Faithful members... they just don't post!

[SnowWidow]

I'm hoping for some new ideas ... I've had this forum for over 10 years. http://www.insanitycafe.com We have about 15 faithful members who log in each day. They are real people, who have gone through the domain name changes, software changes, etc. But my problem is... I can't get them to post! I am so tired of threads with only 2-4 replies (mainly myself and 2 other people). We've tried all different topics - even installed an arcade where they have to post once a day to play. We have daily "sign in" threads.. basically, say hi or say what you are up to that day. We have a "Picture of the Day" thread where all you have to do is find a picture - yours, news, whatever - and post it. Nothing is working.

What has other people done in the past to bring members back to life? This isn't just a "time of the year thing"... it's been going on for over a year now.

[Deaks]

can i ask what is your forums main category?

[SnowWidow]

Its a general forum. No certain subjects or anything. We have chit chat, debates, family stuff... very generalized.

[Deaks]

that wont help, there are thousands of general chat forums ... what makes your forum better than them?

[SnowWidow]

Nothing really. Maybe the fact that we've had quite a few members who have been around since the beginning... why, I don't know, because getting them to post the last year or so is like pulling teeth. I don't quite understand why they keep logging in, but don't post. I've heard the "don't have time" excuse, but it doesn't make sense... you have time to log in, read the posts that are there, but not reply? Especially when a lot of them log in multiple times a day. I need to find that fire to put under their feet to get it back to how it used to be.

[Deaks]

have you asked them?

[CultureGlue]

Controversy helps
Best-reply of the week
Topic-dude of the month
Make them moderator
Membergroup-system

We can help you to have more posts -> http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=358464.0

Be that third person! Help us to find the fourth person..

[SnowWidow]

Yeah, like I said; I've heard the "don't have time" excuse. Thats about all we hear. Or there "I have nothing to add".

Someone had to have had this same problem on a forum at some point... what did you do to bring it back?

Controversy helps
Best-reply of the week

I like the best reply of the week! Thats something I've never heard of.

[kat]

I know of a couple of admins who created a couple of sockpuppets

Code Select Expand

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_(Internet)


and had some controversial conversations with himself. Obviously, other members didn't know they were both him. (Admins might figure it, coz of the IP addresses)


That lit the place up, for ages!

[CultureGlue]

Give them more rights when they have higher posts, award them
Give them a title if they have opened ten or so topics

I like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_(Internet) idea to

[H]

As Runic says, with offtopic forums there really isn't much room for sites that aren't already well established.

Make them moderator

I can't stress how bad an idea this is. Only frequent, level headed and trusted people should be given moderation rights. It should not be an incentive to encourage posting

[SnowWidow]

We had made one of our more active members a moderator once... soon after her posting went down to almost nothing. She said she felt like it was too much of a responsibility and took the fun out of it. I don't suggest it either.

I would consider us established, in the sense we've been around for over 10 years. The problem I'm having is that we seem to have "died". A couple year ago a person couldn't keep up with all the new posts (or the drama). I just haven't had to deal with it dying off like this. Just need some fresh ideas to get us going again.

Sometimes I wonder if Facebook & MySpace hasn't killed forums.

[Gidget Claire]

Sometimes I wonder if Facebook & MySpace hasn't killed forums.

I had the very same kind of discussion on my board a few months ago. I had a 'unique' forum, I mean, apparently I was the only person who was running a board about this musician. I tried to advertize it and definitely got new members, but my stats got ridiculously low as time went by. One of my members said she'd mod and bring up new discussions but she did nothing much and now she  hardly posts..... Le sigh.
Anyways,  after a few months I thought I'd start a general discussion about fan communities - would give me an idea on why people had ceased to register/don't create new forums about this musician, etc, and more importantly I'd get answers because after 3 years of running forums, it was obvious my board had no future and I couldn't figure out why.  Somebody pointed out that Twitter and FB are to be held responsible. You can interact with a musician, fi, on Twitter and FB so why even register at a forum where he'd never post? Also, Twitter requires little effort - the 140-character limit, you know.  You update any time you want, you can post tonnes of useless stuff without being moderated and more importantly you can interact with virtually anyone, including celebs. I can totally see (now) why it may sound more attractive than a forum.

On topic:
To which extent have you tried to advertize your board?
What are you into? (ie, do you like horses, swimming, do you have any hobby/interest which could lead into developing your forum?)

[SnowWidow]

To which extent have you tried to advertize your board? A few topsites, list sites, etc over the years but mainly word of mouth which has always seemed to be best. Right now I do have a Facebook fan page that links to my Twitter and I announce new topics, updates & arcade stuff on it a couple times a week.

What are you into? (ie, do you like horses, swimming, do you have any hobby/interest which could lead into developing your forum?) A bunch of us were/are into photography and we do have a photography section, which includes that Picture of the Day, but its gone nowhere. We are all mostly parents, but parenting boards are overdone (we started out as a parenting board, ironically).

[ApplianceJunk]

Hi,

For a forum that is ten years old I expected to see a lot more topic and replies then I did.
Maybe try to find a niche for your forum.

[MH-MINI]

I think I have a similiar problem.

I get around 150-200 unique visitors a day but not many post.

But the forum is less than a month old so I guess I still have room to improve.

[Gidget Claire]

A bunch of us were/are into photography and we do have a photography section, which includes that Picture of the Day, but its gone nowhere. We are all mostly parents, but parenting boards are overdone (we started out as a parenting board, ironically).

There's definitely an opportunity here. Picture of the day sounds a bit like that app on FB (no offence intended) but you could try to organize some photography  contest and use your FB/Twitter account to advertize it. Also, I'd suggest you go look for friends on Twitter, try to find people who seem interesting (ie they follow somebody you know/an actor you like, etc) and add them. Some of them will start to follow you. They'll see your updates and links to your board and there's chances they'll visit & want to get an account. That's how I got some of my forum members.

[ApplianceJunk]

150-200 unique

The percent of unique visitors that become members and then post is always going to be low.

Looking at our Google Analytics stats we get 1500-2000 unique visitors a day, but average topic per day is only 4.8 and average post only 24.25 per day with a average registrations of about 6 per day.

You can view some of our public stats at this URL.
http://appliancejunk.com/forums/index.php?action=stats

With only 150-200 unique visitors a day you can't expect much daily activity.

[MH-MINI]

Yeah as I said, the forum's less than a month old. So there's still time to improve.

[wildebeast]

Nice looking forum - I have just joined under my real name - 'Damien'

You mention that a lot of people like photography - I do as well - one of my hobbies are storm photos, but also a whole mess of pics I have taken here in japan.

[CultureGlue]

As Runic says, with offtopic forums there really isn't much room for sites that aren't already well established.

Make them moderator

I can't stress how bad an idea this is. Only frequent, level headed and trusted people should be given moderation rights. It should not be an incentive to encourage posting

You make them moderator in their own category.. you call them moderator but you don't give them all 'the power' in once. Or maybe it is not so a good idea.

[wildebeast]

i tried that idea when i had a forum - it did not really work, the slump contnued.

Finding the niche would be the best bet - and that could be gathered by looking at what the members enjoy.

[Uhura!]

We had made one of our more active members a moderator once... soon after her posting went down to almost nothing. She said she felt like it was too much of a responsibility and took the fun out of it. I don't suggest it either.

I would consider us established, in the sense we've been around for over 10 years. The problem I'm having is that we seem to have "died". A couple year ago a person couldn't keep up with all the new posts (or the drama). I just haven't had to deal with it dying off like this. Just need some fresh ideas to get us going again.

Sometimes I wonder if Facebook & MySpace hasn't killed forums.

Yes...I log into FB and see people playing cafe world & other games posting what they are making for dinner & what color their bras are.

FB is taking action away from forums. People need somewhere to express themselves & work out boredom...FB is REALLY good @ doing that. You can even log in on your phone. Many people are becoming FB addicts. FB is a great advertising opportunity but it is definitiely taking action away from online discussion forums.

BTW - I wouldn't recommend giving someone a title / responsibility to entice them to post. If they aren't suited for the job you'll create another problem for yourself.

I am doing "everything" I can too...I have all kinds of content + I even have a FB page for the forum. People join the FB page ...it's hell trying to get them to join & talk on the forum. It seems like they'd rather do their talking on FB.

[Cassiel]

Heh, this is my third reply to you Uhura.

My suggestion is that if you're not already post the link to your forum in every message you send out. The easier it is for the users to access your site the better. But the main idea is to trap the Facebook group members into signing up for your forum. Any event you hold that you send Facebook messages to your other members about, make it so in order to participate they have to sign up. The group is fine for answering questions, but you should really stress that they'd get a better experience if they sign up. Like with subscriptions to some MMOs. Some offer content so that you can play the game and try it out, but you can't access everything you wanted. To do that you need to pay a subscription fee for the game. The idea is kind of like that but without having to pay.

Otherwise, best of luck with your forum!

[Uhura!]

Heh, this is my third reply to you Uhura.

My suggestion is that if you're not already post the link to your forum in every message you send out. The easier it is for the users to access your site the better. But the main idea is to trap the Facebook group members into signing up for your forum. Any event you hold that you send Facebook messages to your other members about, make it so in order to participate they have to sign up. The group is fine for answering questions, but you should really stress that they'd get a better experience if they sign up. Like with subscriptions to some MMOs. Some offer content so that you can play the game and try it out, but you can't access everything you wanted. To do that you need to pay a subscription fee for the game. The idea is kind of like that but without having to pay.

Otherwise, best of luck with your forum!

This has already occured to me and we're already doing this.

The issue is not getting people to sign up to forums, it is getting them to post on the forum when Facebook has a way for them to post online while they are already logged into Facebook, playing games etc. The fact is that most Facebook users tend not to leave Facebook to post in online discussion forums. They'll leave Facebook to shop & do other things - but FB is in direct competition with online forums. Some of the "Pages" and "Groups" are serving as online discussion forums with Discussion Tabs & Wall post discussions.

With Twitter, many users there Tweet, read other people's tweets, advertise blogs or businesses, and that is all. Twitter users tend not to leave twitter to post in online discussion forums either. The person who started this thread noted a slow down and many of his  / her members are using twitter. Coincidence? Nope.

MySpace users are almost just as bad, but not quite. There's no real discussion capability on MySpace so if a person wants that kinds of outlet they may join an online discussion forum. I have had a little luck with messaging MySpace users with invites. Another successful thing: Individual invites from Craigslist. I look for moms who say they want friends & invite them. Got a few members that way too.

Anyway, I am not the only forum owner who has noted this. In fact - LOL many forums are slowing down...That's what this thread ois about. And if you haven't noticed your forum slowing already - you will soon unless your forum is SEX related.