A lot of theories have been put forward for the recent lack of activity on the forum - rule changes, holiday period, etc.

One point which has never been brought up is "inbreeding".

I discovered this when I first arrived in 2010 where if you aren't part of a clique (wasn't ELP just right about this?) you can post as much as you want and nobody will take a blind bit of notice of you. The alternative is to be provocative and be branded a troll, as happened in my case.

Take a look at this forum and check out the figures.

https://forum.xnxx.com/showthread.php?336061-The-truth-about-writing thread, which had absolutely nothing to do with truth or writing, had 4187 posts, 1449 by HP and 865 by wsf. That is 2314 posts of basic nonsense getting in the way when new stories were being posted and even CAWs were underway. This thread has now been abandoned and guess what?

https://forum.xnxx.com/showthread.php?396141-The-Truth-About-Everything-Except-Writing-Thread. The very name of this thread tells us that it should not be on the stories forum but then, let's look at the figures. 112 posts, HP 33, wsf 24 - once again over 50%. These threads are nothing more than a love-in between these two members.

The forum has little more than a couple of dozen active members at the moment. Long-time members (should I call them "embers"?) have abandoned or occasionally visit the forum. This place needs to be far more welcoming or it will die.

 

This site is far beyond resurrection,,,the tides of ebb and flow.

 

Oh, I don't know, guys.

Last week I nixed my Mandelbrot avatar, my sig, and my location. And I used my admin-aware sockpuppet, Colleen Turner, to announce that I had retired.

But now I'm back.

With a shiny new avatar (both mathematical and sensually vaginal). As well as a new location (Muslim heaven), and a new gender (hermaphrodite).

Why the change of heart?

Oh... just a hunch.

And I might just post another novel here. For the few remaining "embers."

 

My God! When the forum has to rely on visits from GD then things have really gone to the dogs.

 

What am I? Chopped liver?

 

I'M STAYING!!

Everything changes and with it some go, new ones join and so it goes. I'm not a member of any clique just offering up some interesting tidbits why others rehash the same boring posts that have been done to death or for sheer shock value so how many times will people answer the same way? If anything it means that maybe it will and has drawn a more intellectual discussions that's becoming more popular then it was before? None the less I'M STAYING!!

 

HELL,, you dont even know who you are.

 

That' what I have been saying all along.

 

Well said! Hear, hear!

Sheesh.

I do agree with Wee Hector on one point. One of my pet peeves around here has always been that when the CAW competitions are coming to a head, all the participants bump the CAW posts each morning. And since there tends to be forty or fifty of the damned things, everything else bumps right off the page.

Even worse (and I know this, because I've participated in a couple), some of the participants try to make brownie points with inane responses like "Great story luv," and "this is so precious," even though they haven't even read the fucking thing. I know this, because I've literally seen it happen within thirty seconds of the stories going up.

But on balance I think the CAW competitions are a good thing. Wee Hector points out the bad side of it: that two or three people tend to dominate. But what he doesn't mention is that each competition brings at least a few new writers who contribute to the forum for the first time. And that is how to keep the place alive.

 

Does anyone? Sheesh. Cheer up. Go eat a breakfast sausage.

 

Dont care much for sausage,,do you know what is in that stuff??

 

Why is the forum dead? Because people like you announce they're leaving. We've lost a lot of really good writers and contributors to the forum, all because the owner of the site cannot make up his mind as to which rule he's going to make this week. More than anything, I blame the owner and his really bad business decisions regarding software updates, personnel changes and rules.

 

Uh huh. Sperm.

 

Wee Hector still won't respond to me.

He laments being branded as a troll, but here he seems to be just trolling. It is sad.

Say, Aces says my new avatar looks like a gushing wet semen infused sex hole. What do you think?

 

I'm just posting to point out that my next post will be 8,000 posts.

Is that when I get to scissor Miss Kimiko? Or is that perk no longer in the cards? (She probably wouldn't go down on a knuckle dragging teabagger like me.)

Say, I know.

At 8,000 posts can I put a JPG image in my signature? Just a teensy one?

 

SEE THERE,,,, even the boss is an asshole.

 

Got a sperm fetish today,,do ya??

 

Read again,Clarice! That is not at all what I was saying. My point was that certain people post nonsensical items in nonsensical threads at a time when CAW stories should be the main point of the forum. I don't mind writers posting stories outside of CAW but I find it offensive that 2 members should disrupt the running of CAW with threads which shouldn't even be on the forum in the first place.

As to posters who may or may not take part in CAW, the present batch on the forum leaves much to be desired. Though there are some writers of considerable talent, there are others who have much to learn and it is not the puerile postings of the "that is so hawt" brigade that will turn their efforts into anything other than low-quality tat. I benefitted from the comments made by writers far better than myself. Will those here present be able to say the same thing? The few great writers left here can produce only a limited number of new stories.

Besides, nowhere in my post does it mention anything about a two or three writers dominatin CAW. It was about a couple of members dominating the forum with total garbage which shouldn't be here in the first place.

Maybe you need to ask someone where you put your reading glasses, Clarise.

 

So you find that the forum is vivacious? Perhaps if the forum contained a few more threads that really interested people instead of nonsensical love-ins between two members who are seen as members of the clique. Just like on GD with Smc and Az. The place begins to look as though it is run for the benefit of the few.

 

Sheesh. I'm still waiting for ejls to tell me if I can have a pretty pic in my sig, and I have to waste my 8,000th post on this?

Look, Wee, I said I agreed with you.

Do I have to reiterate every point? Fine.

Yes. The Library threads and Pixy's pic threads are distractions. Satisfied? I've been saying that about the Library thread ever since the ELP days.

As for the dearth of constructive criticism, I gave up on that a long time ago, when I abandoned my Story Reviews thread.

Now I know better.

When I read a writer with talent and the stomach for criticism, I will constructively criticize. But for the most part I say "hot story."

The biggest serial novel effort happening right now is by SnowLeopard. It is a valiant effort. I have scanned it, but I have not commented. Not even to say hot story. I'm not going to digress on why. Hopefully he will keep reading, keep writing, and keep being encouraged by Darthel0101 and the other people who take the time to comment on his efforts, but I keep a low profile these days, in terms of comment and critique. Period.

Honestly, Wee, I don't know what your problem is. You very publicly deleted all of your own stuff and announced it on DC's Why I'm Leaving thread. No one reported you. You did that to yourself. If you hadn't done it, there would be one MORE talented writer on this forum than there is presently.