Finding people to write forum articles has proved to be even more difficult than we thought it would be, and even the responses to the few articles that have been published have been few and far between. In other words, forums, the essential reason to exist of the Round Table are just not happening.

To make matters worse, the critical mass problem arises: too few additions or updates result in declining reason to click on the Round Table and viewership falls.

Usually there's a good reason lurking around somewhere in a situation such as this one. The trick is to uncover it. Speculation that we've heard on the matter has it that relatively few crime analysts see themselves as writers, fewer still are willing to post their narrative efforts before their peers, and just about everyone is too busy for such matters in any case. There are always the well-intentioned who mean to write but never quite get it done, often for perfectly valid reasons, such as the overload on one’s own table.

Another idea that has been forwarded is that the MACA nameplate may have discouraged analysts from everywhere else, despite our protestations that the Round Table is intended to be by and for crime analysts everywhere.

Clearly, the Round Table is wobbling and could collapse. So where do we go from here?

There are some possibilities to consider. One is a “takeover” by IACA and a merger of unequals with the IACA Forecaster. Such a move would yield questions pertaining to format (conventional paper, emailed document, on-line), purpose, frequency of publication, editorial control, and the like. Clearly, there is also the possibility that the Round Table‘s legs could be folded up and the table put away like a bridge table, leaving the Forecaster to carry the load, whatever that load might be.

Stay tuned. But more importantly, consider registering your thoughts on the issue in the manner of a forum on what to do about our forum problem. Select either of the following to send in your thoughts: