Question for long-term users of SAUK

[Moksha]

I joined this site 10 years ago, but for the last two years I've hardly used it at all. Coming back, I'm amazed at how dead it seems. Have any other long-term users noticed this?? Are there less people on here? Given how much coverage mental illness now receives, I expected the site to be buzzing.

[Toxic]

I joined in wat, 2010/2011, it was a lot busier

I was around pretty much daily for a good 2-3 years? at least..then I disappeared for a while (no real reason, I wasn't exactly "fixed" just..didn't see the point of coming here)

I can't remember when I resurfaced..last year? or was it 2016..

It's nowhere near as active for sure!

[Mo34]

I joined 2002/3 ish. It was very busy back then. I left in 2006? when I came back in 2013/14/15? it was much quieter tho not as quiet as it has been in the last couple of years. I guess people prefer f/b type platforms.

[Moksha]

^^^^

Glad you guys have noticed this too. I just can't understand it. In the last few years mental illness has become a hot topic, with virtually every celebrity queuing up to describe their depression, anxiety, etc. Given that, I'd expected this site to be really busy.

[Schmosby]

It was dead when I joined, which is why I used the American SAS site instead, then at some point down the line, I just missed UK people and switched here, at that point it was even deader than when I joined. I think it's been going up and down since.

[Moksha]

...just looking in the basement, for example. Dead. I remember when it used to be crammed with people arguing about all sorts of this things. You'd put up a thread and it would be buried in no time. Have thousands of Brits secretly found a cure?

[Mr. Nobody]

It's good that the site is quiet as it means people are genuinely getting better,
So, the website is genuinely working and doing it's job, at least
I actually prefer the site now as it was too easy to be overlooked in the past,
Things were too busy and it was therefore quite often the case that many people's posts got lost or hidden I think,
Unless you were a popular or controversial poster your views were more than likely to be buried under a sea of "hip and happening" or "controversial "posts,
Sometimes it just felt like the same old issues you encounter in your own life,- (being ignored by the crowd because you weren't popular enough,) were being repeated here.

It's odd that it should be a real positive that a mental health forum is quiet,
But this fact is more often than not viewed negatively

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by healingsoul

I think forums in general are dying.

But why? There has been an explosion of interest in mental health in the last few years. And there are countless blogs and podcasts now. Plus, celebs and comedians are constantly opening up about their struggles. You'd think that would have led to a renewed interest in such forums.

I can't believe that people are suddenly getting better. SA and most other mental health problems are stubborn and difficult to overcome.

[Vienna]

It did seem a lot more casual going 10 years ago. Got away with a lot more back then. Now it seems moderators are tougher, maybe that's what puts people off.
Does seem strange to me some of the more popular posters suddenly not posting anymore.

Then again I do post less, tired of seeing the same old threads and thinking does anyone actually read anyone's posts anymore.

Back in the day the internet was fairly new , 20 years have gone by and I think forums have just lost interest.

[Dougella]

It does puzzle me. Facebook groups seem a lot less personal, but maybe some people prefer that. Are all the young people on twitter and Instagram? Or too busy swiping left and right on Tindr?

[Ben1981]

When I first joined in 2006 this place had a real buzz to it. Always a lot of different topics to read through which I could associate with and contribute. Much the same with the meets section where there always seemed to be something happening every weekend so I met a lot of people on here in person. I think it was 2014-15 I noticed everything was getting a lot quieter. I think the meets were killed off by the emergence of Meetup but its a bit of a mystery why things have gone quiet online specially as the forum sections have expanded over the years.

[Schmosby]

Maybe the help available for those suffering mental health issues is getting much better, so people are not resorting to searching the Internet for support so much.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Ben1981

When I first joined in 2006 this place had a real buzz to it. Always a lot of different topics to read through which I could associate with and contribute. Much the same with the meets section where there always seemed to be something happening every weekend so I met a lot of people on here in person. I think it was 2014-15 I noticed everything was getting a lot quieter. I think the meets were killed off by the emergence of Meetup but its a bit of a mystery why things have gone quiet online specially as the forum sections have expanded over the years.

More or less my experience exactly. I also joined in 2006. And I also noticed a downturn in around 2015. When I first came on here it was buzzing. The basement used to have eight or nine threads running at the same time and all being updated constantly. Coming back, well, it's like a ghost town.

I only ever met one person off the forum, Nat36, but I do remember certain names, like Godfather, who all seem to have vanished.

[A Whimsical Stranger]

Forums are kind of outdated. People tend to prefer Facebook groups and such like. Doesn't help that the forum interface is very ye olde internet. I like it, but that's due to familiarity and comfort. I can understand why it doesn't attract new users.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Fungus

I doubt things are getting better for mental health somehow so people dont need help. All the reports I have seen seem to imply there are more people admitting to having anxiety and depression and the NHS is on the verge of imploding under the strain.

Agreed. The idea that people are somehow getting better and no longer need such forums seems crazy to me. On the contrary, I'd say that mental health problems are getting worse – and more common.

[Dougella]

^^^ He was around again a little while ago if I remember right.

[Schmosby]

@Fungus & Moksha
I didn't say mental health was getting better, I said maybe support for it is getting better.

@A Whimsical Stranger
The site is already accessible through Tapatalk, which is a mobile app. I did start writing a mobile version for this site that accessed the data through the taptalk interface and output it in very minimal clean html, so it would be much easier on older devices and looked a lot more modern. I may finish this in January.

[Bertignac]

I'm not a long term user, but I like the anonymity allowed on the forum. On Facebook, you have to use your real name. I find it off-putting.

[Indigo_]

Originally Posted by A Whimsical Stranger

Forums are kind of outdated. People tend to prefer Facebook groups and such like. Doesn't help that the forum interface is very ye olde internet. I like it, but that's due to familiarity and comfort. I can understand why it doesn't attract new users.

Pretty much what I was going to post. The site was busy when I joined in 2013 through to about 2015. I think other social media is used to be honest rather than forums these days.

The whole forum needs a re-vamp in my opinion, it is dated.

[Mr. Spaceman]

I'd agree there seems to be far less of a taboo in general society surrounding mental health than there was when I first joined 10+ years ago. Back then and as I'm sure for many of us discovering SAUK was the first time we'd put a name to what we were suffering, the first time we discovered there were other people with the same problems, it was a revelation, like "Oh my God I thought it was just me".

Nowadays perhaps Social Anxiety Disorder is more widely known and understood and maybe those suffering from it are more able to get support and understanding from family/friends/teachers and it just doesn't occur to them to look for online support.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Mr. Spaceman

I'd agree there seems to be far less of a taboo in general society surrounding mental health than there was when I first joined 10+ years ago. Back then and as I'm sure for many of us it was the first time we'd put a name to what we were suffering, it was a revelation, like "Oh my God I thought it was just me".

Man, that makes me feel old Probably true though. It seems crazy to me that I didn't use the Internet until I was about 21!! I was born in December 1976, so had to go through my ****ing horrible teens in the 1990s. I often wonder how I might have coped had I had access to something like SAUK when I was 15 or 16. Instead, I stumbled through my nightmarish teens in a daze of fear, shame, loneliness and confusion. God, what it would have meant to me, aged 17 or 18, to meet up with people from a site like this and have them say "you're not alone...we understand....this is what's wrong." I'd have burst into tears. I don't suppose future generations will even grasp what it meant to have a mental or physical illness and have to go through it in total ignorance and isolation. When I was a kid, people used to talk about pre and post war. In the future, I suspect they'll talk about pre and post Internet.

[A Whimsical Stranger]

Originally Posted by _Tink_

Pretty much what I was going to post. The site was busy when I joined in 2013 through to about 2015. I think other social media is used to be honest rather than forums these days.

The whole forum needs a re-vamp in my opinion, it is dated.

Originally Posted by Schmosby

@Fungus & Moksha
I didn't say mental health was getting better, I said maybe support for it is getting better.

@A Whimsical Stranger
The site is already accessible through Tapatalk, which is a mobile app. I did start writing a mobile version for this site that accessed the data through the taptalk interface and output it in very minimal clean html, so it would be much easier on older devices and looked a lot more modern. I may finish this in January.

Tapatalk is like an Elastoplast over a bullet wound. I've tried it, and I hate it so much that I persevere through browsing and posting on the main desktop forum on my phone.

Tink is right, if SAUK is to survive, it needs a major reform.

[BethM]

Originally Posted by A Whimsical Stranger

Forums are kind of outdated. People tend to prefer Facebook groups and such like. Doesn't help that the forum interface is very ye olde internet. I like it, but that's due to familiarity and comfort. I can understand why it doesn't attract new users.

Yeah, online discussion forums in general have been declining for years because of social media. Social media's changed how some people use the internet, with many people preferring to simply 'like' or interact minimally with their family and friends' posts and then move on, rather than spending extended lengths of time getting into long-winded discussions with strangers.

I think also that declining attention spans and probably busier lives, and definitely what Vienna said about stricter moderation. Digital Spy (nothing to do with mental health) was always one of the UK's main/busiest forums and that's miles quieter these days. Their moderation is insane too.

I use Instagram, one page for my nature photography and another to promote my online vintage business. It's refreshing to be able to 'talk' through photos at times, words can be tiring and lacking sometimes. And now once you hit 5,000 followers on Instagram (which is really no big deal) you can be an 'influencer' which earns passive income. So it makes sense people would channel their online time into something that can generate income.

I found SAUK (and found out that my anxiety even had a name) in 2006, and mainly used the chatroom. Then my life changed direction and I've barely even glanced at this site for a decade. I remember when new topics would move off the first page within hours on this board, now the same threads are on the first page for weeks.

I see there's some adorable and amazing people here, just like there used to be. Actually, that's what always used to depress me about this site - seeing good people so unhappy. I used to just think ''Oh God, why can't we all just grow a new brain and go to one big party and just have a ball''. I don't know who anyone is here now, or if the new people are old people, or new-new people.

[Mr. Spaceman]

Originally Posted by Moksha

Man, that makes me feel old Probably true though. It seems crazy to me that I didn't use the Internet until I was about 21!! I was born in December 1976, so had to go through my ****ing horrible teens in the 1990s. I often wonder how I might have coped had I had access to something like SAUK when I was 15 or 16. Instead, I stumbled through my nightmarish teens in a daze of fear, shame, loneliness and confusion. God, what it would have meant to me, aged 17 or 18, to meet up with people from a site like this and have them say "you're not alone...we understand....this is what's wrong." I'd have burst into tears. I don't suppose future generations will even grasp what it meant to have a mental or physical illness and have to go through it in total ignorance and isolation. When I was a kid, people used to talk about pre and post war. In the future, I suspect they'll talk about pre and post Internet.

I was born in 1972 and my teens and 20s were very much the same. I didn't actually use the internet til I was 35. My first attempt involved going down my local library and sitting staring blankly at a computer screen, too scared and ashamed to ask for help. I have at least come on a little bit since then...

[BethM]

Same here, Moksha, and Mr. Spaceman.

I was born in 1979, when I was at university it was the norm to have to go to internet cafes or the uni library to get online. Most people just didn't have broadband at home.

I was 26 when I found about SA. I honestly thought I was just a defective weirdo before then, the only one in the world to feel the way I did.

Life definitely would have got going for me sooner, and I would have missed out on less, had the internet been around sooner.

Still, better late than never.

[Schmosby]

Originally Posted by A Whimsical Stranger

Tapatalk is like an Elastoplast over a bullet wound. I've tried it, and I hate it so much that I persevere through browsing and posting on the main desktop forum on my phone.

Tink is right, if SAUK is to survive, it needs a major reform.

Yeah I agree, I can't stand Taptalk which is why I started making the mobile version, just so I could avoid it.

I really don't think this is the reason for the low population though, if people want to access content they will muddle through no matter how bad the site is. Look at ebay, amazon, discord, excel, windows 10 etc. etc. Usability is a only small factor in popularity.

Incidently I suggested to these guys to implement @mentions so we could get notified when people mention us rather than as so often happens completely miss it unless we search back through every post we have made every day and they were against it, so I'm not sure given that logic that an overhaul would actually be a positive change.

[Copernicium]

I wonder how easy it is to find this site if you don't know it exists and are just trying to google random anxiety related phrases. If SAUK is only slightly less easy to discover than it used to be then that would have an effect. I don't know if that is the case but I think it should be monitored by those who are tasked with promoting the site. I presume that someone somewhere keeps an eye on this stuff. I would be interested to know.

[Copernicium]

On a much, much more controversial note, I don't think the parts of the forum where the SAUK community chats off-topic, the Lounge and the Basement, are engaging readers as much as they used to.

I have 2 observations, both of which will be deeply unpopular.

The Lounge is absolutely crammed with 'what are you doing' type threads which swamp and dilute everything else. I would get rid of most of them. I know that sounds horrifying, but the Lounge never used to be wall to wall 'what are you doing' threads. They have spread like cancer in the last last few years, making the Lounge increasingly ignorable.

The Basement has become a one thread subform. The news and current affairs thread swallows up everything that deserves arguing about over lots of different threads and puts them into a sausage machine where any individual topic or discussion gets chopped off by something new after a day or so. I would encourage people to post new threads before posting on the news and current affairs thread so that there are lots of news related threads rather than one.

That's my opinion. I don't expect to be agreed with, but that's ok.

(Good heavens, a controversial opinion in the Lounge! This can't be happening. Mavis, quick, bring me the valium...)

[Copernicium]

Originally Posted by jinny

Why don't you start some threads then?

Quite right, I should. I'm as guilty as anyone else. In fact it's interesting how busy this thread has been in a short time, which shows how much people want the forum to be a humming hub of new posts and new topics which draw in new people.

[Indigo_]

Originally Posted by biscuits

There’s a link to the main site sauk on the nhs web page for social anxiety and if I try and open it on my phone or Chrome, it appears to be a broken link. It works in internet explorer, not many people use internet explorer though. I emailed the NHS, but they said the link works when they click on it, so not sure which browser they use.

Does sauk have an email address? Maybe Tink or Mo would be able to please contact them and ask them to change the link to the link of the actual forum? Then more people might join.

Yes, it is still broken. I've flagged it up but unfortunately nothing has been done. The admins themselves and the moderating team as a whole cannot make any decisions or changes as we do not own the site and are merely volunteers. We also do not have the technical know-how to fix the broken link. CC might be able to do it but I'd have to seek permission.

I would have thought the link on the NHS page and the link on the SAUK homepage would be the most common ways to access this forum and both links are broken