Where is everyone?

[TaoR]

"logging in" to a forum and "posting" to a forum are two very different things. So basically over the last 6 months this forum has 1,046 members of which 421 have logged in in the last six months (that means they have logged into read posts) and you probably have 10 to 15 who post regularly.

In regards to the internet those aren't bad stats. The reality is rather than focusing on people who "post" you might want to focus on increasing the number of total members. Increase that number and you will see the number of logins increase and then the eventually the number of people who post increase.

Its kind of like advertising on the internet. You place an ad on a site, like Facebook, where it gets seen by like 750,000 people, of which 150,000 click on it (and that is considered awesome) then you get three people to actually buy something (and that is considered REALLY awesome).

The truth of the matter is you might have to advertise the site, and the best place to place ads to start might be on gay porn sites; I am sure there would be a few friendly new members visiting these sites who might be interested in traveling to Thailand.

I am not sure about Google search, not sure how many people google "gay thailand" in a day and how much it would cost to move up the food chain as paid content.

The internet is a wonderful thing in so many ways but you got to realize that there are over a billion websites and its easy to get lost when you are one in a billion. Then when you complicate the search by realizing that most people are searching the web on cellphones nowadays, which are not really conducive to search you got to be up on the first four or five of listings to even be potentially a link that could get a click.

Then you compound the problem by the fact that you are in reality a forum about traveling to Thailand/Asia and then you realize the following:

One of the problems you have as a forum is that it is dead within the forum here in the United States during the day as most members who post or might post live in Asia, which is 12 hours ahead of the United States, time wise. So, when you all wake up and log on we are going to bed and vice versa.

Second problem, you are all freelancers; everyone can pretty much say and do what they want. There is not a SawatDeeForum "Welcoming Committee" and thus, the forum owners have no way of controlling the perception of the product to new members and no way to get long time members to post something every now and then.

[Moses]

We been moved to new forum almost year ago. Before moving SGT had 802 registered users (old statistic is here http://sawatdeenetwork.com/forum/ )

After "cleanup" members who wasn't active over 5 years we made transfer to new forum about 580 members, now forum has 1000+ members. Year ago we had 200+ "active members", now - 400+

[Manforallseasons]

Those numbers however true are misleading of the "400 active users" the real number is more likely in the realm of 20.

[Surfcrest]

So, now I get it.

If you are banned, all you need to do is re-register with a new name and you're back on again!

And you can just keep changing your handle , time and time again!

Awesome!

Participating in this thread, are several members who have been banned or quit and came back as something else. While I would love to take personal credit for all of that, I cannot. The majority of the members were banned at one time by someone else and were invited back when I took over the site. Two of the members, AsDaRa and Khor Tose were banned by me. When we updated the software, AsDaRa was automatically reactivated by the system and so I decided to give him another chance, provided he does not break the rule he broke before. Same with my dear friend Khor Tose, who published something he shouldn't have on the Protests thread. I am happy to have both members back, Khor Tose goes back to the beginning with us.

Back when we had the previous software, I had several added on security features that were designed to protect the site from Neal and Ron.It allowed me to protect the site from single hackers trying to have fun with us or register as a member and be up to no good. Now a days, the threat is much bigger and comes from an army of hackers and so our defenses, thanks to Moses are more automated. Even a lot of the moderation that I used to do manually is done by automation and I'm only really needed for site promotion and reviewing new members for spam etc...

I'm here everyday working on stuff, but I don't read every thread. Things get flagged to my attention to take a look at.

I have a lot of things going on in my private and business life. If I were on vacation in Thailand, I might be here everyday posting and participating in all the discussions, but I simply don't have the time these days. I turn 55 this year and am thinking about retiring and so this may all change. Until then though, I'll continue to pay the bills and keep things running with my dear friend Moses.

This is your Board, the members. It's what you want it to be. I'm simply donating time and money.

Surfcrest

[TaoR]

So now with that data, thanks to Moses, this forum has doubled in size in a year and doubled the number of logins in six months.

THAT paints a totally opposite picture of what everyone else is claiming.

Hmmm, makes me wonder....maybe the gay bar scene in Thailand is booming and better than it was in the past.....

[fountainhall]

"logging in" to a forum and "posting" to a forum are two very different things. So basically over the last 6 months this forum has 1,046 members of which 421 have logged in in the last six months (that means they have logged into read posts) and you probably have 10 to 15 who post regularly..

Is that in fact correct? Surely you don't need to log in just to read posts? I believe anyone can read posts. The only things non-members can not see are attachments.

One of the problems you have as a forum is that it is dead within the forum here in the United States during the day as most members who post or might post live in Asia, which is 12 hours ahead of the United States, time wise. So, when you all wake up and log on we are going to bed and vice versa.

I can see this would be of interest in a thread where that is moving very fast. But I have no problem responding to posts that are 12 or more hours old. I just can't see what the problem is.

everyone can pretty much say and do what they want. There is not a SawatDeeForum "Welcoming Committee" and thus, the forum owners have no way of controlling the perception of the product to new members and no way to get long time members to post something every now and then.

As to the first part, again isn't that just the nature of the internet and every chat forum? The civility of face-to-face conversation simply disappears and it becomes open-season. It's easy to get worked up and go over the top. Reply to a post after a night out in a bar and you are likely to use considerably stronger language than in the cold night of morning. I don't see that is ever going to change.

But I wholly agree with the second point which I see as being part of brand imaging. Brand image, enhancement and value is a vital part of most businesses. Yet when it comes to chat forums, it's hard to see that it actually exists beyond a few infinitesimal ways. Having a product that is in some way "unique" so that it stands out from the others is part of this. And I hope SGT can develop a few new ideas that encourage more posters - and especially more younger posters. That may mean that regular posters have to give them greater leeway than at present. And perhaps TaoR is right: a section of the site for new posters where the usual put-downs, one-upmanship of regular posters is withheld for a certain time. I remember it took me months before I started to post on gaythailand and I was actually quite concerned how my posts would be received.

That said, stopping trolls and hydras like sglad will always be difficult. Sglad's first posts were perfectly reasonable - unless, as some did, you found it inconceivable that a 20-something Singapore student in Chiang Mai would even bother posting on a Board where the average age is likely to be in the 60s! The red flags should have gone up when he started attacking other posters with clearly fake arguments. Yet they didn't! So moderation would have to be more active. Would the owners/current membership accept a greater degree of moderation in such a section of the site?

PS: Surfcrest's post above was posted as I was composing this. I am certain we are all more than grateful to him and Moses for keeping the site going and developing it. As he says, he is very busy and cannot read every post . I am sure the same is true with Moses - until a post or thread is red-flagged to them. So again I wonder: would the appointment of another moderator help?

[Manforallseasons]

So now with that data, thanks to Moses, this forum has doubled in size in a year and doubled the number of logins in six months.

THAT paints a totally opposite picture of what everyone else is claiming.

Hmmm, makes me wonder....maybe the gay bar scene in Thailand is booming and better than it was in the past.....

Whatever you are drinking I want some.

[Surfcrest]

So again I wonder: would the appointment of another moderator help?

http://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showth...light=jeffries

Once upon a time we had a wonderful moderator who did a thankless job for years and years.
I think of him often

Surfcrest

[frequent]

Is that in fact correct? Surely you don't need to log in just to read posts? I believe anyone can read posts. The only things non-members can not see are attachments.

Absolutely right. In fact before the latest incarnation of software you could subscribe to RSS feeds and not bother visiting at all. Moses as I recall said he's be reinstituting those feeds but to date they haven't reappeared

[a447]

After a disagreement with Surfcrest I've decided I can't stay on this board any longer. So for the foreseeable future I will no longer be an active poster on this board (unless the need arises), but will concentrate on posting on gaythailand and gaybutton, both of which had seen a resurgence in popularity recently, it would seem. Gaythailand,in particular, has been rejuvenated with a large increase in new members.

I want to leave the house quietly and not storm out slamming the door behind me, so that's all I'll say.

As many members here have also joined the other boards I'm looking forward to chatting to you over there. Although I'm leaving the house I am not handing back the key so I can continue to exchange PM's with others.

No hard feelings.

Cheers!

A447