Where are some of the long-timers?

I curiously went to the member list, which by default sorts them by total number of posts.
When I perused the top of the list, it occurred to me that many of them haven't
been active here lately.

It's easy to assume that COVID-19 has put a halt to some people's activity,
especially for a few months' worth of absence, but I noticed in particular
that more of the absent long-timers haven't been active here for a few years.
Was there a mass exodus I missed out on during my year or more of absence?

More to the point, have some of those respected people been hit with medically
debilitating conditions, or even death? I remember many from the top of the list
as being extremely active here, and was reminded of that when i visited the list.

Whatever the reasons are, I sincerely hope it's not largely due to health traumas
or similar.

I tend not to post when I'm not shooting. I suspect many of them are riding out the covid and the restrictions. Luckily I live adjacent to some great wilderness where I can social distance and still get out.

The point is understood and alluded to in my OP, while it doesn't really explain
what I was asking about.

I was actually just thinking aloud for the most part, while at the same time,
it's slightly alarming to me that we've lost some of the most-prolific contributors
to this excellent community.

Pardon me. Maybe it's because when people try to give helpful answers they get that sort of response.

Whoa, I wasn't trying to knock anyone down here.

I was genuinely asking, broadly, if anyone could shed some light on why we've had
an apparent loss of prolific members here. I may have misinterpreted your response,
and if I did, I apologize. Please accept my apologies.

I would guess many are shooting less. That's certainly been the case for me, although I've still been visiting the forum regularly even if not posting as much. I shot for the first time in months a week ago now.

https://photography-on-the.net …read.php?t=1515​482&page=1

Colorblinded wrote in post #19133383
I would guess many are shooting less. That's certainly been the case for me, although I've still been visiting the forum regularly even if not posting as much. I shot for the first time in months a week ago now.

Well, I certainy understand that. Myself included, I don't have much new to share.

The thing is, the 'prolific' members I mentioned, they used to be active all the time.
But they haven't been, and some of them have been years away from this forum.
Therein lies my question, and perhaps no way to answer it without personal knowledge
of the people themselves.

To address @gonzogolf: I wasn't dissing you.
I just asked about a phenomena I saw, you replied, and I responded.
Nothing more to it than that, whatever you may feel.

Just wondering what'll be the 'new normal' around here...

Some formerly active members are indeed on eternity leave. Members whose tenure goes farther back than mine would know more. Sometimes you'll see an announcement that So-and-So is no longer with us.

There use to be several active social forums here. RRTP, The Mediocre TITLE FAIRY thread, Working Force of "All Hope Abandon Ye Who Enter Here", The 47th TPBM Random Lazy Days (or not) Chat Thread and a few others. Most of those folks have either moved to other social platforms or have gotten busy with other things.

Could be that a big part of it is the general decline in interchangeable lens camera shooting as well. Just looking around, you see far fewer SLR type cameras as many have migrated to phones and tablets. I have to admit, I shoot a lot more with my phone than with any of my SLRs just because it's so convenient and most of the images I'm taking are transient anyway. Post-em up and forget about them.

I think mostly they just got dragged into other things. I hope that’s all it was.

Picked up the 1Dx for the first time in months today - must say it's heavier than I remember!

gjl711 wrote in post #19133408
Could be that a big part of it is the general decline in interchangeable lens camera shooting as well. Just looking around, you see far fewer SLR type cameras as many have migrated to phones and tablets.

You bring up a good point. Last year my wife and I took a Douro River Cruise (Portugal/Spain) with a pre-trip extension to Madeira. The Madeira trip was about 15 couples and we joined up with another 40 couples for the Douro River portion. I was the only person with a DSLR!. Each night I would move the images to an iPad and do some minor edits. Access to a DSLR was almost a PITA as people were asking me to take their pictures with various backgrounds as they weren’t satisfied with their own composed selfies.

I had a slower computer and bad mouse years ago and tendinitis.
My discovery is that a faster computer has helped prevent tendinitis.
Fractured a vertebrae in 2014 which I recovered from.
Hip arthritis that was worse than now.

Not sure if I qualify as a long time member who no longer does much posting.

I was stalked here by a former mod for a while which tended to make things uncomfortable.

I still lurk. Have gone through multiple cameras, including 2 tries with 3 different Sony mirrorless. Kids are all grown and out so sold it all. Was tempted to pick up an R5 but figured I’d wait and see if they come out with a “professional” mirrorless finally which I might enjoy.

I always found it tough, though have gotten better, to maintain a presence on multiple forums. I post regularly on Ford Raptor forum and sometimes on the BMW M5 forum, along with AVS forum.

I actually think it’s the nature of forums that people come and go.