Birmingham Anglers Association

Reg, your careful analysis confirms what any regular forum reader can see:
• Response levels are in largely determined by the topic (General/Fishing Chat are much more likely to generate responses than say Match Fishing and What You Have Caught where most comments will be of the ‘well done’ variety)
• Most contributions and responses are of the general/fishing chat variety which by its nature should promote a variety of views, contributions and challenges than other topics. This should be the main function of the forum, promoting exchanges among the members (and others).
• Few juniors use the forum (it might be that they use alternative media but the BAA Facebook page seems to generate even less activity).

What your analysis cannot show is the average age of contributors (my guess is that it is 50+), or the proportion of BAA members who have ever engaged with the forum (my guess is that it is no more than 1-2%). I sense also that the contribution rate was declining fairly slowly between 2015 and 2020; with the pandemic it increased as people wanted to know what was happening and we had ‘covid rage’ about the loss of fishing, staying local, rule breaking etc etc.

As matters have eased the activity has settled to a new low. This is sad as the forum is a mechanism to bind the membership together, to engage the potential clout the BAA has (by virtue of size and geographical area) to work for the future of angling in the UK. It should also be a source of information dissemination (the recent exchanges re EVA bait systems being a good example).

The BAA is like any other club, society or interest group. People join to pursue the interest. Few want to ‘get involved’. Over the last 30 years we have become a less united, less community based society where the influence of ‘the market’ has encouraged us to participate on ‘a pay as you go’ basis and loyalty and commitment ties have become more fragmented.