Most users ever online

This may be our last chance to break our "Most users ever online" record. Currently at 31 as of last December.

bungobaggins wrote:This may be our last chance to break our "Most users ever online" record.  Currently at 31 as of last December.

Unfortunately, I doubt we will ever get anywhere near that number again, whilst Forumshire is possibly the most active forum 'dedicated' to discussing the Hobbit films (though I think the majority of the posts here tend to be off topic) the end is nigh, and the films whatever peoples viewpoint on them, didn't have anywhere near the amount of cultural (or critical) impact the LOTR trilogy had, I think from now on anyone serious fans (or critics) of the films are more likely to join IMDB or a more prominent Tolkien fan forum such as TORn, and let's face it this is a rather small and perhaps rather biased (well, perhaps dissapointed is a more accurate term) forum, newbies don't tend to join or stay very often.

Maybe we'll have another spam attack

Or Warner Bros will announce Tauriel and Azog spinoffs...

What will happen then, will we fade into the dark, quiet corner of the internet?

bungobaggins wrote:What will happen then, will we fade into the dark, quiet corner of the internet?

I hope not, we may be small but we are (according to Eldo's stats) very very active, me and you both joined the Forum relatively late (within the last 18 months) and it has only continued to thrive in that time, let's face it alot of us are glad the films are coming to an end, but where's the fun in joining a forum only to moan? Forumshire is rather unique in the Tolkien Forums, in that it doesn't depend on Tolkien for discussion.

I will pass the test, I will remain Figg, though I may fade a little round the edges and pootle off to the Grey Havens eventually, my spirit shall forever wander these halls.

We'll not become a mere spirit of malice, gnawing itself in the shadows?
 Aw crapdoodle, I was looking forward to that.

malickfan wrote:Unfortunately, I doubt we will ever get anywhere near that number again, whilst Forumshire is possibly the most active forum 'dedicated' to discussing the Hobbit films (though I think the majority of the posts here tend to be off topic) the end is nigh, and the films whatever peoples viewpoint on them, didn't have anywhere near the amount of cultural (or critical) impact the LOTR trilogy had, I think from now on anyone serious fans (or critics) of the films are more likely to join IMDB or a more prominent Tolkien fan forum such as TORn, and let's face it this is a rather small and perhaps rather biased (well, perhaps dissapointed is a more accurate term) forum, newbies don't tend to join or stay very often.

Other than TORn, there aren't any other Tolkien forums (in English) that are still attracting sizable numbers of newbies who stick around.  A lot of the older ones have more impressive overall post totals because they've been around for 10-15 years, but activity has shriveled up on them over the years and The Hobbit films have not stopped the hemorrhaging as it was hoped they would.  We're one of a very small number of forums that has seen an appreciable increase in activity from The Hobbit films, which is probably due to us using "Hobbit" in the name and showing up on Google searches for "hobbit forum" (although we're drowned out by larger sites -- IMDb, Wikipedia, the official site, entertainment blogs, etc. -- on most generic hobbit searches).

You're absolutely correct that The Hobbit movies haven't made a cultural splash like LOTR did.  A decade ago there were numerous sites with activity levels similar to or greater than TORn's today (though ironically, TORn was not in the top tier of forum activity).  There were dozens more than attracted newbies on a regular basis and built up sizable, meaningful communities during the period when LOTR was the hottest property in the world.  But as the hype declined, most of these forums went away, and the overall decline of the forum as a medium (being displaced largely by social media) didn't help matters either.  A lot of older forums that had survived were really banking on The Hobbit films heralding a return to the glory days, but they haven't even managed to halt the shrink in most cases, much less reverse it.  TORn is the main exception, but they were starting from a mid-tier position.

That we've managed to build what we have from nothing when we started in early 2009 (and having to re-start in early 2011) is nothing less than miraculous.  We are somewhat unusual among Tolkien forums (though by no means unique) in that we achieved this success with a relatively small, hyper-active member base.  Our posts-to-active-members ratio is pretty insane.  Most of the 31 active users on that particular day last year were unregistered guests, and since overall Google searches for Hobbit-related topics are down from last year (which was in turn down from AUJ in 2012), and our level of posting activity is down from 2013 back to 2012 levels, it's unlikely that we'll break that record.  However, the record before December 2013 was not from during a movie release cycle, but a random day when we happened to get linked to by another fansite, so it's always possible that we'll have a sudden influx of visitors one day that will push us over.

I would suspect that in it's hey-day Bree came close to matching our post/member ratio.  Of course, many of them are now here.

As for social media,  *pah*, it has it's uses but I basically can't stand it.  I actually blame the interface more than the concept.  I think the interface of this forum is about as good as it gets (though fixing the search function so that it's actually useful would be nice).  Most social media you can't find something the next day.  Facebook is particularly bad in my opinion.

The one aspect of the forum that I don't like is something that's not really it's fault. Sometimes when I reset my internet connection my browser resets the forum, marking all the new posts as read.


Anyway, maybe we can set a date for some kind of post-Hobbit Forumshire Celebration Day. On that day we can have all our friends and relatives and internet acquaintances all visit the forum around the same time, setting a new post-Hobbit record!

...Either that or I'm going to spam reddit with it one day.

That bugs me too Forest, especially if I visit the forum on my phone and then later on my computer.

As for social media, I don't have a problem with it (I use Facebook pretty much every day), but it was designed for something completely different. It's a great way to keep in touch with people you already know, and it's largely displaced both e-mail and RSS feeds from my life, which is convenient if also a little worrying with how much traffic is concentrated in just a couple of sites. But if you want to foster a community online, and encourage meaningful debate and the development of friendship between people who don't already know each other, than forums are really the only way to go. You could argue that chat rooms fill this same niche, but while they're great too, they're harder for newbies to jump into and aren't as good for long-form discussion.

I will endure...

As always, I must reply with this:

Well even though the films are done, I plan on sticking around when I can. I truly like the people here. Might not always share opinion with everyone but hey that's what discussions are for. Everyone here stays pretty civil to each other which is rare on most forums I've seen.

We did it! December 18th, 34 users online!

what? when? crikey! maybe they want to know where Petty is. and why he hasn't done a review.


OI!!!!!PETTY!!!!!!!where are you?

I didn't even notice that. I don't think i was online. I checked our Google Analytics, and the 18th was actually slightly down in activity compared to the days on either side of that, so I guess we just got lucky with when all the guests started viewing the forum.

Haha, my reddit spam worked!

P.S.
Indeed Figgs, where is the Crabbit-meister? I can only assume that he is resting in a retreat somewhere so as to recover from the trauma of watching Battle of the Five Armies! Apparently the Bat-riding-Legolas (or Legolas-riding-bats?) were too much for him.

Forest Shepherd wrote:Haha, my reddit spam worked!

Noooo, don't bring reddit here! It's such a nice place!

I just read the Crabbitmeisters mega review of BOT5A. I need alcohol.

Have you not seen the film itself yet?

Read to me like Petty had a VERY clear head

Mrs Figg wrote:I just read the Crabbitmeisters mega review of BOT5A. I need alcohol.

I'm afraid you may have gotten the order backwards, Mrs Figg. The alcohol was supposed to come first