According to a member I've talked too, the reason behind the (nowadays) lack of activity is (also) because of the switch of forum type from smf to xenforo, which alienated/intimidated many members.
The community has been steadily decreasing even before the forum software update. On the other hand, the forums reached its peak way back in 2009... those were the good 'ol days
Then why has it become like this? I know that people's interests can change, but from a very active forum in 2009 to a "ghost" forum in 2016 doesn't make any sense, especially when Romulation is about retro gaming. Now that many game stores sell retro-inspired products, and many people are interested in classic gaming again, this website should be more active than it is now. Nowadays I only see new threads/posts about downloading issues or technical questions about flash cards, and not so much discussions about other game-related things.
As I said... Interests change. A lot of the former active folks have left to pursue other interests, you know things like school, relationships other hobbies. Also a lot of the hell raisers (trolls) in the forums have gotten inactive because no one's talking about stuff anymore. Sad truth is, the forum is dying because people have grown up and lost interest in community boards. Also we could blame Social media as well, with Twitter and Facebook eating up peoples' lives these days.
Then maybe I'm an exception because I try to be here and post something, despite I have commitments IRL as well. However, from what I've seen, there are forums which are still thriving with life, so I wouldn't say forums are "out of the way" in this decade yet.
I remember the forum was more active than this only a year ago. I do what I can from my part, reply to threads and creating new ones. But as long as my IT skills are extremely limited, I'm afraid I can't provide much to the forum. It's a pity really. I've experienced other forums before (including DGemu). The Romulation forum itself is the only reason I come back here from time to time, even if I haven't downloaded a single game from the site for some time.
Talk about having limited IT skills, how about lacking any at all LOL Unless you include having an inkling of how to use emulators properly as an IT skill as that's mostly what I've got.
LOL I would include that as an IT skill. I have basic skills regarding turning on and off devices, start programs and browsing on the Internet. But start making things more complicated like the discussions (on Romulation) about flash cards, firmware and emulators' advanced functions which I surely don't even know about (or care), then I'm totally out of your league.
I decided to swing by today for the first time since forever. Hello everyone. See you again in a couple of years.
When I first joined this website, I wasn't really interested in the forums. Judging by the forum posts being very far apart from each other in terms of when they were posted, I can tell this forum declined in activity. Now, I'd be hard pressed to find anything worth talking about here. So anyways, I noticed that there are no Japanese Sega Saturn ISO's here, but I have a few games that I can share here.
It is a viscious circle in the long run. The forum declines in activity, and when it's difficult to find a thread to respond to, the forum activity declines further. I'm normally not a forum person. But I find Romulation to be a pleasant emulation community with roms to download (unlike DGemu), so I do my best to repay it by trying to be active. Cool!
The forums are mostly dead yes. Only reason they're still here is because of all the old links and the user system is integrated with it. Most talk for the regular members happens in our slack channel now.
well im back its that time of year... happy holidays... and a big shout out to all that keep this place going... now to go get some games!. just got my kid the sky3ds card. or Santa did lol