Is the board dying?

[Epy]

Seems like a few years ago there would be many times more new threads per day in the programming sections, only a handful of threads are created per day now. Are other sites sucking activity from this one?

[MutantJohn]

I kind of feel this way, actually. I wish these forums were more active.

[swgh]

It's not dying, it's just that perhaps there are fewer newbies who need
help. cboard has been around for a long time, and is one of the first things
that appear on Google search, so it's traffic is very high still.

Members seem to come and go, some stick around for a while and help others
while others will post a single thread, get help then never post again. It takes
commitment and space out of a persons free time to come here regular, and I
guess some people just do not have that time free.

I would not say other boards are sucking the members away, I mean
stackoverflow is also very popular as it houses some very senior programmers
who answer some very technical questions.

I've been here from 2005, and yes I had a long space where I couldn't get on
due to the exact reason, no free time. It sort of has periods of very high activity
and very low. Some of the moderators who used to be active here years back have
perhaps moved on too. Laserlight, Salem, Fordy and Prelude are still around.

There are other members I remember like Slymalstrom and Daved who were very
active back in the day. It will pick up, wait till the new college term starts.

[Matticus]

I've been away for a while, but as I recall, the action here tends to slow down in the summer months. As swgh said, things usually pick up when college semesters begin.

[Guest]

Also, the board is low-interaction by design, as I'm sure you're aware. The existence of a board isn't easy to spot from the frontpage and – if found – greets users with a message about using the search function and not asking redundant questions. It's no surprise then, that the statistics look something like this: There are currently 346 users online. 3 members and 343 guests, with most visitors anonymously checking out old posts before returning into the void.

[the_jackass]

It does seem to be getting a lot less activity than the first time I joined.

Oh and I really miss an entity...it starts with p and ends with p

[Mario F.]

And theres another reason too...it starts with p and ends with p :P

You are very wrong! Unless you just mistyped and you meant Pokemon Go.

No one in here is responsible for other people's decisions. Much less those in here who have an encyclopedic knowledge of computer programming and choose to spend some of their time sharing that knowledge in the way they see fit. Blaming on these valuable community members the decision of someone else to leave because of whatever sensibilities that were hurt, is one of the lowest forms of finger-pointing you can get and the fastest way you will find for you to lose those that in this community still make a difference. And for that alone, I wish you were one of those that left.

You may not understand this, but this community (any community) needs more people that can answer questions than they will ever need people that asks them. A community like this can subsist for another decade without a single new subscription. This doesn't mean a green pass card to whatever the abuse, but it is something that more visitors here and anywhere else looking for knowledge should be more aware.

Communities like C++Board, most IRC channels, whatever is left of the free usenet and the few other surviving pure web forums, exist outside the commercial logic of the modern cookie cutter mass communities that will make you go through its entire sewage system before you can find the correct answer to your question (if you know where to look; because if you don't, you are done).

Communities like this one live and die on the hands of their maintainers on not on some page-hit strategy. It's for this reason that when visiting places like this, at the very least do it in goodwill, for pete's sake don't leave your backbone at home, and understand this: all, or almost all of your questions will be answered. And they will be answered in a very satisfactory manner, so be thankful of whomever is delivering them, instead of coming here and feel insulted at the very people that are doing something to help you.

[the_jackass]

Wtf. I didnt mean to accuse anyone of destroying the site, or of anything else for that matter. I dont blame any person for not having the time for this website. I only meant to say that the place feels a little empty without the said person. I respect them for having such a deep knowledge of the subject and liked their style of writing too. The way things are right now is not anyone's fault.

[swgh]

@the_jackass

I am sure Mario just took what you said the wrong way. I doubt he
meant any intentional malice in the statement. Oh, and I am trying to
remember who that member was Been a lot come and go!

I for one, love this community, and as I said in a previous post, there is
ups and downs in forum activity -- wait till September.

[the_jackass]

Oh I think I get it. He thought I meant p...p drove away all users.
No that wasnt what I meant at all.
I meant I really like them and the place feels a bit empty without them.

I think I should change the wording of that post a bit.

[Mario F.]

Damn. It seems I jumped the gun. Sorry for my abrupt reply. I never considered for a moment that you may have meant something else. Sorry for that too.

[the_jackass]

No problem

[Yarin]

Oh and I really miss an entity...it starts with p and ends with p

And I miss OrdinarySpud. He was even more entertaining than Mr o_O