Every forum I touch turns to rigor mortis!

protoAuthor · #1 (**permalink**) 07-26-2009, 11:06 PM

So, I recently (a few minutes ago) spilled my guts on what I think of the state of activity on this forum in a PM reply. I thought it was so poignant and true that I'd re-post it here for everyone to see. Mods, there are suggestions for improving this state in there, but you don't have to take my elitist nazi suggestions to heart.
Here's my problem:
No one on this forum really posts that much, they just log in and apparently stare at their screens or something, and then log out. And since double posting is bad, I really can't post that much either, since there aren't too many threads that interest me, and furthermore, what's the point if no one is going to reply. I try, though, but my expertise lies in movies more than anime, as my anime preferences are a pretty select few. I'm having this problem on another forum as well, where no one really ever posts at all. There's really only a few forums in my pretty decent sized history that are still active. Lots of them are just DEAD, though. It's like everything I touch turns to rigor mortis. And even when someone does post on here, 6 out of 10 times it's a spam bot! Here's an experiment. Look at how many members this forum has. Then, look at how many guests are on at the time. Then, look at how many members are on at the time. Then look at the amount of members that are on that post. It's pretty sad. This forum has a HUGE amount of inactive members. Now, that takes up a lot of server memory, I'm told. That costs the people running this site quite a bit of money, I'm also told. But it's worth nothing if these members aren't doing anything. I could be wrong, though. But if I ran this place, I'd delete all the inactive accounts, which might free up space for new active ones, and I'd also make it so guests couldn't view the forums, they'd have to get an account and log in. Or something like that. If I ruled the world, I'd make every day the first day of Spring...Gorram, I just broke into song out of my boredom. You have to admit, this place is pretty dead.

Leake12 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-26-2009, 11:14 PM

I agree that most people just sit there and do nonthing and that there isn/t really any good threads and thats why people start making there own.

protoAuthor · #3 (**permalink**) 07-26-2009, 11:40 PM

Yeah, but almost no one is doing it, and my well of thread-making is running dry.

protoAuthor · #4 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 12:28 AM

Also, don't confuse me with just bitching about it. I'm trying. I'm not leaving, I kinda like this place's openness and warmth. I just wish it was more active.

**Dragonlady** · #5 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 12:31 AM

Last night Biggs and I was talking about the same thing and trying to come up with ideas to throw at Edmunds too.

But a lot of the new people that sign up every day have to so that they can be able to purchase the anime membership. So that's one reason why they don't visit and post on the forum. And the reason that deleting the inactive accounts won't work is because of the anime members. You have to be signed up here to apply and receive memberships. It would be great to get the forum like it use to be before we lost all of the ost's. But if that happens, either we'll have to get new mods other than Matt, or Matt and myself will be working our butts off (notice that most of the other mods haven't been here in either months or since last year).

As for the guests. A lot of the guests you see online looking at the board topics are bots/crawlers. Mainly this is for advertisement purposes.... getting us out there so that we can be tops on the searches. But yes, some of those guests are human too. They might be future paying anime members. So really we can't restrict them from ogling the forums. They might be looking for answers to their questions before they make a donation.

I'm still trying to reply to threads (I suck at making them btw) as well as answering members questions. But with just a handful of us making posts really doesn't cut it. I'd love to see the forum the way it use to be. I loved being busy reading posts and hearing about people from all over. So please don't get discouraged that we are just in a lull as of right now. Lulls can change. And I pray that our lull is almost over. So keep grinding out thoughts about how we can make this board a happening place again. Something is bound to work one day.

And btw... don't know why this is in Spam Chat. I'm moving it to General Discussion.

protoAuthor · #6 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragonlady

Last night Biggs and I was talking about the same thing and trying to come up with ideas to throw at Edmunds too.

But a lot of the new people that sign up every day have to so that they can be able to purchase the anime membership. So that's one reason why they don't visit and post on the forum. And the reason that deleting the inactive accounts won't work is because of the anime members. You have to be signed up here to apply and receive memberships. help get the forum like it use to be before we lost all of the ost's. But if that happens, either we'll have to get new mods other than Matt, or Matt and myself will be working our butts off (notice that most of the other mods haven't been here in either months or since last year).

As for the guests. A lot of the guests you see online looking at the board topics are bots/crawlers. Mainly this is for advertisement purposes.... getting us out there so that we can be tops on the searches. But yes, some of those guests are human too. They might be future paying anime members. So really we can't restrict them from ogling the forums. They might be looking for answers to their questions before they make a donation.

I'm still trying to reply to threads (I suck at making them btw) as well as answering members questions. But with just a handful of us making posts really doesn't cut it. I'd love to see the forum the way it use to be. I loved being busy reading posts and hearing about people from all over. So please don't get discouraged that we are just in a lull as of right now. Lulls can change. And I pray that our lull is almost over. So keep grinding out thoughts about how we can make this board a happening place again. Something is bound to work one day.

And btw... don't know why this is in Spam Chat. I'm moving it to General Discussion.

These explanations appease my angst. Thank you. I'm gonna go finish a review of a movie now. With pictures.

darkmasta · #7 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 12:39 AM

Yeah, this forum is quite silent since there where no more downloads... a lot of users leaved, I'm still here tough, I don't think I'll leave, but we DO need more users :/

**Dragonlady** · #8 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 01:51 AM

Just remember... if you have any good ideas, jot them down in a post in this thread.

Let's try to breath some life back into the forum.

Oh yeah.. if you visit other forums, put the link to here in your signature area or if the forums have like an advertisement section, advertise us! Get our forum out there.

rideru · #9 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 04:22 AM

what's annoying is that when u make a thread, nobody replies and ur thread just dies with like 100 views and 0 replies. it's a big downer, and discourages people (well, me at least) from making more threads. the only one i still keep going is the ff xiii info thread, but i have absolutely no clue whether anyone is interested at all.

Nemses · #10 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 09:07 AM

Yep, I've noticed that.
Basically, people prefer MMOs or Social Sites more than forums. Why is it so?
Simple explanation - more person to person contact options.

In forums,

You talk to everyone.

In Social Sites/MMOs,

You can talk to everyone
AND
You can talk to one person

So I'd like to suggest 2 options,

1) Shoutbox (refreshes every 10 seconds; 5 during high traffics) - This can be displayed on the main page of the forums. Guests can see the shouts but can't post in it. Members can see and post in the shoutbox.

2) Chatting - There should be some interface with which we can talk with the other users that are online. That'd help a lot.

Well, I've been trying to add topics to the forums. Trying to come with more things.

PS - I admire protoAuthor and darkmasta for not quitting during times like these.