Is the Forum on Life Support??? (1 Viewer)

[Ron-P]

Originally Posted by Rob FM

 

You know, I think a resurrection is in order.

 

[drobbins]

I too used to visit HTF and AHL many times a day. Couldn't wait to see what been posted as there was always something going on. I still visit many times a week and check out the "Most recent posts". Nothing really interesting going on and I can't think of anything interesting to post.

I think it was kind of like one of those "special moments" at a summer camp where the friendship and activity was the best ever. The reason was a random mixture of personalities, events at the time, and the excitement of doing new activities. This was never planned in the first place, the chemistry just happened. These moments come and go in life and can not be recreated. That is why some years at camp were great and other years sucked even though it was the same place and same events scheduled.

 

[DaveF]

Some dismiss FaceBook as nonsense: in fact I did just a year ago. But at 500M active users, it's clearly the elephant in the room. I would expect it to hit a sub-forum like AHL hardest. What would people rather do: chit chat about random stuff with stangers or with real-life friends, people they're currently hanging with and also known for years but don't see often?





Twitter is hoovering up much of the random Internet commentary, too it seems.







Forums may be a relic of a previous Internet age. I don't think they'll disappear, but their central role as giving voice and conversation to users is gone and their primary place for connecting far flung individuals is now gone. I don't think it's a zero-sum game. But at the moment they're losing out to the new "social"





Also: Huddler mis-predicted in building the most advanced web 2.0 forum ever seen… that is almost unusable for posting on mobile devices. I far prefer to use Facebook because it works great on my iPhone. In contrast , I've written the previous paragraphs sight unseen because of the weird mobile-hostile design of HTF. ( and it came out so bad I'm fixing it in edit mode)





What's to be done? As invested users perhaps we can ask ourselves:


Do we welcome new members and encourage them to join the conversations?


Do we promote HTF on Facebook or IRL?

 

[RickER]

Many people on this forum i would be friends with on facebook. If i could figure out a way, to find some of you guys.

 

I still come here to read, and so it seems do a lot of people. Last time i looked, we had 200 or so "Guests", and 10 or 15 "Members" online. Thats quite a lopsided number. If everyone is reading, and few are posting, before long, very little will be NEW to read!

 

I agree with Dave, this forum needs an iPhone friendly version!

On my lunch break at work i read my iPhone. Usually Wikipeadia, facebook, or some other iPhone friendly site. HTF is not one of them. But they are far from alone in that regard!

 

I have to say, the new forum has gotten better. Much thanks to Adam, and the Huddler guys for asking us, and implementing the changes that make it better! Also thanks to Google Chrome for its great ad blocking add-on. How did i live without it. Sites run faster than ever, even this one. Flash really does suck!

 

Well, thats about all i can think of...if i have something to say, i do, and i will! 90% of my posting is here. I post here more than i do on facebook. Never been one to tell everyone how my trip to the bathroom went. Just a select few!

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by RickER

I agree with Dave, this forum needs an iPhone friendly version!

On my lunch break at work i read my iPhone. Usually Wikipeadia, facebook, or some other iPhone friendly site. HTF is not one of them. But they are far from alone in that regard!

 

I have to say, the new forum has gotten better. Much thanks to Adam, and the Huddler guys for asking us, and implementing the changes that make it better! Also thanks to Google Chrome for its great ad blocking add-on. How did i live without it. Sites run faster than ever, even this one. Flash really does suck!

I should add they're working on mobile-optimized version and are incrementally testing out mobile-specific tweaks. They're testing mobile-specific thread-views in the Mac section, it seems. But as happens, I think they underestimated the importance and rapid increase of mobile users. They've noted that the stats don't show a large amount of mobile users -- hence the continued priority on desktop usability. But I suspect there's a chicken-and-egg problem: no one uses HTF on mobile devices because it's so hard to use.

 

It's maybe late in coming, but Huddler is responsive I think, which is great.

 

[Parker Clack]

I have been on rampage with Huddler about the necessity for a mobile app, mobile css or something that will allow us to be used via our cellphones. It is not a fad but a necessity for this forum to continue to grow in posting and readership.

 

I have given them suggestions like Tapa Talk or just building a different css for the mobile community. I am told they are working on it. Believe me when it is done I will be making sure that members old and new know about it.

 

 

[Sam Posten]

Originally Posted by DaveF

I should add they're working on mobile-optimized version and are incrementally testing out mobile-specific tweaks. They're testing mobile-specific thread-views in the Mac section, it seems. But as happens, I think they underestimated the importance and rapid increase of mobile users. They've noted that the stats don't show a large amount of mobile users -- hence the continued priority on desktop usability. But I suspect there's a chicken-and-egg problem: no one uses HTF on mobile devices because it's so hard to use.

 

It's maybe late in coming, but Huddler is responsive I think, which is great.

 

Lets talk about those stats for a second. I've been a little wary of taking many of them at face value. Personally I don't believe that there aren't more mobile users and I also think it's a chicken and the egg thing. The mobile experience here is lacking so there is small incentive for mobile users to keep coming back. But what always interests me is that there's always a very consistent stream of guest users here. This constant flow of unregistered guests always seemed pretty odd to me. A lot of the forums I go to have a large section of unregistered lurkers of course, but NONE of them approach the ratio that HTF does...

 

If those numbers are accurate I'd expect that many of them are simply people looking for information on a specific purchase, ie most of them looking to buy their first new flat panel for the home. How do you grab a reader like that and convert them from a hit and run into someone who likes what they see and wants to come back? As mobile grows that question will be even more and more important as a place like HTF serves as an authoritative and impartial resource. 'That other forum' that shan't be named seems to have a lot more technical input into specific buying advice, how could HTF compete with that or should it even try to do so?
 

I know I try to say hello when new members post, but I don't make the new members forum as big a part of my HTF life as I would like. Want to know why I think that is? Take a look at the threads in newbie forum:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/list/31

 

so many of them are simple 'I'm here to get this answer and probably won't ever stop here again once I get it' kind of posts. I think we'd all be a lot more welcoming if our past experience wasn't filled with doing so only to see the vast majority never really stick around....
 

I really like that so many new members are posting in this thread for example:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/303173/oppo-bdp-83-back-to-school-contest/30#post_3725730

 

That's a great incentive and a way to welcome folks who might be more longer term oriented.

 

But I'm going to take this as a kick to get me posting more into ol' 31 tho, we all need to do our part to welcome those who look like they have potential.

 

Sam

 

PS sorry for wandering a bit thinking about this one...

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I didn't realize we had so many lurkers here.

 

[DaveF]

Sam, I think you're right about the hit-and-runners. And I relate because I'm a hit-and-runner on some other forums. I registered at a Honda Accord forum to ask some questions about my car. It's great to pop in for some technical issue. But I have no interest in regular discussion about Honda Accord fandom; I won't be converted to a regular at that forum. Likewise, many people simply want to find out what the best TV is and how to hook it up and then never think or talk about it again. They can't be moved from pop-ins to regular members.

 

But there are certainly some on the fence that might be drawn in.

 

As for AVS (even Harry Potter knew that to not speak Voldemort's name was nonsense ): they are an amazing technical resource. In my last four purchases (TV, receiver, Blu Ray, speakers), I did most of my research there. They have a technical depth and current-technology threads HTF doesn't. But conversely, the threads are so large and ranging that it's a lousy place for "community". (I've had an industry insider comment the same to me.) And they are technology-centric. I don't know that they have anything like HTF's discussions on movies and TV shows.

 

Were I an HTF owner, I would consider removing the hardware forums and putting all efforts into the content sections. In all things, I look to Apple: cut out what doesn't work and refine, refine, refine where you excel. In HTF, that's presently discussion and critique of movies and TV. (Not that I want to see my awesome speaker-shopping thread excised. but that's not the current strength of HTF.)

 

[mylan]

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben

 


No, it started long before that. If you don't believe me, believe yourself. In March 2008 -- more than a year before the change -- you wrote the following in this thread:
 

 

This thread itself dates from Feb. 2008.

 

An excellent description of reasons for slowing activity was provided just above -- ironically by someone who, as soon as the forum changed platforms, forgot all of this and began blaming everything on the new platform:

 

Now Normally I like being quoted in posts because it means that something i've said was relevant to the conversation but this time is an exeption. To use something I said about why I thought the forums were slowing a full year before the forums changed is just a cheap shot and literally grasping at straws for justification. Times change rapidly and the reasons I listed: no internet at work, slow economy, and nothing much to buzz about no longer apply. I can read at work, the economy has shown signs of life and there is much to talk about in the world of consumer electronics but you won't read about them here, 3D TV and tivo premeire come to mind just to name two noteworthy products no one seems to care about around here.

 

It seems as of late there is more talk about the iphone or Android based smartphones than there is about home theater but even then the forum I requested Parker create concerning the Samsung Galaxy line of phones has maybe 17 posts in it and then I felt like it was me and another member talking back and forth. Is there really only a handful of us out there with Galaxy S phones across the four carriers that carry it?

 

HTF's traffic varies with many factors being the reason and members come and go as well but I will still stand by my later postings blaming the forum change as the NUMBER ONE reason, I know it, you know it, and the 188 active members currently on this board know it too.

 

I wish whoever resurrected this thread had really let it die because there can be no good come of bringing up any of this again, its happened, its over, and its not going back.

I want to thank Bryan X for having my back on this, yep even he knows what a cheap shot that was. Damn it Micheal, I still cannot believe you pulled that crap, that was low and you know it.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Originally Posted by mylan might be, it doesn't extend to what I "know".
 

Here's something I do know: In addition to the "active members" you've listed, there are also over 1000 other users currently browsing HTF. This is almost always the case. Those users you so casually disregard support the forum financially with their presence. Indeed, without them there would be no forum. So before wiping them out of the picture, perhaps it's worth considering (as others in this discussion have wisely done) what efforts can be made to encourage their further participation. Some of the thoughts that have been floated here are genuinely worth pursuing.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben

 

 

Here's something I do know: ... there are also over 1000 other users currently browsing HTF. This is almost always the case. ... it's worth considering (as others in this discussion have wisely done) what efforts can be made to encourage their further participation.
 

That's quite interesting. Assuming they are repeat viewers, they aren't "hit-and-runners". I don't "lurk" the Honda forum; I hit-and-run with technical questions. I go there, get info, and leave for months or longer, until I have a new question.

 

Those who routinely hang out, read, but don't post are the interested, curious, but either shy about posting or afraid of not being welcomed. There's a political site I'm this way with: I now regularly read the essays, read the comments, but never post because I feel I'm not in the same league as the regulars. (Obviously, I have no such hangups at HTF )

 

Those are definitely the folks you want to bring in from the outside and encourage them to join the conversations.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by DaveF




That's quite interesting.

 

Just look on your home page, Dave at the "Who's Online" module in the right-hand column. It tells how many members and how many guests are currently looking at the site.  

As for encouraging folks to participate...we're working on it. All the time.

 

[DaveF]

I hadn't really paid attention to that box. I've learned to block such displays out from years of various forums, since "who's online" never had any apparent useful value to me as a user

 

[Mike Frezon]

Even as a member, I always found it interesting to see who in the community was "online" at any given time. Might shoot 'em a PM, etc.

 

[WinstonCely]

Originally Posted by DaveF




That's quite interesting. Assuming they are repeat viewers, they aren't "hit-and-runners". I don't "lurk" the Honda forum; I hit-and-run with technical questions. I go there, get info, and leave for months or longer, until I have a new question.

 

Those who routinely hang out, read, but don't post are the interested, curious, but either shy about posting or afraid of not being welcomed. There's a political site I'm this way with: I now regularly read the essays, read the comments, but never post because I feel I'm not in the same league as the regulars. (Obviously, I have no such hangups at HTF )

 

Those are definitely the folks you want to bring in from the outside and encourage them to join the conversations.

I think a side note to this is that the anonymity of posting in any forum gives people this strange desire to act like jerks. It makes posting something to dread because it's not like having a conversation face to face, where being polite is generally the rule. Posting in forums is more akin to people yelling their opinions without fear of needing to listen to anyone or retribution for anything they've said. Certainly, it's not always like that, and these forums have done a great job of keeping that to a small minimum, but it's always in the back of my mind.
 

 

[Sam Posten]

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon

Even as a member, I always found it interesting to see who in the community was "online" at any given time. Might shoot 'em a PM, etc.

STALKER!!!! =)

 

[Jack Briggs]

Back when I was a "cop" here, we (the cops) were having discussions about how HTF posting activity was slowing. We hit on many of the topics discussed in this (interesting) thread.

 

The Internet, with more people than ever before, is changing, folks. It's changing. Facebook, Twitter, and other such places are booming. Meanwhile, if you will notice, the print media (where I work) seem to be dying. But they aren't; they're sharing what is now a smaller slice of the pie.

 

And that's what's going on: With more people than ever before, the Internet is catering to so many different tastes. Long-threaded discussion fora are no longer the only game in town. Too, face it: Hobbyists' voices are being a bit drowned out. No big deal, except that Home Theater Forum, as always, wants to grow. (Michael and Mike: I hope you guys are cooking up some decent ideas!

 

Look, the Internet -- or, more specifically, the World Wide Web -- is no longer new. It is now a part of most people's lives. No longer is the Internet just a bastion for tech hobbyists. Those hobbyists will be able to get their jollies online as usual, but the Internet itself is just so much larger.

 

[Michael Reuben]

BTW, on the previous page, the following claim was made:

 

Originally Posted by mylan by a new owner.

 

[DaveF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylan So I'd give a pass to HTF on that one.