Positive note about the forum!

[Charleville]

I had hoped to spark conversations among past and present residents of Charleville Circus when I joined the Sydenham town forum last June. However, it seems that this platform, once vibrant with community engagement, has experienced a decline in active participation. It appears that diverging opinions among users in the past, along with the rise of more popular social media platforms, may have contributed to this shift.

Despite the initial lack of response, I've remained committed to sharing my memories and stories, striving to make each post engaging. Interestingly, over the past few months, I've observed a noteworthy trend. My contributions regarding 'Charleville Circus' consistently appear near the top of Google search results, both in general searches and image queries. While it's a niche topic, it's heartening to think that individuals with a strong connection to the area can easily discover my content online. Perhaps someday, someone will reach out, but for now, I take pride in preserving a small piece of social history.

I hope my experience will inspire others to contribute new posts about their favourite places, thereby revitalising the forum. Increased activity could be achieved simply by sharing regularly and encouraging discussion.

https://sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22473

[milton]

This place is dead on its feet usd to be lively once, but increasing censorship from apperently left leaning mods has mortally wounded it plus the usual rent a mob shouting down any comment they deemed unacceptable just pisses people off and they never return. Who ever runs the site cannot stomach any opinion he/she/it disagrees with. I was threatend with banishment for what he describes as Islamaphobia when in reality I was quoting from the Koran!!
The history section in particular has been brilliant, but little activity now as so many driven away or discouraged.

I speak from first hand knowledge as I have been posting on here under several monikas [nevr mind what] for many years and have experienced the "pile on and shout him down" tactics very often from posters not even from SE26 but miles away that we now see on the streets of London from certain religious/political factions.
Scream raciss/facist/phobic and claim to be democratic as you intimidate those of a different opinion.

RIP se26 forum, used be a good place once.

Not missed are a number of santimonious self righteous posters about 6/8 of them who exhibited a singualr lack of humour and appreciaation of irony/self mocking on my part.

[milton]

An overwhelming lack of response would seem to prove my point? this place is dead.Needs a decent burial.

[chrisj1948]

It is certainly not as lively as the days when Big Bad Wolf roamed the Town Pub and gave the forum a bad reputation amongst the moderate citizens of Sydenham. The waning of interest is however common to many forums (OK, should be 'fora', but that's a lost cause) since social media have largely taken over.

[stuart]

Not just 'Fora' Chris.

I monitor Twitter/X for local news stories. There used to be a dozen or so a day. Now it's more like 1 or 2. The number of active posters* has reduced to one handful. Some have stopped, others post very occasionally. The local press (Newsshopper & SLP) did the same so their expanded stories have largely dried up too.

Many ex-Tweeters tried other platforms but these mostly didn't have the density of relevant posts. So, like STF people faded away. There are pockets of community news but no one place like the old STF where one could see it all. The ad & algorithm driven commercial providers have peaked, or in Elon's case surrendered to forces that are anathema to many here. My SE23 & SE26 'For You' timelines are dominated by white supremacists and other assorted hatemongers. Presumably chosen to try and elicit an outraged response.

A message to the OP. Thank you for your positive and informative posts about Sydenham. We just need more like you so please don't give up!

------
*An exception are local schools both primary and secondary who tweet prolifically to their pupils and families. I don't know how they reconcile this with keeping children safe from the clearly documented sources of unmoderated abuse, disinformation and conspiracies. Maybe a teacher here could comment?

[Charleville]

Absolutely, Stuart. I'll continue to share my memories. This platform serves my needs perfectly as a space to reminisce about the joyful moments spent in Sydenham. I remain optimistic that a past or present resident will eventually come forward with a historical treasure trove of information or perhaps some vintage images. Such discoveries would truly thrill me.

[alywin]

I monitor Twitter/X for local news stories. There used to be a dozen or so a day. Now it's more like 1 or 2. The number of active posters* has reduced to one handful. Some have stopped, others post very occasionally. The local press (Newsshopper & SLP) did the same so their expanded stories have largely dried up too.

Yes, I had to find out about the raid on Sydenham Post Office from "Nextdoor" rather than anywhere else - don't know how, since Nextdoor normally only allows me access to posts from what are now my local communities, but it's better than nothing.

[stuart]

What raid?