# Where'd everyone go?!



## eighteighty (Jan 2, 2019)

I didn't know where to post this but, what happened to everyone? Hasn't been a Lake Tang post in 4 days. This site used to be so busy years ago. I must've had over 1000 posts on my old profile (just rejoined a few weeks ago). Did we just not attract enough newbies to the hobby?


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

I joined in 2003 - the year I got back into tropical fish after a 20 year absence. I have had African cichlids ever since. It does seem relatively quiet. Maybe many are on social media sites but I do not do those for hobbies, nor for anything else. This site has a bunch of information for people getting into cichlids and I am glad it is still here.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

It's kind of odd: with it being winter, you'd think there would be more activity.



punman said:


> I joined in 2003 - the year I got back into tropical fish after a 20 year absence. I have had African cichlids ever since. It does seem relatively quiet. Maybe many are on social media sites but I do not do those for hobbies, nor for anything else. *This site has a bunch of information for people getting into cichlids and I am glad it is still here.*


Sadly, a great part of that information was lost ... due to Photobucket's change in policy re: linking from other sites.

I've been through numerous older threads that are now much less valuable, due to the lack of accompanying images.


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## eighteighty (Jan 2, 2019)

I'm only able to able to see my old posts from 08 or 09. My early 2000s ones are all gone.

Great info here and you can get responses and was great to rejoin after a ~10 year absence, but it used to be so busy. I kind of miss it and wonder what happened to everyone and why there haven't been more joining.


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## fishndogs (Dec 5, 2017)

I think the sad truth is that far fewer people are participating in real life activities these days. Video games etc. have captured a huge chunk of people's time that used to be available for any number of other activities. In my city, for instance, there used to be 8 lfs - now there are 3.


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## eighteighty (Jan 2, 2019)

Very good point. The nice fish stores are harder and harder to find. All I ever see are petco, pet supermarket, and Petsmart. I live downtown Atlanta so I know there are some in the suburbs, but it's frustrating if I need something quickly. People just aren't into doing things themselves as much.

Its very sad because this really is a great hobby.


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## Ralph493 (Dec 1, 2018)

Online shopping is the nail in the coffin for lfs in my opinion. That and rural folks having to drive maybe an hour to get to one. My other hobby is model railroading and that's seeing the same thing as far as local stores. Amazon Prime and it's st your door in two days no shipping charges. Local stores just can't match.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

fishndogs said:


> I think the sad truth is that far fewer people are participating in real life activities these days. Video games etc. have captured a huge chunk of people's time that used to be available for any number of other activities. In my city, for instance, there used to be 8 lfs - now there are 3.


That and social media.

I hardly see any older kids in my neighborhood ride bikes or skateboard or play ball. I see them walking around glued to their phones taking selfies with fairy filters...same as adults for that matter.

My grown cousin posted a selfie the other day with those eye sparkly filters. This young(er) generation is on a whole nother level. Sadly I think social media has taken us on a turn for the worse....

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


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## winslow16 (Feb 27, 2019)

Ralph493 said:


> Online shopping is the nail in the coffin for lfs in my opinion. That and rural folks having to drive maybe an hour to get to one. My other hobby is model railroading and that's seeing the same thing as far as local stores. Amazon Prime and it's st your door in two days no shipping charges. Local stores just can't match.


when i buy anything for my tank i throw it in a shopping cart on amazon and run over to petsmart and they match the prices. I dont think the actual fish stores will match but i try to only buy my fish from there and everything else I limit to petsmart or amazon if i can wait.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

A lot of the really good fish stuff will not be available at PetSmart.

There are better vendors with higher quality items.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

It is not just here - almost all of the forums I've participated on over the years in all my hobbies (Fishing, cycling, model railroads, boating, woodworking) have had large drop offs in activity. Most seem to relate to facebook groups being more prevalent and being the modern version of forums.

All of the things listed above impact those other hobbies - online sales have really hurt local 'X' stores, where X is aquarium shops, bike shops, tackle shops.

Sad tale of the times.

Even our aquarium club is suffering for membership - but that probably has roots in other things too.


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## Methodical2 (Feb 11, 2019)

Sub-Mariner said:


> fishndogs said:
> 
> 
> > ...I hardly see any older kids in my neighborhood ride bikes or skateboard or play ball. I see them walking around glued to their phones taking selfies with fairy filters...same as adults for that matter...


I call them phone zombies. Btw, what are fairy filters?


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## Samadhikash (Jun 16, 2015)

Go to cichlid-forum.com....
Splash page welcomes me to June 26, 2018....
....?

Not sure where everyone went, but I don't see why it's worth wondering why no one is knocking on the door.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Definitely the proliferation of aquarium related Facebook groups. Our club's Facebook group has a rather large membership, while the club proper has relatively few. As an upside, we have acquired a number of new members because of the Facebook group, some of whom have taken an active role on the executive.
What may drive people back to forums is the fact that Facebook is shutting down groups that offer live animals for sale, including live food cultures.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

BillD said:


> Definitely the proliferation of aquarium related Facebook groups. Our club's Facebook group has a rather large membership, while the club proper has relatively few. As an upside, we have acquired a number of new members because of the Facebook group, some of whom have taken an active role on the executive.
> What may drive people back to forums is the fact that Facebook is shutting down groups that offer live animals for sale, including live food cultures.


That is an interesting bit of news, BIllD.


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## johnnymax (May 22, 2019)

I just joinedible because African Cichlins are new to me. I did a few Internet searches and realized I was getting overwhelmed! Here I can search and information is grouped together. If I fine where someone has already asked a question I have you have a welt of information following. It is much more logically structured with a menu sysyem, unlike social media. I hope to have everything bought and, or built and have a cichlid tank set up in a couple of months. I love the process of doing new things. I am thankful for this site and look forward to posting pictures of my tank and fish eventually.


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