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

[Michael Corley]

I agree completely with Tom's comments.  They are on the mark.
Old sailors, like old soldiers, never die, they just fade away .  .  .

-Mike
s/v Ranger 1999
Hampton Roads, VA

On Sun, Mar 10, 2024 at 5:38 PM Tom Hyatt via Rhodes22-list <
rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org> wrote:

> 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)
> > >
> >
> >
>