by Insurance Maze » Sat Feb 07, 2009 02:47 pm
We value the questions and concerns of those who stop by this insurance community and we will always do our best to help them in a non-professional way.
Many times I have posted a reply to a thread without logging in (far too many times) and when I hit the ole' "Submit" button the post appears as a "Guest".
Think about this for a moment - I could sit at my computer all day long and constantly submit posts to different forums without logging in. This would appear we have many guests making comments - right? But the truth is, I was responsible for all the posts (one person).
I suggest that we totally remove the entire "Guest" capability to make a post to any thread in any forum.
If a question or concern is truly important to the one asking, why would anyone have a problem with "logging in" as a Member? There are many professional forums on the internet and most of them require that a person be "logged in" to make a post.
Only our members are obligated to adhere to the Terms of Service for this community. People just "stopping by" are not.
If we are to help solve problems and answer insurance related questions, the we just need to know who we're talking to.
That's My Story, And I'm Sticking To It! :lol:
Many times I have posted a reply to a thread without logging in (far too many times) and when I hit the ole' "Submit" button the post appears as a "Guest".
Think about this for a moment - I could sit at my computer all day long and constantly submit posts to different forums without logging in. This would appear we have many guests making comments - right? But the truth is, I was responsible for all the posts (one person).
I suggest that we totally remove the entire "Guest" capability to make a post to any thread in any forum.
If a question or concern is truly important to the one asking, why would anyone have a problem with "logging in" as a Member? There are many professional forums on the internet and most of them require that a person be "logged in" to make a post.
Only our members are obligated to adhere to the Terms of Service for this community. People just "stopping by" are not.
If we are to help solve problems and answer insurance related questions, the we just need to know who we're talking to.
That's My Story, And I'm Sticking To It! :lol:
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 06:59 pm Post Subject:
2,000 registered members have "left"? Where did you get this information?
Actually, I was very low in my "guesstimation". If you will click on the "Insurance Forums" tab at the top of this page, then scroll all the way down to "Who's Online", you will find:
Our users have posted a total of 37012 articles
We have 4561 registered users
There are probably less than 20 members who post regularly, that means that 4,541 don't. Why?
I'm not sure how that is relevant to this thread?
Since we are taling about "guests" registering as "members", I think it is quite relevant.
I think it is important for me to mention one reason that I didn't register here for so long: I live in the Pacific NW, and in following some "discussions" or "debates" here I found that it takes hours for posts to appear on my computers after they are made.
Dave, are you referring to these forums or some others?
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 07:12 pm Post Subject:
There are probably less than 20 members who post regularly, that means that 4,541 don't. Why?
Since we are taling about "guests" registering as "members", I think it is quite relevant.
I'm sure many have moved on. They joined for one reason or another and stopped participating. No shock there. I'm sure there are many registered members who read the forum but choose not to post.But this also goes toward _not_ requiring people to register. It would seem from your own stats that a bulk of the posts are made by "guests". So why require them to become registered just to post of they are not going to stay anyway (per the stats you mention)?
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 07:12 pm Post Subject:
Maze, I am referring to these forums. Funny thing though, after I read your post on my phone and it wasn't on my pc, I logged in and your post appeared. :shock:
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 09:16 pm Post Subject:
Dave, it's almost like when you aren't logged in, it's not real time.
I don't understand that, but there is more of a delay than when you are logged in.
Your posts should appear instantly when you are logged in.
It's kind of like seeing two different forums.
I really didn't start this thread to argue any statistics.
Lori asked me to start it.
But so far, no one has givem any reasonable explanation as to why someone shouldn't be logged in to post.
I realize the "guest" situation will probably not change, it has been this way since the beginning, I guess. If we do what we've always done, we'll get what we've always gotten.
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 09:36 pm Post Subject:
But so far, no one has givem any reasonable explanation as to why someone shouldn't be logged in to post.
I guess that depends on your definition of "reasonable" in this case. I thought my thought was "reasonable". But I guess the question could also be answered by asking, why should it be a requirement that someone become a member to post?Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:52 pm Post Subject:
I agree with Todd's reasoning why some (alot) of people do not register...They come here for one problem, and one problem only..they get their answer, and they leave. They'll come back if they have another one...They don't want to talk about insurance at all to be honest...they just have a problem they need help with...They do not want to be part of the community...they just want to be a guest and get their answer...and move along..back to their my space or somewhere they enjoy hanging out..
I guess I don't see the problem with it...Frankly if it weren't for all the guests posting we wouldn't have a lot to do would we? :lol: Most 'laymen' are not going to want to be regular contributors to this site. Now, if your question or issue was why don't regular posters register? That I DO get...or why don't insurance professionals that post here register, i get that as well...
Lori asked me to start it.
Yes I did because we aren't supposed to talk about things like this in non-pub threads, for one thing, also you have mentioned this topic many times so clearly it sticks in your craw some :wink: so I was hoping we could find out the problem you have with it and see if there is something that can be done, that betters the community...(btw sending pm to the lakemen to plz address this thread as well)....Maze when you say this...
I guess. If we do what we've always done, we'll get what we've always gotten.
What does that mean? Is that a negative or positive comment? I'm really not sure...and if negative, what (in your opinion) would requiring ALL posters to register do to improve things? Or I guess another way to ask is how does not requireing them to register impact this site in a negative way?Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 01:19 am Post Subject:
There are probably less than 20 members who post regularly, that means that 4,541 don't. Why?
Because all things financial is generally boring to most people and most people's eyes just glaze over on the subject of insurance.
If it's not sex, politics, celebrity scandal or religion people aren't interested or should I say the subject matter doesn't hold their attention.
Let's face it many of these threads are boring.
Also, except occasionally, it's the same question or issue asked over and over and over again with just a slightly different twist. Sometimes I read these and just don't bother to reply because I've already replied to the same or similar issue many times and I'm looking for a thread that interest me.
Also the 4,561 registered users is not reality. The vast majority are nothing but dummy user names made up when the board was first created.
Think about this for one moment if you wanted to start your own message board today how many "Registered Users" would you have?
When message boards are originally created the owners of the board have to created massive amounts of user names, dummy threads and replies to those threads to give the illusion that the board is very active when in fact it's not, it's brand new and just went online.
I found this board because someone from another financial board linked back to this one so I also started posting here since it was insurance specific.
The other financial board is slower than this one and I rarely post there anymore because I find this one more interesting and I'm more interested in dispelling insurance myths and misconceptions than I am posting about general finance such a debt, credit cards and mortgages.
It's a full time job to "work" a message board and make it successful if you don't advertize the thing on Oprah or Dr. Phil.
If it wasn't for Lori most threads would never be replied to on this board or it would take many days for a new poster to get a reply by which time they've moved on or had their question answered somewhere else.
My 5 cents worth!
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 05:05 am Post Subject:
I just noticed that the board contradicts itself... down where Maze was referring, it says 21 users online... but up on the top right where it says AmPm MARATHON it says 40 users online. Which ever one of those numbers is correct, it just reflects how many users are online at any given time. This doesn't mean that there aren't hundreds in a week, or thousands in a month or... you get the idea. :lol:
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 06:40 am Post Subject:
Hi All,
btw sending pm to the lakemen to plz address this thread as well
Thank you Lori!
The vast majority are nothing but dummy user names made up when the board was first created.
When I'd look back, I remember those days when we had started with our forums. A small team of 4 people with 4 forum-ids participating across other external forums and trying to prove us different over here - that was the beginning of our struggle!
It took other communities lesser time to grow with their dummy ids - the first thing that we avoided. It took us 7 months to gain our first visitor and another 9 months to earn our first 2 members. From a few less-content pages we grew through our different categories and sub-sections over here.
Also the 4,561 registered users is not reality.
I'm certainly not here to question anyone's experiences or beliefs in life. I'd just like to ask our members how they would define our potential when we had only 10 members!
My small experience with financial communities have shown me how the initial 10 members can invite another 20 and then gradually fade away. Do you guys think it helped us in anyways?
I do believe it did. It certainly added something to make our forums known to a larger mass of people. So when I count upon those 4 people (including Evan and Fatman) who'd constantly participated to get to a total user base of 1000, I do have a reason to believe that these 20 people today are certainly doing well with a figure of 4561 as per our records - believe it or not!
Forums are all about new people coming in, some of them staying back while others may come at times. So, all we'd need to do is to let our user-base grow naturally which in turn would increase the number of our core members automatically. Nothing could be simpler for us at this point of time.
It's a full time job to "work" a message board and make it successful if you don't advertize the thing on Oprah or Dr. Phil.
Thanks. Let's not follow others in a bid to grow faster, rather we should focus on consolidating our knowledge-base. It is the real asset of our community and something that makes us different and confident!
Since, we allowed them to carry on with us, they have joined us as 'members' once they got convinced of how valuable they are for the entire community!
Its certainly one point that we've considered since year '06 if you'd remember Fatty!
Now, if your question or issue was why don't regular posters register? That I DO get...or why don't insurance professionals that post here register, i get that as well...
Reasons could be many e.g.-
* Online hazards associated with identity thefts get them a negative feeling and it takes time for them to understand that the registration is more about security.
* Lack of knowledge about how these web-identities may help them create their own web-presence.
* Lack of time
* Violation of professional terms associated with one's employment.
But so far, no one has givem any reasonable explanation as to why someone shouldn't be logged in to post.
See, our objective to come here is to share with others and that's quite natural for any private platform. Filters could only be put to keep a problem at bay. For that you'd need to identify the problem first and then show it to us.
Regards,
Lakemen
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 09:28 am Post Subject:
Hi All :)
This is an extremely good point raised by Maze. Judging the sincerity of guest posts may be difficult. There may also be many posts that are written just for the sake of it, true (we don't know though). But the beauty of this forum lies in the active participation made by as many individuals as possible. From my experience, I can say, that although it authenticates the fact that I am a sincere participant in the forums and this sincerity gets reflected if I register in the forum. But, if I have a problem to discuss or if I come across a forum discussion where I think I can add information quickly, I wouldn't want to get into the trouble of registering first and then moving on with the discussion. I would rather be allowed the freedom to post my problem or my advice (whichever is appropriate), gain a little more trust in the forum and then register. We have had and still do have many members who had been guests and later have moved on to be active members in our forum. In my opinion guest posts should be allowed just to make the poster comfortable with the idea of coming back to this forum. Like a lot of us already believe and realize that our forum is 'one of its kind' and if all other forums require individuals to register first and then make a post, can we be a little different? Many of us who are used to writing in forums may not find the idea of giving out our e-mail addresses and names, but there are many who are reluctant in the beginning but later comply. I believe we should create that comfort zone within our participants that makes them come back to our forums on their own and not just because they are members. It's like if you grab a handful of sand, a lot of it will fall of, but a lot of it will still remain and that is all what is useful isn't it people? :)
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