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Why are message boards dying out?

 
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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17558
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:32 pm    Post subject: Why are message boards dying out? Reply with quote

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The excerpts below are from just one of several articles I found which discuss something it took me a long time to figure out; my struggle to gain new members and keep All Sci-Fi active is doomed to failure. Sad

I've worked hard to encourage our members to be more helpful in keeping All Sci-Fi alive and well, but I'm afraid too many of them are content to just read what others write, and they don't feel much need to hold up their end of the conversations.

This is like listening to someone talking about an interesting subject while you don't even maintain eye contact or say "Uh-huh" occasionally.

There are members who are notable exceptions, of course, and to those folks I offer my heartfelt thanks. But to the folks who are content to just "lurk", please consider doing a bit more to keep the board active and entertaining.

Even if you just say, "I enjoyed your post. Thanks!", that would at least show the authors that somebody actually reads what they add to All Sci-Fi.

That's not too much to ask, is it?
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_____________________Is The Forum Dying?

Bob Leggitt | Thursday, 5 January 2012



Are you a member of a forum or message board? Have you noticed it getting quieter? Have you noticed the administration getting evermore desperate to attract interest? If so, you???re not alone.

Through the course of 2011 I noticed a steady decline in activity across several of the forums I???ve used as an actively posting member. Interestingly, whilst I???m still a member of these forums, I myself have become part of the decline in activity ??? I'm not currently posting on any of them.

None of the forums have done anything to upset me, incidentally. It???s just that the most interesting members have gradually stopped posting and moved on, and there really isn???t anything of any substance to talk about anymore.

SO WHY ARE THE FORUMS GETTING QUIETER?

Perhaps the greatest flaw with the typical forum system at present is that it doesn???t offer much of a deal for the person who can potentially drive it: namely, the content provider. The providers of unique and meaningful content are the most valuable members of forums, but increasingly, they???re finding their own needs better served elsewhere.

To look at the reasons behind this, we first need to recognize the traditional drawbacks with forums, which have always been a problem for important contributors who care about what they post.

So forums have never been a perfect place for someone with something of serious value to offer the online world. But what???s recently changed, to entice more of them away?

Well, much as I???ve had negative stuff to say about Twitter on this site (all of which I stand by), I think its potential for replacing fourms is now starting to be recognized.

Forum members have been realizing that Twitter doesn???t potentially replace just one forum. It potentially replaces all the forums they happen to be members of. They can talk to one person about cars, and another person about astrology, all from the same, single account.

WHAT ACTION CAN FORUMS TAKE TO PREVENT OR STEM A DECLINE?

It???s difficult to see what forums can do about people increasingly recognizing the potential of Twitter. The bigger Twitter gets, the harder I think it???ll become for old-style forums to fight it.

Particularly smaller forums, which can???t offer much in the way of a ready made audience for good posters. The danger for any forum is that once one or two key members move to a Twitter-centric setup, the heart of the community could follow. It can happen very quickly, and as I???ve noticed over the past twelve months, what remains may not be worth having.

I don???t really know what the future holds for the old-style forum, but it does now seem there???s a flow of thinking which finds the old, categorized format more restrictive than the handicap of a 140 character limit. Twitter still has a lot of flaws, but two years into the future it may have addressed its worst headaches.

That must be a massive fear for conventional forums, because if Twitter irons out its problems, or even a couple of them, the wind of change which is currently taking good posters away from the forums that desperately need them, could well become a hurricane.

_______________________________

The bottom line, fellow All Sci-Fi members, is that you can't expect the folks who enjoy posting things to continue doing so if you don't encourage them with at least a "Thanks" from time to time.

Help us keep All Sci-Fi healthy in spite of the demise of other message boards on the web. Add a little encouragement for the authors whenever you read a post you like.

_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17558
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

A quick word of thanks to the wonderful members who rallied yesterday and blew me away by doing EXACTLY what I'd requested. And by doing so, they proved just how easy it is to energize good old All Sci-Fi.

Thanks, guys! Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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orzel-w
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 19 Sep 2014
Posts: 1868

PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't tweet. Can you tweet images?
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...or not...

WayneO
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17558
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 3:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Yes. It's a lot like Facebook. But a Facebook page or a Facebook discussion group does NOT do what a message board does.

You can't have a discussion about, say, Forbidden Planet that's easy to find and simple to add to. On Facebook, the posts drop down out of sight in a matter of days, and only the first few comments people add to the posts will display unless you click a button. Add to this the fact that you can't mix your text with pictures, they way we do on ASF.

Posts on Facebook are like articles in a daily newspaper: you buy the paper, you pick a few articles to read, and then you throw it away. On Facebook you can scroll down the next day to see the older messages, but it's like digging through a stack of old newspapers. The order of the posts has changed, and can't just go right to the post you want.

Message boards (especially All Sci-Fi) are more like a library: well organized so you can easily find the subjects that interests you, with extensive text and pictures on each subject.

Facebook and Twitter are for people who just want everybody/anybody to read their short "Me" message ??? "Look! My cat is asleep in the laundry basket!" ??? and the replies are brilliant comments like, "Awww, she looks like a furry little angel!"

I prefer the contributions of All Sci-Fi'smembers: messages that express opinions, tell stories, share concepts, defend viewpoints, and entertain by using the power of words.

Mixed in with great pictures, of course. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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MetroPolly
Space Ranger


Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Posts: 185
Location: Oakland,CA

PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't do Twitter, and as I've said before I'm not interesting to join Facebook without feeling I'm wasting it.

Forums and chat rooms are what I grew up on, and I'm fine with them. Let's fight to keep yet another endangered species.
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17558
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 8:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

You've certainly become a mighty warrior in the battle to save All Sci-Fi, and I do appreciate it! Very Happy

I think we'll start calling you MetroPolly, Warrior Princess!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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