What has happened to the forum?

[Steve J]

Yep, Summer tends to be quieter, especially when the school holidays kick in etc. Add in the lack of gaming opportunities, shows to visit etc due to the lockdowns, then I think this goes some way to explain why the forum has 'changed'.

[Techno II]

I think you're absolutely right, Vic.....

I'm sure each 'summer' the number of posts drops.

I've not been about so much, 'cos I'm rushed off my feet....making the wee men and helping Von with the sorting out her Mum's 'estate'. (HAH !!)

I'm also coping with my eyes going VERY weird over the last few months.....They seem to be 'improving' from the last time I had my eyes tested.

My newest glasses work fine with the optivisor for making the wee men.....But anything beyond a few feet away is pretty blurred.
I noticed this the most when driving....and watching TV.

Going back to specs that are two prescriptions old works fine for driving, and watching the box.....But doing things like typing on the PC is a pain....which is why I'll pop in and have a look at the forum, first thing, before I start pushing putty...(With the newest glasses)......But at the end of 'work' I really want to put on the specs that let me focus on things more than a few inches away !

I can't believe that this is some sort of weird side effect from the COVID jabs......Just a bit of a strange coincidence time wise.

Cheers - Phil.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Doubt it's the Covid jabs Phil. You may need varifocals (sp) given your long range vision is better with an old precription.

[sean66]

Yea Phil
sounds like your eyes are changing due to old prescription better for driving.
on your last eye test did they check both short and long?
Regards
Sean

[John Cook]

Crikey!  The last thing you want to do is compromise where eyesight is concerned, and, according to my optician (though they have an ulterior motive in selling me new specs), that includes using old prescriptions.

I've had a pair specifically for the PC for more than 20 years (it's a Health and Safety requirement for PC users in the workplace).  I also use off-the-shelf reading specs up to 4x magnification when I need them.  Have you considered watch repairers' spectacles, with separate adjustable lenses up to 25x? 

None of my business, I know, but if I were you I'd get to the optician and get those symptoms checked. 

[Raider4]

Isn't the prescibed test for any possible eye problem nowadays is to drive your wife to a local beauty spot, at least 30 miles away, on her birthday?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Does get you sacked that !

[Techno II]

Yea Phil
sounds like your eyes are changing due to old prescription better for driving.
on your last eye test did they check both short and long?
Regards
Sean

Oh....Yes.....

I am truly VERY short sighted.

At my last test, the 'operative' said....."Oooh...your right eye has deteriorated quite a lot in two years.....and you've got  the beginnings of cataract in that eye, as well.".. (Deep joy)

Right eye at that point was minus 11 diopter.....deteriorating from minus 9 and a bit.

The complete sod, at my age, is that I also DO suffer from 'long sight'......I really couldn't wear bifocals, making the wee men.....The dear old optivisor has to help with that.

No wonder I get headaches. 

Phil.

[Techno II]

I forgot to mention.......

I'm STILL 'the man'.......You should have seen the trail of blood, outside.....from me catching the back of my hand on the cover of the boiler's vent, a couple of days ago.

CSI would have about a dozen yellow triangular markers, marking the trail.

Phil.

[Steve J]

Ouch!

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Painful

[Techno II]

It was...right across the knuckle on the 'middle' finger of my right hand.
It's not opened up again for a couple of days now....So it seems to be knitting together.

Cheers - Phil.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Hope you regenerate quickly.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Likewise

[Big Insect]

My own observation on recent posts is that they are declining in number but also the threads are becoming very diverse - not sticking to the original question or subject matter and drifting off (often into other interesting areas - but still 'off track'). NB: I am as much a culprit with this as anybody else.

I'd also note that the numbers of actual wargames related threads is dropping.
No longer do we see threads started with the title: "How many buttons on the cuff of a Saxon Voltigeurs?" or the such like. It is more likely to be us 'oldster' wittering on a our Covid-jabs or how the council's are only emptying the bins every 3rd month now to save money etc.

Maybe that lack of engagement also reflects a wider change in peoples behaviours towards social-media/forums and general on-line communication more widely, due to over exposure throughout lock-down? Maybe the lack of face-to-face gaming has also stifled discussion? I have noticed a couple of other wargames forums I am on have also seen a significant decline in posting recently - one of them has actually 'died' ... I posted a question on it 3 weeks ago and whilst it has been read 100+ times nobody has replied/acknowledged it but mine was the only post to the forum in the last 4 months anyway! However, I think that in that instance the community has migrated to a new Facebook forum on the same subject. I don't 'do' Facebook so cannot tell if that is more active or not.

Maybe as we head off into the 'new normal' post pandemic things will pick up? I hope so.

Mark

[Ithoriel]

With much less opportunity for face-to-face gaming ( or tabletop pvp as someone called it the other day on a Twitch stream I was briefly watching) there is surely much less chance that someone has a rules query or a question as to whether the officers of 2nd Battalion, Queen Gertrude's Own Mounted Shirkers and Deserters should be depicted holding champagne flutes or rum bottles in a diorama set on the morning of the Battle of Hucaires, during the Neverois War of 1824.

Playing solo, if playing at all, one is less likely to realise there might be another interpretation of the rules than ones own.

I can't be the only one who, with no opponent available finds their painting mojo (limited in the best of times) severely depleted.

While thread derailment is rampant here (part of the forum's charm IMNSHO) it is usually consigned to those parts of the thread when the OP has been answered and where not, is usually brought back on track by the more sensible members.

[Orcs]

The lack of physical opponents the last year has increased my painting mojo, less to do and an opportunity to reduce the mountain (range).

[John Cook]

The lack of physical opponents the last year has increased my painting mojo, less to do and an opportunity to reduce the mountain (range).

Mine too.  More painting than I've done for a long time, and my garden hasn't looked better.  No distractions elsewhere I suppose.  As for opponents, I only have a couple, plus my wife who will wargame as long as the armies are 'pretty'. 

[Ithoriel]

Books, movies, TV, virtual versions of board games, online RPGs, cooking, eating, chatting on phone to stay in contact with friends and family. Who has time to paint?

[FierceKitty]

House arrest has moved Lee from "OK, I'll give you a game every ten days" to "We've got time for a rematch before dinner." What have I done?