Placing emphasis on different hobby for some time.

Wait.....we can leave?

I didn't leave but I have reduced the amount of time im here overall, mostly due to how slow engagement is on this forum, which is understandable since we all have lives to live and such.

So I scratch that engagement itch over on a Discord instead where I can strike up an active conversation with someone and dont have to wait hours/days to get any here.

But that's a normal forum issue, not specific to this place.

sometimes people just die

DosFreak wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:47:

Wait.....we can leave?

Down here we all float 🎈

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-26, 13:08:

sometimes people just die

Wow, that's just harsh. But life can be difficult sometimes, death of the family members, illness, searching for new job, etc, etc.

I can fade out of places for a few months, things just come up, I get busy on non-computer stuff. Some other forums for other interests I turn up like every 3 years for a couple of months then gone again.

I have tried in the past some places to say, "Something big/new/different came up and I am not gonna be here for a bit" but circumstances might make a liar of me, and I get plenty of bits of interweb time to shoot the shit even if I am not performing the activity much. So the things that take me away for a bit aren't really the things that I would anticipate take me away for a bit. Or it's kind of some "boiling a frog" involvement that ramps up gradually until I realize I haven't visited a particular forum in months.

Though there are other places that kinda flush their memberships every few years, have to reconfirm or something, and if they do it too frequently I just lose patience and don't return, or over longer spell, just don't feel engaged enough to sign back up again, just to maybe say, "Hi, not dead yet, anyways, see y'all in a couple of years when this interest cycles back round maybe."

Also back in the noughties heyday of forums, before a lot of groups fragmented into facebook etc, a really crap platform for retaining hobby info, I had a succession of email service losses that meant I lost associated forum accounts. So that kind of thing can happen.

Anyway, various reasons, I haven't personally tried the dropped dead quit yet though.

DosFreak wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:47:

Wait.....we can leave?

"You can log out any time you like, but you can never leave" 😀

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:58:

I didn't leave but I have reduced the amount of time im here overall, mostly due to how slow engagement is on this forum, which is understandable since we all have lives to live and such.

So I scratch that engagement itch over on a Discord instead where I can strike up an active conversation with someone and dont have to wait hours/days to get any here.

But that's a normal forum issue, not specific to this place.

most forums are slow compared to more instant / chat or just real fast moving platforms - in some ways i like that though, gives time for responses to gather and so on, and also sometimes to think through a response

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-09-26, 15:04:

I can fade out of places for a few months, things just come up, I get busy on non-computer stuff. Some other forums for other in […]
Show full quote

I can fade out of places for a few months, things just come up, I get busy on non-computer stuff. Some other forums for other interests I turn up like every 3 years for a couple of months then gone again.

I have tried in the past some places to say, "Something big/new/different came up and I am not gonna be here for a bit" but circumstances might make a liar of me, and I get plenty of bits of interweb time to shoot the shit even if I am not performing the activity much. So the things that take me away for a bit aren't really the things that I would anticipate take me away for a bit. Or it's kind of some "boiling a frog" involvement that ramps up gradually until I realize I haven't visited a particular forum in months.

Though there are other places that kinda flush their memberships every few years, have to reconfirm or something, and if they do it too frequently I just lose patience and don't return, or over longer spell, just don't feel engaged enough to sign back up again, just to maybe say, "Hi, not dead yet, anyways, see y'all in a couple of years when this interest cycles back round maybe."

Also back in the noughties heyday of forums, before a lot of groups fragmented into facebook etc, a really crap platform for retaining hobby info, I had a succession of email service losses that meant I lost associated forum accounts. So that kind of thing can happen.

Anyway, various reasons, I haven't personally tried the dropped dead quit yet though.

yes they're all good reasons, although you tended to go back - the tech issue, like emails problems, can be behind it sometimes i guess, someone just gives up after a few tech problems because the effort to get back in was more than the perceived return

also, i think sometimes its habit - someone can fall out of posting for a temporary reason but then when that has cleared up the habit has simply gone

Don't forget "software update caused massive breakage for anyone running an unorthodox browser"

One forum started blocking user agents, then blocked my IP after I reloaded the error page too many times 🤣. I never went there again.

If you browse vogons with http and try to login it will fail silently. Took me a while to figure that one out.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-26, 13:12:

Down here we all float 🎈 […]
Show full quote

DosFreak wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:47:

Wait.....we can leave?

Down here we all float 🎈

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-26, 13:08:

sometimes people just die

Wow, that's just harsh. But life can be difficult sometimes, death of the family members, illness, searching for new job, etc, etc.

I once worked with a man, he was 70 years old, a fan of old web technologies, networks, web 1.0 in particular. Half a year ago he stopped answering letters, we communicated only by email, after a while his domains stopped working, I think he would not have left it so easily, he had been doing this for a very long time
I will say this - this is not my first such case.
there were several people who died from covid, and over the last 3 years they died or disappeared in the war (I am from Ukraine),
I am 41 years old, my circle of friends is usually much older than me

bakemono wrote on 2024-09-26, 17:21:

Don't forget "software update caused massive breakage for anyone running an unorthodox browser"

One forum started blocking user agents, then blocked my IP after I reloaded the error page too many times 🤣. I never went there again.

If you browse vogons with http and try to login it will fail silently. Took me a while to figure that one out.

Yah it's stopped working on my older tablet, says either security cert invalid, or sometimes says there's an attacker/intermediary. Possibly if I can be bothered to dig out how to update root certificate authorities I can fix it. But if the error is somewhat cryptic it might not be so easy to figure out.

I have an interesting question: how can we pass on our hobbies and interests to the future generation, or generations, and will they understand why and for what purpose we do this?

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-26, 19:37:

I have an interesting question: how can we pass on our hobbies and interests to the future generation, or generations, and will they understand why and for what purpose we do this?

We don't, because their online games can't be saved by a retro PC. They will have to find solutions of their own.

Games stopped being interesting. Never cared about the old hardware either.

I'll probably leave Vogons if the ownership ever changes hands to someone terrible. Retrospoitation is an increasing market, who knows when some VC with $$$$ will buy up this place to "own dgvoodoo dosbox vdmsound" and then aggressively ad, web3 and AI this place up and feign being a community-driven place, effectively buying a legacy for their resume

gerry wrote on 2024-09-26, 16:09:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:58:

I didn't leave but I have reduced the amount of time im here overall, mostly due to how slow engagement is on this forum, which is understandable since we all have lives to live and such.

So I scratch that engagement itch over on a Discord instead where I can strike up an active conversation with someone and dont have to wait hours/days to get any here.

But that's a normal forum issue, not specific to this place.

most forums are slow compared to more instant / chat or just real fast moving platforms - in some ways i like that though, gives time for responses to gather and so on, and also sometimes to think through a response

I also prefer the slower forum pace. Typically, I'll log in once a day, check the new posts, reply to a few then sign out until tomorrow or not at all during the weekend.
Where as places like discord it feels like you miss something if not constantly monitored.

At the moment with all my retro PC's still packed away I'm getting my retro kick here but overall I'm less interested in spending time here than I was say 5 years ago when everything was still somewhat new and exciting.
Partly due to having less spare time so not clicking on so many posts, partly knowing more now so not needing to research here as much, and partly seeing the same questions been asked again and again (nothing wrong with that, new blood is always welcome)

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-26, 19:37:

I have an interesting question: how can we pass on our hobbies and interests to the future generation, or generations, and will they understand why and for what purpose we do this?

Though places like this, youtube vidoes and the like. This is another reason I prefer forums over places like Discord. The information here is available and easy to find.
Problem with Discord, Facebook groups, etc is if your not a member you have no access to the information.

Of course nothing to say the majority of future generations will care as it's not part of their history. How many of you parents hobbies are you interested in for example?

DosFreak wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:47:

Wait.....we can leave?

♫ Welcome to the hotel California ♪

♪ Such a lovely place ♫

chinny22 wrote on 2024-09-27, 00:09:

I also prefer the slower forum pace. Typically, I'll log in once a day, check the new posts, reply to a few then sign out until […]
Show full quote

gerry wrote on 2024-09-26, 16:09:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:58:

I didn't leave but I have reduced the amount of time im here overall, mostly due to how slow engagement is on this forum, which is understandable since we all have lives to live and such.

So I scratch that engagement itch over on a Discord instead where I can strike up an active conversation with someone and dont have to wait hours/days to get any here.

But that's a normal forum issue, not specific to this place.

most forums are slow compared to more instant / chat or just real fast moving platforms - in some ways i like that though, gives time for responses to gather and so on, and also sometimes to think through a response

I also prefer the slower forum pace. Typically, I'll log in once a day, check the new posts, reply to a few then sign out until tomorrow or not at all during the weekend.
Where as places like discord it feels like you miss something if not constantly monitored.

At the moment with all my retro PC's still packed away I'm getting my retro kick here but overall I'm less interested in spending time here than I was say 5 years ago when everything was still somewhat new and exciting.
Partly due to having less spare time so not clicking on so many posts, partly knowing more now so not needing to research here as much, and partly seeing the same questions been asked again and again (nothing wrong with that, new blood is always welcome)

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-26, 19:37:

I have an interesting question: how can we pass on our hobbies and interests to the future generation, or generations, and will they understand why and for what purpose we do this?

Though places like this, youtube vidoes and the like. This is another reason I prefer forums over places like Discord. The information here is available and easy to find.
Problem with Discord, Facebook groups, etc is if your not a member you have no access to the information.

Of course nothing to say the majority of future generations will care as it's not part of their history. How many of you parents hobbies are you interested in for example?

If I go on the/a discord chat I can lose the whole week 🤣 At least the stuff is still here if I leave the forum alone for hours at a time.