It's so quiet here...

[JDW in Oz]

As much as it embarrasses me to admit it, I nowadays lurk more than I post here.

Nothing to do with disliking or even criticising this site - I'm 101% happy and okay with everything and everyone here.

All my usual excuses apply - too much to do, too little time to do it all. Even my photography has taken a second place of late, altho I try to get out at least one time every fortnight, to photograph old Hindu temples or mountains here in East Java.

Buy it's so quiet here of late.

I've posted a couple of items this morning. And I would now like to suggest that every member who logs into the site for the rest of this month - May - or even into June, should post at least one thing. O aim for two as I did.

A few good disagreements or even arguments sure would liven up the place a lot.

So how about it, y'all?

I will return some time next week to see if anyone has bitten at the bait I've put on my hook.

Best regards to all as always from DANN, sometimes at home in AUS (Melbourne), currently in East Java (Indonesia)

[escape]

Yes, it is quiet. Perhaps because, as we have gotten older, we prefer peace and quiet. Excuse me while I yawn.

[Geoff F]

It is quiet everywhere. A UK nature site which I visit every day is down to around 10 regular contributors.

Probably a lot of people have moved to Faceache or similar sites so the small independents are suffering. Same thing on the high streets.

[DanK]

Dann,

I think it's two things. It seems that there has been a downward trend in participation in online forums. However, there is an additional issue specific to this forum. The site has performed very poorly for a long time. There are often very long delays before it responds, sometimes enough that the session will time out. Sometimes, this means being unable to get onto the site. Sometimes, one can get on, but one's post vanishes into the ether when the server won't respond quickly enough. Since this problem started months ago, the number of people posting and the frequency of their posts have both declined. There are still active discussions on other photo sites, but unfortunately, most don't offer the sort of thoughtful comments and instruction that made CiC so valuable and enjoyable.

I have become a lurker, logging on mostly to see whether the problems have been fixed. (The site has been quite responsive for a few days, after weeks of performing poorly.) I no longer post images here because there isn't enough traffic to generate many useful comments. If the problems are fixed, I'll try posting images here again with the hope that there is still a critical mass of people.

Dan

[LenR]

"There are still active discussions on other photo sites, but unfortunately, most don't offer the sort of thoughtful comments and instruction that made CiC so valuable and enjoyable."

Dan, I concur with your observation........

[JDW in Oz]

A few interesting observations here. Many thanks to those who took the time to post responses to my original queries...

The technical problems, such as they are, could surely be fixed - IF the will to do it was there, or is it rather the finances? Or likely more so in real-world situations which are basically a bit of everything, sadly it may well be that the site is no longer economically viable to go on. Memberships in most photo web sites are mostly 'oldies' (I am definitely one of this category), and part of the problem when older members tend to dominate a site is that it becomes rather an Old Boys Club, which often as not pushes away younger members who may not like opinions engraved on stone. Not so much so with CIC, but at least one formerly great site is of late slipping steadily down hill with declining new memberships, to which can be added the regrettable tendency of a few diehards to leap down posters' throats if one dares express a thought, idea, opinion contrary to the established dogma.

Let me add here that in what I wrote in the previous sentence, I did NOT mean CIC. We are in almost every way here, a highly civilised, pleasantly cultured and certainly knowledgable minority. So it may well be that our use by date has come and passed (as I certainly feel mine has, in so many ways) and we are now operating in idling mode.

Oh well. I suppose it now all comes down to wait and see.

As long as we can still put our cameras and other photo gear to good use, and go on making excellent images to enjoy and share.

One of my fast-dwindling goals for this year is to kick-start my B&W darkroom at home. And put more film thru my recently acquired Leica I Standard Model E, 91 years old and still kicking, in some ways far better than its latest owner.

Again, many thanks to all of you who posted here. We can only but go on doing what little we do to keep things going, even at crawling speed. So yes, please, let's go on with the going on...

[LenR]

''Let me add here that in what I wrote in the previous sentence, I did NOT mean CIC. We are in almost every way here, a highly civilised, pleasantly cultured and certainly knowledgable minority. So it may well be that our use by date has come and passed (as I certainly feel mine has, in so many ways) and we are now operating in idling mode. "

I concur with Dann's observations.
Good luck with your dark room and B&W endeavour's. I have fond memories of those days - Kodak Tri-X, IlfordFP4.......