Thank you Sean for bringing this up. Indeed glocals is my social lifeline. I met great people and enjoyed meaningfull events with many locals and expats who made me survive my solo expat life. I hope this forum will continue bringing likewise minds together from around the globe.

Surely, a forum is only as good as the people who are willing and able to contribute to it?

I would say that one of the reasons might be - in Lausanne at least - is that not that few members actually organize events. "We" the organizers tend to be not that many which is a pity.

Perhaps more members might wish to also organize an event or two.

Karin

Meant "few members actually organize events".

Hi Karin,

I know how you feel. Sometimes I have organised events to which only a few people turn up, usually friends who would have come anyway. Meanwhile there are few other events organised by other people.

I guess I am trying to understand what has changed, as it was never like that before.

Thanks for your post.

I would be curious to hear what the founders of Glocals have to say on this. Could it be that there are less new expats coming to live in Geneva and many old members have left already? Just an idea. I think Glocals as a page has a lot more to offer than FB, Meetup or Internations, so I would not have thought that it would be because of the emergence of these competitors that there are less events on Glocals. I look forward to see the opinion of other Glocalites on this subject.

I get the impression that,with all the other things at people's finger tips : Facebook,Whatsapp groups,etc things have maybe started to splinter? It seems that members can organise things between themselves without having to go through the site - which also maybe makes it easier to avoid members you might not want to meet ( there have been same famous cases :-)

Personally I have noticed  there has been an awful lot of sports stuff( hiking,badminton,curling,snowshoeing etc) and much less cultural/ social  / get together stuff ,which makes it feel that what Glocals offers has become very meagre.

I do organise stuff myself when I can - and the signing up rate is very variable.But if you don't try,then nothing happens at all :-)

Hey Sean, it is winter. We are hibernating

It's most probably because of the emergence of other online tools, primarily that pernicious global surveillance program mistaken for a social network called Facebook.

On my side, I really hope we can convince people to stay on Glocals as in many points is much better than FB: it doesn't collect and sell tons of your personal data, it is populated by real people, users live near you so you can meet them, and is less dispersive.

Hi Sean, fair point, I have noticed the same thing for my events and it's true that FB takes a big part of pie from Glocals, more than before.

Also I miss the old events - Sunday French exchange and Saturday's event with Rene and Steve, very well organized. Fortunately, there are events like Alberto's exchange on Mondays at 9pm.

I miss the old times 5 years ago when there was 3-8 people coming for poetry events - now is always 1.

Maybe it is a market opportunity for us to start new Glocals - XLocas:)

One thing that hasn't really been mentioned is the website itself needs a bit of work. I don't mind the styling but sometimes links don't work etc, and it is especially difficult to use on a phone. It also seems to forget the login pretty easily.

Just making the website properly responsive so it could be used on a phone would make a huge difference - I don't think an actual app is needed.

To add to TheOmegaMan's point, there is a backlash against FB these days - it's a real opportunity for glocals to re-establish itself as a friendly, local website. There is little trolling on glocals, for example, compared to other global websites.

I think the mobile UN-friendliness has been an issue with Glocals forever. It would be also great if we could tag ppl in these conversations. I would certainly tag Nir :) to hear what he has to say.

"...that pernicious global surveillance program mistaken for a social network called Facebook".

A very good definition of what FB really is or has become !  a tool to sell, manipulate and control. 

Well the site has not changed since 2007, other than changing the name. Remember Sindys pre 2005, then Geneva online 2007ish, now glocals. I think there was another name but I forget. 

Following similiar change due to World Radio Geneva to WRG to WRS (world Radio Suisse or Swiss or ??)

I remember Glocals was celebrating 10,000 members, then 20,000, then 40,000, then 70,000

and today says 112,606 but just 160 online.

I am sure active members is relative, but if less than one login a year, my guess it that there is less than 20k members logging in once or more a year. 

I am sure it to promote the site to potential advertisers, but Orange/Salt, UBS, and Allianz have always been around, but not much more. So for the owners it economics and investment. They probably will not invest much more on the site. 

As such, my guess is glocals site will see more decline. less activities, and less interest. 

And another point is I think the moderators are volunteers or something, not really understanding the needs, dont create motivation, or idea of how to add value.

At least in Internations they have moderators and ambassadors that promote events, but that site cost about CHF 7- to CHF 11 per month depending on your subscription. It costs versus Glocals is free. 

Then there is the website of https://www.meetup.com/cities/ch/genève/

and is free and has alot of interest.

I hate FB, just because similiar what others said / posted above.

One thing I miss was the Geneva Curry club and Curry club events. 

Also I didnt see any Chinesse new year activities on the site. 

I am hoping for a researgence or revival :)

If people from Geneva are complaining ... just imagine the lack of activities we suffer in Lausanne, where I feel the decline is even more visible, since here it was always quite small compared to Geneva.

I would also like to see some comments from the admins on this topic

Hey Alimenezp

the admins will not reply, not in there interest due to the noticable yearly decline.

And we might get some reply from Richy, who never attendrf an activity or event or provides motivatinos.

She does give 'living in Swiss' advice and forum moderator but nothing more. Probably not her mandate or other. 

Geneva infact has in general died, fact. Due to cuts in the UN and NGOs and muntinationals.

Further muntinationals finding more younger and cheeper staff, from the boarders, who care less of the Expat community. And why should they? Lack of Language skiills, lack of integration, and or simple micro economics?

Hello, this is Ritchie and I should like to say that in my early membership years I did attend a few events.

Then my personal circumstances changed and I am unable to participate in many activities

for a  reason I’d rather not publicize but which I will willingly disclose if you send me a p.m.

Accordingly, I look forward to hearing from you,

Ritchie

To add a good word for the Glocals people: it's a website which has connected 100K+ people, it's run by a very small number of people who probably have other jobs, and it's free. Sure I think many things can be improved on the technical side (esp. as this work is my bread & butter - I'm a developer), but it works, it's reliable and I can't ever remember it being down.

I think we all need to work together to keep Glocals alive. It's actually more of a community service than a FB competitor. Facebook has 1000s of the best engineers in the world keeping it going, as well as invading and selling our private lives

I'm glad to see this post has drawn so many comments, and I hope it not only induces the managers of Glocals to perhaps make some technical improvements, but also for the community to re-engage and understand what a great thing we have here.

Attend an event, post a forum comment or even run an event youself.

Glocals rocks!

I know what you men, but just to put into an international perspective: the distiance between Lausanne and Geneva is half the "width" of Melbourne. https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2010/03/26/how-big-is-melbourne/

I infrequently visit Lausanne myself, as it feels far away, but in reality there is an excellent train service between the two cities and the trip is also easy via car.

The other added advantage is both cities are French-speaking!

Just in case the blokies on this thread are looking for something new, the “Gentlemen’s Club” post on “Things to do” could be of interest.

Enjoy!

Ha ha ha! How very bizarre .Not only is Glocals declining but.....it is also adopting a 19th century 

sensibility :-)

Well,I suppose it is better than using " gentlemen's club" as a euphemism for strip club ,which is even more bizarre  in its on way.

Strange indeed-venue not listed and ladies not invited

... are you sure you want to be invited?!

Well, a Gentlemen’s Club is exactly that, a place where men can eat, drink, smoke, and “escape” from the real world in the company of other males.

In their Victorian heyday, such clubs would invite ladies for lunch on one or two specified days in the year, but never more than that.

I heard tell that there were also one or two Ladies’ Clubs but I’ve never known anyone who was a member of one.

'I sent the club a wire stating, "Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." '
― Groucho Marx, Groucho and Me

It is funny to hear this comment. LOL

As it is easy for activities to post LBTQIT+ or Women only event or only Womens movie night. But men cant do the same? You assuming its a strip club just show you how out of touch you are of modern men , educated men in Switzerland.

I dont think it is a 19th century thing anymore, its more about men having that same respect, and could be about Mens empoweremet also, considering how negative things have become. 

I honestly prefer a barbar compared to a salon, because of the clients are easy to chat up and hang out. In todays age, im tired of the hipocracy of womens groups and classifications. 

Men, if you want to find a good men empowerment and support group, go see information at

https://ch.movember.com/en/

More men are committing suidide and alot of cancer then ever, and do hope those needing support , talk about it with other men who are in the same situation. 

another very good help for men is blocks and black dogs.  'a safe place for men to talk'

1 in 4 of us will suffer from mental health issue. 3 of 4 suicides are men.

Break the stigma , and its ok to talk. 

www.facebook.com/blokesandblackdogs

www.blokesandblackdogs.ch

It's great if men are doing this ,Dave.I hope lots of them join in.It seems like something much needed in our times.

Men's groups,with the aim of challenging old ideas of masculinity have been around since the 70's at least - but the idea never seemed to really take off.It would be good if this one did.

......but the " gentlemen" thing kind of gives off the wring kind of vibes maybe?

I noticed fewer attend my meditation activities than in the past, I used to have to limit the attendee number.

They are a moment of peace, silence and relaxation. You don't have to explain who you are, what you do, this meditation is based on deep relaxation, contemplation, an inner quest, it is without method, mantras or chants and we respect your beliefs.

Ideal for persons with health or existential issues or wanting to discover something new.

If you are just not in the mood for talking, socialising, but still want to join an activity, this is the place to come. Each person is valued for his or her inner qualities rather than external achievements.

https://www.glocals.com/things-to-do/geneva/103902.htm

See you, Viviane

Probably because of meetup.com. People organize a ton of activities thats very pertinent to expats. Its also one of the reasons I migrated to that platform, just not enough relevent activities, eg language groups, being hosted here.

Attendance in sports oriented groups appears to have dropped. Scuba Group attendance has dropped steadily since we started 8 years ago. I suspect that when we started there were many people in the Lake Leman region who were searching for an Englsh speaking scuba group, and they joined our group. Perhaps the steady decline partly relates to an increasingly transient state of employment of ex-pats. Alternatively, it may be because most of the frequent divers swear a lot.

The attached graph bins divers into groups of 100 dives, and each bin represents approx. 1 year of activity.

I stopped posting activities on glocals for two reasons : 1. when I posted information about helicopter rescue insurance on the mountain hiking group, there were complaints to the admin and I did not want to run the risk of having these people turn up on one of my hikes; 2. When I lead groups that are mainly French speaking (although many speak English as well) I decided to post the information in French as this would give glocals members interested in trying to integrate the possibility of using French and enjoying themselves at the same time. Unfortunately this was not acceptable to the administrators.  So I continue to lead walks but with members of the clubs of which I am a member (CAS, GeneveRando, Oxygène74).  I usually have to limit the number of participants (too popular) so better not to post.  I also found that glocals members tended to cancel at the last minute which screws up my organisation.  This is the end of my moan

Dear Sean,

I assume the Swiss federal government, under pressure from the UN, winding back tax breaks to mulitnations leading to redundancies and flow on affects on the employment market has an impact on people's enthusiasm and means. 

I also had no shows and cancellations when setting up events, and now deliberately show appreciation to people that make the effort to set up and offer activities.

Whether other platforms have an impact on glocal participation or have experienced a similar decline, I could not say. Perhaps people take glocals for granted because it is free - but that is part of its culture - and seemed more relaxed that the couple of other platforms I have encountered.

All the same, glocals plays an important role and I hope we can appreciate the efforts people make in organising activities.

Best wishes,

Elizabeth

I agree that it's very strange that you cannot post events/forum items in French. I posted a forum thread looking for a French/English language exchange and was messaged to say that Glocals is an English language site for expats!

Having said that, i regularly post events for my restaurant group and still manage to fill most of the dinners. So there is still definitely an audience out there still using Glocals

I do feel that an overhaul of the site is needed as it's not super user-friendly. It would be good to have a clean up of all the dormant groups etc 

Well for the little it is worth [as we do not actually live in Swizzle] I personally think Glocals is super and provides a service, free, which one cannot probably find elsewhere.

The mods do a fantastic job under difficult conditions and AFAIK receive no remuneration. Come on everyone, let's have some positive input and thanks to the team

I love Glocals... it was of big help when I was new in Geneva. I still love it just the same after how many years. I often use the classified ads before but i think the decline in buy and sell is due to fb marketplace. Or was there really a decline in that area as well? Dear Glocals, please don't go..

New and old members welcome at my New Member drinks event March 5th.

Come and keep glocals going !

I would say that in terms of the site owners.. Well Glocals is the free forum, take it or leave it.. BuyClub is the actual business.. 

I've seen a big drop in use in Glocals, me included of course. I tend to use EF more now.

5+ years ago I used both sites for different things, Glocals for, well local things, activities, buying/selling..  And EF for quick fire Q&A, nonsense online talk, advice etc. EF has much more traffic/activity but most of the people tend to be "up north"

I dunno the stats for GL vs EF .. But maybe that's where everybody has gone?

Or conversely, I did the opposite. The trolls and vicious posters hiding behind pseudonyms on EF are beyond belief sometimes. Ergo, I joined Glocals frankly to get away from their vitriol. So some of the people on EF are really helpful and kind, but there is a hard core who are quite the opposite. No longer for me.....

I'm really helpful and kind :p  

But yes, totally agree with the sentiment although personally it doesn't bother me, i ignore the usual suspects.

What is "EF" ?

Really ?

EnglishForum ..   Maybe you best not go there :)

By the by, does “English Forum” mean that it’s only for people born and bred in one of the countries belonging to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or is it open to anyone who lays claim to literacy in the English language?

Ta ever so for your enlightenment.

R.

..literacy in the English language - loosely speaking.. 

For those not familiar it is exactly as it sounds, a rather lively English language forum for people in Switzerland.. Discussing everything Switzerland related as well as a whole bunch of other nonsense. 

It can be rather unforgiving but it's very well attended and one can usually find an answer very quickly.. or simply discuss the weather.. Just don't expect any sympathy if you get attacked for asking something that's been asked a thousand times before.. 

Literacy in the English languages does not figure too often on the EF :

their, there, they're ..... being a case in point i.e. "there often not their"

Found it! https://www.englishforum.ch/

Wow it's a lot more active than glocals!

True but there are very few people from Geneva there

For activities in Geneva, glocals is still the best

Numbers aren’t everything and they don’t necessarily remain stable all that long either as Facebook is now said to be experiencing.

The lack of courtesy as reported by Sheila and similar issues can still affect a site’s popularity in the long run.

Could it also be that Genevans, whether real or adopted, are also more considerate ?

I also think Glocals certainly is a lifeline, and it’s also a wonderful playground for everyone friendly, sociable and creative. Of course people come and go and preferences evolve, e.g. lately more vegan events and less adventurous initiatives. This site has always been living up to its label of friendliness and we must hope it will not become a playground for trolls to dump their frustrations.

Glocals is a community and communities count on ALL members to participate, which means that it shouldn't be the same people, time and time again doing all the organising.  And/or the same people bitching and moaning. 

Comments I've had (from people who seldom organise anything):

"Why are you doing this hike again - it's so boooooooring.  Why do you always do the cinema on Tuesdays, it's my laundry night? Why do you always start late, can't we start earlier? Why can't I bring my friends even if it's marked full? Why do I have to sign up? When are you going to organise dot.dot.dot? I'm going to be late, so can you wait? I don't like your film choices, can't you post more dot.dot.dot....?" 

(Always a favourite, that last one.....)

If something interests you but you can't be bothered to sign up, turn up, or complain when you DO participate, don't expect the organisers to carry on organising, then berate the fact that activites are declining.  

Either organise something yourself, or sign up and turn up, to something you've never experienced before - you may end up liking it.

And if wasn't your "cup of tea" then don't bitch and moan to the organiser.  We don't HAVE to do this you know.

PARISH NOTICE:

The cinema will remain on a Tuesday evening as the weekly programme is posted on the previous Wednesday giving all you laundry people 6 full days to wash your smalls.....