[Rick Craig]

First off, just want to say that AC has always been a great vehicle for smaller companies like mine. Overall it seems the site's traffic is down and I can only speculate as to why. Thoughts?

[FullRangeMan]

Maybe hollyday seasons imo.

[charmerci]

Which time period are you talking about?

I'd say, the audio economy is lessening and those who want more expensive stuff have bought what they've wanted over the last few years and are pretty content with what they have, i.e. reaching a saturation point.

[JohnR]

Thoughts?

Well, it looks like you've made 9 posts (not counting this thread) in your circle in the last month, and only 4 of those were about speakers. That's 2 and 1 per week respectively.

[neekomax]

I was on this site a lot about 5-7 years ago, I believe. I was given a set of decent B&W monitors, and I started paying attention to my stereo system. Before that, as with a lot of musicians, I only paid attention to music production gear and sound with regard to gigging or recording. Then I spent a couple of years really listening a lot, which coincided with a hiatus from playing much. During that time I bought a boutique pair of speakers through AC, and spent TONS of time geeking out, reading argument threads, and other fun stuff.

After a few years I moved on, because I was essentially happy with my modest but good sounding gear, and re-focused on musicianship and related things. I didn't post or check audiocircle at all for some years. Now I'm back fiddling and trying to get a nice sound in a new house, so I checked back in a month or two ago. I can say that the site seems way slower than it did before. Fewer hot threads, topics tend to get few and dispassionate responses, etc.  The thread that's hot now is basically people ordering amps. Which is kinda uninteresting, at least for an 80 page thread. IMO.

Just my sense of things, but maybe it's cyclical and comes and goes, and I just happened to be around for an 'up' period before. 

[JerryM]

First off, just want to say that AC has always been a great vehicle for smaller companies like mine. Overall it seems the site's traffic is down and I can only speculate as to why. Thoughts?

Site traffic is down in what way? New members? Post count? 

With several days left to go in 2017, AC has 25 million more page views than all of 2016, and 36 million more than all of 2015. 

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=stats

[ohenry]

Page views doesn't equate to participation.  Apple meet orange.

[JerryM]

Reading is participation, my friend. 

[neekomax]

I'm sure guests read a lot of pages, especially old threads when they google some piece of gear that was discussed here at length however long ago. But if you look at the front page now, a lot of times you'll see topics that haven't had a reply in hours and hours. I don't remember that being the case around 2012 or so. The front two pages would all have replies within the last hour. At least that's how I remember it.

[JerryM]

It's 68,000 additional page views per day better than '16, every single day this year. That's not an indication of site traffic being "down" in my book. YMMV, of course.

[Elizabeth]

On a car site I frequent the site shows how many are looking at each part.
I find it amazing that (for example) 658 visitors are currently looking at those few pages. And yet not one new comment has been made for days.
The numbers are real, since other areas have very low numbers, 16 lookers.. (who are most likely bots)
So I would say in general as any site matures, a LOT of people are looking and reading, but not participating.
Old member have said all they had to say. New members just read the stuff already said. And then the flaw of old grouchy members giving new members a hard time.

It takes someone who is interesting to write stuff and get others to write back to keep a forum active.

Also, the one area of gain in audio is headphones and headamps. And I think Head-Fi org has that area locked up pretty tight.

[hdspeakerman]

Rick,
Is your business level down or are you just wondering about how this site is contributing? 

[ohenry]

Rick,
Is your business level down or are you just wondering about how this site is contributing?

I think this response is a symptom of why more people just lurk. 

[mresseguie]

JerryM,

Thank you for pointing out that reading of posts has greatly increased. I hadn't noticed that before, but I'm glad this is the case. It means AC's vast store of information is being accessed much like a library's information (books, periodicals, etc.). I know I spent weeks reading thread after thread after thread absorbing information when I first landed on AC. I fantasized about different speakers, amplifiers, and other equipment. I ended up buying much more equipment than I anticipated - and most of my equipment was bought from AC Industry Participants(!).

However, I have noticed the number of new posts is down in many circles and this point sometimes vexes me. I wish there were more posts from new members and old members, too. I realize the hobby has changed over the years and there are fewer people enjoying this hobby than there used to be in past decades. It's not just a N. American issue. Numbers are down in Taiwan (for example) as well. 

As time allows, I will post about products I discover. I want to know if folks are familiar with the components and what they have to say about them. Perhaps if more people do this, the number of new posts will increase.

Rick,

Thank you for broaching this subject. Let's hope good discussion follows and leads to useful ideas.

Michael

[Rick Craig]

Which time period are you talking about?

I'd say, the audio economy is lessening and those who want more expensive stuff have bought what they've wanted over the last few years and are pretty content with what they have, i.e. reaching a saturation point.

Over the last year but possibly before that.

[sts9fan]

Well, it looks like you've made 9 posts (not counting this thread) in your circle in the last month, and only 4 of those were about speakers. That's 2 and 1 per week respectively.

Do you submit that AC traffic is the same but this circle down?

[Rick Craig]

Rick,
Is your business level down or are you just wondering about how this site is contributing?

Actually this has been a good year, in my top three. I am fortunate to have diversified enough and not heavily dependent on two-channel business which is down for many manufacturers across the board.

[Rick Craig]

I think this response is a symptom of why more people just lurk. 

Lurking is fine though another circle owner recently chided me for a lack of views... lol

I'm more interested in quality than quantity. I would much rather have ten lurkers who find some useful information than 100 fanboys who pay daily homage to their guru.