Are things generally dead in all the forums here?

Hey Telekom. I've made the same observation a few times. I think what has happened is that this site filled a need early on, when consumers needed a steep learning curve to understand the (at that time) "new" technology. Now, to many consumers, it is both second-nature and old hat. Understanding not only the technology (device, network, etc.) but also rate plans and billing has become common place. WA still gets the occasional new-comer that has questions. WA also has the loyalists that come here to share pics, performance screenshots, and their new toys.

Speaking of new toys, while I was at the forefront of my peer group in buying and using a smartphone (or, as I recently coined the term, "CLIP" -- Communications, LifeMgmt, Information Portal), I have held off getting a tablet. I just couldn't justify it. I couldn't come up with a plausible usage case. Well, after saving my Amazon points (Chase credit card) for a couple years, waiting for the best deal I could find, and reading / watching all the reviews on the Note Pro 12.2, I finally got it for a mere $100 out of pocket. (I applied over $450 of my points and then used my knowledge of competitor pricing to get the device for $550 at my local Best Buy.) I've been using it a couple days and got to say I really am enjoying the large display for reading full-page PDFs.

 

There seems to be plenty of visitors but few of them post, even from the Mods there is little activity.

Macrumors, iMore etc seem very active. Phonescoop has useful a news too. Most news postings here are second hand from other sites.

Indeed WA may have outlived it beginnings and is more like a private forum for less than a handful of members. However it still has a home feeling to it.


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So I guess now we need to ask the question, "What does HowardForums have that WA doesn't?" It has been years since I've visited HowardForums. I didn't like the "atmosphere" there. At the time (about 10 years ago), I didn't see that they provided any more benefits than did WA. True, at the beginning, WA had some very strongly opinionated participants, but over time they matured and became more objective. For the most part now, I see WA as a friendly community that 1) enjoys sharing, 2) loves helping others. I have noticed one thing of concern--The new ones that are joining are no longer "welcomed" by even so much as acknowledging their 1st post. As I've recounted before, my initial reason for joining here was to share my personal, limited knowledge and experience--from an end-user perspective, and as someone who had a general knowledge of technology. As others joined that who very specific and useful knowledge about wireless, I saw my usefulness as fading. It didn't bother me, I had other things to occupy my time. Now-a-days, the reason I check back here is to 1) post articles that may be of interest, 2) post personal experiences that may be of interest, 3) Check to see what "news" has been posted ( most of the time, it is news I've read elsewhere, but most recently, the new ATT plans were something I had not heard of elsewhere), 4) Just to checkup on the community and see what's happening.