End of the Forum?

[Ryewolf90]

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

[Margaret Pilkington]

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.

[Hill Walker]

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.

[Mark2009]

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.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Hill Walker

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.

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.

[Exile on Spencer St]

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.

[RainbowSix]

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.

[Margaret Pilkington]

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.

[Ryewolf90]

Originally Posted by RainbowSix

Unfortunately the forum style is old and many no longer use it.

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.

[Margaret Pilkington]

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

[dotti34]

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.

[Margaret Pilkington]

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.

[dotti34]

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.

[landhusweg]

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

[Hill Walker]

Originally Posted by dotti34

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.

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.