Time For a Cull?

GuanYin

I think one thing you miss on the science forums is that many people would read a thread but not post. They see it as sort of a news digest. Look at the posts where there has been discussion. Alot more views than posts.

Both those threads were quite technical for the lay person which is why they may not have responded. We are getting alot more technical posts in some of the forums than when it was just science which is something I did notice.

I actually think Science has lost an awful lot of posting traffic to Irish Skeptics, which I said at the time, I still didn't see why they couldn't have had it private or posted in science, so if anything its doing well to hold its own.

In any case, I'm not sure why the Science forum is getting shot down. The peopel who are interested read it regularly, I haven't psoted as much lately due to work commitments but its still moving along.

Nike_Dude

I dont think there is a need for a major cull, but what could be culled is the amount of members with no posts (i.e. people who signed up and never posted) it takes ages to trawl through the member list

mr_angry

Originally posted by syke
So the forum is created privately, the mod isput in place and every that said yes on the thread now has a chance to join it and participate. Because the thread is there and perhaps a sticky listing these private forums and the mods to contact in order to join, all anyone has to do is PM the mod for access if they are interested in that area.

That's all very well, but the problem with the private fora is that they are obscurely named, and there doesn't seem to be anywhere to see what kind of discussion goes on in that actual forum from the outside. For example, the whole "Fezmaniac" thing - took poor Beruthial ages to explain to me what that was about. I was also wondering what Tech Haven Ghosts was, but getting Hobbes to reply to a private message seems to be nigh on impossible. How are you ever supposed to know if you want to join a private forum?

ecksor

Originally posted by Nike_Dude
I dont think there is a need for a major cull, but what could be culled is the amount of members with no posts (i.e. people who signed up and never posted) it takes ages to trawl through the member list

Accounts that are properly registered with no posts might yet be used (we recently had one user post for the first time a full year after registering). We will look into a culling of accounts that failed to correctly register, along with bulk signups to 'nick squat' or other obvious nuisances.

SheroN

I know of several users who have been registered for years and who never post, but regularly visit boards.

yellum

Originally posted by mr_angry
the whole "Fezmaniac" thing ..

/me whistles...


How are you ever supposed to know if you want to join a private forum?

You don't, you are invited/suggested. Kinda like the square dealers.

Nike_Dude

Originally posted by SheroN
I know of several users who have been registered for years and who never post, but regularly visit boards.

Fair enough but what extra benefit do they get from being joined as oppose to just coming and viewing as a guest?
Thats the sort of thing I meant ecksor. There must be loads of people who just come across boards and register, but have no intentions of ever posting

ecksor

Originally posted by Nike_Dude
Fair enough but what extra benefit do they get from being joined as oppose to just coming and viewing as a guest?

They can subscribe to forums and threads and set preferences and ignore lists amongst other things. Also, I believe there are people who never post but do use the private message facility occasionally.

Thats the sort of thing I meant ecksor. There must be loads of people who just come across boards and register, but have no intentions of ever posting

That doesn't mean they never will. There are other targets for culling that make more sense at this stage.

Roller Toaster

Well I suggested the Collectibles/Antiques forum a few months ago as it seemed to fill a gap within the site but it's sort of trailed off from it's initial flurry of posts. That's not to say that it should be culled though as I still think that it's a useful resource to people. The only problem is getting the right people to notice it as once you have a good mix of knowledgable people and newbies asking questions any forum can be successful.

I think that a lot of people click on a thread out of curiosity on the front page but when theres nothing happening on a forum that they're not aware of it's not brought to their attention. Perhaps a spotlight on some of the quieter forums on the frontpage would help to get their wheels in motion again and if that still didn't help then they should probably be culled.

ecksor

If you want to try to promote the forum you could try putting a link to it in your signature and seeing if helps the interest levels.

yellum

You could have a dropdown menu thats autogenerated at the end of every day, listing the top 20 least used public forums with the least used at the top of the dropdown list and it going down in ascending usage level.

Might be one way of generating new traffic. Call the dropdown - "Forums of the day" or something.

Roller Toaster

Isn't "Forums of the day" false advertising since it would solely consist of the reject forums?

GuanYin

Originally posted by ecksor
If you want to try to promote the forum you could try putting a link to it in your signature and seeing if helps the interest levels.

I was doing that for a while...someone deleted it though *cough*

yellum

Originally posted by Roller Toaster
Isn't "Forums of the day" false advertising since it would solely consist of the reject forums?

Well in a restaurant the dish of the day is usually something the chef wants to push on you for that day so he can get rid of the last of that meat or whatever.

Forums of the Day are forums that Boards thinks you should check out. Its not stating "Most Popular Forums of the Day"

BigO

oi! dont get rid of belvedere,

all the lads discuss the rugger there roysh!

actually destroy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vader

I think new public forums should be advertised in devores announcements the same way he advertises regular forums. I understand why he doesnt, its logical, but I think it would help the new forums