Do you miss Lit-net?

[NikolaiI]

It's still here, of course. I mean the old Lit-net. Litnet with so many people, but a lot of them are here still... I feel positive about the future, for Lit-net... always seemed a good community and still seems vibrant...

A lot I guess is based on the literature... and I love still American, Russian, German literature, all kinds...

Emerson, Poe, Rilke, Chekhov, etc....

Roger Zelazny, Philip K Dick..

[tonywalt]

Hey! I remember you. Many are returning, a bit slowly, but creeping back from the carnage of the Facebook, and other social horrids.

[MANICHAEAN]

The Return of the Prodigal Sons?

[cacian]

Hey Nikolai I remember you too!!
what does
Jai Keshava
mean?
or is that your real name?

[Bluebiird]

Of course. I spent a lot of time here in my late teens and I still pop in but only to write a blog entry every few months/year so people know I'm alive. Since I didn't actually read much save for what we were given for English literature I didn't really do literary discussions so always felt a little fraudulent in a literature forum. But the community was always welcoming and engaging. It's always nice to see the old usernames pop up.
:grouphug:

[tonywalt]

I'd say the other social medias took away forum members, namely fb, but also twitter and instagram

[Danik 2016]

Glad to have you back, NicolaiI.

@Bluebiird- You don´t participate in the literary discussions(which have become very few) but your blog is a very important contribution, a sort of subjective chronicle of the interior of US, that helps to keep the site alive.

[NikolaiI]

Hi Bluebird!

[NikolaiI]

Of course. I spent a lot of time here in my late teens and I still pop in but only to write a blog entry every few months/year so people know I'm alive. Since I didn't actually read much save for what we were given for English literature I didn't really do literary discussions so always felt a little fraudulent in a literature forum. But the community was always welcoming and engaging. It's always nice to see the old usernames pop up.
:grouphug:

Thanks for this beautiful reply... it's good to see you around. I've read your blog a couple times, when they were pretty lengthy things. By the way, that is pretty much the most amazing quote, in your signature.


Hey Nikolai I remember you too!!
what does
Jai Keshava
mean?
or is that your real name?

Thanks much, Cacian I'm glad to see you too. We talked about poetry mostly as I remember.. anglophile too... Jai Keshava, no it's actually a Hindu thing... (I'm not Indian).

[Buh4Bee]

Wondering where many old friends went. This was such a wonderful place for many years. I have so many good associations here. I don't feel that way about most places.

[Babyguile]

Hello

[Gladys]

More than a decade ago, I recall a wonderful Shakespeare forum gutted by spam. And, here at Lit-Net, a vibrant discussion of classics.

Those were the days, my friends.

[Ecurb]

One problem for me is that some of the forums take forever to load. The "General Lit" forum still works well, but this one takes five minutes to load, so I rarely bother with it.

Good to hear from you Gladys. I remember our Jane Austen discussions fondly (even if we disagreed).

[tonywalt]

I think it's more than technical issues: Most of the active members are now active on Facebook, twitter, and other social media websites. I do use social media to communicate with friends, but that is the limit. And for good reason:

The "literature pages" on facebook are a hellish nitemare full of crappy information and constant constant clickbaiting. It is low calorie rubbish. Which is why I returned here as a prodigal son. I just could not find intelligent life in the social media's for this area (literature, arts).

My question is this: Why are there not more people returning to the forum for richer interaction? And, surely, we cannot say, "oh everyone is so busy now, blah blah" - life was busy 10 years ago.

If you were to locate the old litnetters: I think you would find them still hanging around facebook and twitter having poor calorie exchanges. Where did it all go?

[MANICHAEAN]

Good points Tony.

I found that I have become very selective in how I now use social media and the internet in general; ( FB to keep in touch with approved friends and for cheap visual linkups, a local Hatfield community site that thankfully lacks any real keyboard warriors, a couple of food sites at a time, dependent on what cuisine I'm indulging in, and of course home from home Lit Net if I do a bit of writing.

I must confess that when I first joined Lit Net that I was in awe at some of the input. Top of their game contributors, where one learned so much. Some real characters too. Remember the Country Doc going on about the Revolution and Prof Solinetizian (excuse spelling,) daily producing tomes of barely comprehensible material on Turkey under the Ottomans? Aunt Shecky with her erudite sense of humour and the prodigious output of Steve Hunley in the Short Story section.

[Danik 2016]

I think it's more than technical issues: Most of the active members are now active on Facebook, twitter, and other social media websites. I do use social media to communicate with friends, but that is the limit. And for good reason:

The "literature pages" on facebook are a hellish nitemare full of crappy information and constant constant clickbaiting. It is low calorie rubbish. Which is why I returned here as a prodigal son. I just could not find intelligent life in the social media's for this area (literature, arts).

My question is this: Why are there not more people returning to the forum for richer interaction? And, surely, we cannot say, "oh everyone is so busy now, blah blah" - life was busy 10 years ago.

If you were to locate the old litnetters: I think you would find them still hanging around facebook and twitter having poor calorie exchanges. Where did it all go?

Part, but only part of the problem is technical: Intensive spam, difficulty to access the site. And yes the social nets. Interation there must be much more limited, yet there are more people.

[Danik 2016]

Good points Tony.

I found that I have become very selective in how I now use social media and the internet in general; ( FB to keep in touch with approved friends and for cheap visual linkups, a local Hatfield community site that thankfully lacks any real keyboard warriors, a couple of food sites at a time, dependent on what cuisine I'm indulging in, and of course home from home Lit Net if I do a bit of writing.

I must confess that when I first joined Lit Net that I was in awe at some of the input. Top of their game contributors, where one learned so much. Some real characters too. Remember the Country Doc going on about the Revolution and Prof Solinetizian (excuse spelling,) daily producing tomes of barely comprehensible material on Turkey under the Ottomans? Aunt Shecky with her erudite sense of humour and the prodigious output of Steve Hunley in the Short Story section.

My social media are my literature forums. I came to Litnet in 2016, when it wasn´t on it´s prime moment anymore, but it was still a reunion of original and independent thinking people.

Mani, you forgot to mention that immense novel that seemed to cover all Chinese Dynasties since the beginning of the world. As far as I could judge it was well written, the author was a woman?. It didn´t resist the last spam storm though.

[tonywalt]

Imagine. One day we will be using Facebook cryptocurrency to buy stuff. (Runs to bathroom to throw up).

[stlukesguild]

This seems to have happened to a good many online groups and forums. I was on an art forum for years where a hot topic might produce 8, 9, 10, or more pages of posts in a single day. Now that very forum will shut down after the end of the year.

The same was true of LitNet. I remember spending one evening discussing Wallace Stevens in almost real-time with a dozen or so long-time members. We were posting until 1 or 2 in the morning. Now I come back once or twice a month and find there are few new posts at all. As Tony suggested, the social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have carved away at the audience for forums such as LitNet. I suspect that some of the attraction is that these sites are far more visual. As a visual artist, I used to post a good deal of images... but I was likely something of an outlier there. Many of the younger students I teach see even Facebook as a site for old farts. They turn far more often to Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tic Toc, etc... and to posts with images, audio, and video.

I would suggest that many of the members from years past were younger... college students, grad students, beginning teachers... looking for like-minded individuals to engage in discussions with. Most have moved on... got married, got jobs, got friends and colleagues who have replaced the need for online discussions. They haven't been replaced by the next generation who turn more to social media.

[tonywalt]

stlukesguild I think you are right. The younger generations(did I just say that?!), simply do not use forums, hell, as you point out - even Facebook is old fashioned.

As a visual artist, I sure use Instagram and Twitter. But for discussion - I have no good outlet now. Young people are not having good discussion on art and literature online, and clearly, are not seeking out and feeding forums. Attention span? Maybe that is why the short paragraph limit on Twitter suits them.

Still, I am a little puzzled.

By the way stlukesguild - it's good to see you!

[bounty]

I haven't been on the site in forever it seems. im glad to peek back in but alas, it seems diminished somehow. for sure boatloads of the games I used to enjoy are missing.

[tailor STATELY]

Glad you dropped by !

You're right... I resurrected a few games and will look for more :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

Welcome back, Bounty!- It has been ages! Hope your internet connection is ok now.
The games are still there, though many of the gamers have dwindled away.
But they can be resurrected as tailor has been doing.

[bounty]

hi tailor and danik, thank you. and what a good memory danik. no, my internet is still bad and has gotten worse actually.

there is a possibility I might end up getting "affordable" high speed internet through the work of the new York state broadband act but its been well over a year and a half now so im not holding my breath. still hopeful though...

[Danik 2016]

Well, thumbs up! US probably invented broadband, so it would only be just every one having this connection at one affordable price.

[bounty]

I wonder about enquiring of the moderator(s) to see if a mass message can be sent to everyone's registered email address with an invitation to come back for a visit, or a long stay...

[Danik 2016]

The one moderator that has been around this year, bounty, is Logos. You would have to ask her

[bounty]

just sent her a private message. although now that I say that, I wonder if a group message might have been better...maybe as a next step.

[bounty]

still no peep from the moderator...

[Danik 2016]

Maybe she is on holydays.

[Logos]

I'm here :)
I read the forums :)
I'm here to help if I can.
As I've said elsewhere and in private messages...
basically the site, for quite some time, ok a long time, has been in lock-down mode.
Ha, nothing to do with a covid pandemic.
Partly to do with Admin/Owner focusing on other things, partly to do with other things, partly to control mass sign ups/ forum blog and private message spam abuse.
If anything changes I will let you know asap :)

Yes I miss the old LitNet very much. Lots of good friends and good talks ❤️
📚

[mtpspur]

I pop in and out as a whim strikes me remembering old times. There are some people met then that are still active in my life from here.