Yes the site reflects the people that use it. I think we're seeing people that have moved from Reddit.

The people that used the site years back had money for large projects. Money is tight and people are not taking on the large projects we used to see.

Now many of the users have a difficult time formulating a question, don't think posting photos or floor plans are necessary and seem to think going back to answers from 10 years ago will provide them with current information. It's a quandary.

If you find a replacement site please let us know.

Yes, please let us know if you find a better site out there.

Many people are now also just asking ChatGPT and considering that to be fine advice. I miss the good old days of garden web and earlier Houzz.

I appreciate Reddit for more technical construction and contracting questions.

I'm concluding that there has been a generation change since I was remodeling in the early 2000s, and that new generation is *different*. I suspect that the people who can afford to do stuff now may outsource everything, or just move.

Maybe many are just trying AI. I still Houzz being used as the defining source for construction and design trends.

This site is skewing older and I presume not as appealing to a younger crowd.

I too have really noticed the reduced traffic on this site during the past 6 months or so. Sad. I wondered where everyone went.

I enjoy Houzz a lot. I can appreciate different ideas for the dilemmas and learn from the pros as well as “the regulars”.
Many of the stories are interesting to me as well. And some people who post regularly are feeling like distant friends.

Speaking with my friends in the construction, remodel and design biz, money is tight. Folks are adding a few pillows and accessories rather than projects for which they sought advice. I think Houzz reflects that pullback and the general malaise people are feeling right now about many, many things.

Some other sites have gone the same direction. It's a study in human behavior more than anything. Majority of activity is occasional trolls making a senseless post to never be seen again and those willing to feed them.. RV , vintage cars and others where members are likely to meet face to face one day have grown and improved over the same period.

Yes it is. I stopped coming here for suggestions or provide comments years ago. It was once a friendly site with useful information but that has become more rare as the years have passed. Too many times, some people will make ugly comments that have nothing to do with the OPs issue. I rarely read most of the threads anymore.

Houzz killed Gardenweb. Then it killed it’s own forums when it banned Sophie. The nail in the coffin is when they removed all the “disappeared” accounts archives, and all the good data disappeared. You can occasionally come across an old Sophie posting, but all it says is ”User”, and all her idea books folders are gone where she clipped so much. You can’t search for her past posts. Or any of so many other disappeared members.

They tried to ease the past. And they erased themselves.

Reddit has taken up a lot of the users who ask questions. For ideas, the younger folk go to TikTok or Instagram. The world keeps changing.

Years ago Houzz got a new owner who stopped all the common sense questions from the members and made it more of an "Angie's List" for contractors and designers. Notice it asks questions when you log in to get your info. to send to contractors, desiners, builders, etc. This site is now for contractors, etc. not the public.

Summgardner, I never thought of Houzz as having an owner! But what you say makes sense—more emphasis is placed on monetizing the site now.

So far this morning I have flagged 10 to 12 obvious fake posts. I am not sure that the company cares about the garbage that shows up everyday.

Sushipup2 sounds like a job for AI — to identify the fakes

Why would it be a job for AI. AI is what most of the fakes are.

I don't understand how AI works but I have witnessed a couple of trolls utilizing AI on other forums. Unlike Houzz, operation of those forums are collectivly influenced by members.. When things began to smell, a few clever members with help of administrators exposed the "fakes". That could never happen with Houzz. I can't recall a mod nor admin publicly interacting with members. Another factor making Houzz a perfect playground for trolls and other nonsense is if a ridicules question or response is challenged, there's always members rushing to coddle and sympathize with trolls.

It's fading fast and AI is without a doubt the reason, Why would someone want to ask a question here just to weed out 20 different answers between the chatter that are seldom correct.

just yesterday I confronted google AI after I put in a search for a city and state and "weather spark". AI popped up ahead of weather spark stealing all of Weather spark's data. I told AI I didn't ask for It's input and mentioned it was taking traffic from the sites it plagiarizes, and their survival depends on revenue from ads and traffic.

It agreed, stating it is becoming a large problem for many sites dependent on traffic for their revenue. So when someone drops a question on google, AI takes the lead and answers the question and people will never discover all the nonsense Houzz gardenweb has to offer. .