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Posted by Ballpark Frank (69.178.8.75) on 11:44:47 10/04/15
It was December or January when I got an invitation from someone I hold in high esteem to check out this page. For whatever reason, I was totally unaware of it. Since then, I have participated in posting, including a few trip reports. In recent months, the activity on this page has slowed significantly, which mirrors what we are seeing on the other chat pages. I tried posting this inquiry a week or two ago, but ran into a technical problem that was preventing new threads. I reported the glitch to John, who addressed the problem. (Thank you John, not only for the recent fix, but for all you have done for the Loon community over the years.) When I tried to post this inquiry after the fix, I was denied, so I contacted John. He replied that I needed to clear my cookies and browser history. He had experienced the same problem, and that simple fix took care of it. (I mention it here for the benefit of anyone else trying to start a new thread, who runs into the same problem. For whatever reason, throughout this recent glitch, you could still post on existing threads.)
Now, to get to the heart of the matter I am trying to provoke some response on, I will reference the recent thread on the Loon Zone, regarding the serious drop in trip report posting. Gregg's inquiry prompted my effort to start a discussion on this page, but the technical glitch prevented it, so I posted on Gregg's thread. The resulting silence was "deafening"! I was trying to address what has been an issue of longstanding on these pages, and, for the most part, the responses I got were from individuals who still don't "get it". Yes, these are older white males, who espouse a military-esque "character building" construct for posting on a chat page. Essentially, they counsel that it is everyone's individual responsibility to "put on their big kid's panties", and ignore negative responses. Then, we heard from one individual who I would classify as being an extremist in the opposite direction, meaning a history of being thin-skinned. Now, they have as much a right as anyone else to their opinion, but I lament the fact that only 3 other Loons posted on the thread (excepting katjh and Lynnette, who posted directly under Gregg's original post).
One of my concerns in this matter is that we appear to have a substantial "silent majority". I see people I do not know, coming out of the woodwork, on the original chat page and the Loon Zone, asking questions, making comments. Based on their apparent familiarity with the pages, I suspect they are long time lurkers. Even these bashful folks are starting to go public with their concern about the gradual demise of what was once a lively, vibrant forum.
I'm starting to think this may have to be a multi-post thread starter. I have a lot to say.
(Continued in Part 2)
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