Ideas on attracting new visitors

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Emrysgirl

New member
Jimmy Junior said:
Unless you wanted the grotto to dominate the forum, you'd need to advertise only in MiTM-related places.
Not neccesarily. Advertising on websites for shows that resemble or are connected to MitM might get more people interested in the show and so get us more posters. Sort of like the thing "Beautiful People" is doing, only with more related or simmilar shows.
 

arach

New member
I agree with tj. We are now experiencing what happens to every forum about a TV-show in summer. There is not much to talk about without any new episodes, and so no need to register. Numbers will increase in 17 days again. ;)

The user of the week thing is a good idea though. Would be interesting. :)
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
Emrysgirl said:
Not neccesarily. Advertising on websites for shows that resemble or are connected to MitM might get more people interested in the show and so get us more posters. Sort of like the thing "Beautiful People" is doing, only with more related or simmilar shows.
To me, a show that is connected to MitM in some way would constitute being 'MitM-related'.
When I managed a bar a few years ago, my boss spent a fortune (several hundred pounds) on placing an advert in the national firefighters' diary. Considering there were probably less than 20 firefighters living in the local area, and not all of those 10 would both go out in the evening and use a diary, I thought this was a complete waste of money.
That was really what I meant about advertising in unrelated places.
 
I asked my friends whether they'd join. I said it was amazing and they said no. How do i get them to think this is a great site? I don't know any bigger fan than me but my friends are cool, some of them watch MitM but they get annoyed with me talking about it so much!!
 

admin

Retired Administrator
I actually prefer it that the friends I see in their human form everyday are not here. Besides they aren't at all intersted in MITM! :D
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
admin said:
I actually prefer it that the friends I see in their human form everyday are not here. Besides they aren't at all intersted in MITM! :D
I agree, my friends arent such big fans as me, and i dout they would contribute much, the good thing about a forum is that it unite the big fans in the world where ever they may be :D
 

Emrysgirl

New member
admin said:
I actually prefer it that the friends I see in their human form everyday are not here. Besides they aren't at all intersted in MITM! :D
Me too...I rarely talk about MitM outside of the forum and I don't think any of my friends watch it even occaisionally.
 
I agree, and when there was a group of friends quite recently, the shoutbox became clogged with individual specific comments rather than comments for the whole community to understand, as often topic can sway towards personal interest between two persons.
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
I am rather sceptical about the benefits of popularity and mass culture. The next remark is mere observation and not one of criticism: (Please don't ban me for this, okay :))

But i have noticed a recent surge of new members, but with them has seen an increase in, how do i put this?...unsubstantiated posts? I mean, mods - how many posts have you had to amend and threads have had to be closed in recent times? People seem to be concerned about rep points, silly stars, typing many posts to be quantitative rather than be qualitative; and general comments about beating the system. My questin to them is why bother?

Anyways, I guess if you want all the members from other forums such as Fox to post here, then you will have to accept that you will also generate the same level in quality of these other forums. In logging on here today, there were over a hundred new posts - but without exagerating only around 25% of them were actually worth reading. The rest were repetition of other posts and talk of who is getting the most rep points. etc etc etc.

In short, it could be that by becomming popular, you may also become a victim of your own success.
 

admin

Retired Administrator
I am afraid that some of what you say is very much true.

Many more popular forums disable the reputation, rewards etc systems as people simply want to try and get to the top without trying. We will probably end up going down that road eventually, especially if we have increasesed membership from the fox forums!

The post quality is going down slightly, there are now many 1 sentence, or less! posts.

Reputation is also been given out like candy in a sweetshop, lets save it for the truly exceptional or truly abysmal now guys, not every post which you like!
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Maybe we should make a rule that if you have something substantial to add, you should put it into more than one sentence; if not, it's probably not worth saying. Oh, what do you know, that's just one sentence. :)
 

arach

New member
yardgames said:
Maybe we should make a rule that if you have something substantial to add, you should put it into more than one sentence; if not, it's probably not worth saying. Oh, what do you know, that's just one sentence. :)
Won't work. We would get bigger posts with less content. Noone wants to read huge posts with nothing in them.


I really have to agree with Dewey. Although I think the reputation system is a good way to show appreciation, and I wouldn't want to miss it, I still think people in here shouldn't be so obsessed about it. Same with posting counts and stars - even some moderators think they have to be proud about it, although they should be an example to others by not giving a damn. That just leads to rep and post hunting.

This forum used to be a perfect example of an outstanding, harmonizing community. We have to work on it to be like that again. It's now time to make strict rules. Without rules, even the moderators can't decide what's allowed and what not. You can't always make a council about everything.

Admin, you already made a rule:
- Don't give rep like candy


Here are some other rules which I think are important:

- Quality, not quantity: Posting much will not increase your reputation, it will just annoy others. If you want to be a fruitful member of the community, be sure that you write when you have something to say, and not because you like to talk.

- Be sure you use proper language. Avoid bad words, write full sentences and d0n't U dare u$in txt language. Be nice to others!

- Stick to the topic. The forum is not a chat. If you have to talk about something else with someone, there are plenty of possibilities: Write him/her a private message or use the shoutbox. If you still want your posting counter to increase, open a thread in the grotto.

Those would be the most common rules that everybody should follow.
But more rules have to be done, like Signature rules. Think of some!

Every forum goes through that when it's community grows, so don't worry.
If everyone keeps the rules in mind, we'll have a happy place again soon! :D
 

admin

Retired Administrator
I agree arach, and have decided that I will create a "forum constitution". Setting down some ground rules about the forum. Hopefully we can then ammend it as time goes by.

I am also going to completely disconnect the post count from the reputation system. This means that you will no longer get reputation for every post, but a user will actually have to give you rep. As I said earlier reputation should NOT be given out like candy in a sweetshop.

To say what I have done to the reputation system in a few points
  • Disabled post count increasing reputation
  • Increased the reputation you must have to gain 1 reputation power. If you had a rep power of 100 it is now 50 etc.
 

arach

New member
Wow, you did that very quickly. Nice constitution. But you could still add some rules, like Signature rules, or generally how people should behave around here. Or is that just something like "the terms of condition" and you will come up with the behaviour rules later? :confused:
 

admin

Retired Administrator
I really don't no what kind of behaviour rules people want. I could include points about signatures and stuff in it certainly.
 

arach

New member
You know things like "be nice", "give threads a reasonable name" and "stick to the topic". That kind of stuff.
 

admin

Retired Administrator
arach said:
You know things like "be nice", "give threads a reasonable name" and "stick to the topic". That kind of stuff.
Article 2.7 of the MITMVC consititution should atkae into account the "be nice" part, but to be sure I shall add three ammendments

2.8 Threads should be given names which are relavent to to their content, they should also be clear and concise. Thread titles should also be error free and use correct grammar and spelling. Thread titles such as "Hello" or "Look Here" are completely unacceptable. Offenders will find their rights to make threads removed.
2.9 Posts should stick to the topic and not be deliberatly pushed off topic, members who choose to not post in relavent topics will find their right to post removed.
2.10 General politeness within the forums is expected, rude members will find their right to post removed.
 

arach

New member
This pleases me. :D
Now everyone knows what he/she is allowed to do and what consequences a violation of these rules has.

I also like what you did to the rep system. This makes it more important to write quality posts, instead of writing many of them. Good job. :)
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I have a few things to say here.

First, it's a great constitution, David, but it's really boring! Who in the world you expect to read that? It's like rules for some contest. Concise is the key.

Secondly, and this is intended at arach, who clearly intended a comment at me, maybe I do brag about having made 1000 posts, but I don't brag about my rep power, and I didn't make a one-word comment on every thread to get to my thousand posts. It has been an ongoing effort for the last nine months.

Thirdly, I think one of the rules highlighted by David, since I was too bored to read the whole thing (this particular clause: Thread titles such as Hello will be deleted...), is not a good rule. Having a "hello" is a good place to, well, say hello to new members. We've plenty of good posts to get to know a person through a thread like that, it just seems silly.

I suppose I'll have to read the Constitution sooner or later, and then I'll have more comments on it, but I'm not looking forward to it. That's going to be one of the more boring reads I've done on here. :)
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
My next problem is with this clause:
3.4 Links to competing forums, groups and websites about Malcolm in the Middle are not permitted within the forums, nor new threads/posts created about then, regardless if the posted is the site owner or not.

You realize we would have never gotten appanah over here if I hadn't posted a link to his analysis in the Fox forum and invited him over? I think that as Malcolm fans, we are united by various websites, not divided by them. Completely disagree wtih that one.

I also have a problem with this clause: 4.2 If You become aware of any such distribution or commercial exploitation, You agree to notify Us immediately. David should know why for that one.

These two cluases seem to contradict:
4.3 You acknowledge that by posting materials on the Malcolm in the Middle Voting Community Site You grant to Us and Our licensors and assigns an irrevocable, perpetual royalty free worldwide licence to use the materials within the Malcolm in the Middle Voting Community Site and in any other manner. The licence extends to copying, distributing, broadcasting, and otherwise transmitting, and adapting and editing the materials.

5. MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE VOTING COMMUNITY RIGHTS
5.1 Material which is posted on any bulletin boards or chat forums is written by Users and We are not responsible for and give no endorsement of such material. We monitor the contributions and may respond to or comment upon communications by You and edit, refuse to post or remove any content from the bulletin boards and chat forums in its absolute discretion. No failure to remove particular material constitutes an endorsement or acceptance of it by Us.

So you're saying that you own it, but you don't take responsibility for it? That's like having a dog, but not giving a darn if it terrorizes your neighbors.

To the extent permitted by law--and what country's law are we using??

For those of us that don't live in the UK, what in the world does "6.1 We shall comply with applicable UK Data Protection legislation from time to time in place in respect of any personal information relating to You gathered by Us." mean?

Wouldn't it make more sense to use the Report Post option in this instance: 7.3 do not reply to any messages that are hostile, rude or inappropriate, or in any way make you feel uncomfortable. Instead, let us know about them by using the Contact Us section of the Malcolm in the Middle Voting Community Site. ?

Ok, so my comments thread is almost as long as your constitution. Anyway, it's a good constitution, but I have a problem or commentn with what I've posted above.
 
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