posted on December 7, 2001 09:34:12 PM new
The AW boards are much slower than they were before the credit-card requirement and the resultant mass exodus, but after OTWA they are still the busiest boards off-eBay, unless there is one somewhere of which I am unaware. In fact, I would guess that the RT alone might rank second after OTWA. After skimming the other public boards, they didn't look all that busy to me, and I decided to do a little ciphering here.
Even though posting is much slower, there were still 49 threads started in the RT during the last week, 1143 posts at the time of the count about an hour ago (that doesn't include the topic post to each thread), and 42 different posters during the week.
Especially the number of posters surprised me, and all but 3 or 4 are regulars here. I can think of another dozen or so who are still around and post from time to time; there may be more.
When I first registered to post in the Ebay Outlook about three years ago, it was no busier than the RT is today. It's a little hard to visualize, just as it is to visualize when Ebay only had about 50,000 listings. Seems like almost a different world.
Anyway, I sometimes get a little discouraged when I think how slow the forum seems today, but it's really not in all that bad a shape, and if AW remains in business and keeps the forums open, I think it'll do okay
posted on December 7, 2001 09:37:55 PM new
ARE YOU READING MY MIND?
I was just thinking about how many people still post here.If we were all in here at the same time it would look like quite a few! I stopped counting at 27. All familiar names.
I noticed that at "another place" they keep saying there are only about 7 posters here but that just isn't so.
posted on December 7, 2001 09:44:12 PM new Great minds and all that.
The rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated, and the fact that it hasn't happened has been very disappointing to some.
[ edited by Antiquary on Dec 7, 2001 09:45 PM ]
posted on December 7, 2001 09:50:44 PM new
Might help if you move away slowly from chitter-chatter, or is it that you feel that emulation is the road to success?
posted on December 7, 2001 09:59:47 PM new
KRS it was just one week. Goodness sake. Didn't you see my thread proclaiming the end of fluff week? Back to the hard stuff, the political, the abortion issue, womens rights all that stuff.
posted on December 7, 2001 10:13:20 PM new
What I want to know is who these people are that are reading our stuff and not posting here... and why are they commenting on us at other places?
I don't read their stuff, they shouldn't read mine. I might want to say something here that I don't want just anybody to read.
posted on December 7, 2001 10:15:44 PM new
Well, krs, I don't know what you think has been emulated lately, but from my reading, albeit pretty cursory, I see no similarities whatsoever between this and other sites. If you are suggesting that you would like more of a balance with more serious topics, then I think that most here also like those and as far as I know, no one is preventing their continuance.
posted on December 7, 2001 10:53:12 PM new"I think that most here also like those and as far as I know, no one is preventing their continuance"
Mmm-mmm. So what's holding you back? Is it that you prefer that your "more serious topics" be brought to you for review and comment? Seems that it's not happening that way and now what will you do?
posted on December 9, 2001 12:08:33 PM new
Now that it's Christmas time you'll have to pop in more often... considering your i.d. I think a lot of people are popping in and and out quicker than they used to. It'll be nice when there are so many threads I can't keep up again... lately it's too quiet.
posted on December 10, 2001 10:22:25 AM new
Well, in retrospect, I think that I probably over-reacted to your initial comment, KRS. Perhaps because I don't consider the parody and satire of moderation and posting generally as fluff, nor do I consider that my reply was defensive. But I agree that you have contributed far more to stimulating and controversial discussion than any other poster in AW's history and it's an unreasonable and selfish assumption that you should continue to bear any more responsibility than the rest of us for initiating topics that we like to discuss. I also am aware that you receive a good deal of unjustified criticism for initiating those topics, especially ones that everyone is not supposed to talk about under the current political climate. So, in brief, point taken.
posted on December 10, 2001 11:16:43 AM new
Well, if memory serves me right, KRS has made a fair number of fluff posts himself. In fact, considering he has posted a record 13,434 times, I wouldn't be surprised to find that he also holds the AW record for the most fluff posts.
However, to be fair, in earlier times he used to specialize in very short posts and also went through a gif period. His discovery of Bush has had an unfortunate side effect of causing him to bloviate. So if number of words of posted (instead of posts) were used as a criteria instead, then he is a very serious poster indeed.
(Just staying on topic - this is a numbers thread.)
posted on December 10, 2001 07:52:23 PM new
In the initial post I didn't intend to place too much importance on the numbers alone, which I don't really care about as long as I continue to enjoy the place, whether it builds very much or not. But I was surprised when I did the numbers.
Of course, if it gets too slow it might be interesting to go to OTWA under a new ID and play around. Do a poll or two. I doubt that I could carry it off myself, but it's fun to watch.
posted on December 13, 2001 05:41:15 AM newif AW remains in business and keeps the forums open
March, maybe April, 2002.
This is purely speculation on my part, with no factual basis and made solely on my observations of AW's *progression* over the last year. I freely admit I could be wrong.
I hope I am.
Go ahead and delete me - you know you're dying to...
[ edited by sweetpotato on Dec 13, 2001 05:42 AM ]
posted on December 13, 2001 06:05:42 AM new
I hope you're wrong Sweetpotato, I really do. I worry about it though.
There's been such a downturn in business for small individual online auction sellers, I think the ripple effect might hurt AW too, it probably depends on how many large sellers they have and is it enough to keep them going.
I also think the downturn in auction selling and small sellers returning to regular jobs has also greatly affected the auction chat boards. There's a lot more boards and overall fewer posters, much more spread out. There's so many people that used to chat at AW that one by one said they weren't going to be selling full time anymore, or got another job... it's sad. I'm grateful I've still survived as a seller although I'm not on Ebay much anymore.
posted on December 13, 2001 07:46:43 AM new
I pop in and out because I have been spending alot of time listing. I did very well ... but am totally worn out. Now I just have to hope everyone pays
I hope AW does not shut down ... I will be totally lost. It really is a nice site with excellent hosting. I always had problems with pictures before I came here ... for me it is worth paying for the service.
posted on December 13, 2001 09:04:23 AM new
I had originally guessed a little after the first of the year, sweetpotato. Probably later though. They've obviously cut overhead to the bone. eBay would unquestionably like to dominate all auxillary auction services and they usually get substantially what they want, so on the basis of that assumption alone, I think many smaller sites are living on borrowed time.
I'm also skeptical how long internet communities like these with the OAI will continue, now that business is no longer the chief interest of the majority of posters. Actually that's been true for a year or so and all the boards have generally slowly declined except for brief periods of almost hyperactivity.
posted on December 13, 2001 02:25:56 PM new
"I'm also skeptical how long internet communities like these with the OAI will continue, now that business is no longer the chief interest of the majority of posters. Actually that's been true for a year or so and all the boards have generally slowly declined except for brief periods of almost hyperactivity"
I totally agree Antiquary!
Perhaps some Ritalin would be beneficial in times of hyperactivity?
Great minds and all that.
