Return of the old days?

[Tinkerton]

Let's just take a minute here to observe that rarest of things - a mature argument on the internoots.

 

Bravo to all involved, while having differences of opinion (and possibly a minsunderstading) nobody resorted to petty name calling of swearing. Toys were not expelled from Tiny Human Transportation Devices , and at the end everybody is still polite and civil.

 

Bravo.

 

This is the Arnies I know and love. 

[paranoiddroid]

There's loads of examples of the anti gun crowd doing this the push to make fb ban sales came from the anti gun groups. The fb sales pages were great but everyone with a lick of sense knew we would lose them eventually especially once FB started signing on with the political left and agree to report on and censor speech that is embarrassing to the left wing (the signing on with Merkel to hand over info on posters and censor anti immigrant speech on fb for example)

 

They were nice because it meant I didn't have to sign up to loads of forums to check for stuff and I could do deals easily plus with real names I have a little more security I guess.

 

As for will it bring us a forum revival I doubt it as most of the groups are going to their own pages and are going to further fragment the community into 30-50 forums all with 30-80 members.

 

As for the arnies thing I don't really know what would help revive the site without losing what makes it awesome.

[Gunnman]

I regret what happend at Traders Airsoft. That place was a hub for GBB information. Sadly, spammers and stupid players caused a restriction on new members. When a system update took the forum offline for a month. Most of the members left, and no new members could join.

 

At the same time, we have a loyal global group of pepole here. Do we really want some of the groups of people back on here? They're not all trolls but for a lot of them airsoft is just a phase.

 

We're one of the most well known and respected global airsoft forums on the web, do we really need to change anything?

[Hedganian]

If the forum doesn't get new members, it'll eventually die...

 

If the sport doesn't get new players, the same will happen.

 

We need new players - and new forum members - and we need to educate them and try to make sure they're good players/members so the future of both sport and forum will be secure.

[TheFull9]

Yeah I'm pretty sure there's only actually a couple of dozen regularly posting on here at the moment.  Even 'the old regs' leave eventually, you can't have a community that never brings in new groups of people.  Apart from anything, what use is a bunch of people with knowledge and experience if there's nobody coming by to ask questions?  The number of people I see at games running absolute *suitcase* gear when I know they could've got something 5x the quality for 50% of the price is unreal.  But when you're starting out you don't know any better (obviously) and if you never ask anybody, you'll have to go through a cycle of learning what's good and what blows, which will take years and cost probably a couple of thousand all said and done; at least part of that could be avoided.  Same with any aspect of buying stuff, good eye pro, boots, AEGs, pistols etc etc, that's one of the very main purposes of boards like this and it's not being fulfilled if no new blood comes in.

 

Thing is of course it's only sales that FB banned, not discussion, so yeah maybe after a while a few folks will go back to forums for RIF sales but if you're the sort of person who's that lazy you won't even look for information that's not spoon fed in to your social media feed... well you're probably the sort of person that's likely to stay that way.

[Gunnman]

The sport is probably more popular then ever in the US thanks to the current lack of restrictions for import. The fields and CQB sites are packed up here in upstate NY.

 

Forums are dying due to its dinosaur technology.

[jal3]

The one thing i like about these forums, is that your post always gets read, no matter what people think. Sure you'll have a dozen people going apeshit and acting lunatic if you post something controversial, but it still gets read. Information still gets shared.

On reddit, slashdot and so on, your post gets downvoted away. If it doesn't follow the trend, it doesn't get to exist.

[Hedganian]

Given how much content Facebook hides unless the pages pay to promote it, the forums' "dinosaur technology" doesn't seem so bad to me.

 

At least everything on here is visible, and stays that way. You can search for - and find - threads from years ago with all the information still there to read.

[Gunnman]

Given how much content Facebook hides unless the pages pay to promote it, the forums' "dinosaur technology" doesn't seem so bad to me.

I didn't say it was bad, I'm just being pragmatic. I'm still on here and I have no problems with the format and members. But newer crowds might find other social media to be less tedious and more convenient. I still find forums to be more rewarding.

[jal3]

At least everything on here is visible, and stays that way. You can search for - and find - threads from years ago with all the information still there to read.

 

Unless it's the video thread. I can never find it through the search function.

[Brigg]

I'm in the boat that says social media is useless for a hobby like this, aside from sharing pictures of gear with your friends.

 

If I needed to figure out how to fix a problem on an Airsoft gun, a search on Google will bring me to a forum 90% of the time. But when information gets old on Facebook its basically just gone. I much prefer the archiving format of a forum because the information often times is useful years later. I can't tell you how much needed information I've found in threads that are nearly 10 years old. ( like for Marushin m500 fixes, for example)

 

On Facebook, those questions would have to be asked over and over, and you would have to hope anyone who knows is still around.

[aaron2310]

As I understand it, social media like Twitter and Facebook isn't particularly search engine friendly. Personally I hate the current trend of using social media in a forum capacity. They're unorganized messes. 

[TheFull9]

I've had the above sentiments for a good few years now really.  I get that posting your airsoft stuff on facebook is more 'convenient' than coming to a dedicated forum site, but is the huge effort it clearly takes to make an account anywhere near big enough of an issue that it outweighs the far superior quality of information and generally infinitely better layout and formatting?  I think the issue is people just don't realise quite how different a good board like this is vs social media because they've never actually tried.  Phones changed the game a lot as well, if anything I would say phone usage is the main reason for the change.  I know on my page my analytics say that 88% of the views come from mobile devices now, probably be over 90% soon enough.

[Hedganian]

I just got the tapatalk app to use the forum more easily on my phone and tablet.

[TheFull9]

I still view all the forums I'm on via my phone, makes sense.  But there's definitely a divide between those who started softing pre smart phones and those who started after I'd say.

[paranoiddroid]

I get stressed with fb because of uni and work and having to constantly panic and wonder if I'm going to get drama or grief because someone will tag me in something and it end up public.

 

Forums I'm just a name, a few of you have my address some of you may have seen the odd photo of me from a few years ago but for the most part I'm relatively hard to connect with a real person. Which means it's less easy for me to be outed as a 'softer.

 

Not that the hobby is a bad thing or I don't talk about it with friends it's just.... Some people will try and ruin your life if they see something on fb that they disprove of. It's not worth the risk.

 

Forums allow me to separate my larp, airsoft and gaming stuff from my church or work stuff and mean I don't get lectures from stroppy people that what I do is immoral or evil.

[Breathe]

I've always found that foums tend to have the people with ALL the right answers. Arnies is one of those closer communities where education and proper discussion happens. FB isnt geared towards that.

 

My biggest problem is finding a good forum that has trusty people, easy to use search functions, and a regular user base.

 

Unfortunately all the forums that once held solid information are all dead with 20 posters at max and the occasional wandering fool asking "What is better, M4 or AK"

 

I think we will see a small surge in forum usage, but it will only be the return of the folks who were always there. Younger/Newer players we will see less of.

 

On a side note. I've been trying to sell one of my classics and I'll be damned if there isn't a single buyer in the states. Doesn't help that CA.net is dead for good.  REALLY doesnt help that all the forums are died.

[sir naggedalot]

  REALLY doesnt help that all the forums are died.

 

I know its full of tools but I remember when it started and the only people on there were local to me as they played on their site or used the Zeroin shop, Arnies had loads of regular users back then. Things have changed for sure but you cant say the all the forums have died as Zeroin still has thousands of active members! I know there's loads of tools  but regardless its still  far from dead:0) 

[Smoke]

I've used Arnies pretty much every day since it was a basic news page, what... Getting on for 20 years? Can't be too far off it now..?

 

I rarely post. Usually because if I want to know something technical, it has generally been asked and answered (search ftw). The "view new posts" button keeps me up to date with pretty much every new release before anywhere else, including Facebook. I have noticed threads are generally by, and commented on by a small core of posters - luckily they generally know what they're talking about far more than I, so I sit back, read, and learn. Occasionally I'll throw my 2p in, but usually someone has already written what I think, and I don't really see the point in "me too" posts.

 

To be honest, I also generally find the standard of writing on here better than 90% of "Airsoft Journalism" out there.

 

I have seen a few new forums pop up since the change in FB policy, but none getting a lot of traction.

[Mike 8-{>]

......... but is the huge effort it clearly takes to make an account anywhere near big enough of an issue that it outweighs the far superior quality of information and generally infinitely better layout and formatting?

Would that be the huge effort, for a FB user, of clicking on the "login with your facebook credentials button" on the sign in page? I am assuming that logs you in without needing to create an account?

[TheFull9]

Thts effurt m8