The Old Internet Neighborhoods

[sharon sanders]

Our traffic is very strong. I think it is because we are a niche type of message board. For instance, unique ip volume incoming to FT:

June - year to year comparison
2007: 26,148
2008: 50,784
2009: stat program disconnected due to traffic volume strain on server (pandemic)
2010: 74,080
2011: 87,195

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July 10, 2011, 5:30 PM
The Old Internet Neighborhoods
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN

snip

Not to get too misty, but the board format itself might deserve a nostalgic embrace. The Internet forum, that great old standby of Web 1.0., has become an endangered species.

Many boards are stagnant or in decline, if they even still exist. Several once-thriving boards on the women’s site iVillage have closed up shop. Big fiction-fan boards haven’t seen real action in years. Last month, a once-popular eight-old-year British board about mental health went dark with a note: “The Internet has changed significantly.”

more...

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/remembrance-of-message-boards-past/

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: The Old Internet Neighborhoods

The decline of the independent message boards is a real threat to independence.

With so much traffic concentrated on a single user, facebook, much of the world's internet traffic, data, and thoughts are maintained at the will of this corporate entity.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: The Old Internet Neighborhoods

This also applies to the blog networks.

A few moderators at FT, who have their own blogs, have had occasions where they were not able to control their own blog - or even access it. We were able to act as a back-up for their work.

I think it is a big mistake to concentrate so much of the world's talent and thought in so few places.