The Death of the Ledge? Open letter to Admins and Owner

[Macfan4life]

I thought about posting something like this several weeks ago. Traffic and posts are way down on the site. Do the moderators have any contact with the owner? The site is slowly dying.

[button-lip]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I thought about posting something like this several weeks ago. Traffic and posts are way down on the site. Do the moderators have any contact with the owner? The site is slowly dying.

Like vivfox said, posts will become more frequent once Lindsey's and FM's tours start.

I'd hate for this site to die. I know many will be more than happy.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by button-lip

Like vivfox said, posts will become more frequent once Lindsey's and FM's tours start.

I'd hate for this site to die. I know many will be more than happy.

I think you are missing the point I was making. Lack of interest has nothing to do with the number of posts going down. Its the access to the site. When I just logged in it took 1:22 for the site to load. Many don't have such patience to read and post on a site that seems to be bogged down or offline when you try to access it. It seems to be getting worse IMHO.

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I think you are missing the point I was making. Lack of interest has nothing to do with the number of posts going down. Its the access to the site. When I just logged in it took 1:22 for the site to load. Many don't have such patience to read and post on a site that seems to be bogged down or offline when you try to access it. It seems to be getting worse IMHO.

Surely it's a bit of both though. The Ledge is never going to have the sort of active membership it may have once had due to other social media options. Interest picked up a bit at various times over the past year with various releases and tours etc. However, even then participation hasn't been great. It will pick up again over the next year when aforementioned activities take place. Traffic has, and will continue to be affected due to the load times, but even if there were no advertising at all there still wouldn't be huge numbers coming here.

(I've only been a member for a couple of years- long after its heyday). But in my opinion The Ledge has lost contributors due to;

1) Proliferation of other social media forums
2) It's not always a nice place to discuss things
3) Long load times

In that order of relevence

[iamnotafraid]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

...But in my opinion The Ledge has lost contributors due to;

1) Proliferation of other social media forums
2) It's not always a nice place to discuss things
3) Long load times

In that order of relevence

1. Lack of Rusty.

(slight correction)

I know Michele misses him.

[Macfan4life]

Let me be (even more) clear. I log into this site EVERY DAY even with the ridiculous long waits. However there are times I do give up especially on my phone. It just will not load on my phone. I have noticed that since these problems there have been a decline in posts. Many posted this months ago and they left. As someone that comes here every day I see this. There are days now with no one posting a thing. That never happened before. Usually there is at least a new thread or someone commenting on an old thread. I just don't buy the coincidence that this decline just happened the same time the site was sold and went under attack. I still come here EVERY DAY, multiple times a day. The fans here are very seasoned and better than any other site. There is not a lack of interest. There is more Mac material lately than ever. We just came off one of the biggest years eve. I have given up coming here a few times because of the wait and that is coming from someone who probably spends WAY too much time here. I don't get defensive in needing to defend the site. I also don't believe for a second there is a better Mac site out there who has better followers.

[secondhandchain]

I put a free ad blocker on my computer...no problems now.

[AnthonyMI]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Let me be (even more) clear. I log into this site EVERY DAY even with the ridiculous long waits. However there are times I do give up especially on my phone. It just will not load on my phone. I have noticed that since these problems there have been a decline in posts. Many posted this months ago and they left. As someone that comes here every day I see this. There are days now with no one posting a thing. That never happened before. Usually there is at least a new thread or someone commenting on an old thread. I just don't buy the coincidence that this decline just happened the same time the site was sold and went under attack. I still come here EVERY DAY, multiple times a day. The fans here are very seasoned and better than any other site. There is not a lack of interest. There is more Mac material lately than ever. We just came off one of the biggest years eve. I have given up coming here a few times because of the wait and that is coming from someone who probably spends WAY too much time here. I don't get defensive in needing to defend the site. I also don't believe for a second there is a better Mac site out there who has better followers.

I visit often On my iPhone as well. There were times I could not get the site to load at all. Time out errors. I finally broke down and installed a ad block and pop up blocker App and like on the desktop it solved the problem. People who are smart enough to have such Programs on their computers and iPhones will still be able to use this site but many people won’t bother coming here at all.

[JohnL]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

Surely it's a bit of both though. The Ledge is never going to have the sort of active membership it may have once had due to other social media options. Interest picked up a bit at various times over the past year with various releases and tours etc. However, even then participation hasn't been great. It will pick up again over the next year when aforementioned activities take place. Traffic has, and will continue to be affected due to the load times, but even if there were no advertising at all there still wouldn't be huge numbers coming here.

(I've only been a member for a couple of years- long after its heyday). But in my opinion The Ledge has lost contributors due to;

1) Proliferation of other social media forums
2) It's not always a nice place to discuss things
3) Long load times

In that order of relevence

I agree with this however I would put reason #2 as reason #1. I know of 15-20 folks that used to come here on a daily basis that refuse to come back because of the nastiness that has become The Ledge. It is truly sad...this board was quite the deal when I first joined.

[StreetAngel95]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

Surely it's a bit of both though. The Ledge is never going to have the sort of active membership it may have once had due to other social media options. Interest picked up a bit at various times over the past year with various releases and tours etc. However, even then participation hasn't been great. It will pick up again over the next year when aforementioned activities take place. Traffic has, and will continue to be affected due to the load times, but even if there were no advertising at all there still wouldn't be huge numbers coming here.

(I've only been a member for a couple of years- long after its heyday). But in my opinion The Ledge has lost contributors due to;

1) Proliferation of other social media forums
2) It's not always a nice place to discuss things
3) Long load times

In that order of relevence

I have to agree with a lot of this. I took a break from The Ledge while I was in college, but I was on here almost every day back in 2010/11 at the ripe old age of 15. I couldn't see myself doing that now - a lot of bitterness (which is fine, everyone's entitled to their own opinions of course, I just don't think I would have wanted to be around those vibes).

I spend the most of my time now on Twitter. It's much easier to have a conversation because it's all instantaneous. News can spread faster, media is easier to share, and the user interface is better.

That being said, I hope The Ledge continues on. It was how I made some of my first FM friends and found a space for me online where I could actually connect with people. Whether I was ranting about fights I was getting in with my mom or getting into silly discussions about which Lindsey era I loved more, The Ledge was always there for me and I really miss it.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by StreetAngel95

I have to agree with a lot of this. I took a break from The Ledge while I was in college, but I was on here almost every day back in 2010/11 at the ripe old age of 15. I couldn't see myself doing that now - a lot of bitterness (which is fine, everyone's entitled to their own opinions of course, I just don't think I would have wanted to be around those vibes).

I spend the most of my time now on Twitter. It's much easier to have a conversation because it's all instantaneous. News can spread faster, media is easier to share, and the user interface is better.

That being said, I hope The Ledge continues on. It was how I made some of my first FM friends and found a space for me online where I could actually connect with people. Whether I was ranting about fights I was getting in with my mom or getting into silly discussions about which Lindsey era I loved more, The Ledge was always there for me and I really miss it.

I like your photo!!

[StreetAngel95]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

I like your photo!!

Why thanks! GoS is probably my most prized piece of my vinyl collection!

[nicepace]

I use Firefox with an ad blocker and I never see an ad on the Ledge.

I also have a direct link to the forums bookmarked. I never go to the homepage of the site. (Is there a homepage on the site?) I never have to wait to get into the forums page. It's pretty much, click the link, I'm in.

As for Facebook and Twitter, the problem is the superficiality of the "discussion." Here's a typical FB post: "I saw Lindsey & Christine last night and they were awesome." Here on the Ledge you get longer posts, more in depth commentary, MUCH more interesting dialogue.

It is very literally true that the existence of the Ledge (and, before that, the message board on the old Christine site around the time of the release of 'In the Meantime') has sustained my interest in this band. Without having the in depth and thoughtful discussion here, I honestly think my interest in Fleetwood Mac altogether would have waned long ago.

As for the fact that some folks here are a little rude sometimes, are fans really that thin skinned that they can't take a little silly insulting of their musical heroes? If that's the case, that's really kinda sad. I'd much rather have that than sycophantic hero worshipping.

[button-lip]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I think you are missing the point I was making. Lack of interest has nothing to do with the number of posts going down. Its the access to the site. When I just logged in it took 1:22 for the site to load. Many don't have such patience to read and post on a site that seems to be bogged down or offline when you try to access it. It seems to be getting worse IMHO.

I'm not missing the point. If you have lost interest, you don't wait 1:22 for the site to load and you don't post. I can wait forever because I haven't lost interest and because I xan do other things while waiting.

But like FuzzyPlum said, many have also lost interest because they feel attacked or they feel their beloved band member is being attacked.

[elle]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I think you are missing the point I was making. Lack of interest has nothing to do with the number of posts going down. Its the access to the site. When I just logged in it took 1:22 for the site to load. Many don't have such patience to read and post on a site that seems to be bogged down or offline when you try to access it. It seems to be getting worse IMHO.

exactly. and it's not even patience in my case, i just can't see any of the posts but the top one in each forum when on my phone.