Has AAM become less popular?

I agree it's become really quiet in the last six months or so. In Letting off Steam, the same threads seem to stay at the top of the board for days and days, with a few intermittent comments being made. At one time, if you went off for five minutes and came back, there would be loads of new stuff to read.

I think a lot of people got really fed up with the public sector 'yes you are.....no we're not' threads which seemed to dominate the board last year and began to switch off.

Maybe people are using social media like Twitter and Facebook to express what they formerly may have expressed via AAM ?

Also, I mainly post to AAM from work. If I were not at work ..

MrMan said:

I'm not taking issue with you on this, but that reply is quite typical of the response people have received here when they have questioned the ban etc. Maybe they are taking the advice and seeking forums elsewhere.

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+1 MrMan.

I don't think that the rules/moderation have changed much over time so I'm not sure one could point to that for a decline in activity. Many questions have been asked and answered many times over; perhaps people find much of what they need by searching the the site. IMHO reducing the number of forums and eliminating sub-forums would be an improvement.

Its hard to know why but recently I have dwindled from using the site (I only have 170 posts but I left and reregistered). There is no specific reason TBH I think i'm just bored of it, from NAMA to public sector. I seem to have much less interest in posting anymore, perhaps i've found better things to do outdoors etc, I am doing more sport than before and dont really need to find out anything at the moment.

Also I have no mortgage, no loans, I know what savings accounts are good so that cuts down a large portion of AAM. As someone mentioned above many many questions have been asked and answered from rent relief to advice on importing cars from UK - perhaps there exists a finite questions one can askaboutmoney while retaining peoples interest, I dunno?

Maybe it dawned on many folk that airing your thoughts and rants on the internet is generally pretty worthless and a waste of time?

It's the terror of knowing
What the world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
Pray tomorrow - gets me higher
Pressure on people - people on streets

Teatime said:

It's the terror of knowing
What the world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
Pray tomorrow - gets me higher
Pressure on people - people on streets

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From GUBU to NAMA and now inevitably to Ga Ga ! Don't you just miss Freddie .

Graham_07 said:

... Don't you just miss Freddie .

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Yes - a giant. Saw a few clips of him recently on Guitar Heroes and I'm in a Rock 'n Roll Band on BBC.

What a song though!

It has this epic feel but it's only a standard 3 minutes or so. Probably the last truly great recording from both Freddie and the boys and Mr Bowie.

That's the problem with The Depths these days- not enough music related threads. The food of love, the ultimate emotional panacea.

Someone start one, go on, I'm always doing it.

MrMan said:

I'm not taking issue with you on this, but that reply is quite typical of the response people have received here when they have questioned the ban etc. Maybe they are taking the advice and seeking forums elsewhere.

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I don't know what all this complaining about AAm is about..its not as if any of those who are moaning are not guilty of some of the responses which are being complained about now!
Plus.. I presume those who are moaning also read the rules..and still signed up.
Plus ,just because some of you are tired of hearing public sector arguments etc,does not mean that others are.
Plus there are many people who join up on a daily basis who add to the "letting off steam" and Depths" but who need to get 50 posts before they can post there.
Its a bit like someone complaining about sitting on a nail..get up off the nial!!

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Caveat said:

... Someone start one, go on, I'm always doing it.

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No you're not, I am, permanently, for ever and for a long time as well, so there (stamps foot).

I think AAM is a barometer of the state of the country, in a sense. While the financial threads have got quieter over the past year or two (less 'investors' out there?), the Welfare and State Benefits forum (where I am most active) has been busier than ever; so much so that a 'sub-forum' for Redundancy and Jobseekers queries has been set up. In saying that, I have noticed the traffic on these threads slowing down in the past few months. Signs of an economic recovery perhaps?
It would be interesting to compare the types of queries posted four years ago with those posted nowadays; 'Homes and gardens' probably had queries regarding installation of decking/exotic rockeries back then whereas now the queries are probably about how to grow your own vegetables!

Welfarite, You are so right, there has been a massive shift in they types of questions asked on this site. Also a lot of frequent posters, developers / speculators have disappeared.

With regard to the turn around I saw on RTE last night that we are now at 13.5% unemployed, minimum. This is the highest figure the state has ever experienced and excludes people on Lone Parents Allowances, OAP's, Widows pensions, disability, FAS, Students, CE Scheems ect...... shocking stuff for someone like me who left school in the mid 80's.

With regard to the Gardening questions you are so right there too. I have always grown my own veg, in a small way, but more and more people seem to be doing it now than ever. A very good thing imo.

I'm not sure its the moderation. I don't find it excessive as long as people are civil.

I think it's across the board a general malaise or overfill of discussing the current situation. And as a money orientated website, that's going to have some drop off in traffic.

My other theory is that AAM is like a marriage, and after all the public sector debates we're in that situation where we've all said things we shouldn't, and now we're in that uncomfortable, being civil but quiet spell.

Caveat said:

What a song though!

It has this epic feel but it's only a standard 3 minutes or so. Probably the last truly great recording from both Freddie and the boys and Mr Bowie.

That's the problem with The Depths these days- not enough music related threads. The food of love, the ultimate emotional panacea.

Someone start one, go on, I'm always doing it.

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How good is this song.

lightswitch said:

With regard to the turn around I saw on RTE last night that we are now at 13.5% unemployed, minimum. This is the highest figure the state has ever experienced and excludes people on Lone Parents Allowances, OAP's, Widows pensions, disability, FAS, Students, CE Scheems ect...... shocking stuff for someone like me who left school in the mid 80's.

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Actually, it was 17.3% in 1985 and 15.7% in 1993!

VOR said:

Oh, and I almost forgot. You can't use the site properly on a mobile. Big drawback IMO

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Totally agree. Raised before Note my post at the very end of that thread which would solve this.

From our Google Analytics: visitors in the last 12 months appear to be up 13% compared to the previous 12. But the last 30 days are down 8% compared to the previous 30. Monthly figures may need to be adjusted for the season (long winter evenings on the Internet?) and economy (less people in work posting or in the country to post in the first place.).

Note: a visit is counted as a single user viewing multiple pages (page views) during the same browsing session.

I would say that visitors are about the same as a year ago, but posts are down. This tallies with the decrease in length of visit and higher bounce rate.

Thanks Mugs

Looks about right.

I don't keep a record of the the number of posts, but they seem about the same or a little lower.

I don't visit the Depths, so that might be getting a lot quieter or busier - I just wouldn't know or care.

We don't chase big numbers. We could increase our numbers through allowing discussion of more issues e.g. property prices; shares and medical issues. We could allow anyone post in The Depths. But that is not really the role of Askaboutmoney.

Brendan