Relatively low traffic

[Villefort]

Our users have posted a total of 41030 articles
We have 32561 registered users

It seems that you attract a lot of initial attention but for some reason don't manage to hold onto it. That's about 1.25 posts per user? ... just sayin'.

[StephenKingman]

Our users have posted a total of 41030 articles
We have 32561 registered users

It seems that you attract a lot of initial attention but for some reason don't manage to hold onto it. That's about 1.25 posts per user? ... just sayin'.

You are right, it does seem to be a feature of the forum that it attracts a lot of new members who for whatever reason decide they dont want to stick around, or else a lot of new people who spam the forum up with signatures for their new money-making schemes or personal websites

Having said that, when i joined the only regulars were myself, Fran, Fascist and Laci-baby and since then we have had a steady stream of diverse members who post frequently and i hope this continues, a forum is only as good as the effort the members puts in and i will do my best to keep the forums an active and interesting place so spread the word that this place is a fun and lively book forum

[Bookmama]

I see a couple possible explanations.

1) You did attract a lot of one-post wonders. Folks that joined and posted to get their signature line in the forum. However, I suspect that stopped at some point because it looks like this forum, like many instituted some rule about a minimum number of posts that must be made before you get the option to include HTML in your signature. I noticed I'm not allowed a signature containing HTML (not complaining, just observing).

2) People have short attention spans and happen to drift upon a forum following some odd combo of links and maybe something pushes their hot button and they join just to comment on a thread. And they may never return.

If as Steven Kingman observed, you've got a number of regular posters than the forum is healthy and I wouldn't worry about the number of people who fade fast. I bet it reflects more on them, than on the forum.

Speaking of the forum though... I was looking for general forum policies. Whenever I join a new board. I try to understand what is deemed acceptable behavior and what is frowned upon as too promotional. It varies GREATLY from one board to another.

Thanks.

[StephenKingman]

I see a couple possible explanations.

1) You did attract a lot of one-post wonders. Folks that joined and posted to get their signature line in the forum. However, I suspect that stopped at some point because it looks like this forum, like many instituted some rule about a minimum number of posts that must be made before you get the option to include HTML in your signature. I noticed I'm not allowed a signature containing HTML (not complaining, just observing).

2) People have short attention spans and happen to drift upon a forum following some odd combo of links and maybe something pushes their hot button and they join just to comment on a thread. And they may never return.

If as Steven Kingman observed, you've got a number of regular posters than the forum is healthy and I wouldn't worry about the number of people who fade fast. I bet it reflects more on them, than on the forum.

Speaking of the forum though... I was looking for general forum policies. Whenever I join a new board. I try to understand what is deemed acceptable behavior and what is frowned upon as too promotional. It varies GREATLY from one board to another.

Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback. As a moderator, i have access to a further forum which states the general rules here, nothing too complicated just keep profane language out, no flaming, no spam and any content that you dont like (or indeed a mod decision that you dont agree with) you can report it using the 'report' icon on every post. This report goes to site Admin Scott Hughes who will make a general decision.

The signatures are a grey area, but pretty much the situation is this, almost all forums dont allow members to post links which simply promote a money making scheme of theirs or their friends, and any links which beg people to part with their money for one reason or another. I cant see any problem in promoting a blog or the works of an up and coming author, but the interests of the forum must take precedent over the content of signatures so i will do my best to use discretion, as well as consult with other mods, with regard decisions over sig links, each case is different.

Spam is not a problem as its wiped out with one click of a mouse just as soon as either myself or Laci-baby sees it.

I agree with you over the number of one hit wonders; i guess the number of people who google "online book club" is phenomenally large and they must end up here during their search and decide for one reason or another that its not for them, but in general the members here who do stay are very active members and we welcome all new people, including yourself so i hope you stick around and if you any comments/questions/complaints dont hesitate to ask me and i will reply to you.

Mike.

[Mairin]

Yep... I agree with the short attention span idea. I know a lot of people that join forums and talk about them frequently and then it seems like it slowly tapers away until they stop mentioning it all together.

[tigeropig]

I have noticed many posts that have usernames that I haven't seen around.

[Scott]

Most of the registered users are probably people who have 0 posts. They were likely registered by a bot who got around the CAPTCHA at registration but then was blocked when it tried to make it's one and only post with a spam link.

I can't imagine tens of thousands of people actually joined the forum with any initial intent of sticking around.

With that said, as with any group, you notice some turnaround. As time goes by, new people join and old people leave. And at any given point you have some new people, some very old people and some in the middle.

[StephenKingman]

With that said, as with any group, you notice some turnaround. As time goes by, new people join and old people leave. And at any given point you have some new people, some very old people and some in the middle.

From your start post Scott i will put you in the category of the pensioner!

[Krae855]

hi, um.. here's my two cents as a new user.. it's difficult to find a book i'm looking for by search. when I searched for The Mill on The Floss, there were too many results, and when I clicked the first discussion, i scrolled and scrolled but still never saw it.

I think maybe it's difficult to find what you're looking for here, and you can't just comment on any post if you haven't read the book.

[StephenKingman]

hi, um.. here's my two cents as a new user.. it's difficult to find a book i'm looking for by search. when I searched for The Mill on The Floss, there were too many results, and when I clicked the first discussion, i scrolled and scrolled but still never saw it.

I think maybe it's difficult to find what you're looking for here, and you can't just comment on any post if you haven't read the book.

Sorry for late reply, as regards the search function, usually you can narrow down the name of the book to specific threads and discussions but if you cant find it there start your own thread about the book and you will almost certainly get a debate started on it, any other issues don't hesitate to contact me or fellow moderator Laci-baby

[DarkRaven]

I have some experience with this, as I run a forum of my own. One possible reason for this is XRummer registrations, and it's fairly easy to cut down this number quite sharply.

I noticed while registering that you don't even have email address verification - while most spammers now use email addresses, having email verification can dent the numbers.

Another good one is reCAPTCHA. In fact, it's brilliant, and it cuts out a good number of spam registration quite drastically.

One you certainly should use is asking a question to all registrants, such as ''Who wrote Anna Karenina''.

Lastly, there's a mod for phpBB which crosschecks all registrants with stopforumspam[dot]com. I haven't used this one personally, because I use the IPS Spam Service for my IPB forum, but I've heard good things about it.

Hell, if you use the lot, you won't have to block me from posting a real and helpful link for fear that I'm a spam bot. =P

[Nigella]

Many forums just delete accounts that have been inactive for an X amount of time with an x amount of activity. that way the numbers will look a lot more realistic.

[Exaltseo]

it totally depands on back linking and visitors..........when back links and visitors will decrease..traffic will automatically low....if we want to increase traffic.....we have to increase back links.......

[Butterbescotch]

@StephenKingMan

I just want back up Krae855 query. When I search a book it shows up different threads which may or may not have relation to the keyword. I even narrowed the my search by specifying a thread and only checking the "topics" on display result but it seems to use "post".

Please look to it.

[StephenKingman]

@StephenKingMan

I just want back up Krae855 query. When I search a book it shows up different threads which may or may not have relation to the keyword. I even narrowed the my search by specifying a thread and only checking the "topics" on display result but it seems to use "post".

Please look to it.

I have tried the search function for a few different books and it seems to work better when you limit the search to a thread, the post option will throw up any post with the word in it which is not very helpful, i am aware its not that extensive but if you cannot find a specific book or author after using the search thread, then you can always use the forums to ask our very knowledgeable members here about the book or author you are looking for, it may jog some memories about old threads.