Breathing Life Back Into SD

[Bonaventure]

In case anyone hasn't noticed, I've probably posted more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 6 years.

That is not a coincidence. I'm trying to do all I can to try to jumpstart this forum into that which it once was - the undisputed greatest traditional Catholic forum in the Anglosphere, and perhaps the best in the world hands down.

What more can we do?

More threads? Variety of topics?
Social activities?

FE had a karaoke completion (which I won) as well as giveaways.

I also remember real life meet ups. I've met @VeraeFidei, @OCLittleFlower, @Greg, and @Kaesekopf in person. However, in 2023, I doubt that is a prudent or tenable thing to do.

Folks, I'm all ears!

[Mister Cowboy]

Like I said when I first got here, I'd like to start writing a story set in an alternate history or write historical fiction. To fulfill this I have amassed an ever-growing collection of memoirs written by many people in the past. Over the past month I've wondered if I am just wasting my time but we'll see. One thing I'd like to add is that if we do write a story it should be religious in character and aim to educate Catholics (and also even Non-Catholics) about the True Faith. And to add joy to our activity, we should also entertain our readers.

I also like to watch old anime and I am always hunting to look at the playthroughs of good games so you can discuss these things with me. I talked a little about both during my stay here and when everything went silent I myself got quiet too. And hey, when I wrote a suggestion to try a game called "A Legionary's Life" I later discovered by watching a playthrough that had an option to increase the main character's morale by offering a sacrifice. So much for my hopes of wishing there wasn't anything pagan there.

I'd like to learn Latin so maybe you can talk to me in that language so I can get more practice.

Also, I am looking for Latin prayers and the English translations of those. I'd like to bless people, bless crops, and bless sacramentals and so on.

I keep buying books in real life and so I am running out of space in my house to keep them. So, when I've turned to the Internet Archive I keep getting even more books online this time.

I've been hanging around the forums here for quite some time but not many things seem to interest me or I haven't found anything to say or I just didn't feel like saying anything. So, that explains why I've been here the whole time without saying much. There's arguments with the Sede people, but I don't know a lot about the crisis in the Church so I stay out of these topics. I haven't taken my duty seriously to properly make sure that I have been catechized by reading the entire catechism but I do keep reading Catholic articles and videos online.

I think I spend too much time on the screen. Going out every day might be helpful in my case.

Well, I've shared my thoughts and I hope I helped out. There's threads in where people post what they've listened to, what they read and what YouTube videos they're watching... right now I don't know what else to add.

[awkward customer]

In case anyone hasn't noticed, I've probably posted more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 6 years.

That is not a coincidence. I'm trying to do all I can to try to jumpstart this forum into that which it once was - the undisputed greatest traditional Catholic forum in the Anglosphere, and perhaps the best in the world hands down.

What more can we do?

More threads? Variety of topics?
Social activities?

FE had a karaoke completion (which I won) as well as giveaways.

I also remember real life meet ups. I've met @VeraeFidei, @OCLittleFlower, @Greg, and @Kaesekopf in person. However, in 2023, I doubt that is a prudent or tenable thing to do.

Folks, I'm all ears!

Is it possible to have a look at the forum statistics and see when the decline started?  And then try to pinpoint a reason, or reasons, depending on what was going on at the time.

[drummerboy]

Yes I did notice.  I think you posted more in St. Joseph's Workbench today than most of us have in a year lol

[Bonaventure]

In case anyone hasn't noticed, I've probably posted more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 6 years.

That is not a coincidence. I'm trying to do all I can to try to jumpstart this forum into that which it once was - the undisputed greatest traditional Catholic forum in the Anglosphere, and perhaps the best in the world hands down.

What more can we do?

More threads? Variety of topics?
Social activities?

FE had a karaoke completion (which I won) as well as giveaways.

I also remember real life meet ups. I've met @VeraeFidei, @OCLittleFlower, @Greg, and @Kaesekopf in person. However, in 2023, I doubt that is a prudent or tenable thing to do.

Folks, I'm all ears!

Is it possible to have a look at the forum statistics and see when the decline started?  And then try to pinpoint a reason, or reasons, depending on what was going on at the time.

There are many reasons I can think of:

-abysmal moderation (I bare some culpability)
-disagreements and lack of charity
-Francis fatigue

I think that all three are related.

There have been several mini-schisms/exoduses here over the year, usually over disagreements, name calling, misunderstandings, or not getting one's way.

Someone here whom I respect and am friends with "IRL" wasn't on good terms with me because I was the one who banned him per the Mods agreement (talking 10 years ago or so)
 He's probably forgotten all that took place.

Hell, even I myself left for a while and quit as a mod when I wasn't getting my perceived way.

His Humbleness has unfortunately been around for 10 years and that one lung is still going strong. There is an absolute burnout and fatigue when talking about the problems in the Church. As many of us have opined, even if he were to go, there isn't a Cardinal Siri lying in wait that could somehow win. To me, Burke and Sarah are spineless wimps.

These all contribute to the lack of moderation. I think @Kaesekopf agrees with me that it becomes tiring and a chore to have to police the same issues which are usually:

1. Lack of charity
2. Spam
3. Trolling
4. Dogmatic SV or Sedeplenists calling each other non-Catholic.

Combine this with a general decline of forum participation across the board, and you end up where we are.

Multiple FB Catholic groups I am in are the same. A handful of people post every day, like clockwork, and that's it. We aren't seeing replacement numbers.

Finally, life gets in the way. After a certain point, we simply need to get on with things and live our duties of state. There isn't much more to talk about. The NO sucks, our parishes (for the most part) suck, and God has not deigned to restore our society, governments, and Church, just yet.

[Bonaventure]

An example of Francis fatigue is the thread I made on his latest appointment in La Plata. That guy is the replacement for his boy, Tucho Fernandez.

In 2012, if Ratzinger did something like that, the equivalent FE thread would already have 4-5 pages of responses. Someone would insinuate sede vacante and lack of office, bemoan the state of the conciliar church, etc.

There would then be ecclesiology arguments, discussions on the sorry state of affairs, and the thread would slowly get old.

Now? Not one response.

We know about the BS and honestly, don't care.

I personally know the founder of 1 Peter 5. Look at where his muckraking got him. I always wanted him to stop caring about latest news in Rome and to find another job, but he didn't.

Now, he got burned out and isn't practicing.

[ChairmanJoeAintMyPrez]

I personally know the founder of 1 Peter 5. Look at where his muckraking got him. I always wanted him to stop caring about latest news in Rome and to find another job, but he didn't.

Is there more to the story than what he wrote at 1P5 and on his substack?  Because it appeared to have very little to do with muckracking

[Bonaventure]

I personally know the founder of 1 Peter 5. Look at where his muckraking got him. I always wanted him to stop caring about latest news in Rome and to find another job, but he didn't.

Is there more to the story than what he wrote at 1P5 and on his substack?  Because it appeared to have very little to do with muckracking

There is, but it involved an incident that took place at his parish.

Knowing the parish and him personally, I truly believe that posting about drama/BS every single day was the single biggest factor.

[Greg]

There's probably a generation of Trads that do forums and the generation below us who do social media.  Hence the lack of growth.

One good religious, geopolitical or chastisement type crisis and the engagement will rise.

[Bonaventure]

Our "generation" of posters also came of age during an exciting time - the motu proprio. The forum owner and mod team all learned about traddom during that era.

Your generation was during JP2 and the '88 consecrations.

There really isn't anything going on in the trad world right now.

1988 will soon be 40 years ago.

Most trads will have never known Archbishop Lefebvre's struggle, let alone have met him or seen him.

Bishop Williamson was once traveling the world doing his confirmation circuit, running La Reja and Winona forming generations of priests, and dominating the minds of others regarding Jews, pants, the sound of music, etc.

Now, he's pushing 85 and doesn't have a public ministry.

The other 3 bishops have kind of neglected the Anglosphere and are themselves getting very old. Fellay and de Galarreta are in the mid to late 60s. Tissier is almost 80.

All of the Resistance people splintered off and made themselves irrelevant. They have their Matthean soap box, but that's it.

[LausTibiChriste]

Our "generation" of posters also came of age during an exciting time - the motu proprio. The forum owner and mod team all learned about traddom during that era.

Your generation was during JP2 and the '88 consecrations.

There really isn't anything going on in the trad world right now.

1988 will soon be 40 years ago.

Most trads will have never known Archbishop Lefebvre's struggle, let alone have met him or seen him.

Bishop Williamson was once traveling the world doing his confirmation circuit, running La Reja and Winona forming generations of priests, and dominating the minds of others regarding Jews, pants, the sound of music, etc.

Now, he's pushing 85 and doesn't have a public ministry.

The other 3 bishops have kind of neglected the Anglosphere and are themselves getting very old. Fellay and de Galarreta are in the mid to late 60s. Tissier is almost 80.

All of the Resistance people splintered off and made themselves irrelevant. They have their Matthean soap box, but that's it.

Man, to think it's been almost 15 years I've been posting on Trad forums...wild. I feel old.

[Kaesekopf]

There's probably a generation of Trads that do forums and the generation below us who do social media.  Hence the lack of growth.

One good religious, geopolitical or chastisement type crisis and the engagement will rise.

I think this is a key factor, to be honest.  Places like Reddit and Facebook have a decent bit of "traditional Catholic" activity. 

Forums are pretty niche places, but I think that's both a blessing and a curse.

I also agree with @Bonaventure insofar as the trad world doesn't really have an impetus to "have things talked about."  I remember the flurry of motu-posting and the development of many "big time" blogs (Rorate, NLM, etc).  Nowadays, the trad world is a lot more "humdrum" and less exciting, for better or for worse....

[Greg]

When was Angelqueen?  I started there.

[awkward customer]

An example of Francis fatigue is the thread I made on his latest appointment in La Plata. That guy is the replacement for his boy, Tucho Fernandez.

In 2012, if Ratzinger did something like that, the equivalent FE thread would already have 4-5 pages of responses. Someone would insinuate sede vacante and lack of office, bemoan the state of the conciliar church, etc.

There would then be ecclesiology arguments, discussions on the sorry state of affairs, and the thread would slowly get old.

Now? Not one response.

We know about the BS and honestly, don't care.

I remember the heady days of the moto proprio.  Nothing like that happens now. There's no sign of any restoration, even partial.  Things just grind on and get worse.  A lot of people are past caring.

There's more talk of the End Times/Antichrist/Chastisement now than at any time I can remember - and I've been joining in.  It's almost as if people are waiting for some kind of event to put everything right because nothing they've done so far has stopped the nonsense that comes out of Rome on a weekly basis.

Of course there will be spiritual remedies for the malaise that seems to be setting in.   Which Saints had to live though this kind of 'Waiting for Godot' nightmare that never ends because Godot never arrives?

 

[Bonaventure]

When was Angelqueen?  I started there.

'05-'06