I'm back... Where'd everyone go

[GloryMXE7]

Hey I'm bac from my 2nd 1.5 year hiatus, and This place feels abandonded, what I want to know is, Why? is it because of the contest?

[DJ Omnimaga]

Heya, I do not know you much, because you joined after I left for 2 years (I used to go under the xlibman/Kevin_O names), but I remember lurking and you were pretty active back then.

Unfortunately, since a lot of projects around here kinda slowed down over the years and possibly due to the long site downtimes and other stuff in 2009 (I miss the download system ), a lot of the people migrated to other sites like Omnimaga and Cemetech. A lot of people there still check here every few day, though, in hope to see a new Robot War, Pokemon Purple or Contra update, though. In overall, however, it seems like MaxCoderz, now. :/

I used to be more active on those two sites, but in recent months my activity on forums became sparse, so I usually have a big posting spree once per two week or so. Blame: 1) Starcraft II, 2) health issues 3) Starcraft II, 4) slight loss of interest 5) Starcraft II

[Deep Thought]

Yeah, activity around here's gone down quite a bit (same thing's happening to some other old calculator sites)

[Madskillz]

I remember the thin ice project, was a cool concept if I remember correctly. Yes, the community is slow pretty much everywhere but at Omnimaga and Cemetech.

[GloryMXE7]

I see,the state of the site is unfortunate and dissappointing, however it's ultimatly not surprising. In order for survival the site requires an influx of new blood to replace the old members who no longer have the time, however if the old are not replaced it makes it hard to bring in the new. also with the advent of the I-pod and smartphones with a pelethera of games with better graphics and control than the limited capacity availiable on a calculator. Therefore intrest becomes limited to a few hardcore sites that are able to preserve themselves and draw in the main players that find their minor sites increacingly dieing out. this explanation was the best I could come up with on the spot so I'm probably wrong or have misrepresented the real reason.

[DJ Omnimaga]

Yeah the issue is that now TI calcs got lots of competition. THe TI community is far from dying, else there wouldn't even be one single site that is still active. However, admins have to fight to keep those sites active and do everything they can to keep their members around. Also even if the community activity increased considerably since 2009 ended, I still notice some signs of weakness on the remaining active sites. For example on Omnimaga we dropped from 11000 posts in May 2011 to 8900 in June. This may not look like a low number, but the lower activity was greatly noticeable, considering that normally from May to June there's an actual increase and that so much new awesome calc stuff came out recently. It is even scarier now because even Cemetech had a huge drop in activity at the exact same time, and both sites get about 1000 posts a month from their founder alone.

I personally have lost interest in calc stuff, after coding games on them for 10 years, and as a result, I hardly ever participate into calculator-related discussions anywhere anymore. This means that on my calc site I had to make sure there are plenty of new blood to take over, during my lower activity, and hope that the new blood will try to renew the userbase when themselves leave in a few years.

The TI community is here to stay, however. In 2008 things were much worse than they are now, and I'm sure even if 2008 happened again that we would get through that lull.

EDIT: SOmething else that I noticed is that it seems that sites that are mainly oriented towards help do not survive anymore. It seems that now people come on calc sites to get updates on Pokémon, Zelda, etc. Most help is available in FAQs or Google and I think that by now a lot of people have learned to search before asking.

[JoeYoung]

I don't mind the relative quietness of this forum. I actually prefer it. Regardless, I hope this forum will persevere because of all the calculator forums, I find it to be the most sensible, least censored regime, and free from general admin abuse. I'm sure readership might pick up if people announced their projects here.

[GloryMXE7]

@ DJ- well due to the fact many people are becoming more technologicaly savvy, they are becoming more adept at solving their own problems,expecialy with those that occur within the calculator's less complicated programming capabilities. however now that I reviewed your edit more closely, I have simply expanded on your reasoning.
@ ALL- well I returned because I had been playing around lately with my Pipe puzzle program, and with bannanaman's Indestructo Tank(which I contributed to, graphicly.) and I got some ideas for more puzzle based games, including bloons, how ever my hiatus has left me unable to formulate a plan for implementing them. I decided to come back and was a little chagrined(not the right word exactly) at seeing the sites state, however it is a relief to hear that the community is still fully alive elsewhere.

[Art_of_camelot]

I check here regularly still, but it's been pretty quiet for a while. Omnimaga and Cemetech seem to be the most active these days. I'd like to see UTI pick up again, because it is a nice place.

[GloryMXE7]

actually Joe's suggestion might work, however instead perhaps a new UTI collaberation project, advertised on other sites to draw back in old members who are still active on other sites and draw in new blood...?

[JoeYoung]

[Art_of_camelot]

Not true actually.I can't speak for others,but I understand that people are human and make mistakes.If you are truly committed to changing, I see no reason not to work with you. I stand by my post in your pixel art thread. If I ever get off my lazy butt and get something going I would indeed like to collaborate with you.

[JoeYoung]

[cjgone]

Calculator programming is pretty much dead. Forum goes along with it.

[Deep Thought]

[JoeYoung]

[cjgone]

[Madskillz]

That's true it isnt like it once was. A lot of the older members, including me, have moved on to more powerful devices. However I think the nSpire is really going to bring some fresh blood to the community. However a lot of them need to venture out and explore the rest of the community. The Lua programming is going to draw a lot of new comers I think.

[JoeImp]

I've been lurking for many a year

[tifreak8x]

I, too, am still around. I make random posts to Pokemon Purple and try to help if someone posts in a help thread. Otherwise, that's about it.