07-19-2021, 07:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-20-2021, 12:48 AM by Nathan Ross.)
I'm also of the 'don't dilute the brand' school of thought.
If there were dozens of other historical discussion fora still thriving while RAT wallows then I might think otherwise, but as far as I know there are not. The problem is not with RAT or its approach, but with the changing fashions of the internet and how people interact with it.
Changing RAT into HAT (Historical Army Talk), for example, might draw in a bit more interest, but perhaps at the price of what made this forum unique in the first place.
Just based on volume of posts etc the heyday of RAT seems to have been about 2008-2012, so you might be right. But as I recall there was a big spam invasion soon after that which led to a change of boards and new sign-in requirements and security, and I think combined with the rise of the Facebook group around that same time a lot of old members didn't come back, and potential new ones preferred the easier FB approach.
But things change, and - who knows? - old-style internet fora might somehow stray back into retro-fashion one day!
In the meantime, we might think of RAT as being like one of the great monasteries of the early middle ages, patiently preserving the wisdom and learning of the past, while the world outside grows ever darker and more turbulent...![[Image: wink.png]](https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/images/icons/wink.png)
![[Image: tongue.png]](https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/images/icons/tongue.png)
If there were dozens of other historical discussion fora still thriving while RAT wallows then I might think otherwise, but as far as I know there are not. The problem is not with RAT or its approach, but with the changing fashions of the internet and how people interact with it.
Changing RAT into HAT (Historical Army Talk), for example, might draw in a bit more interest, but perhaps at the price of what made this forum unique in the first place.
(07-15-2021, 12:09 PM)Sean Manning Wrote: The really nasty period on RAT around 2012 drove a lot of us away.
Just based on volume of posts etc the heyday of RAT seems to have been about 2008-2012, so you might be right. But as I recall there was a big spam invasion soon after that which led to a change of boards and new sign-in requirements and security, and I think combined with the rise of the Facebook group around that same time a lot of old members didn't come back, and potential new ones preferred the easier FB approach.
But things change, and - who knows? - old-style internet fora might somehow stray back into retro-fashion one day!
In the meantime, we might think of RAT as being like one of the great monasteries of the early middle ages, patiently preserving the wisdom and learning of the past, while the world outside grows ever darker and more turbulent...
Nathan Ross
