When I joined CT in 2000 I was member #1626 and now there are 20,000 members. Naturally it feels less intimate.
Many of the industry insiders who commented to a smallish group or enthusisasts do not post anymore since they do not want to leave a trail to 100,000 viewers.

additional dialogue: Sid Ceaser noted in the 1950's when TV's were very expensive, only rich people had them and the content was of higher caliber and catered to an older age. There were 4 channels all vying for the same audience with no VCR or Tivo for simultaneous programs. Today everybody has a TV and hundreds of channels so there is little budget for costly production such as on location sitcoms. The result is the reality show trash TV which is cheap to produce and appetizing to the libido.

What suprised me from watching the visitors was how many old posts people seem to find via Google and other sites. If you haven't checked it out yet it is worth a few minutes.

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Originally posted by desirod7:

When I joined CT in 2000 I was member #1626 and now there are 20,000 members. Naturally it feels less intimate.

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I think the main change is that there are now so many cruise web sites with discussion groups to choose from. Plus anyone can now easily (and often do) have their own blog or web site. Mind you, choice is not necessarily a bad thing for the consumer.

I still think cruisetalk is one of the best: it's not full of 'rivet counters' like a well known 'List' and it's not so dumbed down like some other 'critical' web sites.

(For the record Joe did not pay me to say that. In fact he's yet to pay me anything - but I wait in hope! )

[ 02-19-2009: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

I still think cruisetalk is one of the best: it's not full of 'rivet counters' like a well known 'List' and it's not so dumbed down like some other 'critical' web sites.
[ 02-19-2009: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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I agree, Cruise Talk has the best format for me, with ease-of-use and appropriate break-down of topic categories. But there is definitely a lot of cross-over in the types of people who post on all the boards.

In defense of that certain "List", it was designed for those interested in ship history, ocean liners, etc.: the rivet counters. Yet almost daily there are folks who want to turn it into a Cruise-Chat forum, with lots of trivial discussion on modern day cruising etc. This has turned off many of the traditional posters who would have lots of informative material to share.

And we have our share of Rivet Counters here at CT--witness how many people had their knickers in a twist over the shade of red on Cunard's funnels, or the color of OASIS' hull, etc.

I guess the bottom line is that some tolerance is required as people post in multiple venues, all coming from different backgrounds.

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Originally posted by Linerrich:

I agree, Cruise Talk has the best format for me, with ease-of-use and appropriate break-down of topic categories. But there is definitely a lot of cross-over in the types of people who post on all the boards.

In defense of that certain "List", it was designed for those interested in ship history, ocean liners, etc.: the rivet counters. Yet almost daily there are folks who want to turn it into a Cruise-Chat forum, with lots of trivial discussion on modern day cruising etc. This has turned off many of the traditional posters who would have lots of informative material to share.

And we have our share of Rivet Counters here at CT--witness how many people had their knickers in a twist over the shade of red on Cunard's funnels, or the color of OASIS' hull, etc.

I guess the bottom line is that some tolerance is required as people post in multiple venues, all coming from different backgrounds.

Rich

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CruiseTalk with all the 10 subforums and each topic its own thread one can ignore cruise chitchat if not interested, or ignore the rivet counters, and not have to sift through a long list of posts which is a weakness of the yahoo group architecture.

The ability to insert photos makes the board very interesting especially when people like Ocean Liners, and Linerrich share their photos.

Joe does an excellent job of moderating so one can speak one's mind, yet remove temper outbursts or change direction of a thread. This is what keeps cruisetalk interesting instead of vapid chitchat.

Liners List is not what it used to be.
Rumor has it that Yahoo may close down it's groups next year. I heard that from a large University IT manager at a conference.