Where have all the regulars gone??

I was thinking the same thing!

ATB, MM3, FTLOMB, are one's I've noticed are missing. Maybe they've found somewhere more interesting to hang out! ?

Hello

a lot of regulars now have small people and new husbands and new jobs which take up some time.

Maybe we can organise a Christmas, virtual reunion!

I haven't seen Mini post for a while either.

Don't think I count as a regular but I am still here!!

Maybe they don't love us any more ☹️

It's sad not seeing those familiar names - lots of lovely newish ones of course xx

Yeah it's great to see lots of newbies, but I miss the oldies too!

I was only thinking I hadn't seen ATB for a while! I just assumed it was a member shift with the new bride to be's coming in and most of the newly married ladies fading away. Is that not how it normally works?

I still lurk and read but as said above, small people and extra busy lives just mean less time free to post :-(

I don't come here much. My husband is no longer new, I don't have small people and am so out of tune with popular culture I don't have much to say.

But since i didn't get a name check either I'm not being missed enough!

I didn't get a shout out either AC

I agree that forum members move on, but Hitched definitely didn't help themselves by removing the BT forum and never listening to concerns over the googleability of the forum. I still pop back from time to time and comment where I can but its not easy from my phone.

Haha l was only joking Ravioliruby.

I have been lame lately. Due to a combination of being busy at work, work making it so l can't post on work computers, our laptop playing up and PC refusing to connect to the Internet. Hopefully my new job will sort out some of those issues and buying a new laptop soon

I love you Ac and rr! It's a catch 22 for me, I rarely get time to come on here because of new job, life etc and when I do, it's so quiet or I don't know what's going on so I don't post. And the whole privacy things makes me a little cautious about posting too much.

The forum is very Googleable (not sure if that's a word!) so I can understand about people worrying about privacy. No one I know knows I'm on here though so not much of a concern for me.

I miss everyone really! There's not been much bluntness lately! ? I get that people are busy though. I mostly come on here while I'm at work!

I visit the site a couple of times a week but rarely post unless I can add sthing constructive.

as it's so quiet that's rare!

Im busy with baby & a house rennovation so unless a post involves one or the other ...

I think you have q point JoJo, MD is pretty quiet theses days too though!

I'm still here.

I'm not as prolific as I used to be, but that's because there aren't many new threads to comment on!

There is a definite lack of regulars and not that many new members migrate over here . I've also noticed no secret santa this year and are we still going to be having the hitched awards?

It is generally very quiet net-wide lately. I've noticed a distinct lack of posts on FB as well.

who normally organises the hitched awards? It's probably a little late for secret Santa though.

Maybe we need an organised meet so some of the newer otters can meet the "older" (for want of a better word!!) otters?

I pop on now and again and whilst I appreciate I'm adding to it by not coming on much, I find it a bit quiet on here and just different to how it used to be so I don't come on as much or contribute as much.

This

I hope we do have awards this year I love looking back at all the years weddings.

It's tradition for the brides getting married the following year i.e. 2015 brides for this year to organise. Do we have any 2015 brides willing to volunteer?

Pugsley do you still have the info from last years awards?

Yep!

Will be able to find my old emails if someone getting married in 2015 wants to get in contact!

We all know who'd immediately win all the awards anyway! Can't think of her name now, Alabaster or something like that? The Alice in Wonderland theme. I still tell people about that wedding!

I'm here most day's when I'm at work. Hitched is always open in the background, but I don't feel like I have much to add.

For starters, I'm waiting for my divorce to come through, so all things weddingy make me want to vom. Oh and when my Nan passed away, I became this rude d1ck who doesnt seem to have anything nice to say about anything.

Not sure if i count as a regular but at my age def an oldie! still come on and have a lurk xx

I mainly lurk.

I never thought i'd leave this place, but after 10 years, I think I have finally had enough.

That is a shame Ebony Rose. Do you mind me asking why?

Honestly? It's kind of boring now, and the privacy (or lack of) bugs me.

We used to have amazing conversations and debates, but I think people got sick of being "told off" for upsetting the WPers. Plus, getting rid of BT was a massive mistake, and stopped a lot of fab people coming on here.

My H knows I come on here, and has on occasions, done a bit of forum stalking, and I don't like having to censor what I post.

Yeah, you could close it off to anyone who was unregistered. That wouldn't necessarily stop people from googling it, they just wouldn't be able to view the results without registering. But there would be nothing to then stop them registering if they were a determined stalker. The solutions on other forums I use/moderate are:

1. Having new users' first posts approved by a moderator. On chrismoyles.net I or one of the other mods approve new users' first five posts. It weeds out spammers and trolls.

2. Having new users forced to create a 'hello I'm new' thread in a special section of the forum which they wait to be looked over and approved before they can post. This is how it works on popjustice.

However, these methods don't stop lurkers. So it's one or the other really - force genuine users to register and wait, or force those with underhand motives to register before being able to lurk.

Sorry, I semi disappeared again!

Cutting it very short - you have to post under the Hitched awards topic all the categories and then give everyone on here time to either nominate themselves or nominate others (depending on category.... But if you're interested I will send you the longer details with what is in each category). In the meantime you need to set up an email address so that people can vote.

Then on votes night you need to announce the winners!

If you're interested let me know and I will send you my email address for me to then send u all the bits you'll need and more info.

Yep, they could. All it achieves is weeding out casual stalkers (that may be an oxymoron) who can't be bothered to create an identity, post and wait to be approved. For example, on cm.net someone who I'm pretty sure was my H2B's ex registered and started a thread calling me all sorts of names. She obviously didn't realise that new members have to have their posts approved, so of course the thread didn't actually make it onto the forum. Although part of me now wishes I had let it run to see what else she had to say...

Anyway. You're right, the only way is to use an identity that has no links to your real name (ie not a name you also use on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) and be very sparse with identifying information. When I first joined here I was surprised by how many people blocked out their faces in photos. Given that I'm on all of the aforementioned social media sites, I've never really worried about it.