Where are all the new members. I see the membership is now approaching the 1000 mark but I see very few posts from the new members. I do see a lot of posts in the Marketplace from people with 1-2 posts under their name. I have to assume that this is the only reason they joined was to sell lighthouse. Just think, if they got into the bantering on the Forums they may not want to sell their lighthouses. They might just decide to keep them after they get involved. Remember Newbies, not everyone can afford or has the time to go to all the events(Regional, Reunions, etc.), but, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the Forums. I personally have only attended signing because the job I have is time consuming and I cannot afford to lose time from work to travel the distance and also at this time to spend the money. This does not keep me from asking questions or putting in my 2 cents worth.

Get out of the shadows and let's hear from you if you are lurking back there in the shadows. You may have something very important to contribute and if you don't get involved we are the loosers for it. Come on fellow Wackos and let all the inactive Newbies know how you feel.

Rich

Rich,

You are very correct - just because you can't or don't travel to HL events you are no less the avid HL collector. There are many lighthouse lovers and HL lovers that are located far from the real thing or HL events but are still very active and valued forum members. This is a great way to "get a fix" of LHs or HLs at any time of the day or night! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to post. The diversity of the group is what makes it fun to be a part of.

Dave

Rich is right.
I have noticed that there are some members that join so that they can sell their lighthouses. However, on the positive side I Have noticed that some of these members still stay involved even after they sell out. I know of one member that sold her collection two years ago because of financial problems and joined the forum to do so. I still see her getting involved in lighthouse discussion. You do not need to collect to be involved in this forum. You can still give your comments and feelings without collecting. The only Qualification for participating in this Forum is to be a Wacko over Lighthouses.


Daniel



[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited 07-13-2002).]

Well we have 192 members on the books who have zero posts!

Lots more with just 1-3.

Should I remove those inactive people? Or is it important we keep marching toward 1,000?

get to 1,000 then purge the system.... been there got the t-shirt!!

I say get to the 1000 mark and then give everyone a chance that has, let's say less then 10 posts, another month after the 1000 mark to get active and start posting. It's nice to say you have 1000 members but if the only reason they joined was to sell lighthouses I would't count them as real members. This is only my opinion.

Rich

Well there are also some folks from New Jersey who have attended a recent Wacko gathering and are still lurking. Waiting to hear from you!

John,

I'd say do something like this- get to 1,000 then announce that on a specific date you re going to purge any one who has either never posted or has not posted in over a year.

Then once a year do the same thing. this will give those who lurk and never post a chance to stay on by posting, or at the very least know that they will have to reregister after a certain date.

Dennis

I agree with Denis.
After we hit 1000
Once a year purge those with zero post.
Maybe a warning if they would like to extend their membership.
It would be nice to keep the names alive of members that contributed many post, (say over a 1,000)
That has left the forum due to illness or death or even lack of interest. Maybe like a wacko Hall of fame.
That their name and contribution would be remembered always.

John,

I have a question- does the number of people registered have any effect on the efficency of the site.

Specifically, does the amount of people registered, but not posting, etc contribute to the problems the forums have had recently?

Dennis

I don't know the true answer to your question, Dennis...

But I'd say there is some affect. A separate text file is maintained for each member that includes their profile information + a running counter on the number of posts.

In addition, all the names and passwords appear to be maintained in a names index so that these can be verified and the name of their text membership file can be accessed when they make a new post.

Whether posting would be faster if their were 600 instead of 1,000 records in the index is doubtful.

The past problem was caused by running out of disk space (now have 350 MB). But this week, we're moving the Forums to a new dedicated server which will give us over a gigabyte. The user individual files are generally small, but having 400 extra non-used files does take up some space.

I'm not sure why people register and then do not post - it may be that they entered their email address incorrectly and therefore never got their password. Or they tried to enter their password and didn't follow the case sensitive nature and were unsuccessful.

I vote to purge as well. I "lurked" for several weeks to get the "feel of it" after signing up. However, it is the contributions of the wackos that make this interesting and fun so perhaps a nudge "to get their feet wet" will benefit us all.

I go along with the majority rules. You all have more expertise then I do. The only reason I brought this subject up was to try and lure some of the people out of the shadows by letting them know they did not have to be experts, just interested in lighthouses enough to get on the forums and ask questions or put their two cents worth in.

Interestingly enough, I said when I first joined that my major reason for joining was to post in the markplace so I could sell extra lighthouse to help keep my hobby going. I think that only lasted about a week before I had to have my say. If some of these newbies would only try and post I think they would be hooked. I personally think a lot of the new posts are just for selling lighthouses and they think it is safe to sell them over the forums and they also do not have to pay a fee. Again, this is just my thoughts on the subject.

Rich

It may also be a number of people thought you had to be registered just to be able to read the forums and registered without ever intending to jump in.

And John, If you sent out a mass e-mail to those registered/non posting people you'll find out how many did have a bad e-mail address by the mailer daemon

If they are doing no harm why bother. If they are only on to sale so what? As long as no one gets ripped off or a bad product. If that happens we drop a load of bricks on them. I believe it is better to use Market Place instead of ebay. If we allow them to stay till we reach 1000 and then drop them. Is that 1000 an artificial number not really representive of the real #'s?

Chuck

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bigdragon

Chuck,

If you look at the note posted by John, the 1000 number is way past artificial, it is close to qualifying for the corporate accounting hall of fame. Almost 20% of that 1000 have never posted, and even more with 1 to 3 posts. . . .



I like to see membership in the Forums go up, as this shows we are getting more people involved in this great site. However, I think Mark has a very valid point when he noted that it is possible that folks believed you must register just to browse the Forums (our lurker population). I don't expect others to become as involved as I may be, but it would be nice to hear from them every once in a while. They in all probability have some interesting insights or stories to share with us.

All it takes is that first post - remember when you just had to comment or respond so badly that you went off and registered so you could post??? I don't remember exactly what it was, but this was what prompted me to first post.

Maybe if John sends an email to everyone, he might want to include a link to this thread encouraging all those lurkers and posters with just a few posts to jump in and join the fun.

FWIW,

Dave
[This message has been edited by Dave H (edited 07-15-2002).]

Now that's telling it like it is Dave. The 1st post is always the hard one and in most cases the new people don't even take the time to tell us a little bit about themselves.

People, it is not that hard to get on the Welcome Forum and type a short paragraph about yourself. You don't even have to furnish pertinent information about yourself. Just give us the major highlights and we'll take it from there and welcome you. Don't be bashful because you will learn a lot and more importantly WE will learn a lot from you and your questions. Questions always stem a lot of interest and bantering about and everyone learns from this.

Rich

You are right the first is always the hardest and requires the most energy. But after the first it is all down hill or up hill. It all depends on your POV.lol I reread my last post and it really makes no sense. What I was thinking and what I wrote was not even close. What I wanted to say was drop the deadwood, otherwise the 1000 means nothing. Set a time limit lets say 6 months (any time will do) and still 0 (zero) post drop them. Even if they only post in marketplace it counts because it still serves a purpose. I hope I am making more sense now. However, if I'm not it won't be the first time or the last.

Chuck

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bigdragon

I am by nature a lurker. I read what others have to say but keep comments to myself. Occasionally I will ask a question and you have to be registered to do that. It will be years before I reach Wacko status.

Well at least you are posting and that is more then a whole bunch of others are doing. It's fine to lurk and post when you have something to say. I said that's all I was going to do and here this is post 300 since Oct. 2001. This Forum is addictive just like Harbour Lights.

Rich

I remember it taking me a while to get started also! I looked just about everyday for at least 6 months before I started to post! I started out mostly posting in the marketplace and got to know many people from selling some of my extra pieces. Now I'm over 2400! It's tough to get started, but after awhile it's like talking to family in here! I always look forward to breaks and lunchtime at work to get in here and see what's going on!

We've come a long way from the old "AOL Boards". Back then, we only had a handful of people posting.

The Collector Forums is a wonderful place to visit whether you post or not. The fact we are creeping up on 1000 registrants is quite an accomplishment. It would be hard to expect everyone of those folks to be posting on a regular basis. Think about it...1000 people doing one post per day. It would be impossible to read them all.

I feel the important thing is that people stop here and read what's posted. They ask questions and get replies. Interaction is what keeps this place going.

If you are new or just lurking, take a moment every once in awhile to at least let us know you are there. Don't forget to visit www.harbourlights.com and check out the many wonderful links to information about Harbour Lights and lighthouses. Isn't this why we all come here in the first place?

Bob

I've always been lurking in the back and reading about what everyone has to say. I ask questions now and then, but I just like to read the posts. Plus being in the Navy there are times when I can't get to read the posts or put any up for periods of up to 6 months. So, if I don't post a message for 6 months it doesn't mean I am gone, but out on deployment. So please don't cancel my account for not posting.