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Why not?


khunsanuk

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khunsanuk said:

Hi,

 

Why is there so little participation beyond the message board?

 

With us spending so much time on running this site and trying to make it as good as possible (latest news is that we'll hopefully migrate to FusionBB over the Xmas break, and possibly upgrading the Photo Gallery and Review System) I would really like to know why the level of participation on this site seems to be so much lower than on other sites.

 

Look at some of the features on this site and how little they are being used, and keep in mind that we have ~2,000 unique people logging in every month!

(We are up to 3,000 visits per day and consistenly get a few hunderd new member sign ups a month; there were 593 in the last month.)

 

- Photo Gallery

In 9 months we have accumulated 1,200 photos, that's only about 130 / month. There were 5,600 unique people who logged in during the last 6 months alone, and more than a 5,500 of those have not even posted a single picture.

 

- Photo Contest

On average we have only about 10-15 people who participate by sending in photos, and more often than not they are the same people every month. Even worse is that usually less than 25 people bother to vote. That is hardly more then 1% of those who logged in and utterly pathetic if you ask me!

 

- GoGo Ranking

This has been up and running for almost 5 months, yet only 161 people have entered any data so far. While better than some of the other features, I still think participation could be much, much better.

 

And then there are the Review System, stories, articles, etc. etc.

 

So, why is participation here so low when for instance Stickman receives on average 3 reader submissions a day (and I do not begrudge him this at all as he, like Jigger and me, works hard to ensure his site is interesting to its readers)?

 

Don't you guys want to contribute because you are afraid we'll turn this into a paysite again and we will be making money of your contributions?

If so then I can kill that notion immediately as we tried the pay model and it just does not work (too many competitors providing similar info for free). However, we do *need* more content / contributions as the free model is not working either.

While our income from Google Ads has almost doubled since we went free,

there are months we are actually losing money; the board is most definitely running at a serious loss (think $200+ / month).

 

So, why is one of the largest, and arguable the best :), Thailand message boards struggling to get people to participate and submit a photo, vote for some bars, add a review, comment on a column, etc. ?

 

Guys, I am raking my brain, but cannot figure it out.

 

Sanuk!

 

PS Have a look at the Help / Donate page to find out how you can help this site, this community to thrive.

 

 

Just saw this! I know why I will never add a review or photo. Why aid a board that bans long time members whom have added the content you so desperatly seek! Your the main Khun sanuk, so shoot yourself in the foot, it matters little to me if you ban content! Your only harming yourself and your bottom line by the sound of it! The answer to "WHY NOT" is, Why should I give you content, reviews, photos, stories ect. when you can ban me at will and keep all I add! I'd rather just talk on the forum!

 

jep dii

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Hi,

 

First of all, thanks for the feedback, appreciated!

 

"Any reason you cannot have a google search box on your site that opens into a new window which leaves your site open on user's computer?"

 

No, no reason, and we actually have one on the main page of the site. Not really being used that much though.

 

"Can you have a section on the main page, or a link to a page on your site, that has world headlines?"

 

Yes, this is planned for the new version.

 

"BTW, the "main" page on your site for me (and everyone?) is the forum index"

 

No, the main page is www.nanaplaza.com, not board.nanaplaza.com/ubbthreads.php

 

"BTW, I notice that you have chosen to not enforce the no politics rule, whether its thai or world politics being discussed."

 

Correct. We are allowing this, while keeping the rule in place to allow us to curtail any discussion that gets out of line or is too sensitive. I do still think that world politics do not really belong on here, but I can also understand that a community wants to discuss these topics amongst friends / other community members.

 

"Any software to allow me to set up a link to my email thru your site without leaving?"

 

No idea.

 

"And on that subject, what about letting users customize your site to meet their needs. make it their own web portal so to speak."

 

We are looking into this for the new version, but it will require a decent amount of programming work on my part, so may take some time.

 

"A web board limited to thailand can only generate so much participation. Add new categories."

 

Sorry, here is where I disagree. This site is about Thailand, and while I do not mind the occassional spin off discussion, I do not want to turn this into a general discussion site. I think it would lose its appeal.

 

"If i want to know my horoscope (i don't but millions do) then i'm leaving your site. Why not a link?"

 

Uh... I think you are pushing things a bit now, aren't you? :)

 

"How about diving?"

 

Again, this is not a diving site, plenty of those around; some are even linked from our Links section.

 

"There is no reason why thailand has to be the ONLY focus here."

 

As I said, I disagree. I am not interested in running a general purpose portal, maybe a Thailand portal, but certainly not a general purpose one.

 

Sanuk!

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khunsanuk said:

Hi,

 

Almost 13,000 members and less than 50 of those have been banned in 4.5 years (and quite a number of those are duplicate accounts for the same people).

 

Sounds to me that those few who get banned were not your average poster (to be polite).

 

Sanuk!

 

Maybe 13000 people signed up at some time but how many of those never posted a thing, obviously you don't get banned for not posting. I would guess there are only about 300 regular posters and by that I mean ones who post at least once a week. That would mean 50 is a decent percentage, less the duplicates. Also have to take into account the many duplicate members. Maybe it might be an idea to delete memerships which are never used, or have not been for a long time?

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Hi,

 

Here is the full list of banned names (I am sure several of those will be *very* familiar to you):

AmoresPerros, NopebutforU, randomshots, sureitsgood

banana84

Bangkok_boy

Bankok_kid

bigfun

BluWater0537

bubble_head

bukseeda

Carlsburg_Kid

chairman_mau

Chicken_farmer

Chongnoi

chutima, frenchrain, hendrix67, jgerjgood, pempeyom, thai3

complainer101

CrazyJohn

DaKine, HonoluluJimmy, incredible, KungBoom, Somboon, SoiSlut

fan_mai_mee, Mai_Mee_Fan

Farting_Frank

flyonzewall, sourkraut

frosty_the_man

handsimman

jasmine44

jingjoh

kc2000

kenkannif

kevinbkk

KhunBoom

Kobe ringpiece

Larry_croft

legoland

Light_is_on

LondonLuke

LONG_TIME

Mark

MightyMouse

mrkungfu

namkcits

nitnoy

pattaya_lover

philinuk

SkiBum

SlutSlapper

smeg

Snakehead

SSman1940

TabMule

testiclehead

The_Born_Loser, yurune

 

There are 662 people with at least 50 posts to their name, how many of the above accounts do you think have reached that number? My guess (too lazy to check) is about 10-12, or 1.5-1.8%.

 

Any how many of those accounts were created with the express purpose of causing trouble? My guess? At least half.

 

Sanuk!

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Hi,

 

"How many are still posting under different persona's ? Quite a few methinks"

 

Of the long-time posters, I would say probably all or at least most.

Just check out the long lists of aliases for some of the accounts.

 

Plus I'd say that at least 10 of these accounts were created as throwaway flame accounts.

 

Sanuk!

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Interesting. 19 from just three guys. 7 of those from Complainer101. Take away the 10 throw-away flamer accounts and those three perisitent cusses and there have been what, 24 people banned over five years who can take a hint? So 5 a year average, without the lonely ones with so much time on their hands? Not really that much I'd say, and perfectly within reason I think and not excessive at all, considering the nature of the beast, as some of the 'aggrieved' may think and feel. ::

 

Keep up the good work KS.

 

Cent

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That cannot be a full list as none were me, you don't even list thai3, hendrix 67, forget the others. Looking at the list of users it seems like a lot of dead ones that could be tidied up. Also several who were banned but let back on in the same name are not listed ie BB, JJ, Silekhunt etc.

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