Agreedbabbalute wrote: Many a long living organisation suffers at one stage or another survival mode........ It all deserves a great deal of respect for the forum organisers continues commitment and drive and this should be supported by all its members.
Has FB impacted our member's participation numbers?
There are many dedicated members who will support admin and the forum through this phase.briang wrote:Agreedbabbalute wrote: Many a long living organisation suffers at one stage or another survival mode........ It all deserves a great deal of respect for the forum organisers continues commitment and drive and this should be supported by all its members.
Admin's got my support for sure !
I just hate spammers and wish I had an electronic zapper to fry their nasty little mother boards
I just hate spammers and wish I had an electronic zapper to fry their nasty little mother boards
I love this forum. As a newer member it is a great reference site, got lots of history easily accessible via searches. It is also limited to like minded individuals. Facebook is too open, cluttered with crap, any comment you make is seen by all, impossible to find something. It is like a dustbin, constantly filling from the top. In two days you cannot find that article you were interested in.
I have been a forum admin (www.microlighters.co.za) for many years and only ever had to ban two people for life, one of them twice because he snuck back in under a different name. If you respond quick enough to issues and take it offline you can usually keep everyone living together. The worst thing is a full on battle on the forum, this drives members away. If you cannot keep up appoint moderators to help.
It is quiet though, I found this forum purely by chance. What drove the membership of my other forum up was linking the activity at the clubs to the forum. Every event was covered, photos of events, trips. Newer pilots we encouraged to join in on the forum and add their trips. Social events also drove the membership up, I would love to have a regional get together. I read there was one at Gear Junkie some time ago. Have a section for the music schools to advertise for free and then get the music schools to encourage younger players to join the forum. It is also important for existing members to do their part as well by responding to posts. When I first joined here I posted a recording for critiquing. It took 4 days and eventually after I posted a reminder I got one or two responses. This would lose new members very quickly.
I am here to stay
I have been a forum admin (www.microlighters.co.za) for many years and only ever had to ban two people for life, one of them twice because he snuck back in under a different name. If you respond quick enough to issues and take it offline you can usually keep everyone living together. The worst thing is a full on battle on the forum, this drives members away. If you cannot keep up appoint moderators to help.
It is quiet though, I found this forum purely by chance. What drove the membership of my other forum up was linking the activity at the clubs to the forum. Every event was covered, photos of events, trips. Newer pilots we encouraged to join in on the forum and add their trips. Social events also drove the membership up, I would love to have a regional get together. I read there was one at Gear Junkie some time ago. Have a section for the music schools to advertise for free and then get the music schools to encourage younger players to join the forum. It is also important for existing members to do their part as well by responding to posts. When I first joined here I posted a recording for critiquing. It took 4 days and eventually after I posted a reminder I got one or two responses. This would lose new members very quickly.
I am here to stay
There certainly has been a drop-off in the last little while, but I'd be surprised if FB has had much impact on the actual forum/discussions side (as opposed to the classifieds). I tend to follow the Les Paul forum too and haven't been able to find anything on FB that compares to the focused, semi-private nature of a forum for detailed discussions about very esoteric issues.
FB seems to me to be too open to allow for that without picking up a LOT of uninformed or off-topic static. Or just 7 million people liking photos of a PRS/Gibson and another 7 million saying it's overpriced and a rip-off. No thanks.
FB seems to me to be too open to allow for that without picking up a LOT of uninformed or off-topic static. Or just 7 million people liking photos of a PRS/Gibson and another 7 million saying it's overpriced and a rip-off. No thanks.
I miss the old forum as well. Some really funny spontaneous things used to happen. But then I also used to think that there were only Cat Stevens, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix etc etc. And made a fool of myself thinking and stating here that some lead break was the best I'd ever heard - meanwhile it's been replaced a million times!
I have come to learn that there is new music, better music, better instruments and I learnt it here mainly. And also that there were gaps in my knowledge and got those new treasures right here! Kinda makes me sad to think that a good thing should die off - but perhaps that's just the way of the world.
Anyway - just a suggestion - maybe folk need to introduce and reintroduce themselves - open up and get the ball rolling again.
I have come to learn that there is new music, better music, better instruments and I learnt it here mainly. And also that there were gaps in my knowledge and got those new treasures right here! Kinda makes me sad to think that a good thing should die off - but perhaps that's just the way of the world.
Anyway - just a suggestion - maybe folk need to introduce and reintroduce themselves - open up and get the ball rolling again.
IT WAS THE LOGO CHANGE !!!! ?
If you wonder over to the stats page it tells a story and this is my interpretation
Between Alan and Bob posted some 15000 and 11000 + posts ea. That is around 2 and 3 times as many posts than the next bunch in the 6k posts range.
In my books, both of them were the "drivers" of the forum, starting +- 1700 topics between them. Followed by Squonk, Nori, Keira, Jack Flash Jr, Manny , IceCreamMan, Norman and Ray.
The Turning points seem to come in stages, this after reporting the highest number of online users at one time in July 2013. October 2013 and December 2014 seems to be marked timelines where we find activity tapering off, one can debate what happened around those time-frames and the impact.
It is safe to say that Bob and Alans departure were the main contributors. Oh don't forget Bob left twice the fist time was for 3 months.....if memory serves, edit: Ok I just check Bob went MIA around the August, September and october 2013 time frame, came back for about a year and then his final post was on in November 2014
The classifieds section took a hammering from FB's S.A. Music Store and others. for no other reason than ease of use and exposure to some 9k member many of which are forumers.
Anyway my 2c
If you wonder over to the stats page it tells a story and this is my interpretation
Between Alan and Bob posted some 15000 and 11000 + posts ea. That is around 2 and 3 times as many posts than the next bunch in the 6k posts range.
In my books, both of them were the "drivers" of the forum, starting +- 1700 topics between them. Followed by Squonk, Nori, Keira, Jack Flash Jr, Manny , IceCreamMan, Norman and Ray.
The Turning points seem to come in stages, this after reporting the highest number of online users at one time in July 2013. October 2013 and December 2014 seems to be marked timelines where we find activity tapering off, one can debate what happened around those time-frames and the impact.
It is safe to say that Bob and Alans departure were the main contributors. Oh don't forget Bob left twice the fist time was for 3 months.....if memory serves, edit: Ok I just check Bob went MIA around the August, September and october 2013 time frame, came back for about a year and then his final post was on in November 2014
The classifieds section took a hammering from FB's S.A. Music Store and others. for no other reason than ease of use and exposure to some 9k member many of which are forumers.
Anyway my 2c
Read my mind, was thinking exactly the same thing.lindsmuse wrote: Anyway - just a suggestion - maybe folk need to introduce and reintroduce themselves - open up and get the ball rolling again.
I must say that this forum has heart and soul. As a newbie to guitar and at my advanced age a forum like FB would have been overwhelming and I do not have the experience to filter the good from the bad. My introduction here was met with numerous welcomes and getting my initial set-up (including that of my children) was all thanks to this forums input. That's a personal touch which I doubt a large forum can bring.
A nice idea.V8 wrote:Read my mind, was thinking exactly the same thing.lindsmuse wrote: Anyway - just a suggestion - maybe folk need to introduce and reintroduce themselves - open up and get the ball rolling again.
Will also highlight which members are active and interested enough to introduce themselves.
I'm still here! Haven't posted for a while, mainly because I haven't come across something I had something to say on. Ultimately this led to me not being on here as much as its not as interesting anymore.
I think when Alan left a large portion of the community felt a big part of GFSA left with him.
I do however think, as with any business, keeping things current (especially in a community driven website) is very important. Bringing in new innovative and interesting things that would want members to come visit more often.
If the forum doesn't evolve with social networks and the rest of the competition, it will eventually die. This won't fix itself. Norio and the team is doing great work and I have great respect for them, I do however think a brainstorming session is in order to prevent the forum from losing even more numbers.
I think when Alan left a large portion of the community felt a big part of GFSA left with him.
I do however think, as with any business, keeping things current (especially in a community driven website) is very important. Bringing in new innovative and interesting things that would want members to come visit more often.
If the forum doesn't evolve with social networks and the rest of the competition, it will eventually die. This won't fix itself. Norio and the team is doing great work and I have great respect for them, I do however think a brainstorming session is in order to prevent the forum from losing even more numbers.
There's been a lot on my plate these last few months and I've even had to push some of my mates off to the side. Sorry guido......lol.
I just looked on the classifieds section..............5 guitars?..........serial? Exqueeze me, baking powder, when has there only even been 5 guitars for sale in here. I have to admit that I used FB for flogging stuff, stuff would just go quicker, with less issues and less tire kickers.
I still like to come in and see whats for what though..........but most of the times, im out of my depth here.
I just looked on the classifieds section..............5 guitars?..........serial? Exqueeze me, baking powder, when has there only even been 5 guitars for sale in here. I have to admit that I used FB for flogging stuff, stuff would just go quicker, with less issues and less tire kickers.
I still like to come in and see whats for what though..........but most of the times, im out of my depth here.