Active doll community on other platforms?

I agree with leaving comments instead of likes, admittedly I am not a great socializer and will often poke a like button or emoji if I can't think of something new to say. But I think it's worth commenting if you can think of absolutely anything to add to a conversation. Likes are definitely an easy way to feel like you're participating without actually participating. The like system is not something we have always had, and why online communities with the same amount or even less people probably felt more active than it does now.

 

Can we have a banner with this somewhere on the forum?

I don't love like systems anywhere, I feel like they just rile one up for disappointment. A conversation is not a competition! Sharing dolls is not a competition! We're all here to have a nice time.

 

I think there's additional things that contributed to some of the shifting....

Photobucket used to be free and easy, I had a ton of photostories hosted there from the early early days and tons of other photos. When they shifted to paid only I stripped everything out but I had no clear go to after that and most of my "early" content disappeared.

DoA itself shifted platforms shortly after the photobucket explosion, I think, and a lot of my broken threads were deleted (rightfully). So I went from having a small footprint in a small community to having a basically nonexistent footprint in a larger community. I never really got back into the swing of posting photos after that. The wind got taken out of my sails.

I found social media alienating so I never joined any of it, the forum is the place for me, but I certainly don't see people add photos in the gallery the way they used to and I lament that. (I should really be the change I want to see, there.) But the gallery also lost a lot of history because of the broken photo links, and I dearly wish that hadn't happened.

 

I've been a member I think since 2009? and I am really thankful that I never experienced this elitism or witnessed it happening to any of my friends. Elitism in anything is so disheartening.

Photobucket was my main hosting site originally, at the time I found it far more easy to navigate and share photos on different forums. I was lucky to get out with all my photos early before the unrealistic price they were going to charge! It took awhile to find another hosting site that was easy to use (still not really a flikr fan) and I did get a lot of my previous posts pics replaced here but it is awful looking back through threads and just seeing the red x box in post after post. I truly wish more pictures were shared everywhere!

 

Smartphones changed things.

Few people, especially younger people, have a PC of any kind; they're used to the portable magic of a smartphone. Who wants to squint at a photostory on a handheld screen? Forums weren't designed for it, and if they have a smartphone app, it doesn't work that well. There's also the matter of photohosts; besides the lack of reliable free photohosting, why use a photohost if you can directly upload a photo to post?

 

I follow a few bjd tags on Tumblr, and there's still stuff getting posted there. It's only dead because people left for Instagram, I think... but with how Insta has killed tags and messed with their algorithm I honestly think Tumblr is still a good place to share things. Maybe there needs to be a thread where people post all their socials to swap info... maybe folks could make a little niche for themselves there.

 

I feel that a lot!
Maybe DOA should have their own Discord(s)?
Do they already n I just haven't seen 'em?
ALIENS!! -insert meme here-

 

I would love to see a DOA discord.
I peeked at the discoverable BJD one, but it seems that they are not using discord's forum system, which I feel like these types of communities really need. Otherwise it's so hard to find what you are looking for in the chatrooms.
It could be a good way to bridge the gap between the older and younger collectors. You can easily upload images from the app. Works well on mobile. And it's pretty easy to set up with tags and such already integrated.

 

But we have a searchable forum full of years of knowledge right here already!

 

Absolutely right, but discord forums let you upload your images without a third party, and it works really well in the mobile app, a couple of points that were mentioned upthread might be a barrier for the younger crowd
Basically it has a few QOL improvements to the traditional bb system. You can still access it in a web browser or a desktop app. I would envision it more as a companion than a replacement.

 

Discord makes it's money mainly by selling user data, thoguh. So supporting them just perpetuates the cycle. That is exacly what I ment when I was talking about the responsibility each of us have for knowing what we support. Make very sure that is something you are ok with before signing up and think hard before promoying it to others. And stay up to date on changes in the ToS and the effects it has. DoA in not the place to discuss world politics, but don't for a minute think that there is nothing to discuss.
Isn't it time to stop feeding the beast?

 

I have not heard about Discord selling user data. They state that they do not in their privacy policy, which details what data is collected and how it's used. Care to share your source about selling user's data?

 

I also don't see a point in adding a discord to a forum, given that the functions are pretty similar and that a popular bjd server already exists While I enjoy using discord for certain things, I don't love that you can't set up a new user profile for each server (at least without nitro), and there are communities where I'd appreciate a certain level of anonymity, like an independently hosted forum offers. I do think it's good to have a variety of spaces, just intense overlapping seems silly for me

 

Yes! I am back in the hobby after leaving in 2009-ish and wow, things seem so much slower, less enthusiastic and just... less of everything here. Since I'm just getting back in after a long time away, I have no idea where things drifted too, where things are more active, etc. DoA used to be the site to go to and now everything is so much more decentralized, which adds to that feeling of lessening, of course.

I feel like a big part of the issue in the fewer posts in the galleries is because DoA doesn't host images, and nearly every other website does. Back in the 2000s sites not hosting images was commonplace. Now, in 2023, not hosting images is much more of an anomaly. And this hobby is so image based, I feel like DoA being stuck in the 2000s regarding image hosting is an active detriment to the site and its activity. I could be off base here, but that's my impression after being away for so long.

I've also come across the attitude in other places that DoA is elitist, overly moderated and overly defensive/aggressive, and while I can't say I've seen this yet, that impression is going to be offputting to folks new to the hobby and make them even less likely to use this site. Altogether, this is a huge bummer to me, because the last time I was in the hobby, it was so much fun to go on to DoA and see all the new dolls and sales, GOs, photos, etc. and now I feel like that excitement just isn't here anymore. It feels like only the old guard is left and there's no more new blood to keep things lively on here. Again, this is just the vibe I get on here after so long away. Thanks for posting this, at least I know it's not just me feeling this way!

 

I don't have much more for you than drive by empathy but I have a lot of these feelings recently too. Things don't stay the same forever, it would be unnatural for them to do so, but I feel that the hobby is different than it was when I joined, and for years, and I don't genuinely like the hobby anymore or the broad community, whereas for a long time I really felt comradery more often than not. So I avoid making new connections and interacting in any meaningful way a lot now.
I do always say why not try to be the change you wish to see? If you have the energy for it. But when it comes to making your own communities (like discord) in the end it's just so much work and you'll never make everyone happy. Such thanklesness and anxiety may not agree with everyone. You still have a right to feel a bit bummed even if you aren't going to go march out and form a hobby utopia on your own.
I don't think most people are happy with the way social media has panned out. But we are in this era where many of us are already so horrifically lonely as an effect of everything and need that human interaction somewhere while feeling like we have less fulfilling opportunities than ever. I also think to an extent there may be a broad whiplash of what was a "golden age" of social media when it actually was pretty useful and fun for people before it spiraled out of control in different aspects.
I'm also really not into the commercial side of the hobby, quite frankly burned out with it. It's just not even in the same world as what remains of my own bjd activities. I think there is possibility to find the types of people you want to interact with, it just may look like much much smaller communities in the end that have to form slowly and organically the way they used to. Friend x has friend y and friend y is cool so now you're friends, and then the other people who are interested in the same types of stuff trickle in and out of your life slowly. I'm only using instagram and DoA at this point, and I find DoA more lonely even though I must have only like 15 doll contacts on instagram it's just kind of... The nature and quality of your experiences that make the difference. So go to where you feel seen and heard and move away from any place that is actively ruining your hobby, is my little advice. You have to let go of the FOMO in order to let go of communities that don't serve you but I think it works out.

 

The problem with hosting images is the immense cost that comes with it. There's no way this site is cheap to host and Den of Angels is not a mega corporation. I can't imagine a future where it is one and I'd rather it stay this way. This site is a blessing and I'm so thankful it's here.

Just remember that if that company isn't selling you their product or service, it is you who are the product they're selling. Having anything be truly free is a huge rarity.

 

Discord makes money through various paid features. They use something like the free-to-play gaming business model.
If your game is centered around building communities, it's imperative to heavily populate the game world. So get players in for free, let them enjoy all the basic features, then sell them extra goodies that they can flaunt or that otherwise improve their gameplay experience. Not all players will convert into paying players. But dolphins and whales produce more than enough income to keep servers running and pay salaries so F2Pers can enjoy the game for free forever, because without the F2Pers, there's no communities, and no one to show off your bling to. F2P games, when successful, make millions. I know each of the F2P games I play squeeze a couple dolls' worth out of me each year, and I could hardly be considered a dolphin.
Discord devs are well aware of the F2P gaming model, focusing on gamers is what made them as big as they are now. Everyone can use the basic features for free, including file uploads up to a certain size, voice and video, but if you want bigger files, you have to buy Nitro. They have two types of subs that give you access to special features, and everyone in a server can pool donations toward special features for each server. Even so, without the F2Pers, there would be a lot less activity on discord, smaller communities or dead communities means no incentive to flaunt your paid features. So the free features have to be, and are, good enough to keep them around.
I'm not trying to be a hardcore discord fangirl here, but some of these warnings seem based on the big social medias like FB and insta, that's not the same business model being used here. Unless there is some evidence of something illegal happening, which I am eager to see, but cannot find. The only ads Discord serves you is for their own subscription services. If they're selling user's data, they are in breach of the agreement made with their users, and I think a lot of people, including myself and friends and family would be very concerned and want to see some evidence of that, so we could get the word out