Is this Site Declining and losing Members?

cmcdar wrote:
Well there does seem to be more than a few "attack dogs" here that may indeed keep new comers at bay.

I have seen several times where a newbie asks a question and the first handful of replies tells them to do a search. Seems this faction is bored with that particular topic.

I myself have asked for suggestions and recommendations on a weather radio. Even that innocuous topic drew more than itLs share of snarky, BS, comments.

So, I have no doubt that there are many lurkers who will never participate not because they fear the responses but because they refuse to wade through all of the snark to find a legitimate response.

Agree with a lot of this post. If I am going to post, I like to think that what I say is going to be of some immediate help or interest. Sure there is a search function, and sometimes it might find what you need, usually along with a lot of mostly irrelevant threads. If I put in "tow vehicle" it will come up with every mention of either word... not much help there.

As far as bad manners, that happens on every discussion forum I've ever been on, no matter what the topic - especially at this time of year. I'm on photography, golf, cooking and RV fora (yup, that's the plural of "forum" ;) ), and they all have the same symptoms. In January people start getting cabin fever whether they admit it or not, and there is a lot more grumpiness. I try curb my own tendencies, but not always successfully.

Participation also suffers simply because most of us aren't snowbirds. We aren't out RVing this time of year, so there really isn't much change in our lives in that respect. I'm here because I'm fairly new at it and I'm trying to learn as much as possible before I go out this spring and ignore all of the sage advice I'm getting here. :S