Who do YOU think reads this forum the most?

[Dan]

I posted this thread the other night: http://www.electriciansforums.net/e...tes-suggestions/63090-actual-new-threads.html

And it's given me a few things to think about for sure. And a couple we've already been thinking about, but need to action QUICKLY!

However, off the back of that, I felt that a lot of you guys don't understand who reads this forum the most.

So I thought I'd post a poll about it.

 

[mayfair]

General public

 

[Dan]

Vote now mate, you're too quick I hadn't made the poll lol

I'd vote you, if you were an option lol

 

[Strima]

For me it would be the unregistered DIY user, just browsing the web after trying to fit a new gucci electrical item and cocked it up...

 

[Adam W]

A lot of the time the unregistered lurkers seem to outnumber the registered members, but unregistered members can only view a certain number of threads per day, whereas a registered member can and probably does spend a few hours on here.

 

[Dan]

A lot of the time the unregistered lurkers seem to outnumber the registered members, but unregistered members can only view a certain number of threads per day, whereas a registered member can and probably does spend a few hours on here.

Unregistered readers can often read an unlimited number of publicly-viewable threads. Only every now and again do I need to lock the forum down a bit to stop solicitors and marketing firms and whatnot using the forum to collect info. Very few times do I do that though as it does interrupt the natural flow of readers becoming registered members.

 

[Guitarist]

For me it would be the unregistered DIY user, just browsing the web after trying to fit a new gucci electrical item and cocked it up...

I agree with Strima. Mainly DIY'er

 

[Adam W]

I'm guessing there's a 'point' to this, like it's going to be revealed the mods and admins (I don't really understand the difference) read the forum the most and we should all be grateful for that, or the collective general public read the forum the most so we should all watch what we say.

 

[Dan]

I agree with Strima. Mainly DIY'er

DIYer isn't an option in its own right. Any choice out of the options that are there?

 

[Jimmy Boy]

DIYer isn't an option in its own right. Any choice out of the options that are there?

No why have you left out the irritating DIYers ?

Very convenient !

I took a weeks ban ( No complaint I deserved it ) for one of them Divvies and yet the forum gods do nothing to filter them, just to remind everyone.............

This forum front page says for 'Electricains'

But you do nothing.............I rest my case

J

 

[electric will]

What happened did you give him some ###t and he report ya?

 

[johnboy6083]

I'm guessing that not much can be done regarding DIYers as we would have to have a vetting procedure in place to prove your an electrician. It wouldn't work. Tel, Tony, Malcolm, E54 and others are struggling to remember what day of the week it is, never mind where they left their hand carved indentures!

 

[Guitarist]

I'm guessing that not much can be done regarding DIYers as we would have to have a vetting procedure in place to prove your an electrician. It wouldn't work. Tel, Tony, Malcolm, E54 and others are struggling to remember what day of the week it is, never mind where they left their hand carved indentures!

You leave their dentures out of this....

 

[Guitarist]

No why have you left out the irritating DIYers ?

Very convenient !

I took a weeks ban ( No complaint I deserved it ) for one of them Divvies and yet the forum gods do nothing to filter them, just to remind everyone.............

This forum front page says for 'Electricains'

But you do nothing.............I rest my case

J

Welcome back Jimmy. Now, play nice!

 

[alarm man]

well id say its the established members if your going hours wise,you might have a good few hundred a day who will take a peak,buts its the members who put the hours in so therefore read it the most.

 

[Jimmy Boy]

Welcome back Jimmy. Now, play nice!

Thanks G !
I have no complaints..bad day.bad night..some divvy got my goat..It's rare..I lost it with him and I apologise if I brought the forum in to disrepute...BUT I will never answer a DIyers question again..They can go screw themselves from now on
J

 

[Guitarist]

well id say its the established members if your going hours wise,you might have a good few hundred a day who will take a peak,buts its the members who put the hours in so therefore read it the most.

That's just not true.... I never spend more than 4 hours each evening on the forum!

 

[Dan]

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.

 

[trev]

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

 

[Guitarist]

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.

I'm assuming that you want experienced sparks to be answering the questions raised by these new threads Dan, and if so, unfortunately we do get a bit fed up with some of the inane arguments we find ourselves getting into with certain people. Of course we don't want to put people off asking questions, but we do like a little bit of respect for all the free time we give trying to help others.
There are plenty of forums out there with only DIY "experts" and frankly some of the things I've read make me very worried. It's all about balance really, and I think this forum strikes a fairly good one.

 

[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.