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History Before the World Wide Web (WWW) became available to the general public discussion forums were quite popular on privately run bulletin boards. Operating these bulletin board required a high level of technical expertise and an significant investment of time and money to manage. Even the participants had to be tech savvy just to participate. Later corporate run platforms like AOL and CompuServe stepped in and made things much easier for everyone. Running forums, and participating in them, was made a lot easier. Of course you had to play by the rules laid down by the corporations, plus they charged monthly fee just to participate. The opening of the WWW allowed anyone with a bit of technical skill and a little bit of money to create their own discussion forums. You no longer needed a corporation. People happily ditched the fees, rules, corporate oversight, and enjoyed the benefits creating unique forums. The additional benefits for those starting their own forums was that they and their participants had the freedom to determine the subjects and the rules for participation. As a result, one could find discussion forums filled with other kindred spirits on virtually any subject. It was in this environment in which our forums Thumper Corner, and later Cynique's corner, thrived. The Rise of Social Media In the age of social media now anyone can setup a discussion forum—absolutely no technical skill is required and it is all free. As a result, the number of groups exploded. One Facebook alone there are more forums dedicated to Black books than I can keep track of. Indeed, the level of granularity on Facebook is down to the individual. Individuals have their own discussion forums—with themselves as the subject. It was during this period were AALBC.com's saw it steepest decline in participation. Today some of the old participants here are now active on social media. Interestingly, it is not as if social media provides a better or even equivalent substitute to the discussion forum. None of the Black book forums or groups I've participated on social media have come close to Thumper's Corner in terms quality of conversation on books. The forums were also read much more extensively by non-participants (lurkers). There is no social media platform where one can post a comment with formatting as simple as what yiu are reading here. The vast majority of groups I've seen on Facebook are just used by others to self-promote. I too use those groups for this purpose. It takes almost about 2 seconds to share something on a Facebook group—you don't even have to go to the group. Many tout the benefits of Goodreads, but I don't use Goodreads at all. It reminds me of the AOL days where you are greatly constrained on what you can post. You can't even post a hyperlink back to your website. At the end of the day all of these corporate websites invest a great deal of effort in keeping you on their platforms, and they do a great job. Perhaps it is not that Thumper's Corner has been replicated on social media, social media provides a different and superior value proposition. If that is the case, someone please explain it to me for I can't see what is superior about social media. I won't even get into the issues of supporting Black owned entities, how social media invades your privacy, or any of the myriad of other adverse issues I can raise regarding social media. I think we have lost more than we have gained during the rise of social media. I did not feel this way 5 years ago. It took time for me to understand what was happening and to see how things have played out. Other Reasons for the Decline of Participation Our Our Forums I'm not sure the rise of social media is the only reason for the decline in the popularity of the Thumper's Corner discussion forum. Thumper's Corner's heyday also corresponded with a surge in popularity of African American literature in general. Also during Thumper Corner's prime we also managed an online book club* (The Coffee Will Make You Black), under the leadership of Thumper himself. The online book club ended in 2006, this too certainly put downward pressure on discussion forum participation. *A decade ago managing the platform required a great deal of my time. I often did not have time to even read the books. But today with AALBC.com being my full time job, my kids grown, and the AALBC.com website being greatly improved, managing a book club would be much easier. In 2017 I plan to recruit and Book Club Manager (if you ave any recommendation for this role, please let me know. Most people really don't like their ideals challenged. On Facebook I can't tell you how many times I've read someone boast how they are blocking someone because they posted something that they disagreed with. In almost 20 years I have never banned anyone from these forums for saying something I disagreed with. Banned for being a troll, spamming, or obsessively vulgar and rude yes. But for saying something that I don't like, disagree with, or is unpopular—never. That would defeat the purpose of these forums. Sometimes that opinion I starting our disagreeing with is one that I later embraced. This is how people grow and learn. Growth and learning are fundamentally the my goals for these forums; which is one reason I'll keep 'em going. I'd be willing to bet money these forums will outlive Facebook.

Thanks Cynique. We all try to do better...that is about all we can do since no one is perfect. I'm always wary of people who have to tell you how smart they are. This should be self-evident. Simply saying you are "a published author" means nothing without seeing the actual product. Over the better part of the last two decades selling books I've seen a lot of garbage. Besides being published does not make you a decent human being...

I understand, Troy. I continually corrected sara's grammar to take her down a notch because she was so quick to remind us that she was educated, while in her blurred view, I was a sack slinger at the post office. LOL She constantly provided me with weapons to use against her. In fact, everything about her motivated my desire to keep her off balance because she was so self-important. I have thick skin and have never embraced the role of being a victim, never been put on the defense by sara's obsessive ageism because I think her vents revealed more about her than me. I found her to be an interesting case study, but obviously most people don't want to be dislodged from their comfort zone and prefer for everybody to "just get along". I, myself, am a case study for those who like to analyze people. I have never claimed to be a sweet old lady who makes nice. Or a wimp. There are enough of those in the world. I am devilish and never met a know-it-all who I didn't want to challenge for the title. But, still, I liked Shirley and Mel and everybody else on this site, so obviously sara and I were natural enemies who rubbed each other the wrong way. ( I even kind of liked that "Celestial" troll that showed up a while back because he was sooo over the top.) I also wondered why nobody ever came forth to take sara's side. Why didn't anybody step up and chastise me? And, actually, it wasn't a stretch when I needled her because she would leave herself open. Nat Turner not an inspiration? A ho-hum movie review about a film that had already been expertly critiqued? The south side not being the location of the majority of murders in Chicago? Tiger Woods being the first black pro golfer? The familiar plot of John Wayne movies about the Cavalry vs the Indians not applying to the black Seminoles vs the Army??? There are consequences to telling lies about me and minimizing my history... Nevertheless, I do apologize to you, Troy, for making your job harder and I do appreciate your patience with my "keeping up shit". If I have discouraged people from posting here, I am sorry that they do not have the courage of their convictions. Cynique will try and do better in the future.

All we can do when it comes to Hillary being elected is to hope that the will end justify the means. I still think her goal is to become a female FDR, and put America on the road to economic stability and social justice. The days of a "man on a white horse" appearing in time of crisis to save his country from ruin are over. If a bitch in a red pants suit can make headway in getting the job done, then so be it. Take cover and stay safe. Hurricane Matthew is merciless and color blind.

Black writers are over represented (again) on the list of finalists for National Book Awards. This really is something positive in the world of books. Of course this by no means makes our for a couple of centuries of marginalization in the book world. It will take a lot longer to make up for that. I can say that the National Book Foundation is doing their part to make a positive impact in the world of books.