People leaving the hobby?

I've noticed this too, people who were really active here and Flickr have just drifted away. The same people sharing doll pics on Facebook but a lot less often. Quite a few who were very into BJD changed to Blythe dolls or fashion dolls, even though they still have their BJD they are no longer collecting. It's a shame but I guess people move onto different hobbies.

 

In my opinion and from my perspective, Facebook is a lot easier to post and share than here on DOA. Sharing pictures here are a serious hassle.

 

A lot of forums I'm on or have been on have gone real quiet or just completely died out. I don't think there are less people in the hobby (though given how many people have fallen on hard times that is entirely possible) as much as it is people just... Don't use forums as much anymore.

 

@AutumnWyvern Do you think they are using other online platforms instead, or just enjoying dolls offline? I have noticed that there are fewer familiar faces around (I had a little bit of a break from the hobby and wasn't as active, but have recently had more time to be able to play). I would be curious to know whether this is a perception, or if there are truly fewer posts being made and fewer users online, I don't know if the mods etc have that sort of data though.

 

Interesting, I feel like DOA is more full than ever, with wave after wave of new people.

 

I'm new here, but I thought it was so quite compared to facebook groups for example. I love here though, so I'm not going anywhere while it exists.
I did saw people mentioning not sharing pics/posting often here because their dolls are styled to old for people here (like, as if they have previously received criticism) or because no one comments at all and they feel its just easier to use a blog instead... So let's try a little harder to send everyone in the community some love.

 

I think forums themselves are just kind of a dying platform, they've largely been replaced by social media so people don't feel the need to use them unless they have a very specific interest (in this case, bjds). People do their socializing on social media, and they tend to just use forums for information. I don't think it's a lack of people in the hobby, there are loads of bjd owners on instagram.

 

I 100% Agree that it's not people stepping out of th ehobby. I think it has to do with other media outlets . I'm positive this industry is still booming and we are accepting new collectors everyday

 

I don't think DoA is any quieter. People just got used to how instant the information comes up in modern style social platforms and probably feel like forums (which is a very old kind of platform) aren't as active.

The thing with forums is that you're not immediately prompted with new posts and they aren't presented in a single timeline. On the bottom of the first page here you can see the newest posts but it's not all over your face, nor do you get notified about these posts, but they're there and there's constantly new ones! The activity comes mostly from each section and people will find new posts in any discussion thread as long as they go and look at it, really. Other than these there's the little game threads and I'm sure people use private conversations often (cause I do!).

On the photo sharing side of things... Everyday there are new doll profiles. I haven't looked at that on two different days to see the same dolls with how often they get updated. However, like others have stated, nowadays it feels like a hassle to use forums to specifically post pictures because, again, it's so much more convenient to do on platforms such as Facebook, Flickr and Instagram because they were built specifically for photo sharing to begin with. So people will very often post on their own social media, where it's easy and fast, and then sometimes bring these pictures later to the forum on specific threads (like in the brand/size specific sections) or make a gallery of a few shots. They'll do it when they have more spare time, hence why it seems to happen less than on photo oriented platforms.

TLDR; I think DoA is still the same, if not more active than a few years ago, and people are getting too used to fast and wall-style platforms.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I'm one of those people who used to be VERY active everywhere and disappeared over the years. I still have my dolls and most of my enjoyment stays offline because I hardly ever have time to take pictures with my work schedule. There is never any goddamn light when i'm home </3 So I'm assuming a lot of people are like this as well and post more casual pictures from their phone on social media rather than go full on DSLR camera photo shoot in a beautiful
scenery. Well, at least not as much as they used to since phones had shitty cameras merely a decade ago1

 

Honestly, I had a huge rambly reply but, this sums it all up. LOL

I really think DoA seems a lot quieter than other places such as Facebook or Instagram but I definitely think that's a forum thing in general. I even see that in different hobbies or "fandoms", a lot of forums that seemed to have pages and pages of discussions have moved on elsewhere or are just ... I don't know, in a different space in the hobby? From dipping my toes back into the BJD hobby I've just noticed that a lot of people are choosing to not really engage in the social side of the hobby or whatever.

 

That's really what I meant! Forums have always been like this and I feel like we're just not used to it anymore since we're literally bombarded with information anywhere else.
I believe many forums died out also because they could move to other platforms easily with their size. Since keeping a forum usually involves a lot of work, it's a lot easier to handle and moderate, say, a Facebook group rather than a forum. Maybe that kind of fragmented the social aspect a little bit after so many different little groups formed up? That's what happened in my country's community, at least.

 

I only recently joined DoA, and right off the bat I say it's a shame that it's not as popular as social media outlets. Social media outlets let you upload and share pictures, but the access to information is limited. Pictures only tell you so much. Posts on a forum thread can be very detail and categorized.

The hobby requires more than just inspirational pictures. I'm not saying that as a criticism on social media, I just think they should be used together. If you want information and resources, use the forum. If you want inspiration and photos, social media apps are better to use because they're mobile. Leaving one platform for the other isn't taking full advantage of the information that's out there

 

I definitely prefer DOA for conversation, there's never really any proper conversation on Facebook and Instagram communities, always i'm very disappointed in the quality of chat on those platforms, although they move faster. I do think things are more spread out over a dozen different websites then they were like, 10 years ago, that's a process that's been going on for awhile. That said I do think the hobby has gone though a bit of a plateau or maybe even a bit of a decline in the last 18 months although not hugely. It's normal to expect peaks and troughs in a hobby like this. Haven't got any proof to say why I think that, just he impression I get from looking around and finding things a little quiet.

 

Used to be active, now I'm not. Basically I enjoy my dolls offline and with a few friends because I don't feel the need to do battle in the sea of pictures and info here anymore. It's that simple, too much hassle for me.

 

i post more photos on instagram as it is easier to upload, but I prefer chatting with others on doa and youtube.

 

I personally tend to drift in and out of the hobby based on irl happenings. But also, most of my activity has moved to Facebook groups, tumblr, and discord which allow for much more casual interaction.

 

I know Instagram has a large BJD presence.

 

I've noticed other forums I used to frequent have gotten much quieter, so I assumed as much when I joined DoA last spring. I don't have time for photosharing on tumblr and instagram because I don't have time to take and curate all the images needed to fill a wall. I come here for the conversations and the more detailed nitty-gritty aspects of the hobby. I do think it's disheartening that people feel less inclined to comment, even briefly, on topics where we could use lots of voices. And I also think it's a little sad/rude that so few people comment on things in the gallery or on tutorials. It takes a lot of work for a person to plan a photoshoot or tutorial, so why can't people be more polite and say something.

 

I would say the hobby has continued to grow, but more and more are posting on Facebook/Instagram etc rather than here. I have to assume the picture sharing is easier and it’s probably simpler for those with varied hobbies to have access to their communities on one site. Those who prefer to look at a wall of pretty dolls rather than trade information and read would find this forum boring. At least that’s my theory.

Personally, I can’t stand social media. The like-counting, the mindless “sharing” and shallow conversations... give me a topic-focused forum full of in-depth applicable information over that any day.