neowin Why are you less active than you used to on the Neowin forums?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

The idea of this poll comes from the Reminiscing Neowin thread. We all know that activity on the forums has gone down considerably - there used to be ~3,000 posts a day on average, now we're in the ~1,000-1,500 posts a day range (extrapolated from the top 20 posters list). It's an anonymous, multiple choice poll. The choices were added in no particular order.

I'd be particularly interested to hear from longstanding members of the community - those who went from very active to lurking and posting once in a blue moon.

Personally, I don't have a lot of complaints currently. There is one recent staff promotion I do not agree with - a global moderator whose posts reek of condescension towards members in threads about a beta operating system should have been reprimanded rather than made supervisor. Alas, that's just my personal opinion; I'm sure senior staff had their reason to promote him.

Let's see if this thread can gain any traction and help to find out why forum activity is down as much as it is.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

For me, I would say that I'm more active than I used to be. Out of all of the posts that I've made I would say that a majority of them have been in the past couple of years.

[MarkusDarkus]

Isn't that because Rappy went on sabbatical?

Seriously though. For me it's because I'm now in a full time job which is quite demanding so I don't have the chance to browse and look for things to comment on like I used to. Also the topics in the spy aren't as IT related and controversial as they used to be. I remember opening many tabs on Neowin and arguing on many topics at the same time ha ha.

[MarkusDarkus]

Also. Relationships. I spend more time snuggling than surfing now. ;)

[Steven P. Administrators]

Great idea, as for the promotion.. I know who you are talking about and our decisions in the past have never been without a little controversy. Without sounding too condescending or patronizing I personally believe there is a place for everyone and I was in the same mindset as others when it was originally discussed. Since the promotion took place I can't think of anything that person has done out of place and really, he needs to be given a chance, just like we (Neowin Staff) have done!

I'm also interested in hearing how we can turn things around, do people enjoy From the Forums features? Should we do them more often? Should we start a thread where members can suggest such topics for a main page feature? Stuff like that would be helpful. I've been doing Member reviews on main for ages, but I can't do them every week because there simply isn't a new one every week, and when there is it sometimes isn't suited to main.

[pto]

in this for the long haul! i don't use windows anymore so that contributes to my lack of posting a little bit. we could use a bulletin board, almost like the guide section but with a better ranking system. Also maybe a fewer number of forums and/or sub-forums.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Certain staff members stop me posting as much, not that I ever posted a lot in the first place.

That and the MVCs, I certainly don't agree with a lot of the choices.

I frequent gaming orientated forums thesedays, them and Reddit.

[Steven P. Administrators]

in this for the long haul! i don't use windows anymore so that contributes to my lack of posting a little bit. we could use a bulletin board, almost like the guide section but with a better ranking system. Also maybe a fewer number of forums and/or sub-forums.

Only two days ago I hid a lot of the forums that guests couldn't access, and a few like the Read only archive so the forums look a little less daunting.

[Coldgunner]

Just lost interest really, gaming isn't as fun as it once was.

[cacoe]

It's because I seem to be a conversation stopper. Most threads I post on seem to end with my post unless I started the thread.

Also, I seem to get ignored a lot! It feels like my contributions are sort of uninteresting.

I'm not moaning as much as making an observation, maybe my posts are boring or irrelevant!

Oh anther reason is, I generally post/read interesting mini spy threads that catch my eye. Problem with that is, the same threads are generally there for days at a time while there are hot debates about certain things. That's fine but after a certain point, people just start repeating the same thing over and over, generally getting into an argument about some sidetracked issue. "you're putting words in my mouth, this is my opinion, you're simply wrong" etc, it really does get boring,

[MarkusDarkus]

Stuff like this

I'm also interested in hearing how we can turn things around, do people enjoy From the Forums features? Should we do them more often? Should we start a thread where members can suggest such topics for a main page feature?

From the Forums is AWESOME. Thank you guys for that!!!!!!!!!! It brings cool needles out of the massive haystack that is Neowin and definitely gets me posting more. Keep up things like this. I think tho that we should have competitions (Not even with prizes) just to build competition and effort on the forums. Like Best Desktop of the month! Games are good on here too I miss them.

I'm a very competitive parson and I garuntee a lot of members here are hence all the arguments. leveraging that in a constructive way might be a winner.

[MarkusDarkus]

Oh anther reason is, I generally post/read interesting mini spy threads that catch my eye. Problem with that is, the same threads are generally there for days at a time while there are hot debates about certain things. That's fine but after a certain point, people just start repeating the same thing over and over, generally getting into an argument about some sidetracked issue. "you're putting words in my mouth, this is my opinion, you're simply wrong" etc, it really does get boring,

I agree with that.

There you go Mark. The thread didn't stop with you! :)

[Dick Montage]

Too many religious/anti-religious republican/democrat zealots on here now!

[Daedroth]

Oh anther reason is, I generally post/read interesting mini spy threads that catch my eye. Problem with that is, the same threads are generally there for days at a time while there are hot debates about certain things.

This basically sums up my posting.

I haven't been a member here for too long in the grand scheme of things, but I only post in threads that catch my eye in the minispy. But then again, even some that catch my eye, I read and feel I don't have anything to contribute, thus don't post.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Stuff like this

.... I think tho that we should have competitions (Not even with prizes) just to build competition and effort on the forums. Like Best Desktop of the month! Games are good on here too I miss them.

I'm a very competitive parson and I garuntee a lot of members here are hence all the arguments. leveraging that in a constructive way might be a winner.

That's a great idea.. We can do some sort of monthly giveaway, but how would we vote on best desktop, staff shortlist a few and then members vote? We could also allow members to link to a post in that thread and then just select the person with the most votes?

[markwolfe Veteran]

I used to be a extremely active participant and poster. Now I have posted maybe 4 times in 5 years, and would not have seen this if it weren't for a certain FB G+ friend of mine posting it (and I must say the title did catch my interest!).

A combination of a change in Neowin's focus (and all sites change, develop and grow - I am not saying change is bad), plus an increase in immature members. This caused emphasis away from technical topics and support, which holds my interest.

Neowin and I drifted apart.

And there is one other specific incident that influenced me. But that is not something for discussion.

BTW, Meph, great topic! It got me back, if only for a minute. :D

[Steven P. Administrators]

Oh anther reason is, I generally post/read interesting mini spy threads that catch my eye. Problem with that is, the same threads are generally there for days at a time while there are hot debates about certain things. That's fine but after a certain point, people just start repeating the same thing over and over, generally getting into an argument about some sidetracked issue. "you're putting words in my mouth, this is my opinion, you're simply wrong" etc, it really does get boring,

This basically sums up my posting.

I haven't been a member here for too long in the grand scheme of things, but I only post in threads that catch my eye in the minispy. But then again, even some that catch my eye, I read and feel I don't have anything to contribute, thus don't post.

Do you ever use this? https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=viewNewContent&search_app=forums It's up on the nav bar but maybe we can make it stand out a bit better?

[Steven P. Administrators]

And there is one other specific incident that influenced me. But that is not something for discussion.

BTW, Meph, great topic! It got me back, if only for a minute. :D

We can discuss it in the Vet lounge if you want :)

[Daedroth]

Do you ever use this? http://www.neowin.ne...arch_app=forums It's up on the nav bar but maybe we can make it stand out a bit better?

I've never used that, but I have used the full 'Spy' app on rare occasions (by clicking on the Mini Spy hyperlink). However I don't really use it much, well, because I forget to. :|

[Cereal Bawks]

The moderation on these forums is heavily biased to sheltering idiots. You're essentially free acting like a naive idiot, spreading ignorant untruths as you please, but as soon someone comes up with a rebuttal that includes just slightly hinting at the effortlessness and idiocy behind various claims, the almighty eye of the administration rises on the horizon. As such, informative posts may just go under in the noise more often than not.

[Steven P. Administrators]

The moderation on these forums is heavily biased to sheltering idiots. You're essentially free acting like a naive idiot, spreading ignorant untruths as you please, but as soon someone comes up with a rebuttal that includes just slightly hinting at the effortlessness and idiocy behind various claims, the almighty eye of the administration rises on the horizon. As such, informative posts may just go under in the noise more often than not.

Taking this onboard and will definitely discuss this with all forum moderators, this comes up more frequently than I'd like.

Edit: New from the forums feature https://www.neowin.net/news/from-the-forums-multi-monitors-from-neowin-readers

[MarkusDarkus]

That's a great idea.. We can do some sort of monthly giveaway, but how would we vote on best desktop, staff shortlist a few and then members vote? We could also allow members to link to a post in that thread and then just select the person with the most votes?

Yea. I remember that Windows 7 logo on another site was a riot! I don't know how flexible the forums are but your method would work. How feasible it would be to have a gallery to upload images to and people can view, vote and comment on the images in a easier way?

[Cereal Bawks]

Taking this onboard and will definitely discuss this with all forum moderators, this comes up more frequently than I'd like.

That's nice to hear. But I fear this is going nowhere either way. This has been a visible point of contention with a bunch of ex-superstar members here over years, but they have been shot down to promote a nicer community.

Other communities, like for instance Ars Technica, they are fine with a rough tone, and it can get pretty rough if someone comes along posting unresearched/no-effort things, and it is reflected in the quality of content within their threads (which is surprisingly good, as opposed to what one might have assumed). Despite that, they seem to be doing well. If you were to transplant that community here, it'd be smashed to smithereens under the banhammer.

[Mohitster]

What about quality of articles on the front page? Shouldn't that be a point as well? May be it's me, but I don't really like the quality of articles on the home page except the detailed product reviews done by Tim Schiesser which I found a breath of fresh air when those started......particularly when I got really tired spotting too many spelling mistakes from certain someone's articles all the time or articles which simply seemed like a copy paste from the actual article i.e. quoting/unquoting too much...... and that too on the home page. And very frankly I never had to try too hard - it just gets really irritating to concentrate on the actual topic or content of the article when such aspects are that visible!

[Steven P. Administrators]

That's nice to hear. But I fear this is going nowhere either way. This has been a visible point of contention with a bunch of ex-superstar members here over years, but they have been shot down to promote a nicer community.

Other communities, like for instance Ars Technica, they are fine with a rough tone, and it can get pretty rough if someone comes along posting unresearched/no-effort things, and it is reflected in the quality of content within their threads (which is surprisingly good, as opposed to what one might have assumed). Despite that, they seem to be doing well. If you were to transplant that community here, it'd be smashed to smithereens under the banhammer.

I'm fine with a rougher tone as long as it isn't abused, for example in the RWI area it doesn't take much before people are openly victimizing each other.