Why is the forum so quiet?

[Aliboon]

I'd agree with Darkson on this, whilst I look in on Reddit and Facebook, they both seem pretty poor ways of communicating information and are just a random stream of stuff as far as I can tell. I might be missing something though.

"I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too."

[kyrre]

The last time I was here, a few weeks ago, the forum was different. What happened, is there an announcement?

Also forum vs Reddit&Facebook; Reddit locks threads after a few months, there is almost no discovery once a post goes away from the first page. Discussions are limited to a few hours maybe a few days tops. Facebook; it is to difficult to find old posts there. The search and order seems arbitrary. Posts and comments vanish without a trace and explanation. I very much prefer old school forums. (but not too old school).

[Danny]

Has this become a place to just see news about tabletop tournaments and with those cancelled due to Covid is now a dead forum?

Yes, I'd agree - it's currently the best way to find tabletop tournaments.

I've always considered TFF to be a backwater for NAF ranking junkies, LRB fanboys and GW haters.
BB2016 seemed to be considered by many here an embarrassing inconvenience.
It's still good for tournament news as you say but the vibrant community is now elsewhere.
TFF was left behind years ago.

Agree - that is the common consensus when I've spoken to people about TFF

Some people think forums are dead and do everything on stalkerbook (which is a type of forum, but the doesn't stop some people claiming forums are dead).
Personally I like the fact I can use a pseudonym on forums so prefer it. But it does make for slow communication due to less participants.

Facebook isn't a forum - it also has apps on almost every device. This is a forum and is very different to Facebook (or Stalkerbook as you call it, which comes across a bit weird, I've been using it for many years and have never stalked anyone). You can use a pseudonym on Facebook - many, many people do and have done for many years.

Personally I don't love Facebook for a lot of things and find myself using it less and less these days. The league I run (LBBL) was ran on Facebook but it was absolutely horrible in terms of admin and trying to find things, this has moved to a [very nice and modern] forum for all rules/fixtures/announcements etc. and guess what - in terms of discussion, it's dead. Why? Mainly because it doesn't have an app or push notifications on all devices.

That's a browser issue as it works fine (most of the time) for me.

I've had the same problem. Any software needs to work in the major browsers, and if not then the software needs fixing, people won't care if it's a browser they are using, in many cases they won't even be able to change it.

on Reddit and Facebook, they both seem pretty poor ways of communicating information and are just a random stream of stuff as far as I can tell. I might be missing something though.

Reddit and Facebook are some of the most popular website on the internet so you're very much the minority, if forums were much better, people would be using them.


My personal take on this is just that forums are in the main dead - that's it. They have been for a long time. There have been some attempts to resurrect them in newer guises and some look great (check out Flarum, which I use on https://talk.lbbl.co.uk ) but it all boils down to modern usage, which is via an app, with push notifications. People don't want to log in to check something by pressing refresh anymore than they want to crank up their 56k and check their email. Some forums are really popular, for example the football club I support (Leicester City) has a very, very busy and thriving forum, but there is no great alternative to that, so it gets used. For Blood Bowl, there are alternatives, and people have judged them to be easier to access and more convenient, so here we are.

[Danny]

Also forum vs Reddit&Facebook; Reddit locks threads after a few months, there is almost no discovery once a post goes away from the first page. Discussions are limited to a few hours maybe a few days tops. Facebook; it is to difficult to find old posts there. The search and order seems arbitrary. Posts and comments vanish without a trace and explanation. I very much prefer old school forums. (but not too old school).

That is modern internet usage, and probably modern life, people don't care about searching for old posts or finding old threads - people are overloaded by information daily and just want to talk about current and new things in the main. That is why social media like Twitter and things like SnapChat are so popular. Twitter has just introduced a new feature which is basically short-lived Tweets, similar to Facebook and Instagram Stories. This is the way things are going, short-life, transient, short and snappy snippets.

[lunchmoney]

You can use a pseudonym on Facebook - many, many people do and have done for many years.

Well done those many people. On the occasions I have attempted to create a FB profile under a pseudonym it fails when they ask for ID. Funnily enough I can't provide ID showing the name Lunchmoney.

As for push notices, personally I am happy to not have my phone buzzing all the time, but if I did I would use Tapatalk to get notices from the various forums I use.

I've been using it for many years and have never stalked anyone

Congrats on being a decent human being. But have you considered the amount of stalking that various companies are doing of you? Via data from FB. But that's a topic for somewhere else.

[Danny]

You can use a pseudonym on Facebook - many, many people do and have done for many years.

Well done those many people. On the occasions I have attempted to create a FB profile under a pseudonym it fails when they ask for ID. Funnily enough I can't provide ID showing the name Lunchmoney.

As for push notices, personally I am happy to not have my phone buzzing all the time, but if I did I would use Tapatalk to get notices from the various forums I use.

I've been using it for many years and have never stalked anyone

Congrats on being a decent human being. But have you considered the amount of stalking that various companies are doing of you? Via data from FB. But that's a topic for somewhere else.

Forums are obviously a good fit for you. On the topic of why is this so dead, though, for the vast majority they aren’t.

It doesn’t bother me personally in terms of data, all our online browsing is being watched and collected, that’s the only way they can keep services free - via ads and data mining.

If you want to make a fake name on Facebook (no doubt you don’t) then you’d need to use a name, lunchmoney not being a name. Twitter allows made up handles though, and there isn’t a bad amount of BB chatter on there.

[Steam Ball]

As for push notices, personally I am happy to not have my phone buzzing all the time, but if I did I would use Tapatalk to get notices from the various forums I use.

Or browsers that stay open and get notifications (pretty common in modern forums) or refresh (old forums are easy to change for that, or via browser extensions for when the admin does not want to).

The irony is people going, or being pushed with nasty tricks (from the horse's mouth), into the always online addiction, then complaining they are overloaded. *shrug*

[besters]

Personally I mostly use TFF to find tourneys to attend. There havent been any tourneys to attend. Dont know if many are like me?

+1

[Lyracian]

Well done those many people. On the occasions I have attempted to create a FB profile under a pseudonym it fails when they ask for ID. Funnily enough I can't provide ID showing the name Lunchmoney.

As Leap can confirm I have Lyracian on Facebook. My friend has "Red Orc" for his D&D as well a a regular account for friends. Just need to put something in as a surname unless they have changed there requirements. I only use the account for Blood Bowl. I quit the BB Community group due to the noise. I also have notifications turned off though as I do not want annoying popups on my devices. Only been an issue once when my opponent cancelled an hour before the game and I was sitting at the club waiting for him as I did not know he had cancelled.

Personally I don't love Facebook for a lot of things and find myself using it less and less these days. The league I run (LBBL) was ran on Facebook but it was absolutely horrible in terms of admin and trying to find things, this has moved to a [very nice and modern] forum for all rules/fixtures/announcements etc. and guess what - in terms of discussion, it's dead. Why? Mainly because it doesn't have an app or push notifications on all devices.

I figured it was dead because of COVID. Until I saw the notice about the new edition I had not been on Facebook for months. I am not quite sure where people are talking about the changes. Been some interesting discussion on FUMBBL.

[nonumber]

Talk Fantasy Football used to be my favourite place. I was a proper forum lad. Still would be if I had the time. The instant information flow of Facebook and others has taken over for discussion purposes for the most part (for most people) but to my mind TFF is still very viable for two things. One as has already been said, the tournament postings. It's still the best place for that, IMO. The other, if it could be ressurected a little would be the painting and modelling forums. Much better for posting an ongoing project and revisiting something that you saw that you liked, rather than the other mediums where any content you're interested in soon gets washed away.

So, don't feel as though TFF "is only here for tournament postings", recognise that it is still THE BEST place for tournament postings. And if we start popping more stuff in the painting section (of which I am happy to start doing) that's also a tick in the box for the forum based genre of internet time wastage.

Discussion is the trickier part, but it can always come alongside the above and perhaps you'll catch people passing through. Blood Bowl Community is mostly people moaning about something or posting pictures of "what just arrived in the mail". TFF will certainly be capable of seeing off the BBC in terms of quality discussion. Blood Bowl Competetive perhaps not.


-EDIT- Additionally, when TFF was out of action for several days and no one spoke a word, I've read it was "much poking" of DoubleSkulls to get it back online.

Was anything put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again? If each time this place has a problem someone needs to track down a guy that hasn't played BB in 37 years to some log cabain atop an appalacian mountain then TFF certainly has an expiry date.

[lunchmoney]

-EDIT- Additionally, when TFF was out of action for several days and no one spoke a word, I've read it was "much poking" of DoubleSkulls to get it back online.

Was anything put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again? If each time this place has a problem someone needs to track down a guy that hasn't played BB in 37 years to some log cabain atop an appalacian mountain then TFF certainly has an expiry date.

I offered to take over. No answer.

[sann0638]

Blood Bowl Community is mostly people moaning about something

Genuinely not my experience, and I read almost every post.

or posting pictures of "what just arrived in the mail".

But yes, a surprising amount of this. Though you do have an interest in keeping people purchasing!

[spubbbba]

The other, if it could be resurrected a little would be the painting and modelling forums. Much better for posting an ongoing project and revisiting something that you saw that you liked, rather than the other mediums where any content you're interested in soon gets washed away.

I found the forum really poor when it comes to posting photos, there was often issues with size or format. That always put me off, but this kind of forum is good for pics as you can see which forum posts you haven't read yet.

[Danny]

Blood Bowl Community is mostly people moaning about something

Genuinely not my experience, and I delete almost every post.

Fixed for you

[Lyracian]

Fixed for you

Very funny Mr. Leap

I left the BBC Facebook group. Nothing worth seeing there