Keeps getting quieter in here......

FairHamilton · #1 Posted **May 26, 2009, 4:41 PM**

rth, msme, hmagazine, and others closed, flar gone to Ottawa and yet others gone quietly into that good night.

Is this forum board losing critical mass? There's no denying the board is much quieter now, than 12 months ago.

What do you think?

markbarbera · #2 Posted **May 26, 2009, 5:00 PM**

People come and people go. There's been quite a few new people popping up here recently too. I don't see this slowing down at all, just not as dominated by a couple of former posters now that they have decided to move on.

emge · #3 Posted **May 26, 2009, 5:44 PM**

hmagazine closed their account? why?

Maybe since the departure of people like RTH and flar we have less people starting new topics. I also don't know if we've lost people who are privy to construction information or if there's less projects starting right now.

Personally, i know i generally have little knowledge of new projects starting up and don't often start new topics, but usually respond to ones I find relevant or I'm sufficiently informed about.

Hopefully it is cyclic and things will pick up again soon. It's also summer, right?

highwater · #4 Posted **May 26, 2009, 6:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by markbarbera

...There's been quite a few new people popping up here recently too. I don't see this slowing down at all, just not as dominated by a couple of former posters now that they have decided to move on.

Those posters who 'dominated' also kept the doors open and the lights on. This forum was a more vibrant place when there were a few 'dominators' committed to starting discussions and keeping them going, even if you didn't agree with them. Yes, there have been a few new people, but they're not posting frequently enough to add to the critical mass needed to keep a forum like this going. I'm not ready to pack up yet myself, but I sure hope things turn around. At least the Art Crawl meet-up was a success.

SteelTown · #5 Posted **May 26, 2009, 6:22 PM**

The biggest complaint I get is the bickering and that drives some people to go.

Zaz · #6 Posted **May 26, 2009, 6:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by emge

It's also summer, right?

Agreed! I think people have been in their backyards a lot given this nice weather. With so much stuff happening and so many people moving to Hamilton, I am sure it will pick up.

I also think this board is kind of tough to find for someone who is not explicitly looking for a "skyscraper" page. Do we have any popular websites linking to this forum?

sofasurfer · #7 Posted **May 26, 2009, 6:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The biggest complaint I get is the bickering and that drives some people to go.

Show me a forum that doesn't have some element of that... at least from someone's point of view!

But yeah, weather's nice, folk are probably hitting vacation time, and some of us keep having this pesky work stuff getting in the way of being paid to be online

I really don't post on here that much, but the art crawl meetup was great. Really hoping to do it again soon

matt602 · #8 Posted **May 26, 2009, 11:12 PM**

It's just as busy here to me as it has been before.

BCTed · #9 Posted **May 27, 2009, 1:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The biggest complaint I get is the bickering and that drives some people to go.

I don't see nearly as much bickering now that raisethehammer is gone... certainly nowhere near the same amount of closed-mindedness. I had/have nothing against him, but he was/is just way too militant and inflexible.

highwater · #10 Posted **May 27, 2009, 4:02 AM**

There isn't nearly as much of anything now that RTH is gone. He cared more about this city and more about this forum than just about anyone. At least he didn't come on here just to goad certain people and be a knee-jerk contrarian.

BCTed · #11 Posted **May 27, 2009, 4:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by highwater

There isn't nearly as much of anything now that RTH is gone. He cared more about this city and more about this forum than just about anyone. At least he didn't come on here just to goad certain people and be a knee-jerk contrarian.

I have not been a "knee-jerk contrarian." I have stated my own opinions without trying to shut out the opinions of others, and on objective matters I have proven to be correct far more often than incorrect.

calvinkool · #12 Posted **May 27, 2009, 4:15 AM**

There is nothing exciting happening in this city, just useless proposals. Maybe that is why there is less posting.

omro · #13 Posted **May 27, 2009, 11:24 AM**

Has anyone kept in touch with some of the departees? Would be nice to invite some, if they are still in the city, to a forum get together at some point.

FairHamilton · #14 Posted **May 27, 2009, 1:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by highwater

There isn't nearly as much of anything now that RTH is gone. He cared more about this city and more about this forum than just about anyone. At least he didn't come on here just to goad certain people and be a knee-jerk contrarian.

I agree that rth was a wealth of new information and information for the forum. And I won't dispute his love for Hamilton. That is what I miss from him.

Unfortunately, he continually felt the need to put down and belittle other municipalities that didn't fit his view of a city, as well as anyone who didn't share his views.

And IMO that is an unfortunate and mis-guided way to elevate what's important to oneself (i.e. ones views and The City of Hamilton)

FairHamilton · #15 Posted **May 27, 2009, 1:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by omro

Has anyone kept in touch with some of the departees? Would be nice to invite some, if they are still in the city, to a forum get together at some point.

I think I'll still stop by hmagazine's store.

astroblaster · #16 Posted **May 27, 2009, 1:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BCTed

I have not been a "knee-jerk contrarian." I have stated my own opinions without trying to shut out the opinions of others, and on objective matters I have proven to be correct far more often than incorrect.

BCTed, while I don't always agree with what you say, I have never had an issue with the way you go about things on here. I think it's very valuable to have contrary opinions on this forum. Things would be pretty boring here if we didn't have different viewpoints represented.

adam · #17 Posted **May 27, 2009, 2:08 PM**

This is a great forum to discuss the growing pains of the city we all love. The city has so much potential and some of it is being realized. Hopefully in another couple years more will be realized. Don't feed the trolls.

markbarbera · #18 Posted **May 27, 2009, 3:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairHamilton

I agree that rth was a wealth of new information and information for the forum. And I won't dispute his love for Hamilton. That is what I miss from him.

Unfortunately, he continually felt the need to put down and belittle other municipalities that didn't fit his view of a city, as well as anyone who didn't share his views.

And IMO that is an unfortunate and mis-guided way to elevate what's important to oneself (i.e. ones views and The City of Hamilton)

QFT

realcity · #19 Posted **May 27, 2009, 5:08 PM**

well this thread is active.

I didn't mind the bickering. it's easy to ignore, what we had was people wanting to have the last comment, the arguments got to a point where one person's statements were being ignored and the other person ranting on sometimes off topic. This is just an internet forum, I don't understand how people get hurt feelings.

Way back when, this forum was a lot nastier. Esp City vs. City debates. I thought they were fun, it's good to be challenged. I know it forced me to think about issues more. SSP banned City v City threads years ago. I appreciate the policy to keep it more civil.

HMag left? I missed the meet-up but found out who a lot of you guys are... lol after talking to H.

SteelTown · #20 Posted **May 27, 2009, 5:18 PM**

Winnipeg vs. Hamilton was pretty wild. Of course there was probably what two of us and twenty of them at the time haha.