Is it just me or does this place feel like a ghost town after coming back online? Is this community diminishing or am I just reading all the signals wrong?
Where is everyone?
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 13:24
#1
unknownunleashed
Where is everyone?
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 19:02
#3
inflatingclothes
Don't worry about it, the sites been active for 20 years.
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 23:22
#4
darkburster2
I agree. It feels 90% dead lol
Fri, 12/06/2019 - 23:54
#5
I'm still here. Just haven't felt the need to speak for hte sake of speaking.
Sat, 12/07/2019 - 09:34
#6
doubleintegral
In the old days this site was one of the main hubs of inflation community activity, but that hasn't been the case in a decade or so and probably won't be ever again. Seems to me a lot of it is happening on DeviantArt, Discord, Reddit, and the *chans these days.
Sun, 12/08/2019 - 05:04
#7
Twitter has also grown and is an ok place to follow a Japanese or Korean artist if you don't want to make a Pixiv account. Tumblr was doing ok but last year's porn ban parsed down a lot of accounts.
Sat, 12/07/2019 - 19:37
#8
Why do you guys think sites like these are dieing?
Sat, 12/07/2019 - 21:04
#9
dewj
Slower format running on usually outdated code. While I doubt this site's running on outdated code, it is far slower than the alternatives. And I'm not just talking about waiting several seconds for your post to actually go through.
Mon, 12/09/2019 - 22:52
#10
airtankgirl5
I'm going to diasgree with my learned colleague that the sites are diminishing because of code, and pose instead that they are diminishing from the absence of quality contributors and contributions. If one does not care to make their contribution of value, it is unlikely that others will value it either. It's human outputs, not code, that drive interest groups like this. There are boom and bust periods (no puns intended) and eventually all things must perish.
So the simple answer to the question of "why are sites like this dying?" is: If they are it is because its people are letting it die.
Toodles.
Wed, 12/11/2019 - 06:34
#11
doubleintegral
Well, I think one begets the other - specifically, the site being slow, a bit clunky, and basically unchanged for almost ten years has certainly been an obstacle. The downtime related to the Drupal exploit didn't help either.
It's far from the only reason, though. Based on what I can find on archive.org, Luther added the discussion forum and interactive image gallery in early 2003. Think about how much the Internet has changed since then. In early 2003 we were mostly using this site and Yahoo and MSN groups, and individual contributors might have had their own shitty web site on Tripod or a LiveJournal or something. It wasn't long before DeviantArt made a lot of that obsolete, to say nothing of the overall social media revolution with Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and Twitter that started soon after DeviantArt's rise. All of that, plus the *chans and more recently popular sites like Discord and Reddit, has contributed to the decline of sites like this all over the Internet. Contributors can reach larger audiences there than they ever could have during this site's heyday.
Of course, there is no disrespect to Luther intended here. We would literally not be here without him continuing to run the site at his own personal expense, and he can't be faulted for sweeping changes in social media trends. But when you get down to it, a lot of the art here is/was reposted elsewhere and the forum posts lose their value within weeks, but there is not a better, more complete inflation-centric story archive on the Internet. That alone is worth keeping the site up, and I suspect that's the main reason why he hasn't turned out the lights and closed the door.
Tue, 12/10/2019 - 16:20
#12
Sorry, I've been hibernating.
Tue, 12/10/2019 - 20:31
#13
darkburster2
I’m too niche to bother posting more here. Too little in common for it to be worthwhile.
Wed, 12/11/2019 - 07:23
#14
How many inflaiton-based stories can there be? Well, I know I have a few I can post that'll be safe here, but I still have to write them. Sequel to Racer X, another Vara story...
Wed, 12/11/2019 - 18:21
#15
Still here.
Wed, 12/11/2019 - 22:55
#16
Died trying real life inflation.
Did not live long enough to post about it.
Dead bodys inflate any way and even burst.
Cop finds an inflated dead body and thinks nothing of it.
This is why real life inflation is a forbidden topic.
Infections from punctured skin kill quick to.
Or maybe there just all working at there jobs or lack of free time.
Or they just went to DA.
We will never know for sure what happened to them.
The lucky ones get to talk about there embarrassing trip to the hospital.
some how Im still here for now.
hisssssssSSSSSSSS KABOOM!!!
Dress up inflation is fun and SAFE :)
I will all ways love this site :)
happy inflating to all remaining :)
Thu, 12/12/2019 - 20:21
#17
airtankgirl5
Lighten up Francis.
Thu, 12/12/2019 - 23:22
#18
good movie quote :)
Sat, 12/14/2019 - 15:59
#19
LutherVKane
I suppose I should weigh in. I think inflatingclothes’ take on it is the is the best and most succinct, but I’ll add some detail.
Is the site dying? No. This question comes up periodically. The answer’s always No. This has never been a high-traffic site. Activity has always had its ups and downs. Not just seasonal cycles, but trends that go on for years.
Yes, traffic is down since the outage. But traffic had been declining since 2017. I’m sure there are plenty of factors that go into this, but I’m not all that concerned. Down cycles happen. The last one ended in 2011 when the site was last revamped. And yes, we’re due for a refresh.
DoubleIntegral is right about a number of things. This site hasn’t been the center of the inflation community in some time, and never will be. And that’s fine. These days, I think the site’s main value is being an island of stability in a transient internet. And sure lots of the stuff posted here is reposted elsewhere. But will that still be true five, ten years from now? If you’re interested in the inflation material that was produced in the 90s, this is pretty much the only place you’ll find it. And I think it’s kind of cool to be able to look back and see what people were discussing back in the day. So I think this site still serves some rather worthwhile purposes.
If this site's no longer working out for you, then there are plenty of other options. But I plan on sticking around for a while longer.
Sat, 12/14/2019 - 17:17
#20
unknownunleashed
And I meant no disrespect towards anyone. I was just curious as I remember there being a lot going on a while back. Yes things change, and I had no intention of leaving. As far as I can remember this was the first place I found when I learned I had become interested in inflation. I followed for several years before even creating an account.
Sun, 12/15/2019 - 16:12
#21
I'm here. Just enjoying inflating up in drysuits.
Winter's comin' so we're gonna hibernate.
My username is stupid.
Better known as Poqato on the art scene.