How Can We Make A2K More "Inviting" to People?

I know people often skip over links so I'll post the whole thing:

nimh wrote:

Ha! I did a search for what Craven wrote about the Alexa numbers earlier - more about that in a minute - and found something interesting.

This is what you wrote now, Phoenix:

Phoenix32890 wrote:
[T]hings have really begun to settle down. [M]y perception is that the "old faithfuls" in the site, hung in during the slow times. Marginal members, who only had a tenuous connection to the site, probably gave up [..]. As a result, I find that when I open A2K in the morning, there have not been that many postings in my absence.

I know that this is not my imagination:

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=www.able2Know.com

How to [..] try to get back some of the old members, who give up on the site, and to attract new members?

And this is what you wrote back in June 2006:

Phoenix32890 wrote:
I have been posting on A2K since the beginning of the site. I have loved the intellectual level of many of its members, and always found many fascinating threads to which I became involved. [..]

Recently though, I have found that except for a few of the diehard regulars, that A2K does not seem to be bringing in new members of the intellectual quality of past times. In addition, I am perceiving an attrition of many of the regulars, who have either left, of are posting on a less regular basis.

I know that it is not my imagination, as the traffic has decreased over the last few months:

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=http://www.able2know.com/

[..] What do you think can be done to bring in some new "blood" of the high calibre of which we have become accustomed?

Deja vu... Plus ca change, plus ca reste le meme chose ;-)

(I found about 5 more of those in a quick search btw, going back to the very earliest days!)

nimh wrote:

As for the Alexa numbers and what they say - and dont say - about a website's traffic, this is what Craven wrote last June:

Craven de Kere wrote:
A2K traffic actually did drop then level last year, but that alexa graph isn't going to accurately show it (Alexa is only reliably accurate for about the top 100 sites on the internet, I could raise our ranking by a few thousand points over the weekend if I'd like and I've shown some private groups this in the past when I boosted it up to 5000s coming from off the charts in the span of 3 days).

See, when we were at our highest traffic ranking on Alexa we were actually at our lowest levels of traffic.

Alexa combines unique visitors with page views to acheive a traffic ranking. In the beginning we had a much higher pageviews/visit ratio because we had mostly regulars and fewer guests.

As A2K grew more popular we got more and more visitors who just land, see the info they were looking for and move on. This lowers our Alexa rank drastically even though traffic exploded and our reach multiplied.

Craven de Kere wrote:
Alexa's calculations are all ratios. For example, the reach ratio is a number per million internet users.

So yahoo, for example with about 28% reach of internet users would have an alexa reach rank of about 280,000.

[..] Think of it as a market share measurement and for sites to go up in the ranking they not only have to be growing in traffic but growing in the total share of internet traffic.

So a site's traffic can actually grow while the alexa rank diminishes even if the alexa statistics are accurate.

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Doowop wrote:

Over here in Britain, we tend to hate all politicians, whatever their stripe.

I am rather in agreement with the British. Over here, in the Phoenix household, we think of politicians as, "professional liars".

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soz- Yes, I HAVE been harping on this for awhile. Let's not even consider the Alexa numbers, which have been horrendous as of late.

I went out west for three weeks a few years ago. When I returned, I was faced with over 32,000 REAL postings from real members. In fact, I was so overwhelmed and delighted, that I wrote a thread about it.

I went out west again for three weeks this year, at the same time of the year. This time I was greeted with only 10,000 posts in my absence.

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How to make A2K more inviting?

We could always invite/encourage more of our own friends to join A2K rather than waiting for strangers to stumble upon A2K.

We could take a more active role in making A2K more inviting by speaking up when the unwanted bullying occurs rather than assuming our silence speaks louder than the bullies. Do it in honor of Timber. He was a master.

As far as the technical problems of the site go, that is a big factor in the lower participation here. To this day, I still lose hundreds of posts in the New Posts sort, especially if I don't correctly anticipate a thread as one containing a lot of huge image files being posted on one page and ignore it. (I have to wait until after I've read all the New Posts that interest me and return to those that probably contain large image files.) When that happens, I just close A2K and go elsewhere rather than try to find all the topics I might be interested in participating. That problem rarely happens on any other message boards in which I participate.

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Ah, the mythical good old days..

On every site, the posters will remember the golden olden days, when posts were more frequent and better in quality.

Quantified proof of the opposite, like Craven's explanation here that the number of A2K visitors, earlier this year at least, is far higher now than it used to be in those mythical old days, doesnt seem to have any effect on this perception.

It must be some human nature thing.

Quote:

Let's not even consider the Alexa numbers, which have been horrendous as of late.

A wise decision, since Craven has already explained, in the post Soz quoted above {waves to Soz}, that the Alexa numbers are basically meaningless, except for for the top 100 or so sites on the internet. They can be easily manipulated.

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Butrflynet wrote:

We could always invite/encourage more of our own friends to join A2K rather than waiting for strangers to stumble upon A2K.

It's funny. Over the years I have only told one friend about A2K, and that was because I was discussing it with her, and she pressed me about it. I don't think that she ever joined. A strident Democrat, well educated and very bright, she would have done well on the political threads.

In the beginning there was something exhilarating about discussing things that you would not discuss in the "real world". I felt freer to be myself. For instance, I live in a rather middle American town, even though it is in Florida, where church is an important part of many people's lives, even if they are not stringently religious. If the issue of religion comes up, I usually say something like, "I am not an observer". There are a couple of people who are like minded with whom I do discuss my views, but for the rest, I keep a low profile.

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Well, it was only over 31,000 posts, for those who care. (and even those who don't)

If for no other reason, take a look at my pictures. I did not remember that I had posted so many of them.

http://www.able2know.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=60635

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Phoenix32890 wrote:

soz- Yes, I HAVE been harping on this for awhile.

Since December 2002! And at regular intervals since then! (When I stopped searching I think I'd established that it was roughly every 6 months...)

I'm not complaining, I think it's sweet that you obviously care about A2K's welfare.

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sozobe wrote:

I'm not complaining, I think it's sweet that you obviously care about A2K's welfare.

I think that you know first hand that I don't only care about A2K, but have always been wildly protective of it, to a fault...........................though not quite as much any more.

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why don't all the grand dames of A2K greet the newcomers with images of them in scantily clad bondage gear?

that might work.....

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Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

why don't all the grand dames of A2K greet the newcomers with images of them in scantily clad bondage gear?

that might work.....

Because, while I might no longer care all that much about A2k, I see no need to traumatise hapless newbies.

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Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

why don't all the grand dames of A2K greet the newcomers with images of them in scantily clad bondage gear?

that might work.....

Good grief, Bear, what a thought. What the sight of grannies in those getups might do to the young'uns could very well be profitable to the psychiatric community.

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how about a beef cake calendar of like studs of a2k for the ladies?

I exclude myself of course.

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Perhaps the last few posts have given a glimmering of a worthwhile marketing strategy for A2K. To wit, we could become known as a forum in which any given topic will segue into sexuality. Think about it.

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Phoenix, it sounds, from your habitual posts, that you've always had this concern and are still having it, meaning nothing was done about it all along, yet it continues to exist and function.

I don't think anything special need be done at all. People fit into whatever group they fit into on A2K as they do in real life. As for cliques, every place has those, including work and neighbourhoods and groups (PTA, for example). It's a fact of human nature. It doesn't mean others won't be welcomed; just that they exist. As subsets of the main population. That is normal.

Not every newbie gets attacked. And the regulars are no more obligated to them than the newbies are not obligated to find their own way. Frankly, when someone (new or old) posts in a rude way, they are going to be attacked. I haven't seen any newbies attacked for just posting. More, I've seen them be ignored. And that's normal, too. One can't respond to everyone, and sometimes a comment isn't worthy of response... it may just be their observation or a correction, etc.

I think this site is just fine and is functioning the way every other group does. Some people you gravitate towards, and some you gravitate away from.

I don't think anyone needs special consideration, and I don't think we need to sign up new members. There are already thousands of members here...

JMO and no offence meant.

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It would help greatly if posters didn't make up lies and innuendo about posters they disagree with.

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cjhsa wrote:

It would help greatly if posters didn't make up lies and innuendo about posters they disagree with.

It goes back to what both others and I have said about questioning a concept, rather than attacking a person. I don't think that there is any excuse for that.

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Butterfy's excellent point:

Quote:

We could take a more active role in making A2K more inviting by speaking up when the unwanted bullying occurs rather than assuming our silence speaks louder than the bullies. Do it in honor of Timber. He was a master.

We can't muzzle the A2K wits and halfwits, but we can provide balance--especially when the target is a new member.

As for Phoenix's repetitive concern--I share it.

Phoenix and I are both of a generation where the theory (although not necessarily the practice) of spring and fall housecleaning is embedded in our psyches. This mindset of examining and polishing and winnowing spills over into personal concerns and interaction.

Further we have vivid memories of the carnage that marked the last days of Abuzz.

Vitality is not necessarily automatic.

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Sure, but there is a certain golden age aspect that is belied by the recurrent concerns (how could things have been so much better in the past if the same complaints were happening then, too?) I agree with what nimh said about that. I've seen it over and over.

I think the whole "speaking up" thing is extremely risky. Too often it just adds fuel to the fire. Ignoring seems to work far better for the more problematic stuff. That doesn't mean one can't say "that was uncalled for" or whatever when one is moved to do so, but too many people see "speaking up" as being some variation of "fight fire with fire."

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cjhsa wrote:

It would help greatly if posters didn't make up lies and innuendo about posters they disagree with.

What, like 'liberalism is a mental illness'?

x

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How Can We Make A2K More "Inviting" to People?

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