I know I've only been back after a couple of days but the site sure seems quieter and with less activity than the way I remember.
Maybe it's just me and I caught it at a slow time. Sure seems like there's quite a few missing members. I suppose it's just one of those slow times that forums like this go through and it does seem like it's getting tougher on collectors and enthusiasts. Prices are going up, certain items are getting more difficult to find. Wondering what anyone else thinks about this since I've been away for awhile.

I joined in February of 2023, and I can tell you, even since then it's gotten quieter.

Though, one thing I will say is that right now isn't exactly quiet... there have been periods where no one posted or commented for days at a time. At least we are seeing legacy members like @arcblue , @CEB1993 , @Flatbottom , and @icefoglights posting and commenting, which I think is wonderful. So I mean I certainly am not complaining. Of course, things can always be better, but this is more than enough for me.

I've been here since August 2023 and the forums have always been quiet. This appears to be a general trend, and I believe it's due to a shift to Facebook groups in recent years. Those seem to be far more active as they reach a wider audience than traditional forums.

However, I have noticed the gallery is quite active, with many people regularly uploading and commenting. More so than anything I've seen on Facebook, in fact. This could be due to the fact that the gallery format just works better for sharing photos.

If there is a silver lining, it means those who participate here tend to be more involved and knowledgeable, so while there is less forum content, what does get posted is (usually) higher quality.

You're not alone. I remember in 2021, it wasn't uncommon to see nearly 20 members online at a time. But yes, things have since gotten quieter. I can think of several members who were extremely active then and aren't now. A few that come to mind are @Binarix128, @Metal Halide Boy, @Fluorescent05, @Bulbman256, @HPS_250, and more. But yes, there are still a few legacy members who still post every once in awhile.

I don't really let it worry me but after only 2 days the less activity and missing members were noticable.
But my brother told me about what he calls Thursday night syndrome. He said that in his time here Thursday night (American time) is the quietest time with the least amount of activity on LG. He even went so far to observe and note that every Thursday to see if he was right.
But aside from that it's probably just the ups and downs of a forum. It comes and goes. People's interests change and the younger members growing up and going off to college and discovering the world around them, it's probably a lot of things.
Lighting has got to be a niche hobby but at least with LG all types of lighting is accepted rather than just limited to one type which is great. We may not like everything or agree on everything but there's enough here for anyone.
Facebook does have some lighting groups but the types of lights are limited. My brother on his Facebook account was a member of 3 different MV lighting groups but he said they had next to no activity but that's Facebook as a whole the platform simply isn't what it used to be and many people have left Facebook for other sites.
But for LG even with less activity it's still the best lighting site I can know of and hopefully someday things will pick up and some members will come back.
By the way where is Bulbman256 he always had something goofy to say.

@Wingnut - Activity on LG has been on decline for at least 4 years.
Bulbman256 has gone off to college. Some members left due to harassment by others...most of those doing the harassing have left or were kicked off. 

I seem to have been summoned. 

I've been at college for most of the past year so I haven't had the time or space to collect, I've been back home for a few weeks now though, I just haven't actually gotten around to posting stuff. There's such a backlog of lamps needed to be put on the site I'm not sure where to start. I did hang out with Lumex120 the past couple of days, had a lot of fun doing shenanigans with him.

@Bulbman256: Congratulations on college! It's going to be an interesting time. So live it, love it, and enjoy it! If you have any time leftover do your homework.
I also know that at some point you're going to say or do some numbskull thing and I might have to take action 

@BT25: You're not kidding about the decline in activity. It's really quiet and a lot of people are missing. I figured mostly because the pandemic is over and people are going back to their lives again.
I really hate that my bro was labeled badly but he was hurting back then after his beloved raccoon Rachel passed away and his marriage hit a rough spot and he felt so much pressure from a member here.
But he made it through all that and his marriage is fine now and to him the past is all water under the bridge other than missing Rachel.
At least you and Tim are still here along with MadMax above 

I've been here about 16 years and in that time the site has gone through quite much. When I joined I remember it being mostly US members and in recent years the user base has become much more broader than it used to be.

What has also changed is the world. Back in 2009 forums were still a thing. Nowadays most of the discussion has gone into various social media platforms. Also the rise of AI has made it so that it is most of the time faster to ask a question from AI than write a forum post and wait to someone maybe answer for it, further reducing possible new messages.

I will also have to say that there are lots of things on this site that are not up to date on todays user experience standarts. Most of the time gallery is only available to logged in user which IMO is not welcoming. Usability on mobile devices is poor. Registering doesn't support using third party services (Google etc.)

The last thing is that the collection of lighting has been changed. LED taking over everything else seems to be bit of shock at least to many members who were used to collect more traditional light sources. Transition to LED has also decreased the amount of traditional lighting stuff insecond hand market because there is not much demand for it outside very niche collecting and newer LED stuff has not that big fanbase. Back in 2009 I remember there even being lots of photos from new installations and new lamps unlike now.

@Roi_hartmann That sums it all up pretty much.

@Wingnut - I actually killed my account...twice, and only came back because it was requested. Honestly, I don't know why I stay...this place is a shell of its former self.

@BT25: I'm both surprised and not surprised at the same time that you dropped your account but I can definitely see why it was requested because if the site loses you and while not likely wide-lite 1000 it's all downhill from here.
Seriously I could see why you would leave your self sufficient with an extremely impressive collection.
It's been barely a week since I returned but the lack of activity is a smack in the face.
I've got other items and projects to upload but it takes time to take pictures and upload and fill in the descriptions and with the lack of activity I'm not feeling particularly motivated and because my bro isn't allowed to return I don't know what I'm going to do right now just take it day by day.

It's definitely gotten quieter in the past year but even from around 10 years ago, people have started slowly moving on to other sites....apparently some moved over to the few lighting Facebook groups and it seems like some have moved on to sites like YouTube.

Anyway I haven't really posted much new pictures as I noticed the following:
- Most of the old installations in my area have either been documented or removed and the new stuff is all LED now.
- The amount of older lighting stuff in stores like Restore and thrift stores have decreased. Most of the stuff now is either LED or from the tail end of the fluorescent/HID era.
- It's gotten more expensive to buy stuff on eBay now so I limited my buying from there.
- I don't have a lot of room left so I'm more selective with my buying, hence not a lot of new collection pictures either.
- I suppose either the site gets too much bot activity now, but the requirement to login limits more casual visits.     

I know I've only been back after a couple of days but the site sure seems quieter and with less activity than the way I remember.
Maybe it's just me and I caught it at a slow time. Sure seems like there's quite a few missing members. I suppose it's just one of those slow times that forums like this go through and it does seem like it's getting tougher on collectors and enthusiasts. Prices are going up, certain items are getting more difficult to find. Wondering what anyone else thinks about this since I've been away for awhile.

I rather am going to dispute that, sure things change, and there have been up-n-down's but I would certainly not say LG has been on the decline, theres still been *plenty* of activity on this site, and I have even seen some older figures, like Dimbulb and Dave start posting again which is nice to see

just from my own perspective for example from my own uploads, I still see plenty of activity on them, and there are still plenty of activity and discussions going on in general, and cool finds that get posted, see for example the F100T17 that @Al_M recently posted for example, and I have been on LG for over 15 years now (Eeep! LOL) so I feel I am in a good position to talk about these things


just in the last week theres been 7 pages worth of "recent additions"! thats 210 uploads! in a week! if my maths is right, thats about 30 uploads a day, i'd say things are ticking along pretty well no? (also for people that are unhappy that maybe all the uploads appear to be of one style or the other, you can go into individual categories and monitor those, for example if only lightbulbs are your thing, but not fittings fixtures or streetlights, then just keep the lamp album open and then you can blissfully ignore everything else! https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=229 )



I do know that people sometimes complain about a lack of comments/interactions  on their stuff, but on that front I do notice a lot of times, the people complaining, have poor descriptions when it comes to their own uploads, that dont do much to stimulate the conversation so to speak



"here is GE 175W Mercury lamp" and thats all the description is, its especially annoying, when the lamp is something special, and they do nothing to talk about it!

 
I have seen a few people guilty of that, and I think the best example of that, is a user by the name of Vez Lighting, https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/index.php?cat=10029

and this is from well long ago, so no one here can say this is a recent thing!, he uploaded some great rare and special lamps, his pictures where all high quality, but he barely put any description into them, and notice how so few of them have comments!

so I think if those concerned about a lack of comments on their uploads put a bit more into their descriptions, I think they might get some more comments


and I think sadly in todays world it seems to be "the thing" to complain how things are going down the toilet, when actually its a lot more nuanced then that, and really it is when people do suddenly throw a strop and delete of their stuff that hurts sites the most

its very much a catch 22 "oh this site is going down the toilet so I am going to delete all my stuff" well how is that going to make the site get better? thats just actively doing harm by removing existing content from it. if for some reason you dont want to take part in the forum anymore thats your choice, but please dont delete all your stuff! because even aside the loss of ones own content when one deletes their gallery, its not just your stuff that your deleting, but all the comment and the such like that other people have posted under your uploads get deleted too, and then that in itself can cause people to go "whats the point of commenting if its all just going to get deleted"

and often times valuable information to the wider community, like technical comments from James and the such like get lost when people delete their galleries


its the one thing I wish people would not do, is please dont up-n-delete your galleries if you do decide to leave LG!

Yeah, I think it's fair to say that we have done surprisingly well compared tomany other niche forums from back then.