 

[BC1969]

Who told you that we got paid for writing the stories in W&E Treasures ?
Pfft.
Just seeing my original creative thought in print is compensation enough!

 

[Honest Samuel]

Not good enough for us poor writers.

 

[BC1969]

Not good enough for us poor writers.

What do you write ?

 

[Crow]

Gidday Amigos

When it comes to treasure hunting forums. For me and my interests are rather narrow focused on researching"Treasure legends" So my comments can only be taken in the context in regards to my area of interests. There is no other treasure hunting forums that compare in regard to that Topic to treasurenet. While for many there may be other metal detecting forums as good as as the one here. It is not my area of interest.

So for me love it or hate it, treasurenet has survived so far the changing interests of people drifting into other forums of social media, that has effectively killed off rival treasure hunting forums.

Yet its fair to say treasurenet evolution was not without its problems in real early days it was virtual free for all. Most of those early posts now was archived 1998-2004 now gone as far as I am aware? It was learning curve for the first forum operator Marc and those encountering such forums first the first time.

Due to human nature there became a need for moderation. Because civil conversations can develop into a slug fest really quick. So began the evolution of moderators and even for them it was all learning curve and perhaps still is? While it is easy to criticize moderation one should take walk in their shoes. It is not easy being a moderator because you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't . But its also a fine line being a referee and having an opinion at the same time without using the role as a moderator to shut down a post you do not agree with?

One such rival Forum was virtually self destructed because of over moderation. People stopped posting and the forum died.

Yet Moderators love them or hate hate them they are a necessary evil. Without them threads would breakdown in bickering and arguing. But it is not just a learning experience for moderators but also posters as well in learning the boundaries between free speech and outright slander. And of course peoples understanding the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not varies. Fortunately Treasurenet has posted rules forum threads.

I have thank O' Kentuck's interesting comments who summed the shift away from Forums more better than I can elaborate.....

I'm more apt to believe it's symptomatic of an increasingly Ego-Centric Society and a Social Platform that has failed to meet the evolving needs of their Members. Freedom of Speech.

All Social Media is ego-centric based. Everyone wants their opinions, their voice, to be heard. In the past Internet Forums were an outlet for those voices, albeit with physical moderation. Unfortunately, Moderation is/was ego-centric in itself by its own nature, and limited what opinions members were allowed to voice.

Modern Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter give their members much more freedom in that respect, with no 'post police' deciding what opinions they can or cannot express (within legal limits). Thus providing the Illusion of Free Speech.

I say "Illusion" because their posts/opinions are still limited in who can see them by Algorithms. But the trade off appears to be the ability to post their opinions unmoderated.

For me Treasure hunting forum has a mixed bag posters from very different walks on life. Some people are very knowledgeable others not so. Many have come and gone. We have attention seekers, conspiracy theorists, shameless promoters and egocentrics wanting to tell a story seeking approval.

Some posts you could roll your eyes back on fantastical baseless claims.Yet in among the background noise of such claims. some very valuable information can surface. While the forum might have lost it shine a bit it is still a very valuable research tool in regards to treasure legends and no doubt in many other subjects.

Crow

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Good post Crow, but I have to disagree on the lack of moderation on social media, there is as much moderation on the pages of facebook by page admins as any internet forum.

I belong to many groups on facebook covering topics such as music, dogs (boxers), parrots, cars, sports, politics as well as artifacts and see posts and threads removed all the time by page admins, and theeeeeeen there is the hand of big brother, AKA Facebook police who try to silence half the country by putting them in the notorious Facebook jail.

I have spent much time in FB jail, months infact for things like posting stick cartoon about the NFL, posting historical quote made by hitler, explaining a joke someone else posted to someone who did not understand it, I have been put in FB jail for posts that I made 5 to 7 years earlier by FB police of today that violated no FB rules at time posted but 7 years later I am notified it violates the notorious "community standards" and I can not post for 30 days. Picture a TNet moderator giving a timeout for something a member posted 7 years ago.

 

[gold tramp]

I think you hit on something here. I'd call it intolerance for political opinions. My opinion nothing much worse than having a post you made get deleted because somebody just didn't want to hear it. Now watch this get deleted.

Just go back a couple years into the gold forum, you can see what happened.
Gt ..

 

[bcloud]

Forums are still the way i go for good, varied answers to detecting questions or problems. The variety of inputs from all over, older and younger members can be of value. Times have changed, technology has changed, my poor old body has changed but I still enjoy metal detecting.

 

[BC1969]

Gidday Amigos

When it comes to treasure hunting forums. For me and my interests are rather narrow focused on researching"Treasure legends" So my comments can only be taken in the context in regards to my area of interests. There is no other treasure hunting forums that compare in regard to that Topic to treasurenet. While for many there may be other metal detecting forums as good as as the one here. It is not my area of interest.

So for me love it or hate it, treasurenet has survived so far the changing interests of people drifting into other forums of social media, that has effectively killed off rival treasure hunting forums.

Yet its fair to say treasurenet evolution was not without its problems in real early days it was virtual free for all. Most of those early posts now was archived 1998-2004 now gone as far as I am aware? It was learning curve for the first forum operator Marc and those encountering such forums first the first time.

Due to human nature there became a need for moderation. Because civil conversations can develop into a slug fest really quick. So began the evolution of moderators and even for them it was all learning curve and perhaps still is? While it is easy to criticize moderation one should take walk in their shoes. It is not easy being a moderator because you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't . But its also a fine line being a referee and having an opinion at the same time without using the role as a moderator to shut down a post you do not agree with?

One such rival Forum was virtually self destructed because of over moderation. People stopped posting and the forum died.

Yet Moderators love them or hate hate them they are a necessary evil. Without them threads would breakdown in bickering and arguing. But it is not just a learning experience for moderators but also posters as well in learning the boundaries between free speech and outright slander. And of course peoples understanding the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not varies. Fortunately Treasurenet has posted rules forum threads.

I have thank O' Kentuck's interesting comments who summed the shift away from Forums more better than I can elaborate.....

I'm more apt to believe it's symptomatic of an increasingly Ego-Centric Society and a Social Platform that has failed to meet the evolving needs of their Members. Freedom of Speech.

All Social Media is ego-centric based. Everyone wants their opinions, their voice, to be heard. In the past Internet Forums were an outlet for those voices, albeit with physical moderation. Unfortunately, Moderation is/was ego-centric in itself by its own nature, and limited what opinions members were allowed to voice.

Modern Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter give their members much more freedom in that respect, with no 'post police' deciding what opinions they can or cannot express (within legal limits). Thus providing the Illusion of Free Speech.

I say "Illusion" because their posts/opinions are still limited in who can see them by Algorithms. But the trade off appears to be the ability to post their opinions unmoderated.

For me Treasure hunting forum has a mixed bag posters from very different walks on life. Some people are very knowledgeable others not so. Many have come and gone. We have attention seekers, conspiracy theorists, shameless promoters and egocentrics wanting to tell a story seeking approval.

Some posts you could roll your eyes back on fantastical baseless claims.Yet in among the background noise of such claims. some very valuable information can surface. While the forum might have lost it shine a bit it is still a very valuable research tool in regards to treasure legends and no doubt in many other subjects.

Crow

Its called Libel.
Slander is oral defamation.

 

[Crow]

Its called Libel.
Slander is oral defamation.

Gidday BC1969

Yeah Yeah Ya got me! I meant Libel.

I plead guilty for my tardiness it was 2 am typing typo distracted by a 3 week old baby daughter who has a decent set of lungs on her. A hyper active 5 year old Son that will not sleep, a tired and grumpy wife and parent with dementia who is going through a second childhood. To really screw with me we are in lock down due to a covid outbreak.

So now amigo ya begin to understand why I am called a raggedy old crow.

Crow