It has been noticed, I think by everyone, that the activity on the forum has gone down dramatically over the last year. I'd say it really started with Froham's "shower", since he was the most active board member and "stirred things up" quite a bit. Some have tried to pick up the slack, notably 1SO, but everyone is tired and busy with our lives and the forum is fading away.
And the main culprit is Letterboxd. I've noticed that many active forum members are posting reviews on Letterboxd instead of the forum. Some of the discussions we used to have about movies on the forum are taking place at Letterboxd. Also, Adam and Josh will give free advertising to Letterboxd every week, but will mention the forum only a few times a year. I understand. Letterboxd is pretty and it offers much of the same services that we have here. If you want to talk about movies, Letterboxd is a fine place. Letterboxd is the main competitor of the forum.
However, it is no community. No one is going to post You Laugh You Lose on Letterboxd or have a discussion about soccer... oops, I mean football. We aren't going to have the Top 100 Club on Letterboxd, or the common top 100 list.
Perhaps we are tired, or busy, and we don't want to fight for the life of the community we have built. Perhaps it doesn't seem worth it. But right now, the forum seems to have only a half life. I've seen other forums go this way.
Please, if you have a review, go ahead and post it on Letterboxd, and post it here, too. Come and visit more often. Post something, anything. If you think something you thought of might not be worth posting, post it anyway. You lurkers, please get more involved. We aren't super-smart or anything, and we post questions and just our thoughts. Sure, we might disagree with some comments, but that's part of the fun.
One last thing, to the admins. Sometimes we get into intense conversations. Correct us when we do, but please don't block anyone (unless they are just a troll). I know of at least one long-term person who doesn't feel comfortable posting because he was told not to come on the forum for a week. Take it easy, guys. If it feels like we are being judged for sharing our opinion, we won't share it.
Please, folks, do what we can to keep our community alive. And if Adam and Josh want to take a little bit of time to advertise every week for the forum that Adam helped create, that would be great. An occasional appearance would be nice, too. Last I heard, we have some petty good conversations about film, here.
-Steve/oldkid