Why Are the Clubs So Dead?

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

One would think that being in a club with like-minded persons, members would be as gabby as little girls. No soap, some of the clubs have been quiet fro about 4 months and most of the activity that I see in the open clubs is new members signing up. And some of these clubs have over 30 members

[Wannatripbaby]

I'm not a part of any clubs. Mainly because I didn't feel like any of them fit me. I'm not an AB; not exactly a DL; and while I want to be, I've never been a Caregiver. But even aside from that I didn't see much of a point. We already have public forums devoted to specific groups, so it's not hard to find like-minded people. And since all you have to do to join a club is click "Join" It's really not much of an accomplishment to be a part of one. Part of the appeal of a club is Exclusivity. Most clubs make it hard to join, not because they don't want new members, but because they want membership to mean something. Having a club that anyone can join is no different than having no club at all.

That's just my 2 cents anyway.

[rusty pins]

I used to belong to several clubs.  Flying clubs, train clubs, hunting clubs.  There may be a roster of over 200 members in a club, but come meeting night you are lucky to see 35 or 40.  Som you never see and haven't seen in 10 years!  They send in their dues each year and that's that.  Some for hunting may figure out if they belong to the club, they can use the rifle range once a year to sight in their gun before hunting, and that's all they need.  Train club people don't ever show except for the few die hard ones.  There is a model airplane club in Ohio who has a large membership but limits the members.  They all are required to work several of the club functions including the nation wide 3 day event in Toledo each year.  If they don't fulfill their requirements, they are out and a new member from their waiting list is added to the club.  Who knows?  Some may just like saying they belong to such and such a club when that's all they do..... belong.  

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

It seems the more things change the more they stay the same. In my Jr. and Sr. year in high school. I was in both the Science club and the Radio-Electronics club. In both years, there were about 15 showing up for the sign-up and first 2 meetings then it was 4 of us, and the same for in both years. But when the yearboook pictures were taken, all 15 would show up

[Wannatripbaby]

So you see? That's the problem. In real life, even when a club membership doesn't cost you anything, you still get the benefit of being able to claim you're a member. Here you've got no cost, but also no benefits. 

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Clubs have their own forum and blogs so that you are not really clogging up the main forum with specializeddiscussions. I do not know if theyhave their own phot albums as there is no real description of what is in the club package

[Wannatripbaby]

I don't see the appeal of "Specialized discussion forums" when this is already a niche community. If a person is that worried about whi will see their post they'll simply message specific people.

We're already a small group of closely knit members who all share a common interest. Isn't that the same as a club? What good is it to have clubs within clubs?

[Rockies Fan in Diapers]

25 minutes ago, Wannatripbaby said:

I don't see the appeal of "Specialized discussion forums" when this is already a niche community. If a person is that worried about whi will see their post they'll simply message specific people.

We're already a small group of closely knit members who all share a common interest. Isn't that the same as a club? What good is it to have clubs within clubs?

None in my opinion, "Clubs within Clubs" tend to become "cliques" which I don't like, because then in my experience it makes it even harder to engage with others & make new friends because the "clique" is like: "Well you're not in our clique, so you're not included."

[Missy Q]

8 minutes ago, Rockies Fan in Diapers said:

None in my opinion, "Clubs within Clubs" tend to become "cliques" which I don't like, because then in my experience it makes it even harder to engage with others & make new friends because the "clique" is like: "Well you're not in our clique, so you're not included."

I 2nd this. In my experience such things turn toxic very quickly.

[WillDL]

Saw your post about 'clubs' in the sidebar.  Puzzled about what you were talking about, clicked on it.   Didn't even notice the 'clubs' tab until I read this thread!

I agree with many of the others.  This board is a 'club' already, although the posts are public.  I suppose that's the difference.  Public posts vs. not.

[vvp39]

I'm another one who didn't know what 'clubs' were under discussion....

 

[Babyqtboy]

Same, had no clue there were clubs lol

[LittleAmytheil]

I think it would help if most of us knew the purpose/advantages of clubs. Can anyone start one?  What precisely is it, just a series of additional forums or chats?  Or is it similar to 'liking' a page on Facebook with like minded people.