Five posts in a row right below this are for out of town ladies, and it doesn't say anything about them touring, and they are obviously almost all written with the same format.

Not that they wouldn't be welcomed here, but what gives?

I had to go back and make sure I was in the san diego discussion area lol.. it thru me off

Weird?

Was wondering that too

-- Modified on 12/10/2009 2:17:53 PM

the provider ad posting guidelines state:

"The 'one ad per 7 days' rule means you can post one ad per week on one board here at TER. You cannot post one ad to two or more boards in the same week unless there are multiple regional boards local to you.

The only exception to the above rules is - when touring, providers may also post one ad per week on the board for the city they will be visiting to announce their visit. The dates of the visit should be included in the subject line of the ad.
The only exception to the above rules is - when touring, providers may also post one ad per week on the board for the city they will be visiting to announce their visit. The dates of the visit should be included in the subject line of the ad."

I hope this helps to clarify!

I don't mind the spam.  I do miss the discussions we used to have on this board.  Now it's pretty much all provider posts and very limited interaction.

UM - how do you think we get back to that? The discussion board here, for a lack of better words, is sorely lacking anything interesting.

This is the page where I first posted on this board, back in May 2003.

Tell me what is different about it than current pages.

What a blast from the past!  A lively discussion, useful info being exchanged, no "free ads" by the gals...and the names - Ness, Sparker, Loratad, Sedagive, Rmplestlskin, Times25, paperbackwriter, NaughtiusMaximus...where have they all gone?

One thing not readily apparent in those 2003 'page views' is how much lower the traffic is on this site now (less than10%), than it was in 2003.

This is partly because of all the alternative social networking sites that are presently available. But I think it may represent a more fundamental shift that has taken place in the economy and society since 2003.

Because there had been no real (i.e., 'inflation-corrected') salary increases for most of us since 2000, I've always felt that discretionary money for hobbyists came from either home-equity loans or credit cards. With the financial crash of September 2008, as well as the earlier and ongoing collapse of the real estate market, of course, all of that borrowed money has dried up. Couple that with the large increases in unemployment, and it's not surprising that hobbyist interest has precipitously declined.

But I agree, MSD and sdhobbyist, those archival web pages do bring back the memories....

I hear what you are saying 2...and you know I agreed with you when we talked about it happening years ago before 2008.  But I think something else has contributed to it as well.

When I look at 2003 and 2004, I see a lot of posts made by JBIRDCA and by Sedagive that were not related only to their role as board moderator.  I see posts by ladies that were not about their business, and they were comfortable posting with GND active on the boards. And I see threads that were way outside of the topic of this board that were encouraged and nurtured.

I speculate that what has happened has been a change in TER itself.  Yes, there are other sites for socializing.  However, as the general population of TER has grown, it has taken that much more effort by the all-volunteer moderators to screen things out, approve posts, check review info, etc., etc.  Most moderators cover several boards now, perhaps because only so many people can be trusted with access as the site's visibility has grown with LE.  The days when JBIRD or Sed would kind of lead the board, when off topic posts were encouraged, and when the ladies could post knowing GND and the mods had their back instead of the hobbyists (and their membership fees) being king, are likely gone forever.

Thankfully, there will always be a remnant of these things that continues, but the days of it being not just a hobbying board but somewhat of a social board are probably in the past.

I think you're making some very good points.

There certainly seems to be much less of a 'community' these days. In some ways, it reminds me of TBD, which is why I haven't visited that site in years.

I remember when Sedona of San Diego was recovering from cancer treatment, at about the time of the web-page that you selected. She received assistance from the TER community, for which I know she was very grateful.

Your point emphasizing the role of moderators is also excellent. The moderator, or 'editor', really sets the tone of a board. I don't think the politics board ever really survived Ben Dover as the moderator, and now it has degenerated into exchanges of ad hominem attacks. It's important that the moderator not be a passionate advocate, and makes sure that the posters play well with one another.

But if this board is just a general reflection of how life in these United States has turned so much harder, maybe we shouldn't expect much more.