The forum is silent

[DanSolo]

I've left a lot of Fb groups the last few days. I got a bit stung on a purchase just recently and I lost the love for collecting, even contemplated selling up for a brief moment :-D
Then I remembered the Forum, that sadly I only just joined for the first time last year - wish I'd known about it all those years ago!
I've spent more time logged into the Forum today than Fb and hopefully it'll be a continuing trend. For sure, the next thing I sell will be on here!
I'm sad to see that it's gone quiet but hopefully a revival will be on the cards...

 

[Frunkstar]

Hey all

Sorry I am like many ashamedly guilty of not being about as I once was, I do still regard SWF very much as my SW home & where the heart is, I was never a fan of FB in the early days but a baggie group was created & that enticed me with it being my focus area of collecting, the creator of that group vanished leaving me holding the cards & keeping it going, so that has drawn me away from the forum, also a bit of sour grapes on my part after the baggie fakes saga & how many I considered collecting friends & SWF buddies treated me at the time, but that's water under the bridge & I still look in here on a regular basis.


Sadly looking is not posting or contributing & I will try harder going forward, I will get a post up within the week as suggested & I suggest we all try to get a post up one a month if not weekly to try & build back a little momentum.

I echo the thoughts of most on this thread which I have read all the way through tonight, many points like the cost of things & the lack of availability, the not being able to afford something if it does come up for sale now, that part is a bit of a downer be in here/FB or anywhere, just a sign of the times, heck I collect baggies & when I started most simply laughed at my chosen focus as stupid - who wants their figures in a sandwich bag?, but look at it now, the have really found their place in the hobby (like most vintage), the instant gratification factor seems a big thing on FB & I think other social media platforms (I would not know as 1 is more than enough for me).

It's not just this forum though, TIG seems quieter than here & ever Rebel Scum which was at one point sort of he world hub for SW collecting is very very quiet.

I regard the forums as an invaluable resource we really do not want to be without as FB is total rubbish for research / finding anything in terms of detailed information that over a week old.

Heck I joined this place not long after it got stared way back in 2006, I've had a load of fun, made many good friends & have had so much enjoyment out of all the great interactions here over the years, things have changed so much, perfect example - me & Gusty (sadly no longer in the hobby) used to collect variants back in those days, the rest of the guys on here though we were proper loonies collecting minor variations in sculpts / coo's etc etc & look how that side of the hobby has exploded, one thing is certain, life is change, now we need to make that change for the better & usher a new ear in for the forum & bring it back t it's glory days!

We used to have some great collections for members as well as quizzes/comps & so on, lots of silly rambling posts like what have you been watching/listening to this week.

I have although been absent from the main forums in terms of postings, have been working on my baggie guides on here throughout, adding changing amending & always updating the 3 baggie guides, several updates have been added just this last week, so although I have not been putting in as much effort on the interaction side of things I am still lurking in the background most weeks slowly expanding the information available for my focus field of the hobby.

I'll get a post up about a power droid variant I have, may have done so before, but nobody seems to be able to tell me anything about it, so a good starter subject for 6, I'll also pop a few figures I have in the classifieds as I just really CBA to deal with the FB groups for them & here should ideally always be our first port of call for buying & selling as well as many other things - eek

Sorry for the long ramble & thanks if you hung in till the end of it

 

[Frunkstar]

i believe the forum has suffered because:
1. collectors have drifted off because they have exhausted their collecting
2. cash covid and brexit: sending abroad was fun, but now its a pain, everyone is skint and thus the hobby and this place suffers
3. the disney acquisition has opened up peoples fandoms and the vintage hobby has become swamped, meaning the larger platforms have awakened and for selling those appear to be the best chance to move stuff

solutions
a. maybe swfuk becomes a star wars collecting site (or an integrated vintage site), not just a star wars vintage place (see point 1)
b. little bit of viral marketing.. anyone fancy doing some swfuk branded swag for celebration.. TVR has a couple of panels, GS and friends have a panel or two, Jez has a booth.. same with Echo and FF - we could give out stuff
c. forums are as good as the people on them. maybe we should all pledge to start a topic every week. even if its just talking about a collectible piece you own or want

Some really good suggestions there NJ!

I think some marketing/promoting at the events is a cracking idea & something we did in days gone by, I have more than one T shirt to show for it.

Getting the hit count up on google & other search engines would really help a great deal as well, though I have zero understanding of anything more techy than a Nokia brick (which yes I still own & use)

Getting various groups on FB to promote the forum is another good idea, hell most of those groups have members from here/TIG/RS etc so will have a soft spot for it, I'll make up a post in the group I admin myself pointing folks in the direction, though most use it already though sadly likely more for just checking the guides than actually interacting, fingers crossed that can change though.

@Blackbeard - the idea of other collecting areas are a possible plus & could draw in a wider audience, this will likely be a good thing on the whole for the forum/it's stats etc & traffic, how much use it will be to the existing member I am not so sure, but it's worth a punt IMO good ideas!

& @@Pomse2001 - thanks for the kick up the arse thread mate, I remember you being a forum nube back in it's heyday, I like you really miss those days & it would be so nice to have them return.

 

[Frunkstar]

1 last thing whilst I have it in my mind, the "like" feature which has been added on here like it is on FB, I personally think it's a bad thing as folks think hitting the like is interacting & I feel it stops many posts (even if only a that's cool etc) from happening & is part of the general laziness of social media & instant gratification vibe, that could be scrapped I'd say - don't shoot me, just airing my musings

 

[Michael Sith]

Good point on the thumbs up, I jump on and lazily use it as opposed to posting a reply.

 

[Pomse2001]

Hey all

Sorry I am like many ashamedly guilty of not being about as I once was, I do still regard SWF very much as my SW home & where the heart is, I was never a fan of FB in the early days but a baggie group was created & that enticed me with it being my focus area of collecting, the creator of that group vanished leaving me holding the cards & keeping it going, so that has drawn me away from the forum, also a bit of sour grapes on my part after the baggie fakes saga & how many I considered collecting friends & SWF buddies treated me at the time, but that's water under the bridge & I still look in here on a regular basis.


Sadly looking is not posting or contributing & I will try harder going forward, I will get a post up within the week as suggested & I suggest we all try to get a post up one a month if not weekly to try & build back a little momentum.

I echo the thoughts of most on this thread which I have read all the way through tonight, many points like the cost of things & the lack of availability, the not being able to afford something if it does come up for sale now, that part is a bit of a downer be in here/FB or anywhere, just a sign of the times, heck I collect baggies & when I started most simply laughed at my chosen focus as stupid - who wants their figures in a sandwich bag?, but look at it now, the have really found their place in the hobby (like most vintage), the instant gratification factor seems a big thing on FB & I think other social media platforms (I would not know as 1 is more than enough for me).

It's not just this forum though, TIG seems quieter than here & ever Rebel Scum which was at one point sort of he world hub for SW collecting is very very quiet.

I regard the forums as an invaluable resource we really do not want to be without as FB is total rubbish for research / finding anything in terms of detailed information that over a week old.

Heck I joined this place not long after it got stared way back in 2006, I've had a load of fun, made many good friends & have had so much enjoyment out of all the great interactions here over the years, things have changed so much, perfect example - me & Gusty (sadly no longer in the hobby) used to collect variants back in those days, the rest of the guys on here though we were proper loonies collecting minor variations in sculpts / coo's etc etc & look how that side of the hobby has exploded, one thing is certain, life is change, now we need to make that change for the better & usher a new ear in for the forum & bring it back t it's glory days!

We used to have some great collections for members as well as quizzes/comps & so on, lots of silly rambling posts like what have you been watching/listening to this week.

I have although been absent from the main forums in terms of postings, have been working on my baggie guides on here throughout, adding changing amending & always updating the 3 baggie guides, several updates have been added just this last week, so although I have not been putting in as much effort on the interaction side of things I am still lurking in the background most weeks slowly expanding the information available for my focus field of the hobby.

I'll get a post up about a power droid variant I have, may have done so before, but nobody seems to be able to tell me anything about it, so a good starter subject for 6, I'll also pop a few figures I have in the classifieds as I just really CBA to deal with the FB groups for them & here should ideally always be our first port of call for buying & selling as well as many other things - eek

Sorry for the long ramble & thanks if you hung in till the end of it

Great to see you

Hey all

Sorry I am like many ashamedly guilty of not being about as I once was, I do still regard SWF very much as my SW home & where the heart is, I was never a fan of FB in the early days but a baggie group was created & that enticed me with it being my focus area of collecting, the creator of that group vanished leaving me holding the cards & keeping it going, so that has drawn me away from the forum, also a bit of sour grapes on my part after the baggie fakes saga & how many I considered collecting friends & SWF buddies treated me at the time, but that's water under the bridge & I still look in here on a regular basis.


Sadly looking is not posting or contributing & I will try harder going forward, I will get a post up within the week as suggested & I suggest we all try to get a post up one a month if not weekly to try & build back a little momentum.

I echo the thoughts of most on this thread which I have read all the way through tonight, many points like the cost of things & the lack of availability, the not being able to afford something if it does come up for sale now, that part is a bit of a downer be in here/FB or anywhere, just a sign of the times, heck I collect baggies & when I started most simply laughed at my chosen focus as stupid - who wants their figures in a sandwich bag?, but look at it now, the have really found their place in the hobby (like most vintage), the instant gratification factor seems a big thing on FB & I think other social media platforms (I would not know as 1 is more than enough for me).

It's not just this forum though, TIG seems quieter than here & ever Rebel Scum which was at one point sort of he world hub for SW collecting is very very quiet.

I regard the forums as an invaluable resource we really do not want to be without as FB is total rubbish for research / finding anything in terms of detailed information that over a week old.

Heck I joined this place not long after it got stared way back in 2006, I've had a load of fun, made many good friends & have had so much enjoyment out of all the great interactions here over the years, things have changed so much, perfect example - me & Gusty (sadly no longer in the hobby) used to collect variants back in those days, the rest of the guys on here though we were proper loonies collecting minor variations in sculpts / coo's etc etc & look how that side of the hobby has exploded, one thing is certain, life is change, now we need to make that change for the better & usher a new ear in for the forum & bring it back t it's glory days!

We used to have some great collections for members as well as quizzes/comps & so on, lots of silly rambling posts like what have you been watching/listening to this week.

I have although been absent from the main forums in terms of postings, have been working on my baggie guides on here throughout, adding changing amending & always updating the 3 baggie guides, several updates have been added just this last week, so although I have not been putting in as much effort on the interaction side of things I am still lurking in the background most weeks slowly expanding the information available for my focus field of the hobby.

I'll get a post up about a power droid variant I have, may have done so before, but nobody seems to be able to tell me anything about it, so a good starter subject for 6, I'll also pop a few figures I have in the classifieds as I just really CBA to deal with the FB groups for them & here should ideally always be our first port of call for buying & selling as well as many other things - eek

Sorry for the long ramble & thanks if you hung in till the end of it

Great to see you on the forum Frank maybe one day all the fb members of your fb group will follow you to the forum great post

 

[Pomse2001]

Some really good suggestions there NJ!

I think some marketing/promoting at the events is a cracking idea & something we did in days gone by, I have more than one T shirt to show for it.

Getting the hit count up on google & other search engines would really help a great deal as well, though I have zero understanding of anything more techy than a Nokia brick (which yes I still own & use)

Getting various groups on FB to promote the forum is another good idea, hell most of those groups have members from here/TIG/RS etc so will have a soft spot for it, I'll make up a post in the group I admin myself pointing folks in the direction, though most use it already though sadly likely more for just checking the guides than actually interacting, fingers crossed that can change though.

@Blackbeard - the idea of other collecting areas are a possible plus & could draw in a wider audience, this will likely be a good thing on the whole for the forum/it's stats etc & traffic, how much use it will be to the existing member I am not so sure, but it's worth a punt IMO good ideas!

& @@Pomse2001 - thanks for the kick up the arse thread mate, I remember you being a forum nube back in it's heyday, I like you really miss those days & it would be so nice to have them return.

Thanks Frank, the same here. I miss the good old days here on the forum with you and the other members

 

[Pomse2001]

1 last thing whilst I have it in my mind, the "like" feature which has been added on here like it is on FB, I personally think it's a bad thing as folks think hitting the like is interacting & I feel it stops many posts (even if only a that's cool etc) from happening & is part of the general laziness of social media & instant gratification vibe, that could be scrapped I'd say - don't shoot me, just airing my musings

sounds like a good idea Frank

 

[sith-smith]

1 last thing whilst I have it in my mind, the "like" feature which has been added on here like it is on FB, I personally think it's a bad thing as folks think hitting the like is interacting & I feel it stops many posts (even if only a that's cool etc) from happening & is part of the general laziness of social media & instant gratification vibe, that could be scrapped I'd say - don't shoot me, just airing my musings

I'm with Frank on this point. While it's nice to get likes, it does prevent getting a discussion going and personally I want to talk about star Wars collecting - find out stuff i didn't know/want to know and perhaps inform people about things they didn't realise etc. . FB is very much a 'like' culture and posts are very soon forgotten and easily lost, along with anything useful/interesting it provided.

(please like this post...)

 

[Gadders]

I'm here every day. Its the first tab i open in my browser, and check once or twice through the more (more so the last day or so since everyone started talking again).
Whilst I'm a member of a ton of FB groups, I have most of them muted as all you generally see are post after post of loose figures. So whilst FB is more active, its more active with crap. Obviously not all groups fall under that label, Franks Baggietastic group is clearly an exception to that with interesting stuff and information being posted a lot.
Purchasing wise, FB did become the go to place for me 2014-2016.. I very quickly picked up most of the MOCs I needed, with ease for good prices. Nowadays the FB groups are swamped with people, things sell the instant they are listed and are massively overpriced a lot of the time in my opinion (the problem being, people pay those inflated prices and things become the norm).
This forum is still the place for useful information and friendly, helpful chat. You don't get swamped with memes and nonsense here.

 

[Pomse2001]

I'm with Frank on this point. While it's nice to get likes, it does prevent getting a discussion going and personally I want to talk about star Wars collecting - find out stuff i didn't know/want to know and perhaps inform people about things they didn't realise etc. . FB is very much a 'like' culture and posts are very soon forgotten and easily lost, along with anything useful/interesting it provided.

(please like this post...)

I agree, I must admit I never understood the likes but now I use them. But I also write, but I guess not all write when they can use a like

 

[Pomse2001]

I'm here every day. Its the first tab i open in my browser, and check once or twice through the more (more so the last day or so since everyone started talking again).
Whilst I'm a member of a ton of FB groups, I have most of them muted as all you generally see are post after post of loose figures. So whilst FB is more active, its more active with crap. Obviously not all groups fall under that label, Franks Baggietastic group is clearly an exception to that with interesting stuff and information being posted a lot.
Purchasing wise, FB did become the go to place for me 2014-2016.. I very quickly picked up most of the MOCs I needed, with ease for good prices. Nowadays the FB groups are swamped with people, things sell the instant they are listed and are massively overpriced a lot of the time in my opinion (the problem being, people pay those inflated prices and things become the norm).
This forum is still the place for useful information and friendly, helpful chat. You don't get swamped with memes and nonsense here.

Great to know you are here every day . I guess we just don't see it when you do not write much. Hope to see more on the forum

 

[Gadders]

Great to know you are here every day . I guess we just don't see it when you do not write much. Hope to see more on the forum

Yeah, fair point. I post in the Latest Acquisitions when I have something of interest, but otherwise thats it. I comment on other posts when i have something to add.

 

[edd_jedi]

Well the good news is I think the amount of responses on this thread shows people are still viewing the forum, it's great to see some old timers from 10+ years ago chime in!

 

[Gadders]

I think that's part of the issue, of sorts, Edd - people will respond to things, there's just not many new threads starting. When there are new posts, they tend to be questions, which once someone has answered are then done.

 

[Gadders]

They've all jumped ship mate and over on Facebook. I could never say I was an everyday user of the forum but when I did visit it was a great place and full of great people. That brings me onto the next one. The whole Star Wars and collecting thing now just isn't the same as it used to be. It's just full to the brim of the new and next generation who are absolutely clueless. That's my two cents and I'll stand by it.
It's not that I'm sore or whatever this generation choose to call it (as I say absolutely clueless) but Disney have absolutely ruined it. It's their property now and do with it as they choose but it's not for everyone. On the other hand there are those that think they're doing a great job.
I even had some dickhead saying I was trying to be edgey because I said I hadn't seen Andor (and still haven't). No, I've seen enough and what I've seen I haven't liked so why would I want to see more? Plain and simple.

I thought I was the only person who hadn't seen Andor.

 

[Pomse2001]

Well the good news is I think the amount of responses on this thread shows people are still viewing the forum, it's great to see some old timers from 10+ years ago chime in!

I agree edd, it is great. I hope we now will see some more action on the forum

 

[Pomse2001]

I think that's part of the issue, of sorts, Edd - people will respond to things, there's just not many new threads starting. When there are new posts, they tend to be questions, which once someone has answered are then done.

I also agree about that mate. Also why I tried to do a new post last night about Yoda figures. It is a question but also so we all can discuss yoda figures or if others need help with Yoda figures. I also write about jedi_masters yoda sales on the forum in the thread so his sales maybe go faster and it can maybe also kick the sales back on the forum from other members

 

[Cazza]

I've left a lot of Fb groups the last few days. I got a bit stung on a purchase just recently and I lost the love for collecting, even contemplated selling up for a brief moment :-D
Then I remembered the Forum, that sadly I only just joined for the first time last year - wish I'd known about it all those years ago!
I've spent more time logged into the Forum today than Fb and hopefully it'll be a continuing trend. For sure, the next thing I sell will be on here!
I'm sad to see that it's gone quiet but hopefully a revival will be on the cards...

Similar to me- had a rubbish year for various reasons, but also got stung quite badly by a FB 'Celebrity Seller/Pillar of the FB Collecting Community' a few months ago and that really put a dampener on the hobby for me. I think the more people that persevere with putting sales on here, the better it will get. I always try to put something on here a couple of days before it goes on FB (although I've deactivated my FB account now).

 

[Pomse2001]

Similar to me- had a rubbish year for various reasons, but also got stung quite badly by a FB 'Celebrity Seller/Pillar of the FB Collecting Community' a few months ago and that really put a dampener on the hobby for me. I think the more people that persevere with putting sales on here, the better it will get. I always try to put something on here a couple of days before it goes on FB (although I've deactivated my FB account now).

Do you think people in the uk will buy if I add something for sale after the uk left eu. I live in denmark and I guess people in the uk will have to pay taxes etc. etc. to buy stuff outside the uk