Author Topic: Where have all the regulars gone? (Read 16138 times) Tweet

Tabatha · « **on:** March 13, 2012, 06:09:14 am »

Looks like KB is going the way of Nookboards. Lots of new members, "Authors". They are everywhere. Older favorite members don't seem to post anymore. Used to be the place to be. Even the free books in the book bazaar are 99% Authors pushing each other as no self promotion is allowed.LOL Used to get great free Amazon books, now 1%. Check it out, most of the posters have their books in signature, and are pushing books from their friends, more authors. Last 2 items in today's bazaar are a great example!

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BTackitt · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2012, 06:55:08 am »

Many of us are still here.. but KB has been around almost 4 years, people can move on as changes in life happen.

Mike D. aka jmiked · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2012, 08:18:01 am »

I can understand Tabitha's point. I haven't been to the Nookboards, but I joined the KB in October 2008, and I've seen a definite (and probably inevitable) change in tone of the place. We seem to be overrun with self-pubbed authors who can't seem to post a message without some reference to the fact that they are an author. I turned off the signature display a long time ago.

Maybe I'm looking at the past with my patented Rose-Colored Glasses�, but Things Used to be Better in the Old Days, when you could talk about a book without someone jumping in and informing us that they wouldn't have done it that way in their book, or starting a topic that clearly seems to be market research.

Put it down to my getting my membership card in the Curmudgeon's Club when I hit 65 years of age a few years ago.

But I miss Bacardi Jim, LuckyRainbow and a few others. They were entertaining.

Mike

BTackitt · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2012, 08:23:31 am »

Oh I miss a few of the old members too. For new authors, I figure there is a learning curve for them, and they will "Learn to use the Force of KB" correctly over time. I totally agree with the thinly veiled market research questions, but that has been an ongoing problem for as long as I can remember. Many of us have gotten up in arms multiple times about the Book Corner being used as a target research market.

Lambert · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2012, 09:02:19 am »

Life changes. Just have to make the best of it.

intinst · « **Reply #5 on:** March 13, 2012, 09:45:21 am »

Yeah, I miss many of the "Old Guard" as well, and don't really think it's wise for someone pushing books to jump in on a thread complaining about people pushing books jumping into threads. Go figure. But everyone knows what a curmudgeon I can be.

balaspa · « **Reply #6 on:** March 13, 2012, 09:49:20 am »

I think it's just a busy time of year. Sorry to be another dreaded "author" here, but I still find value with being here and have been making a real effort to come back and chat. I just have two book projects going right now, so things are crazy. I am betting others are just busy, as well.

ddarol · « **Reply #7 on:** March 13, 2012, 10:08:39 am »

I do understand what Tabatha is talking about. I was gone from the boards for awhile, involved in work, etc. and when I came back was very surprised that KB seemed to be taken over by authors and that all threads had to do with writing and author "stuff". So much so that I now limit myself to this and one other thread. Sorry authors, but I am very tired of self and all other types of promotion that serve only you and the person you're trying to impress.

ElaineOK · « **Reply #8 on:** March 13, 2012, 10:47:08 am »

One thing that I have noticed, and this is a direct and probably inevitable consequence of growth, is that there is a very narrow breadth of topics allowed on the Let's Talk Kindle page. Almost everything now belongs somewhere else. So, it is hard to just check in and quickly get a taste and move on. Of course, the alternative would be that new posts would scroll off the front page way too fast to be seen. So, it isn't that I think there is a solution, but definitely some growing pains.

Elaine
Norman, OK

Tam · « **Reply #9 on:** March 13, 2012, 11:24:26 am »

This might stray from the topic, but this reminds me of how I felt a couple of years ago when someone put up a thread on a message board I belonged to where they mentioned all the "Regulars" and then people chimed in to list who they were. I was a bit hurt that my screen name was not mentioned by anyone as a regular, when I had been going to that board on a daily basis for several years. I guess over time I was reading the board more, but posting less. Even though I felt like I was a "Regular" and knew all the other regulars, nobody really even knew I was there or knew who I was. I had gone from a frequent poster to a lurker without realizing it! It really woke me up to something I should have known - that even though I think I know people on the internet, I only know what they want me to see, and vice versa. That experience predated Facebook - which is such a strange phenomenon. I now know WAY more about people and their business than I should! And I have to be careful to guard my own privacy... Interesting!

Pawz4me · « **Reply #10 on:** March 13, 2012, 11:45:03 am »

I think maybe one reason there seems to be so much more posting by the authors versus "regular" members now is that most of the hoopla over the Fire and Touch has quieted down, but we haven't reached the stage of speculating about what Amazon's got in the works for the next new addition or upgrade.

Atunah · « **Reply #11 on:** March 13, 2012, 11:53:55 am »

I do see what Tabitha sees. I think what irks me the most is the inability of some authors to take off their author hat and just talk to people as people. I am always baffled that some just can't post without putting in their posts somewhere little things like, ....my characters, .....when I was working on my book, ...........that is why I chose to write this in my book.........etc. I think you get the idea.

It just baffles me. Its very rampant now in the book corner, which makes a lot of threads nothing but more opportunity to sell.

The inability to talk just as a reader, without mentioning ones own book is what baffles me.

We are all people here, but we aren't all authors. I can't connect to a person that comes at me right away with veiled comments about a product they are trying to sell. That is really what it comes down to with me. I can't see the person behind the ads.

Then there are those that never even venture out of their cave so to speak, which sometimes to this "old timer" feels like we aren't worthy to hang with, unless we are authors or customers to be sold too.

We are all people, there is plenty to talk about besides mentioning what we do for a living all the time. But maybe that is just me.

JD_Richard · « **Reply #12 on:** March 13, 2012, 11:55:31 am »

Since signing on last month, it's been an interesting to crawl and stumble as I learn what KB is and is about. Wanting to help jmiked find named friends, I googled their usernames and kindleboards. Here is what I found about one. I found this about the other, with a clickable link quote from 2008. The clickable quote implies the two are RL acquaintances.

I don't know what happened and have no control over it. I greatly respect the person(s) that maintain this platform, on which the links exist, and on which we converse. I also see what you are missing and don't know how to purposefully reconcile that with these boards.

The second link is definitely . . . alive. There is an extremely intimate, social, family feel there in sharing a fight for new life (the preemie) and vulnerabilities all bound by an undertone of knitting. It astounds me that it was borne of a platform to do with Kindles, because there is not a single mention of the product or what the product coveys to its users on that second thread. There are no rules and no order to that kind of outpouring--like love and war. Nevertheless, thank you for sharing enough of a clue for me to understand what you may miss.

Perhaps BTackitt said it best about changes in life. I also like the Brownies saying, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and other's gold." Please be forgiving of my kind in our missteps, as we all must be in discovering ourselves part of something that may have been used other than intended.

Chad Winters · « **Reply #13 on:** March 13, 2012, 12:13:34 pm »

There has definitely been a change. I think my biggest dissapointment is that even though I enjoy many of the authors...there has been a clearly expressed opinion by many of them that they feel KB exist to serve indie authors. It definitely was not this way at the beginning when it was all about the the wonder of the Kindle and ebooks.

But now that Kindles and ebooks are commonplace it may be natural not too have as much to discuss about them. I do however feel the reader to author ratio here is approaching 1:1 and I find returning to check posts less compelling every day.

Mike D. aka jmiked · « **Reply #14 on:** March 13, 2012, 01:04:29 pm »

Quote from: JD_Richard on March 13, 2012, 11:55:31 am

Since signing on last month, it's been an interesting to crawl and stumble as I learn what KB is and is about. Wanting to help jmiked find named friends, I googled their usernames and kindleboards. Here is what I found about one. I found this about the other, with a clickable link quote from 2008. The clickable quote implies the two are RL acquaintances.

BJ and LR were married, I believe. When BJ left, so did LR. BJ was entertaining, but he could occasionally rub people the wrong way. I looked around after he left and found he had been ejected from at least one other place, a computer games forum. I can't say I know exactly what went down here (and I'm not really interested), but I have every confidence that Harvey did what was proper and necessary. He's got one of the better-moderated boards around.

Mike

telracs · « **Reply #15 on:** March 13, 2012, 01:07:08 pm »

"gone to flowers everyone....."
"oh when will they ever learn"
"oh when will they ever learn....."

CraigInOregon · « **Reply #16 on:** March 13, 2012, 01:13:59 pm »

Suppose it depends on you you mean as regulars.

Some of my favorites post less often, just because they've become busier. (ex. Amanda Hocking was very active at one point, but with all the success flowing her way the last year, I know she's way busier than she was before that.)

The "Two Davids" are still around, but very busy.

Barbiedull isn't as active as she used to be for whatever reason, and she was hilarious there for quite some time.

Not all authors are just here to self-promote, so let's not paint with too broad a brush.

But yeah, the tone has changed across the boards; the popularity of KB has drawn a lot of new members. Some hang back and learn the community before becoming too active. Others jump right in and just post to promote. Others strike a balance.

Xopher · « **Reply #17 on:** March 13, 2012, 01:19:48 pm »

I've been around here for years. Still visit several times a week , although I'm probably not well known.

I think some of the people have adjusted with technology as well. Maybe they now primarily use a Fire, iPad, or some other device. I know I still read on my K3 several times throughout the week, but my tablet is probably used more these days. Seems like the Fire board is still getting a lot of responses these days.

mooshie78 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 13, 2012, 01:40:49 pm »

That's partly it for me, I was no mobileread and then came over hear after getting annoyed with that site. Posted a ton for a while, but have cut back a lot since getting an iPad 2 last march (though I still post a decent amount as I'm at a computer a ton and like goofing on forums!

). That relegated my Kindle to just staying on the nightstand and getting read in bed only.

And Book Corner is often just marketing research type of threads, and threads discussing the same topics over and over so it's gotten a bit stale.

hsuthard · « **Reply #19 on:** March 13, 2012, 01:42:40 pm »

I remember I used to be able to click on Show Unread Posts daily and view the latest posts that way, but now if I do that I see mostly Writers Cafe posts and such that as a non writer I'm not interested in. Now I have to check my favorite sub boards individually, which is not as nice.

foreverjuly · « **Reply #20 on:** March 13, 2012, 02:21:12 pm »

Is there no room in this discussion for a category of "regular authors" who have all but abandoned any pretense of using Kindleboards as a promotional tool? I haven't been participating in the A Song of Ice and Fire reading group here for the last six months because I've been trying desperately to squeeze a couple bucks out of jason10mm.

But the point of this thread matches the general tone I've been picking up for a while now--that authors are more of a nuisance than a benefit here--and I've just removed that last vestige of promotion, my signature, because of it. Maybe my sales will slip a little, and maybe I'll put a simple few-word link in to my author page or something at some point, but my dad always told me to be part of the solution, not the problem. I'm here and have been here to be a person, and I'm not asking for money from any of you.

Chad Winters · « **Reply #21 on:** March 13, 2012, 02:32:32 pm »

Quote from: hsuthard on March 13, 2012, 01:42:40 pm

I remember I used to be able to click on Show Unread Posts daily and view the latest posts that way, but now if I do that I see mostly Writers Cafe posts and such that as a non writer I'm not interested in. Now I have to check my favorite sub boards individually, which is not as nice.

Ditto!

Chad Winters · « **Reply #22 on:** March 13, 2012, 02:36:12 pm »

Quote from: foreverjuly on March 13, 2012, 02:21:12 pm

Is there no room in this discussion for a category of "regular authors" who have all but abandoned any pretense of using Kindleboards as a promotional tool? I haven't been participating in the A Song of Ice and Fire reading group here for the last six months because I've been trying desperately to squeeze a couple bucks out of jason10mm.

But the point of this thread matches the general tone I've been picking up for a while now--that authors are more of a nuisance than a benefit here--and I've just removed that last vestige of promotion, my signature, because of it. Maybe my sales will slip a little, and maybe I'll put a simple few-word link in to my author page or something at some point, but my dad always told me to be part of the solution, not the problem. I'm here and have been here to be a person, and I'm not asking for money from any of you.

It's not really an anti-author thing, at least for me....the problem is that "authorship" was pretty much becoming the only thing here. There is little left but authors talking about their books and writing and publishing. Its not neccesarily bad or wrong....but I am unlikely to log in or check the "Kindle Author's Board"

Atunah · « **Reply #23 on:** March 13, 2012, 02:47:56 pm »

* sigh.

Not all authors, some. I double checked my post and yes, that is the word I used, some.

I hang with authors in threads all the time, there is along standing historical romance thread in the book corner and many many participants are authors. But they are there as readers, like me. Because I always assume to be a writer, one has to be first a reader.

I got to know these nice folks as people. I know they are also authors and they don't have to tell me that. I get to talk to the person, the reader, the passionate fan of something.

That is all I am trying to say. There has been a large amount of authors coming to the board. Nobody is saying this is bad, it just is. So when stuff annoys, it annoys more since there is more of it. Its a matter of numbers.

But for me its just mostly being baffled and bewildered at those that have that need to work into posts everywhere author tidbits. I just don't get it. *shrugs. It gets old after a while and since there are more, it happens more often.

When you come out and hang out with everyone foreverjuly I think its great. But you know that there are those that never do. And when they do it feels like an agenda. Again, some not all, obviously.

Some people never go to the writers section, they have no interest. So if someone only hangs out there, how would they ever get to know them. There have been so many threads there, that I think would have been great in other sections of the board like Not Quite Kindle. Lots of those conversations would be more inclusive outside of the writers section. Just my 2 cents.

Of course things change, but sometimes people want to talk about those changes and ponder. Is all.

foreverjuly · « **Reply #24 on:** March 13, 2012, 03:32:52 pm »

To clarify, I'm really not accusing anyone of being absolutist with their rhetoric. We're all savvy enough to recognize that there are offenders and those who draw within the lines. People come to the boards for different reasons, and if an individual's reason is solely to talk about being an author, you're probably better off if they do stay in the Cafe.

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