Hehe, I don't think she was meant it as a slight on this site, but yeah we'll never have two million members. I don't even think I could keep up with that. We do have a small group of users currently writing frequent journals though and it's interesting to keep up with.

That section of the forum has never been completely dead, but I would say its current level of activity is healthy.

He's right it wasnt meant that way Im just saying to OP the hardwork might pay off when it gets even healthier busy than it is so not to stop bc he enjoys it and so do a few others.

Thank god. Forums with too damn many members where every thread has three pages of two word posts after the first ten minutes of it being put up are the worst.

Feelin' the love here guys! :love: Thanks for all your kind comments.

I think I look at the journals section in the way I do because for a long time it was my one and only home here. I never ventured out and in fact I posted so much there that it got a bit silly (we're talking like four posts a day, every day!), to the point that I was called (jokingly) a "journal-updating fiend", a title I can't deny.

But once I got out into the forum proper I began to make some new friends and it just seemed like that time in my journal had sustained me through some pretty bad times in my life, and I thought others would probably get the same enjoyment out of it, if only they tried. I wouldn't claim I'm responsible for anyone starting a journal, but I know people like Unknown Soldier, Big Ears, even the mighty Batlord himself won't mind me saying that I think I was at least an influence on their beginning theirs. I've done all I can to encourage people to try, and by and large, when people do they generally seem to enjoy it.

The journal section is certainly busier now than it has been in a while, with new journals springing up almost every week. I understand that for those for whom the sun shines writing a journal may not be top of your priorities, but I don't see any real slowdown; if anything it's the opposite, as I think DJ mentioned.

The update thread has been a big success and I'm glad about that, as it was greeted initially with a less than lukewarm response but has now garnered a lot of interest. What I love about the journals is that there is no set of rules you have to follow: really, if you want to write about the birds of western Europe or cakes of the world, you're as welcome to do that as someone writing a deep treatise on the impact of death metal on music, or someone investigating classical composers of the 18th century. You can, literally, do anything, as my Couch Potato and Batlord's Batcave have proven.

So thanks for the compliments; I'll always do all I can to encourage participation in the journals, and to let people know what's being written there, as we all want our stuff to be read. The table I'm leaning towards winding up; I know a few people want it kept but it really is a huge amount of work and I have four journals to look after, plus the update itself. Somewhere in around the fringes of that I want to fit in my pathetic little life as well, and more to the point, Gavin's idea of an "opt-out" would I think kill the whole idea and skew the table. Perhaps competition is not the best way to do this; some people have admitted (probably not seriously) that the only reason they update is to move on up the chart. That's not the reason you should update, and I would not want to encourage that kind of thinking.

I think at this point the decision is more or less made. Maybe I was just looking for an excuse not to have to do this any more. It really is a pretty massive task to take on and for the slight return in interest I can't say it's worth my while. But thanks to all for your comments, and rest assured, whatever happens, the update thread will continue, and only grow more interesting and detailed as time goes on.

Thanks again guys and continue to post here if you have any more views; I'll sleep on it but think I've decided to wind it up. Sorry to anyone who genuinely enjoyed it, but I can't really justify that amount of work for so small a percentage of the journal members.

Toodles!

Trollheart, you are doing a fantastic job making the Journal section more lively and keeping it going. If you like to do the table, then do it man. If not, drop it. It's up to you. Do what you like. :)

At least you're one of the bright ones on here that understands how it works.:wave:

Btw I'm one of the ones that's voted for scrapping the league, quite simply because Trollheart' s talents would be better suited elsewhere or in another project. I don't feel he'll ever get back what he puts into it and it takes up a lot of his time as well.

Trollheart has basically transformed the whole journal thread by both helping and encouraging others (he certainly helped me) and the amount of journals being updated on a regular basis is quite astounding! I think he should be made up to president asap.

The **** are you talking about, mate? I know that if I update more often than once a week I get more points and that if I make my posts different than just a review I get more points. Other than that I'm confused as all hell.

So... I asked before and no one answered: What's the League Table?

Check out the Weekly Update Thread. You might see it.

Sorry Jansz. It is, or was, a (so far) short-lived attempt to create a kind of Premier League Table (English soccer) so that each journal could earn points through posts, views, comments and so on, and the best would climb to the top. Bit of a stupid idea it would seem, as it wasn't terribly well received or supported, and I stopped doing it after a month due to the amount of work involved versus the small return. Powerstars thinks it's worth re-jigging and trying again; I'm not so sure but will be interested to see how it plays out.

If you want to see examples, check the last few updates (though not the most recent) in the Journal Update Thread.