The Decline and Fall of UKB (Read 30801 times)

Will Hunt · June 25, 2015, 12:55:25 pm

For TomTom.

Discuss.

TheTwig · June 25, 2015, 01:12:20 pm

The quality of UKB simply can't keep up with the tidal wave of arguments about pitons, yoof, bolting and new fathers going on climbing trips on UKC. It was inevitable really. Resistance is futile!

Monolith · June 25, 2015, 01:22:22 pm

Aside from an occassional post, unclesomebody's loss must surely be felt the worst. His and FOAMs or am I just reminiscing like the senile old trout I've become.

erm, sam · June 25, 2015, 01:23:03 pm

Apparently the combined might of UKB can't coach TomTom up Jericho Road, and it can't do that, does it really have a purpose?

36chambers · June 25, 2015, 01:47:43 pm

Can someone describe the glory days, what's changed?

SA Chris · June 25, 2015, 02:13:32 pm

Bruce Springsteen knew about those.

Same as it ever was, just less DFBs.

lagerstarfish · June 25, 2015, 02:20:00 pm

I thought this was going to be the news that Shark had done The Oak, meaning the end of the current series of UKB with a new series starting around the next Calling Time

silly season, innit

slackline · June 25, 2015, 02:22:22 pm

Quote from: Monolith on June 25, 2015, 01:22:22 pm

Aside from an occassional post, unclesomebody's loss must surely be felt the worst. His and FOAMs or am I just reminiscing like the senile old trout I've become.

Houdini

rodma · June 25, 2015, 02:38:54 pm

there just hasn't been enough controversy or hateable heroes to spurt out topics about

SA Chris · June 25, 2015, 03:00:41 pm

You would fucking say that wouldn't you, you dick!

roddersm · June 25, 2015, 03:24:31 pm

It was definitely more entertaining back in the days when most threads involved buoux8c accusing someone of being shit, a liar or both......

fatneck · June 25, 2015, 03:24:44 pm

It's not in decline as far as I'm concerned.

Granted it's not the same as it was "back in t' day" but that's just change innit?

#bringbackhoudini

slackline · June 25, 2015, 03:26:00 pm

Quote from: habrich on June 25, 2015, 03:20:51 pm

FWIW the audience stats for UKB don't suggest it is "in decline".

But, of course, objective data should never be allowed to get in the way of subjective opinion ...

Out of curiosity what are the "audence stats"? Page views, click through on advertisers links? Are they able to differentiate between humans and web-crawlers/bots?

Decline of the forum, as tomtom first used it, could of course be about things other than "audeince stats" and might well be a subjective decline in the quality of posted content, but thats harded to obtain objective data on.

andyd · June 25, 2015, 03:34:35 pm

Quote from: Will Hunt on June 25, 2015, 12:55:25 pm

For TomTom.

Discuss.

Please could someone reference where this came from? I don't work for the water board so don't have all day to familiarise myself with every thread

tomtom · June 25, 2015, 03:43:39 pm

Ok - I've been out climbing (sort of) so allow myself to explain.

First - thanks for the collective UKB beta coach syndicate for the Jericho Road info. It's now just down to my lack of endurance (as today will testify)

Second - glad to hear the audience stats are still good - my inkling is that the number of posts has declined though - there seems to be less going on with the forum that in previous years. May be more/same number of folk looking but I'd be interested to see the figures on posts which = content...

I also see a lot of UKB style chat now done on FB and a little on Twitter.. And know a few folk who used to use UKB and now don't - but are still active climbing/social media-Ing in other places.

Third - the saying came in a post about Slackers suggested vidbot/vidpile video trawling thread... It seems that there is a general reticence to try something new here - when (imho) you have to update and add new things from time to time to keep the place interesting and fresh. In a fast moving changing world, standing still (as UKB is - much as that may be nice) is effectively decline.

Just my tuppence worth - not trying to start anything - just a concerned citizen...

slackline · June 25, 2015, 03:54:26 pm

Quote from: andyd on June 25, 2015, 03:34:35 pm

Please could someone reference where this came from?

Quote from: tomtom on June 23, 2015, 06:57:27 pm

UKB is largely stagnant and in many ways diminishing... so why not have threads that scoop up content... I would, however, suggest having just one thread that gathers all..

Quote from: tomtom on June 25, 2015, 03:43:39 pm

Second - glad to hear the audience stats are still good - my inkling is that the number of posts has declined though - there seems to be less going on with the forum that in previous years. May be more/same number of folk looking but I'd be interested to see the figures on posts which = content...

I also see a lot of UKB style chat now done on FB and a little on Twitter.. And know a few folk who used to use UKB and now don't - but are still active climbing/social media-Ing in other places.

Could this be down to how people are viewing the site perhaps?

In particular I'm thinking with regards to viewing it on tablets/phones which make it more tricky to copy & paste links and embed images/videos and generally just typing (personally I'll always be faster typing on a proper keyboard than phone/tablet). Whether its using Tapatalk or viewing in a browser on phone/tablet its not exactly easy to type BBCode markup by virtue of the "keyboard" that is used.

In contrast Farcebook and Twatter both have dedicated apps (the later has many) which integrate neatly into other installed applications, making it simple to "Share" from your web-browser to Twatter relative to "Sharing" a link on UKB.

Bonjoy · June 25, 2015, 03:54:59 pm

Maybe everything's been said...

Bonjoy · June 25, 2015, 03:57:24 pm

Tablet viewing definitely reduces my will to type, especially if the post will involve more than one sentence.

slackline · June 25, 2015, 03:58:08 pm

Quote from: Bonjoy on June 25, 2015, 03:54:59 pm

Maybe everything's been said...

But I've pulled my A2, what should I do?

willackers · June 25, 2015, 03:59:38 pm

Too many fishing photos for my liking, I thought this was a climbing forum?

36chambers · June 25, 2015, 04:21:37 pm

Quote from: rodma on June 25, 2015, 02:38:54 pm

there just hasn't been enough controversy or hateable heroes to spurt out topics about

I wasn't all that impressed with Ben Moon's ascent of Rainshadow...

lagerstarfish · June 25, 2015, 04:23:43 pm

Quote from: tomtom on June 25, 2015, 03:43:39 pm

I've been out climbing

you have reached the end of what UKB can offer

should you require further help in the future, you can self refer back into the service at any time

cheque · June 25, 2015, 04:33:53 pm

Seems alright to me. We're in the middle of summer, of course- there are lots of opportunities to do things other than post on the internet so I'd expect it to be quieter.

A couple of months ago when you had to wade through Sloper's posts to find the interesting stuff I was far less enthusiastic about coming on here and would often click straight off again. That felt like a decline to me and possibly lost users.

tomtom · June 25, 2015, 04:33:59 pm

Quote from: lagerstarfish on June 25, 2015, 04:23:43 pm

Quote from: tomtom on June 25, 2015, 03:43:39 pm
I've been out climbing

you have reached the end of what UKB can offer

should you require further help in the future, you can self refer back into the service at any time

Sorry - I'll leave posting again until I start campus-ing

Oldmanmatt · June 25, 2015, 05:26:42 pm

CrapAtalk makes it much easier to quote, embed etc. than viewing through a browser, gives a much longer "timeline" than the 10, or so, "recent posts" on the front page; making it easier to pick up a thread that grabs your interest.
It bypasses the ads though so not good for forum health...

The front page is too slow to update/ over populated with old pinned posts.
To me, it would be more appealing if the ratio between new posts and pinned posts were reversed.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk