I think I might belong to one group on Facebook, but it doesn't seem to be that active. Are there places out there that are busy with the exchange of ideas, like this forum used to be? And IP seems to be pretty close to dead.

They are all in Facebook groups now. I've seen some previous members from IP and RC in there as well - Low Voltage Nation, AV Installers Group, etc.

This begins my head shaking. Facebook groups are horrible for technical communication. There is no 'layout' to it, no searching thru posts/threads (because there is none), it just sucks!!!
That doesn't even get into the fact of how many IDIOTS there are on there. I have seen some of the stupidest responses I've ever seen in my life, come from 'so called' professionals. And they always seem to have the loudest voice fingers.

Not sure what can be done however. This forum is overrun with spammers daily, few want to (or do) come here much now. And IP forums hasn't had a new member in 5 years (and we've lost most of the old ones).
AVS forums has several bright people on it - but the signal to noise ratio... And the snowflakes are real - I recently got in trouble for being to harsh in helping someone (I know, surprising right?).

there are a few spam posts every few days that are removed as soon as we see them. I'd hardly call that "Overrun"

So where should I look?

At retirement? A new and exciting career in something that doesn't involve TV's?

I am wanting to recommend resources to a couple electrician friends that I am working with on projects currently.

I got what I feel was 10 years worth of valuable education by going through this site over 20 years ago. Was hoping there would still be something like it out there.

The closest thing to the helpfulness of old school RC are some of the manufacturer specific facebook Groups. A couple of the Savant and Control4 groups are fairly consistent with good knowledge. Some of those are linked to dealer accounts though.

AV Installers group is OK. Low Voltage Nation is very big and gets silly sometimes, but also has some god info.

Facebook destroyed the forum model. Facebook groups are either dead or filled with so much noise that it’s a waste of time. If you think this forum has spam wait till you get to an active Facebook group.

I am surprised RC didn't create a FB page a while back. Daniel knows some of us have been here since the early 2000s and could have us admin / moderate so he wouldn't have to.

I admin an NFL page with tens of thousands of members. I can spot fake / spam accounts instantly and none of them ever get in.

For Pro audio stuff, QSC user groups are very helpful.

mac and impact said it... fb now but its very watered down to joey HO's now...

miss the info, guys, and this page...its still my homepage on all my computers LOL

I don't use forums anymore. I already know everything and nobody listens to me anyway.

They never did anyway, since you always had the wrong answer. I guess that comes from going surfing and fishing ALL the time...LOL

Pretty impressive that people have been active here for over 20-yrs, even if the last few years have been slower.

I was at a local distributor a while back and I overheard some installers asking questions about a Samsung Frame TV. Being that I had just posted the solution on here, I advised them to "take a look on Remote Central" for the answer. They had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

Kids these days...