Thread: Has anyone else noticed this?

I have been a member of SRP for a while now. In that time the name has changed a couple of times. The forum is still SRP, but now it is Sharp Razor Palace.

Back in the "old days", SRP was highly respected and there were a large number of active participants. Now it seems that active participation has dropped off significantly. I generally log on a couple of times a day and few threads have been updated. I know today is a Sunday, but all the updated posts for today are listed on the first page of "New Posts".

Sometimes it hardly seems worth the effort of logging in. I have enjoyed the forum and learned a lot from the folks here, so I would hate to see it disappear due to lack of interest. There is still a lot of good information, but now much of it is in the archives rather than in recent posts.

You can still search and the full archives is there from the very beginning of SRP. The first shake up changed the volume of participating members for sure. There are still people here regularly looking for information into wet shaving so I keep hanging out to help answer some questions.

Originally Posted by RayClem

I have been a member of SRP for a while now. In that time the name has changed a couple of times. The forum is still SRP, but now it is Sharp Razor Palace.

Back in the "old days", SRP was highly respected and there were a large number of active participants. Now it seems that active participation has dropped off significantly. I generally log on a couple of times a day and few threads have been updated. I know today is a Sunday, but all the updated posts for today are listed on the first page of "New Posts".

Sometimes it hardly seems worth the effort of logging in. I have enjoyed the forum and learned a lot from the folks here, so I would hate to see it disappear due to lack of interest. There is still a lot of good information, but now much of it is in the archives rather than in recent posts.

I still feel that SRP is highly respected. Even if the number of active users at any given time has dropped there is still a constant flow of new and interesting things. As Rez pointed out, if you simply want information well then there is a huge archive to tap into; any time someone pops up with something new I've always been incredibly impressed with both how quickly the community members jump in and how knowledgeable folks are. I've been part of a number of communities across a wide range of topics and the dynamic of SRP easily easily puts it to the top of the list. JMHO.

There was a drop in activity while I was away, when I came back though, I was lucky that most of my friends were still on. Some not as active though.
I wonder about the activity levels of other forums. But I have never checked. For me, I get everything I want here..
There are great people here, with decades of experience, who are happy to share it on threads or messages. For how terrible some other forums can be at times, the drama here is not significant in comparison, the weather is fair here.
So even if nobody new signed up, there is a solid base of excellent gentlemen at the core.
Tonight I had a great shave, with the help of a brother of the blade, Outback, he would help anyone achieve that, new guy or buddy. I try to give back to the forum, and when I do, it makes my day...
Those are enough reasons for me.
I think others will see that over time.
Quality not quantity. Even though everybody is a shining star of light and all that... there are plenty of drama-filled negative Nancys' that can push off!

Its very true that the activity here on SRP has dropped off. I visit the site many times a day. Lots of times i dont post. But i keep up with any and all threads. We have a great community and i feel we will grow again. I too dont go to other shave forums so i cant comment on how well they are doing. But I know what is said here is more accurate then some of the info given on other sites. This is one of tbe reasons i came to SRP. I was getting mixed or wrong info at the other forum i was visiting before SRP. When i came here i got good and solid info.

We have been recently getting some folks coming back after being lost from us for there own reasons. We will grow again and i am happy to know the friends i have made here.

I agree with everything the previous fine gentlemen have written.

My experience with SRP is probably typical: I lurked for a year or so as I was trying to figure out how to improve my straight razor skills and eventually joined when I felt I had specific questions for which I needed answers or when I thought I could positively contribute to a conversation.

This is a pretty active group when you compare it to other wet shaving fora and the kind of information it provides is top notch. I belong to a couple of other Facebook fora which tend to be about sharing SOTD and personal reviews of wet shaving products. None of these other groups provide the detailed technical advice based on real experience and expertise found on SRP.

SRP originally began as a Yahoo Groups site which went on for years with maybe a handful of active members. Then around 2005 it went .com and it took years for the site to grow to what it was before all the issues that cropped up recently.

So, yes we lost a lot of members and the hierarchy on the search engines has disadvantaged us but at this point in time it will be new members and how the established members treat them that will determine if we thrive or not. It's important for everyone to participate as much as possible. You all hold the key to our future.

It will take time to build the site up again.

Honing seems to be the topic most sought out and would invite discussion and more participation IMO. It will create some contentious discussion and more than a few arguments. Lol. But that's the price to pay for admission!

I know that SRP is still respected, especially among straight razor aficionados. I love access to the treasure trove of archived information, but I also crave up to date information on current trends in the hobby. I am not suggesting that everyone should comment on posts simply to increase the post counts, but we need to keep current posts relevant.

I too have noticed a drop off lately. In saying that I usually check in at least once a day unless I am really busy. At first it was to see if someone had put up a good deal on a razor on BST. I now have many so that has dropped off but I still look.


Mike