Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquattro
Ya, it seems we have a lot of 5+ members. But from what I've seen, I see a lot more leaving in under 2. Maybe they just stop coming here (not that I think anyone would not want to come here!!)
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I love using the forums it is a great way to keep in contact with people, learn new ideas and new tech, learn why some things work and not others, keep abreast of news related to the hobby and even though get xx amount of questions on basic IDs daily/weekly I enjoy it because people new to the hobby are worried and I rarely tire of answering those simple questions.
Also many people are worried about getting yelled at or ridiculed or may have limited knowledge of using forums and their search engines(Case in Point...Reef Central)
For every person that posts on an average forum there is an average 5-7 people who lurk which when you think about it is a huge number of people who browse but rarely if ever post.(BTW this stat comes from online gaming community which is a pretty standard representation of most of the popular online forums)
As to the hobby if you get past the 18month to 2 yr mark I think it is a fairly safe bet that the person will be in the hobby for many yrs to come. Many people as it was stated earlier get frustrated by prices, crashes, basic husbandry and then get out of the hobby mostly because it I believe is a lack of proper knowledge and asking the wrong people for advice.