Where is everybody? =/

[Nii]

While there is usually some sort of activity on these forums, I can't help but notice that with about 30 members on at any one time, that there should be a little more! Many other forums with similar numbers that I am part of have a massive amount of activity. I used to mostly visit the sword arts section every day, but there are perhaps only 5 topics made in the past month!

So I was wondering, those of you that actually come to this forum, what do you actually do? Just read? Perhaps wanting to make a new thread but decide not to? Or is there some sort of secret forum section that only privleged members get to see? I'm curious =)

P.S. I realise I might be a little hypocritical since I've been part of this forum for more than a year with only 2 posts... But don't mind me =)

[Fred27]

I know plenty people who come here to read only. :)

There aren't any new users though since both guest and new user-accounts have been disabled. So there is no fresh blood on the boards, just the old one...Old and tired. Besides, this forum can be brutal to new users and beginner questions.

[Nii]

Ah ok. Yeah that's true, I come here to read only as well. But when everyone does that, there really isn't anything to read! I got bored of reading the archived threads so I decided to make this thread and find out why :rolleyes:

And I guess you're right about this forum being tough on beginners. It can be a little offputting to someone who genuinely wants to learn too. But I guess this entire community is jaded, bitter and veterans =P. But because of that I feel this forum can be a little too quiet.

Are there any other good forums around the net, perhaps more active, that are for sword arts?

[trevorg]

I am reminded of the quaint little English village in which I have lived for 25 years. As we speak I am still not fully accepted although I have tried hard to integrate. When we first came there was much to talk about because it was all new. The people, us,what was going on etc. Now we know what is going on and we know everybody and everybody knows us, but the tentacles of acceptance still haven't embraced us fully. Tacitly, maybe.

Gossip was always interesting. You know, finding about new things, what was new, who did what and where and how. Now the gossip is all done and the only talk left is small talk. Nothing of consequence.

The village hierarchy is such that it centres round our church, which is where the great and the good congregate. Sadly, I am not one of them. Major issues of importance in the village are decided by these people who also sit on the parish council, the local ramblers group or local environmental protection society. The rest of us village idiots hardly have any input and if we raise a small voice in protest or gentle criticism then we are disregarded as irrelevant incomers.

As to new blood, well they are just outpriced in the housing market. So we all grow old gracefully, some disgracefully, and the possibility of positive change fades into memory.

Osu
Trevor

[ZachZinn]

Ah ok. Yeah that's true, I come here to read only as well. But when everyone does that, there really isn't anything to read! I got bored of reading the archived threads so I decided to make this thread and find out why :rolleyes:

And I guess you're right about this forum being tough on beginners. It can be a little offputting to someone who genuinely wants to learn too. But I guess this entire community is jaded, bitter and veterans =P. But because of that I feel this forum can be a little too quiet.

Are there any other good forums around the net, perhaps more active, that are for sword arts?


In general I can see how this forum is intimidating for beginners, but it's worth sticking around IMO. I found my Goju teacher like 6 years ago on e-budo, it's always a great resource for questions and information.

There are alot of old curmudgeons on here ;); but that's not a bad thing, sometimes old curmudgeons can teach you alot.'

Just ask want you want, say what you want (within reason) and everyone is usually cool.

Fact is this is the internet, forums abound with "lawl swordz are kewl show me how to use em" type posts, so as long as your posting is above that level e-budo should treat you just fine.

Just takes a long time to get threads going sometimes, don't give up.

[Inazuma]

but, but, aren't swards kewl!?!

Hee, last time me and my wife lived in a small place in Scotland (Rasay Island) I got berated for talking to the sheep (wasn't my fault, I just talked THEY came to listen). And most of the locals looked at our little group as a bunch of drug-smoking, orgy-loving, delinquent freaks.

Change is at the heart of growth, is it not? :P

[Samurai Jack]

When I first started to lurk here it was a busy place. Now, like allot of other boards, you see less and less activity. I don't know why that is, I guess it has to do with allot of things.

One thing I think is due in part to Youtube. No moderators or board admins. Youtube has little posting restrictions, and controls. Youtube also has the appeal of posting and commenting on video. I am not saying Youtube is the only reason; it is just one of many that are inclusive to the ever changing internet driven mostly by those under the age of 35. Blogs are close to becoming a thing of the past, as new machines and technology increase the capabilities of the internet, which are a great attraction. We see the future as demonstrated by the past Youtube and the Presidential debates.

In more detail, people for the majority don't want their speeched censored, or controled that want to voice it they they want i.e.the old rec-martial-arts forum. Which does create problems resulting in the birth of moderated forums. Being restrictive in what and how people could post in various degrees depending on the forum gave birth, in part, or appeal, to the blog. The blog also restricted commenting,a feature that attracted many, was a two edged sword for those who where looking for something different to interact like on a Forum. Then when Youtube and other such sites became popular the Forums lost appeal.

I think this is part of the reason why you don't see the same activity on the forum boards, other reason for example, are bordom, new ways to communicate on the net, and many more such reasons. I predict in a number of years forums will go the way of the Dodo bird, or simply haunt the net.

[tenchijin2]

I've been a contributing member of ebudo since before it crashed yeeaaarrrrs ago.

I think that so many of us have been around so long talking about the same things that once in awhile we just sort of get bored. It's wierd how often the same conversations repeat. With the same contributors repeating the same points. Then it happens again. After many years of this, perhaps we just aren't as inclined to do it?

I've seen it happen over the years on many forums and email lists.

[william northcote]

What I want to know is what happened to Huw Larsen, Monkeyboy and Stan Lee? Where are all the Brit pack loonies? :D

Ahh well. You never know, it may pick up again.

[Cady Goldfield]

I've been a contributing member of ebudo since before it crashed yeeaaarrrrs ago.

I think that so many of us have been around so long talking about the same things that once in awhile we just sort of get bored. It's wierd how often the same conversations repeat. With the same contributors repeating the same points. Then it happens again. After many years of this, perhaps we just aren't as inclined to do it?

I've seen it happen over the years on many forums and email lists.

Which is what Trevor pointed out in his lovely analogy of an old English village that hasn't changed in centuries. ;)

Another issue is that John Lindsey temporarily closed the board to new membership and guest posting, so that has quieted the traffic down too. (See "I'm Back" thread on "What's New" Forum)

[william northcote]

I've been a contributing member of ebudo since before it crashed yeeaaarrrrs ago.

So you remember ACAMAC then? So do I. the emails I would get from the first reply was normal, then ACAMAC posted and it just went downhill from there. I was thinking the PC had broken.

[George Kohler]

Another issue is that John Lindsey temporarily closed the board to new membership and guest posting, so that has quieted the traffic down too. (See "I'm Back" thread on "What's New" Forum)

He closed it down due to new memberships mostly coming from bots. He was wanting to update the new software to try and stop this but right now he is a little busy.

[Nii]

It just seems that activity really comes in a trickle... I was reading through the workarounds on how to access my userCP, since it will be 'fixed soon'... Until I realised the post was made last year! Well perhaps I'll try and make a few new threads to keep stuff active I guess...

[ZachZinn]

The "where is everybody" thread is turning into one of the most active in some time.

[william northcote]

Well we could all reminisce about such greats like ACAMAC, Phil Elmore and so on. But I prefer to discuss the virtues of members that have real value, like being nice and having fun.

[Nii]

Discussing virtues? Hmm well being nice and having fun requires alot of activity and input from the community! ...And heated debates help too =)

Well basically I joined this forum last year because of my interest in Japanese Sword Arts. Now that I have finally joined a dojo I was hoping to come on and find a wealth of information. I have... but most posts are about 2 years old. Back then, was the forum very active?

[trevorg]

As has been pointed out before, this site belongs to John Lindsay and, naturally and completely understandably, he has complete control over it. If he wants to stop newbies or any other kind of whatever coming in, that's fine. It isnt a commercial enterprise.

The only problem with that is that it becomes like one of London's old clubs where exclusivity reigns and potential members can be blackballed. Old members carry on guarding their patch but the consequence is a dwindling membership and time spent reminiscing about the good old days.

Enough of my analogies. I dont have a problem with whatever John Lindsay decides to do with his site. I can only observe as others are doing; that it is awfully quiet, not helped in my view by mods closing down certain threads which were lively and stimulating and would likely have continued to be so had they remained open.

It seems to me that all is currently left to talk about is to raise a query that someone might be able to answer, in which case job done. Or to indulge in a little social banter. Once in a rare while a thread of interest gets going which draws quite a lot of discussion such as the kata bunkai thread in trad karate, which I thought was great.

My twopennyworth for what its worth.

osu
Trevor

[Nii]

Well I'd assume that while the activity of the forum might increase (in a few years), there might not be anyone left! Well if there's nothing to see at this website to maintain interest, I can see people just forgetting to come here periodically after some time. Boredom can do that.

So is there currently an actual ban on new members joining this forum? Can't see why you'd want something like that... :rolleyes:

And who is this ACAMAC people keep referring to?

[Ryanclose]

So is there currently an actual ban on new members joining this forum? Can't see why you'd want something like that... :rolleyes:

Speaking as admin for a forum for my paintball team, having to sort out the spam bot usernames and deleting them is a time consuming process, not to mention just plain annoying. If you're away for any length of time you can come back to 30+ users that advertise any number of things from annoying "Free iPods!" to the most degrading porn sites. I did notice a huge increase in spam bot activity a few months ago and I did the same thing he did. I closed it down for a bit and had people email me personally to activate an account. Now mine is a free forum site but then the writers of the software updated and I haven't had much of a problem since. The problem, however, is now, as you've noticed here, traffic has reduced considerably. But the same can happen if you let the spam bot activity go unchecked as users get disgusted w/ the spam.

I have faith, though, that there will be another upswing in due time. Through my years of training, I've seen it at the dojo many times.

[trevorg]

I have faith, too, but it would nice to hear about some developments.

Osu
Trevor

[George Kohler]

The problem with upgrading the new software is that John is in the processes of getting his stuff in order at home and going back to Iraq. He was for the last month looking for jobs, traveling to schools, and doing security type jobs here in the US which required him to be away from his computer. So in the long run, the jobs here didn't pan out and now he will be leaving shortly. I talked to him last night over the phone and he is still talking about trying to upgrade before he leaves.

[william northcote]

And who is this ACAMAC people keep referring to?

If I remember right, ACAMAC was someone that claimed to do ninjitsu (not ninjutsu as it is rightly said) and wrote in slang from Spanish Hispanic and English.

Now if you read English, it makes sense (please, no comments about my postings). Hispanic Spanish makes sense if you read Hispanic Spanish. however ACAMAC used Hispanic and English in the same sentence. And ACAMAC could write loads in this way and basically troll the board with Hispanic English. So not long after E-budo crashed, came back and shortly after introduced the 2 minute between postings and post edits under 15 minutes.

So now you know.

BTW, That is not good news for Mr. Lindsey to go back to Iraq. Lets hope the bang bus squad comes back home in one piece.

[Cady Goldfield]

I vaguely remember him from the PC (Pre-Crash) Days. All I recall is that his stuff sounded like gibberish, so I ignored his posts. Guess I missed the fun.

[ZachZinn]

Yeah, Martin Gale (I think that's what the acamac guy called himself) was awesome...did anyone save his page or anything? I can't find a cached version anywhere, his page was the best.

If you wanna see what ACAMAC is all about though, just google it, most of the links were his own rambling posts on other forums, and it looks like he's actually sill trying to sell his ACAMAC program here:

http://www.toavi.com/info/ktbstrsiab


here another link to his er...work:

http://isbn2book.com/1-58753-710-9/10_aabuu_acamac_primarius_official_y-orange_belt_rank_of_black_belt_for_kids_teans_and_up_to_70/

[Fred27]

I dont think many people blame John for the temp-ban on new users. Getting ones life back into order after all that time in the grass..err...sand...keeping your head down must be hard.

But the hard facts are that unless we get new blood in here the boards will become stagnant. A similar comparison can be made about "koryu" but thats something for the budo-academics to discuss. And I still believe the very strong opinions of some of the so called budo-academics on this forum can be too much even for veteran budoka.

[MikeWilliams]

At the risk of stirring up things that are best left dead and buried (but what the hell, it's fun):

The new Jigoro Kano G. Funakoshi & Bruce Lee ; MARTIN GALE ! The revolutionary Martial Art CREATOR Martin Gale create MATRIX that the 128 Mathematically Exacts and Geometrically Perfects 128 PERFECTS MARTIAL ARTS This is the REVOLUTION in the Millenarie Petrified Land of the Martial Arts The Martial Arts "comunity" as with all prophets want expulsion of this Revolutionarie! But as FOREVER the TRUE Definitively get the Victory! How is posible that the First ACAMAC executant your own Creator Martin Gale can match more FASTEST CYCLOS Completes (NOT Micro 5 Inches as Wing Tsun Semi Micro Punches TOUCH PER SECOND) Flexion Extension CYCLES (PUNCHES OR STEPS) that inclusive ALL the 100 Meters Olympic Golden Medals of ALL the Plympic Games 1936 Jesse Owens 4,50 CYCLES PE SECONG AND 1988 Carl Lewis 4,50 CYCLES PER SECOND and 2000 Sidney 4,50 CYCLES (COMPLETES PUNCHES OR STEPS PER SECOND) and Bruce Lee and Casius Clay Muhamad Ali with Between 3 UP TO 4 CYCLES PER SECOND (CYCLES PUNCHES OR STEPS BUT COMPLETES FLEXION EXTENSION CYCLES) And the ACAMAC Martial Ar CREATOR Martin Gale with 5,00 COMPLETES CYCLES PUNCHES PER SECOND ! How is posible in a world with 5.000 Millons of persons the First ACAMAC Aristo Agon Brun executant your own ACAMAC AristoAgon Brun Martial Art CREATOR Martin Brun Gale can become the ACAMAC AristoAgon Martial Art is the FOREVER Alltimes FASTEST in Martial Art and Sports fo the First II Millenium Completes How ; well the ACAMAC AristoAgon create the 128 Mathematically Exacts and Geometricallyu Perfects 128 PERFECTS MARTIAL ARTS ! ...Gale is a GENIUS !

Basically, EVERY SINGLE POST by ACAMAC/Martin Gale was exactly like the above. Needless to say he took a huge amount of flak from the regulars here, but he kept coming back for more. Personally I thought he showed strong symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and deserved help rather than mockery, but I have to admit he was hugely entertaining.

[trevorg]

How truly wonderful. Wish I'd been around then.

Osu
Trevor

[william northcote]

Or BruceB, Kimpatsu and his one man grammar police. Now that was the fun days of the No Touch Knock Out thread.

I wonder if the cached version still has that thread somewhere. Entertainment from the NTKO thread was flipping good fun.

[Cady Goldfield]

The problem with upgrading the new software is that John is in the processes of getting his stuff in order at home and going back to Iraq. He was for the last month looking for jobs, traveling to schools, and doing security type jobs here in the US which required him to be away from his computer. So in the long run, the jobs here didn't pan out and now he will be leaving shortly. I talked to him last night over the phone and he is still talking about trying to upgrade before he leaves.

Can't imagine anyone in need of topnotch security not wanting to hire or create a job for John. That's a shame that his job ops didn't come to fruition. Hope he turns up something plum, soon.

[Cady Goldfield]

Basically, EVERY SINGLE POST by ACAMAC/Martin Gale was exactly like the above. Needless to say he took a huge amount of flak from the regulars here, but he kept coming back for more. Personally I thought he showed strong symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and deserved help rather than mockery, but I have to admit he was hugely entertaining.

Basically, ACAMAC came across as a schizophrenic on steriods. :rolleyes: Thanks for that sashay down memory lane. :)

[Cady Goldfield]

He closed it down due to new memberships mostly coming from bots. He was wanting to update the new software to try and stop this but right now he is a little busy.

That's what I figgered. Every time I looked at the user tally, it would show something like "7 registered users, 106 guests." I knew that "guests" had to be 'bots... What a hassle.

[Woody]

Here I am! :D

[George Kohler]

What a hassle.

It sure was. Before John came back in June/July, I deleted at least 30 bot registrations out of 36 (this is just an average. Sometimes a lot more and sometimes a little less.) If I missed a couple of days of activations... I sometimes thought of sticking a gun to my head (To some of you that take things literally, it is a figure of speech).

[Nii]

That's another thing I don't understand. I can't even access this forum without logging in! How can there be guests?

[ZachZinn]

Pardon my forum ingorance, but can someone explain the bot registration thing to me?

[william northcote]

When you register anything on the internet, you always get a box that you have to read and type in what is on screen. This can not be completed by a bot as it only sees an image.

So for instance these name changer programs that makes an anagram of your name. It will be something like that. It will pick names and fake a online email address. It will claim to be from somewhere that the bot chooses a place and says location. Then it will fill out the rest by placing words, numbers or a wingding. Once registration is done it will activate and then it opens for a spammer to get in and basically troll the forum with what ever they wish to do.

You can see bots in action in the Yahoo chat rooms Adult section. If you leave your ID in a room you will bet not only genuine people wanting to talk but also bots. Yahoo had to shut down their chat rooms due to bots as at one time there was 3 people in one room and 40 bots :D . So you can see why they are a pain for forum users.

[yoj]

Bots get around those image/read things, on one of my forums i added a security question where you basically have to add a few things up and type in a number, it's unusual and it stopped the bots dead, 2 irish guys couldnt work out the answer either, we didnt make fun them though, well not much, only about 4 pages of it ;-)

[Nii]

Haha, that's a pretty cool idea. I had a feeling the numbers as an image thing would be coded around sooner or later (character recognition isn't too hard to do these days).

[George Kohler]

That's another thing I don't understand. I can't even access this forum without logging in! How can there be guests?

Even though you are not logged in you are still in a page maintained by the software. All the software says is how many people are in the software.

[Nii]

So at any one time there are 50 people just sitting at the log in page? Hmm it's like bots/zombies lurking outside a fortress with only the gates stopping them from getting in...

[George Kohler]

Well, they might have left the page to do other things, but the software will show that they are logged in for a certain amount of time. I can't remember how long it is but somewhere between 15 to 30 minutes.

[Anders Pettersson]

The members that have the option in their setting to browse the forum in 'invisible' mode will also show as guests on the Who's online page.

/Anders

[George Kohler]

The members that have the option in their setting to browse the forum in 'invisible' mode will also show as guests on the Who's online page.

/Anders

Except for the admin of course.