Spread the word! E-mail your local ham club, write in to your fav ham mag or something! TBH activity does seem to be more consistant over the last year and we are still growing.
VERY inactive site
How did this site get so inactive. It's the primary ham radio forum in the US. Yet it's so inactive. Why?
Spread the word! E-mail your local ham club, write in to your fav ham mag or something! TBH activity does seem to be more consistant over the last year and we are still growing.
Where did you get THAT piece of information?Originally Posted by Ben Hutchinson
Really ?!?
I always thought it was UK based??
We've never targeted any particular location, but many of the mods & admins are UK based.
Whilst many other forums (including some with very similar names for a while) have come & gone, we are still here.
If you told me the forum was a dedicated ham forum for a small village in deepest darkest Dorset with a total population of 27, I'd be a little disappointed at the number of posts, but if you are telling me it's a ham forum with a world wide following ... now that is depressing.
I guess the amateur community is either in very serious decline, or only a minuscule number of hams have the internet ?!!?
From our own front page:- Threads 1,869 Posts 7,596 Members 2,167 Active Members 131
Seems incredible that 2,000+ have signed up, but the algorithm vBulletin uses to find the active members says only 131 are active.
Tonight I actually sent out an email to anyone who hadn't logged in, in the last 6 months (1,678 in all).
Maybe that will bring some back to the flock.
I dunno.
I don't think it's anything the forum can do. This place is a pretty good example of what a ham radio forum should be. I think there is just a general malaise in the amateur radio community. No one wants to 'play' radio anymore. Whether that be on air, or just discussing it on forums.
How about everyone who reads this (me included) tells 1 ham friend about this site, and makes one new post within a week of reading this??
I think the answer could be to be more active ourselves and show the forum is used
I shall tell 2 people :-)
Sadly, your right...Lots of Hams around my way have sold up and left the hobby altogether.
There was a time when communicating wirelessly held a great mystique to many people (It was like witchcraft to me when I was a kid!), but since the advent of mobile phones, in the hands of the masses, most of the mystique has gone and its just something that is taken totally for granted these days.
That's a sensible idea.
People do like to see an active community, and you are more likely to get people joining up and contributing if they see recent activity.I think the answer could be to be more active ourselves and show the forum is used
Why would you bother joining a forum to post a question you need answered, if the last post on the forum was made weeks (or even just days) ago?
The trick is to keep the regulars posting with a certain amount of, erm ... regularity? That requires actively promoting discussions when the natural flow of topics dwindle.
When I got my ticket there were seven of us, total using radio me on a regular basis one on the odd occasion.
Club has just done foundation in the last month with eleven passed, at the moment four on the air others unheard of at this time.
As for forum usage I think it's on a par with other non radio forums I visit one today has three posts after nothing for three weeks.
Also try getting articles for a club magazine same thing lack of input so think it's an all round thing not just forums.
I for one read this forum every day in the hope I will learn something, there may be others that do the same.
My thinking is it's nice to have this forum as a reference point, even if I have nothing to say!!
It's worth noting that it's only a reference point if people have posted something you can refer to.
I reckon if all the 'lurkers' were to post at least once a week, the output would skyrocket!
Its definitely not the primary US site theres a lot bigger forums then this hooked onto existing sites, main issue with low activity is people not posting.. hopefully this can be changed in the coming months to get things back on track.
Peter, 2E0SQL - http://www.m3php.com
Thanks for the email Paul .. the site is again book marked .
Excellent!
Peter, 2E0SQL - http://www.m3php.com
Everytime I come on here I see on average two members and 20 odd guests, what's the problem with logging in? how about changing the posting requirements (would need more mods) but you can only see what's on here if your logged in? Works for other forums.
No, no, no, and thrice more nay.
It puts off potential new members. Why would you even bother joining a forum if you don't know what the actual posts are about?
Add to that the fact that the posts would no longer be search engine findable, and its the quickest way to cause the forum to turn into a ghost town.
Besides, you may well find that the "20 guests" are a combination of search engine bots (website crawlers), and visitors over a period of time.
If the "20 guests" were real people, then obviously, no one is posting about anything they want to contribute to whether they are logged in or not.
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