Forum dying?

I've been pretty busy this summer. I have a part-time job that's been giving me full-time hours. I leave the forum for a day or two, and when I come back, all the threads I'm subscribed to have died. Recently I logged in only to find the entire "new posts" page to be filled with senseless titles that don't even describe the problem, and most of the posters are kids here looking for a single answer for their school project. Don't get me wrong--I have no problem helping newbies with their problems. The issue is when they demand the answers just be handed to them, and are then never to be heard from again.

I have noticed that a lot of the most prominent members, who were here when I joined, have all but vanished into the woodwork. Now and then I see a short post from them, but not as much as I used to see. It's disappointing, but I guess that's how forums work. People come in in waves, and slowly ebb out. It's just the way things work. What really counts is the group of members that wash in and actually stick around for a while, not only asking questions for themselves, but also trying to help others along the way. One group dies out as another comes in. Please don't take this the wrong way, but perhaps our time is just fading away, and the new one is coming in. The important thing is how you choose to handle it.

Recently I logged in only to find the entire "new posts" page to be filled with senseless titles that don't even describe the problem, and most of the posters are kids here looking for a single answer for their school project.

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hi D8,
I would be interested to see new post pages filled with 'senseless titles', could you identify them for me.??

I do a daily quick check of the numbers of members and quests on line its typically around 40 members and 1000 guests and its been in that number and ratio for a long time.

The once active 'helper' members are being replaced by new 'helpers'. I suspect the older active members personal circumstance dictate how much time they can spare for the Forums.

The membership is increasing at a fast rate of around 3000+ per month, I appreciate that most are just here for just one question, but consider if only 1% of these become active and helpers thats a great boost to the Forums.

If you want to help ETO, get active.

E.

Checking now its: 40 Members and 977 Guests

At least one of the better posters and more decent human beings (as I see it) has been banned for almost four weeks (not currently)

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As the phrase 'not currently' could mean any time in the last 10 years, why do you consider it necessary to raise this point when we are discussing the perceived current health of the Forums.??

I think the forum is spiking with questions but not blogs...

I would like to start blogging some cool things I am doing for intermediate beginners at uControllers like me. But I can't yet because I haven't really done anything interesting...

Hopefully I shall soon.

And I agree fully with Colin55

I would like to start blogging some cool things I am doing for intermediate beginners at uControllers like me. But I can't yet because I haven't really done anything interesting...

Hopefully I shall soon.

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I wish you every success, its encouraging to see a positive approach.

E.

colin55 said:

And some of them represent the whole of India.

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I think it is not making any sense, to point out any country name in these topic discussion.

ericgibbs said:

hi D8,
I would be interested to see new post pages filled with 'senseless titles', could you identify them for me.??

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I'll keep an eye open and I'll let you know if I see any more.

The once active 'helper' members are being replaced by new 'helpers'. I suspect the older active members personal circumstance dictate how much time they can spare for the Forums.

The membership is increasing at a fast rate of around 3000+ per month, I appreciate that most are just here for just one question, but consider if only 1% of these become active and helpers thats a great boost to the Forums.

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Exactly my point. We're getting a "wave" of new people, and there's bound to be at least a few good "helpers" that will stick around for a while.

If you want to help ETO, get active.

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I'd be much more active on the forums if it weren't for work. I've been too busy the last few months to do much of anything. I'll definitely try to browse the forums and respond whenever I have free time

Can moderators change titles to relevant ones? That may help people a lot, making searches easier and browsing faster...

Titles shouldnt be:

"Broken"
"My Code doesn't work!"

They should be:

"My ADC is returning random numbers"
"My code doesn't compile, I just switched to C18"

That's my opinion on titles

secretagent said:

Can moderators change titles to relevant ones? That may help people a lot, making searches easier and browsing faster...

Titles shouldnt be:

"Broken"
"My Code doesn't work!"

They should be:

"My ADC is returning random numbers"
"My code doesn't compile, I just switched to C18"

That's my opinion on titles

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I believe moderators have that ability, yes. And I agree--the threads should have titles that briefly describe the problem.

DerStrom8 said:

I believe moderators have that ability, yes. And I agree--the threads should have titles that briefly describe the problem.

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hi,
We do have the ability to edit thread titles and we do when we see a thread with a meaningless title.

This is to help the OP get the members to respond who may have an interest/expertise in his topic.

E

It is enough work for the mods to just read all the threads. To have someone edit titles would be a full time job. I would never expect a mod to undertake such a monumental task.

Look, I have remained silent on this subject until now. The forum is what it is, and will be is as is long as is working. (world record for use of is in one sentence). I can't imagine moderating a forum where so many post are so nonsensical it makes my head spin. Well, bottom line, it is what it is.

I would say something but under the new rules I can't so I wont.

I wouldn't say the forum was dying though - it's not as interesting and appealing to me as it used to be though.

Honestly I have that much free time for magical reasons, So if I were a moderator Id probably spend an hour or two a day to clean up titles...

The majority is speaking, out of turn; moderation is not ban hammering this entire thread; this is possibly a good thing. I surely hope that dedicated users take up the call to arms that EM sent to add a few moderators here. I have spoken out on this particular subject for years (literally) now in private mostly with various parties and in public to a lesser degree for various reasons.

I for one believe in the possibilities in this forum, but not it's current execution within the last few years.

This is the current problem in the forum secretagent. There is only one major moderator. Eric, I can't expect him to manage the entire forum and the only other moderator that is still around being Nigel is not able to assist as far as I have seen.

The forum needs help. From it's users.

I'd volunteer myself but I only have my opinion to carry me, and immediate family problems that prevent even short term investment of time.

If you like this forum, take this time to reach out to ElectroMaster for a simple message of your thoughts and explain what you may be able to do with your time.

And please if anyone takes up the helm of moderator, be unbiased. It was the most difficult thing for me to learn.

I think the forum is helpful either way, new posters with bad titles don't ruin the site because there are older posts... There should be a search feature that has ratings so you can see which ones the most helpful to everyone... Can that be done? Is it done?

Sceadwian said:

This is the current problem in the forum secretagent. There is only one major moderator. Eric, I can't expect him to manage the entire forum and the only other moderator that is still around being Nigel is not able to assist as far as I have seen.

The forum needs help. From it's users.

I'd volunteer myself but I only have my opinion to carry me, and immediate family problems that prevent even short term investment of time.

If you like this forum, take this time to reach out to ElectroMaster for a simple message of your thoughts and explain what you may be able to do with your time.

And please if anyone takes up the helm of moderator, be unbiased. It was the most difficult thing for me to learn.

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I have PM'd him and I don't think I explained myself that well for why I wanted to be a moderator...

I just want to help the forum be clean and a neat environment for education and help. As you said there are very few moderators that couldn't possibly handle doing all the work, but I think I would like to help out, make the community as good as possible... I'm even going to donate

RIGHT NOW!

EDIT:

Ok nevermind it wants me to add my credit card, no way am I doing that... But the money is in my PayPal...

I wouldn't expect a moderator position to be handed over to someone with 56 posts. Don't take it personally, that goes for any forum.
I didn't realize there was only one moderator here. That's unfortunate.

None taken... I've been working on being helpful and I think my blogs may help many people in the intermediate beginners like me

Are your blogs hosted on another site? I don't see any blogs here on ETO:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/blogs/secretagent/


Any help is always greatly appreciated. Lots of members come by, are really helpful for a few days, weeks or months, and then vanish. I think the usual prerequisite for super high post count for moderator positions is that they only choose people who have demonstrated commitment for the long haul. I wouldn't even consider myself a good candidate for moderator. I'm just speaking from experience on other forums. I can't speak for the people who run this forum, they might have different ideas.