Is Oldhammer dying?

I don't think it's dying, but like other posters have said, Facebook and Instagram are just easier to get pictures up. I for one like to put a bit of a description of whatever I've painted on my blog, which generally means I using a keyboard rather than mashing my thumbs on my too sensitive iPhone screen. I also resent apples habit of changing what I type without a by your leave. In short, I blog in a considered manner but it is far easier to throw up a pic on Instagram or Facebook without as much effort.
 
I have to admit that after a couple of years of trying to encourage people to post on the forum I drifted away myself. I don't like the Facebook format, I much prefer the forum, but the ease of the social media platform has been appealing especially when I have had less headspace over the last year.

I am never one to celebrate when the layout/format of something changes and I have to relearn to use it, but I do feel there are elements to the forum design that could be adjusted to make it more user-friendly in terms of posting and keeping track of interesting threads. I'm not a web designer so unfortunately I couldn't advise as to what platform to use but the Discourse that KNC mentions sounds like it may be worth checking out.
 
If Discourse is a method to get the forum back up and running then I'll second Fimms seconding of KNC. I've re-joined the community user group (well ok I never actually left I just forgot that it existed) and am willing to assist.
 
I keep posting, as I am a creature of habit and fond of 'ye olden days'. That said, I made my website version due to the Photobucket fiasco and the growing fear that the forums would collapse.

I noticed the quietness here, and elsewhere, which (oddly) has saved me a lot of time as I slowly replace the pics in the earlier sections of campaign with better ones. I am changing them on my website and using them for the video version, but I have avoided the hours of repetitive work splicing them into the forum versions as I assumed no one would see them anyway and so it would be a wasteful use of my time. I am behind on a million hobby projects and so I have to really think hard about where I put my time in.

Interestingly I note that the Lead Adventure forum is still VERY busy. I use IMGUR links there too, but maybe they have a direct upload? I am not sure. EEFL is moderately busy, not much more than here I think, and The Wargames Forum gets some regular traffic. Warhammer Empire chugs on too. There's been a recent revamp of the Carpe Noctem forum which may be having an effect there. Maybe.
 
Only problem on forums ( I think ) is image uploading and all that related. Many images are no longer existing due to expired links or similar. All in all, forums are nice place for people that got something to say or show or similar compared to other fast platforms for those who doesn't got the time ( funny, as people today work less then before and got far more free time then before. While on work they knocking on smartphones, while driving, walking, talking, listening,... of course they all need their own time and all haha plonkers ) where there are trolls ( unfortunately not the Stone Trolls ) with stupid comments ( fortunately as people are lazy by nature so trolls moved to much faster media with stronger "impact" ) or people that like, comment but if you ask them what they liked, I bet that 90% of them couldn't even remember. I don't think if that's something to strive for. Forums got specific layout and they look as they look. Plenty of people moved to Discord, which is complete mayhem even when you one on one ( like I am ).

I think less and less people like to actually read something, just fragments that explains them everything in that second and they think they full of it. Just look how people use tutorials on YB haha tutorial 3 minutes long, bloke spends 5 minutes going back and forth looking for that 10 seconds that ( he thinks ) he needs. Everything is like that today. Short, now and begone.
 
The days of free image hosting are quickly disappearing. They may last on a few deep data-mines like Facebook, but even the Googz is increasingly limiting their products. As for myself, I'd be happy to pay a small annual fee to the forums, and I do pay for image hosting elsewhere. (And website hosting, for that matter.) This is a very visual hobby, so I can easily believe image resources will always fill up fast. Don't know that I have a good answer to that one. I presume that images hosted elsewhere do not count against local totals? I hope?
 
There is probably a few things at play.

Forums being a little more difficult to post to is one. eg the Facebook group has 460 posts from the last month.

People naturally move on. Hobbies and interests shift over time. Oldhammer was driven by a relatively small number of people and it doesn't take much for some of them to change their focus or move on and the number of posts drops dramatically. eg I know I have shifted into 6 mm Napoleonics more over the last four years.

Covid is an obvious one. Difficult to game face to face.
 
I agree that it is the forum format that is on its way out, rather than the 'oldhammer' hobby. I also agree with everyone who says they prefer blogs! I even have a very much unread blog (like everyone else).

I'd been keen to see the forum format reinvigorated and updated in some way that is not facebook.
 
Your blog is great - loads of good content- I think the forum has some way of linking to blogs so that whenever you post it links in here automatically. Admin can probably advise but please do as it’s a shame for your paint jobs not to be shared more widely
 
I think the biggest problem is that there are massive numbers of people on Instagram and Facebook. What sucks is that they won't even use a decent site like Tumblr, just these two. Instagram doesn't even allow uploading images from PC!
Not to mention both being owned by a comically evil corporation.
 
I agree with the majority of posters. I used to be highly active here but as I have two jobs and other commitments it is much easier for me to post my projects and photos on IG and FB rather than the much slower process of drafting a post on here. I still come and read others work; but rarely have the time to go and save photos on IMGUR then type old-style text commands to get them linked on here.

I reckon if we found a quicker, easier interface then we’d see a resurgence in posts and attendance!
 
Legiocustodes":2tzwru4l said:
I agree with the majority of posters. I used to be highly active here but as I have two jobs and other commitments it is much easier for me to post my projects and photos on IG and FB rather than the much slower process of drafting a post on here. I still come and read others work; but rarely have the time to go and save photos on IMGUR then type old-style text commands to get them linked on here.

I reckon if we found a quicker, easier interface then we’d see a resurgence in posts and attendance!
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In relation to posting photos use the Tapatalk app. So much easier.

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I still play 8th edition but was looking at Oldhammer editions. The main issue - the books going for stupid money on eBay, etc.

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Sir Steve":l8v5mld8 said:
I still play 8th edition but was looking at Oldhammer editions. The main issue - the books going for stupid money on eBay, etc.

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It's something that I find seriously depressing about the whole thing. Like, earlier this year, I paid a price of a Kill Team starter set for Book of Astronomican and it was an occasion because typically it costs the price of two Kill Team starter sets now. I literally grabbed it literally 1,5 hours after it was put on sale.
Like one thing that I dislike about Oldhammer is that the general lack of future. There won't be new Oldhammer Space Marines, no book reprints outside what was in Warhammer World, etc. models and books are so expensive, etc.

When I first got into Oldhammer back in 2009, I quickly ran into the general problem of no futureness of Rogue Trader and also, seeing lost opportunities in it, so I started working on my own stuff:

https://illuminations-of-eternal-warfar ... was-in-the
https://illuminations-of-eternal-warfar ... e-were-the

I tried to learn how to draw in style of some of darkest illustrations of Rogue Trader books, culminating with this drawing (link]), but people weren't interested in supporting my work so I've quit because it's not worth putting in hundreds of hours of work for nothing.

When I saw Ion Age for the first time, (link) back in 2015, I immediately thought that it could be a successor of Rogue Trader or something like that. Like I think that stuff like this, could be the future.
Like we need to create something new out of the old or we're condemned to fade away as the limited amount of books and miniatures is bought up.
 
AranaszarSzuur":23uatlqv said:
Like one thing that I dislike about Oldhammer is that the general lack of future. There won't be new Oldhammer Space Marines, no book reprints outside what was in Warhammer World, etc. models and books are so expensive, etc.
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I mean, that's the very reason it exists. At it's very base level, it's a nostalgic, backward looking movement, but that's not to say there isn't a future in it, it's just not coming (directly) from GW. The fact the original resources are fixed means that anyone who wants to create something new has to do it themselves, so it's still a very creative subsection of the GW/wargaming world.

AranaszarSzuur":23uatlqv said:
Like we need to create something new out of the old or we're condemned to fade away as the limited amount of books and miniatures is bought up.
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The world of 3d printing is the best possibility for a 'new direction' in Oldhammer. As well as people (including myself) creating Oldhammer-inspired 3d designs. This, for example, is a model I printed from a freely available file online:

IMG-1013.jpg


And it's not the only model, someone's recreated a bunch of C100 style Space Marines, and there's a copy of the Deodorant Hovertank out there too. There's also the fact that the likes of Photogrammetry and professional 3d scanners are just starting to make inroads into the hobby.
 
I've got mixed feelings about 3D printing and fan community. I tough that fans would make something new because, as mentioned, lack of new stories and miniatures and all, but in reality all I saw so far ( and I didn't look too far ) is hunting free STLs on internet and basically doing nothing except printing resins, but there is no material like good ole lead hehe classic

Dieselmonkey, this print looks nice. What printer did you use?
 
Also, army books for 8th edition are selling for more then army books for 4th or 5th edition. I've sold Lizardmen 8th for 60 GBP and bought 6 army books 4th and 5th in mint condition for that money. Chaos, Orcs and similar sold for 35 GBP. So there isn't big difference. Of course there are sellers with high prices but when they go on bidding, dust and bones of prices. Specially if they don't ship outside UK for some reason.
 
Loose Loser":8erljad1 said:
I've got mixed feelings about 3D printing and fan community. I tough that fans would make something new because, as mentioned, lack of new stories and miniatures and all, but in reality all I saw so far ( and I didn't look too far ) is hunting free STLs on internet and basically doing nothing except printing resins, but there is no material like good ole lead hehe classic
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The problem with publicly available files is that GW DCMA's them as fast as they find them, so they tend to be 'hidden' with strange names etc to avoid being found. Ultramarines tend to go with 'Smurf' related names for example, lol. Scanned miniatures don't turn up in public at all, for obvious reasons.

Loose Loser":8erljad1 said:
Dieselmonkey, this print looks nice. What printer did you use?
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Thanks, it's a Uniz IBEE, one of the newer generation of mono screened resin printers, similar to the Elegoo Saturn etc. Once painted it's practically impossible to tell the models apart except for the weight, the layer lines are that fine.

Sadly I can't paint at the moment due to problems with my medication meaning my hands are shaking too much to get anything done currently.
 
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