Who do YOU think reads this forum the most?

[Dan]

I want anybody, to post a new thread, if they think of one. And I'd want anybody who wishes to reply, to do so.

I'm not getting into the DIY v Experienced v Newbie war I'm afraid. That's not something I can fix on my own.

And the thread wasn't about any of that.

 

[Robotstar5]

I'll often take a look down at the bottom of the front page to see who is online (not because I have a sad and empty life before you lot start hehe) I've often noticed that the viewing guests outnumber the registered members. That said though the regulars put in a hell of a lot of man hours

I've found it's the same on most forums I use, some one will look at a forum out of interest or for information but not register. I did it myself recently when looking for info on moving data on a phone, found what I wanted but could not see the point in registering when I would probably never use the forum again?.

 

[Adam W]

The question wasn't about DIYers. Plus, they could fall under a couple of those categories above.

And the largest amount of traffic we serve is to the unregistered reader, so they read the forum the most collectively. So the 4th option down the list is the correct answer there.

It's those that we need to make the forum look attractive for generally, because there will be a whole load of electricians that are unregistered who read the forum. We hope they then register and contribute content, which then gets read by more unregistered readers, and a percentage of those register, and it keeps going on.

You kill a forum when posts aren't created for whatever reason.

So my thread asking people to post more new threads was genuine and I have no ulterior motif. It would just be cool if people were not afraid to post new threads which is what seems to be the case a lot of times. Too many times.

Presumably each unregistered user reads less than any other group, and therefore only come out on top when collectively amassed.
The option stated:
"The unregistered reader, who will often never register to anything let alone a forum". Maybe we can encourage them to register and contribute, but maybe they will continue to lurk in the background quietly gleaning the information they want from the rest of us.

I know I only get one vote just the same as someone who has registered to view more threads per day and posted in the new members section once because they were told to or do one, but personally I would prefer fewer, quality threads, to more numerous, lower quality threads such as this 'ask a question answer a question' model which seems to be encouraged.
Having read some of the new member threads after the lurkers have been told to make themselves known, many of them appear irked at having been told to post, because they haven't felt the need to ask a question; the kind of questions we could expect tend to be either basic ones which members don't seem to like answering and might be better posted on somewhere like howtomendit.com or a DIY forum, or questions which should really be answered by a scheme technical helpline or the IET forum.
As I've said before, I don't think anybody can or should expect an official, definitive answer to a technical issue on this forum, but may be able to get a debate consisting of other electricians' opinions and interpretations of the regs, which is where I feel this forum fills a gap in the market.

 

[Dan]

The fact is, when a forum has more threads, it can be found more easily. So the percentage of people posting good threads and dodgy or repeat threads will always be about the same. So it's well worth getting more threads posted, which means more people find the website, and we hope that we attract the percentage mainly of those who post cool threads we want to see.

If you look at this: Electricians Forum | Electrical Advice Forum | An electrical forum for electricians in the UK | Electricians Forum - Top 20 Stats

It shows you who posts the most. And surprisingly, the top thread starters excluding admins and moderators haven't posted that many threads.

This forum seems to be about the replies to threads, and we all know we have some massive threads here.

We need more threads from the people who post cool replies, I think.

Our stats as a whole show the forum gets used a shed load by people unregistered. We've actually just crashed a 6 month old server (so stil high spec just about) which knocked off all our forums, just because this sparky forum had waaaaaay too much traffic for the database to handle. (Which I'm monitoring now and getting a temporary fix while I look into permanent solutions).

 

[Silly Sausage]

We've actually just crashed a 6 month old server (so stil high spec just about) which knocked off all our forums, just because this sparky forum had waaaaaay too much traffic for the database to handle. (Which I'm monitoring now and getting a temporary fix while I look into permanent solutions).

Off topic, I know. Sorry!
Is that what happened this afternoon when myself and a few others found we'd been Banned for Life?!

Also noticed the forum has been responding really slowly all day.

 

[Dan]

Possibly I did get an email and asked for more info. The forum shouldn't do that when it's lagging so I'm not sure what that is.

All the forums as a whole are getting really busy now, and as the nights get darker earlier, the hits come in thick and fast sooner in the evening. So we just get busy over winter and cold nights, it's come earlier this year it seems forum-wise.

So I'm on it. There might be a couple more days of issues but we'll have it sorted by the end of the week I promise.

 

[alarm man]

The fact is, when a forum has more threads, it can be found more easily. So the percentage of people posting good threads and dodgy or repeat threads will always be about the same. So it's well worth getting more threads posted, which means more people find the website, and we hope that we attract the percentage mainly of those who post cool threads we want to see.

If you look at this: Electricians Forum | Electrical Advice Forum | An electrical forum for electricians in the UK | Electricians Forum - Top 20 Stats

It shows you who posts the most. And surprisingly, the top thread starters excluding admins and moderators haven't posted that many threads.

This forum seems to be about the replies to threads, and we all know we have some massive threads here.

We need more threads from the people who post cool replies, I think.

Our stats as a whole show the forum gets used a shed load by people unregistered. We've actually just crashed a 6 month old server (so stil high spec just about) which knocked off all our forums, just because this sparky forum had waaaaaay too much traffic for the database to handle. (Which I'm monitoring now and getting a temporary fix while I look into permanent solutions).

to be honest dan while i dont help newbies/diyrs/Electrical Trainee much i see a spark forum as just that,sparks talking shop whatever field there in,personally id like to see sections like commercial/industrial lumped in with the arms type area that way members can post more of what sites there on pics etc without the world just passing by to read it(theres some bitter gaffers around) by all means have more diy newbie sections which would get more new threads which would allow members to post if they wish,theres too many sections where anyone can just view when its shop talk

 

[Dan]

Totally understandable mate.

The problem is with 'access-only' areas. It all needs human interaction.

I currently have 73 unread PM's. Most will be requests to join the arms. I can't keep up. Jase will have about the same too no doubt.

We need more automated things going on but it's just not possible with that sort of stuff.

So we are giving this a lot of thought in the mods forum to see how we can get around this.

 

[alarm man]

Totally understandable mate.

The problem is with 'access-only' areas. It all needs human interaction.

I currently have 73 unread PM's. Most will be requests to join the arms. I can't keep up. Jase will have about the same too no doubt.

We need more automated things going on but it's just not possible with that sort of stuff.

So we are giving this a lot of thought in the mods forum to see how we can get around this.

most forums ive been on that are of a technical nature are not as open as this,you have many sections that are for public,but most sections where its shop talk are locked if your not trade so to speak,granted people will try any way to get trade status and it will be a chew for the mods to sort the real ones from the chancers,thats why i wouldnt what to be a mod..:confused5:

 

[Dan]

haha

Those with arms access are in one usergroup. So given the fact those guys are businesses who have provided their business details to us, I'd imagine it'd be easy to create a dozen sub-forums for the arms with whatever topics you want to have to talk shop in there between yourselves.

Doesn't help the general forum growing thing, but I do see the reasoning and advantages to that.

So that's easily done. I'll get the mods and Jase to see this idea though with me though.

Nowt like screwing a forum up with knee-jerk reactions.

 

[Adam W]

I'm not sure I fully understand the problem. It seems whenever I search for something even remotely related to the trade, this forum comes up most of all. I searched the other day for "bloody plumbers" and this forum threw up the most results.
I can start as many threads as you like on whether or not you can export an earth to a shed, but I don't see how it's going to make the forum any more interesting. Even if it did, it sounds as if the forum is at full capacity as it is; I don't think I've ever experienced anything which is improved by being over capacity.

 

[alarm man]

haha

Those with arms access are in one usergroup. So given the fact those guys are businesses who have provided their business details to us, I'd imagine it'd be easy to create a dozen sub-forums for the arms with whatever topics you want to have to talk shop in there between yourselves.

Doesn't help the general forum growing thing, but I do see the reasoning and advantages to that.

So that's easily done. I'll get the mods and Jase to see this idea though with me though.

Nowt like screwing a forum up with knee-jerk reactions.

i cant see how the forum can grow,yes it can attract more sparks to talk shop,which is what a forum is about for me,i know theres more to it that that in terms of the running hosting etc,but is it going to turn into a question and answer forum for diy'ers and fast track wannabe sparks which on turn leads to negative replies,of which i post a few i admit..

 

[Guitarist]

I have always thought this forum epitomised the saying "quality over quantity". I can read pages of drivel on many other forums, whereas almost anything you want to know can be answered on this forum.
Of course there is some sarcasm, and a little intolerance for stupidity, but that's only because most of us don't suffer fools well.

 

[Swicade]

Sarcasm, extracting the urine and intolerance for stupidity is what being a sparks (or infact most of the trades) is all about in the big wide world...we've all been there and both suffered it and dealt it out on site.......it's called prepareing the newbie to working on site :ihih:.

For the record i read the thread title and i was gonna answer 'Telectrix' until i saw the poll and read further..

 

[Dan]

I'm not sure I fully understand the problem. It seems whenever I search for something even remotely related to the trade, this forum comes up most of all. I searched the other day for "bloody plumbers" and this forum threw up the most results.
I can start as many threads as you like on whether or not you can export an earth to a shed, but I don't see how it's going to make the forum any more interesting. Even if it did, it sounds as if the forum is at full capacity as it is; I don't think I've ever experienced anything which is improved by being over capacity.

I can genuinely honestly say that a forum that keeps growing and involving more members, becomes a nice community, and can keep growing still and it not upset the atmosphere. I assure you.

This forum does continue to grow, it's never stopped growing. All the stats point out its growth. It's the forum model I base all my forums on that have been successful - due to them all growing fairly quickly and constantly.

It's a good forum this one mate it'll keep growing I promise you. We just need to sort out the few niggles people have with each other and / or the forum setup - and we'll have a few more personalised areas, and I think we should be good for a while again until more improvements need to be made in the future.

 

[Dan]

i cant see how the forum can grow,yes it can attract more sparks to talk shop,which is what a forum is about for me,i know theres more to it that that in terms of the running hosting etc,but is it going to turn into a question and answer forum for diy'ers and fast track wannabe sparks which on turn leads to negative replies,of which i post a few i admit..

It grows trust me.

And again, I can't fix the problem in the industry about this newbies v time-served v whatever war that seems to be in the industry all on my own. Could do with some constructive suggestions from you to help sort that sort of stuff out.

 

[Dan]

I have always thought this forum epitomised the saying "quality over quantity". I can read pages of drivel on many other forums, whereas almost anything you want to know can be answered on this forum.
Of course there is some sarcasm, and a little intolerance for stupidity, but that's only because most of us don't suffer fools well.

The quality isn't perfect now to be fair mate. You don't have to look far to find a bit of moaning. My fault mostly as I could have done with sorting out some area's for newbies earlier than now and that sort of stuff.

But in general, if we ALL posted more, while the dodgy thread starters might post a percentage, you'd find the good thread starters also post a percentage. And the one with the most DECENT replies will always be the guy that posts the cool and interesting threads.

So the forum naturally grows faster with better content being posted the most.

Which in turn attracts more readers, then registered members, then threads, then so on.

Everything we've got now, would be 10 times better if we had 10 more times of the stuff in the first place. If that makes sense. haha (it's late).

 

[alarm man]

It grows trust me.

And again, I can't fix the problem in the industry about this newbies v time-served v whatever war that seems to be in the industry all on my own. Could do with some constructive suggestions from you to help sort that sort of stuff out.

ban Electrical Trainee's and diy..i dont do constructive as you know..

 

[Dan]

Fair enough, I hear you. That can't be done though :lol:

The DIY shouldn't be here full stop. But the "Electrical Trainee" are perhaps budding electricians who just need that huge leap to being experienced. We just need to fence you guys apart a bit perhaps so neither interrupt the others experience on the forum?

 

[UNG]

Dan this and other recent threads is actually throwing up a BIG negative towards this forum for me

There are overrated social media sites for posting dross and drivel or are you considering floating Electriciansforums following Suckerbergs success