Shutting down of BC Forums

[Commander]

BTW I'm ready to pay an annual membership fee, or make a contribution, or buy some share, or any other way, to support in any way Butterflycircle

No problem with that, my friend. Like I said, the cost is not an issue here. Just that the forums must serve its purpose and continue to help everyone share their photos and discuss butterflies and photography. Otherwise it'll just be a waste to run an empty forum.

No middle fingers here! There are children around, you know...

But thanks to all who have given your views.

[Wanderer]

the fact that you can search and insert large images in the discussion thread here are important reasons why the forum should continue.

[butterfly_effect]

Here are my reasons for why you should not shut down this forum or your domain or everything that you've built all these years:
1) The recent trend is that platforms for short attention span people are gaining popularity. At first we had blogs, we had forums, then we have Facebook which shows transitory posts, something to read about and probably forget later. Then we had Twitter where people post one sentence liners. Maybe soon we'll have Grunter where people just grunt one word posts like "eeps!", "yay!", "burp!" Just like their posts, these platforms are transient and very much like Peplum skirts and the Twiggy fashion of cutting of the eye crease, they will come and go like fads. But the platforms which you can build on... advice, articles, sharing that is more than a grunt, these won't go out of fashion.
2) BC to me has more sentimental reasons than you can imagine. For some it is a place to search for information. For others it is platform for sharing their pride and joy at finding new butterflies. For me, it was a place to deposit good memories and make good, lasting friends. It was a place to reach out and find people with like-minded interests and passions who are willing to say more than one paragraph of their adventures and their lives. Although I admit I have not been logging in more frequently than I should, sometimes I don't really know what to say after being in love with butterflies for more than 5 years now. It may not be anything compared to the number of years some of you have been in love with butterflies but still, sometimes I do run out of things to say. If any of you know me well enough, I'm not a very technical person! I don't really know how to expound the virtues of shooting at F8. But in spite of that, I guess I have not been expressive enough of how much I do appreciate your sharing, no matter what it is that you are sharing.

Imagine David Fisher's amazing photographs in sadly passing Facebook posts, or never being able to find that photo of Antonio posing with a butterfly on his hand, or not being able to find photos of how skinny Nelson and I used to be when we were younger. Haha. What a waste.

So I do hope that we never have to come to a place like this where we have to decide whether we want to let a few fads take the place of this virtual meeting place of friends, lovers and photographers from all over the world.

I know this post is a long time coming but I hope it's not too late.

[WillFolsom]

All:

I like the in-depth analysis, banter, feed-back, and images of the Forums vs the useful features of Facebook... which includes a lot of first-timers who may never choose to become really serious about butterflies. I find the Forums as quite serious and thus I support it. William

[Painted Jezebel]

I have just logged on to see this thread, which was something I was dreading. I am delighted at the responses so far.

I recently joined facebook, against my better judgement, but my hand was forced when Pisuth closed his forum, and I just can not use it, if feels so messy to me, no structure!

The forums here are a lifeline to me, with its excellent structure, the ability to search old posts, and being able to get into deeper discussions, when necessary.

I have noticed that other forums have a 'donate' box, where users can help with the costs if they want. I would be happy to see (and use) that.

[Silverstreak]

I share the same sentiment as Khew, it is not a question of cost , to me whether the forum could survive is more tied to the level of "participation" that will decide whether it is worth the while.

Maintaining the vibrancy of a forum is the crux of the problem facing all the forums, and resisting the advant of more popular media like facebook etc in a Smartphone world will be furtile.

Facebook has its limitations, it will never be able to replace a properly structured forum . To me, facebook is a tool for ButterflyCircle to ink-up with like minded butterfly lovers on a wider stage and to project/create exposure to both the Blog and the forum. We have to change with the time or we will be left behind and died like many forums.

Due to the lack of active participating in the forum , in the last 6 months my posts are mainly channel towards ButterflyCircle Facebook group and my personal Facebook, and where appropriate dircect "eyeball interest" to the Blogspot and Forum.

The Forum , Blogspot and Facebook Group all have their place, hopefully some software will surface to tie/manipulate all their contents to create a virtual forum in the future.

All 17 votes so far favour to have the forum to meet the " Needs" of all the voters, however what the " Forum's Need(ed) " most is to have your active participation to keep it alive so that it can serve you !

Cheers!

[Commander]

Thanks everyone for their views and support to maintain this forum up and running. I think the decision is quite unanimous that we keep it going.

As Sunny said, everyone needs to chip in to make the forums active. Otherwise there is very little point for us to come in here and see no new posts, discussions or otherwise. So we need everyone's support here.

Those who have any more suggestions and views, please feel free to air your opinions.

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks everyone for their views and support to maintain this forum up and running. I think the decision is quite unanimous that we keep it going.
As Sunny said, everyone needs to chip in to make the forums active. Otherwise there is very little point for us to come in here and see no new posts, discussions or otherwise. So we need everyone's support here.
Those who have any more suggestions and views, please feel free to air your opinions.

As the forum becomes "mature" and there is only a small group of members who are genuinely keen on butterfly-sighting and photography, we should be glad to see there are still some new posts weekly. Everyone has different priorities/problems to focus on at different stage of his/her life, so it is very natural that some of us become less active during certain period of time.

[Glorious Begum]

Haha I guess only the active members are voting. Hence you got 100% support to keep it.

As me, it is a place for serious butterflyers. Looking for ID and getting opinion from expert is quick. Not like FB, just mainly post for "like". FB is messy and you can never find your picture if you post it in other Group. Enough say, keep BC I voted.

[The Plane]

I'm one of those who became less active here especially for the past few months due to my new job and lots of travelling, not due to lost of interest. Anyway, I consider myself not a very active member in the forum - abt 1000 post compare to some of you having a few thousand haha. FB provides me quicker and easier access to our members latest outing photos and those of non BC members from other parts of the world. But the real butterfly stuffs are in the blog and forum, not FB. It will be a real pity and sad to close down this forum.