Posted By: Webmaster
Time for this discussion again? - 11/25/07 10:42 PM
Yesterday, I reviewed some of the numbers for the Collector Forums.
We've been around for about 10 years now. Born out of the decision by AOL to limit the kinds of discussions which would be permitted on the Lighthouse Collectibles board. (Ironic when you read on...)
Here are the question:
Are we useful to those who use us? Are we useless to those who don't use us? Could we be doing more for more people? Should some people 'participate less'? Are their limits to what we should permit or allow?
Some points:
1. As of yesterday, the number of official 'members' of the Collector Forums was 5,484.
This is misleading -- not just a little, but a lot. It's because when someone REGISTERS to post they become a 'member' whether they are permitted to actually post or not. These days, there are many, many attempts to join and post meaningless and useless messages to our board (and others). In other cases, people who should and do register enter their wrong email address and never get a confirmation message. Some people have more than one account because they forgot their previous identitity and started a new one.
If we count the number of people who have posted at least one time since they joined, our 'member count' would be 1,221 -- 20% of the 'advertised' membership of 5,484.
If we limit the number of posters to those who have posted in the past five years, it's down to 614. 90 of those people have posted in the last 30 days.
2. While the number of posting members is relatively small, that's not to say the Collector Forums are not 'relative' to them. This is an affinity community. You opt in because you want to and, hopefully, because you share an interest in lighthouses and collecting lighthouse relicas.
It appears that about 200-250 people drop by the Collector Forums each day. No way to tell how many different people that is over the course of a month. This number includes those who post and those who cruise through. If we were to restrict viewers to those who are members (as some boards do) we'd have a better handle on this (and probably more registered members.)
3. No question that our ebb and flow of participating members has fluctuated with the popularity of Harbour Lights, Lighthouses, and collecting in general.
People's interests change, financial situations change, some lose interest, some move to smaller spaces with less room for collections, a few pass away, etc. etc.
4. Content varies widely, but yesterday, I noticed there were 7 active topics. Of those only 1 was about either a lighthouse or a lighthouse collectible. Some were 'poems', 'welcomes', 'personals'. These are the flotsam and jetsom of relationships. (That's not a negative comment.) It's what people talk about when they get together with old friends.
One content that bothers me is that the Trading Post is a 'dumping ground' for collections. Generally the people who post these 'going out of collecting business' lists are either new to the CF or, if they have been members for years, have only posted a number of times less than the number of fingers they have in total.
Why does this bother me? For those who still have a collection and/or those who are buying pieces to add to a collection, selling at below wholesale prices devalues the 'book value' of our collection.
Providing a showcase for below-wholesale sales hurts the remaining legitimate Harbour Lights dealers.
Should limits be placed on Trading Post posts? If so, what kinds of limits and how would they be instituted and managed?
Here's one example. If someone had a collection of 50 pieces, dumping them through eBay would have a certain cost, more when you factor in PayPal fees.
Why are we providing this free service to new members? Ones who don't participate in any of our fund-raising efforts or events. They are trading on the trust existing members have of one another that they won't get 'taken' or 'cheated'. A chance they might take from an unknown eBayer.
My purposes in starting this thread include getting some of those members who visit but don't post involved again. To get some visit only individuals to join and post and to have some useful discussions on how to revitalize the Collector Forums.
If you'd rather send a comment by email, please use this address: Webmaster@LighthouseKeepers.com indicate in your email whether you want me to post your comment anonymously or NOT AT ALL.
We've been around for about 10 years now. Born out of the decision by AOL to limit the kinds of discussions which would be permitted on the Lighthouse Collectibles board. (Ironic when you read on...)
Here are the question:
Are we useful to those who use us? Are we useless to those who don't use us? Could we be doing more for more people? Should some people 'participate less'? Are their limits to what we should permit or allow?
Some points:
1. As of yesterday, the number of official 'members' of the Collector Forums was 5,484.
This is misleading -- not just a little, but a lot. It's because when someone REGISTERS to post they become a 'member' whether they are permitted to actually post or not. These days, there are many, many attempts to join and post meaningless and useless messages to our board (and others). In other cases, people who should and do register enter their wrong email address and never get a confirmation message. Some people have more than one account because they forgot their previous identitity and started a new one.
If we count the number of people who have posted at least one time since they joined, our 'member count' would be 1,221 -- 20% of the 'advertised' membership of 5,484.
If we limit the number of posters to those who have posted in the past five years, it's down to 614. 90 of those people have posted in the last 30 days.
2. While the number of posting members is relatively small, that's not to say the Collector Forums are not 'relative' to them. This is an affinity community. You opt in because you want to and, hopefully, because you share an interest in lighthouses and collecting lighthouse relicas.
It appears that about 200-250 people drop by the Collector Forums each day. No way to tell how many different people that is over the course of a month. This number includes those who post and those who cruise through. If we were to restrict viewers to those who are members (as some boards do) we'd have a better handle on this (and probably more registered members.)
3. No question that our ebb and flow of participating members has fluctuated with the popularity of Harbour Lights, Lighthouses, and collecting in general.
People's interests change, financial situations change, some lose interest, some move to smaller spaces with less room for collections, a few pass away, etc. etc.
4. Content varies widely, but yesterday, I noticed there were 7 active topics. Of those only 1 was about either a lighthouse or a lighthouse collectible. Some were 'poems', 'welcomes', 'personals'. These are the flotsam and jetsom of relationships. (That's not a negative comment.) It's what people talk about when they get together with old friends.
One content that bothers me is that the Trading Post is a 'dumping ground' for collections. Generally the people who post these 'going out of collecting business' lists are either new to the CF or, if they have been members for years, have only posted a number of times less than the number of fingers they have in total.
Why does this bother me? For those who still have a collection and/or those who are buying pieces to add to a collection, selling at below wholesale prices devalues the 'book value' of our collection.
Providing a showcase for below-wholesale sales hurts the remaining legitimate Harbour Lights dealers.
Should limits be placed on Trading Post posts? If so, what kinds of limits and how would they be instituted and managed?
Here's one example. If someone had a collection of 50 pieces, dumping them through eBay would have a certain cost, more when you factor in PayPal fees.
Why are we providing this free service to new members? Ones who don't participate in any of our fund-raising efforts or events. They are trading on the trust existing members have of one another that they won't get 'taken' or 'cheated'. A chance they might take from an unknown eBayer.
My purposes in starting this thread include getting some of those members who visit but don't post involved again. To get some visit only individuals to join and post and to have some useful discussions on how to revitalize the Collector Forums.
If you'd rather send a comment by email, please use this address: Webmaster@LighthouseKeepers.com indicate in your email whether you want me to post your comment anonymously or NOT AT ALL.