Where has everyone gone to ?

[scotrace]

There are so many that were here in the beginning years that have moved on to other things, like the above mentioned Baron Kurtz. I used to speak regularly by phone with a guy who had a massive collection of top quality Panama hats. I can't even remember his name now. We lost touch and I finally called him some years ago to find he'd dumped the hats and was all about his new show truck passion.
Then there's BellyTank, who really amassed an amazing setup of vintage safari and explorer gear--he's very much missed.
Some, very regrettably, had to be pulled out of circulation due to repeated problems, but are also missed around here.
I miss most of all, the large population of women who were all over the forums daily. Creating their own "safe space" and keeping men away from that area seemed to cause a loss of interest and now there are few.

 

[Pilgrim]

I've been missing in action for a few years, but came back recently. I was very active for a few years but my interests went in other directions when I ended up with about three times more good hats than I could wear!

I don't see any ads for hats in the classifieds, and I have about a dozen that I'm getting ready to sell, including 40s through 60s Stetsons and a nice Borsalino. Has the hat market dried up? I'd like folks here to get the first shot at them, so I'll list them, but they'll also go on Ebay.

Are hats still selling here??

I retired in 2019 and haven't been out around on biz much since then, so I don't use my hat collection as much as I did. I'm going to thin it out, including one tan Stratoliner and a couple of Whippets.

And about spammers and bots...I moderate two automotive forums and we get a bit of spam there, but the forums both use the same software which is different from that in use here. I can check the new members list daily and quite often spot spammers that have just joined, and catch them before they post. On one of those forums I ban an average of 4-6 spammers a day. Lots of spam member IPs are from India, Viet Nam and even a few from the Middle East and Australia. I cheerfully nuke them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Msny women I know personally have moved on from forums, in general, because they don't feel comfortable, the world being what it is today, in posting too much informtation about themselves. I know more than a few who no longer participate in any form of social media due to one too many d**k pics in their private messaging on whatever platform they happen to be using, to say nothing of the threat of photos being extracted and used for nefarious purposes. To be female and online in 2025 is to have to be alert and cautious in a way that is quite different from what it was in 2006.

Some other factors -- many of the women who were here 15-20 years ago were part of the swing-dancing/reenacting scene, which is no longer what it was. Fifteen or twenty years later most of them have likely moved on to other things, other interests, other obligations. Women, generally speaking, do not "collect" in the way that men do -- there is less interest in cataloguing, routining, and classifying possessions than in simply using them. I don't collect clothes, I wear them, and when they wear out I cut them up and use the fabric for something else. And as the emphasis of the FL has shifted over the years -- I think most people stumbling over the site in a search today would see it as a place for the hat-and-leather-jacket aficionado, and if they don't have any interest in that they're just going to move on. Another factor -- while some might think the "trad wife" movement might attract women to the FL, the very heavy political overtones of that movement will far more likely draw TWs to forums where that particular kinder-kuche-kirche political worldview is the point.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Are hats still selling here??

In the analog world? I can only speak for West-Europe, but yes! The market was never dead. Especially leather hats are quite a thing here. And also Panama hats in the summer. Sure, fishing hats, too.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Msny women I know personally have moved on from forums, in general, because they don't feel comfortable, the world being what it is today, in posting too much informtation about themselves. I know more than a few who no longer participate in any form of social media due to one too many d**k pics in their private messaging on whatever platform they happen to be using, to say nothing of the threat of photos being extracted and used for nefarious purposes. To be female and online in 2025 is to have to be alert and cautious in a way that is quite different from what it was in 2006.

Some other factors -- many of the women who were here 15-20 years ago were part of the swing-dancing/reenacting scene, which is no longer what it was. Fifteen or twenty years later most of them have likely moved on to other things, other interests, other obligations. Women, generally speaking, do not "collect" in the way that men do -- there is less interest in cataloguing, routining, and classifying possessions than in simply using them. I don't collect clothes, I wear them, and when they wear out I cut them up and use the fabric for something else. And as the emphasis of the FL has shifted over the years -- I think most people stumbling over the site in a search today would see it as a place for the hat-and-leather-jacket aficionado, and if they don't have any interest in that they're just going to move on. Another factor -- while some might think the "trad wife" movement might attract women to the FL, the very heavy political overtones of that movement will far more likely draw TWs to forums where that particular kinder-kuche-kirche political worldview is the point.

Yeah, I liked the time, when everyone sat on his desktop computer at home and had to think about what to do, while beeing online. But the Homo Smartphonicus era finally screwed it...

Can we roll back to Homo Sapiens, anyhow??

 

[tonyb]

Visions of a family gathered at a hospital cafeteria while their loved one is slipping away up on the seventh floor.

Any mention of heroic lifesaving measures? Too late for that? No?

 

[tonyb]

… Women, generally speaking, do not "collect" in the way that men do -- there is less interest in cataloguing, routining, and classifying possessions than in simply using them. I don't collect clothes, I wear them, and when they wear out I cut them up and use the fabric for something else. And as the emphasis of the FL has shifted over the years -- I think most people stumbling over the site in a search today would see it as a place for the hat-and-leather-jacket aficionado, and if they don't have any interest in that they're just going to move on.

My experience says otherwise. Among my swag is quite an assortment of vintage tableware and cookware — think Homer Laughlin Fiesta and Cathrineholm enamel on steel pots and pans. The overwhelming majority of people in those online “communities” of aficionados are women, and many have pieces they never use for fear of damaging them.

 

[scotrace]

I am processing about 150-200 new applicants a day, on average--few of which get in.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Msny women I know personally have moved on from forums, in general, because they don't feel comfortable, the world being what it is today, in posting too much informtation about themselves. I know more than a few who no longer participate in any form of social media due to one too many d**k pics in their private messaging on whatever platform they happen to be using, to say nothing of the threat of photos being extracted and used for nefarious purposes. To be female and online in 2025 is to have to be alert and cautious in a way that is quite different from what it was in 2006.

Some other factors -- many of the women who were here 15-20 years ago were part of the swing-dancing/reenacting scene, which is no longer what it was. Fifteen or twenty years later most of them have likely moved on to other things, other interests, other obligations. Women, generally speaking, do not "collect" in the way that men do -- there is less interest in cataloguing, routining, and classifying possessions than in simply using them. I don't collect clothes, I wear them, and when they wear out I cut them up and use the fabric for something else. And as the emphasis of the FL has shifted over the years -- I think most people stumbling over the site in a search today would see it as a place for the hat-and-leather-jacket aficionado, and if they don't have any interest in that they're just going to move on. Another factor -- while some might think the "trad wife" movement might attract women to the FL, the very heavy political overtones of that movement will far more likely draw TWs to forums where that particular kinder-kuche-kirche political worldview is the point.

Thank you for this perspective, Lizzie. Your first paragraph is a sad commentary on the state of things. As a boring, old, middle class, rule follower (mostly surrounded by other boring, old, middle class rule followers) I sometimes forget that the online world Is a bit like the old Wild West; not a comfortable/safe place for women.

I am processing about 150-200 new applicants a day, on average--few of which get in.

Well, this is a glimmer of hope. Thanks for the update, Scot.

 

[tonyb]

I am processing about 150-200 new applicants a day, on average--few of which get in.

Interesting, that. What is it that keeps them from joining up? Please indulge this marginally (at best) tech-literate old man who has heard of bots and phony profiles and the like but doesn’t really understand much of that.

 

[scotrace]

It's pretty straightforward: Many are pre-marked by the software as having been flagged as a troll or spammer elsewhere, so they get an automatic rejection. Some get in safely, then immediately go about beefing their profile to include promoting this or that endeavor, including not a few attempting to drum up customers for middle eastern escort services. Some sign up with smarty pants or obviously porny names. These groups obviously don't get in the door.
It's a line-by-line accept/decline chore.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
Sounds like a chore indeed. I suppose that in some cases the motives are financial — which is kinda sleazy but at least it’s understandable. But the older I get the more I have just come to accept that some people enjoy being ****s.
It has been my ill fortune to have known such characters. They are generally miserable themselves and do what they can to spread the misery around.