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prairiemoon2

Has anyone been using other forums?

10 months ago

I have a list of GW forums that I am interested in, but I haven't visited them in a long time. Today I decided to click on a few links and WOW....there is NO activity on many of these forums. Years between posts. Even the Bathroom discussion forum on Home forums was basically not being used. I would have thought that was an essential home forum. So...what is the story with Houzz? I think they drove their audience away...evidently. Everyone must have left and gone to facebook.


It would seem that Perennials and Roses are two of the few active forums.

Comments (12)

  • 10 months ago

    I stay mainly on the gardening forums and there are many that are quite active - trees, shrubs, conifers, maples, clematis, vegetable gardening, hydrangeas, groundcovers, hostas, name that plant, etc.

    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
  • 10 months ago

    Well, that is reassuring. Glad to hear it.

  • 10 months ago

    I'm so happy that the perennials forum has been active. : )

    I find that if I post a question on Houzz, even on a forum that's not very active, it still gets answered. I think there are a LOT more views than we might think. I think there are a lot of houzz members that occasionally check in or maybe folks that come across a forum by a google search.

    Which forum in particular do you wish was more active?


    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked christie_sw_mo
  • 10 months ago
    last modified: 10 months ago

    Just to clarify I was talking subscriber counts about, not $$$.

    I would happily be a garden vlogger for 120K dollars a year!


    The original post this referenced was shadow banned, in case some of you wonder what I'm talking about.


    Really, trying these games with someone who worked in IT for 25 years???


    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked UpperBayGardener (zone 7)
  • 10 months ago

    I post on different forums depending on the topic; mostly the home forums or Kitchen Table.

    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked porkchop_z5b_MI
  • 10 months ago
    last modified: 10 months ago

    Funny I saw Jay mention Facebook, and though the question meant 'other forums in the internet at large'. As for here at Houzz/GW, I thought the vast majority of us at least dip into other forums once in a while. The laundry forum has had some very humorous, to me, threads over the years. RIP "mamapinky". Unassuming name, but she knew her detergent chemistry!

    (unlike Reddit, where I've seen scads of pseudoscientific drivel on any # of home economics topic - stuff can get hugely upvoted like 'I don't like products that contain citric acid, because it raises the price of citrus fruits to extract it'. Truly once saw a thread comment like that years ago on reddit. Citric acid hasn't come from citrus fruits for almost 100 years. It's derived from fermentation.)


    Update: I like this one where I bemoan having to wear skinny jeans to look trendy in DC.

    https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6071841/smelly-laundry-out-of-solutions


    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked UpperBayGardener (zone 7)
  • 10 months ago

    Christie, These would be the forums I wish were more active.

    Gardening with Stone

    Fragrant Plants

    Dried and Pressed Flowers

    New England Gardening

    UBGardener - I’ll have to look for posts in Laundry by Mamapinky. [g]

    Jay, Thanks Jay for all that information. Yes, Facebook is a very different experience.

    GGal - Thanks for the list of forums that you find active. I’ll have to give them a try more often.

  • 9 months ago

    Prairiemoon - I had forgotten that Houzz has a Gardening with Stone forum. You sent me down a rabbit hole looking through some photos there. Almost makes me wish I had a hard to mow slope in the back yard that I had to terrace with rock and plants. I'm getting too old for that now though.

    Years ago the Ozarks Gardening forum was very active and I miss that. I wish the Butterfly Garden forum was busier and that the Winter Sowing forum would kick up again. I think that last one was busy years ago because the Seed Exchange forum was so active. We all had shoe boxes full of seeds to start and not enough room inside.

    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked christie_sw_mo
  • 9 months ago

    Christie - There are a lot of old threads on GW still but not too many that still have the photos. I suppose you meant Houzz photos. I love stone! I have a very level lot and no opportunity to use rock much, either, but I have done a little here and there. I installed a rock edge along a long border and just needing to make adjustments to that next year makes me feel old too…lol.

    I think a lot of the regional forums were very active back then. Gardenweb before Spike left was really hopping! I agree the Seed Exchange was a big part of fueling the Winter Sowing forum. I really had a shoe box full of seeds from all the trading. That was a lot of fun - both the seed exchanges and the winter sowing. Trudi is still doing a Winter Sowing forum on Facebook. :-)

  • 9 months ago

    I've looked through the winter sowing forum on Facebook but wasn't impressed. They're a bit too careful about not letting people get off topic. It serves as a reference for people that have never done any winter sowing though which is nice. I just can't find useful and detailed information there as easily without wading though a bunch of not-so-useful stuff. And one of the best parts of winter sowing was the seed trading which I haven't found there. (maybe I overlooked it) I wonder if Trudy might be happier if she grabbed a few besties and came back here. : ) (hint hint Trudy) It might be hard for her to give up being able to delete stuff she doesn't approve of though.


    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked christie_sw_mo
  • 9 months ago

    The urge to subdivide and get ultra-specific with forum topics on GW guaranteed a smaller and smaller audience for most of the ultra-specialized forums.


    But that horse got out of the barn a long time ago.


    It's good that for this and a limited number of other forms, there's still enough traffic to make visiting them worthwhile.

    prairiemoon2 z6b MA thanked rusty_blackhaw
  • 9 months ago
    last modified: 9 months ago

    Christie - Thanks for sharing that because I hadn't taken the time to explore the Facebook group. Well... it would be hard to imagine replicating the experiences we had wtih the original forum here on Winter Sowing. It was special. Oh well.. Actually, I was a lot younger then and so was my garden and I doubt I'd be able to take advantage of either the seed trading or the winter sowing at this point. [g] It was great while it lasted and is such a great direction to go in when you are a new gardener.


    Rusty - You're right. It did get to be a little too specialized. And there is certainly not the traffic now that we had then.