Where are they today?

People like Helen Wisocki  were great members of this forum...where have they gone?

I think the small cadre (me included) that keeps the forum going turns off some of the potential participants.  We have been posting so long it's like a family with it's black sheep and long-term quarrels that turns some people off.  Might even look a little "clubbish."

Some people don't like the political, religious and other discussions that are "off track" from writing in general.  For me, any discussion helps me see my own thoughts with more clarity and helps me write better.

Some people choose to spend their time in places more positive to their book sales.  I have no idea whether posting her helps or hinders book sales.

I use a forum to gage my writing. I seek out those that tell me what is wrong with my work. True I never leave my writing posted...I don't think that is a good idea.
I like to she how others build a story, and things about the publishing business. Talking about other things gives a break from writing.

Helen prefers to stay in contact with her family through facebook. As do JoElle, Malcolm, Rhett (madhatter) and Pam Robertson.

If we all left for months at a time before returning, the forum would grind to a halt. It's the regulars who keep it going.

10/17/2013

                       I don't think it's " Clubbish " We are old friends go go way back
                       5,6,7 Years.....We may argue but we still stand by each other..

                                                                   Cheers..Joe..

I didn't say it was. I said it could look like that at times.

Some times it is...

I think the larger issue, which isn't being discussed, is that this forum doesn't attract many newcomers. I've stated my own opinions for why this is, and it isn't because it's "clubbish" here; it may be, but people don't know that until they've hung around awhile.

When I check out a new forum on any topic, I look at dates of last posts. When many are over a week old, I lose interest, assuming it's a slow or dead forum. This forum has a huge number of subforums, most of which are rarely posted in. Which gives it a slow look. Plus, too many of the forums are basically flypaper for spam (adverts for books). That spam is allowed to be posted in multiple places, including the Chatterbox. And trolls, past and present, are allowed to post here unconditionally.

This isn't meant to be critical, just my own observations. I like this forum, but I can see why others wouldn't.

Shelagh wrote:

Helen prefers to stay in contact with her family through facebook. As do JoElle, Malcolm, Rhett (madhatter) and Pam Robertson.

If we all left for months at a time before returning, the forum would grind to a halt. It's the regulars who keep it going.

How come you have five Knights under your name, and we only have stars?
Can I have five of these under my name?....:

She, Shelagh, should
get something for putting up with us.

I offered to take her out on my sailboat for a few months.

Still sailing? Thought you were sitting on a bench feeding pigeons ...haha

Domenic Pappalardo wrote:

Shelagh wrote:

Helen prefers to stay in contact with her family through facebook. As do JoElle, Malcolm, Rhett (madhatter) and Pam Robertson.

If we all left for months at a time before returning, the forum would grind to a halt. It's the regulars who keep it going.

How come you have five Knights under your name, and we only have stars?
Can I have five of these under my name?....:

No.  

The forum is active enough for me. When the forum was more lively, the threads flamed up and it was difficult to moderate. Fewer heated discussions make things easier for me, so why would I want to change things to make life more difficult?

Ask Ted Cruz.

Don't more members posting help ad revenues?  There are not a lot of ads, but a few.

No, the threads that LC objects to help with the ads. Here are two examples:

http://www.publishedauthors.org/t8569-alpha (2924 views, no replies)

http://www.publishedauthors.org/t5321-how-do-you-cite-a-play-from-a-literature-book (2,991 views, 1 reply)

This post on the Welcome board received 5,490 views and 4 replies. The new member made one post:

http://www.publishedauthors.org/t5615-introduction-of-sara-robinson-to-forum

These threads, and many like them, show up on Google. People visit the forum to read the posts. Forum members are less likely to click on the ad links than visitors to the forum, who browse around and don't post. The ads are more likely to catch their attention.

You've misunderstood (deliberately, maybe). I don't "object" to advertising threads; I ignore them. I object to advertising dropped into conversational threads. I object to trolls who are allowed to post and harass. You don't moderate, btw. You may read posts, but you do very little, if any, moderation.

However, since you've said that your goal w/ this forum is to generate random views and ad clicks, sounds like mission accomplished. If your goal was a successful writing forum w/ lots of posters trading info, mission not accomplished.

Quote :

These threads, and many like them, show up on Google. People visit the forum to read the posts. Forum members are less likely to click on the ad links than visitors to the forum, who browse around and don't post. The ads are more likely to catch their attention.

My guess is DK was asking, if you had more people posting, wouldn't you have more threads to show up in Google, hence for random people to click on, hence more ad revenue?

On LinkedIn, there's a popular writing forum in which the two owners are proactive in deleting adverts from the conversation board. They made a separate board for people to post book adverts. One unhappy author said, "But, no one READS that board! lol. How clueless can you be? What does that tell him? That people on the conversation board aren't interested in reading his book ad? Naw -couldn't be!

LC wrote:

Quote :

These threads, and many like them, show up on Google. People visit the forum to read the posts. Forum members are less likely to click on the ad links than visitors to the forum, who browse around and don't post. The ads are more likely to catch their attention.

My guess is DK was asking, if you had more people posting, wouldn't you have more threads to show up in Google, hence for random people to click on, hence more ad revenue?

No, the threads with many posts are viewed time and time again by the same few members, e.g., a thread with a comparable number of views to the ones I quoted (2,600) but with over a hundred posts (148), Quotable Quotes, has probably been viewed by less than twenty members over and over again (148 x 17 = 2864). A thread with close to 3,000 views and no replies has received thousands of visits from non-members.  

LC wrote:

On LinkedIn, there's a popular writing forum in which the two owners are proactive in deleting adverts from the conversation board. They made a separate board for people to post book adverts. One unhappy author said, "But, no one READS that board! lol. How clueless can you be? What does that tell him? That people on the conversation board aren't interested in reading his book ad? Naw -couldn't be!

I ran one of those popular groups on LinkedIn. It had 10,000+ members. They complained all the time. They never visited the group discussions and were unaware about how to view the threads and didn't know that there were other boards. They complained if the spam landed in their email group digest because I had been too lazy to delete it. They expected me to be there twenty-four seven deleting the spam that LinkedIn encourages (The very name reflects the ease of linking websites, particularly job ads, from around the 'net, which is the main source of LinkedIn's income). I decided to leave the spam and delete the group.

LC wrote:

On LinkedIn, there's a popular writing forum in which the two owners are proactive in deleting adverts from the conversation board. They made a separate board for people to post book adverts. One unhappy author said, "But, no one READS that board! lol. How clueless can you be? What does that tell him? That people on the conversation board aren't interested in reading his book ad? Naw -couldn't be!

I didn't know such a thing existed. Could provide a name or a link to this Linkedin writing forum?

Quote :

No, the threads with many posts are viewed time and time again by the same few members, e.g., a thread with a comparable number of views to the ones I quoted (2,600) but with over a hundred posts (148), Quotable Quotes, has probably been viewed by less than twenty members over and over again (148 x 17 = 2864). A thread with close to 3,000 views and no replies has received thousands of visits from non-members. 

So you're saying that having a bunch of new members would NOT result in a bunch of new threads, SOME of which would end up being viewed thousands of times? I don't understand that at all, but that's ok, I don't have to.

HaroldLee wrote:

LC wrote:

On LinkedIn, there's a popular writing forum in which the two owners are proactive in deleting adverts from the conversation board. They made a separate board for people to post book adverts. One unhappy author said, "But, no one READS that board! lol. How clueless can you be? What does that tell him? That people on the conversation board aren't interested in reading his book ad? Naw -couldn't be!

I didn't know such a thing existed. Could provide a name or a link to this Linkedin writing forum?

Harold, do a search on LinkedIn for writer groups. A busy one is Fiction Writers Guild. I've deleted a bunch  so offhand, I can't remember which group was which, but the one Charlotte Boyett-Campo runs is very tightly run, popular and has lots of discussions. Maybe FWG is it.

Quote :

I ran one of those popular groups on LinkedIn. It had 10,000+ members. They complained all the time. They never visited the group discussions and were unaware about how to view the threads and didn't know that there were other boards.

Because they were only there to post adverts for their book. Which you encourage people to do. There and here.


How do successful forums manage the spam and complaints? They take on volunteer moderators. Of course one person working alone can't do that.