I've been an active member of this forum for about two years, however I've been regularly browsing it for the last decade or so.

Unfortunately, in the past few years quiet many modelling forums were shut down due to lack of activity. The main reason for this phenomena seems to be migration of modelling forum members to FB, which I'm sure, affects AR too.

As I do not have a FB account (nor planning to create one), the phenomena has a profound impact on my online modelling activity.

I would like to hear your input/thoughts in regard of posting on specialized modelling forums vs. posting on FB - pro and contra. I would especially appreciate Darren's and the other respected administrators', as well as our veteran members' contribution to this thread, who might have a deeper insight and a wider perspective of the topic.

While I'm not a veteran member nor do I pretend to have a deep insight, from my point of view the FB groups are hard to use and the main reason I steer away from them.

Yes, I'm a member of several such groups but finding the information I am currently interested in is mostly impossible if I'm not asking for it directly... which might or might not expose me to some "this has been discussed 1000 times already" kind of useless answers.

What they are great at, tough are showcases for finished pieces. I very often bookmark them to my Pinterest account for later reference or even put together an Inspiration of the Month post for my blog.

Forums like Armorama are great as these cluster discussions in their own threads that can be followed and will pop to the top of the list each time there is an update. Plus, not less importantly you can search them for the wealth of information shared by other members.

Anyhow, nothing new to the most of us probably as I'm sure I'm not the only one seeing things this way. Then again, I'd be really interested in counter arguments that might even reveal my lack of knowledge about how FB groups are supposed to be used

Thanks for opening this interesting discussion!

Oh, don't get me wrong, all members' input is equally welcome. I just emphasized the importance of contributions from the administrators' and veteran members' side because they could tell us about the general tendencies over the years.




Thanks, I've wanted to do it ever since I've joined the AR community. I'm concerned about the issue as the activity on a number of specialized modelling forums I've been visiting over the years seems to show a decreasing tendency, or worse still, stopped altogether. I wouldn't like to find myself in a situation where I'm 'forced' to open a FB account just because simply no other options left...

All I can do is echo the previous poster. I actually stopped going to FB because how easy it was to lose track of groups I was following. You subscribe and your mailbox fills up with posts without content. So it took a lot of time and effort to find what little content there was. These forums (l look at all the kitmaker forums not just armorama) are easier to search and keep track of and are so much more informative. I've made a lot of my purchase decisions based on the reviews here.

I would like to apologise in advance for submitting this topic here, but I think many people would've overlooked the thread had I posted it in the more appropriate 'Site Talk' section...

I have a FB account for other reasons, I haven't got a huge network and I only follow a few specialised companies.
I get a lot of e-mail from FB saying that "A lot has happened since your last visit. You have 1 new event!"
Yeah, right, 1 event = 'a lot' ...... Yawn.
Haven't tried any groups so I'll trust Stephens answer. Maybe it would be like trying to listen to 15 radio programs at the same time ....
Invitations of friendship from total strangers is another thing.

Another factor is that I don't want to mix my different identities. I don't want to mix people that I have or have had a professional connection to with all the model builders and those that are personal friends from other arenas.

Yes I know, I could set up multiple identities, Robin-the-modeller, Robin-the-SW-engineer, Robin-in-construction-business, Robin-the-bad-joker et.c.

I have the model building identity here and I see no reason to move.
/ Robin


Edit: This forum is moderated, nothing intrusive but the worst excesses are stopped. Haven't tried the FB-groups ...

I'm just going to cut a paste a comment I made last summer and it's still true today. Plus I'm lazy and don't want to have to type this all over again

"As I said before, sites like this are better than FB. If you wanted to follow a build like this one: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/200509#2203237

which has covered years, you couldn't do it. On many forums you can get info with out joining but I've yet to see a FB model group that you can't access without joining and I've been refused a few times. On the ones I've been on before I killed my FB account, there was more cutting and flaming than decent conversation, information, help, answers or critique. That's not tolerated on a lot forums or they have places for it and it's not because I'm a guy who wants everyone to play nice, it's because most people want honest opinions, help, answers and advice. Having fun is fine but tearing someone up just for fun can be discouraging to young/new modelers who want info. I don't social media, I don't care or need to know what you like and you don't need to know what I like. I don't live with a phone permanently attached to my hand in fact I don't have one. Most days I'm on the internet long enough to check out a few sites, buy something or pay a bill. That's it. I have a life that involves hands on doing things so I want answers not trolls."

What Patrick said. You simply can't follow lengthy builds as the older posts drop away. I belong to a Google+ group and it is the same. Old posts require so much scrolling to get to and after a while seem to disappear. And you can't really search for old posts, either. And the quality of people seems to be less; many of the modelers in my group are simply terrible and don't seem interested in tips or advice-- they just want you to hit the Like button.

Patrick nailed it. (You other guys are right too!) The big difference is that FB is a "social contact" tool for "now" communication, whereas forums like Armorama are more like a library/filing cabinet full of searchable older data as well as new discussions. Plus, there are no hidden or members-by-invite-only groups here.

My camera, phone, computer, and television may have overlapping functions, but each remains a useful device optimized for particular functions, so I don't intend to abandon any of them even if my relative usage of each varies over time. I can't see Kitmaker becoming irrelevant anytime soon...

I love Kitmaker Network and Armorama because they are focused on the subject I am interested in. I have never been a Facebook user--too big a time sump--although these days it seems more and more as though that is the venue of choice for putting out information I need to know, like from my employer or the neighborhood association. Someday I may be forced to start using facebook to keep on top of important information, but Kitmaker Network is where I will always go to talk modeling with modelers!

Is AR stable activity-wise? How much AR was/is affected by FB? Do we lose members to FB?

I originally posted that back in July during the photobucket dustup. I was able to find it quickly because as Tom said a site like this is like a filing cabinet. I think of FB as a garbage can, every thing gets thrown in together, good stuff, garbage and the occasional useful item, but to find them you got to root through the dumpster.

And I still don't have a cell phone.

Hey mates,

I left FB for years and I'm not missing it a second since then. FB has stolen me two hours of life every day looking at things that don't interrested me. Now I use this time better.
AR was the first site I joined and I like it very much. There are so many ideas here, photos I never dreamed to see, that inspired me . And the campaigns are real fun.

Best regards

Chris

Fb can prove very useful if you chose wisely what you want to see and follow. It can be time consuming some times though.

There have been some very good groups that provide vey useful info and reference., since it is easier to share photos and post. The search group option has also helped.

But it cannot replace Forums, especially in showing builds and receiving constructive comments on how to improve.

I've been a member since 2004 and was pretty active here and many other forms. I also have facebook which I follow many members and model groups that cover news and their build blogs on FB. I found it was easier to post your builds, news and tips AND posting photos. I found that many on FB have a bigger group following within their own and group pages. Many of the groups let you break away from the rules of the forms and have fun, let loose. I started a group page and all I ask is no racist, political comments...other than everything goes. Everyone enjoys themselves.

I also see this with some of the biggest names in the modeling world, and slowly moved over to face book...

As of today I only visit Armorama, run through the sections, look for new news and switch over to Face Book.

Happy Modeling,
Joe