I'll try and explain things from my POV. A lot of you will disagree, but this is just an opinion.
In the past, when the site was good, some of the younger members, myself included, felt that there was quite a bit of bias towards the older established people on the site. Basically, it felt to me that younger people were very welcome, but the established oldies could do what they wanted with impunity, while the younger members would quickly be torn to pieces for fairly minor stuff.
With Odeon and the mods being of similar ages, and Odeons friends being a similar age, it kinda felt like there was an elite class on this site, with one set of rules applying to the "establishment," and another set of rules for the rest. (BTW. This is not meant as a criticism of the mods, or Odeon, who do a good job.) This was never really a big deal for me in the past, as I felt that I had a good relationship with most members. Also, most importantly, there was always enough young people here that it was easy enough to avoid the worst of the fuddy-duddyness.
Now that there are so few young people who are regularly active here, it feels impossible for me to see this site as anything other than an old-persons site. Yes, I'm deeply fond of a lot of these oldies, and I'd love to hang out on a site with them, but for that to happen, there would need to be a good mix of people.
In the past, I feel that the relative diversity on the site kept it good. We may only have averaged around 25-30 members per day, but in that small group of people, we had a great mix.
In a funny kind of way, I felt that the interaction between the older, more stable members, and the younger, drama producing members, was one of the sites biggest strengths.
We tried to get Zomg running, and IMO, part of the reason it failed was because few of the older sensible people chose to be really active members. It could have worked with only the young, and young at heart, but it would have been an uphill struggle.
This place seems to be having a similar problem, but in reverse. The site appears to be in a self-perpetuating cycle, where the more that it becomes a wrinkle-fest, the less appealing it becomes to younger people.
Also, I don't think it helps that the "establishment" keep getting older
When this site was new, the "oldies" like Odeon and Callaway would still have been quite young. 5 years from now, they will be practically elderly
As the average age of the "establishment" increases, the age gap between them and the new members increases. Not many people under 30 would want to join a site where the "establishment" is so much older than them
OK, I think I'm finished with my stream of consciousness ramble for now, but to sum thing up for those who cant be arsed reading my essay
, I think that the site needs to make a serious effort to start to engage with the youth.
