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| 1 2 3 4 | UER Forum > UE Main > For those who only lurk... why did you retire? (Viewed 5893 times) |
Baldran
Location: The Ira Bemis House Gender: Male Total Likes: 873 likes
Solvitur Ambulando
| | | Re: For those who only lurk... why did you retire? < Reply # 45 on 9/13/2023 2:35 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Man, this thread makes me feel melancholy. I moved from the mid-Atlantic to northern New England in 2019, and by 2021 or so I’d explored every half-decent site I could find within a two hour radius. I work full time and have a house and a family now, so I just don’t have the time to go any further afield. In 2022 I explored maybe ten times total, mostly quick stops at places I noticed on the side of the road while trying to get somewhere else. I’m on track to do about the same this year. It feels like the nature of exploring has changed too, especially with the rise of social media that others have mentioned. I feel like I grew up with this site and it’s community, but it doesn’t have the same level of activity and discussion as it did when I really got going here in the 2010s. I feel like it takes more effort to put together a set from a location for the same low engagement here that I get on insta or Flickr, because there are so many people out there doing the exact same thing as me that it’s impossible to compete for engagement without making it a full time job. This past weekend I went back to a location that was more or less pristine when I first went in 2020. It is now covered in shitty racist tags and social media handles, with buildings that were always sealed now busted open and trashed. Despite all that, it was still the best exploring experience I’ve had all year, and it made me nostalgic for this site when it was the best thing going. Maybe I’ll post a thread in Photo for old time’s sake.
| Flickr |
| The Demon Crab
Location: Massachusetts Gender: Male Total Likes: 37 likes
| | | Re: For those who only lurk... why did you retire? < Reply # 47 on 9/13/2023 8:25 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by Baldran Man, this thread makes me feel melancholy. I moved from the mid-Atlantic to northern New England in 2019, and by 2021 or so I’d explored every half-decent site I could find within a two hour radius. I work full time and have a house and a family now, so I just don’t have the time to go any further afield. In 2022 I explored maybe ten times total, mostly quick stops at places I noticed on the side of the road while trying to get somewhere else. I’m on track to do about the same this year. It feels like the nature of exploring has changed too, especially with the rise of social media that others have mentioned. I feel like I grew up with this site and it’s community, but it doesn’t have the same level of activity and discussion as it did when I really got going here in the 2010s. I feel like it takes more effort to put together a set from a location for the same low engagement here that I get on insta or Flickr, because there are so many people out there doing the exact same thing as me that it’s impossible to compete for engagement without making it a full time job. This past weekend I went back to a location that was more or less pristine when I first went in 2020. It is now covered in shitty racist tags and social media handles, with buildings that were always sealed now busted open and trashed. Despite all that, it was still the best exploring experience I’ve had all year, and it made me nostalgic for this site when it was the best thing going. Maybe I’ll post a thread in Photo for old time’s sake.
| I don’t really think that this site is dwindling, and I’d even argue that the “golden age” of urban exploration is still alive and well. I think it might be good to share my perspective as someone who is still somewhat new to both this site and urban exploration as a whole. I first joined this site at the height of COVID when I was 13. I’ve been fascinated by the idea of exploring abandoned buildings for pretty much my entire life, and was absolutely elated when I discovered that many others felt the same way. I think that there’s something really special about this site. There’s no denying that UER isn’t as active as it used to be, but that may not entirely be a bad thing. There’s so much engagement from users that you just don’t see on really large sites. It’s mind blowing to me that there’s always new content being posted here, and that there are 15-20 year old accounts that are still active today. This site doesn’t have the same feel to it that places like Instagram or Reddit seem to have. The average length of posts and comments on those sites is a few sentences at most, maybe a photo of some influencer posing in front of a cool spot on occasion. This site is different. UER isn’t something you can absentmindedly scroll through, so much of the stuff here is long and interesting. And there’s decades worth of content to sift through. I’ve come across some incredible stuff here. For example, there’s something about the Cave Clan that fascinated me from the moment I first read about them here. It was the kind of thing that really just felt like the perfect thing for me. I’d love to get involved in the Cave Clan somehow, but it seems like that would be impossible. I’m thousands of miles away from Australia, and I haven’t been able to find much information about the US branch. But I’m still fascinated by the Cave Clan nonetheless. I love knowing that something like that exists at all, and it’s always awesome to see a sign that the group is still around. I know that influencers and idiots in general can really screw locations up. There are a lot of people who are only exploring for the clout or because they want to vandalize/destroy stuff, but the original community is still around. The spirit of urban exploring hasn’t been lost. Sometimes, I’ll see a photo on this site of someone who went exploring with a large group of friends and think it was taken in 2004 only to realize it was posted less than a year ago. I look forward to the day I find a friend who also likes urban exploring, but for now, I’m on my own.
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| mookster
Location: Oxford, UK Gender: Male Total Likes: 2377 likes
| | | Re: For those who only lurk... why did you retire? < Reply # 53 on 9/26/2023 6:30 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | I feel that I 'peaked' as an explorer between 2014 and 2019. Since then I've definitely slowed down, as I've got older, priorities have changed, the youthful drive I once had to get up and go out at stupid o'clock exploring literally everything I could when I first started in 2009 is no longer there, and my general interest in exploring - whilst still a major factor in my life - has waned a little thanks to the sheer number of morons that now populate this hobby. The over-exposure of everything has really done a number on it and as of today I have very, very little interest in following the herds around to the latest 'hot' thing. I'm much more content spending my time going out less often and to see things I've either found myself, or things that are far off the well travelled tourist trail. Add to the fact that now I'm the wrong side of 30, everything hurts more and I feel the after effects of a long day way more than I used to. Posted by The Demon Crab I think that there’s something really special about this site. There’s no denying that UER isn’t as active as it used to be, but that may not entirely be a bad thing. There’s so much engagement from users that you just don’t see on really large sites. It’s mind blowing to me that there’s always new content being posted here, and that there are 15-20 year old accounts that are still active today. This site doesn’t have the same feel to it that places like Instagram or Reddit seem to have. The average length of posts and comments on those sites is a few sentences at most, maybe a photo of some influencer posing in front of a cool spot on occasion. This site is different. UER isn’t something you can absentmindedly scroll through, so much of the stuff here is long and interesting. And there’s decades worth of content to sift through. I’ve come across some incredible stuff here.
| That's the main plus point with forums. Photos and videos posted on social media sites get lost in the void of total nonsense and forgotten about within a few days. Forums like this, although comparative dinosaurs in this day and age of instant gratification and instant exposure social media, are incredibly important because they serve as an archive of potentially decades worth of photos documenting locations, all in one place. UER and 28DL are the only two exploring forums I take the time to post on nowadays, and both are ancient in internet terms - being around since 2002 and 2005 respectively. People may not realise just how important these forums are until they are gone.
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| Samurai Vehicular Lord Rick
Location: northeastern New York Total Likes: 1900 likes
No matter where you go, there you are...
| | | Re: For those who only lurk... why did you retire? < Reply # 54 on 9/26/2023 8:12 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by mookster I feel that I 'peaked' as an explorer between 2014 and 2019. Since then I've definitely slowed down, as I've got older, priorities have changed, the youthful drive I once had to get up and go out at stupid o'clock exploring literally everything I could when I first started in 2009 is no longer there, and my general interest in exploring - whilst still a major factor in my life - has waned a little thanks to the sheer number of morons that now populate this hobby. The over-exposure of everything has really done a number on it and as of today I have very, very little interest in following the herds around to the latest 'hot' thing. I'm much more content spending my time going out less often and to see things I've either found myself, or things that are far off the well travelled tourist trail. Add to the fact that now I'm the wrong side of 30, everything hurts more and I feel the after effects of a long day way more than I used to.
That's the main plus point with forums. Photos and videos posted on social media sites get lost in the void of total nonsense and forgotten about within a few days. Forums like this, although comparative dinosaurs in this day and age of instant gratification and instant exposure social media, are incredibly important because they serve as an archive of potentially decades worth of photos documenting locations, all in one place. UER and 28DL are the only two exploring forums I take the time to post on nowadays, and both are ancient in internet terms - being around since 2002 and 2005 respectively. People may not realise just how important these forums are until they are gone.
| well said. bravo.
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| offlimits
Location: buffalo Gender: Male Total Likes: 21 likes
| | | Re: For those who only lurk... why did you retire? < Reply # 57 on 12/19/2023 10:08 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Like a lot of posters have said, Instagram and Facebook kind of did this site in, but I love that its still here, like an old friend. Not a lot of relevant content here anymore, and a lot of what is still being posted is from overseas. I can remember 15 or so years ago this was the center of the exploring world, so many times the chalkboards in the most sought-after locations would be covered with names you could recognize from UER, and I saw UER referenced in the graffiti more times than I can remember. Wish it could be updated, maybe a UER facebook group? As far as retiring, Im one of those die-hards, despite family obligations, jobs, outside friends, Ive never stopped exploring and love it as much as I did on day one. Now Im so old I feel like Im no longer seen as a threat by cops young enough to be my kids lol
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