• 🇬🇧󠁿 🇸🇪 🇿🇦 🇮🇪 🇬🇭 🇩🇪 🇪🇺
    European & African
    Drug Discussion

    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • EADD Moderators: Pissed_and_messed | Shinji Ikari

How can we get this place active again?

Chatative said:
I think if we could generate more discussion in some of the threads other than Gibberings, it would help. Either new topical threads (which are good for discussion & bringing people out the woodwork) or other existing threads. i.e. using the <xxxx> thread instead of Gibberings. I think some people post in Gibberings just because it's where everyone is/looks..
Click to expand...

As a newbie i was initially kind of 'intimidated' by the gibberings threads as it felt like everyone else knew everyone and had this fantastic rapport going on which felt very difficult to 'break into' as a newbie, and that you had to be 'known' or 'in' in order to post in there, or at least understand the forum dynamics a bit. The topical threads were/are a bit more straightforward and obvious 'what's it all about', and therefore a lot less daunting for newbies. I dunno if other newbies or lurkers feel the same way, but all that seems absolutely ridiculous now, with 8,758 posts under my belt. 8(
 
^^ Always sad. Strange I never know of a lot of these folk until they pass.

mydrugbuddy said:
As a newbie i was initially kind of 'intimidated' by the gibberings threads as it felt like everyone else knew everyone and had this fantastic rapport going on which felt very difficult to 'break into' as a newbie, and that you had to be 'known' or 'in' in order to post in there, or at least understand the forum dynamics a bit. The topical threads were/are a bit more straightforward and obvious 'what's it all about', and therefore a lot less daunting for newbies. I dunno if other newbies or lurkers feel the same way, but all that seems absolutely ridiculous now, with 8,758 posts under my belt. 8(
Click to expand...

As always, someone comes along & says exactly what I was meaning in a much more clear & concise way =D

Exactly.
 
Great post up there, Evey. I agree with (almost) all of it. EADD has always been notoriously parochial and most members rarely stray elsewhere. If more people posted in more forums it's quite possible they may encourage a few other folk to come visit. I'm often surprised when I find European (okay, mainly UK and Irish) members who have been around for ages but never knew about EADD. We're one of the busiest forums on BL (or were until recently) but it does tend to be a relatively small number of regulars talking to each other and new blood is the only way to encourage wider discussion, more threads, and generally to liven the place up a bit. We have lost some very popular members who added a great deal to the forum. We can't replace any of them but new members are the lifeblood of any forum. Anything to encourage them in is a Good Thing I'd say. A higher profile in general can't hurt (although obviously needs to be done indirectly rather than spamming other forums with EADD stuff - NMI excepted as it's perfectly reasonable to point our existence out to noobs).

ponch said:
Get TheSpade back
Click to expand...

It's amazing how much it's possible to miss the ginger cunt really. He was always part of the furniture here and really did liven the place up. Albeit in gingerish and cunty ways :D

omen_owen mk2 said:
Interesting content.

That simple really, creating more interesting content will get more people to engage in discussion and hang around.
Click to expand...

Also completely agree. Good threads encourage lurkers to post. Also good discussion - I've noticed that it's generally when there's a proper discussion or debate on a good topic that we see most posts from non-EADD regulars. Which makes perfect sense really. Obviously the "house style" shouldn't be left behind cos it is what makes EADD EADD but alongside the more insular, in-jokey threads it would be brilliant if we could generate more content that could bring in a wider audience.

Sammy G said:
A few years ago there was the MDMA drought / meph boom. Immediately following that there was the buzz over the new RCs that were launched or came to prominence in the wake of the meph ban. There was also the heroin drought, which swelled the numbers of both lurkers and posters dramatically.

The legal RC scene brought a lot of traffic to BL and EADD, and that scene just isn't what it was. It's bound to have some kind of impact, as people generally don't use the internet to research / discuss street drugs.

People will sign up if there's something of real interest to them. Begging them to post here doesn't create that interest, and at worst it could well drive them away. There's already a 'join the community' link prominently displayed for anyone who's looking.
Click to expand...

Another good point and something that struck me immediately about possible reasons for a lull in action (of which I would say there has been quite a lengthy period of compared to a couple years back). The drug scene is shite at the moment whether we're talking legals or illegals. The popular RCs have all been banned and even street drugs are either shite quality or kinda scarce. In many ways it's no wonder fewer people are coming here to find out about drugs and the more social threads are dominating the forum. There's not much we can do about that and it's obviously a bit of a cyclical thing. I don't think there is anything wrong in seeing if there are ways we can make EADD a more inviting prospect to members both new and old though. As mentioned above, there are people who simply don't know EADD exists who may well find it more useful than sticking to posting in the US-dominated forums like OD and BDD where their questions are not necessarily always given very relevant answers. Hopefully the recent clampdown on all the personal attacks and general nastiness and in-fighting will go some way towards making EADD a more inviting place for lurkers and noobs too.

Sammy G said:
The PM (to me) is overkill. Very, very, very much so. I'd be extremely wary of that, as would most of the posters I 'know' to some extent, though I guess some people wouldn't.

A mention of EADD in an NMI thread for those who are based in Europe is completely different and not as intrusive, though it happens fairly often anyway, at least to the best of my knowledge. You mustn't forget, however, that only a fraction of Greenlighters actually post in NMI anyhow, let alone European Greenlighters who might get something out of EADD.
Click to expand...

I agree with the no-no on PMing people as that does seem to be taking things a bit far. A mention of EADD and a brief idea of what to expect in NMI threads is entirely reasonable and a good idea I think. It's true that only a small percentage of noobs actually do start an NMI thread but a certain percentage of those will enjoy EADD so it makes sense to make them aware of its existence.

Chatative said:
I mean this in the nicest possible way but as with many forums with long-term members, there is almost like a clique. That's not quite the right way of putting it but the folks who are around the most have a rapport & have in-jokes etc. which might put off some of the newbies. It can be very daunting to some...

We have to be as welcoming to the newbies & passing traffic as we can in the hope they will choose to stick around.
Click to expand...

Also agree completely with this. EADD is nowhere near as cliquey as it was a few years back but it is still pretty cliquey. A bit of leniency with noobs is no bad thing. Yes there is "the EADD way" but it's not really very helpful in terms of making people feel welcome or ever wishing to post here again when they ask what may well be a bloody stupid question and end up with a pageload of abuse in return. We were all noobs once and that is worth remembering. Knock mentioned it taking a good year before he felt anybody gave a shit about anything he said and he started to feel a bit more comfortable here and it was exactly the same for me. Noobs may well feel intimidated when trying to chip in to a conversation between people who clearly know each other fairly well and have been around for years. I don't think it's too much of a chore or overly patronising to make a bit of an effort to engage with people posting for the first time or people we don't see very often. Obviously sometimes it really is drivel and there's nothing to answer but if there's any effort made to join in it's good to see people making that bit of effort to engage with them.

ColtDan said:
They certainly did.

Although according to Shamby, meph turned this forum to shit, or this forum was shit when meph was legal, or words to that effect. dunno if thats the case or not
Click to expand...

Let's just say it wasn't much fun for people not on meph at the time ;)
 
ColtDan said:
Such a sad reflection on society

Hobo Vs Businessman: Falling (Social Experiment)
Click to expand...

I remember as a youngster seeing an old lady fall over in one of the busiest parts of London and was shocked by how much the apparently very cold and indefferent looking strangers dived in to help her. I had earlier been thinking that no one there gave a shit about anyone else. In Manchester I saw a tramp face down on the pavement of one of the cities busiest roads. No one helped him. He was possibly dead, or blind drunk or drugged. Its a disgrace that everyone, including myself, just left him there.
 
mydrugbuddy said:
I remember as a youngster seeing an old lady fall over in one of the busiest parts of London and was shocked by how much the apparently very cold and indefferent looking strangers dived in to help her. I had earlier been thinking that no one there gave a shit about anyone else. In Manchester I saw a tramp face down on the pavement of one of the cities busiest roads. No one helped him. He was possibly dead, or blind drunk or drugged. Its a disgrace that everyone, including myself, just left him there.
Click to expand...

So heartless and ignorant of everybody... fuck that i would try and help
 
A lot of people find the whole community and meeting new friends thing a lot of shit and just want info on drugs. I think it scares people away if anything, like PMing people is over kill.
Traffic increases here based on drug trends, Heroin drought, mephedrone, MDMA drought, massive increases in traffic. I came here mostly because of shit pills, once people know the place is here they use it as appropriate.
 
mydrugbuddy said:
As a newbie i was initially kind of 'intimidated' by the gibberings threads as it felt like everyone else knew everyone and had this fantastic rapport going on which felt very difficult to 'break into' as a newbie, and that you had to be 'known' or 'in' in order to post in there, or at least understand the forum dynamics a bit. The topical threads were/are a bit more straightforward and obvious 'what's it all about', and therefore a lot less daunting for newbies. I dunno if other newbies or lurkers feel the same way, but all that seems absolutely ridiculous now, with 8,758 posts under my belt. 8(
Click to expand...

I don't think I read or posted in the Gibbering thread for a long time after joining. Is it just called Gibberings now? It used to called Random MSN Gibberings. Which confused fuck out me so I just left it alone as I couldn't really tell what it was or what the fuck it had to do with MSN.

Any forum like this can seem cliquey (hate that word but I can't think of an alternative, anyone got a thesaurus?) to a new member who can't quite follow what's going on. Folk shouting about The Spade for example.

On the subject of the ginger one, does anyone know if he's still alive? I'm hoping he's been locked up in Thailand for some horrendous sex crime.
 
Yeah was same when it was Random MSN Gibberings. Confused me so stayed out. Also everyone needs to know about The Spade. It is mandatory.

But yeah some of the injokes, references etc must be a bit wtf for some people. And Idk I think Spadey dropped in recently and is having a good time doing what he does best in Thailand.

edit @ Shambles: Agree on the shoes.

But yes, people, if you have something significantly off topic and interesting to say, make a thread! Then it doesn't get lost in gibberings and we have new discussion. I'm not sure the third incarnation of the nonce thread is drawing in too many people...
 
Shambles said:
I don't think it's too much of a
chore or overly patronising to make a
bit of an effort to engage with people
posting for the first time or people we
don't see very often.
Click to expand...
This. I have in the past seen a new poster post in the Gibberings thread for example and not receive a reply or an acknowledgement of their post which to them would appear that they were being ignored even though that wasn't the case.
If a new member does post in a thread or makes a new thread then it doesn't take much effort by us to respond to them so they at least feel noticed & not ignored.
 
Chatative said:
GUYS! This is exactly what I'm talking about

I didn't mean use another thread like Gibberings, I meant make new threads...

*glares at Dan* 8)
Click to expand...

Good point, i'll make new threads in future instead of banging links in random threads =D
 
maxalfie said:
This. I have in the past seen a new poster post in the Gibberings thread for example and not receive a reply or an acknowledgement of their post which to them would appear that they were being ignored even though that wasn't the case.
If a new member does post in a thread or makes a new thread then it doesn't take much effort by us to respond to them so they at least feel noticed & not ignored.
Click to expand...

Exaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaactly!
I've seen members in other threads expressing that they feel ignored in EADD! - which is a shame...

Evey
 
To be brutally honest, if a noob posts in Gibberings people instantly assume it's an alt, and they're right 99% of the time.

As for ignoring posts elsewhere, if it's a question then obviously there should be a response, whether it's a noob asking or somebody with an eight-figure posts count. Other than that, however, it's a difficult call.

Some kinds of posts just don't invite a reply or any kind of acknowledgement. In such circumstances, is it really reasonable for somebody to feel hard done by because they don't get a response?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top