What has happened to the traffic on TKF?

[FishingSETX]

I've been a member here for almost 10 years and I have never seen it as slow as it has been in the past 6-12 months. Here is a post I made in the off topic forum:

"Maybe its just me, but between TKF Facebook and the blogs, the traffic on the TKF forums seems to have slowed to a crawl. Just a short time ago, I would check the forums after being gone for half a day and there would be 1-2 pages of new posts. Now, it seems like there may be one or two new posts a day, if that! Heck, even this forum (off topic) used to get a ton of traffic! Even the salt water board doesn't seem to get the traffic it used too! Don't know if the newness of kayak fishing is wearing down or if traffic is being diverted elsewhere but I hate to see such a good forum slowly fading away!

Just checked the saltwater forum and off topic (historically the two top traffic forums) and in the last 24 hrs,there have been:

18 new posts (not topics) in the salt water forum

4 new posts in off topic

I remember when that would be slow for the count in an hour!"

My question is, what is causing the slow down?

[5fangers]

I would assume employers are keeping better tabs on their employees during the day and limiting or prohibiting internet browsing. With the boom of social media, they have to keep a lid on it. Gotta keep productivity up. The honeymoon phase of the concept of fishing from a kayak is over as well IMO. Hobbies also come and go. For some it's a passion and they stick around. For some it's the flavor of the month and move on to something else and to another forum.
That's my take at least.

[FishGONE!]

I have noticed the same aswell. What I think it is, alot of guys find it easier to just post and upload to the facebook tkf page but dont share here anymore. There is also a big surge of new people who dont even know this is the original site and only see the facebook page and the bickering that seems to constantly be going on over there. I appreciate the guys that were here long ago that shared their wisdome with us younger guys and helped with learning the art of fishing and finding fish. The BTB forum is still going strong though.

[AcousticTennis]

Lots of the older members are posting less and less.

[mpg2yahoo]

It's quite simple...a lot of guys are more reserved about posting because of the explosion of the plastic armadas and trying to preserve their honey holes.

A couple of years back one posted a fishing invite and got 1-3 takers at most. Today you do a fishing invite and you can get a group of > 5 yakkers to show up. Not that there is anything wrong with big groups, but sometimes the area selected for fishing is not ideal for large volume of yakkers to be able to spread out and give space to each.

People do go fishing, but they are not posting reports for the same reasons.

Last, it might just be that they have nothing to brag about. LOL

I went fishing the other night and did not posted a report because it was the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DINKS! Fished hard from 9PM until 4AM. Between my fishing buddy and myself only got 6 keepers when usually we both have a limit of something!

[reelfisherman]

Facebook sucks. I've not ever been on it but it seems the way most folks go. Businesses no longer keep up their web sites and only worry about their fb pages.

[on a mission]

What is fakebook, I mean facebook? I just don't get it. Hey, look at me. Same goes for tweeterhashholeinstaf@#k. Hijack over. Good day

[Captain53]

Facebook sucks. I've not ever been on it but it seems the way most folks go. Businesses no longer keep up their web sites and only worry about their fb pages.

+1

But I think there is some truth in everything that has been posted for reasons. Non Fishing forum I post on is the same way.

[Cityfisher]

It's quite simple...a lot of guys are more reserved about posting because of the explosion of the plastic armadas

This is my theory also. I have noticed a huge explosion of kayakers just in the past year. But also, since winter and then this horrible spring it slowed down a lot due to the weather. But I think it has started getting more active since the rains ended.

[karstopo]

I don't think the weather in general over the last several months or more has been as inviting as in the previous stretch of drier years. I know I've been on the water a lot less. The wind, the rain, high tides, floods, fresh water, bacteria...the ten plagues. I know there have been windows of good weather, but they seems to be narrower than in the past.

The Facebook side has a different feel. Apples and oranges.

I think if we get a good period of light winds, normal tides and water levels and few thunderstorms, traffic and interest will pick up. There have been slow stretches before.

[Mythman]

IMHO, probably due to multiple causes:

1. Membership posting is cyclic............having been on the forum 9 1/2 years, I have observed many posters come and go and a few return to posting. And I have observed some of the most dedicated paddlers/posters seem to burn out and move on to other things.
2. The fishing trips this year have not seemed as numberous as other years............due to wind/waves and weather.
3. I am sure the other social media sites dilute the postings on this board.
4. Bound to be other reasons that my simple mind hasn't recognized.

I would hope things improve as I put all my eggs in this basket for kayak forums. I do ocassional check another fishing forum and it is way slower than TKF.

[Jigawatt]

Slow fishing because of the rain. The water around Surfside looked like diarrhea for quite awhile - chocolate brown with lots of floating debris. I was catching gizzard shad with the cast net in the ICW. Gizzards have more of a rounded nose than the regular saltwater menhaden. If gizzards can survive in the ICW, I wouldn't be surprised to see largemouth bass. But it ought to be getting salty again, so maybe the brownness will start turning a little green.

[FishingSETX]

I signed up for TKF Facebook page and kept it for all of about 2 hrs. I do n't usually read or post fishing reports. There used to be tons of posts about kayaking, fishing, rigging, and general friendly banter on a bunch of different subjects. Now it seems like there isn't much of anything going on. I have been through a lot of the slow downs and you are right, the weather has been horrible, but this has been going on for months. Just never seen it this slow around here.

[Lagoonfisher]

think I am veteran on this website from its very early early days. Site has really slowed down and I don't check it as often since its usually takes a
week to get enough new threads to enjoy on a good sitting. We used to have monthly Houston get togethers and those seemed to really keep this website
moving.

[FishingSETX]

think I am veteran on this website from its very early early days. Site has really slowed down and I don't check it as often since its usually takes a
week to get enough new threads to enjoy on a good sitting. We used to have monthly Houston get togethers and those seemed to really keep this website
moving.

This was my reason for starting this thread. A couple years ago, I could spend an hour or more reading new posts through just a few forums a couple times a day if I wanted. Now I usually check it every couple days and spend about 5 mins reading the new stuff.

[5fangers]

So what's the interim solution? The old heads getting back and posting more and sharing knowledge to the new folks? Setting up area meetings again?
I am a member of several different interest forums. The oldest one dating back to 1999. I'm still active and post regularly on them even though there's always an influx of new members. I make things happen. I start posts and reply to them regardless of how inactive the board seems. That's the only way to keep things going. Really doesn't make sense to sit back and do zilch.
Maybe someone should set up an area picnic or something. It's summer.

[Alsatian]

I'm going to blame the mods for giving dumas a life time ban...
again...
for the 4th and final time...

At least he kept the threads busy.

RIP dumas

[Z~MAN]

Too many other websites and blogs and Facebook has the social media explosion caused slow down and what they all stated above..


Let's go Fishin.....Coco!
Z-man

[on a mission]

I'm going to blame the mods for giving dumas a life time ban...
again...
for the 4th and final time...

At least he kept the threads busy.

RIP dumas

Is that the same Dumas on Tbh? Love this site. A LOT of info here from you seasoned salt guys. Still learning, being a bass warrior for decades. Thanks to all that contribute to this forum, as this is as far as I go for "social media". Hell , I plan on being the last hold out for a smarty phone. Kayak fishing, what took me so long? Good fishing to all.

[Cityfisher]

I still think its been the weather, and the fact I only have sat and sundays off of work. Its either bad weather or a holiday, and I dont do holidays..

[TexaRican]

Been wondering about it myself. I used to post here a lot especially when the boat builder section was active. Then I got the hunting bug and went over to TBH although I never really stopped kayak fishing completely. I'd keep tabs over here but noticed the traffic just died. Builder section is just really an archive at this point. I have a facebook account that I look at every month or two but never even knew there was a TKF page there.

[Alsatian]

I'm going to blame the mods for giving dumas a life time ban...
again...
for the 4th and final time...

At least he kept the threads busy.

RIP dumas

Is that the same Dumas on Tbh? Love this site. A LOT of info here from you seasoned salt guys. Still learning, being a bass warrior for decades. Thanks to all that contribute to this forum, as this is as far as I go for "social media". Hell , I plan on being the last hold out for a smarty phone. Kayak fishing, what took me so long? Good fishing to all.

What's Tbh?

[Cuervo Jones]

I don't get out to fish near as much as I'd like to. Maybe I should set up a gopro to video myself as I type on the forums:

[Drifting Yak]

I think there is a bit of truth to everything said in this thread. Can only assume that people post when they are interested (you see it when a thread takes off). And who knows what happens to the thinking of those who post and get no response (we all know that some don't deserve or require a response but you know what I mean). Can't be synthetic either (you can't post just to post). And for what it's worth - this site has been invaluable to me. So I'd say just keep it up and all will be fine!

Who's gonna organize a get-together??

[Drifting Yak]

And the humor kills me!! You go girl!! (sent to those of you who posted the pics!)