how many years can a forum last? will you still be a active member in 10 - 15 years?

[green papaya]

do you think a discussion forum like this can last long enough it will still be active in 10 - 20 years? will you still be around?

wonder what forums have been around the longest? and are still going? I know some that are still around 10 years later

 

[jamespowers]

do you think a discussion forum like this can last long enough it will still be active in 10 - 20 years? will you still be around?

wonder what forums have been around the longest? and are still going? I know some that are still around 10 years later

Next year we will have been around for ten years. I have been around for nearly that long.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

FL is definitely one of the larger and more active forums around. I've seen many forums with only a few hundred members and the last post dating back several months.

 

[Tomasso]

I think that the Lounge will be around for as long as there are folks who have an appreciation for the Golden Era. And of course there is the Hats section which is almost a forum unto itself.

 

[rue]

I'll be here until I get banned

Seriously though, I think it'll be around for a very long time. Like A.C. said.... "for as long as there are folks who have an appreciation for the Golden Era."

 

[Tomasso]

I'll be here until I get banned

You joke as if it's not going to happen.

 

[rue]

You joke as if it's not going to happen.

Don't be mean A.C.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've belonged to the 78-L record collectors' list for fifteen years now. It was the first "internet" thing I ever did. I've been on the Old Time Radio group for almost as long. Both of those groups are still going strong -- people only leave when they die off. The membership here is a bit more volatile, but a good number of the core members who were here when I joined six years ago are still here. That bodes well for the future, I think.

(Until civilization collapses, of course, and we're left to communicating with tin cans and string.)

 

[kamikat]

I've been here for 8 years, it's possible for forums to last 10+ years. There is a religion-based forum that I use to mod that is still around after over 10 years. I started going to forums back in 98-99. I think most of the internet has been around a lot longer than many people realize. I was doing mailing lists in 1994, my husband was blogging in 1996.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I've waned in posting here over the past year. I've said all I can say, I guess.

I still contribute when I can -- especially picture threads. I'm the vintage picture queen. lol

But the love for vintage will always be there. People have come and gone over the 5 years I've been visiting here. It's all a cycle.

 

[scottyrocks]

Most of the message boards and mailing lists I've been on have been vehicle-oriented, so I've been on them about as long as I have owned the vehicles, usually about five to ten years. Vehicle-owner groups have a dynamic all their own, and they evolve, just like any other.

This place is very different. I'll probably be around, in the way that I am, for the high end number of my range, if not longer. I love most of the forums, and there are enough members here whom I kind of idolize that I can't stay away.

 

[Tomasso]

and there are enough members here whom I kind of idolize that I can't stay away.

Aw, you're making me blush....

 

[rue]

Aw, you're making me blush....

Damn... you beat me to it!

 

[randooch]

I suspect that this forum will be my very last vice.

I'm a healthy guy, too, so y'all are stuck with me.

 

[tonyb]

Like all enterprises, how long a forum lasts is largely a function of how well it is managed. I've seen once-vital discussion forums go to hell because their overseers forgot about oversight, and that allowed the blowhards to take over and drive out the more reasonable people. The last time I visited one such forum I clicked on a link a member posted and was treated to a sight I really wish I had never seen. Decorum doesn't allow me to describe that image, but suffice it to say that if a member were to post such a link here, he would be banned faster than you could say it.

 

[Sharpsburg]

It will last as long as some of our "heavy hitters" are able to stay up all night and pound on the keys. Our key group of posters don't seem to ever sleep or go to work!

 

[Tomasso]

Our key group of posters don't seem to ever sleep or go to work!

Actually, many post while at work.

 

[Sharpsburg]

I'm glad you don't work for me!

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I only stop by to pick up my mail now and then, as it is forwarded here now. I do have quite a few other concerns as well.
And what with developments on some threads recently, I'm sure I am no longer at the top of "The Bad People List".

 

[sheeplady]

I'm sure I am no longer at the top of "The Bad People List".

Well, that's something to aspire to.

Most things don't totally disappear, at least not social things that humans do. We just replace things or change things, but very few things are totally wiped out. I know a woman who was on the very first internet service in my community, and even though those bulletin boards are long gone, she's still active in those same groups.