Active forumites

19 Jan 2013

Quote by robbo-bi1
You took my original post as an attack, though it clearly wasn't.
It was pointing out what new faces see when reading the forums.
You became sarcastic, and if I were new,then maybe would have just left this thread and all future ones well alone.

I took nothing as an attack I simply pointed out that it was factually incorrect (maybe sarcastically yes) and I'm sorry the forum isn't a more fluffy place to be but it's a bit like life....It has it's good points and it's bad and we gotta learn to take them all :-)

19 Jan 2013

Feel free to carry the sarcasm as you see fit.
Not everyone likes it though I have no preference either way.
A question was asked and you personally decided it was better to be sarcastic.
Maybe you have answered the question perfectly ??????????????????????????

19 Jan 2013

QED

19 Jan 2013

Quote by robbo-bi1
Have a look at the status of every single person that has posted on this.
Says it all out loud to me............................

Hi Robbo,
To be fair when I read this post you made, I wondered what it meant, I think steve just asked the same question maybe many thought.
I have what you describe as a status, I understand what you mean now. When I joined it was something I saw and wondered why that was there.
So I think it could be off putting by new members you could have a point. It wont however, get rid of the fact, some of us have been more active on the forums than others. You would still see that by the number of their post count.
So the status just means how active on the forums you have been. I believe it was set up as a bit of fun rather than a status by whomever set it up in the first place.

19 Jan 2013

Having been on this site since day one on our cpls profile, I know whats what.
New faces come along and the first thing they see is "GODLIKE".
Get rid of it and the post totals as well.
It serves no purpose unless your so bloody vain your up your own arse.
You want people to feel welcome, not made to feel small.
Its up to the powers that be, but this site is slowly dying and has only its self to blame.
Would you pay to come in a forum that has "GODLIKE" people at the front.
Sometimes the truth is looking at you but your to wrapped up to see it.

19 Jan 2013

Quote by northwest-cpl
QED

Reminds me of the Cadbury advert from many years ago..
:
Why are you so clever, Brian?

19 Jan 2013

Robbi, the Godlike thing and post-counting from those whose constant spamming with posts that seemed sometimes to be directed at attaining it more than they were about making any actual contribution to the site was something discussed over and over again all the way back even when Mark was still site owner. In fact the status under your avatar was removed following a discussion on that very issue, it was available as a pop-up-on-hover-over type thing for those interested enough to look for it for a good while after. Removal of the post-count too was discussed more than once. I think the general consensus was post counts, along with forum join date can be useful for new members. It gave an idea of who was most active on the forum side when the site was effectively split across three very different and seperate kinds of server, forum, IRC chat, and ads. You needed to make an account for all three if you wanted to use them all, independently of eachother. It gave new members an idea of who might be the more genuine and long-term members when the ads and the chatroom to some extent had a relatively high volume of very transient traffic.
People shouldn't feel intimidated by something as stupid as an arbitrary forum rank awarded only for being a gobshite. I accept that some might be, but that would seem daft to me. Equally noone should ever be deluded enough to imagine that just because you have Godlike under your av that in fact confers any special status at all. Ego inflation is a dangerous thing, isn't it? Trust me, I wasn't absolutely immune to it myself. rolleyes

Perhaps Gobshite / Talks Complete Bollox Endlessly would have countered any tendencies in that direction better but we're talking a time when the site in terms of its core, day in, day out membership was counted in the low hundreds and could be fit comfortably in a decent sized boozer on a night out. The idea anyone could or would ever be here long enough or put enough sustained effort into over time to hit the almost too big to imagine, must certainly be absolutely impossible to achieve 1000 posts.
Anyways, it's not post-counts, forum ranks, join dates or whatever that makes a forum intimidating or not. It's tone. We just weren't very good at getting n00bs onboard sometimes despite the best efforts of many. We're still not. That's even more of a problem when there's so much less of anything to engage anyone new to the forums with, with the best will in the world it's a losing battle now, the damage is long done.

19 Jan 2013

Quote by GnV
QED

Reminds me of the Cadbury advert from many years ago..
:
Why are you so clever, Brian?
Thanks for reminding me why I rarely post on here.

19 Jan 2013

Quote by northwest-cpl
QED

Reminds me of the Cadbury advert from many years ago..
:
Why are you so clever, Brian?
Thanks for reminding me why I rarely post on here.
You're welcome. Always happy to oblige wink

19 Jan 2013

Every forum I have ever used has some method of denoting how active a person is on the forum. Whether its a numeric counter, a tagline, medals or a bar it's always there. I personally don't think that the tagline godlike is putting people off posting, although I do agree that it's the same faces time and time again.
I noticed that almost all of the people who have posted so far are the very same regulars I would have been able to name from the outset.

19 Jan 2013

Damn. And there was me trying to be all unpredictable keeping everyone guessing too Trev. Oh well! lol

19 Jan 2013

Quote by robbo-bi1
Having been on this site since day one on our cpls profile, I know whats what.
New faces come along and the first thing they see is "GODLIKE".
Get rid of it and the post totals as well.
It serves no purpose unless your so bloody vain your up your own arse.
You want people to feel welcome, not made to feel small.
Its up to the powers that be, but this site is slowly dying and has only its self to blame.
Would you pay to come in a forum that has "GODLIKE" people at the front.
Sometimes the truth is looking at you but your to wrapped up to see it.

Ah I get it now....
You only want to alienate forum regulars and frequent posters :thumbup:

19 Jan 2013

I'm afraid the layout of the forums falls very much into the realm of "pleasing some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time". In my time here (and I was a late-comer) it's evolved and devolved numerous times in various attempts to find the right mix, but it will never suit everyone.
I've done some research (nearly none actually ;)) on the subject. Looking back at how things were pre-takeover I can see that the forum was just as up and down then as it is now. For example, if you look it was far more active than today. You can see that the whole first page of the Cafe was full of threads updated that day. But you will also notice that three of them were locked. That's a very rare occurrence nowadays, so maybe the firmer moderation style back then paid some dividends? dunno

Another thing to remember is that there were only then so the Cafe was taking on all sort of things that are being posted in other places now.
Anyway, it's not the first or last time the subject of the forum layout will be debated. Here's one from the archives:
Do we need change in here? (nee I don't start many strings).
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be! ;)

20 Jan 2013

it.s only gone down the pan since i started posting. i need some street cred. can i be barred please ? oh sorry, hang on, if i get barred i'll have no one to talk to......mmmm me thinks....... i wonder if we should introduce some dirty sex talk or enter the tour de france and visit gnv on the cheap, come back and post our experiences ?
get the site to put up a fiendish naughty soduko ? take bets on the horses for a shag ?............ duno....still finkin...

20 Jan 2013

Nicely Cubes. And look what's there, not halfway down the page. Steve_G on pointless posting just to up post-counts on the Ping Pong thread just as we've been discussing here, and further discussion on the value of post counts generally. =D
Loving the page you fetched up. Agricola / Articifer Xmas Tale and DaveJ Avatar Challenge FTW! biggrin

It just wouldn't work these days a thread like that, not for 30 pages of it from loads of regs but rotflmao

all over again at it. Cheers. smile

20 Jan 2013

My post was a response to the original question (why only the same faces posting)
The response was varied and some supportive of what I had put.
Guess only those that are regular are entitled to any kind of opinion and that may well answer everything.
Shall leave it as is and back away, as almost all of the other members appear to have done.

20 Jan 2013

Quote by robbo-bi1
My post was a response to the original question (why only the same faces posting)
The response was varied and some supportive of what I had put.
Guess only those that are regular are entitled to any kind of opinion and that may well answer everything.
Shall leave it as is and back away, as almost all of the other members appear to have done.

In more recent times, there was a new poster to the CA (and its less forceful derivation). Lilith brought a new and fearless perspective to the so called 'regulars' and took no prisoners. She was extremely knowledgable about certain affairs and had no truck with those who might have aspired to slapping her down. Indeed, she gave as good as she got - probably more!
It is indeed a shame she seems not to post anymore. I don't know the reason for this but I'm sure it's not because she was discouraged from doing so.
The real point is that some people seem to articulate things better than others and the more you post in this place, the better you get at it. But everyone is entitled to an opinion. Sadly, some don't manage to get their point across very well in a written format. In a direct face to face conversation, I'm sure they would fare better but the nuances of hidden meaning in a written context seems to escape them.
I started off with most of my time spent in the chat rooms opening couples rooms. I then progressed (yes, progressed) to the forum and now spend very little time in chat because I find some 'chatters' obnoxious and very unwelcoming of 'newcomers' to their precious domain and can best be described as premadonnas.
But when I fist started posting in the cafe, it was like entering a bear pit. Very unfriendly and sometimes terrifying.
Now, I'm more at home here in the forums. Familiarity sometimes breeds contempt perhaps but I do enjoy a good ding-dong with fellow forumites but equally become frustrated with those whose command of the language is somewhat suspect and then deliberately try to bluster their way through an inappropriate posting rather than just hold their hands up and admit failure.
I find it equally hard to deal with people who deliberately try to be destructive.
I really don't know of anyone here who I would regards as 'perfect' - certainly not me but I do try to be tolerant of those who wish to make a point, perhaps not very expertly, and encourage them to continue.

20 Jan 2013

No need to be so defensive Robbo. Maybe 20 different posters on this thread, you've taken umbrage with one of them who questioned what you were driving at and whether your argument was valid, but you've had responses from what, another four of us engaging in the discussion with you in a way that there would be little to take issue with, surely? What does that tell you? That on balance those who chose to respond did so because they acknowledged your right to hold your opinion, the exact opposite of what you suggest, and felt something you said was worth responding to? You're saying people will be intimidated by something as inconsequential as a forum rank, we've just demonstrated that there is no reason for that, it's you who chooses to be intimidated by it. Why? We can't do much about that Robbo if you're gonna insist on it, can we?
Noone wants to feel small when they join the forum? Every single one of us started on the forum with a single post and went from there. We all felt small when we started to engage with those who'd preceded us. We all had to work at acceptance carving out our own personal niche testing what worked for us, and what didn't. If ever we made spectacular twats of ourselves I can guarantee you we'd have been told to wind our fucking necks in and have a word with ourselves, some being more or less polite about that than others. To imagine that things are somehow sooooo different for new users than they were for every single one of us in terms of how to approach the forum is just plain wrongheaded.
There is sometimes a difficulty new users face in that others have to learn to read them. It takes time for a poster to establish something of their character, and takes time for others to get where someone might be coming from. It can often cause misunderstanding. Again, we've all been there, the only way to get past that is to keep revealing more of your personality and help others read you as you intend. If you don't put the effort in you'll never get there. Not much anyone can do about either, it's entirely up to you.

20 Jan 2013

Quote by neil
If ever we made spectacular twats of ourselves I can guarantee you we'd have been told to wind our fucking necks in and have a word with ourselves, some being more or less polite about that than others.

You've been looking back at my first posts :shock: redface

20 Jan 2013

Quote by neilinleeds
Nicely Cubes. And look what's there, not halfway down the page. Steve_G on pointless posting just to up post-counts on the Ping Pong thread just as we've been discussing here, and further discussion on the value of post counts generally. =D
Loving the page you fetched up. Agricola / Articifer Xmas Tale and DaveJ Avatar Challenge FTW! It just wouldn't work these days a thread like that, not for 30 pages of it from loads of regs but all over again at it. Cheers.

Some great posts from days gone by lol

I used to get home from work late in the evening and my wind down before going to bed was to read the forums - I was in stitches most nights.
I think the sites moved on in many ways. Yes we don't get posts like we used to but there were only a few hundred forum members in those days so in essence was an extremely small community of interest..
Heck I made some awful posts at the beginning and some right boo boos! confused

:? I was so pleased with myself when i had made 10 posts cos I didnt do forums :lol2:

20 Jan 2013

Quote by neilinleeds
No need to be so defensive Robbo. Maybe 20 different posters on this thread, you've taken umbrage with one of them who questioned what you were driving at and whether your argument was valid, but you've had responses from what, another four of us engaging in the discussion with you in a way that there would be little to take issue with, surely? What does that tell you? That on balance those who chose to respond did so because they acknowledged your right to hold your opinion, the exact opposite of what you suggest, and felt something you said was worth responding to? You're saying people will be intimidated by something as inconsequential as a forum rank, we've just demonstrated that there is no reason for that, it's you who chooses to be intimidated by it. Why? We can't do much about that Robbo if you're gonna insist on it, can we?

I didn't question his right to hold an opinion but questioned it's validity ...
If he chooses never to post again then that's a shame and who know.....We might agree on another subject dunno

We all fall out with someone here at some time or other....The trick is putting it behind you once the subject is done and dusted and moving on :thumbup:

21 Jan 2013

Quote by Cubes
I've done some research (nearly none actually ;)) on the subject. Looking back at how things were pre-takeover I can see that the forum was just as up and down then as it is now. For example, if you look here it was far more active than today. You can see that the whole first page of the Cafe was full of threads updated that day. But you will also notice that three of them were locked. That's a very rare occurrence nowadays, so maybe the firmer moderation style back then paid some dividends?

The link you give is from 2005? As a guess and from what I have been told, at that time there were a mere members and that is being a bit generous, where as now there are as of today's total of 1,463,652. Now that is a lot of difference in figures and yet there are only about 30 active members posting on the forum with a membership that high?
It is worse now for posters than it was back in 2005 but with 5 times as many members now as there were back then, which would lead people to believe that it is far worse now.

Quote by Cubes
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be! ;)

Oh I think many would not agree with that sentiment Cubes.

21 Jan 2013

Quote by starlightcouple

I've done some research (nearly none actually ;)) on the subject. Looking back at how things were pre-takeover I can see that the forum was just as up and down then as it is now. For example, if you look here it was far more active than today. You can see that the whole first page of the Cafe was full of threads updated that day. But you will also notice that three of them were locked. That's a very rare occurrence nowadays, so maybe the firmer moderation style back then paid some dividends?

The link you give is from 2005? As a guess and from what I have been told, at that time there were a mere members and that is being a bit generous, where as now there are as of today's total of 1,463,652. Now that is a lot of difference in figures and yet there are only about 30 active members posting on the forum with a membership that high?
It is worse now for posters than it was back in 2005 but with 5 times as many members now as there were back then, which would lead people to believe that it is far worse now.
The link was 2004 and they were 15279 registered users. I cant remember when all the users were joined together so not sure if that figure was just the forum, or the site as a whole that included chatroom and photo adverts... someone with more knowledge than I would need to clarify.

21 Jan 2013

Quote by anais

I've done some research (nearly none actually ;)) on the subject. Looking back at how things were pre-takeover I can see that the forum was just as up and down then as it is now. For example, if you look here it was far more active than today. You can see that the whole first page of the Cafe was full of threads updated that day. But you will also notice that three of them were locked. That's a very rare occurrence nowadays, so maybe the firmer moderation style back then paid some dividends?

The link you give is from 2005? As a guess and from what I have been told, at that time there were a mere members and that is being a bit generous, where as now there are as of today's total of 1,463,652. Now that is a lot of difference in figures and yet there are only about 30 active members posting on the forum with a membership that high?
It is worse now for posters than it was back in 2005 but with 5 times as many members now as there were back then, which would lead people to believe that it is far worse now.
The link was 2004 and they were 15279 registered users. I cant remember when all the users were joined together so not sure if that figure was just the forum, or the site as a whole that included chatroom and photo adverts... someone with more knowledge than I would need to clarify.
Thank you anais but whether it was 2005 or 2004 the actual year is irrelevant to what my point was.
If as you have said it was at that time 15279 then I would say my point was even more apt, as I over exaggerated it by a whopping amount of members. So more posters in 2004 with a fraction of the membership than today's total and yet less posters now. Kind of sums up what I was saying, it is far worse now than back in the good ol days of SH.

21 Jan 2013

Quote by starlightcouple

I've done some research (nearly none actually ;)) on the subject. Looking back at how things were pre-takeover I can see that the forum was just as up and down then as it is now. For example, if you look here it was far more active than today. You can see that the whole first page of the Cafe was full of threads updated that day. But you will also notice that three of them were locked. That's a very rare occurrence nowadays, so maybe the firmer moderation style back then paid some dividends?

The link you give is from 2005? As a guess and from what I have been told, at that time there were a mere members and that is being a bit generous, where as now there are as of today's total of 1,463,652. Now that is a lot of difference in figures and yet there are only about 30 active members posting on the forum with a membership that high?
It is worse now for posters than it was back in 2005 but with 5 times as many members now as there were back then, which would lead people to believe that it is far worse now.
The link was 2004 and they were 15279 registered users. I cant remember when all the users were joined together so not sure if that figure was just the forum, or the site as a whole that included chatroom and photo adverts... someone with more knowledge than I would need to clarify.
Thank you anais but whether it was 2005 or 2004 the actual year is irrelevant to what my point was.
If as you have said it was at that time 15279 then I would say my point was even more apt, as I over exaggerated it by a whopping amount of members. So more posters in 2004 with a fraction of the membership than today's total and yet less posters now. Kind of sums up what I was saying, it is far worse now than back in the good ol days of SH.
In the early years the amount of users who knew about the forum because of the split were low - I think that still applies today. Most people join to look at adverts, photographs or use the chatroom. I always found it amazing when discussing the forum in the chat room (in the last few yrs) how many don't know about the forum or just not interested.
When I first joined this site -I was a registered user of the forum only. I didn't know about the adverts and chat room. I only read the forum and never had intention of posting. If you look at the post views you can see that's the same for many today - I reckon its because people just don't like posting on forums but happy to read. I think there are particular people who like to post and those who are just not interested full stop.
I see where your coming from regarding the figues - it just depends on why a person has joined in the first place, especially as its now a pay site. They want to get their moneys worth and posting in the forum may not be how members want to use there time here when there are so many other parts of the site that's more of an interest to them. Plus the added factor of some people being nervous about posting.
Probably not answered your post very well but I enjoyed reminiscing :-)

21 Jan 2013

Bring back the likes of Kentswinger777 plus those who we lost around a similar time and put back the CA and things may get back on track wink

21 Jan 2013

Wow - three pages.
Completely relate to the "free" aspect and how people could so easily and at no cost re-invent themselves.
Regarding the current 1,500,000 Membership I would say that is probably the number of people who have created an account at some point rather than an accurate reflection of participating Members.

21 Jan 2013

Quote by Too Hot
Wow - three pages.
Completely relate to the "free" aspect and how people could so easily and at no cost re-invent themselves.
Regarding the current 1,500,000 Membership I would say that is probably the number of people who have created an account at some point rather than an accurate reflection of participating Members.

That is certainly not the impression the site wants to give to new potential paying members. We know that figure is not real, but does a new member? I am sure a new member would see that figure and presume that is the activemembership, and then sign up and pay their money only then to find out that it is probably only a tiny tiny fraction of that figure who are active members.

21 Jan 2013

Quote by Bluefish2009
Bring back the likes of Kentswinger777 plus those who we lost around a similar time and put back the CA and things may get back on track

Why would these members come back bluefish? More to the point why did these so called great members leave in the first place if the forum was better with them?

21 Jan 2013

Quote by starlightcouple
Bring back the likes of Kentswinger777 plus those who we lost around a similar time and put back the CA and things may get back on track

Why would these members come back bluefish? More to the point why did these so called great members leave in the first place if the forum was better with them?
The leaving wasn't by choice!