The Disappearing Online Forum

[NutmegCT]

Mike - I hear you about the payphones. But it's not a problem to buy just a plain ol' cell phone that's not a "smart phone". You can get something like a Trac-Fone (it does have some apps, but I use it only for emergency calls) for $19 every 3 months. That's under $100 a year, including the call time. Calls are more expensive than smartphones, but you don't use the TracFone to play games and upload pictures "to all your friends". Calls can be made anywhere in North America, using all the major cell networks.

I'm thinking parents get their kids smartphones because (1) the kids say all their friends have them, and (2) the parents think the kids *must* have a smartphone to be able to call for help (when they only really need a cheap cell phone).

OK - back to my cave.
Tom M.

 

[pdplot]

I have a flip phone. Rarely use it.

 

[LarryK]

When I was carrying mail, my boss emphasized, no cell phones. Then, when you were late, she would say, "Can't you use a pay phone?" I said sure, tell me where one is at and give me 75 cents to use it. That is why the PO is soooo far behind. Also, phones do have locks to where the kids cannot text or phone just anybody. But, then they are more apt to loose it.

 

[DrEntropy]

I have a flip phone. Rarely use it.

I get chided a lot 'cause I carry an old Motorola "Flip-Phone" and not a state-of-the-art iPhone thingie. My stock answer is that with responsibility for clients' money, and more seriously their databases, I only need to receive and make calls. Being on a 'net where my whereabouts can be found with THEIR money or data on me is NOT what keeps them safe from theft or hack. Rather, it's the lowest common denominator of communication. Convenience does not trump security in my paradigm.

 

[NutmegCT]

I wonder how many parents even consider how they're trading their kids' security for convenience, when they give them smartphones instead of flip phones.

Think of all the "dubious" activities kids get involved in, using the apps on their smartphones.

 

[Popeye]

Tom M., agree with your points. Simple cell phone, OK. Smart phone when they pay their own bills!

(for the record, my kids do not have any sort of phone. They are on good terms with the neighbors, and us with their kids. I like living in Pittsburgh! And suspect that really holds true of anywhere you live.)

 

[Basil]

How did this discussion go from a discussion of disappearing forums to a discussion of the evils of modern technology? :grief:

 

[Gliderman8]

How did this discussion go from a discussion of disappearing forums to a discussion of the evils of modern technology? :grief:

Answer: By being on a forum.

 

[Basil]

Answer: By being on a forum.

I knew there must be a reason.

 

[mikephillips]

I don't know that I'd call it the evils of modern technology as much as the need for everything all the time when it isn't really necessary. I get my phone through the company so I could have pretty much anything and they pay the bill. I'm just not interested in anything beyond my flip phone. Having all the internet and world's entertainment at a fingertip, that I think is the demise of the forum, and actual face to face conversation. The instant gratification of facebook, getting perhaps 100s of responses instantly, messaging around the world with the same type response, plus the fact that for the younger you are it isn't what your parents and grandparents are doing are all things that push a forum into the past. We've all seen people, perhaps in our homes and certainly in public places heads down never saying a word to each other or making eye contact but texting away. Technology on the whole is a good thing, but like any rapid change we have no historical knowledge to help us understand how to integrate it into daily life. Think how TV changed personal habits from radio, and radio from, well, talking and sharing.

 

[NutmegCT]

The most interesting aspect of this entire thread to me, is Steve's first sentence in the first post.

"In my latest issue of Practical Classics magazine (we get it on the shelves weeks after it comes out in the UK) columnist John Simister is bemoaning the demise of the online forum."

A print-on-paper magazine laments the demise of a digital icon. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast."

 

[glemon]

I don't know that I agree with the gist of the article. If online car forums are slowing down or going away I don't think it is due to social media.

I, like I am sure most of you, was a car guy long before the internet exploded in usage and content in the mid 90s.

Remember the old days. If you liked obscure old cars your sources of information, cars and parts were the local paper, whatever network of local friends and acquaintances you had, Hemmings Motor News, Moss and Victoria British.

First there was the SOL website and the monster list, then came e-mail listservs, eBay and online forums, and suddenly you could "talk" and swap parts with people from around the world. It was transformational, and kind of fun and exciting, but like many things the novelty wears off a little over time. We are talking about a finite set of old British cars that were built a long time ago, so topics will tend to repeat, and some will lose interest.

As I have mentioned before, the old British sports car hobby group is aging out. I was one of the younger guys in our local British car club 15 years ago when I was 40, and guess what? At 56 I am still one of the youngest guys, there hasn't been any influx of new blood at all.

On the Austin Healey list serv I still frequent and with the local club people were throwing out the idea of abandoning e-mail lists, forums, and paper newsletters and just starting a Facebook group. Those ideas were shot down quickly by old duffers like me who adapted to e-mail and the internet, but never really took to social media.

 

[pdplot]

Take heart, gents. 1. Film cameras are coming back, led by professional photographers. I still have my old Canon FT with 3 lenses and my Ricoh point and shoot with automatic film advance. I just picked up batteries for both. 2. Vinyl records are also coming back. Unfortunately my stereo setup has developed staticky noise due to inactivity. IMHO, the problem with all hobbys (hobbies?) today is the proliferation of alternate ways to spend your spare time, most of them much cheaper than stamp or coin collecting, flying, boating, old cars - you name it. Every hobby publication is decrying the aging of their base. Another reason is the cost of sending kids to college or prep school. Food costs more. The middle class is being squeezed.

 

[Basil]

Take heart, gents. 1. Film cameras are coming back, led by professional photographers. I still have my old Canon FT with 3 lenses and my Ricoh point and shoot with automatic film advance.

I have taken up photography as another hobby in the past few years and love having the digital SLR. Allows me to shoot (thus learn) much more that I could when I only had a film camera. I loved my film camera, don't get me wrong, but with digital the sky's the limit and today's post-processing programs (I use Adobe Creative Cloud) make experimentation with processing possible without the chemicals.

I still have my first film SLR, a Canon T-70 and plan to get back to shooting wit hit as well.

 

[JPSmit]

Take heart, gents. 1. Film cameras are coming back, led by professional photographers.

Agreed. May I also say that I am witnessing a strong strong market for DSLR cameras - aspecially among bloggers, and even more among women. I would have thought that the quality of Smart Phone Cameras would have replaced them but, we were recently at Disney and saw people with MASSIVE cameras.

IMHO, the problem with all hobbys (hobbies?) today is the proliferation of alternate ways to spend your spare time, most of them much cheaper than stamp or coin collecting, flying, boating, old cars - you name it. Every hobby publication is decrying the aging of their base.

True though that might also be a recognition that the hobbys themselves are changing. (Remember people used to make lace and/or weave human hair as a hobby - not so much now.) So, for instance, stamp collecting makes no sense in a world where people don't send or receive letters. Coin collecting will make less sense in an online world. OTOH I know a number of people who collect Star Wars stuff - no less a collection just because it isn't my thing. Likewise, my daughter is into Cosplay and Making Props - great hobby, just not what we might have thought of (except Tom at Sturbridge! )

One of the realities of my work (church) world is that too often when people say, "Why don't young people today like church music?" They are really saying "Why don't young people today like "MY" church music?" I have to remind them that just because it isn't what they did doesn't mean it isn't valid. (Rock and Roll IS here to stay! ) Likewise with hobbies - just because they aren't our hobbies doesn't mean there aren't hobbies.

The middle class is being squeezed.

Yes. and that is all I am going to say about that.

 

[NutmegCT]

I'm going the wrong direction. While you guys are progressing to digital things, I'm regressing to earlier times.

1926 mechanical scanning disk television:



Ambrotype (egg white, salt water, and silver nitrate) photography. Similar to:



19th century farming:



oops - almost forgot - old cars too.

 

[Basil]

Agreed. May I also say that I am witnessing a strong strong market for DSLR cameras - aspecially among bloggers, and even more among women. I would have thought that the quality of Smart Phone Cameras would have replaced them but, we were recently at Disney and saw people with MASSIVE cameras.

The thing about Smartphones, they have a tiny lens and the laws of physics limit what you can do with such a small lens (and tiny sensor). I use my iPhone 7 when I want to take a quick snapshot of something, like a cool car I spot, or a family group selfie at the ball game - snapshots. But you probably would have a hard time doing this with an iPhone:

Likewise with hobbies - just because they aren't our hobbies doesn't mean there aren't hobbies.

Right! As discussed in other thread - some people collect belly button lint!

and that is all I am going to say about that.

Good answer

 

[DrEntropy]

I've said before; there will one day soon be a Pulitzer award for an image taken with a cellphone.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Tom, where is your Victrola?

 

[NutmegCT]

Victrola? I'm more up to date than that! How 'bout my nifty state of the art wire recorder?

recorded off the air, ca. 1948.