@Silvia Benoit I think Ken answers your question perfectly and is the one to know as he has the forum stats. Noticing a decline is relative to your interest. I noticed a sharp decline in a few topics that interested me after Frank left due to illness. The forum was still getting the same participation, but to my eyes, the forum was in decline. This thread has certainly spurred some participation boasting 4 pages in 24 hours.
Correct...also, as is my case, some people are w/o access to their computers. I still need to get a new one but I was involved in other issues.
That was exactly my thoughts as well, @Shirley Martin . I have been wondering how many good people we have lost because they read some of the posts on some of the threads, and either didn’t join at all, or joined and never come back. I know we see new people looking all of the time, so it is not that there are not people interested in the forum. For the first time ever, I have put someone on ignore. I hated to do it, especially as a moderator, and I am probably supposed to read all of that goop to make sure it is at least sort of on topic; but I found that I didn’t even want to read anything that was on those threads anymore, and have not been reading or posting like normal in those areas. Then I realized that if I missed a post that was way off topic, or just incomprehensible, someone else here will read it and hit the report button, so they will get removed eventually in any case.
Yvonne Smith, People have the right to say / write whatever they think / feel; if somebody doesn't like what was written / said is up to him/her to ignore the entire issue or to leave the group. This is known as freedom of speech / right to decide.
I can't imagine someone visiting a forum, generally liking the tone and the content, but not joining because of a few posters who some/most/all may believe to be on the fringes (or however you want to characterize them.) It's not as though we're seeking potential roommates. And no one's being personally attacked by them or by anyone else...at least, not to any great degree. Compare the routine personal interaction here to that "other forum" so many of us fled. I think that other forum is a nasty place that does not tolerate differences via Mob Rule, yet look at how many members there are. I think once membership reaches a certain level, people find a high level of activity in their own narrow interests so most other Groups & Threads are rarely visited...the volume becomes self-sustaining. The question might be "How do you reach that volume in the first place?", assuming that growth is the goal here. I think most of us here know which way that other forum leans, just as we know which way that this forum leans. If we did a study on Social Media Participation Rate by Political Leanings, we might find that our membership level is the norm for who we are. I also think that the "fringe posters" here are conspicuous solely because there's no volume of comments through which their utterances are diluted...and our regular members have become sensitized to their utterances.
Silvia Benoit, Yes indeed, we do have the freedom to write what we wish provided it stays within the confines of 1. the topic and 2. isn’t abusive 3. doesn’t contain personal attacks. One other thing that is frowned upon is repetitious, agenda driven posts that have no real quality nor follow the trend of the thread. Bobby Cole.
Don't feel bad. I've come close to doing that...and I bet you & I have two different people in mind. It was easy when I was a mod on a gun forum. Conflicts were minimal because every Group and every Thread was within that special-interest field of interest. There was minimal room for philosophical opining. And the nature of that forum was such that the pot-stirrers (trolls) were overt with their intent...they were there solely to disrupt, and they did so in highly vulgar ways that clearly violated the TOS. There were no nuances.
I had to smile when I read this. It's a small forum, and if "no real quality" were truly an enforced standard, it would be even smaller, huh? But I do understand what you're saying. There's a difference between "occasionally meanders" and "perpetually blathers." As others have said, that's what the Ignore button is for. After all, our freedoms are dependent on the degree of tolerance we each have for the behaviour in others that personally bothers us. As a side note, there are times I'm impressed at the volume of words that are generated by He Who Shall Remain Nameless. There's no way all of that is done extemporaneously, confirmed when you look at the time hack between comments. There's gotta be a folder on the hard drive just chock-full of documents, ready to Copy & Paste. edit to add: You can see evidence of things being pasted because of how the formatting does not properly carry over. Carriage returns are inserted in mid-sentence so that the text only occupies the left half of the screen. I'm not saying this is good or this is bad, but some things are pre-written and are not composed in the context of the conversation.
True, Silvia, but the "freedom of speech / right to decide can be, and sometimes is, taken tooooooooooo far and then Ken and/or Yvonne have to step in.
Freedom of speech may apply in general, but this is a privately-owned forum where we actually have no "rights," (except to leave whenever we choose.) Strictly speaking, Ken always has the last word on what may or may not be allowed. Luckily for us he is open-minded and not into heavy handed moderation.
The reasons people join the forum, make a few posts, or maybe none, then disappear is speculation on anyone's part. There are no hidden discussion boards or groups on this forum, so everyone has the opportunity to see if there is something that interests them or offends them before joining. There are two other main senior forums and one has a lot less, by a big margin of publically visible forum participation than SOC. They survive because of their chat rooms. The other has more posts, but the quality of the posts is lacking in substance compared to SOC. I submit that if one studies that forum, you will see numerous very short posts that are not more than a few sentences thus attracting those that don't like to think or engage intelligently in a discussion. Many on that forum pride themselves as professional writers. These folks are the only ones praised for writing lengthy posts. They are there to write and not read or engage in discussion. It is a one-way deal and no more than a personal blog. They are there for "likes," praise, and self-promotion. That forums activity and active larger membership are predominantly ego-driven in my opinion. I see SOC as the only senior discussion forum with a much higher rate of varied active quality topics and in-depth discussion than the other forums.
[QUOTE="Faye Fox, post: 594418, member: 1348] I see SOC as the only senior discussion forum with a much higher rate of varied active quality topics and in-depth discussion than the other forums.[/QUOTE] I visit the other forum occasionally and find it composed mostly of fluff topics but it's entertaining anyway. This forum has more in depth discussions.