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Why doesn't All Sci-Fi have more members? Here's why . . .

 
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:36 pm    Post subject: Why doesn't All Sci-Fi have more members? Here's why . . . Reply with quote

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Pow sent me a PM to express his regret that we didn't have more active members on the board who made regular posts. With 147 members, we only have about 10 who post regularly.

I wanted him (and the rest of you loyal folks) to know just how hard I've worked over the years to attract new members. So, here's my reply to Pow. Very Happy
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Pow wrote:
We know there are tons of fellow SF lovers out there who would love All Sci~Fi, Bruce, so I don't get why there aren't a lot more members joining and posting from those that are members. And that's a shame.

Mike, over the years I've tried numerous strategies to attract new members. Here's a few examples.

~ I created a Facebook "discussion group" for All Sci-Fi and added posts daily with blurbs about the most recent and interesting comments, complete with pictures. I never got a single new member for ASF — but the discussion group has 16 members, mostly old friends of mine who follow Facebook — but who never join ASF.

~ I joined two Facebook sci-fi discussion groups and posted invites, as well as friendly replies to the comments made by their members. I think we got two members out of that, but they only posted a few short comments. And one of the two discussion groups kicked me off because I dared to promote ASF! Shocked

~ I joined boards like Nautilus Submarine, the Science Fiction Message Board, and Alien Soup, posting frequently and including invites to ASF (with the link of course). We got one great member, Custer (real name Martin Lock, who lives in England). Martin has stopped posting on ASF, though, because I think he's struggling to keep SFMB afloat. Sad

~ About four years ago I spent several weeks creating alphabetical indexes for five different forums on the Classic Horror Film Board, and agressive promoted ASF with links to OUR threads for selected movies.



Several members (plus a site admin) thanked me profusely for making their gargantuan message board so much easier for the members to use.

I also created an index for the Science Fiction Message Board, which Martin Lock greatly appreciated. Very Happy

But when Tapatalk took over all the Yuki message boards like Science Fiction Message Board and the Classic Horror Film Board, their software wiped out all the embedded links in the movie titles which lead to the threads. So, the indexes were ruined . . .



~ A few monthers later I spent several weeks researching the members of the Classic Horror Film Board and making a list of the most literate members, with notes on what movies they liked, what threads they had posted in, etc. I came up with 20 terrific people, and I started sending them occasional PMs with invitations to join ASF.

Eventually 15 of the 20 DID join! A few of them posted a several comments for a while . . . and then they all drifted away like so many of our members have done over the years. Sad
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Mike, I've noticed that since 2006 when I created the first of three separate versions of All Sci-Fi (starting over each time a version crashed), message boards have actually dwindled in popularity because of the proliferation of cells phones, Facebook, Titter, etc.

Even the Classic Horror Film Board — which has 10,906 members — is a shadow of its former self in terms of activity. Years ago they would frequently have 50+ members on line, and a 100+ "guests".

I just checked their board. Only 7 members are on line, along with 21 guests — out of almost 11,000 registered users.

How does that compare to All Sci-Fi right now?

Currently we have 1 member on line (me) . . . and 52 guests! Sometime we've had 80+ — even though we only have 147 members. During the "lock down" in the early months of the pandemic last year, the number of guest was often over 150! Very Happy

So, it seems clear that message boards are "out of fashion" — just like literacy and writing skills. Rolling Eyes

The sad fact is, Mike, there just aren't that many people around who think like we do, and who enjoy sharing their thoughts with well-written comments.

And yet we get significantly more "guest" on a daily basis than the gigantic CHFB, which has almost 11,000 registered members! Very Happy

What does that tell you about our modest board and it's small (but talented) group of active users?

In your PM you said, "I don't get why there aren't a lot more members joining and posting . . ."

They aren't joining and posting because they don't love crafting well-written pieces to "publish" on All Sci-Fi. Our active members have a rare and wonderful gift. We're lucky.

But all those guests obviously like reading what our active members are posting, as shown by the fact we get so many guest each day. And since they don't have to register to enjoy our brilliant work (pause for modest cough Cool), it's easy to forget how many folks are reading our work!

So, I agree with you that it would be wonderful to have more members who enjoy postings as much as our active members do. But at least we know we're NOT just posting for our own small group. There's always 30-or-more folks out there in cyberspace who are eager to hear what an intelligent guys like the one named "Pow" has added to that stubborn little message board with the best looking logo —



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