I've noticed this on a lot of my favorite forums. It seems that there is more activity on Facebook now. Maybe in the Ponds forum (as I think of it) heyday, Facebook was in its infancy?

I've noticed the same thing. Some of the forums I was on have shut down completely and I understand they've moved to FB. And the 'surviving' forums have had their activity diminished. Definitely a negative trend in my opinion.

I have also noticed the same.

Hmmm....I hadn't thought of Facebook being the reason. Are you saying that certain sites have gone to just having Facebook pages? I sure miss a lot of the oldies......so much great conversation all the time. Don't get me wrong.....you guys are great too! The gardening forums are still very active, but the birding forum isn't nearly as busy as it used to be. Haha......recently, I answered one of my own questions there. Nobody seemed to notice.

I noticed that some of the sites opened on FB and then shut down their forum so now you have to be a FB member to participate.

Yeah there used to be some real experts on board - long time professionals - from whom I really did learn a thing or two. I still come by every now and then - mainly to tell newbies their pond is way too small for the number of fish in their pond. Like, "no, you cant have 20 koi in 100 gallons and no filtration." I always feel bad mainly for the fish.... but for the people too because they are genuinely sad and perplexed that their fish are sick or dying and they don't know why- there is so much misinformation out there ... I know for me it was a horrendous learning curve what with our local pond dealers who pretended they were knowledgeable but really didn't have a clue. If I had followed this one local lady's advice instead of found this forum, my fish would have all been dead.

Facebook huh. Well I've avoided it this long, there's no point in starting now. Guess Ill just go turn off the computer and do some yardwork!

The Garden Web was bought out by Houzz. That is when the forums started haemorrhaging members. I'm not sure why, since the format of the groups did not change all that much.

I think many oldies when to another site. I forget what it's called.......something with "Koi" in it?? I remember people from all over the country talking every day. I wish they'd come back.

I wish I could remember some of their names. There was one gal up north that raised sheep and had a little pond off her deck. Another lady was down south and had a big round stock tank....maybe even a couple of them. Joyce had a lotus pond, but moved, but I think she had another pond where she moved. She also grew them in containers too. Gosh........there were tons of people who had great stories and shared information about ponding. Come back you guys!

Perhaps they have gone here: www dot koiphen dot com/forums/ ?

Yes, that sounds familiar! Wish they'd at least come back and visit once in awhile.

I know this an older thread, but just a comment---another possibility is, the missing posters aren't on FB, they are attached to whatever latest portable devices are in favor and they are on them 24/7 so they have lost the ability to pay mind to whatever they used to interact with. Actually, they couldn't if they wanted to---because after a certain period of use, these devices become a part of their users, kinda like the Borg.