I need your help and your suggestions...

[lies]

Also I noticed that only the HOME, SHOP, HELP&FAQ and the CONTACT US pages have that little log in/logged in info thingie on the left. Wouldn't it be easier to have it on all pages, or just on the home page, or is there some underlying reason for it being this way?

And I know I'm being a pain in the ass here, but the font size in the Directory is bigger than it is on the rest of the site.

Other than that: I still love this site

 

[Darren]

The reason I didn't put the login box on all the pages is that we have some users who view at 800x600 screen resolution. Things start to get very crowded for them if there's too much on the page.

I'll try to mess about with the directory fonts - it uses it's own internal template system and style sheets which are not the easiest to edit...

Other than that: I still love this site

Thank you.

Darren.

 

[Serene]

Forum section of the website

Darren-

There are over 1000 registered members, but when you look at the Member List, you notice there are pagefuls of people who've been registered for over a year but have posted only a few times or never. The threadviews are plentiful in each discussion I've seen here, but what would it take to encourage more people to contribute their thoughts on a regular basis, assuming more posting is desirable?

 

[Darren]

Good question The site gets lots of hits every month (nearly 450,000 in July), and several new members are now joining every day.

What would you suggest?

 

[Serene]

I'll look around at more areas of the forum later (I'm new here too) and see if I get any ideas. Maybe something in the General Chat section...

 

[Ell]

Serene said:

The threadviews are plentiful in each discussion I've seen here, but what would it take to encourage more people to contribute their thoughts on a regular basis, assuming more posting is desirable?

This seems common on most forums/message boards I've been on. There are often many more "lurkers" than regular posters. I'm guilty myself. There are sites that I join (because you must join to view the threads) but where I haven't posted or only posted a few times. Others, I'm sure I've forgotten about but they'd still show me as a member.

So what to do? On another board, someone invited all the lurkers (ie. read-only members) to say hello and introduce themselves. It was only moderately successful, but did acknowledge their presence and got a few more regular posters out of it. Should we try something similar here?

 

[Serene]

The problem with introduction-type threads is that they're pretty much one-sided. Not very interactive. And for whatever reason, some people don't feel comfortable introducing themselves in an internet forum--- privacy issues, being uneasy in the spotlight, blank page syndrome, whatever.

[Starting a new thread in General Chat.....]

 

[Colorblindfool]

Ok well I'm new here but so far I've found the site pretty easy to work out. I do find the site a little dull in terms of graphics etc... but maybe that's just because I'm used to the likes of my boyfriend's site, which is very graphical indeed.

One thing I love to do is experience something and review it. I can review in depth - don't take much notice of the ones I have already written on here, they were very rushed so I could get a feel for using the site - so I could help out with that if need be. I love to read but I never know what books to go for so reviewing books would be a good start for me if you do go ahead with that sort of thing.

Hmmm I guess I'll let you know more when I get to know the site.

 

[phil_t]

To clarify Serene's point with some cold, hard facts - out of 1,179 members registered, 379 have never posted and only 88 have post numbers in double figures.

I think this is a fact of life on every forum - some are lurkers who never post, but there must be a way to encourage more of those registered to comment (having said that the vast majority of them probably never checked the site after registering for the first time) - i find the easiest way to be accepted in a forum is to post, but for some this may be a hard first step to take (especially in smaller forums such as this that can appear close-knitand exclusive).

I think the best way to encourage more people to post is just to greet everyone in a friendly manner and avoid arguments (flaming and trolling i mean, not good-natured arguments) - and the people on this site seem to do a good job of that anyway!

In conclusion, there probably isnt a way to encourage new posters better than that which is already being implemented, by being friendly and encouraging new comers to share their opinions

Just my ten cents

Phil