Hello gents - its been a while...

[ShivaYash]

Dear all,

I've not logged in for some time, what is going on?
I've got some boards for sale... HHKB BT ver 1 (black and black).
I tried posting in MP but it didn't let me.

Greetings from Berlin.

[mcmaxmcmc]

Heyo, this forum is for all intents and purposes dead. The site has been sold a couple times, each to worse and worse owners. The site is now super broken with no hopes of fixing. I am not sure where everyone went, but there is a decently active community now on Discord. You can likely search for it.

[Muirium]

Correct. Reading, let alone posting, here is a bugger these days thanks to Owner Failure. That’s what the Permission Denied error page should really be titled!

My interest in the hobby peaked back when Deskthority was at its zenith (2013-2015) though I’m still paying occasional attention. Quite how a chat system (Discord) is meant to replace a full blown forum, I don’t know. What made DT was its user base and the format: both forum and wiki. Browsable, linkable, permanent threads, epic troves of pictures, and a lot of genuine excitement, it was all good!

The hobby's bigger than ever, but the action is elsewhere now.

[JCMax]

If you don't mind me asking, where pray tell is/are these "elsewheres"? I myself have been searching for other forums and so far I haven't found any that can hold a candle to good ol' DT Classic.

[Muirium]

Well that's the thing: I don't know. Geekhack seems to still be alive (going by their Forum Spy) but Nexthority seems just about dead. Maybe forums aren't what they used to be, over all. Generational shift? Maybe. But even the old die-hards seem to have moved on. Hopefully to something better than playing trolls on "social" media!

My guess is it's "all Tiktok and shit" now. That's old-man speak for "places and things I don't know!" I’m unusual, I've almost zero patience for videos (yes, even "shorts") or anything else that takes information and drips it out like a slideshow, where I can't see it all at once and can scan it for interest. These days, I’m told that's "autistic" but I've always just found it to be a good use of discretion and my time! Don't make me wait, folks, and certainly don't make me trust your intelligence. I'll be somewhere else!

[Green Maned Lion]

Depends on the forum type, I think. The Sprinter-Source forum (which is for Sprinter vans rather than keyboards, obviously) is extremely active (and I am excessively active on it...). A lot of forums get mismanaged one way or another- too many bots, too much moderation, excessive and intrusive advertising, too little moderation, or stuff like you see here.

I've found the forums that survive are ones that develop a genuine social culture... but those aren't always the best places for people looking for simple answers to simple questions. Answers to questions on Sprinter Source tend to involve several completely different (if usually all at least somewhat valid) perspectives on the subject, and once that happens, a combination of people arguing over each others opinions, friends drifting off topic into entirely personal discussions, and some people who enjoy trolling amongst themselves ends up resulting in the topic answering the poster in a page or two, and then running pages and pages more of irrelevant discussion, banter, play, and arguing.

Of course, it still works because by informal agreement, reasonable answers to the topic have to be returned before all that happens. But it is off putting, because the discussion can get colourful, and even give the impression that the locker room jocularity is actual fighting among people who hate each other, but in fact are happy to get together for a drink if they are in similar geographical locations at the moment.

I haven't tried other formats; being a keyboard guy and having had intercourse with the blarney stone while being repeatedly vaccinated by a phonograph needle, I like the long form response formant. (This might be obvious)