Reading all of these posts hit on a few things that have contributed, but not to the main thing - I am sorry to say that FR has really aged out and there has been major attrition.
In general, younger people are not drawn to this archaic format (which I actually like and find very efficient, except for no way to edit). I talk to my wife frequently about how few replies there are per thread now.
To those that think traffic volume is high here, I can tell you it isn’t nearly as high as it used to be. If you look at Google Trends, you can see it isn’t even a blip anymore compared to 2004.
I’m getting melancholy even writing this.
It needs a mobile app and an Ignore User feature to deal with the libtards who post.
Agree
In general, smartphones in particular have had a deleterious effect, esp. upon younger people, who mostly get their information from TilTok, FB, and whatever MSM headlines say.
“I talk to my wife frequently about how few replies there are per thread now.”
Not just the replies, either. I’ll wake up in the morning and turn on FR for the news and find all of 6 to 10 posts during the night. I’m on Pacific Time, so there should be a lot more posted from the eastern time zones.
I see the same as you...declining number of posts and greatly declining number of replies. Plus, a lot of replies are attacking other FReepers.
It’s sad, but I think the end is in sight.
There’s nowhere else you can find such a great community of like-minded souls (excluding the trolls, bomb-throwers, and agents provocateur, of course).