Is Quirk Reports getting too mainstream?

Have you lot noticed the shift over the past few months? Used to be we'd get genuinely curious people who wanted to discuss unexplained phenomena thoughtfully. Now it feels like we're getting a lot of TikTok refugees and people roleplaying for content. The quality of posts has definitely changed.

The ghost hunting techniques forum used to be technical discussions with actual experienced investigators. Now it's half people asking if crystals are better than salt for protection and half people sharing obviously fake 'paranormal' videos they've made themselves. And don't even get me started on the merchandise people are trying to flog in the groups.

I'm not trying to be gatekeepy about it - more people engaging with paranormal topics is generally good - but there's a difference between genuine curiosity and just chasing engagement metrics. Anyone else feeling like the community vibe has shifted?

Every online community goes through this cycle. You get niche, dedicated community, it gets more popular, quality dilutes, original people leave, new niche forms somewhere else. It's just the internet. If you want serious discussion, probably worth finding the private Discord groups or smaller subreddits. This site's always going to trend towards content now.

I genuinely don't think it's changed that much. Yeah there's more noise but filter by thread type and reputation - the experienced posters are still here sharing good stuff. Just don't read every thread. And the crystals vs salt questions are coming from people who are genuinely interested, even if it's not sophisticated. Everyone starts somewhere.

Disagree with you a bit. I joined about eight months ago after seeing the site recommended on a paranormal podcast and the community's been incredibly helpful. Yes some people are here for novelty, but the moderators do a decent job of keeping the absolute nonsense out. Just ignore the annoying posts and engage with the serious ones - they're still here.

The merchandise stuff is probably the real annoyance. But that's not the community being bad, that's just capitalism doing what it does. The forum discussions themselves are still quality if you find the right threads. Maybe curate your experience better instead of blanket dismissing newer members as not real investigators?

@PossessedAberdeen makes a fair point actually - if podcasts are sending genuinely curious people our way, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've been doing EVP work for years and some of my best conversations about recorder technique have come from complete newcomers asking what seemed like ". Basic". Questions.

The real issue isn't mainstream attention, it's whether new members engage in good faith. Most do, in my experience. Someone fresh to crop circle research might not know the Wiltshire hotspots yet, but their enthusiasm is real.

Every long-timer here was once a newcomer themselves. Worth remembering that before writing off the influx entirely.