Originally Posted by
Kyle
This has been a pertinent issue for a long time and one I have considered on numerous occasions over the last 2-5 years where activity has dropped. Having been one of the few consistent top posters in recent years I feel I have some useful first hand insight that may throw light on what seems to be becoming the biggest problem for forum activity. I'll start by saying that increasing posts is not the solution per se; increasing new threads is. Last summer I compiled a list of Hxhd staff and their post counts and posts per day and set about finding out both what personally motivated individuals to post in high numbers and what was stopping others from not posting at all. My first test subject was welshcake, whom I tasked with creating one thread on a topic she was interested in that would promote discussion - because she studies film I suggested something to do with that. Had I not had other commitments and stuck around in the position I would have gone on to develop a similar target for each member that would both help them become accustomed with the forum and its users as well as, most importantly, facilitating wide ranges of discussions that would ultimately inspire others. What I'm saying here is that it is not post quantity that matters and those who do so on occasion and only instrumentally as a means to an end (for postcount/tokens) are often viewed negatively as "spammers" (Lewis, Scott) and because only a few users are interested in those ends, they soak up opportunities that might have otherwised established other others as community members seen to be contributing. The number one excuse for not posting is that there aren't any interesting threads; the excuses given when people are asked to create threads are that they've either all been done (so post it again, you might get a different discussion entirely!!!) or that people "don't know what to talk about. Encouragement to express and taylor threads to one's idiosyncrasies and personal views or stories is what is needed, not mindless quotas that have in the past only served to keep old threads alive.
People are followers, not leaders or visionaries. They'll lurk until threads that entice them appear, post a spiel in them, then fade into the darkness once again until a similar opportunity arises. The key to activity is to pull individuals from the darkness for longer periods or permanently and encourage them to create some content of their own. Post count quotas will not do this and posting will become another chore in the ever expanding rigmarole of administrative duties that make people not want to be staff. Mike has already rightly stated that a softer approach is needed if any results are to be had -- staff are not machines to programme, they have individuals with personalities and a plethora of contrasting standpoints on all kinds of topics. Exploit that and you'll get more threads and in turn more posts/higher levels of activity. Just don't make it compulsory so that it turns into a chore.
The moderator subject is an interesting one for me and I feel strongly that each moderator should be posting at least one thread (per fortnight) in each of his designated subforums that promotes discussion and encourages members to post outside of their comfort zones.
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