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Old 01-26-2010, 01:54 PM   #50
Dale
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: Western Missouri
Posts: 960
Since this "topic" is now the "off topic topic", I'll comment on this from the perspective of a forum administrator (elsewhere): FWIW

Originally posted by feldon33:
But in lieu of that, there is no reason that this forum could not, by now, have developed into a casual, friendly place for people to chat about movies, photography, and general topics. We have never reached that critical mass required to grow as a forum, regardless of the subject.  
Critical mass is very important. In my mind (and perhaps that of others), this forum (overall) is for fans of SereneScreen stuff. That's essentially what it says on https://www.feldoncentral.com/Sachs/index.php (pointed to by the SereneScreen site).

Many people do not come here to chat about movies, photography, general topics, etc. In fact, if you click on the "Please head over to the....." link on https://www.feldoncentral.com/Sachs/index.php, you never see anything except Marine Aquarium forums.

In the last two years, many folks have decided they would rather "chat" on their Facebook (or other social networking system). So, I don't expect any new forum interest in non-targeted (non-product) discussions.

If I click on "SereneScreen Forum" at the top of this page, I do see (first) the Prolific/Lifeglobe product forums. Most current postings in November last year. Not many folks seem interested.

The "Off Topic" forums? I see a lot of familiar names, and folks who have Join Dates of 2001/2002/2003, so that was a successful section then, and "historical" people continue to use it. That's good. But my guess would be that not many "new members" are interested in posting there. Just a guess - administrators should be able to verify if I'm right.

So, what's the point of this long ramble:

Critical mass is "lots of people will check the forum every day, to see what's new in their area(s) of interest. (And some of them will write something).

If there isn't something new in that area approximately every day, they'll forget to check regularly, and eventually won't check at all.

[If there's a new version every 3 or 4 weeks, they'll remember longer -- but that ain't gonna happen any longer]

Oh, they will remember to come back if they have a problem or a question (about MA3). Maybe a few will come back to check the "Announcing" thread, to see if there's a new version. If they think of it, or somehow get reminded.

My conclusion (in forums that I administer) has been that "something new every day" is important. And it doesn't much matter what that is - even if it's something that many people just ignore.

Critical mass is a matter of activity. Activity is a matter of how many people check "every day". People check if there's something to see.
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