End of the Forum?
 

The last week or so when I've checked the forum, when you click on the Today's Posts Link, I've not been getting any new posts displayed, not even posts about Stanley. Is this the end ?


The forum has been going downhill the last few years, many have commented on the lack of posts apart from the round ball game. We've been told, if you don't like it then basically ****** off or post more.


I think I've reached the limit for the forum and it's time to call it a day. I'm, buggering off, I think it's sad that the forum is probably going to end this way

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I have been posting on here for a long time.
When I have pointed out that the forum has gone down hill I was informed that it was the fault of forum members…that means me and you.
We have just had a general election. Now wouldn’t you think that would have created some posts?
It didn’t.
That has to be an indication that the forum is in terminal decline.
Ryewolf I will be sorry to see you go as I love seeing your pictures…but I understand your thoughts.
Since they changed the server, there has been no facility to access blogs or add to them.

I know Roy has a job, a family and a life, but if he doesn’t want the forum to continue then he should close it down.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I would be very sorry to see the forum fail. Over the years it has been a fertile source of information on one side of my family, not only answering (often without me asking) many questions but also raising raising some quries I had not thought of. As to postings, being neither a current or ex resident of the town that reduces dramatically the topics I can interact with, I suspect several other remote members who's only connection is via (deceased) relatives find themselves in a similar situation.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Accyweb had its day. I didnt post much but enjoyed reading, particularly when the history section was active.
There are still people joining but I dont see many posts from them.
As I write this there are 5800 visiting guests. I wonder what they are reading ?
Thanks to everybody who posted.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

There are a lot of people who do not live in the area…but like you have connections via relatives deceased or otherwise.
But we all live in the real world. We have ideals and opinions that do not need to be related just to the area.
We are all affected by migrants, the financial situations, cost of living crisis and the media hype that surrounds many things.

Those who come on the forum to discuss football must also have been affected by these things, yet make no comments.
I have no problem with those who do visit to post on football…but surely they have other interests and values that we would like to read posts on.

I have been part of the forum for over 20 years. I have enjoyed contributing.
I have enjoyed the contributions that others have made.
I think that I have done my bit to try to keep the forum going, but it does seem to be a lost cause.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Margaret, you have been a stalwart of common sense on here and your wise words will be missed if they were to cease.
I’m no doubt one the guilty ones, not having kept up regular “football-free” posts; and even the latter have tailed off dramatically.
Maybe a reason might be the plethora of platforms and sites that seem to demand people’s attention these days (are they reaching overwhelming proportions?), although that can’t be my excuse as this is the only web site on which I make comments.
Perhaps another reason, reflected in the recent low election turnout, is the frustration that our thoughts and opinions seem so easy to ignore by those who make the decisions that impact our lives; so do folk stop bothering to make them?
It’ll be sad if the Accyweb does die as it’s unlikely that the world is going to emerge from its global madness any day soon (get ready for the engineered Bird Flu “pandemic” coming in time for the US election) and I value knowing there are some sane voices out there.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Unfortunately the forum style is old and many no longer use it.
I hear it does not work very well on mobile phones which most use to access the internet.

These days it's the Facebook format that wins.
The Rossendaleonline forum disappeared many years ago and was not replaced as it's user base had moved on.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I hate FB. I think it has been the death knell forums like this.
I do not have a mobile phone so I don’t know if Accyweb does not work well on one.
Many of the people who used to post on here migrated to the Facebook version of Accyweb.
You had to join by invitation and I was invited but I saw it on my daughter’s computer and it did not inspire me to join. (The fact that it was Facebook was a big deterrent for me…I do not hear much good that goes on on FB)

I agree that there are lots of other distractions that stop people from posting.
The dying forum means that because there are no threads(or very few) where I feel I can make valid posts, my kitchen cupboards have had the benefit of the time I might have spent on here. So while I miss posting, discussing, bantering…I have been gainfully employed elsewhere.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

This year I closed my own forum purely because of so few people posting and that had been going for 23 years. A photography Forum I was an Admin at closed in June this year after 18 years. Other social media platforms are much easier to use, easier to post images too (most people are using their mobile phones for everything). Plus younger people seem to have a much shorter attention span, they want everything right here, right now.


Unfortunately Accy Web is dominated by football posts, which is driving none football fans away as there's nothing for them to talk about. A Forum that used to be about the town of Accrington, has now become a forum about the football team.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I have been saying this for such a long time.
I admit that the football section is well supported and this is to be applauded, but if Roy wants to make it just for the football then he should say

When I have observed that the general part of the forum is dead, Less told me to post more interesting stuff.
But where is Less now? It seems that even he has deserted the forum set up by his son

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I feel very sorry that this site is as it is now. I joined Accyweb in 2009 although I’m not from Accrington but my husband was. I was very interested in the debates, comments, and so on, and I put my two bob’s worth in along the way. I read the discussions, joined in the debates, chuckled at the humour, the comments gave me much food for thought.

This Accyweb family ‘listened’ to me when sadly my Accrington man passed away, they supported me. In the same way we all mourned the loss of some of the people we had got to know on here but who had also passed away. Brave people. Sadly missed.

When contributors became conspicuous by their absence, I still tried to do my bit but threads and their comments didn’t seem to get much air play and soon bit the dust. It was very off-putting. I stopped even looking in on the site every day as it was depressing. So I also am guilty of not contributing lately but I have felt my latest efforts have been a waste of time. I think that’s probably how some others have felt.

I am very sorry that the site is in a decline, it deserves better. There’s still time to save it. So how about it. Don’t let it have passed its ‘used up by’ date.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Dorothy, we have both had the family of the forum with us through good times and bad.
It was something that we could come to for support and the friends we had not met, but felt like we had.

This forum currently resembles nothing like that we knew. The people who were our internet friends have gone AWOL.
I still visit from time to time, but when faced with just the Stanley posts…well, it feels like I have been evicted from my home. That makes me so sad.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I definitely miss the old Accyweb. I still can’t understand how there were a number of regular contributors with lots to write about and then it seemed suddenly that most of them had got cramp in their fingers or were suffering from brain freeze and had nothing to say.. There one day, gone the next.

I have noticed on the occasions when I have looked in that there are a number of adverts that I have to get past, sometimes they are right in the middle of a posting. Big ads. Very annoying.

I am surprised that there has not been any comments from the moderator/s regarding the decline of the site.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I must say that I feel the same way as Dotti & Margaret, but I’m probably as guilty as anyone by not using the website as much as I should/could.
In my defence however, I must say that I left the UK in 1967 at the age of 24, so a lot of the forum topics are much later than that, however I do enjoy reading and answering some topics which either go back before 1967, or are about something/someplace that I can refer to when I was still in Accrington.
One thing that does put me off sometimes is the procedure used in getting a photo into a topic, very complicated even for me with loads of experience from the word go (DOS). Why can’t the website just use the “Copy-Paste” technique??
I just hope that the website will not suffer a “slow death”, as I really do enjoy being a part of it.
Cheers

Re: End of the Forum?
 

This is probably not the right place to comment on this but in the 10+ years I have been a member of this site I cannot remember ever having seen any adverts. Before anyone makes the obvious comment I do not have any advert blockers on my machine but I do always take the option to decline averts if asked. This lack of adverts is one of the reasons why having satisfied my original reason for joining years ago I am still around.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I have tried to post topics that are broad and might appeal to as many people as possible.
The problem seems to have arisen when Hyndburn Chat took off.
They seem to have taken a lot of those people who used to post on informative stuff…like Entwisi. He was a mine of information.
There were posters who posted funny things that made you chuckle.
I miss those because I love a good chuckle. Lettie wrote a couple of blogs that had me laughing so much that tears were streaming down my face.
Isn’t that just priceless?

As for loading pictures. Well, yes at first I did struggle with that, it as always there were people on here who walked me through it…and I did the same for other members once I got the hang of it.
Accyweb has been a big part of my education in relation to technology. It would be so sad if it was no more

I really do miss my blogs too. They documented the times I had with my mum at the end of her life. I used to read them when I wanted to think of the fun we had together.
I also documented the big changes in my daughter’s life…the trials and tribulations.
So if I could read those again that would make my day,

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I'm not surprised really. The forum/site is outdated for the purpose and technology moves on but generally the people still here don't. I like to pop back here now and then

I thought about setting up a discord server for accy. But then I thought perhaps that's not a great idea



Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Rob, I would move on if I thought that some other format filled the bill for me, but it doesn’t.

I don’t do any of those sites that are probably considered to be more up to date…no WhatsApp, no X, no instagram.
They do not do it for me.

Accyweb had a character, a soul and none of those aforementioned do. I felt that any of the contributors I might meet in Tesco or on the market. It was a format that reflected the town. It was personal.
If it is so outmoded then why doesn’t Roy ditch it?
That question is not meant to be contentious, it is a genuine question and I would be interested in the answer.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Perhaps outdated isn't the right term because formus for hobbies and stuff thrive.

Take "Hyndburn Chat" for example. It has 46 thousand members.

I would myself prefer the forum over that anyday. But it shows how accessible it is


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Re: End of the Forum?
 

Because it has forty six thousand members does not make it something I want to be part of.
This site has a good number of members, they just do not participate very much.
And if this forum is failing then why doesn’t Roy dismantle it?
Again I am not asking the question to be fly, I really would like to know what the plans are.
I miss the blogs. It was said they would come back but no mention of when.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

The number of people in the group isn't really the point. It's the accessibility of the site itself and reflective of the times we live in and how people interact in general digitally

As for the site "dying" and whether it's worth keeping running. They are questions only Roy can answer. Perhaps the cost is not that much to hold on to nostalgia. URLs are fairly cheap these days. I don't know how much it costs to keep a forum like this running





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Re: End of the Forum?
 

How is this site less accessible than other sites like FB? Am I not interacting digitally.


I know that lots of people migrated to FB when Hyndburn chat was set up, the format did not appeal to me…and it was by invite too.
So how has it gained such leverage? Is it something that now you can just join.
Not that I would…join that is.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

How do you access the site

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Re: End of the Forum?
 

On my iPad, or my laptop or my desktop, never on a phone

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I need to check how it looks on iPad. But without Tapatalk it's not very accessible on the mobile

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Re: End of the Forum?
 

I sent less a message to check in and see where he is as one of the mainstay members of the site it's weird to see him here this less no pub intended

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Re: End of the Forum?
 

Damn phone lol

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Re: End of the Forum?
 

Boredom caused by too many unofficial moderators, controlling things by attacking those they didn't agree with.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Kestrel, please explain that post.

How can there be unofficial moderators?
My understanding is that Moderators have a different dashboard with which to do their moderating.

Perhaps you mean that there were people who did not agree with your opinions, but these people had no moderator powers.
The forum depends on different opinions to survive.

The real problem is that people migrated to FB…and those who were football fans, the Stanley supporters took up the space that was left.
Nature abhors a vacuum.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Awww bless you Margaret for still hanging in there with the forum :) … we all used to have so much fun on here didn’t we ! :)

It’s strange, I was just looking for some information on the Come and Welcome WMC on google and it brought me here, I felt like I was visiting an old friend with the familiarity.

I’m one of them who migrated to Facebook but I have to say there are some lovely Facebook groups out there Margaret, of Accrington in the past and present. Ye Olde Accrington and Judith Murphy’s Garth Dawson archive collection are particularly interesting. They’re so entertaining to read and some of the old pictures are exquisite, I feel like you would maybe enjoy it immensely if you gave it another try and your contribution would be so valuable just as it is here.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Thank you Tinkerbelle.
Yes we did have lots of very good and entertaining discussions….and the blogs. I loved writing my blog and it was for me as much as for those who read my ramblings.
I miss so much the not being able to relive those times I had with Ma at the end of her life.
Those were precious memories to me. Alas now lost:(

Yes I know there are some interesting bits of Hyndburn chat, but it is not for me.
I do not like the format of it. I like Accyweb for the way that threads are laid out.
I can follow them better.
I want to tell you that all of you who went over to FB have been very much missed.
Your opinions, your comments, your humour….all missed and Accyweb is much poorer for that loss.
Thank you for coming back for a visit.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

… and thank you for keeping the lights on Margaret. I needed a question answering and very quickly had it answered just like in the older days of Accy Web x

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Alas my light is only a glimmer…it needs more little lights to join together to make it bright again.

It is not easy trying to keep the little light from going out.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

"Boredom" caused by unofficial moderators....

What a poor take that is. Not true. Even hyndburn chat didn't cause that. It's just the way the internet changes

I remember. Some people were trying to act like they had influence over the forum.

kestrelx was treated in an inappropriate manner by the very person that formed hyndburn chat. He left because he was unhappy that people would stick up for kes

For the record I hold no I'll feelings towards him

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Re: End of the Forum?
 

If you do get a mobile phone Margaret. Just install Tapatalk. Forum works well on that.

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Re: End of the Forum?
 

OK, what the heck is Tapatalk? I'm in Canada never heard of it?

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I think it is the way that mobile phones access the site…but if I am wrong there will be someone along in about three week to correct me..a bit longer if the bus is late.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Tapatalk is an app that presents the site via its own method so viewing the site a lot easier on a mobile phone

This site forum type is one that is supported by Tapatalk. Which has been around for a very long time now.

If you look at my attached screenshots below from my phone you can see how awkward the site is on a phone because there is no mobile browser version of the site ( or the sites forum type )

The other screenshots show how it looks viewed through Tapatalk https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9c89f1bcd0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...346220741c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...28ce9b6282.jpg

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Re: End of the Forum?
 

Thank you Rob…I would never know because I do not access Accyweb in this way. I use my desktop or my iPad.

Yes it is ungainly via this method so what is the answer?
These days I just pop in…look at what the topics are…and they are usually around football, so I leave.

How is it the football fans can find the time and make the effort to post?
Yet no one else bothers. Even Less seems to be missing from the site.
I think it has got past the point of resuscitation.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

as long as some still come and visit it will keep going ...

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I was using the forum style of communicating over 30 years ago, it was then - the best way to have a discussion, in some ways it still is - having a thread about a specific thing rather than the more modern Discord way of having a channel and many cross discussions are going on.

Discord has recently introduced forum type threads to channels so discussions can be kept on topic.

Facebook too has the ability to have chats that are topic specific.

However, a forum alone, PHBB format or whatever language used to write it - is old and does not port well onto mobile phones, which is the highest method for social media discussions now.

Unfortunately it's just the way it is, it's only us older die hards that use forums that will keep them going for general discussions, or the fans that keep them specific (although there are Facebok groups galore for football).

If we had the ability to filter out the football threads from the new posts search, it would not give many results if any most days. That's the way it is.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

i would be gutted if the forumn died.1can never enivsage that.hope i am wrong.it was the best thing to me.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

to be honest i have only botherd with the football side since it went downhill,that was a mistake in my eyes.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Hi all

I've been reading all the posts about the decline of the forum and I thought that one of the biggest reasons for its decline is that most of the early members that produced the bulk of posts were old people of Accy that came on here to reminisce about what it was like to live here.

Sadly, most of them have now passed on and were irreplaceable for their knowledge. I can think of a few.

Also, sadly, I've had a loss of my own, in my old singing partner, Alan St John, passed away two weeks ago. We sang and played in folk clubs across the North of England, in the early 70s.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Pompeylass, firstly my sincere condolences on your recent loss. It is a hard road you are facing now.
I hope you have good support from friends and family.

Some of what you say about the demise of the forum is true.
There are other factors though in this sad decline.
A lot of the younger posters migrated to Hyndburn Chat on Facebook.
They left this forum with a gaping hole in its contributors.

Also, when Mick Blacledge died the moderation of the forum was (to be kind) very hit and Miss.

Another factor was when the server was changed and there were elements of the forum that were missing. It was said that these would be restored, but the have not been.
The blogs were not restored. I was an avid blogger on the forum and had a number of regular readers. Gone!
It seems like there is nothing worth coming to the forum for unless you follow football.if the father of the owner deserts the forum, then you know things are not in a good state.

I don’t know what has happened to Less, he used to post acerbic comments on here regularly, but has not been on here for a long time.
He told us that if we did not post interesting stuff then it was ‘our fault’ that the forum floundered.

This is just my take on the issue.
I know that several of the die hards have tried to keep the place alive, but there comes a time when you have to stop watering dead plants…I think this is one of those dead plants.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

There were some people who used to jump on everything I said, I assume they have passed on to the Facebook in the sky!? But I was also personally insulted. ��


Perhaps the novelty wears off as well, people are more enthusiastic when they first get on line and start looking at forums etc. That declines and younger people go on X- twitter, Instagram etc not slow forums like this one.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

It is only a slow forum because there are no posters anymore.

Kestrel x you had some pretty contentious views.
They polarised people on the forum, but forums need posters who can have differences, otherwise it is sterile, there is no jousting.
There is a good amount of posting traffic on the Stanley side. Not all of those who no longer visit have gone to ‘Facebook in the sky’.

But if there is no discussion then there is no reason to visit, nothing to see

I have continued to visit and I have tried to stimulate discussion, with very little success.
Eventually you lose the heart to post.
I do not do X, Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp. They do not hold any interest for me.

And if you were offended by posters on here then I feel very sure you would be offended by what you find on these sites you consider ‘faster’.

You might ask me how I know this…well there is enough in the news about the nastiness on these sites.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Like Monty Python's Brave Sir Robin
I feel like.....
Packing it in and packing it up
And sneaking away and buggering off
And chickening out and ****ing off home,
Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge...

-MoreJoe

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Yes
More Joe, I feel like that myself but quitters never win.
I live in the hope that things will change…and they will, but right now it does not look like it will be in the favour of those who knew Accyweb when it was a thriving forum with discussions, debates…sometimes heated and the kind of banter that goes on in a family situation.
Those were the days.
Accyweb has been allowed to disintegrate and fall into disrepair.
That is SO sad for all of us.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Instagram has a lot of animal cruelty on it that comes up randomly and a lot of weird A.I. created content of horror. You don't have to search for it, just seems to come up. Which isn't good for younger minds that only know online content. Accy Web is fairly tame by comparison. Also you don't get personally insulted on there as it's different format.

Yes there was a lot more people contributing to general information than today, that was over 10 years ago. But there is some useful information on here about the history of the area.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

I do not use any of these sites.
Animal cruelty would really upset me so I think I am best off not being part of that.
I do not trust AI.
Give me ,tame’Accyweb every time.
I know bad things happen in the world, but I come here to interact with others who have interesting stories, know about the town I have lived in for all of my life.
I do not want the exotic, or the stuff that generates activity on other forums.
This has been a good forum…it has felt like family and it is sad to see the family dying.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Pity there's not a Genealogy/ Family Tree topic built into this forum- I think that would generate some fascinating posts.

I for one would be on it, constantly, as I've not long been given a subscription to 'Ancestry' as a Christmas present by the family.

Also, the new census details for the 1921 Census are now out, and more widely available than they were.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Yes, I think you could be right on there.
Pompeylass if you received an Ancestry subscription for Christmas be prepared to becoming an addict to finding yours and sometimes other people back stories.


I have been on Ancestry for a long time. I can lose hours at a time investigating leads…I miss meals, burn the candle at both ends…but I have enjoyed every frustrating minute of it.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Pompeylass
Have you tried Family search. A lot of info on and its free.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Mark, do you mean 'FamilySearch.org? Not tried that one.

That's run by the Mormons. I used to frequently visit the Mormon Family History Centre at Haslingden. Had some fun and facts days out there.

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Yes thats the one. Found a lot of useful info when we were researching my wifes family tree.

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That used to be run by an old lady who was strict, no nonsense and thorough, but slow.

I remember one day, getting a bit bored with my searches in the death certificates, and started roaming about. I went to the back of the spool and had a read.

There, I came across an entry in the late 1800s for Billy the Broom, who had dropped dead while sweeping London's streets. No one knew his real name or where he came from, so the certificate was made out in that name.

Re: End of the Forum?
 

Familysearch is a very good free genealogy site.
I have found things on their site that have not come up on Ancestry.

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im still dropping in from time to time ... the spugster cant remember his password .. at least one thing he'll be down in a couple of weeks to drive me nuts for a week ...

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I also have a peep from time to time. Just to see if there is anything I can find interesting.
You know you LIKE being driven nuts by Spuggie.

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i cant complain margaret he does the cooking!!!! :D though thats probably more self preservation than anything ... hes the better cook .. :D:D:D