misfit11
Omono
I seem to have noticed a significant uptick of new users on the forum lately. I wonder if this is a result of the pandemic and more time people have spent at home on the rather than out in the real world or is there suddenly more interest in bonsai? I think there was already an increased interest in the forum in the last few years anyway. Other bonsai forums seem to have fallen by the wayside (Bonsai Site forums, Internet Bonsai Club etc). Internet Bonsai Club (IBC) used to be a great source of quality trees specifically from European artists, now it seems that many have migrated over to BNut. IBC seems to be dying a slow death.
All the increased traffic on BNut is great as more interest in the hobby can only make it better. I love to see newbies in the hobby as it reminds me of my early days when everything was so exciting and new (aren't those words in the lyrics of the Love Boat theme song?). More people means more ideas, more trees and increased opportunities for networking.
All in all, with more members the benefits far outweigh any potential negatives. The only downside I see is that with increased activity from newbs the advanced members' posts can get buried beneath the flurry of newbie threads. This might be off-putting for the more advanced artists on the forum. I know @Smoke left because of his dissatisfaction with the way things were going (although that may say more about his personality rather than anything else). Although I appreciate the newcomers, I often just want to see nice trees and find myself wading through lots of posts with sticks in pots. There's "The Tree Thread" of course but I want to see progression threads too. I don't want to come off as some kind of bonsai snob, but I don't know how to state this in another way (like I said, I love newcomers and we were all newbs at one point or another).
The Bonsai Site Forums used to be broken down into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced sections. Obviously, these were quite subjective with people posting in the Advanced forums who had zero business being there but at least there was some attempt to "segregate" for lack of a better word. Could we possibly consider something like this here on BNut? What do people think?
Cory
All the increased traffic on BNut is great as more interest in the hobby can only make it better. I love to see newbies in the hobby as it reminds me of my early days when everything was so exciting and new (aren't those words in the lyrics of the Love Boat theme song?). More people means more ideas, more trees and increased opportunities for networking.
All in all, with more members the benefits far outweigh any potential negatives. The only downside I see is that with increased activity from newbs the advanced members' posts can get buried beneath the flurry of newbie threads. This might be off-putting for the more advanced artists on the forum. I know @Smoke left because of his dissatisfaction with the way things were going (although that may say more about his personality rather than anything else). Although I appreciate the newcomers, I often just want to see nice trees and find myself wading through lots of posts with sticks in pots. There's "The Tree Thread" of course but I want to see progression threads too. I don't want to come off as some kind of bonsai snob, but I don't know how to state this in another way (like I said, I love newcomers and we were all newbs at one point or another).
The Bonsai Site Forums used to be broken down into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced sections. Obviously, these were quite subjective with people posting in the Advanced forums who had zero business being there but at least there was some attempt to "segregate" for lack of a better word. Could we possibly consider something like this here on BNut? What do people think?
Cory