Membership retention

[derekleffew]

Here's an idea. Just an idea. Please don't execute until dvsDave gives his approval/opinions.

Everyone, click "Members List". Then click "Posts" and then go to the last few pages to find members with >10 posts. Pick a member at random, probably best if it's one who has joined relatively recently. Read their profile, and send them a message, best if they allow email, saying "Hi, I'm GeorgeSpelvin from Control Booth and I noticed you joined on [date] and posted X times about YYY. Haven't seen you posting on CB recently, just wanted to see if you're still interested in tech theatre..." The more customized the message, the more likely that inactive, under-posting member will be likely to respond. Use some of our many Welcome phrases, such as "Ask what you want, answer what you can," "Control Booth is what the members make of it" "We're a friendly and goofy community, always willing to help," etc. DON'T scare them off by mentioning pirates, voltage, eating animals, or other non-theatre issues.

Dave, too pushy? Not worth the effort? Anyone, ideas?

On another note, one of my co-workers whom I tried to get to join, said "I went to CB and looked around, and all I saw was people arguing." Not sure how to take that, and not sure what specific threads he was reading. I think the regulars are pretty good about waiting until the OP's question is answered before getting silly or hi-jacking, but maybe we should attempt to curtail that just a little? Again, opinions from everyone?

Also, I recently discovered the "inactive" list consists of members who haven't posted in 45 days. Perhaps a way to segregate those users, and/or a threatening message "if you don't post within 30 more days you will be dropped and will have to re-register." I don't want to encourage useless posts, but do want to make us lean and mean. Maybe it's the anal-retentive control-freak in me...

Just a bunch of random thoughts, looking forward to hearing Dave's, and other's, opinions.

[Chris15]

Derek, I'm going to comment on both your proposals here.

I think that maybe a welcome pack as you put it might be a good thing, perhaps a one or two page pdf sort of document that gets auto mailed upon registration and covers things like a corporate welcome, a suggestion to post into new members and get the normal spiel in writing so it's not pot luck as to whether two people simultaneously post it.

Honestly I think that the "thanks" feature is somewhat misused and maybe we might look at refining that. In all honesty getting thanked for saying Hi somewhat skews the numbers...

[Footer]

We are not a church.... this seams a bit to churchy to me... just my 2 c's....

[jwl868]

In short, I suggest leaving people to post as often (or infrequently) as chose.

I may be repeating myself about this subject, but a message board community such as this is not that different compared to any other organization. That is, for a given organization, the vast majority of the work and participation is done by a very small fraction of the members. This is based on my own observations over the years with school organizations, church organizations, and clubs.

Second, people come and go from these message boards, for any of a number of personal reasons. There are time commitments, boredom, wanting to move on to something different, interests that change. I recall a few regular posters here that haven’t posted in a very long time.

Another major consideration is that one of the major functions of the internet is still a resource of information. And often we need only a small piece of information. Message boards like this are an excellent source of answers to questions. Most of the time, people get their question answered and they move on. The only way to get a question posted is to register, so many people register, ask their question, get answers, often acknowledge the answers, and then they return to their business.

One final aspect is changes within a group over time. The changes are often subtle, but one of the biggest changes occurs as the original membership turns over through attrition and new members join from independent sources. The organization that started out as a “big, happy family” must now deal with new faces, new ideas, different opinions, opposing opinions, etc. Leadership makes all the difference, but now I’m digressing.

Another important rule (though often not recognized) in participation in organizations is: Silence is consent. If everything has been said about a topic, particularly a one-sided issue, there really isn’t any reason to chime is with nothing more than a “Me, too”. This, coupled with the domination by a small group of members, gives the appearance that people don’t care, but that is simply not the case.

People post as frequently (or infrequently) as they chose. I think any followup prompting by someone acting on behalf of CB is a bad idea because it would be seen as spam, berating, or something akin to telemarketing.

Regarding hi-jacking and meandering that occurs in some threads: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy; most of the silly meandering is tolerable. [But then, I’m used to reading it here and I “get” just about all the jokes. But to some occasional visitors, there may be an unpalatable cliquishness or “in-group” tone. Or not - see below.]

Hi-jacking (is there an official definition for this?) I think is usually the result of an open-ended question or broad question where over the course of discussing topic “A”, topic “B” comes up because it relates to topic “A”. By then, Topic “A” has usually been exhausted, but the discussion of “B” goes on. Short of locking the thread, there’s not much to be done.

Derek: Regarding your co-workers experience of the board: Maybe it just didn’t suit their needs. There’s an old adage: “I don't know what the key to success is, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.”

Joe

[soundlight]

Some people just come to ask one question, and some people just don't care enough to post often. I agree that it's a bit "churchy" for ControlBooth.

[avkid]

The short answer to this is no.
Respect the privacy of others, period.
A reasonable time period for account dumping might help keep the server load down.(like 2 years without logging in)

[Footer]

Originally Posted by avkid

The short answer to this is no.
Respect the privacy of others, period.
A reasonable time period for account dumping might help keep the server load down.(like 2 years without logging in)

Agreed. If they want to stay they will, if they don't want to stay, they won't.

[Hughesie]

they might have gone to the what went wrong section im guessing

but yes i think dvsdave will have a rethink about members after v3 comes out

[derekleffew]

Interesting comments. For the record, I've only been to church about three times in my life when it wasn't a wedding. I just received this:

Hello, derekleffew!

It's been some time since your last visit to The Apple Blog Community.

We've got hundreds of new members and thousands of new, active discussions. We'd love to have you back involved in the community!

If you don't remember your password, you can request it here: http://theappleblog.com/community/login.php?do=lostpw

We hope to see you soon!

The Apple Blog
http://theappleblog.com/community/

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[Hughesie]

i like it

im with you i think it's a good idea