Revitalise the Apple (Mac) sub-forum?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

For some years the Apple part of the Neowin forum had a small but thriving community. A community with a fairly high standard of discourse without the excessive fanboyism seen on other forums. Mostly anyway.

 

When you look at the Apple sub-forum now it's very much of a wasteland. Few new threads are created, few members post. All this despite constantly rising numbers of users of Apple devices.

 

Who's to blame? Neowin staff (current and former) themselves for one. Posting ludicrous polls such as 'Do you hate Apple?' and then tweeting 'And for those saying they'll leave because of the poll... be my guest'? (See https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1133222-why-i-posted-the-poll/ and https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1133156-has-neowin-hit-a-all-time-low-if-so-one-day-boycott/ ? Way to alienate users. I'm well aware that all this happened two years ago, but still. All it achieved was drive away a good number of active community members. Hell, I myself was tempted to leave at that point.

 

Then there are certain members who can't help but attack everything Apple, and too often have got away with it. They love to point out the -win part of the site name without realising how Neowin has long broadened its horizon beyond being just a Windows-centric web site. 

 

I realise it might be far too late and a vain attempt, but let's try to revitalise the Neowin Apple sub-forum; see if it is possible to have a vibrant Mac community on here again. 

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

So, digging up a year old thing is the right thing to do?

 

Yeah no. If most of the Apple users wouldn't be so "full" of themselves it would be alright. But since most (see, I say most not all) are what do you expect? Everyone to respect you?

 

I've seen so many times (here and other places) that "you are poor" if you say anything negative about Apple, those people are a joke. And until that changes You are taken as a joke. Apple has a "badge" on it thanks to them and unfortunately people will judge everybody like that.

 

The poll itself, well, no matter how much he tried to "explain" it, it was also stupid thing to do.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

IMO there is no way to artifically vitalise a subforum in the way you describe. Once those members are gone, you can't magically replace them. Same thing happened a couple of years ago in the Gamers' Hangout and it probably won't ever return to those activity levels. Not with sites like Neogaf which has eclipsed it.

 

There is safety in numbers and many Mac users will prefer to visit dedicated sites or subreddits for their discussion, just as many found Neowin for Windows discussion in the first place.

 

PS. please don't turn this topic into a blame game by calling out members. I would love to see the Mac community active here, but trolling and flame baiting is exactly how the issue manifested in the first place.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

uMadRabbit: This topic is the result of Sunday morning boredom and me going through old threads. I'll admit as much. As for Apple users being full of themselves... I don't think the majority of the Mac users on here has been like that, has it? (Let's ignore LTD, who was too much of a fanboy even for the Mac Rumors forums. But I digress.) It should be possible to out oneself as Apple user without being labelled as elitist.

 

Andrew: I fear you're right. Many have moved on for good, and this thread will likely be seen as an overly optimistic attempt to recreate what once was. Yet the optimist in me thinks there can be a somewhat more active Apple community on Neowin again. We shall see.

 

For the record, I never intended this thread to become a blaming game. The only person I will call out is the former staff member who posted the moronic thread back then to begin with. 

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

uMadRabbit: This topic is the result of Sunday morning boredom and me going through old threads. I'll admit as much. As for Apple users being full of themselves... I don't think the majority of the Mac users on here has been like that, has it? (Let's ignore LTD, who was too much of a fanboy even for the Mac Rumors forums. But I digress.) It should be possible to out oneself as Apple user without being labelled as elitist.

 

Andrew: I fear you're right. Many have moved on for good, and this thread will likely be seen as an overly optimistic attempt to recreate what once was. Yet the optimist in me thinks there can be a somewhat more active Apple community on Neowin again. We shall see.

 

For the record, I never intended this thread to become a blaming game. The only person I will call out is the former staff member who posted the moronic thread back then to begin with. 

 

I do the same with the GH and have thought of ways to reignite the activity. It's not easy and progress is slow. It'll never be perfect but it makes it easier when you can take part in activities off-site to bond too. I have seen new members join though and some old timers make lots of contributions, and it gives me hope.

 

I will gladly help to do the same with the Mac subs, but the approach is very different from gaming obviously. If you come up with ideas and plans, give me shout and I'll help.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I'm not going to bother with the examples provided. We can't correct mistakes that have been made in the past, all we can do is learn from them and move on.

What would you suggest we do to increase the level of discussion? From my side I believe the lack of discussion comes not only from people having been alienated in the past, but also from Apple's lack of innovation; instead they choose to just revise what they already have. It doesn't really offer much in the way of conversation for us.

People will always being up the argument of "it's Neowin, not Neopple." When someone makes such an argument I just sigh and ignore it, as those people obviously don't see how Neowin has expanded over the years.

I'm looking forward to hearing suggestions.

[tsupersonic]

I think you listed out the two biggest faults for this:

1) The user community (not staff) - without users, you don't have discussions.

2) The staff - subtle hints of negativity towards Apple/Google (or companies that aren't Microsoft) 

 

There are communities out there dedicated to just Apple talk, just like Neowin is primarily dedicated to Microsoft. If you desperately need to seek Apple related help or just talk about Apple, those are the communities to go to! 

Regarding issue 2: I get Neowin is primarily a Microsoft news hub. I think they could do better in promoting a neutral bias towards Apple and Google stories. If they don't, it just encourages what you see in the comments today - pure fanboyism that just isn't productive at all. 

[+Matthew S. Subscriber²]

tsupersonic, that was the bases of Neowin, not what it currently is.  It is currently a technology hub not a Microsoft Hub.

 

As for the topic at hand, I'm willing to help out in revitalizing this sub forum.