Message Boards/Forums are DYING on the vine - Kindof

[system admin]

What do you guys think about this observation:


Steroid.com created our forums only a few years after message boards started on the internet. Back then, it was the first time that people from all over the world could talk about steroids, share their ideas, experiment and share those experiences with others.

After message boards, men and women no longer had to take the advice of some random guy who was selling steroids at the local gym. They also didnt have to solely take the advice that was given on a steroid information website by people like myself who simply put up information that was (for the most part) basic and unverified.

My point is, 15 years ago when message boards first came online, these forums brought together millions of steroid users who could share ideas, test them, experiment, and then collaborate with others who were doing the same thing. It was like the flood gates opened up and for the first time in the history of steroid use, steroid users could get REAL TIME help by others who were not just reading and reposting information, but TESTING and experimenting and SHARING their real life results. Within 15 years, every question that could be asked has been asked 2000 times. The young men and women who were posting on these forums 15 years ago and pioneering this subject have become Grown Ups and somewhat experts on the subject. They have left millions upon millions of ideas and collaborations that have literally shaped the way we all use steroids today.

Today, I look around at message boards all over the internet (for ALL different subjects) and it seems that in almost EVERY case, message boards and forums have all SLOWED down tremendously. Not necessarily the TRAFFIC (visitors of the websites), but the amount of active members who contribute and interact.

I think it is because 15 years ago, we all used to come to forums and talk a LOT of shit because it was the first time people from around the world could interact in this way. Gangs of people would form together and create these really tight clicks thats would often ruin the atmosphere on the forums with negative and unhelpful bullshit. The young people of yesterday came to these forums and got fed up with that type of mentality and instead of posting and taking part in the community, they simply READ and stay far away from being called a "jack off" for asking the same questions that have been asked 2000 times before.

Bottom line, I think that the NEW GENERATION of people have grown up with these forums and realized that most of their answers have already been asked and they have learned how to use the forums to find the information they are looking for. Also, many of the people you would typically find on message boards of yesterday were not the type of people NEWBIES wanted to interact with, due to the flaming and incredibly hard task of getting accepted into a forum click.


Observation:

1. Traffic (not members) is still very high on SOME message boards, but on MANY of the forums around the net, I see them dying on the vine.

2. There are far less people who actually join message boards in general. (this is true for ALL forums)

3. Post counts and threads have steadily declined over the past 4 years on ALL message boards/ forums

4. The internet has changed dramatically over the last 15 years and I think that while there will always be a place for these forums, much of the information has already been shared and there is not many new things to discuss or share.

5. Instead of a community of "members" spending time on the forum to interact with others, they spend a lot more time on facebook and other social networks.


What do you all think about this?

[< <Samson> >]

Agreed for sure

Just about any question can now bee googled and the answer found

This board has been a slow, but steady traffic decline since I been on here.

But, it is every board - not just this one

I have observed this for years just because I do so much research on so many subjects.

About a decade ago just about every type of forum was lit up with insane amounts of traffic.

Now - only a select few have even a decent amount of active members left.

[Hazard]

That pretty much sums it up..... The initial "boom" is over but that doesn't mean the whole forum idea is over. Most people choose one or two forums and they stick to those. I've belonged to car forums, steroid and body building forums, etc. this place has always been my home for a few different reasons.

- the atmosphere
- the information
- bodybuilding is an important hobby to me

Maybe there's something new on the cusp? Something that my primitive computer/Internet mind can't think of...,.

[system admin]

^^^^ Agree 100%

Our traffic is actually UP, but our actively posting members are down.

[system admin]

I think there will be several forums that rise to the top in specialty forums such as: Steroids, Cars, Yachts, Guns, Computer/ Programming, etc.... I think other than the top few in their niche, the others will fall to the wayside.

[< <Samson> >]

Newest shit now is IG - people love that shit


But, I don't like the fact that it's so all over the place and many subjects can not & are not covered.

You can't ask steroid questions to anyone on InstaGram - it's just not how it works

But, as far as live online community- that's where it is

[almostgone]

Totally agree with the points you posted above, Bc, but I also believe ( perhaps mistakenly) this to be a cyclical type situation. I feel that at some point, people will tire of the social media (Facebook) for research/enjoyment/interaction and return to the forum style of interaction. Again, I may be wrong... I sure as h*ll was about Google stock when it had its IPO.
However, this may be a golden opportunity to really make S.com stand apart even more via the incentives and your desire to make this more of a "new member friendly" forum
Even if people can run a search to find the info they are looking for, I feel that as they learn more, they will have even more questions and a desire to have a dialog with people that are willing to discuss and share their experience.
Just my 2cc....

[Hazard]

I like that term "pay it forward"

I get a great deal of satisfaction from guiding someone the same way that I was. I don't know it all and I'm still learning..... But helping others has been a major factor in me staying here.

[Bio-Active]

I think there will be several forums that rise to the top in specialty forums such as: Steroids, Cars, Yachts, Guns, Computer/ Programming, etc.... I think other than the top few in their niche, the others will fall to the wayside.

we are all trying to stay active bro. I check in often throughout the day

[kelkel]

.... I think other than the top few in their niche, the others will fall to the wayside.

The strongest shall survive, with this one being the strongest.

[jimmyinkedup]

I also think that as some forums do "die" people will look to go elsewhere where there IS more activity. It can be an opportunity as well as long as it is handled right. Being proactive such as the things being discussed here might in the long run just make forums such as this one even busier.

[RaginCajun]

what the others said.

i would also say social media has taken a lot of the traffic as well (crackbook and tooter)

each new fad will have a following, but that is why they are called fads, because they fade away over time.

[zempey]

I am a member of a couple car and truck forums, a red neck gear head, so to speak. I have been spending much of my time hear lately, I am constantly learning everyday, and the topics are interesting to me.

I think the new generation of kids are on a different path as far as boards and interaction with others goes. They seem, as far as I can tell with my kids, to be into the more meaningless type of interaction, InstGram, Twitter, and god knows what others my old ass doesn't even know about. It is a different type of social interaction, less about learning, more about leisure. Many of us hear are generally a bit older, actually had a life without a functioning internet, used to have to really talk to people. The top boards like this will always survive, but I agree the lesser boards with fizzle out. Who know's what the next generation of kids will be into, I hope it is better than what my kids are into, I want to slap the phone out of my kid's hand sometimes, she is like a zombie.

[marcus300]

I totally agree with all views and opinions. One thing I would like to add is that many people now like visual material that's why the YouTube bodybuilding/fitness/ steroids community has gone through the roof with traffic. They are earning decent money and I've interacted with a few and they are very busy and all with zero overheads.

[RaginCajun]

I am a member of a couple car and truck forums, a red neck gear head, so to speak. I have been spending much of my time hear lately, I am constantly learning everyday, and the topics are interesting to me.

I think the new generation of kids are on a different path as far as boards and interaction with others goes. They seem, as far as I can tell with my kids, to be into the more meaningless type of interaction, InstGram, Twitter, and god knows what others my old ass doesn't even know about. It is a different type of social interaction, less about learning, more about leisure. Many of us hear are generally a bit older, actually had a life without a functioning internet, used to have to really talk to people. The top boards like this will always survive, but I agree the lesser boards with fizzle out. Who know's what the next generation of kids will be into, I hope it is better than what my kids are into, I want to slap the phone out of my kid's hand sometimes, she is like a zombie.

wait, there are rednecks in Canada?

[RaginCajun]

I totally agree with all views and opinions. One thing I would like to add is that many people now like visual material that's why the YouTube bodybuilding/fitness/ steroids community has gone through the roof with traffic. They are earning decent money and I've interacted with a few and they are very busy and all with zero overheads.

i forgot about youtube, so true!

[< <Samson> >]

Cool thing that I always loved about forums is that they are specific to the info I am looking for.

I am not going ask how to replace a micro switch on my STS on a steroid forum. Or ask what gauge of spike is best on a cadillac forum.


But, I think that is partially a sad truth - the new generation is even dumber than ours. They like interaction - but, nothing really info or educational specific.

Like my woman for instance - she's a bit younger than me. Just sits on IG, I'm like what info do you gather from being on there so much. Her answer - weeeelllllll

When I'm on here, I still learn something related to nutrition, workouts or some sort of health.

If I am on one of the car boards I learn what the noise is before the car makes it.

The newer generation seems to care less

[zempey]

Yes Cajun, we have some rednecks up here, this time of year you can call us slednecks. I drink beer and drag race my 4x4 pick up truck, still American, just North American.

[kelkel]

The newer generation seems to care less

Because they've been enabled and spoon fed their whole lives. They all got a trophy just for showing up.

[zempey]

I don't see a lot of flaming of newbs, except for the ones who come on and ask for it. There is only so much shit talk from a new member a vet is going to take, and why shouldn't the vet fire back? At some point giving constructive advice and being shit on gets old so you shit right back. This is not someone you want here anyway, if all they do is stir the pot from the beginning, beat it. Act like a douche, be treated like a douche.

[Bio-Active]

I don't see a lot of flaming of newbs, except for the ones who come on and ask for it. There is only so much shit talk from a new member a vet is going to take, and why shouldn't the vet fire back? At some point giving constructive advice and being shit on gets old so you shit right back. This is not someone you want here anyway, if all they do is stir the pot from the beginning, beat it. Act like a douche, be treated like a douche.

I just try to steer the member in the right direction. Flaming gets old and I just don't do that

[system admin]

I have some interesting input:


Monday, on the home pages of Steroid.com, I put up a "Live Chat" program that popped up and offered live help. I had in house staff answering questions like slaves ALL day. We only did this for 1 day as a test that I wanted to conduct. Here are the results:

1. NO ONE said "Thank you"

2. They asked their questions and 90% didnt even say goodbye after they had their answers. They just logged out. **They had all of the answers they could have ever asked many werent interested.

3. NOT as many people as you guys would think wanted the personal help. Many just responded back with "Thank you but I am just looking". That was surprising because we offered our services 20 seconds after they came to the site and they wanted to search on their own.

4. Offering this type of service to the visitors of the website was not worth the time or resources.

5. ****We had some fukin ass holes talk shit to us just to be ass holes and I realized that no matter what, you CAN NOT STOP shit heads who have no respect for anyone from being ass holes. They will talk shit and they will BEG to get your attention and to get a response from you. All we did was ignore the user and they went away on their own. Spending time on guys who give you these responses are a total waste of your time and gives them the power to control your behavior.



My take away:

I dont need a HUGE active membership at Steroid.com. I dont need to hire staff to sit on their computers and treat all of our members with respect and answer every question or issue they have.... they simply dont have respect for that type of service anyway and they EXPECT that type of treatment. Like marcus said... "Everyone gets a trophy". These guys had didnt give a SHIT that we had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of help on the chat program and they were too entitled to even begin to appreciate that level of service. They just expected it.

The forums at Steroid.com are NOT a business for me. I make less than 5% of my income from these forums. My goal is to do things to KEEP the interest of MEN and WOMEN who are respectful and who have a passion to help and "pay it forward" as many have stated. I dont care if we have 3000 members posting on this forum. I want quality members who enjoy their time here when they visit and who enjoy helping others when they are in the mood.

The Steroid.com forums to me are separate from my other businesses. THIS portion of the website is about the global steroid community in general. I've taken what I needed to out of this industry (money wise) to make other moves and other investments. Steroid.com is now more about the people than anything and I would rather the 200-300 of you quality members here than 5000 members talking shit to one another and forming little clicks that get a kick out of pissing off people to get reactions.

I just want to give back to all of you (past and future) members who see this community as a place for responsible people to educate and learn about the life style we all love. PERIOD

[tarmyg]

I think there are somethings that could be done to stay current but still not piss of old school members who have been here for 10 years. The idea of having to register is understandable but also limits the amount of people interacting. Look at how reddit does it (I am not saying to do so just an example) where to have to be active for 30 days and can after that automatically ask a question.

There is also ways to modernize the forums. People are used to be able to tag each other (FaceBook, twitter) and one should be able to do the same on these forums (This is available).

The look of the forum could use some work not because it is not functional but simply to stay current and it matters to new users.

If it looks fancy and people get responses to their questions I believe this place will be here to stay for a long time.

Just my 2c

[system admin]

If people didnt have to register, this place would go to shit in 1 day. Spam, Sources, Jerk Offs, etc... Wild west.

We have wanted to update the look of the forum for many many many years and every time we look at it, we realize that it is perfect the way it is. Simple, easy on eyes, and very functional.

Sometimes in life you find that change is NOT good. I have learned this lesson over and over and often times the changes we make just to make changes will make things much worse. If its not broke, dont fix

BTW, due to the fact that we are "Steroid.com" I have learned that many/MOST do NOT want to be tagged or associated in the public with steroids. Thats one of the draw backs about underground discussions.

[tarmyg]

Let me clarify the tagging. This is tagging within the forums, i.e. @system_admin would let you know you have been tagged in this thread.

Also, simply updating the software would enable better mobile interaction which is how most people interact with this stuff anyhow. Do not agree that this is a perfect look but hey, that is a highly subjective opinion of course.

[kelkel]

I just want to give back to all of you (past and future) members who see this community as a place for responsible people to educate and learn about the life style we all love. PERIOD

Good stuff right there. Thank you B!

[*mikro*]

This board saved me from hurting myself with the misuse of gear. Forever be grateful for that.

[zempey]

I am a creature of habit, I don't like change. One of my truck boards changed so drastically that I don't go on it anymore, just too much trying to figure out what is what.

[lovbyts]

I have some interesting input:

Monday, on the home pages of Steroid.com, I put up a "Live Chat" program that popped up and offered live help. I had in house staff answering questions like slaves ALL day. We only did this for 1 day as a test that I wanted to conduct. Here are the results:

1. NO ONE said "Thank you"

2. They asked their questions and 90% didnt even say goodbye after they had their answers. They just logged out. **They had all of the answers they could have ever asked many werent interested.

In a way that does not surprise me. Those are part of the generation today who feel entitled. The same ones who ask a only looking for someone to agree with them on their stack, won't take the time to read links provided to them for education and want spoon feed.

I dont use live chat often but when I do I have always taken the time to start out the conversation saying greetings and I dont think I have ever ended without saying thank you.

I agree with all of your observations in the first post and agree with those who said good forums will survive.

I also believe facebook and instances will burn out as far as places to gather any information. They are just places for the now and entitled generation to get their ego stroked and instant gratification slap on the back.

I also belong to only a few forums, a couple car model specific forums and here. The good ones all seem to be structured similarly. They have all slowed over the years but there are always new members looking for advice and always the few new faces with fresh ideas helping keeping thing moving forward.

Im also a firm believer of pay it forward and that's why im here as well as the other auto forums.

[Hazard]

I think there are somethings that could be done to stay current but still not piss of old school members who have been here for 10 years. The idea of having to register is understandable but also limits the amount of people interacting. Look at how reddit does it (I am not saying to do so just an example) where to have to be active for 30 days and can after that automatically ask a question.

There is also ways to modernize the forums. People are used to be able to tag each other (FaceBook, twitter) and one should be able to do the same on these forums (This is available).

The look of the forum could use some work not because it is not functional but simply to stay current and it matters to new users.

If it looks fancy and people get responses to their questions I believe this place will be here to stay for a long time.

Just my 2c

God damn..... I'm 30 and have been called old school :-/ lmao

[musclestack]

I'll admit that I didn't read every post in its entirety, but I did come across a post where someone mentioned 'tagging'. I have thought a while now about how great it would be if, for any thread you posted in, if someone 'replied with quote', to anything you posted, you would get a notification saying 'so and so replied to one of your posts' kind of like what facebook does on their mobile app.

I, for one, will always use forums to get information. You can google anything you want, but there's a lot of conflicting information on any subject. The same goes for ideas being passed around in a forum, but at least here, you can open a dialogue to many people and get up-to-date, almost instant feedback. It allows people to discuss and debate different views, and question why one person feels the way he/she does, usually as a result of real life experience, not just some study (nothing against scientific studies here, but again, many studies contradict each other and you can't question the performer of the study like you can here in a conversation). You can't do that with google.

[RaginCajun]

God damn..... I'm 30 and have been called old school :-/ lmao

Haha!

If you are considered old school, then what is TR considered?

Ancient?

[Hazard]

I'm sorry but there are some people here that irk the shit out of me. I'm fairly easy going and enjoy helping others..... But ill be damned if a new guy has me in his sights. I'm here by choice and won't be treated like shit. If someone acts like a jackass then they deserve to be treated like one.

[RaginCajun]

I'm sorry but there are some people here that irk the shit out of me. I'm fairly easy going and enjoy helping others..... But ill be damned if a new guy has me in his sights. I'm here by choice and won't be treated like shit. If someone acts like a jackass then they deserve to be treated like one.

Austinite really irks you in all the right ways!

[Hazard]

Austinite really irks you in all the right ways!

He tickles the pink lol

[lovbyts]

I'm sorry but there are some people here that irk the shit out of me. I'm fairly easy going and enjoy helping others..... But ill be damned if a new guy has me in his sights. I'm here by choice and won't be treated like shit. If someone acts like a jackass then they deserve to be treated like one.

Sorry...

Speaking of Austinite, where has he been? Musclelink said he talks to him regularly but he hasn't been active much lately.

[zempey]

This is a steroid forum, you can't expect it to be all rainbows and unicorns all the time, way too much testosterone for that.

[clarky.]

Never mind this tagging pish the forum is great the way it is.

[Metalject]

I think a lot of guys feel intimidated by the larger message boards, especially those who are somewhat new to the topic or have a different opinion on the topic. I've said this a time or two, every steroid message board has sort of a set standard of beliefs and each one tends to think it's the only one that's right. So if you come to a large forum like this one with a lot of guys that are vets on the board, you end up feeling like an asswipe when you post or too intimidated to post out of fear of feeling like an asswipe, which is kind of funny since no one knows who you actually are. But some guys go ahead and dive in, that's their personality. Others go to smaller boards where they feel like they have a better chance of being part of the board community, and while those smaller boards may not have that many members compared to this one, there's a butt load of those smaller boards. And when those smaller boards fail, 2 more pop up to replace them. It's never ending. People will always go where they feel most comfortable.

And IMO, TR hit the nail on the head with his post. That's the exact reason a board/forum will stagnate with actual posters.

Oh, and funny thing - when I first started posting here, because I was "the new guy" I was mocked and told to basically know my place more than once. I was even told that I shouldn't openly disagree with a veteran board member. Are you kidding me? That kind of forum stuff has always annoyed the daylights out of me and I'm sure it drives many would be forum guys with their own unique perspectives away. What's also humorous, I've posted on this board off and on almost since it first started. I learned a lot from this board when I was in my early 20's, talked with a lot of guys that were great to talk to. Point being, when it comes to how new guys see and feel about a message board, all that really carries any weight is vet status, post count and too many times not the actual information given. Anyway, just my opinion.

[Venom]

Here is my 2 cents.

I do feel it is a generational issue, I am 28 years old, and feel individuals my age and younger have lost their interests in reading and researching.

I couldn't tell you the last time I saw someone younger than me reading a newspaper, book, or magazine. Now it's all about visual stimulation and petty social media interaction.

I can think back to ten years ago when I was 18 years old and I would search "steroids" "creatine" and various "supplements" on google and typically the first things that would always pop up were threads from various message boards.

I remember stumbling on this actual forum and reading many, many, threads over the years. I specifically remember reading many posts by Marcus and thinking how knowledgable this person is.

In 2013 I got my first iPhone where I downloaded the mobile app for this site and created an actual account. Over the past couple of years I have gone from 165 to now sitting at 180 all due to the great advice offered by the members and vets on this forum.

It blows my mind that ten years ago as a young adult, I was lurking on the forums reading posts by Marcus and now here I am interacting with him. I personally like the fact that there is only a small group of active members and vets. It makes the experience here feel more personal and like everyone here is family. It makes me excited to continue along here and hope that someday some young adult reads my posts and gets excited to join here and share their knowledge and experience with this great community.