Uh-oh......

Uriel · Uh-oh......

Are we finally petering out after all these years?

Lazar

I've basically moved over to Unilang. I enjoyed Langcafé in its many incarnations, but I think we fell below the critical number of people needed for a successful forum.

André in Zuid-Afrika

Well, we've had slumps before, but this one does seem rather serious...

We've lost quite a few regulars over the past few months. While several newbies have joined, they don't seem very talkative.

I must admit I haven't been very active myself lately. Maybe we need a few new topics.

KSa

I must admit I have lost interest in any active involvement in the internet. I visit Langcafe regularly at least once a day but somehow I feel I have not that much to say or add.

greg in noord-frankrijk

Il est urgent d'attendre. And as André said, we have to throw in new topics...

Uriel

I think it's true -- interest in internet chat is often a passing fancy. People take up new hobbies after a while. i know I am no longer as active on the net as I used to be, although I still check in several times a week -- it's way down form several times a day, though!

Still, you meet so many interesting people and different viewpoints this way that it's always worth keeping up, and I've seen on other sites that it is often one or two diehards who keep the torch high and wait for the others to come back.

Porthos

This is my first time back in quite a while. The forum seems to have died. I left because I was busy at first, and afterwards, when i would return, there would be no new activity, so I had no reason to come back. But I miss you guys, and hope you're all doing well. And if the forum has been moved, please inform me.

Uriel

Nope, it's still here. Welcome back.

Loic

I am sorry to have been largely absent recently. I promise to visit as often as my schedule permits. I have a vested interest in the continued survival of this forum as well and it would pain me deeply to see it going the way of the dodo.

I hope everyone's doing great and that the Californians were not affected by the forest fires.

Benjamin [inactive]

I still visit here almost every day, but because I almost never start threads of my own, if no-one else has said anything that I end up not saying anything.

Uriel

Well, it seems to have perked back up a bit since last I was here, so that's encouraging! I'm also gratified to see that most of our old members are still at least lurking about, even if people have been busy with other things or haven't had much to say.

Lazar

Okay, a proposal: How would you feel about laying this forum to rest and transferring to Unilang? (That is, if you're not there already.) I mean, Unilang is just like Langcafé, only bigger and more active and vibrant. Even the name is similar!

Why not join forces?

No offense, but activity here is minimal, and this just leads to a vicious circle of low activity. (Plus, the URL is hard to remember if you haven't bookmarked it.) I think the regulars here would make great additions to Unilang.

Benjamin [inactive]

I wouldn't be opposed to that to be honest, even though I certainly miss the 'old days' here.

KSa

I woud say no. Actually, Langcafe is having 'worse days' right now but:
1. Who said it would last forever?
2. Who said that every forum must be loaded with members, topics, etc.?

OK, I haven't been active myself recently, but I visit the forum (almost) every day, read your contributions, and enjoy it! I appreciate that there is a small number of permanent members, whom I know well, and even if some of them ruffle my feathers from time to time (how are you, Ben?

) I have got used to them. I also appreciate that the low number of active members makes the forum calm and quiet.

I don't think there is to be an alternative 'either Langcafe or Unilang'.
Of course, there is an effort from administrators/moderators side but I think when activity on the forum is not very high then the effort diminishes proportionately.

I think the members of this forum are like spouses in a good marriage: after first 2-3 years of 'fascination' the spouses have got used to each other and the first crisis occurs. It doesn't mean they need to get divorced but to search for a solution to overcome problems.

Therefore, instead of closing down Langcafe and moving to Unilang I would encourage a discussion on what to do to make the forum move a little bit more rapidly.

André in Zuid-Afrika

I agree with Ksa. While people still visit and post here, the forum still as a reason to exist. If it dies a natural death, then so be it. But I see no reason to close it down while people are still visiting. Personally I'm not fond of Unilang, which I find too large and impersonal.

André in Zuid-Afrika

Right, I'm back in full force after a few difficult months, so let's get this place cooking again!!!!!

David

I have noticed this problem too, and I think there are a number of things we will have to do to fix it.

Email all of the members - we should send out a mass email to all of the members reminding them that we are still here.
Reorganize the forum - the "Story", "Audio", and "Rant" formus don't have a lot of posts. Why don't we delete/merge these with other, similar forums? This eliminates unnecessary clutter and makes the forum appear more active.
We need something special that sets us apart from Unilang, antimoon, etc.

Give me your suggestions in these threads:
http://langcafe2.myfreeforum.org/about583.html
http://langcafe2.myfreeforum.org/about11.html

André in Zuid-Afrika

Loic

As much as the idea of joining forces with Unilang sounds attractive in theory, I vehemently disagree with it. One of the main reasons for my (erstwhile) active contributions to this forum is the opportunity to interact with like-minded people whom I feel know very well. I visit Unilang now and then as a lurker and I know that I'd never be as active in there as it is just a community of strangers to me.

As long as there's around 10 active members, the forum is capable of self-generation. That, in my (uneducated) opinion, is the threshold number. Anything less and it becomes unsustainable.

André in Zuid-Afrika

Good to see you back, Loic!! Hopefully we'll see more of you now?

Bashar

I just received my email today. I can stay here for awhile and keep things alive! Mostly, I was gone for awhile just because I can't be very interested in something continuously; I'll get bored with it, stay away for a few months, then come back. That's what happened with me and this site. And UniLang too (I'm Basher over there).

Josh Lalonde

I got my e-mail too. I've been busy, away, and lazy, but I prefer this forum to Unilang. I can't promise a lot of posts, but I do check in most days.

David

Andre, I hope you don't mind but I started a thread in Problems/Suggestions forum asking what we can do to improve the forum.

André in Zuid-Afrika

Travis

I'm posting here to say that I got an email from Andre reminding me about Langcafe, and that I will try to be more active here; I have lately primarily been active on Unilang, Zompist, and that horrid form, Antimoon (for some reason).

Loic

I would like to reaffirm my commitment to the forum as well. I look forward to the New Hampshire results before I plunge myself into the US Presidential Elections thread in the politics section.

Uriel

Me too -- I was on vacation, Andre darling, I didn't mean to neglect you! I'm back now, and I must say the forum has been pretty revitalized!

André in Zuid-Afrika

Joanne

Elaine

Uriel

Gosh, I hate it when I go to social functions and find another woman wearing the same outfit....

Liz

I know it's a little late to react to the e-mail Andre sent me (us) a couple of weeks or even months ago. I just want to let you know that I'm still here, though invisibly. I've been quite snowed under recently (and I still am), so I usually read your posts but end up saying nothing.

André in Zuid-Afrika

André in Zuid-Afrika

André in Zuid-Afrika

André in Zuid-Afrika

Oh and BTW I intend to nag all of you lazy bones here over the next few weeks with e-mails reminding you of this site so you'd better start posting....

Walker

Liz

KSa

LIZ!!!

"Polak, Węgier dwa bratanki
i do szabli, i do szklanki!"

"Lengyel, magyar – két jó barát"

Glad to see you!

Tiffany

KSa

What interests me most at the moment is the mechanism of leaving and returning the forum. I have noticed that most of once regular members tend to dissapear quite suddenly, in the middle of interesting discussions they took part in, and after months or years of absence - they re-emerge (or not). I realize that most of the recent come-backs have been caused by Andre's intervention but I'm curious to know what makes the regular members of the forum to suddenly dissapear. I don't want to be misinterpreted that my message is reproachful - no, it's just curiosity.

BTW: I have noticed a new member nicknamed "Frances" registered to the forum. Maybe it's the same Frances from Australia who used to be a regular member in the former langcafe(s)? Anyone knows?

Tiffany

For me personally, there was no good answer - I simply got busy with other things, work, focusing more intently on actual Italian rather than languages and linguistics. A lot has changed since I was last here, but I still love languages and when Andre write me, I decided it was time to pick up my "languages" habit again. I don't really visit any of the other language forums (was pretty active on antimoon ages ago, but never really got into unilang)

KSa

Uriel

Oddly, we seem to have lost many of the Americans who were fluent in other languages, like Kirk and Julian, although we still have Elaine, who speaks Spanish, and Deborah, who has a good smattering of Russian, Spanish, etc. and takes a lot of interest in languages.

Great to finally get to see you, Tiffany (I remember you well from Antimoon!), and if our original Frances is back, that's great news -- I've missed her!

As for Andre's nagging emails -- loved it! Made me feel special (even if it was just a mass mailing).

I'm off to type in "discipline" on an image search.....

Loic

It all boils down to visiting the forum out of habit. I used to do it habitually and when things got a little busy for me, I had to stop and gradually lost the habit of doing so. Now that life has slowed down again, I still fail to come on here regularly as I am no longer accustomed to visiting Langcafe the moment I get on the net.

Of course, I am in the process of reinstating this habit. It is a good habit, isn't it?

Tiffany

It's a great habit Loic. Ksa, truly it's just nice to be around folks with a similar fascination about linguistics. Plus it's great to see the faces I used to know still here. Great to see all of you are still around. I hope Kirk and Julian come back.

André in Zuid-Afrika

André in Zuid-Afrika

Actually, I have to apologise for being so quiet myself. I've been very busy, and away from home a lot, and next week I'll be in the bundus, with no internet, but I promise after that I'll bring my part again...