I wouldn't be against using facebook as a way of increasing the presence of this forum, though I suspect new visitors to us will be wondering why not just post my collection pics on the facebook group?
Facebook is not set up to be a forum, but to make it easy to upload photos and videos and add brief comments, so that is exactly what happens there. It does exactly what it says on the tin - social media. There aren't many ad-free alternatives that I know of, after all, somebody has to pay the bills.
Uploading photos on here takes more work, especially with multiple photos, and if you're used to quick and easy facebook uploads, maybe this is stopping users posting here instead. Also, there are many older threads on here that have broken 3rd party photo links, that are now impossible to follow meaningfully. (and those only exist because users found it too difficult to post here directly.)
Sorry, I haven't posted more often, but I don't often have something interesting to add to existing discussions, as I've only been collecting for 4 years now, and most of my collection is pretty easy to find. Whenever those 'spot the gem' posts are added, I can never spot them! You're all too good!
I like to own the model under discussion so I can examine mine and hopefully add something of value.
With Kevin's idea of driving members to the VBD by advertising on FB, I can honestly say that in all the time I have had the Moyboyz site on there we have only ever recruited 3 new members from there. It seems as though the world is in love with the media aspect of it all. It also draws out the ooh and aaah brigade who proceed to swoon over every common model posted followed by either 'I had one of those' or 'I have one, how much is it worth'
Yes the world is full of them and most posts are mainly fishing ones looking for prices of collections left to them by old relatives.
I have seen the issue of posting photos into your post on this forum mentioned in several threads. So, do you have to do more then click on one icon? Yes and no. It depends on how you originally store your photographs. If you are taking a photo just to post here, you can set up your photo to be the right size at that time. In the below photos, I snapped them using my i Phone and I saved them to my personal computer for later use and to have in my own files. When transferring them to save on my computer, the i Phone allows me to pick the file size. Choices are: Full size file, large, medium and small. The two shown were saved in medium and small. It's as simple as selecting the size with one tap. If I want so save them as large or full size, I make one quick edit using "paint" to reduce the file size, save a copy in reduced size and add the suffix VBD to the saved photo. That way I have one pic saved in large or full size file and a second one saved specifically to use later on the VBD.
For me, if the photo is worth taking, it's worth saving for later use and reference. It's all very simple to do and does not require you to get your grandchildren to do or for you to be a nerd or computer expert. People today have become completely complacent and spoiled by social media software that is designed for the simplest method to get a photo posted for the masses. If all you want to do is churn out thoughtless photos of your lunch, the latest selfie of you holding some building in the palm of your hand or you jumping mid air on a beach, then the VBD probably isn't for you. On the other hand, If you are taking the time to get the angle, close up view of specific area on a model or show something that's unique or that your proud of ... then what's the issue with one extra step in the process.
With regard to older threads not having the photos being visible any longer, there's three reasons for that:
They were linked from Photo-bucket during the days when it was a free service (can't blame anyone for not wanting to be extorted by their high prices to access their own photos). Free cloud services that changed their business model is unfortunate and little can be done about that (excluding paying them a monthly fee). Individuals will have to reclaim their own photos and store them elsewhere (that's a lot of work).
They were hot linked from another site or source which no longer exists. Hot links are always frowned upon and a lazy way to obtain a photo.
They were in an eBay listing that's over six months old and no longer exists. If you want photos from eBay, copy and save them yourself - we all know it will all too soon disrupt the thread when the auction is no longer on the auction site.
Unfortunately, I think the issue of discussing the hobby on so called social media versus a traditional forum format may simply boil down to age demographics more than anything else. Even the concept of collecting these various things from the past seems to have a much wider appeal to an older generation. It is possible that this forum could become more like a senior community, you know, like one of those places where where the residents are all above a certain age.
Some of us are now mortally offended.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
misterpop wrote:Some of us are now mortally offended.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOL, someone much older than myself once told me growing old gracefully requires much humility and grace with a healthy dose of patience and a understanding.
Thats the problem I wake in the morning and feel extremely mature and knackered,I get in my shed or modelling room and look at the stuff I owned when I was a kid or the kits I could'nt afford when I was a teenager and feel like a 16 year old again waiting to see what life was going to throw at me in the future and hoping I would still be doing the same things and enjoying creating,repairing,and being able to talk about this weird hobby to like minded friends when I was an old man..By some miracle I am still here at 70 learning every day and getting on with it.--------Now what where we talking about?
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