Not much action here. Why for?

[68-eldo]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

I’m with Mel. I also have a few web sites. The two expenses you must have are registration of a domain name, like HawaiiThreads.com. You can register a .com domain name for $12 per year depending on what company you register it through.
The second thing you need is a server where the web page resides. You can rent web page space for about $120 per year.
You can lean to write your own web pages but for a site like Hawaii Threads you can buy a built page. Hawaii Threads is run by vBulletin which cost $250, a onetime cost. But some of these things are free.
You can spend more if you hire the page design and have a professional maintain it. But admin on this site is tech savvy enough he probably maintains it himself.

[mel]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

HawaiiThreads is a private, totally funded and maintained by the admin. I think it is hosted on Dreamhost which allows any individual or firm to run multiple websites and blogs on a single account that is paid for on a biennial basis. I have a handful of sites on the same service.

[woodman]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

...I will say no one is immune from having a “feud” which was a contributing factor to the sharp decrease in traffic.

The main factor, like others have alluded to here, is that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are where the majority spend their “social media” time now. Heck, if these sites caused the once-mighty "MySpace" site to tumble as far as it has, it’s no wonder chat forums like this have been reduced to “special interest” (i.e. gaming, tech support, etc.) sites without a core base of participants.

When I used to visit regularly, I noticed that a lot of local mainstream media personalities would visit this site. They would post on any number of issues, and from what I could tell, it was pretty clear that they were also reading through topics to get (and more importantly to gauge) local opinion.

Given that admin sanctioned trolls are allowed to roam freely and trash members with whom they disagreed (like a vigilante posse of moderators only without any rules guide them, and apparently without any oversight to reign them in) while complaints to Admin fell on deaf ears, I always suspected that this might actually be a government funded site, the purpose of which would be (through use of media personalities) to gauge and manipulate popular public sentiment and, perhaps to a lesser degree, disseminate propaganda.

I’m not saying it IS.
I’m just saying it's suspicious.

You see, sites like this cost $$ to maintain, and when the site is no longer productive to a private owner whose funds (unlike a State Government) are comparatively limited, then that person would (sooner or later) have to shut down the site.

Now I guess if a person is rich enough, they could probably afford to ignore the loss and piss the money away by continuing to fund the site, but I’ve NEVER met a rich person who wasn’t meticulous about maintaining their finances, a common character trait perhaps indicating (at least one aspect of) how they amassed their wealth in the first place.

But a site that’s been set up by a State Institution would probably be allocated operational funding on a regular basis and could be kept running indefinitely.

The funding for the site, once established, need NOT be monitored since it is already a known factor. It only needs to be maintained. Moreover, many state institutions operate on a “baseline budgeting” format that creates an incentive to NOT STOP programs, even if they are unproductive.

Under baseline budgeting, if an state institution shuts down a program and does not find (re-designate) use of the $$ that funded the program, it will not only forfeit the funding in their current budget, it will also lose that funding in the next budget cycle.

If you think it sounds a bit far-fetched, you might be surprised to discover that it is not uncommon for governments to actually use the media as a tool to manipulate public opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCfTIapds0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elgvr5Vb2m4

So, if H/T is actually a state-sponsored tool (…and I want to be clear that I’m not saying it is), then it’s not unlikely that propagandists would have moved on to other (more highly trafficked) media platforms like facebook and twitter; each of which is already being manipulated at a higher level.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrow...Xj#.fnw89zx9DY

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...ons-news-feeds

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.973e7f605667

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/11/...ensorship.html


…So, could it really be that much of a reach to suspect that similar tactics might be in use at the state or local level?

Meanwhile, operational funding would continue, and the site would, of course, continue functioning as it has in the past.

Again, I'm not saying it is.
I’m just throwing it out there.

[TuNnL]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

I figure I’d make what has become an annual appearance at best. I can see things haven’t changed too much around here. I will ask about some of the issues being circulated in this thread the next time I see “founding admin” in person. Which could be awhile considering how busy life has become for many of us. I will say no one is immune from having a “feud” which was a contributing factor to the sharp decrease in traffic.

The main factor, like others have alluded to here, is that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are where the majority spend their “social media” time now. Heck, if these sites caused the once-mighty "MySpace" site to tumble as far as it has, it’s no wonder chat forums like this have been reduced to “special interest” (i.e. gaming, tech support, etc.) sites without a core base of participants.

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

oh man, when HT was poppin' around 2005-2007, I'd often stay here for hours. Miss those days and a few of the regulars.

Also used to post on walaau.net

[Amati]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

Woodman, Well, since the blocked list does not expire, I'm still in good shape around here after all this time in having a bit of screening of posters who I simply do not want to read their posts. Keep that in mind as a good tool to use, and maybe give HT another try for awhile, at least you know you can eliminate cranks from your screen. (You have to be signed in for the block to work.)

[woodman]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

Amati.

You're exactly right.

I couldn't agree more.

The hard part is when you're maybe not the most articulate person (Okay, YES! I qualify) and you make a post with no harm intended, and then some thin skinned person with an insecurity complex (let's just for argument sake call them "Admin-sanctioned trolls") responds.

I'm always willing to give people at least enough latitude to ask for clarification where it's warranted. But in a forum discussion where unrelated (and unaffected) individuals inject themselves into the discussion (as has happened to me in the past) for no other reason than to aggrandize their own position in the forum; manufacturing an issue to expressing artificial indignation, ...well then it really all starts to get ridiculously silly.

...and you've really go to wonder about why an Admin would be so uncomfortable about having a forum member repost his response to inquiry on such an issue. But, i suppose that the current forum traffic is pretty much self-explanitory.


...still wondering about the funding, though.


Aloha,

W/M

[Amati]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

Two responses:

What's that old adage, "don't believe everything you read". Guess it still applies today too, and is extended to cyber space.

I've made use of the HT "block" feature for a long time. It has served me well in avoiding posters that I find offensive or utterly argumentative.

[woodman]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

68-Eldo, I agree that f/b & twitter are part of the problem, but believe me when I tell you that the current circumstance was a long time in the making.


Check out the opening post in this thread:

Seriously!!! What's going on around this forum lately? It seems like most of the nice folks are consistantly being run off or badgered into a lurkers' existence because of a handful of mean, bitter s.o.b.'s who nitpick and naysay, criticize and attack, and generally bring their negativity and aggression/intimidation to so many threads. This site is way less interesting because of these 'children'.

Enough, I say!! Nice people unite!! Don't be scared off! Come back!!

http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthr...hreads+funding


Amati,

The point I was trying (and obviously failed) to make was that while government silently creeps into all electronic communications for the purpose of copying and storing that data, it also injects itself directly into discussions for the purpose of manipulating public sentiment to reflect the view of the government.

http://filmingcops.com/yes-there-are...-and-websites/

[woodman]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

68-Eldo, I agree that f/b & twitter are part of the problem, but believe me when I tell you that the current circumstance was a long time in the making.


Check out the opening post in this thread:

Seriously!!! What's going on around this forum lately? It seems like most of the nice folks are consistantly being run off or badgered into a lurkers' existence because of a handful of mean, bitter s.o.b.'s who nitpick and naysay, criticize and attack, and generally bring their negativity and aggression/intimidation to so many threads. This site is way less interesting because of these 'children'.

Enough, I say!! Nice people unite!! Don't be scared off! Come back!!

http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthr...hreads+funding

[68-eldo]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

While there were a few people that kept up a rant they had for an agenda, they were easy to avoid. I think the problem is the new social media, face book, twitter and the like. Some of the other web sites I followed have also seen a big decrease in participation. One had 150+ post a day and now is down to two or three a month.
The only one still active is frequented by the over 60 crowd that has not figured out Facebook (includes me).
I have a few websites myself, and they do not cost anywhere near $1k per month.
Those of us that would like to see the forum back in business again should just start posting again.

[Amati]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

I checked on new introductions...

In 2014, there were 10 new introductions. 9 did not post beyond 2014. The 10th posted only that year, except for one day in 2016 (they talked about their moving.)

In 2015, there were 3 new introductions. 2 hung out for just one day. the 3rd hung around for two days.

In 2016, there have been 2 new introductions. 1 was a 1-time-poster, and the other hung around for about 6 months but hasn't been back for awhile.

Compare those numbers to a decade ago, year of 2006, when there were about 200 new introductions that year.

[Amati]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

Expat Kamaaina,


I agree. Infact, I had made this same point clear to Admin many YEARS ago while Admin was allowing friends (way before they were designated as "moderators") to troll the threads and belittle any member who held a different opinion.

Complaining to Admin would only yield admonition to the complainant.

I even asked to copy and post Admins' response to my complaint in "Private Message" to the rest of the forum and was denied, probably because it was so blatantly bias that Admin KNEW it would have a negative effect.

I have already sent admin P/M notice of this (just today), but I expect this only to result in my banishment from this site and my posts on this issue to be edited or deleted.

If I had told you 4 years ago that every land-line ph. call , cell ph call, email you send, website you visit, and any post that you make online was being recorded and stored (by the US Government); you probably would have thought that I was a nut-case.

...and then Edward Snowden came along and courageously exposed it ALL

http://www.activistpost.com/2014/02/...trolls-on.html

So, you might want to ask yourself (considering that you read this before this post is deleted), Just WHO is it that keeps funding this website, because I've been a moderator on a similar site and it costs $1,000's per month in NL.

...and NOBODY is visiting this site.

Go figure.

Aloha,

W/M

Another similar forum site I use pays $395/mo. Nearly $5k annual. It does make me wonder why HT keeps going considering the lack of participation?

I agree that in years past there were trolls (who instead of gaining interest for HT, they chased off posters instead). I do miss the days of having loyd of thread to check out and sometimes even LEARN something from, or just have a bit of fun.

As for communications being tracked, I've always figured that about everything was tracked by someone who was looking for something. Thankfully, "bad attitudes" isn't something that they are interested in ... or I'd be in trouble every now and again. ha.

[woodman]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

...I think that this site has lost the interest of many, including myself, since many of the posts have become nonsensical and illogical. It is getting more and more difficult to find comments and expressions of opinions that are somewhat meaningful.

Expat Kamaaina,


I agree. Infact, I had made this same point clear to Admin many YEARS ago while Admin was allowing friends (way before they were designated as "moderators") to troll the threads and belittle any member who held a different opinion.

Complaining to Admin would only yield admonition to the complainant.

I even asked to copy and post Admins' response to my complaint in "Private Message" to the rest of the forum and was denied, probably because it was so blatantly bias that Admin KNEW it would have a negative effect.

I have already sent admin P/M notice of this (just today), but I expect this only to result in my banishment from this site and my posts on this issue to be edited or deleted.

If I had told you 4 years ago that every land-line ph. call , cell ph call, email you send, website you visit, and any post that you make online was being recorded and stored (by the US Government); you probably would have thought that I was a nut-case.

...and then Edward Snowden came along and courageously exposed it ALL

http://www.activistpost.com/2014/02/...trolls-on.html

So, you might want to ask yourself (considering that you read this before this post is deleted), Just WHO is it that keeps funding this website, because I've been a moderator on a similar site and it costs $1,000's per month in NL.

...and NOBODY is visiting this site.

Go figure.









Aloha,

W/M

[Amati]

Re: Not much action here. Why for?

Many of us old timers left because the flaming was getting intolerable. I'm back just to see if it's changed any.

Anyway, yes it is calmer around here, but its also sloooooow.