I don't really agree that the forums have been especially quite, seems pretty regular to me.
Things going on:
Painting & Sculpting Challenges
Diorama Challenge
World Cup!!
Tournaments have just happened.
Those 4 alone are enough to warrant a "decline" in the amount of posts. Add to this that a lot of people are getting onto the GBHL Facebook group (and the Australian version for me), so a lot of the short rules questions are being asked there as it is going to get you a quicker reply. O-R isn't going to be replaced by FB groups, but we do need to acknowledge that people are using that medium and it is very helpful. I know some of you guys probably aren't frequent users of FB, but now you know whats going on at least.
Added to that, the GBHL channel has good content churning over, lots of people are working on Battle Companies. *** On the above note, Battle Companies for the next conversion challenge please? One month only!***
In regards to comments on people's posts, I try to do it where I can, the like button would be interesting, but plenty of people on the FB groups don't like things either. In fact, I would suggest that it is better to have conversations with people and build "relationships" rather than just clicking like and scrolling on.
When I give a short positive reply to someone when their work could be improved, I want to be encouraging them to keep going as we all know that we get better with time, and sometimes that is the best teacher, so I don't add any advice unless I have something very clear to say backed up by a helpful reason why or how to make it better. Sometimes, I just don't have the time to write longer posts as well.
In addition, I know that I can hardly do a better job on some things, so I'm not going to be a jerk and tell someone that their NMM or skin tones aren't perfect when that is what I struggle with - I'll wait until I have learned better.
I struggle to read some of the comments about people not getting replies - Yes, it would be nice to have a reply, but if i receive feedback on something it normally goes straight into my brain and goes around and around there while I figure it out and put it into practice so I'm too busy thinking about it to remember my manners and give a reply. So I wouldn't be negative about not getting replies as it mostly means people are thinking about it.
On a final matter, this topic is about an apparent lack of activity, yet I have asked for people's advice about a design for Annatar aka Sauron and haven't got many replies. I know not everyone is interested in the project, but most people have read the books, so I don't see how you can have no imagination or opinion about what Sauron looks like when he is out and about. As I was just asking for everyones thoughts and not exactly criticism or feedback, I would have expected a better response. The thread is here if you would like to add to it:
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=28861I'm working on the final design for Celebrimbor and hope to get both of these models sculpted for the Diorama challenge, but I'm not going to start until I have a good idea of what I'm aiming for (getting there..)
Thanks again to those who have already added their thoughts