Why don't new members post?

Dry_bean. · March 2011

Notice we regularly gain new members but very few of them ever make a first post, why?
Seems the forum is sustained by half a dozen or so dedicated posters.
Maybe we need a forum dedicated to new members or home machine issue's etc to make it a little more newbie friendly.
Any thoughts?

askthecoffeeguy · March 2011

Think you're right it's a weight of numbers type thing - and newbies are welcome to post machine questions under the coffee machines section - but maybe we need to break it up into domestic / prosumer / and commercial applications?

blanyon · March 2011

Stealing an idea from CS when you sign up they encourage you to post in a thread to introduce yourself to the forum, they called it "im new here go easy on me". Something similar might encourage people to take the first step and get posting. Brett

Koffee_Kosmo · March 2011

on 1301540178:

Stealing an idea from CS when you sign up they encourage you to post in a thread to introduce yourself to the forum, they called it "im new here go easy on me". Something similar might encourage people to take the first step and get posting. Brett

Pretty much a standard thing in all forums But yes its a good idea to restructure it for easier access KK

admin · March 2011

One thing that I've noticed recently, is that a lot of younger coffee people are spending a lot of time on Facebook [& especially Twitter] and I'm wondering if those 'social networking' things that everyone's talking about is having an effect on forums generally ?? One thing that the good people as CS do [as I'm sure you don't need me to tell you] is that they have commercial relationships with a lot of equipment suppliers - I guess we avoided this as we didn't want to be 'in anyone's pocket' but I'm sure that's something that results in them getting a lot of extra traffic - please let me know if you think we should be doing the same thing! lastly, as far as I remember, there was always a thread for new members [Under Have your say'] but have to say I had a look and it seems to be gone!! Might have to ask ACG about that, since as moderator it was his idea [& a good one] but he doesn't seem to have noticed it's gone walkabout.... appreciate your feedback on the above [especially point 2]... thanks A

WotB · March 2011

Vast majority have nothing to add and really only lurk?

admin · April 2011

Hi AM - thanks for your feedback on some of the technical stuff - am aiming to have those things fixed early next week. cheers A

Dry_bean. · April 2011

on 1301540178:

Stealing an idea from CS when you sign up they encourage you to post in a thread to introduce yourself to the forum, they called it "im new here go easy on me". Something similar might encourage people to take the first step and get posting. Brett

Good point Brett, Many forums require at least one post in the welcome or new members area to activate the account, this gets the person to become actively involved right from the start and friendly responses will encourage them to remain active, it also helps them get used to moving around and using the site. Any chance of making changes of this nature Admin?

askthecoffeeguy · April 2011

I've noticed that a few topics have dropped of the system over time but functionality is not really my bag, I do agree though that ease of use when it comes to such things as uploading photos etc could potentially go a long way...

Lacehim · April 2011

Took me ages to get on here. Seems I got flagged as a spam bot. Twice!!

I'm not by the way. Would love an intro thread. Somewhere to say hi. Need to make it easier to sign up. I'm sure the rest will come as the forum grows. Maybe a requests thread for every to bounce ideas off eachother.

Dry_bean. · April 2011

on 1302780226:

Took me ages to get on here. Seems I got flagged as a spam bot. Twice!! I'm not by the way. Would love an intro thread. Somewhere to say hi. Need to make it easier to sign up. I'm sure the rest will come as the forum grows. Maybe a requests thread for every to bounce ideas off eachother.

G'day Lacehim, Good to see you on board, we're not big on numbers but we are a pretty civilised lot, not much agro to be found around here which suits me just fine. ;D PS there is an intro thread it's a sticky at the top of have your say.

Koffee_Kosmo · April 2011

on 1302780226:

Took me ages to get on here. Seems I got flagged as a spam bot. Twice!! I'm not by the way. Would love an intro thread. Somewhere to say hi. Need to make it easier to sign up. I'm sure the rest will come as the forum grows. Maybe a requests thread for every to bounce ideas off eachother.

I know that you are not a spam bot because we have met in person + you are a KKTO Beta tester :D Welcome to the sweet side You can post a little about yourself here http://www.bestcafes.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=1349.0 KK

Lacehim · April 2011

Thanks everyone. I introduced myself, thanks for the link. It seems very relaxed here.

BlIss your cubby can be supported by the KKTO liner on Tuesday

RichardM · April 2011

A lot of people will join forums just because they use them, and just to see if there is anything available to members that isn't available to guests. There are a lot of people who want to be part of a community, just so they can sit in a corner and observe. I don't get it, and probably most people who post regularly on forums won't get it either. You can ask them...but they'll just wait to see what everyone else thinks and never reply :P

askthecoffeeguy · April 2011

It's similar to Facebook in that although it has a bazillion members the majority are happy to observe rather than to contribute - it's horses for courses I guess but as the saying goes, "build it and they will come" P

Lou · April 2011

Some people just aren

Lou · April 2011

Yeah, sorry about that.

E61 · April 2011

I think a lot of people who join online forums like CREMA are seeking information and may not have a lot of experience. They are happy to sit back and learn and are daunted at first by the jargon, choice and experience of regular posters. It's a bit like a new kid sitting at the back of the classroom. He sits at the back, doesn't say anything and works out the dynamics of the classroom. In some classrooms he might not feel welcomed or confident to say anything and is afraid if he says something he might be laughed at. In other classrooms he might sense the friendliness and eventually build enough confidence to jump in. Sometimes, no matter how long he's in the classroom he never says anything. I think people just need to be encouraged to come back a few times, to build their confidence.

Lovey · April 2011

I think Richard made a good point about certain features being only available to members, as opposed to guests. I think that some people may just be looking for some information on a topic, possibly from a particular site. I know on some sites that unless you log in, you have to jump through a few hoops in order to search for anything. So they join up to do some searches and avoid the hurdles of being a 'guest', then don't post as they've found what they're looking for. Another thing is that maybe some sites have a reputation for jumping on newbies when they ask a newbie question. The 'senior members/site gurus' get sick of answering the same questions all the time and tell them to search the site, which they do by joining up and not posting. Just a thought or two.

Dry_bean. · April 2011

on 1303514269:

The 'senior members/site gurus' get sick of answering the same questions all the time and tell them to search the site, which they do by joining up and not posting. Just a thought or two.

One of my pet dislikes, moderators who reply to an oft answer question by a new member with "Google's your friend" or "why not do a search, the question has been asked and answered a thousand times" If said mod has been in the position too long replace him/her with someone fresh who may be a little more receptive, or alternatively don't respond at all and allow the members to answer the request. :-\

RichardM · April 2011

on 1303518060:

on 1303514269:

The 'senior members/site gurus' get sick of answering the same questions all the time and tell them to search the site, which they do by joining up and not posting. Just a thought or two.

One of my pet dislikes, moderators who reply to an oft answer question by a new member with "Google's your friend" or "why not do a search, the question has been asked and answered a thousand times" If said mod has been in the position too long replace him/her with someone fresh who may be a little more receptive, or alternatively don't respond at all and allow the members to answer the request. :-\

That's a really good point. I've seen people get told to do a search on all forums I'm a member of, and, as an exercise, I've looked at said search and come up short of an answer. Sometimes there is a failing in the search methods and people can't find things, hence the original post they make. I don't mind it when people refer to a specific post, or sticky, but having to search for a 5 year old thread with 100 pages to find an answer sometimes can suck.

Dry_bean. · April 2011

on 1303518544:

on 1303518060:

on 1303514269:

The 'senior members/site gurus' get sick of answering the same questions all the time and tell them to search the site, which they do by joining up and not posting. Just a thought or two.

One of my pet dislikes, moderators who reply to an oft answer question by a new member with "Google's your friend" or "why not do a search, the question has been asked and answered a thousand times" If said mod has been in the position too long replace him/her with someone fresh who may be a little more receptive, or alternatively don't respond at all and allow the members to answer the request. :-\

That's a really good point. I've seen people get told to do a search on all forums I'm a member of, and, as an exercise, I've looked at said search and come up short of an answer. Sometimes there is a failing in the search methods and people can't find things, hence the original post they make. I don't mind it when people refer to a specific post, or sticky, but having to search for a 5 year old thread with 100 pages to find an answer sometimes can suck.

Keeping in mind that while the question may have been posed and responded to many times by said person to the asker it's often about a new and exciting activity he has taken up, the Google's your friend response is far from satisfactory "I reckon it's downright rude" now if the person posing the question is an established member just maybe the suggestion to search is in order, however in my opinion far better done by PM than in open forum, no one likes to be told publicly they are a dill.

askthecoffeeguy · April 2011

usually its me who cant keep my mouth shut so I'm glad to have additional 'helpers!'

E61 · April 2011

One of my pet dislikes, moderators who reply to an oft answer question by a new member with "Google's your friend" or "why not do a search, the question has been asked and answered a thousand times"

Yep - it's not very helpful is it? Sure - some people might be lazy, not bother searching and just post the question but I think it's better to give people the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they aren't really sure how to generate a good search of the forum. It only takes a couple of extra keystrokes to direct someone to the right thread or to help them with a search and I guess it's everyone's responsibility to be helpful within this cool little community so it doesn't always have to be a Mod thing.

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