What happened to the thread on changes in DCUM user base?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally have noticed that the quality of person here has ‘downgraded’ in terms of quality of information, as if the user base has slipped into teenage territory.

I've been using the site since 2014 and it is pretty much exactly the same now as it was then.

I started with the email list and forums many years ago when it was much more local and had no external agitators. There have been various waves of disturbing trends/posters over the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi Jeff, I started a thread yesterday asking if you had noticed any recent changes in the DCUM user base and appreciated your detailed response. But now it seems to be gone, as well as the observations of others. Any reason why it was taken down? Thanks.

Jeff would you be so kind as to post your detailed response again and then lock the thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally have noticed that the quality of person here has ‘downgraded’ in terms of quality of information, as if the user base has slipped into teenage territory.

I've been using the site since 2014 and it is pretty much exactly the same now as it was then.

I disagree. There are a lot more posters who seem to speak English as a second language and are obsessed with how to marry rich, look rich and become rich. This is somewhat related to all the classy / trashy posts.

[jsteele]

Here was my previous response:

As one poster guessed, DCUM changed significantly during the pandemic. But, nobody seems to have guessed what I think is the main reason. Prior to Covid, DCUM had a very defined pattern of usage. Our users were primarily professionals who worked in offices. Usage graphs showed them checking the site early in the day, during breaks at work, and then again in the evening. You could easily tell on graphs when DC lawyers took lunch. When everyone started working from home, all of this changed. My guess is that when work-from-home posters get a break, instead of checking DCUM they do dishes, laundry, take their dog for a walk, or anything else they can do at home other then check DCUM. At the same time, we started to get more out-of-the-area posters (though many of them have DC connections).

Another change I think is simply due to age. We started the web forums in 2005 and the mailing list a couple of years before that. So, DCUM is over 20 years old at this point. In that time, we have been discovered by any number of weirdos that have been kicked off of every other website. It's harder to get rid of them here due to our anonymous posting. But, some of these folks have bizarre obsessions. There are at least two posters who do nothing but post negative and rude posts. It not as easy as simply blocking their IP addresses because their addresses constantly change. Both of them can post 20-30 posts a day. Between the two of them, they can cause a lot of threads to be negative. I spend a huge amount of time just trying to control the two of them.

I would caution against assigning education levels or political affiliation to geography. Minnesota and Michigan have large populations of educated people and are implementing some of the most progressive policies in the nation. Loudoun County, on the other hand, while being close to DC, has a rampant MAGA movement. But, it can't be denied that conservatives are currently winning the online wars, at least as far as discussion forums go. Liberals may be doing better on TikTok.