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Yup. - Edit 1

Before modification by Joel at 01/03/2013 08:34:56 PM

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View original post... most of us grew up, stopped having so much time for websites, and became less frivolous. I don't mean that as an insult to our younger selves, but we were way more frivolous back then, which made for a) more posts, b) more silly posts for fun, and c) more likewise frivolous people who appreciated those posts. Now it's ten years later and we're all getting old and being productive and shit, and the website has almost zero way of attracting fresh blood. Even beyond the frivolity, well-made posts get less attention than they used to because there are fewer people and less energy, which in turn means fewer people are inspired to create well-made posts. It's like the circle of life, which I guess means one of us has to get eaten by goats at the end.

True.
Plus Facebook happened. People used to share stories, articles, pictures, jokes here. But now there is this site where they can share it with anyone they met here and even more friends, so that's what they do.

There is no single simple cause, but I realized on first reading Eriks post that wotmanias value as a newsfeed not only declined over the years, there was a clear progression. Within a year of joining I rarely watched/read news elsewhere, because wotmania always provided quicker, deeper, more diverse and more objective information and analysis. That is still one of the things I miss most, but the problem arose well before wotmanias end.

2005: "Old news CBS; wotmania discussed it to death at length a WEEK [or even month] ago."

2006: "Great, I must slog through this crap at wotmania, too."

2007: "... Rather than debate this here and now, I will post it on wotmania."

2008: "Wonder why no one has posted this on wotmania."

2009: "Wow, wotmania is really dead these days...."

We all periodically see the kind of stuff I used to almost literally live off of on the CMBs of the mid-2000s, but posting it for the usual suspects to discuss has lost most of its appeal now that there are only about a half dozen of us. I had EXACTLY that thought on FB the other day when Jen shared that voluminous Time piece on US healthcare. Once, dozens of wotmaniacs would have picked over every character of that for weeks, maybe months. Now it would only prompt a few ardent liberals and a few ardent conservatives to snipe at each other indirectly and otherwise. No unique or objective perspectives, experience of people around the world in many very different societies, deep insights from people working in various parts of the field. Just a few folks screaming at each other from habit.

Unlike a decade ago, those inclined can get that fix from many other online sources, when careers and family life do not get in the way. So they do, and all the wotmaniacs who want to stay in touch with each other can also do so many ways that did not exist a decade ago. So they do. That leaves little to attract any new members; we might say wotmanias fertility level fell below the replacement rate years ago, and RAFOs has only fallen further. The TV&MMB may be our last stand (go, you! )

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