Is it strange online marijuana communities are declining?

[GuerrillaRed]

Hey folks,

One strange thing I've observed is the online grower sites I hang out on seem to be declining in activity. I've been floating around different pot growing forums for probably over ten years now. There seemed to be a ton of activity through 2010-2012 but it seems pretty sparse now.

Usually when I do searches for nutes or techniques I'll hit threads that at least a few years old. It seems like there isn't nearly as much innovation or conversation as there used to be.

Is everyone holding on to their secrets now with legalization? Did we talk about every possible thing there was to talk about? Did people lose interest in pot growing? Am I delusional? Just seems like a big strange trend I notice time and again while doing research.

 

[Jellyfish]

They all joined Second Life.

 

[floralheart]

If it's legal in your area, the site kind of loses its meaning. During OG days it felt like a family, but now that it's legal, who cares? That's the vibe I get, it's no longer secret therefore there isn't a sense of community. I was on secret sites, but that was like 8 years ago. Even that lost its meaning, you can just meet up with those guys at an expo and whatnot.

 

[floralheart]

I still believe that you can either be candid about yourself, or candid about growing, but not both at the same time. Legal or not.
I used to pay cash and sneak pro mix into my house in the middle of the night, now I use a discount card and shop at weed stores like grocery stores, have friends and girlfriends that work at them, etc...

 

[m314]

I was on Overgrow and Cannabisworld back in 2000 when I was getting into growing. It was more exciting then, since it was all new and illegal where I lived. I could talk about growing with maybe 2 people at the time in real life. Now that I'm in a legal state it feels like less of an underground thing.

 

[sourpuss]

Ig seems to be where they r all gone to... more like instead of 1 place it's a few different platforms that r taking a piece of everyone's time....

 

[FireIn.TheSky]

It does seem to be grinding to a halt, I almost wonder if its due to legalization and watching our trade be taken over by people that would ordinarily have nothing to do with it if it wasn't for legalization.

Years back there was a lot of risk with growing herb, you had to really be passionate to put your ass on the line. As legalization progresses more and more people have flooded into the industry chasing money. If you think about it the type of information that used to be discussed openly is now becoming like proprietary information, there seems to be little to no talking about how to grow better.

Oddly enough I have also noticed other strange changes, breeders were like rockstars a few years ago, lots of discussion about new projects etc.. now so many have either disappeared completely or just don't say much.

 

[cocktail frank]

I was thinking this myself.
I feel old talking about "the good ole days"
This site isn't the same, all my heroes I came up idolizing here are gone.
I think it's the Facebook and IG type sites, everybody is on the go with apps these days.
You won't catch my ass out there like these cats do these days posting shit from their phones.
Legal or not, I'm old school.
Keep your mouth shut and don't show pics unless that exif is stripped the fuck out.

 

[Jellyfish]

These forums were a great resource for people starting out wanting to grow their own. Maybe there are more people learning it all from youtube now.

 

[dddaver]

I've said this before. Apparently it can't be said enough. For the VAST, VAST, VAST majority of people, cannabis is still illegal. It's not even close.

The people who live in legal, or semi-legal places, seem to forget that sometimes. Believe me guys, it does get a tad annoying. Like a kind of humble bragging?

IMHO, I think all this newer tracking technology and loss of any anonymity, from Farse-book, Goober (Google) or the NSA for example, have had a big impact on weed sites.

 

[OGShaman]

Sites like Reddit and the family of StackExchange sites (Especially StackOverflow) decimated these old school vBulletin based communities. Not just those related to cannabis either.

I used to a moderate what was a very popular C/C++ programming board from around 2000 - 2006, and then along came StackOverflow, and that place is a ghost town now.

 

[VonBudí]

ic and the farm are down heavily every other forum exploded in growth imo, ig is a pleasure to use. End of the day the ol' ic archive is king.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Communities have come and gone since the days of the first bulletin boards and dial up modems, images of buds that took almost as long to download as they did to flower. IC is no different, but there is an immense depth of global knowledge here that is unique and special.


I am very lucky, I can go for a blast on the bike and arrive at some lovely social clubs with good weed for sale and often really knowledgeable grower friends to chew the fat with. Sometimes I learn new things from them there, sometimes from people on here, I enjoy both and see no need to change anytime soon.

 

[weedaholic721]

Intellectual Property imo is a big problem. Many don't share new innovations so they can profit, others do not share in fear of someone taking a new innovation only half understood and profitting from the sick and desperate. What this leads too, however, is companies trying to reverse engineer others work and then put out unsafe products.

If we still shared these new techniques and let the differences in strain be the deciding factors, then maybe we won't see contaminated products.

There's some sharing still occuring but it is much much less. It is to be said that a lot of cannabis topics have been discussed to redundancy.

 

[iTarzan]

Because people can turn on you in a minute over one issue.

People can't constructively criticize people. It has to be confrontational.

Snobs.

Intolerance.

Hatred more easily reveled then in real life.

Everybody was starving for cannabis information in years past and now we are stuffed so full we can't eat anymore.

There is no tolerance for the lovable idiot anymore. They can only see the idiot and not the lovable side online. They can't see your face and actions online.

 

[Weird]

Many valid variables, don't forget the many exoduses over mod conflicts and community busts.

 

[CosmicGiggle]

I've bee noticing the general decline on a lot of sites.

No point in checking out the Strains forum 'cause everything's now homoginized or a poly-hybrid.

But what's really noticable is the Security forums - they're dead everywhere!

 

[floralheart]

The forum I really miss is the one with all the incognito Playboy and Penthouse models on it talking about their travel plans and makeup. And, I'll never tell.

 

[floralheart]

Because people can turn on you in a minute over one issue.

People can't constructively criticize people. It has to be confrontational.

Snobs.

Intolerance.

Hatred more easily reveled then in real life.

Everybody was starving for cannabis information in years past and now we are stuffed so full we can't eat anymore.

There is no tolerance for the lovable idiot anymore. They can only see the idiot and not the lovable side online. They can't see your face and actions online.

Welcome back to high school. We missed you.

 

[RB56]

1) NSA revelations have made it pretty clear that no matter what precautions you take, a person or machine is going to see it. Every post makes me think about whether I'm going to be interesting enough to be a target.

2) Commercialization of the sites, both overt and stealth, makes it more difficult to determine the objectivity of content.

3) The legal/illegal divide breaks the sense of community.

4) Hippies are retiring