I have been an avid reader for many, many years (under the name creepersmasher06), but I have noticed that there seems to be less threads and members. Is the twitch merge behind this? It cleared out many accounts that didn't merge with a twitch account like mine. That could've frustrated many people due to them not being able to use their account. My question is why the merge? Twitch is a streaming platform, not a company that should buy out others for no reason.
The forums have been declining for the better part of a decade - long before Twitch or anything else; I'd blame places like Reddit and Discord for this:
The strangest thing is that the forums are actually still gaining members at a healthy rate =- they just aren't participating I any discussion (which makes me wonder how many of them are legit; I've seen some spam accounts which don't seem to be deleted, only their threads, but not that many, or most of them are removed before I see them):
In fact, since I posted this, shortly before the forums were going to close, they have gained over 160,000 new members - and half a million this year alone!
January 6 (earliest data this year from the Wayback Machine):
Members: 5,070,389
Threads: 2,555,000
Posts: 29,603,275
Views: 4,905,079,129
May 31:
Members: 5,441,177
Threads: 1,966,257
Posts: 20,006,430
Views: 3,845,545,708
I'm a bit surprised by the number of new posts/threads since May 31 (the previous data reflected the EU accounts removed after the sale to Fandom, which was due to the EU's ridiculous privacy laws, not Fandom itself. Note that the member count did not decrease, only posts/threads/views), but I believe most occur in areas like Servers and Support, not areas like Discussion/Survival Mode where most of the actual discussion over the game occurs.
Either way, there have been only about 1/4 as many new posts as members, meaning that at least 3/4 of them must not have even posted at all, especially when accounting for the "core" members like myself who post a lot more often than average (for example, I've made about 180 new posts since then, meaning that there have to be at least 720 other members with 0 posts; assuming the number of non-EU members was around 2/3 of the total on January 6 the average posts per member since May 31 is only about 0.01. For comparison, if everybody posted as often as I did there would have been around 11-12 million new posts. Of course, a majority of older members are no longer active (likely why so many EU users failed to respond to the GDPR notice), similar to how many of the YouTube channels I subscribed to years ago struggle to get even 1% of their subscribers in views per video).
The forums have been getting quieter over the years... but the whole archive thing pretty much drove away the last of the active members here, some of which still haven't returned.
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I don't even play Minecraft much anymore yet here I am on the Minecraft forums for some reason...
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Join Date:
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Posts:
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It's probably multiple reasons why the forums aren't as active as they were. Truth be told, I don't think many forums and message boards are as active as they were 10 years ago. Websites like Reddit, Discord and others have kinda taken over. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just the sad reality.
The initial shut down of the site certainly scared people away, which is probably the biggest reason.
The forum's not really dead, but it's not as big or popular as it once was. I think the only thing that could truly kill it would be if the new admins neglect it. But I'm not gonna jump to that conclusion yet; I think it's better to give them a try first.
The initial shut down of the site certainly scared people away, which is probably the biggest reason.
As I mentioned before, the forums declined on a huge scale long before the recent "shutdown", and actually, the number of members active right now is higher than it was before the announcement:
May 9: Online Users: 2,797 (108 members and 2,689 guests)
August 8: Online Users: 5,088 (217 members and 4,871 guests)
(both of these are at a similar time of day to avoid any bias from daily variations)
Also, the forums have gained another 28,917 members since my last post - a rate of 3,213 per day - higher than the previous daily rates, including before the shutdown notice - but where are they? I also find it hard to believe that nearly 2,000 new threads and 8,000 new posts have been made, but as mentioned before they are probably mostly in the server and support sections, not the more general discussion areas (for example, "Java: Discussion" and "Java: Survival Mode" both have threads last active at least 2 days ago on the first page (I've seen much worse before, even week old threads, so this supports the observed increase in active members shown above), and they have the highest viewers of any sub-forum; even the entire "Mapping and Modding: Java Edition" section only matches Survival Mode):
July 30:
Members: 5,602,788
Threads: 1,976,073
Posts: 20,052,153
Views: 3,891,604,397
August 8:
Members: 5,631,705
Threads: 1,978,014
Posts: 20,060,014
Views: 3,899,740,493
I would say these forums are pretty inactive in certain area's. I mean I joined and half my post have next to no replies or views. If I post on other peoples the OP doesn't even reply. I figure a lot of people join up to the official forums because they love minecraft and then leave because they get next to no response.
Or it could be a lot of mobile users that find it too hard to type and just read.
I will also say I have found some people here rather rude and unfriendly. Some guy with like 9k post just seems to post in every single thread with as few words as possible.
Official or not, I find it completely ridiculous how many people do sign up, yet never seem to post or anything, with a few as 2-3 active threads in the normally most active sections within the past day - the forums have gained another 147,000 members (currently at 5,778,087) since my last post (as I mentioned in this thread I wonder how many of those are even real, as opposed to bots/spammers - surely a third of a million new members since then should have resulted in a lot more activity, even if only, say, 1% of them, are regularly active (I've had an admin tell me that it is normal for most forum members to never post or only make a few posts, the so-called "Pareto principle", but this goes far beyond that).
Honestly I just think Forums as a whole are becoming out dated, not just here. Not only do you have to deal with various rules and restriction every forum might have, limited features or posting restrictions but you generally need to make a new account for every single forum you might use. Things like Reddit or Twitter let you pretty much have one account for every and any interest you might have. Forum's are getting about as out dated as going to the post office to send some one a letter.
I mean personally I like forums, I hate the posting limit of a couple hundred characters or such from more modern forms of social media. But then again I'm old enough to have grown up with such things. It is annoying however to make a new account for pretty much every place you go however.
I think it's due to the decline of forums as a medium. The rise of things like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Discord have made communication much faster and much more convenient.
I think it's due to the decline of forums as a medium. The rise of things like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Discord have made communication much faster and much more convenient.
How does any of this explain how these forums have gained 700,000 new members so far this year (5.07 million on January 6 to 5.78 million now) - a rate significantly exceeding the long-term average of about 550,000 per year, and this year isn't over yet? In fact, the forums have gained about 5,000 new members since my last reply (now 5,783,661). What is the point of registering if you don't participate, especially since, unlike sites like Discord, you don't have to register to view the content (I'm not sure if this is general but somebody posted a link to Discord and it wanted me to login to view it, which is enough to put me off from using it). Most new members don't even make one post or thread (I have a few followers who only seem to have registered just to follow me; they never even logged in again).
Either way, I find it truly insane how inactive what was once the biggest community for a game with 112 million players is - you'd think it was instead for some long-dead game with only a handful of dedicated fans or retro gamers still playing.
Well, I wouldn't exactly say that forum population is directly related to forum activity. I'm in no way disputing the statistics, I was just kind of musing on the change of popular media forms within the internet.
I can also vouch for the mobile users, though. This forum is kind of clunky to use on mobile.
I have been an avid reader for many, many years (under the name creepersmasher06), but I have noticed that there seems to be less threads and members. Is the twitch merge behind this? It cleared out many accounts that didn't merge with a twitch account like mine. That could've frustrated many people due to them not being able to use their account. My question is why the merge? Twitch is a streaming platform, not a company that should buy out others for no reason.
What does fandom have to do with any of this. Just stay out of our business, fandom. We dont need any accounts removed and people triggered
Seems to be dead. Twitch made it so!
The forums have been declining for the better part of a decade - long before Twitch or anything else; I'd blame places like Reddit and Discord for this:
https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/off-topic/general-off-topic/2864181-been-a-while-since-ive-been-here-anyone-still?comment=14 (yes, the forums peaked around 2012. Even before the removal of posts/threads after Fandom there was a net loss of posts/threads since 2017 as members closed their accounts for other reasons)
The strangest thing is that the forums are actually still gaining members at a healthy rate =- they just aren't participating I any discussion (which makes me wonder how many of them are legit; I've seen some spam accounts which don't seem to be deleted, only their threads, but not that many, or most of them are removed before I see them):
https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/forums/forum-discussion-info/2965026-are-these-real-members
In fact, since I posted this, shortly before the forums were going to close, they have gained over 160,000 new members - and half a million this year alone!
I'm a bit surprised by the number of new posts/threads since May 31 (the previous data reflected the EU accounts removed after the sale to Fandom, which was due to the EU's ridiculous privacy laws, not Fandom itself. Note that the member count did not decrease, only posts/threads/views), but I believe most occur in areas like Servers and Support, not areas like Discussion/Survival Mode where most of the actual discussion over the game occurs.
Either way, there have been only about 1/4 as many new posts as members, meaning that at least 3/4 of them must not have even posted at all, especially when accounting for the "core" members like myself who post a lot more often than average (for example, I've made about 180 new posts since then, meaning that there have to be at least 720 other members with 0 posts; assuming the number of non-EU members was around 2/3 of the total on January 6 the average posts per member since May 31 is only about 0.01. For comparison, if everybody posted as often as I did there would have been around 11-12 million new posts. Of course, a majority of older members are no longer active (likely why so many EU users failed to respond to the GDPR notice), similar to how many of the YouTube channels I subscribed to years ago struggle to get even 1% of their subscribers in views per video).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
We still don't know who even runs the forums. The owners haven't said a word
My Github ด้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้дด็็็็็้้้้้็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้
The only problem I have with this Fandom merge is that a lot of old mods, resource packs, and more have been cleared out completely.
The forums have been getting quieter over the years... but the whole archive thing pretty much drove away the last of the active members here, some of which still haven't returned.
I don't even play Minecraft much anymore yet here I am on the Minecraft forums for some reason...
It's probably multiple reasons why the forums aren't as active as they were. Truth be told, I don't think many forums and message boards are as active as they were 10 years ago. Websites like Reddit, Discord and others have kinda taken over. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just the sad reality.
The initial shut down of the site certainly scared people away, which is probably the biggest reason.
The forum's not really dead, but it's not as big or popular as it once was. I think the only thing that could truly kill it would be if the new admins neglect it. But I'm not gonna jump to that conclusion yet; I think it's better to give them a try first.
As I mentioned before, the forums declined on a huge scale long before the recent "shutdown", and actually, the number of members active right now is higher than it was before the announcement:
Also, the forums have gained another 28,917 members since my last post - a rate of 3,213 per day - higher than the previous daily rates, including before the shutdown notice - but where are they? I also find it hard to believe that nearly 2,000 new threads and 8,000 new posts have been made, but as mentioned before they are probably mostly in the server and support sections, not the more general discussion areas (for example, "Java: Discussion" and "Java: Survival Mode" both have threads last active at least 2 days ago on the first page (I've seen much worse before, even week old threads, so this supports the observed increase in active members shown above), and they have the highest viewers of any sub-forum; even the entire "Mapping and Modding: Java Edition" section only matches Survival Mode):
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
That makes sense.
I think this is just another "Bla bla bla this thing's dead" whine case.
I would say these forums are pretty inactive in certain area's. I mean I joined and half my post have next to no replies or views. If I post on other peoples the OP doesn't even reply. I figure a lot of people join up to the official forums because they love minecraft and then leave because they get next to no response.
Or it could be a lot of mobile users that find it too hard to type and just read.
I will also say I have found some people here rather rude and unfriendly. Some guy with like 9k post just seems to post in every single thread with as few words as possible.
Official or not, I find it completely ridiculous how many people do sign up, yet never seem to post or anything, with a few as 2-3 active threads in the normally most active sections within the past day - the forums have gained another 147,000 members (currently at 5,778,087) since my last post (as I mentioned in this thread I wonder how many of those are even real, as opposed to bots/spammers - surely a third of a million new members since then should have resulted in a lot more activity, even if only, say, 1% of them, are regularly active (I've had an admin tell me that it is normal for most forum members to never post or only make a few posts, the so-called "Pareto principle", but this goes far beyond that).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Honestly I just think Forums as a whole are becoming out dated, not just here. Not only do you have to deal with various rules and restriction every forum might have, limited features or posting restrictions but you generally need to make a new account for every single forum you might use. Things like Reddit or Twitter let you pretty much have one account for every and any interest you might have. Forum's are getting about as out dated as going to the post office to send some one a letter.
I mean personally I like forums, I hate the posting limit of a couple hundred characters or such from more modern forms of social media. But then again I'm old enough to have grown up with such things. It is annoying however to make a new account for pretty much every place you go however.
I think it's due to the decline of forums as a medium. The rise of things like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Discord have made communication much faster and much more convenient.
How does any of this explain how these forums have gained 700,000 new members so far this year (5.07 million on January 6 to 5.78 million now) - a rate significantly exceeding the long-term average of about 550,000 per year, and this year isn't over yet? In fact, the forums have gained about 5,000 new members since my last reply (now 5,783,661). What is the point of registering if you don't participate, especially since, unlike sites like Discord, you don't have to register to view the content (I'm not sure if this is general but somebody posted a link to Discord and it wanted me to login to view it, which is enough to put me off from using it). Most new members don't even make one post or thread (I have a few followers who only seem to have registered just to follow me; they never even logged in again).
Either way, I find it truly insane how inactive what was once the biggest community for a game with 112 million players is - you'd think it was instead for some long-dead game with only a handful of dedicated fans or retro gamers still playing.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Well, I wouldn't exactly say that forum population is directly related to forum activity. I'm in no way disputing the statistics, I was just kind of musing on the change of popular media forms within the internet.
I can also vouch for the mobile users, though. This forum is kind of clunky to use on mobile.