Death of domain forums - Losing posters to blogs

[Aggro]

Very noticeable how NamePros has become very inactive & slow moving since the many domain blogs started.

Domainstate is barely limping along - and has gotten worse since its acquisition by Above.com

DNF is doing fine, business as usual..

Nowadays everything is splintered.
Instead of having a lot of good posters in one place, one needs to visit several blogs to to find a few good nuggets of posts.

Where there used to be at least a page full of new threads on NP, there is now just a handful of new posts.
Threads often get no or minimal replies.
It's almost like the good ol' days when domain forums just started, when you could drop in & read every single post in 20 mins..

It's almost sad that by the time a bit of breaking industry news gets posted on the forums, it's at least a day late. Old news.

Plus most of the good posters of yesteryear have either gone off to start their own blogs or post on other domain blogs.
Or seemingly just lurk, no longer posting.

Liquidity rules. Good posters beget other good posters

It's been said before - a cautionary tale:

*Good posters* are the lifeblood of any forum.
Forum owners should be paying them to post - otherwise they'll go elsewhere (better ROI).

 

[DU]

Liquidity rules. Good posters beget other good posters

It's been said before - a cautionary tale:

*Good posters* are the lifeblood of any forum.
Forum owners should be paying them to post - otherwise they'll go elsewhere (better ROI).

This is true but I don't think paying is the right answer. New Domainers need to follow something, someone and typically they latch onto blogs because it's easy. Forums require a two-way communication which is hard for a lot of people. They don't want to know they're wrong, they don't know why they don't get answers.

Forums die because they are becoming about me, for me, instant gratification.

1. I've just joined.
2. I've regged 10 names.
3. Please provide a detailed appraisal.
4. Why won't anyone answer me?

Easier to go to a blog where you can write a stream of comments, sign it with your new domain name and get excited it you get a response. The solution is to get more people to think for themselves. This is not a problem for a forum to figure out - but society as a whole.


Also:
Full time domainers are just that, Full Time?
Smart people are competitors, why help them?

When hobby meets business the results are always going to be "mixed". I'd actually prefer more talk about non-domain specifics and just overall industry things. Some interesting threads to show up I haven't given up hope yet.

 

[Deathstarr]

I agree with OP about namepros and DOmainState, which DS has never really been a player.

Blogs are good for information but not what I forum offers. A Forum offers more then just information but the market here in NamePros has just dwindled to nothing where you can buy cheap, crap domains. I have told a few this, I wish NamePros was like it use to be before the staff changes, upgrades and before the auction ended. It use to be full of life and chat was full, now most of the time you dont even see people in the chat.

 

[Name Trader]

Personally, I don't agree with Aggro's assumption, that forums are dying because of the blogs. You have to visit many different blogs (lots of them) to get the info you need, and you get a lot of what you don't need in the process. At NP it's all in one place. Also NP beats DNF hands down.

I would agree that content has dropped off from it's peak. But give me NP over 50 blogs any day of the week.

 

[dnb8]

I think this is also because people are now too lazy to post on forums,
they now prefer to check on facebook what their friends are doing.

 

[Krossat]

One thing it correct that after a few years most of the domainers post fewer times and as need be basis (unlike the ones who just get a high from being around and feeling important lolz, or ofcourse if they are career domainers, and successful ones at that)
But that being said, domaining will always be around, it will hold a promise of quick riches for more and more people, and will have enough liquidity to stay afloat because of that.
Forums might have a slow period, but dont be mistaken, those that are seasoned do lurk the forums all the time. They are around, watching!

 

[vc]

Meh, doesn't look like you've been contributing much so you sir, are part of the problem.

A forum, just like anything and everything else, is what you make of it.

 

[lll]

Meh, doesn't look like you've been contributing much so you sir, are part of the problem.

:lol:

I do agree that blogs requiring no registration to view topics or posts have been killing some activity on certain forums in the past years and still to this day. My beef with this issue was when I had my music forum.

 

[mwzd]

A feeling of community is what drives a good forum, good content automatically follows, as does traffic.

I agree NP is down from the 2007/2008 frenzy, but then so are authentic business transactions on DNF, where the sections that are the most active don't really do anything for my bottomline.

The thing I like about NP over other domain forums is rules are applied uniformly to all in the community and not waived for a privileged few.

 

[gemstar]

I find that creating blogs with domains is an instant success rather a conventional website. You are indexed faster and the traffic is incredible. If you form a website compared to a blog the traffic is next to none on a regular site. Once you create a blog the right way your traffic explodes!

 

[HeyNow]

My take on it is that potentially important contributors to domain forums and blogs probably stay away, considering what they see at those forums and blogs. What do they see? They see plenty of ethically-challenged businesses and individuals highlighted as shining examples of successful domainers. They see domain "news" websites hold criminals in high esteem. They see Vice Presidents from registrars bidding against clueless customers of that registrar to either win domains or drive up prices anonymously. They see domain typo-squatters highlighted in articles and forums as wonderful individuals and role models. They see the industry not policing itself and rogues running free to scam and perpetrate fraud on the consumer. They see a bunch of stuff that steers them away from an apparent cesspool of bottom feeders.

 

[Aggro]

You missed the point.
The point has obviously gone over your head

Only a fool would make valuable contributions in his time & energy posting tons of content - only to create value & equity for the forum owner.
(celebrity chefs don't go to other chefs' restaurants to eat unless there is a quid pro quo)

Do you think the forum owner will share the cash with members if/when he sells the forum?

It's a new paradigm.

The leading forum in this niche will survive - it has critical mass & where serious business takes place - but the other lagging players have been adversely affected.
Active users down, ad revenue down..
Of course they will "survive" - but in a very different shape & form from before.

Good posters of yeateryear, many of whom have gone on to start their own blogs (some getting advertising ~ $1000/mth) aren't coming back.
They are busy marketing themselves - their 'brand'.

ps. then again you only joined in Sep 2010 - well after the go-go years.
In terms of internet timeline, it's analagous to you still swimming around in your dad's nutsac - while some of us were adults.

Meh, doesn't look like you've been contributing much so you sir, are part of the problem.

A forum, just like anything and everything else, is what you make of it.

 

[DU]

Only a fool would make valuable contributions in his time & energy posting tons of content - only to create value & equity for the forum owner.

This is true and is usually the position I take with every single form of business. Parking, Sedo, Forums etc; however, there is a point that most people miss.

Successful blogs are exactly the same with the exception that it's one sided. This makes it easier and not more difficult to contribute - who do you have to answer to? Where forums should succeed is in open discussion and as a fountain of knowledge that leads to further investigation. Forums should be encouraging investigation and thought.

The main issue is that people are no longer interested in learning anything. Kids don't know how long it takes to boil an egg anymore. Why not? Google can tell you in 10 seconds. It's not important! So goes the argument. The reality is that if you know how long it takes to boil an egg you will then move on to how to scramble, then how to make an omelette. Then you start adding cheese and other ingredients. Then you start to learn what tastes go together and you start to build a palate.

Domaining is the same. What is a domain? What is a registrar? ccTLD? What typed of parking? How do you develop? What is developed? What is marketing? I've learned more about marketing than domaining since coming here with very little of it actually discussed on this forum (which is unfortunate) as it is the most common subject that I am PMed about and I get quite a few PMs about subjects not posted. I'm stupid for responding sometimes.

This is what forums COULD do but people aren't that terribly interested. Blogs are usually second hand information (rarely are the sources credited) and opinion.

Looking at the last 3 days of posts here the forum is like Mahalo was supposed to be. Human edited answers to simple queries. Someone elses research providing answers.

What is a good domain?
What is my domain worth?
How do I monetize?
Why can't I do my own research?
Can I just make money doing nothing?

And I wand to hear from people not machines. Nothing to do with swimming in nutsacks... just a cultural shift to efficiency imho.

Efficiency has positive qualities; however, it is efficiency that is destroying ever aspect of civilization. Government, healthcare, employment, art...

But then I'm a cynic and like the old school length threads that you used to be able to find on usenet.

 

[DU]

I forgot :

$NP for a Facebook Like.
$NP for a Tweet

These posts should be BANNED imho. Seems like 50% of posts are these. If you don't have anough friends to get 25 likes you should go out and meet more people.

 

[vc]

Only a fool would make valuable contributions in his time & energy posting tons of content - only to create value & equity for the forum owner.

Typical domainer mentality. It's about the community that thrives on the owner's forum. It's about something called "sharing", which you obviously know little about. All you see is "content on a domain". :wave:


PS. If one of the harddrives of the server np is on crashes, who pays the bill?

 

[Carlton]

There are more sources of information today compared to 5,6 years ago. Forums were the thing back then. By comparison, blogs tend to do a better job of offering timely, breaking news. Although you have to deal with solo editor biases. The old version of DomainState was a heavily biased forum, whereas Namepros has been much more open and healthy over the years.

 

[DU]

There are more sources of information today compared to 5,6 years ago. Forums were the thing back then. By comparison, blogs tend to do a better job of offering timely, breaking news.

There are still the same number of sources - there are just lots more people regurgitating the information (and usually not attributing).

Theft of information is now very unoriginal.

Blogs (with exceptions) do a better job of stealing than forums because there are few to call you out. On a forum if you don't supply source and try take credit you will be called out.

Some of the more known blogs (Elliot, Domains, etc) are usually the source or at least attribute to where they think it came from - everyone else ? Not so much.

But do you really want to learn everything from Elliot or The Domains? They'd be horrified if you thought that was wise. Only Rick would think you were smart

 

[Dave_Z]

As of this post:

Members: 176,726
Threads: 691,575
Posts: 4,014,233
Total Online: 612

 

[DU]

As of this post:

Members: 176,726
Threads: 691,575
Posts: 4,014,233
Total Online: 612

Which shows?

How many active users posted in the last year with more than 100 posts with over a year under their belt?

My guess is 3% produce 90% of content excluding posts 1-5 asking basic questions from new users unaware of search functions on NP and on the Internet as a whole.

Those 3% do have good to say, luckily ..

Of 600 users online how many were real? 25%?

 

[biggie]

volume happens in cycles and so does stagnation



i've been around for a few years and have seen many changes

from mods to the members to the posters,

from the level of quality in dialogue of some members, to the plain ignorance and gullibility of others


some stay, some learn, some don't, some move on