"Gym Stagnation is Creeping Back Into The Scene"

#PokemonGO: When the new gym system was rolled out, I along with so many other players were very excited about the concept of increased gym turnover (and in turn, game interaction, which I will get to in a second).In the early days, gyms were constantly a fight to control. Many players out in the streets struggling to control gyms around the city. At first, I thought the system changed for good, but it would appear, at least for my city, it was for the worst.I have been making an effort to check all gyms around my place of work and residence, and I have noticed the constant creep of Mystic control, and increasingly the length of their control. Most gyms are hovering around 2-3 days right now. This is in a very large turnover area, the downtown area of one of the biggest cities in the US.My first question to travellers: is this increase in control consistent with your experience? Are you seeing a dominant team increasingly control gyms for longer?I have made multiple attempts throughout the past couple weeks to flip gyms to return these trainers pokemon. I would assume they would be grateful for that, as they are then able to receive their 50 coins. It would appear I am either wrong here, or they just dont understand the system anymore. Almost on command, I will take control of the gym and move on to other, nearby gyms. Before I even take down the next gym, my defender has been defeated by a previous defending trainer, and the gym returns to Mystic.My second question to travellers: Are you seeing this in your area? If so, are you noticing trainers are vehemontly defending gym control, for seemingly no benefits?Finally, I worry this will become a trend, and before long, my teammates and Instinct players will soon decide to stop even bothering, and we will see another golden age of gym squatting. This is a terrible, terrible game decision, as it diminishes game interaction as well as the "newb friendly" atmosphere it is trying to cultivate. How does a level 25 trainer feel if he uses his entire stockpile of potions and revives, finally takes down a gym, and within 10-15 minutes all of his hard work comes crumbling down, for literally zero reward*?Since this is going long, I will wrap up with this: It is very easy to identify a problem, however it is much, much harder to devise a fix for it. Admittedly, I have been very for a pro-attacker bonus, that the team / player to take down a gym receives a reward, whatever it may be, to encourage gym flipping. And before yall rush in here and say the age old "but you get to place your pokemon! Thats a reward!"... well, not really anymore. Any Joe can come up and place their pokemon now after you sit there and take down a gym.Gym stagnation is creeping back in, and I fear we are going back to square one (with even less rewards than before). via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2t50mwF