Ethnobotanicals Iboga forum dead? Why?

[RhythmSpring]

Hey,

I "moderate" (very moderately) a forum that was dying as was passed on to me: eboka.info . We discuss all things iboga / ibogaine. It used to be an interesting and active conversation between people all over the world interested in the plant and ibogaine, not unlike this forum (but much smaller).

I'm wondering, where did everyone go? This is kind of directed at the moderators of this forum, who have more experience with these sorts of things. I would have thunk that discussion about iboga would be on the rise... but... no? I mean, I think there are a couple teeming facebook groups about iboga treatment and such, even people peddling it via facebook (boooo!), but I would think there would also be a demand for ANONYMOUS iboga discussion. Where did it all go?

 

[Xorkoth]

The vast majority of younger people/the "new" audience uses discord, reddit, and Facebook/social media groups now. Google censors results (Bluelight doesn't even come up unless you add "bluelight" to the search term). As a result, traditional forums are dying left and right. In fact we very nearly died a couple of years ago, it got to where we had an average of less than 1 post per day in PD for a while. We made a concerted effort to boost visibility and it helped. We're still working on that. it's difficult, and involves utilizing social media channels to get your name and presence out there.

It's sad because traditional forums are a vastly superior format for discussions and keeping an archive of historical information/content.

 

[G_Chem]

I’ve been thinking about this lately too. I feel there’s been a monopolization on information in ways and all the old forum formats are dying. I just went and looked over at DF recently, it’s a ghost town. Sad shit really cuz when I read the discussions going on 10yrs ago vs now I can’t help but feel we’ve degraded as a species. I’ve read IQ has been steadily dropping since the 90’s and I believe it when I look at the progression of conversations on forums over the years.

It gets me a little bit to be honest that the lounge is the most popular place here, but BL still kicks the shit out of any other forum so I’ll deal Politics and dick size get talked more about here than actual drugs sometimes.

This may also be the result of less people overall using drugs per capita. Kids these days are soft. Snort some cocaine, it’ll put hair on your nuts. But yea looking at use graphs over the years, I’ve seen steady drop in use of various drugs. I guess video games just that good. I’m glad I got to grow up in a time period where we were actually BORED at times. That’s when innovation happens, that’s when adventure happens.

Bit of a rant, but I’ll keep it.

-GC

 

[Jabberwocky]

@Xorkoth @g-chem
I feel like Google killed the Google search and BL wasn't the only victim.

Whenever I search Google now I feel like my results are curated. Not talking about curated ads, but the actual content. It seems like Google highly prefers certain platforms and websites. As compared to... 10-15 years ago, where Google search results seemed way more diverse and a true mass search engine.

This may also be the result of less people overall using drugs per capita. Kids these days are soft.

all stats point towards more use per capita, however, my old buddy works for the highschool we went to and he tells me the kids are way softer and less crazy than our generation. Not nearly as much drugs.

I guess kids spend more time on their phone than smoking dope behind building 4

 

[RhythmSpring]

"I just went and looked over at DF recently,"
What's DF? uhhh, "da forum"?

"Bit of a rant, but I’ll keep it."
I'll keep it, too.

Yeah, I am definitely noticing the curated search results and monopolizing of information, it really bothers me. But let's face it, was there ever not a monopoly? I mean, when things were just starting out, there weren't as many options anyway...

But I digress.

It sucks that I would personally have to put on some kind of PR campaign to advertise Eboka to bring people to it. Facebook? No way. Reddit? Bleugh. Bluelight? Hell yeah. DMT-Nexus? Def. Shroomery? Def. Maybe I'll just go to those forums.

What kind of work is BL doing to increase its visibility on the web? It's really a shame that Google censors results from Bluelight like that. Incredibly frustrating, actually. What can I do to help?

 

[thegreenhand]

yeah I’m unsure how to cultivate interest in specialty drug forums among my generation (speaking as a 20 yr old)

I was young enough to be exposed to forums like the infamous bodybuilding.com where you could find answers for all your middle school dating advice… nowadays the search results seem curated to avoid message boards, as y’all have noted.

most drug users my age seem to get their harm reduction info from reddit or by asking knowledgeable friends. Some know of psychonaut wiki or erowid. Almost none know of bluelight :/

I know this wasn’t really a helpful answer at all, but know that us bluelighters support your mission

 

[G_Chem]

@Xorkoth @g-chem
I feel like Google killed the Google search and BL wasn't the only victim.

Whenever I search Google now I feel like my results are curated. Not talking about curated ads, but the actual content. It seems like Google highly prefers certain platforms and websites. As compared to... 10-15 years ago, where Google search results seemed way more diverse and a true mass search engine.


all stats point towards more use per capita, however, my old buddy works for the highschool we went to and he tells me the kids are way softer and less crazy than our generation. Not nearly as much drugs.

I guess kids spend more time on their phone than smoking dope behind building 4

From what I can see.. For adolescents, pretty much all drugs have seen a decrease in use since the early 2000’s. The stats I see say the opposite. There is a relative increase from like 2015 but overall still lower than what we did in our day.

The last line though holds true, there’s so many distractions these days. I remember freshman year of high school spending my days traveling around our small town smoking weed anywhere we could, getting into mischief. The memories of those warm summer nights causing trouble, partying, or hanging with girls will live with me forever. Every day after school we’d meet up and drink, smoke, whatever. It was a lot like that 70’s show.

-GC

 

[RhythmSpring]

I think drug use is about the same but maybe it's out of plain sight more now.