All interactive sites on the internet with only a few exceptions seem to have a limited shelf life then people move on to something or somewhere else. AZB is no exception.
I do think fragmenting the forum to the degree that it has been done is a mistake. Some of these forums should only be a thread. Forums should be the main, buy sell and trade, NPR, a cue smith's forum, and a room owners forum in my opinion. The hall of fame is fine too.
The aiming threads were an annoyance but should something so definitely pool related be split into a separate forum? All the instructor forums seem to see little action. Combining them into one thread should work.
Lockdowns certainly aren't helping but the forum issues were here long before lockdowns.
We need more to drive the main forum. Also, stickies need to be reviewed. Perhaps some are dated and others could be combined. I wish they would only be on the first page too but I don't know that the software has that capability. Last time I checked stickies covered over half of each page!
Admin is trying to moderate the forums with a lighter touch, something "everybody" wanted. Now that they are getting less moderation some aren't happy about that either. They want a forum ran just to suit them and there is only one way to make that happen.
I come and go here myself. The reason is simple. I have been here so long I feel I have very little fresh to say on pool related topics.
No real answers to get AZB back on track. Flourishing pool rooms and tournaments would help, I think some consolidation would help too but of course there were reasons the place was fragmented to begin with.
Hu
Your are correct Internet Fourms, Message Boards, or what you call em come and go. One of the problems is people loose intrest in a hobby, passion, be it boat ownership, bicycling, showing dogs, or what ever the subject is, or was.
As I said AZ Billiards was in the beginning only Pool & Cue Sports Related, it was great years ago. Maybe the best Forum on Billiards & Cue Sports.
Now NRP is apprently the hot sub forum. I see it as a hot bed of people who already have their beliefs in NPS subjects, are not going to change their beleafs, but the sub-forum is more like a battle ground of people trying to start & participate World War III over politics, religion, or the latest breaking news, or off beat news.
Kind of sad the Forum that was like all things from "A" to "Z" Billiard & Cue Sports has changed so much.
Many old members have died off, and others just got tired of all the hate, and hating. Moving on, taking a break, just never came back, if they do its only to look, and they the good contributors never contribute any more.
Forum loss. JMHO. Don't like that? Tought Tacos.:smile: