I've had some great times here on Delphi. I've met a lot of wonderful people. I've learned a lot. I've made some lifelong friends. On the whole, it has been a positive experience.
When I first opened this forum, I wanted it to be a place for rational, accurate, thoughtful, compassionate, enlightened discussion -- I wanted it to be a healthy alternative to the opinion forums that were badly run, that were inaccurate, unfair, and biased. I had a lot of good people aligned on that goal and for a while it looked like we had a real chance at achieving it.
But ... it's not possible. And I'm a slow learner.
Part of the reason is that Delphi isn't a managed environment, it's a free-for-all. The environment has few restrictions for dealing with harangutans, screechweasels, unayappers, drive-by-shouters, and other disruptive griefers. Not to mention all their enablers -- and they can start forums of their own that they can use to create forum feuds and worse, violate other people's privacy.
The phobes, the ammosexuals, the saboteurs, the arrogant assholes -- they bring out the worst in everyone. They use up time that would be better spent on more productive issues. There's a point at which you just don't want to come back anymore. Eventually, Gresham's Law kicks in and the bad participants drive away the good ones.
But that's the smaller part of the problem.
The larger part is the competition from Facebook and other social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other sites are just a lot more fun.
Facebook, for example, is a great place for high-verbals. It's simply a much more supportive environment. Participation there is an ongoing process of self-selection. Some people create echo-chambers of agreement. Others are interested in useful dialog and the threads on their walls are enlightening, interesting, educational, often hysterical, and well worth the time spent on them.
So ... Delphi is in decline. Forum numbers are down everywhere. Too many of the best people have left and they won't be coming back. It's not just that Delphi became a toxic environment, although that's a contributing factor -- it's that Delphi has outlived its usefulness as a social gathering place.
These days, I'm checking in maybe once a week, and there's so few new msgs, it's hardly worth the effort. And not many other folks are visiting much anymore either. So there's no point in keeping the lights burning when no one's visiting.
Regrets -- a few. More than a few.
Mistakes -- too many to list.
But the good people here made it all worthwhile.
Thanks for all the good times -- and thanks for sticking through the bad times too. The bad times were even more useful -- I learned from them. One of the lessons learned is who to hold on to and who to let go of. My life is so much happier now because I've learned that lesson very well. So has my son.
I'll keep this place open through Christmas. On January 1st, I'll wish everyone a happy new year -- you all know where to find me on FB, and we'll stay in touch there -- then I'll turn out the lights on this place, once and for all.
All my love to all of you who mean so much to me -- you know who you are.
