Is it just me?

[gurneyhalleck1]

I haven’t been here in a while. I used to love TAW. Is it just me or is this place dead now? Very little posting, not much fun or lively discussion like 10-12 years ago? What happened?

 

[Lukaris]

I haven’t been here in a while. I used to love TAW. Is it just me or is this place dead now? Very little posting, not much fun or lively discussion like 10-12 years ago? What happened?

It has regrettably decreased and I think world events are a factor in this. I also believe the loss of Orthodox Christian Forum ( OC.net) has led to more people going to social media.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

I know I post if I have a question. Which reminds me to post something lol thanks Gurney!

 

[All4Christ]

I haven’t been here in a while. I used to love TAW. Is it just me or is this place dead now? Very little posting, not much fun or lively discussion like 10-12 years ago? What happened?

I see the same things you are seeing. That said - it’s good to have you back!

 

[prodromos]

I think life and its responsibilities have been catching up on some members, and they either can't justify the time spent on CF or they've recognised that it can be spiritually unhealthy. That's certainly true for me, but I have little self discipline, so I'm still here

 

[rusmeister]

What Lukaris said.

As for me, I have nowhere to go in a very lonely exile in a third country. Spiritually I am completely isolated. My friends are back in Russia, my wife’s friends are mostly younger and politically and religiously decidedly to the Left of me.

As to my participation here, I feel I have said what can and should be said about what I have to share with other Orthodox Christians, especially in terms of language and education, and people either heard me or refused to, and there’s not much else to say.

Having lost my secondary job, and my car (which is supposed to get me to my primary job), I’m sitting around occasionally praying and saying, “OK, God, how are you going to get me out of this?” I’m still learning Serbian, have read Winnie-the-Pooh in translation and am now reading the Gospel of Matthew, and asking Him, “Why do you want me to learn this?”.

So why stay here? Well, younger people are jumping to the new formats - Instagram, Tik-Tok (I still don’t allow my last teenage daughter that one), stuff that encourages short attention spans, and it is all alien to me. This is a format that still agrees with me.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Godwilling, that’ll change now that you’re back, gurney

 

[YCGP]

Social media produces self-hatred.

Discord is not good for discussion.

A forum is a great way to learn, and even teach.

CF.com/TAW, I'm back!

 

[RileyG]

I haven’t been here in a while. I used to love TAW. Is it just me or is this place dead now? Very little posting, not much fun or lively discussion like 10-12 years ago? What happened?

It's been that way around CF for a few years now.

 

[Chesterton]

Maybe we should start a Seinfeld thread?

 

[RileyG]

Maybe we should start a Seinfeld thread?

NO SOUP FOR YOU

 

[E.C.]

Forums in general have been on the decline since social media took over the world. Specific to CF/TAW though, this website lost a ton of support and participation following the Wikonian Reforms of 2007 and later when the founder and former owner secularized it by renamed it something like foru.me or whatever the following year. That was when I left for a period of time.

But yes, life happens. TAW helped me keep in touch with Orthodox people when I was deployed, but now I've since left the active duty military. Job hunting, new relationships, trying to be a good godfather, and just life in general have taken over. One of the weirdest things for me personally is that I spent the last twelve years being a "temporary" member of a parish and now that I'm settling in at St Nicholas OCA Cathedral in Washington DC, there appear to be horrible conspiracies like having me tonsured a reader or being on the parish council. Unfortunately, my threats of going ROCOR or Antiochian wouldn't help because they'll both do the same to me!
So, I guess all I can do is grin and bear it.

ugh, life

 

[jas3]

I also believe the loss of Orthodox Christian Forum ( OC.net) has led to more people going to social media.

Speaking of that, does anyone know if the admin is still trying to bring it back? From what I remember, the most recent message posted to the site said he had set up a "temporary" Discord room, which didn't sound promising.

 

[Lukaris]

Speaking of that, does anyone know if the admin is still trying to bring it back? From what I remember, the most recent message posted to the site said he had set up a "temporary" Discord room, which didn't sound promising.

I don’t know what the status is; sadly, they were hit hard. The last update on the site is from 2/24 mentioning the Discord option. Anastasios ( I believe he is a priest but not sure) has an e-mail link.
There were some issues with OC Net but it was ok overall. It really was a labor of love for Anastasios in his work.

OC.net

 

[prodromos]

I don’t know what the status is; sadly, they were hit hard. The last update on the site is from 2/24 mentioning the Discord option. Anastasios ( I believe he is a priest but not sure) has an e-mail link.
There were some issues with OC Net but it was ok overall. It really was a labor of love for Anastasios in his work.

OC.net

Unfortunately, Anastasios was ordained under an Old Calendarist sect.

 

[jas3]

Anastasios ( I believe he is a priest but not sure)

From his biography on the back of his book, "From June 2008 to April 2013 he served as a priest in the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians, engaging in missionary activity in the Southern United States, before resigning for personal reasons." That seems to be current as of the end of 2022, when my copy of the book was printed.

 

[prodromos]

From his biography on the back of his book, "From June 2008 to April 2013 he served as a priest in the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians, engaging in missionary activity in the Southern United States, before resigning for personal reasons." That seems to be current as of the end of 2022, when my copy of the book was printed.

I hope that means he left the GOC.

 

[E.C.]

I hope that means he left the GOC.

I hope that means he came home to the canonical Church.

 

[prodromos]

I hope that means he came home to the canonical Church.

I figured that was implied by my statement, but yes, definitely

 

[truefiction1]

I haven’t been here in a while. I used to love TAW. Is it just me or is this place dead now? Very little posting, not much fun or lively discussion like 10-12 years ago? What happened?

Alot of people are entertaining themselves with Orthodox and other content on YouTube. There's a lot available information there nowadays.