Lurkers in the Forum

[atmail35]

I've noticed a TON of folks who have viewed the deals but have rarely contributed, which I think is unfortunate. :(

[Mantisking]

I've noticed a TON of folks who have viewed the deals but have rarely contributed, which I think is unfortunate. :(

There's not much you can do once someone posts the initial sale, except to say "me too."

[atmail35]

I've noticed a TON of folks who have viewed the deals but have rarely contributed, which I think is unfortunate. :(

There's not much you can do once someone posts the initial sale, except to say "me too."

Sorry, what I meant was people who I have never seen post anything, not necessarily in that thread they viewed. I know there are a lot of lurkers here (as I did for many months).

Hey you know what would be interesting? Maybe it is a feature somewhere, but a list of all posters with their post count next to them, just to see the % of lurkers vs posters.

[Mantisking]

I've also noticed a TON of folks who have viewed the deals but have rarely contributed, which I think is unfortunate. :(

There's not much you can do once someone posts the initial sale, except to say "me too."

Sorry, what I meant was people who I have never seen post anything, not necessarily in that thread they viewed. I know there are a lot of lurkers here (as I did for many months).

You mean the "I'm just here for the deals" people? Maybe I'm a little draconian, but I think their accounts should be deleted if they're not going to contibute in a meaningful way.

Hey you know what would be interesting? Maybe it is a feature somewhere, but a list of all posters with their post count next to them, just to see the % of lurkers vs posters.

Click the Members button.

[atmail35]

I've also noticed a TON of folks who have viewed the deals but have rarely contributed, which I think is unfortunate. :(

There's not much you can do once someone posts the initial sale, except to say "me too."

Sorry, what I meant was people who I have never seen post anything, not necessarily in that thread they viewed. I know there are a lot of lurkers here (as I did for many months).

You mean the "I'm just here for the deals" people? Maybe I'm a little draconian, but I think their accounts should be deleted if they're not going to contibute in a meaningful way.

Hey you know what would be interesting? Maybe it is a feature somewhere, but a list of all posters with their post count next to them, just to see the % of lurkers vs posters.

Click the Members button.

I knew that was available somewhere! I did a quick sort...53 pages of zero (0) posts or about 1325 members of 2023 or 65% have not made A SINGLE POST!

About 550 members have less than 25 posts...I find it a bit annoying that so many people are getting the "deals" but are not contributing what they found (i.e. at Target clearance). Makes me want to keep my mouth shut on what I find out there.

[Mantisking]

I've also noticed a TON of folks who have viewed the deals but have rarely contributed, which I think is unfortunate. :(

There's not much you can do once someone posts the initial sale, except to say "me too."

Sorry, what I meant was people who I have never seen post anything, not necessarily in that thread they viewed. I know there are a lot of lurkers here (as I did for many months).

You mean the "I'm just here for the deals" people? Maybe I'm a little draconian, but I think their accounts should be deleted if they're not going to contibute in a meaningful way.

Hey you know what would be interesting? Maybe it is a feature somewhere, but a list of all posters with their post count next to them, just to see the % of lurkers vs posters.

Click the Members button.

I knew that was available somewhere! I did a quick sort...53 pages of zero (0) posts or about 1325 members of 2023 or 65% have not made A SINGLE POST!

Yup.

About 550 members have less than 25 posts...I find it a bit annoying that so many people are getting the "deals" but are not contributing what they found (i.e. at Target clearance). Makes me want to keep my mouth shut on what I find out there.

Now you see what I mean about being draconian.

[lukeskywalker]

I lurked for about a year, and then got sick of seeing my name say"I'm new" , so I posted a ton to try to get up to 25 posts. took me about a week. Then it was disgraceful to be a peasant so I had to get higher so I could be a citizen. after that. it just kinda took off, and now I post when I see a chance to add to the discussion.

[Ice]

The only way we can stop lurkers is to open up the Sales Forum to everyone including those who haven't registered. Then, we'll see more guests lurking online and the members who register will actually be committed to posting.

I'm getting sick of this too, but forcing them to register will increase the likelihood that they will post something when they're logged in.

[Ice]

Another idea is to force new users to accumulate a certain amount of posts before the Sales Forum is opened to them.

[lukeskywalker]

Another idea is to force new users to accumulate a certain amount of posts before the Sales Forum is opened to them.

That could be a big turnoff to potential members. However, They'd probably value it more as they had to "earn" it.

[Mantisking]

I'm getting sick of this too, but forcing them to register will increase the likelihood that they will post something when they're logged in.

How about doing a yearly culling. Announce that inactive accounts are being deleted to "save mainframe space" or some other BS, give them a deadline to make some sort of activity on their account, then delete those that don't do anything.

[lukeskywalker]

I'm getting sick of this too, but forcing them to register will increase the likelihood that they will post something when they're logged in.

How about doing a yearly culling. Announce that inactive accounts are being deleted to "save mainframe space" or some other BS, give them a deadline to make some sort of activity on their account, then delete those that don't do anything.

I like that Idea. :twisted:

[brickz]

I'm getting sick of this too, but forcing them to register will increase the likelihood that they will post something when they're logged in.

How about doing a yearly culling. Announce that inactive accounts are being deleted to "save mainframe space" or some other BS, give them a deadline to make some sort of activity on their account, then delete those that don't do anything.

I like that Idea. :twisted:

But then people can still re-register... Even if those inactive people post, it will be crappy 1-2 words posts because they just want to see the forums.

[Mantisking]

I'm getting sick of this too, but forcing them to register will increase the likelihood that they will post something when they're logged in.

How about doing a yearly culling. Announce that inactive accounts are being deleted to "save mainframe space" or some other BS, give them a deadline to make some sort of activity on their account, then delete those that don't do anything.

I like that Idea. :twisted:

But then people can still re-register.

True. If they decide to take the time to re-register it may lead to them becoming more active in an attempt to not lose the account again. If they don't, then we're out dead weight.

Even if those inactive people post, it will be crappy 1-2 words posts because they just want to see the forums.

It will still have driven them to actively do something about their status on the board. Hopefully this will lead to some form of forward inertia and them becoming productive members of the community.

[atmail35]

Sorry Ice, I didn't mean to create more work with my complaint!

I do think Mantisking's culling idea is a good one. I also am in favor of requiring a certain # of posts to see Sales & Deals. People should make an effort and if it causes people to leave WHO DON'T bother to contribute then the community isn't really losing anything, right? And yes, one word posts might be useless but hopefully it convinces them to spend time doing something useful. Can you make a post require at least a certain amount of characters? Although that doesn't prevent the "asdeslrlerj" comment.

[lukeskywalker]

Sorry Ice, I didn't mean to create more work with my complaint!

I do think Mantisking's culling idea is a good one. I also am in favor of requiring a certain # of posts to see Sales & Deals. People should make an effort and if it causes people to leave WHO DON'T bother to contribute then the community isn't really losing anything, right? And yes, one word posts might be useless but hopefully it convinces them to spend time doing something useful. Can you make a post require at least a certain amount of characters? Although that doesn't prevent the "asdeslrlerj" comment.

BTW did you remove the "who viewed the topic" feature? I'm not seeing it.

The moderators should catch the cheaters and then delete the posts.

[DuelPear]

None of these ideas are really going to work. Anything you do to restrict viewing the sales and deals part of the forum is going to drive people away and the more people that are driven away, the less likely the website will grow and get new deal info. Then as the deals are drying up the original posters who "earned" (based on what everyone here is saying) viewing the sales forums will be coming here less frequently.

Also, placing a requirement on the number of posts before viewing the sales forum is just silly. If you do that all you're going to do is encourage people to start posting completely inane, worthless posts to get to the threshold.

Just remember, even if you post a lot now, you had to start somewhere. So perhaps certain people aren't posting a lot right now but they might in the future, if you cut them off then all you're doing is stifling the growth of this board. Deals on 1 particular product line, particularly one as popular as Lego, are hard to come by. Just because someone doesn't post very much doesn't mean they won't post at all if they do find a deal, it could mean they just haven't found any deals that aren't already reported.

[lukeskywalker]

it could mean they just haven't found any deals that aren't already reported.

That's what happened to me. Every time I'd do it, I found I'd been scooped. The only big deal was the Last christmas legoshop deal on christmas eve.

[Mantisking]

Just remember, even if you post a lot now, you had to start somewhere.

True.

So perhaps certain people aren't posting a lot right now but they might in the future, if you cut them off then all you're doing is stifling the growth of this board.

Really? There are 21 people who have been here since 2009 that have ZERO posts. Do you think they even know they have accounts?

Deals on 1 particular product line, particularly one as popular as Lego, are hard to come by. Just because someone doesn't post very much doesn't mean they won't post at all if they do find a deal, it could mean they just haven't found any deals that aren't already reported.

That's true, there are a bunch of people here that are really fast off the mark about reporting sales and deals. But, it isn't just Sales & Deals where people could post though. They can talk about the Lego sets they like the most, what they might want for new sets, etc., etc., etc. Culling of accounts is not an uncommon occurance. I've been victim of one myself on a different board. If they want it enough they'll come back.

[DuelPear]

So perhaps certain people aren't posting a lot right now but they might in the future, if you cut them off then all you're doing is stifling the growth of this board.

Really? There are 21 people who have been here since 2009 that have ZERO posts. Do you think they even know they have accounts?

That's approximately 1% of the users based on the number at the top of the thread. Hardly much of a concern if you ask me but that's just my opinion.

Deals on 1 particular product line, particularly one as popular as Lego, are hard to come by. Just because someone doesn't post very much doesn't mean they won't post at all if they do find a deal, it could mean they just haven't found any deals that aren't already reported.

That's true, there are a bunch of people here that are really fast off the mark about reporting sales and deals. But, it isn't just Sales & Deals where people could post though. They can talk about the Lego sets they like the most, what they might want for new sets, etc., etc., etc. Culling of accounts is not an uncommon occurance. I've been victim of one myself on a different board. If they want it enough they'll come back.

The problem is that there's already a much bigger forum for discussing sets, reviews, etc. Eurobricks so they will naturally gravitate to where the majority of conversation will be happening already. Could this board be as big as Eurobricks some day? Perhaps but I would bet even Eurobricks has at least 1% of its user base that just reads and doesn't do anything else.