06-09-2018, 07:26 PM
A month ago I posted "At this point in time, there are about 2300 posts in 460 threads and 308 users in the Forum database. That covers 2 years of use so equates to an average of about 20-25 posts per week, sometimes most of those on just one or two days of any given week. What will it be at the end of December ?"
As at today (6Sep18) : "Our members have made a total of 2,399 posts in 469 threads.
We currently have 311 members registered."
That equates to about 100 posts in the last month, an average of 25 posts per week - and when I look at who posted what, most of them seem to have been from me.
It was suggested that I shouldn't look at the stats. Unfortunately the stats are my way of seeing how well the facility is being utilised - or not being utilised. With 300+ members and over 20 registered visitors a day (and sometimes over 30), that represents under-utilisation in anyone's language. Plus I truly find it hard to believe that more users don't have something useful to contribute.
I have implemented stronger registration settings to keep out non-amateur users and that seems to be helping keep out the spammers - yet they seem to be more interested in joining and posting than the already registered members.
In another month I will revisit the useage details, and the month after that, etc.. By year's end I will have made a firm decision as to the Forum's future.
There are a number of options available, a few of which are..
1. closing the Forum to new users completely. The posts can then only be made by existing users and moderation can be largely ignored if we assume that they will be well behaved. If they don't behave they get their membership terminated and they will not be able to rejoin (closed to new registrations);
2. making logging in compulsory to even view anything. That means that Google and other search engines will not be able to trawl the topics and that means that the Latest Posts list and within-site-only searches will be the only way to see what is new/happening;
3. activate both options 1 & 2. Closed Forum, largely un-moderated, no search results.
These options reduce the moderation workload, particularly #3.
There are further options including culling the user list to remove anyone whose post count has not reached a minimum value, say 10. I would like to avoid this one but it is an available option. What does your post count show as ? Would you be on the "cull list" ?
The Forum's future is in YOUR hands.. Use it ? Lose it ?
As at today (6Sep18) : "Our members have made a total of 2,399 posts in 469 threads.
We currently have 311 members registered."
That equates to about 100 posts in the last month, an average of 25 posts per week - and when I look at who posted what, most of them seem to have been from me.
It was suggested that I shouldn't look at the stats. Unfortunately the stats are my way of seeing how well the facility is being utilised - or not being utilised. With 300+ members and over 20 registered visitors a day (and sometimes over 30), that represents under-utilisation in anyone's language. Plus I truly find it hard to believe that more users don't have something useful to contribute.
I have implemented stronger registration settings to keep out non-amateur users and that seems to be helping keep out the spammers - yet they seem to be more interested in joining and posting than the already registered members.
In another month I will revisit the useage details, and the month after that, etc.. By year's end I will have made a firm decision as to the Forum's future.
There are a number of options available, a few of which are..
1. closing the Forum to new users completely. The posts can then only be made by existing users and moderation can be largely ignored if we assume that they will be well behaved. If they don't behave they get their membership terminated and they will not be able to rejoin (closed to new registrations);
2. making logging in compulsory to even view anything. That means that Google and other search engines will not be able to trawl the topics and that means that the Latest Posts list and within-site-only searches will be the only way to see what is new/happening;
3. activate both options 1 & 2. Closed Forum, largely un-moderated, no search results.
These options reduce the moderation workload, particularly #3.
There are further options including culling the user list to remove anyone whose post count has not reached a minimum value, say 10. I would like to avoid this one but it is an available option. What does your post count show as ? Would you be on the "cull list" ?
The Forum's future is in YOUR hands.. Use it ? Lose it ?
Doug VK4ADC @ QG62LG51
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.