Hmm, odd, I certainly didn't deliberately click it, nor do I recall accidentally clicking that button. My mistake I guess...

It's pretty easy to accidentally click.

Well, that example of locking the BT25 topic was my error, I take responsibility for that, and apologise for any anger towards any other members as a result of my mistake.

With that said, I believe this was just an example of something much larger happening.

This site has become a joke ever since I’ve joined, seriously….

I can see why a lot of members are starting to leave.

Either way, if Bake bagel 11 clicked the button to lock it, it would’ve been by accident.

As Baked bagel 11 isn't the thread opener, and isn't a moderator, he can't lock threads of others.

Dor, the thread creator can lock their own threads.

As Baked bagel 11 isn't the thread opener, and isn't a moderator, he can't lock threads of others.

 Baked Bagel started the other thread . If he chooses to lock it , that's his choice . I've locked at least a couple of my threads when they got out of hand.  Was the other thread locked intentionally or accidentally doesn't really matter . I linked my Email notification just to show that it wasn't locked by BT25 or RCM442 as was presented by others .

 Weather we like it or not , there's gonna be rules for almost everything . Without rules , all you have is anarchy ! We have rules on this forum and every other forum I'm a member of . We have rules where I work , there's rules where I live . as for "policing" that's how rules are enforced .  I've been here for a bit over 8 years and the only topics I've seen locked or deleted are ones that get WAY out of hand !

Exactly, I've been here almost 21 years, longer than the people complaining about the rules have been alive...the fact that the other thread got locked when I was nowhere near my computer to do so. EVERY online forum has rules. BT25 has come and gone many times, since the other admin that kept letting him back on constantly is no longer here, if we wind up deleting his account, he more than likely won't get it back this time! You are also lucky I kept this thread up instead of removing it, as it directly attacks me!

@Oz Optima Yeah, it was an accident. I am starting to loose a bit of interest in the site with the lower amount of North American, British and Aussie lighting on this site, with it being swamped with eastern European lights...

@dor123 As Tim said, the other thread "Is BT25 Gone now" was mine, and thus I could lock it, in this case accidently.

I'm confused between the threads. I didn't know that the other thread is created by Baked bagel 11.

This is good to know. But overall, as @Baked bagel 11 said, this would've been one example in a much larger situation... I've had members messaging me in agreement. Won't say who, but I've gotten about 8 PMs from different people saying they've been feeling and thinking the same things... but not courageous enough to state them outright like I did.

And 8 members on a niche lighting forum is no small number... agree or disagree with how it's managed, that's pretty significant.

@Baked bagel 11 — Same, honestly. It's a shame @Danny , @FrontSideBus , @Kev and others post so infrequently now. As well as some legacy members, though some, like @TheLightingCollector and @Highway125 have been posting often again.

This hobby is cyclical for a lot of us, so you can't fault any one person for losing interest in their specific niche of lighting... I mean, look at me: I'm sitting on two Sylvania /Ns, two ITT /Ws, three Sylvania/Westinghouse/GE /Cs, and yet I still am not motivated enough to get one of my cobraheads or NEMAs out of storage and light them up, much less post them on the gallery. Though my recent hyperobession has revolved around tubular fluorescent (F20 and F40T12) as well as early LED. 

I’ve always thought that healthy discussion of members leaving or abandoning their accounts is a very important topic to discuss. I believe This is a rule that Ria and Sammi added during their time (but I could be wrong) and I think even during my time as admin. it’s one of the ones I have never agreed with. I feel it’s very important for us to discuss this as sometimes we can be close to these members that have departed and they may have had a big positive impact on the site or a bad one. The majority of the time people leave or abandon their accounts quietly, giving no reason. I’ve witnessed many times people disappear and then it can be discussed and they realise they’re missed. I’ve been here since April 2011 so 15 years this year and you only have to go through some of mine, kevs and maybe Andy’s very early 2011-2013 uploads to really see how many members the sites lost. Plus the 2020-2024 era a lot of the European and uk members done one then !

Regarding not posting so much, I simply just for one don’t have the amount to post that I once did, I sometimes find that I don't get a great deal of feedback, or many comments etc at all most of the time so I’ve scaled back what I upload for that reason and also I’ve scaled back what I upload because I don’t want to max out my account like dor did. I know I’m no where near maxing it out as I’m on about 3900 but it’s made me think to pick out wisely what I upload as I’d like to always be able to use my original account.

In the uk community the majority of members have become quiet. The Lamp room site that we were all close on everyone’s just gone dead on it and in messages etc some people are just unreachable. So the UK community is just quietly parting their own ways. But we still have our cornwall and Kidderminster collector meet ups. LR is now at risk of closure unless it picks up because it’s costing more to run than it’s worth keeping online!!  A lot of the members  i used to talk to daily many of us don’t even hear a peep off anymore or not often, or as frequent as we once did.  which is a huge shame. But sadly that’s how life has gone for the uk community. They’ve grown up, they’ve got kids now, their own place and lives. And we were all young when we all found each other on LG but are now all middle aged men LOL. and a lot of people are working tirelessly to barely make ends meet in this ridiculously rip off greedy country. Then there’s the fact that I’d say the whole of the UK is 95% LED which has dried up the best stuff to save so people have saved and then posted most of the stuff they’ve wanted.  so people are moving on from lighting. I don’t have as much free time as I once had and maybe only get to come on here on an evening. I’ll never leave this site, I’ll always remain a member here and post the stuff I find interesting.

RCM, Honestly, I have to agree here, so many people have left even when I joined back in 2023 (although I’ve been lurking on this site since 2014) and I can’t believe how much it’s changed.

I’m part of the Australian lighting community which is very active however nearly all of the members don’t use LG any more and have moved on to a launch group chat.

A lot of people that have disappeared have also moved onto other sort of groups which I have noticed has started to become more popular over the years.

I know you're a younger member, and a younger member out of Europe, but

Yeah, So?

Yeah as Oz Optima says, there used to be a biggish Australian community on LG too when I first joined who all mixed mostly with the European and English due to our lighting technologies being mostly the same. Theres only one of the originals that I can think of still posting sometimes now. I liked them all as they always made an effort to talk to you. Cefacat1 (Mike) being one of my favourites. He was always there with something positive to post on your pictures. Sadly he just disappeared one day in 2013/14 maybe and I’ve never seen or heard from him again. I hope he’s ok.