One thing that the original ED site had early on was a chat room which allowed a few of us to get to know each other. Those chats helped trigger discussions and responses on the main site. That is one of the nice things here as well, the chat room. Not a lot of folks use it, but we have a group of regulars on early in the morning (EDT) and sometimes in the evenings. I don't get in to the chat often as I'm not an early riser. Like my wife says, "You don't wake up until 10 p.m." I'm a night owl.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Not particularly fond of Anonymous Amin, it's true.  I do feel that s/he is trying to make it based on the old name.  But there have been a couple other attempts at new sites which have bellied up after only a couple months with only a handful of contributors.

I joined initially mainly out of curiosity, but have not been too active there. I miss the old site, but just because this place has the same name and basic organization of content doesn't mean it's the same.  What made the old site was the people there, not the name of the site.  And most of the more active people there are interacting here.  I do think it matters that the administrator is anonymous, especially when he/she participates in discussions (which is often).  I also have mixed feelings about his (or her) having just appropriated the domain name instead of coming up with something new. 

--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
updated by @dusty: 04/18/20 09:21:48PM

I joined, but have slowly lost interest for the reason you cite....not much activity. I haven't given up on it. I have participated some, and hope it gets more interest. 

I looked at the new site about a month or so ago, and it was still a work-in-progress (it might have been a bit longer; I don't remember). To be honesr, I was never that big a fan of the old ED, and I haven't thought to look at the new one since my first visit...maybe I'll go back for a new look.

I'm curious about how folks here have joined or used the new ED site. There does not seem to be many folks participating there and I wonder why? Could it be that the administrator remains anonymous creating a less friendly and personable atmosphere? Bruce Ford, the creator of the original ED, participated using his name and we knew a little bit about him. The same is true of Lisa here and Bobby at The Traditional Mountain Dulcimore site. Even at Discovering Dulcimers on Facebook some of us know the originator, Maria, and Wayne Anderson who maintains the page. What do the rest of you think?