Kinda disappointed in turnout here migrating from IMdB
Mar 22, 2017 19:24:32 GMT
Admin, mszanadu, and 1 more like this
Post by dunshine on Mar 22, 2017 19:24:32 GMT
I think this forum is terrific. I hated the layout of the old IMDB. Unlike this ProBoards forum (and most message boards), navigation on IMDB was not intuitive.
I'm the admin of a very small, obscure forum. I have under a hundred members of which less than 20 are regularly active. There are just over 4,000 topics, and just under 24,000 posts. That's since 2009!!! This forum has greatly surpassed those statistics in a few months.
But unless an admin is making money on his forum -- I am not -- "traffic" doesn't help, counts and statistics don't matter. In fact, traffic can hurt. At any given time there can be a great many unwelcome guests on my site: bots, scrapers, and malicious users trying to register and log in to members' accounts so they can wreak havoc by posting their porn and drug ads. If the average number of consistent users on my site exceeds a certain amount, my forum host will increase my cost.
Quantity does not always amount to quality. My forum is exclusive. Registration is disabled, and I have to re-enable it to approve each new member. You have to ask to join. I can't waste my time, when registration is enabled, sifting through hundreds of users who try to register every day with user names like oevk3lo and Diamon*d-rip, googling their user names, email, and IP addresses to see if they're spammers or legitimate potential members whom I should approve. No, I have a message telling users how to contact me if they would like to join. I figure if someone wants to join a writing board and can't (or won't) follow these simple instructions I probably don't want him on my board anyway. On the other hand, a board with non-obscure subject matter like this one will have a lot of legitimate potential users, so it makes sense for automatic registration to be enabled. But still, it's a lot of work, because admins and moderators have to clean up the trolls after they join and their rubbish after it's posted.
I'm thankful for what Admin (John) has done here. Message boards are for discussion, and that's what we have available here: a forum for discussion. If you think there's content that's missing, create it! On my forum, I have one member who complains often, not enough traffic, etc., and I've said it publicly more than once. The board is here for you to use. Make the content, don't sit around waiting for others to do it. He receives thoughtful, in-depth replies on his work, but he rarely reciprocates, and when he does, it's "nice poem." May as well be nothing. He's a welcome member, but my forum is not facebook or simply a source of narcissistic supply for him. Therefore, he gets little out of me, and the others have caught on, too.
I don't think it makes sense to have a separate "board" (i.e. forum) for every single movie. I can see a forum for a very popular series, but for a movie, make a topic and make it a quality one. Add some value to your topic. Include some pictures (if legal) or some relevant links to Wikipedia or other articles of interest you may come across online. And of course there can be more than one topic for a movie. I don't know if the site has tagging enabled, but if so, tag your topic. That way if anyone searches for the movie all relevant topics come up.
Just some thoughts. Those on my board creating quality content (including me) are not in it for the money. There is none, except for the money I'm spending. It's a labor of love for those who participate in meaningful ways. I give my members what they ask for when it's a reasonable request. I've created numerous forums/subforums for members who have asked for them when it made sense to. I also try to diplomatically address their gripes. But ultimately, if someone is going to be a negative influence, his admission fee (zero) will be refunded at the door.
Thanks, John, for your hard work. For plenty of users, this venue is an outlet of value.
I'm the admin of a very small, obscure forum. I have under a hundred members of which less than 20 are regularly active. There are just over 4,000 topics, and just under 24,000 posts. That's since 2009!!! This forum has greatly surpassed those statistics in a few months.
But unless an admin is making money on his forum -- I am not -- "traffic" doesn't help, counts and statistics don't matter. In fact, traffic can hurt. At any given time there can be a great many unwelcome guests on my site: bots, scrapers, and malicious users trying to register and log in to members' accounts so they can wreak havoc by posting their porn and drug ads. If the average number of consistent users on my site exceeds a certain amount, my forum host will increase my cost.
Quantity does not always amount to quality. My forum is exclusive. Registration is disabled, and I have to re-enable it to approve each new member. You have to ask to join. I can't waste my time, when registration is enabled, sifting through hundreds of users who try to register every day with user names like oevk3lo and Diamon*d-rip, googling their user names, email, and IP addresses to see if they're spammers or legitimate potential members whom I should approve. No, I have a message telling users how to contact me if they would like to join. I figure if someone wants to join a writing board and can't (or won't) follow these simple instructions I probably don't want him on my board anyway. On the other hand, a board with non-obscure subject matter like this one will have a lot of legitimate potential users, so it makes sense for automatic registration to be enabled. But still, it's a lot of work, because admins and moderators have to clean up the trolls after they join and their rubbish after it's posted.
I'm thankful for what Admin (John) has done here. Message boards are for discussion, and that's what we have available here: a forum for discussion. If you think there's content that's missing, create it! On my forum, I have one member who complains often, not enough traffic, etc., and I've said it publicly more than once. The board is here for you to use. Make the content, don't sit around waiting for others to do it. He receives thoughtful, in-depth replies on his work, but he rarely reciprocates, and when he does, it's "nice poem." May as well be nothing. He's a welcome member, but my forum is not facebook or simply a source of narcissistic supply for him. Therefore, he gets little out of me, and the others have caught on, too.
I don't think it makes sense to have a separate "board" (i.e. forum) for every single movie. I can see a forum for a very popular series, but for a movie, make a topic and make it a quality one. Add some value to your topic. Include some pictures (if legal) or some relevant links to Wikipedia or other articles of interest you may come across online. And of course there can be more than one topic for a movie. I don't know if the site has tagging enabled, but if so, tag your topic. That way if anyone searches for the movie all relevant topics come up.
Just some thoughts. Those on my board creating quality content (including me) are not in it for the money. There is none, except for the money I'm spending. It's a labor of love for those who participate in meaningful ways. I give my members what they ask for when it's a reasonable request. I've created numerous forums/subforums for members who have asked for them when it made sense to. I also try to diplomatically address their gripes. But ultimately, if someone is going to be a negative influence, his admission fee (zero) will be refunded at the door.
Thanks, John, for your hard work. For plenty of users, this venue is an outlet of value.