[Rhodes22-list] The List Seems to be Fading Away

[Tom Hyatt]

The R22 Facebook account sees sporadic use. Kind of like the email list. In
February, there were no posts at all. In January there were 4
original posts with a number of comments. In December there were 3 posts
with follow-up comments. In November 1 post with comments.

As a new Rhodes 22 owner, I can't speak on why there are fewer posts. My
observation however is that the R22 community is an aging one. Looking at
where the most action is on Youtube, it is not with daysailing or
trailer-sailers but with young couples giving up their day-to-day lives to
travel around the world on blue-water cruisers. So perhaps there are not as
many new sailors drawn to the kind of weekend sailing on small boats that
we all do.

The majority of R22 owners that I have met so far tilt more toward the
retired crowd or toward people who once were owners and now have either
moved to power boats or larger sailing vessels or have given up sailing
altogether. Maybe those that have stayed with their R22s, as I think
someone indicated already, have solved most of their issues and questions
and don't have as much need for the community as they once did.

Not having GB as an active and vital business certainly has dampened the
enthusiasm that would be generated toward new owners if Stan and the
business were as active as they were 25 years ago.

Just an observation from a new owner.

Tom Hyatt
S/V Eliza Jane 1978
Baltimore, MD


On Sun, Mar 10, 2024 at 4:51 PM Peter Nyberg <peter at sunnybeeches.com> wrote:

> Thank you to those who shared their thoughts on this topic.
>
> Clearly it's true that people sell their boats for whatever reason, and
> the former owners generally no longer participate in the list.  But if a
> boat has been sold, there's now a new owner, and a new potential list
> member.  It seems though that fewer new owners are choosing to join our
> community.
>
> Several people mentioned their age as part of their decision to sell their
> boat, which underscores the point that boat buyers will generally be
> younger than boat sellers.  This may be a factor in the list's declining
> participation numbers.  I've read that kids these days (probably meaning
> anyone younger that around 60) don't like to use email much.
>
> So, that's really the questing that's been rattling around in my brain
> lately: is the size or level of engagement in our community declining due
> (at least in part) to the fact that it is based on a technology (email)
> whose popularity is also declining?
>
> I offer one point of evidence for this proposition: Nabble.  As you may
> recall, Nabble was a 3rd party website that provided a web interface to the
> Rhodes 22 email list.  There were never any hard numbers about how many
> people were using Nabble to participate, rather than using an email client
> app, but it was clearly pretty popular.  On the downside, we never had any
> control over what Nabble did, and towards the end of June of 2021, it just
> went away.  That month had a total of 384 posts.  The most active month
> since (October 2021) had 230 posts, and that was something of an outlier.
> As I pointed out in the post that started this thread, in 2023 our average
> posts per month was 86.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> On a related point, I don't have a Facebook account.  Can someone comment
> on how active the Rhodes 22 Facebook group has been lately?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Peter Nyberg
> Coventry, CT
> s/v Silverheels (1988/2016)
>
> > On 2024-03-08, at 17:17:49 EST, Peter Nyberg wrote:
> >
> > If you've thought that traffic on the Rhodes 22 email list has been a
> little on
> > the light side lately, you're not imagining things.  Message volume has
> been
> > declining for some time.  Below are the figures for average monthly
> posts for
> > the last few calendar years:
> >
> > 2020 - 229 posts/month
> > 2021 - 216
> > 2022 - 126
> > 2023 - 86
> >
> > 2024 has not exactly been off to a roaring start with 38 posts in
> January and 35
> > in February.
> >
> > Back in 2008, there were over 1,000 posts/month, but things fell off to
> only
> > around 400 in 2009 after political posts were discouraged.
> >
> > I'm hoping to start a discussion about possible causes and possible
> remedies.  I
> > have a few thoughts, but I don't want to start by steering the
> discussion in any
> > particular direction.
> >
> > So, what do you think is causing the decline, and what do you think we
> might be
> > able to do about it?
> >
> > Peter Nyberg
> > Coventry, CT
> > s/v Silverheels (198/2016)
> >
>
>