Are People Less Interested in Wildlife Now?

Hallo Rowenberry,

I'm afraid WAB still has its problems and from the look of it little has been done to resolve them.

The Login button has disappeared so it is not possible to log in. If your not permanently logged in the way round it is to try replying to a post. You will be then presented with a log in screen and then you can log in.

Non members cannot register to become members because the Registration facility has been disabled.

WAB was a great site and had many interesting and varied members. It is a shame that few of them followed us onto WABI.

Sadly I think WAB is now defunct. Even if it eventually got back up and running I think quite a few of the old members may be reluctant to return because of what happened in the past.

Though WABI membership is fairly small people are still joining, all be it in dribs and drabs. The more new members we get the more active WABI will become.

Harold.

One of the reasons maybe the difficulty of logging on as already commented on although with just a little effort it is not all that difficult. And then of course one cannot posts photos to the gallery now although one can still view which was also very popular.

But strangely enough many other sites of this nature have also experienced a general lack of interest.
Personally I have never been too keen on their strict rules, not changing the subject for instance as I think this leads to a very boring post in my opinion. Conversations should be able to stray and be humorous (whenever possible a thing I like to do) as long as the question is answered what does it matter. If one conducted one’s self at a party in the very same way I can just imagine soon finding oneself alone or even branded as a stuffed shirt!


And then there is technology what a terrible word (just call me old fashion) but I am afraid many have taken to this, I fear for the next generation and its lack of interest in the countryside and all it contains.


Unfortunately today’s society tends to strive for the unattainable and cannot seem to be satisfied with the simple things in life. Without delving too deeply into the realms of philosophy I fear that wealth has become the new religion.


Anyhow I would like to thank you for providing us all with this wonderful site Rowanberry, is it a little too early to wish you a jolly happy Christmas, hmm I think not.


And fear not oh empress of the airways Alan will be back soon, as long as I do not fall down a rabbit hole first!


Alan

Hmm I am willing to admit I am wrong about the popularity of the numbers of people interested in wildlife as a whole today and I hope I am, but frankly I do not see the same amount of feet on the ground as years gone by. Sure the popularity of bird feeders as exploded over the years and perhaps I have been to too many meetings and parties but most if not all these people are not in the least interested in wildlife, on the contrary finance in one form or another is always the topic of the day.


But then again my particular form of bird study does not bring me into contact with many other like minded people either, it is mainly old friends from way back so it is hard to say but on the occasions I have visited reserves and country parks they have been really quite empty with just the odd family visitors and one or two serious bird listers / watchers, whom tend to be middle aged and older.


Ashgale is probably right in his analysis too in that many forums members are not really participance the majority just wanting an answer to a particular question.


Many if not all the young folks today are far more interested in game playing over the internet and technology in general, in other words things in their world have moved on.


Take cooking for instance ok it may seem like a very strange analogy but on the whole today’s generation do have a clue in preparing and cooking a meal, in my day everyone knew how to an prepare an animal for the table, indeed if you wanted to eat meat there was no other way. As opposed to today where many young families exist on fast food and takeaways, at least all the young people I know do.


Anyhow to return to the main topic of conversation I was just wondering how is Debs Castaways doing these days (is it popular) not that I would ever consider opening a face book account it is just that I would be intrigued to know.


PS


Thanks for the rabbit hole tip Dave  but I gave up taking the mini pill some time back,  incidentally the last time I fell in a rabbit hole I ended up nearly breaking a leg plus the voice of a soprano.  


Alan

That is a real shame about WAB- I was unaware of the login problems, but I can see how it would be off-putting.

I have to agree with the comments about Facebook- I just can't get on with it. Too many things on the page, and I can never figure out if posts are in response to what others have posted, or something else entirely. Maybe I'm just not techie enough! 

Maybe I am lucky where I live. There is always something going on for the young in the strath. There is a weekly toddlers group that go off into the woods where they are encouraged to look at the birds, find insects gather different leaves and see if they can find bugs and beetles. Play in puddles and generally have a fun time. There is a group for the older children – also in the woods where they learn crafts, have survey sheets so they can record what they find, are shown the different plants and fungi with each season, how to cook outdoors – and clear up. The local school have little events based on nature and the environment. When there has been clean up and area more often as not the children get involved also.
I do despair generally for the next generation, it only seems small groups here and there go out and feel nature – or go out for that matter and when they do they are glued to their iPhones with no idea about what is going on around them.
As for things getting quite on websites and forums – this usually comes up somewhere every year. It is the time when nature is resting down ready for the winter so there really is not much to go out and see. Likewise we humans are more inclined to snuggle up indoors.
You were asking about WAB Castaways Alan. Some of the old ‘experts’ are members and Deb has done a fantastic job, creating ‘files’ with links to all sorts of interesting sites where we can get information if needs be. There are ‘albums’ which members add to for birds, mammals, moths and caterpillars, amphibians,flora, fungi etc. which we use for ID and there are personal albums where members have posted pictures of nature taken on walks. You know on FaceBook you can join a group and only see them if you want to. You can leave your joining page as is with just basic info, then set your own security and what you want to see or do not want to see and who you will allow to see your ‘home page’. If something or someone you don’t want to see you just right click top corner of post and click hide any posts from this person or group.
Since the demise of wab, I have only joined this group, and two other sites. On FB I have castaways and sometimes look in on the wild about Britain (though find it too random and full of professional photographers pushing their wares on the quite. Likewise the wild flowers of Britain, too - um – trying to be super expert. My FB is naturally rather full – lots of photos etc, but it is a way for me to keep in touch with family and relative and it is very useful being able to use the private messaging and to use the facetime which means I can chat to my daughter when she is abroad and it does not cost me anything. Not like when she was in Zambia and it ended up costing £90!

NellieDee, do you have Skype on your computer? That's what I use to chat with friends or family who are abroad...you can even use it to call their landlines and it is so much cheaper. It is tricky to sometimes work out the time differences, though.

I post less as I am busy digging I still read what's being posted. I use Castaways first for ID's as I'm usually already logged into Facebook. If no-one knows there I'll ask here. I read WAB but don't post as it was hard enough working out how to post photos there when it worked!
As I've been posting for a couple of years, there isn't much left in my local environment that someone hasn't already identified for me
As for young people,
www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/planet-earth-2-ii-young-viewers-x-factor-bbc-itv-david-attenborough-vieiwng-figures-ratings-a7449296.html