Wondering how he’s doing.
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I’ve seen him pop up in FB from time to time.
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He regularly posts in the “R.E.M. Fans United” group on Facebook. Guess he’s had to accept that Facebook is where everyone is these days and the glory days of forums are not coming back. 
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That’s right. Kelly doesn’t post pics of his naked bottom anymore, nobody fights over politics & it appears we have all moved on from fighting over whether an R.E.M. song sucks or not.
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I never connected with Ethan on Facebook but just looked him up. Yeah, looks like things are ok with him. Wish he would post here though 
This site is probably going to die waiting for that to happen. I don’t know what Ethan’s current feelings are regarding this site and FB FansUnited. What I do know is, if people (the few that visit here) don’t start being more active and post here, murmurs will come to a stand still, (it kind of has already) eventually this forum may die. I’m starting to wonder if anyone cares.
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In general terms, I don’t have the answer. In the wake of the popularity of Facebook I remember some message boards and email discussion lists continuing to be active. I’m not sure about now. Whether we like FB (or social media in general) or not, those platforms are what are thriving. Murmurs is the only message board I’m active on anymore. What I prefer about it is the lack of noise. To be clear, I’m referring to Murmurs vs. social media in general, not Murmurs vs. R.E.M. forums on FB.
As we all witnessed, lots of the old members returned when Murmurs relaunched but most didn’t stick around. Even Ethan being more active here isn’t going to increase traffic at Murmurs. I believe that as long as platforms such as Facebook continue to be popular, with few exceptions, old school platforms such as message boards and email discussion lists will continue to die on the vine. People will complain about FB but at the same time, will continue to be active there solely because that’s where all the activity is. I don’t know what, if anything, can be done to encourage or increase activity here.
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As I mentioned in another thread, I do realize times have changed. I guess I’m clinging on to a time long gone that for me, has yet to be surpassed. Murmurs wasn’t just about R.E.M., (R.E.M. fandom brought us together) we shared & talked about other things too. Maybe I should let it go, and move on with the times. I know I certainly couldn’t stay up all night in murmurs chat room like I used to.
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I started a new job about a year ago and have a lot less time than I used to, so I guess I post on here a lot less that I did when it first came back. But I still check in everyday, and would miss it terribly if it went again. I’m grateful to all the regular posters that are keeping it going.
I very rarely look at R.E.M. pages on Facebook. Never did. There’s just so much unnecessary noise. (“Here’s the video for Losing My Religion. Enjoy folks!”) It’s a terrible platform for a music forum. You can’t filter out the stuff you’re not interested in and could scroll for hours before finding anything worth reading. That’s before even mentioning some of the universally unpleasant things that go hand in hand with all the big social media platforms…
When Murmurs came back it was a real tonic at a difficult time for me. It still is a tonic. I hope it keeps on going. The world has moved on. People live on Facebook now. It’ll never be like it used to be. But I’m happy that this little pocket of the past still exists for people like me. At least for now.
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Yes me too. x
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