Why a Forum, Now of All Times

In this age of social media, a man who admits his own site gets no visitors goes and builds a forum anyway. Why on earth?

A while ago, I wrote a piece called "From Hand-Coded Tags to a CMS." I'm the same man who lost his Yomi-Search link directory to spammers back then. Twenty years on, here I am trying the same thing again — trying, once more, to build a place where people gather, with my own two hands. Foolish beyond reason. But I have my reasons.

It All Flows By Too Fast

The reason is simple: on social media, everything flows by too fast.

Articles, of course, but images and information too — one after another, they stream past and vanish downward. They get buried. Sharing the moment is a fine thing, but I grew sick of being glued to social media endlessly for the sake of it. I still am.

Yesterday's post is already out of everyone's sight. Even a good post, given time, becomes as though it never was. Nothing accumulates. It's like a river — a place to watch things drift past, not a place to set anything down. That's what I gradually came to understand.

Adjust It, Block It — Same Result

There's another thing. Social media forces upon you the things you don't want, the things you have no interest in.

Set things up to hide what you don't want to see, and now it showers you with ads you don't need. In the end, whether you fine-tune who you follow or block them outright, it comes to the same thing. A screen rearranged for their convenience, and you're made to look at it in silence.

So Twitter — the X of today, which only got worse once it became X — I deleted my account. Facebook and Instagram are the same, and honestly, I'd like to delete those too. The only reason I grit my teeth and keep them is that they're the one place I can stay connected with the members and fans of Country Sisters. That's the truth of it.

So What Else Is There?

I've gone on at length griping about social media, but the point is: "So what else is there?" Complaining is easy, but without an alternative, it's just discontent and nothing more.

So I built a forum.

This way, I'm the one managing it. Nothing flows away and vanishes. Nothing gets rearranged for someone else's convenience. I can set down the information I want, and hear the conversations I want to hear. You can ask a question, and it stays right there. What I tried and failed to do with a link directory twenty years ago, I'm trying once more — this time on a foundation I can actually manage. That's what this is.

But Only Since Joomla 6

That said, if I'm honest, I only started this because managing and updating became easier with Joomla 6 and onward.

Before Joomla 6, there were bugs, and there were problems with the management itself; frankly, a forum was out of the question. The truth is I simply couldn't spare the effort. Once the foundation was in order, I could finally think, "All right, let's give it a go." Same as ever — a man who can only move at his own size.

One Place That Doesn't Flow Away

I have no intention of doing anything flashy. Crowds won't come rushing in the way they do on social media. And that's fine.

In an age of things that flow by and disappear, there's no harm in having one place that doesn't. Write slowly, read slowly, ask what you want to ask. I wanted to have one such place — for myself, and for anyone out there who feels the same way.

For now, the only one open is the "Alaudae Craft Forum." If there's demand, I could open an "Alaudae Forum" with nothing to do with crafts. But for now, I want to raise the value of the Craft Forum first. So that other one will be a good while off. Not spreading myself too thin at once is, in its own way, another matter of working at my own size.

If you, too, are a little worn out by the speed of social media, come and take a look. I'll be waiting, in a place that doesn't flow away.