That awkward moment when Conchaga says "I told you so."

[Conchaga]

"TK isn't steadily declining," they say...
"It isn't as big of a problem as you make it out to be," they say...
"TK will live FOREVER," they say...
"People like things just how they are," they say...



These are the new thread numbers going back to 2004.

Looking at this graph, I'd say "I told you so" is a bit of an understatement.

You'll notice that we pretty much peaked around 2006, and have been in a steady rate of decline for six years.

The new post numbers aren't any better.

Just to drive my point home further... here's those numbers, too.

 

[Conchaga]

As of the last four months, TK has the lowest registration numbers we've had in the past eight years, the lowest posts in the last eight years, and the lowest new threads in the last eight years.

Something is wrong.

The old way of doing things is obviously NOT working.

 

[kaonashi.shinu]

Do you have a master plan or are you looking for a saviour?

 

[Conchaga]

Not really looking for a savior. Moreso using this forum for its intended purpose: to get suggestions from the users.

What do the rest of you think about this?
What could the staff do to make this place better?

Note: I'll strip any troll-like responses from this thread. Otherwise, suggest away.

 

[Enkephalen]

I think it may just be the way things are going for all boards. I know that ExIsle and Shattered Corpse suffer the same situation with lack of new post and posters as well as declining membership. Active discussion is still ongoing at ExIsle as they try to find solutions and experiment with different ideas. Some cite Twitter and Facebook as the new alternative to forums. I am not sure that ExIsle has been successful. TK is in the same boat as a lot of boards.

Perhaps the membership base has aged and their interests have changed.

 

[OnyxOverdrive]

many of the discussions in the MF could go in other forums such as Media centre

:dummies:

 

[Conchaga]

Well, EI and SC suffer from being a bit heavy-handed with moderation and not truly allowing free speech. TK was created for the sole purpose of allowing people to speak their minds on anything they want... so long as you're not speaking about assassinating elected officials or lawsuits. We're also semi-unique because we allow A LOT of NSFW content.

I'm of the opinion that TK has been TOO lax in their moderation in some cases. We've permitted some pretty dumb shit to continue that has probably caused quite a few members to jump ship.

This is gonna get me some flak, but a good 70% of what gets posted down in the MF could be parsed into the upper, on-topic forums, instead of having one giant forum. Also, we currently have four off-topic forums: MF, BL, TR, and SF. We could just merge the BL, TR, and SF, because they all have the same users anyway. So, keep the MF as a troll-free off-topic forum and unite the other three under a new name and banner.

 

[Conchaga]

Some cite Twitter and Facebook as the new alternative to forums.

Actually, those places aren't really communities. Message boards ARE communities. I would say that places that don't require registration and are 100% anonymous are funneling the membership out. Places like 4chan, somethingawful, reddit, 9gag, ebaums, etc.

Even youtube has provided a place for people to congregate and share ideas.

 

[Filthy Whore]

Redistributing threads into what's considered a more appropriate forum wouldn't generate more posts, although it neatens the layout so it might entice more members eventually. Kudos to the old crew for sticking it out by circling their wagons in the mine field.

For my part, and I'm sure I'll be called a stupid fucking cunt for saying so... you've got members here that want to use this as a discussion board and you've got others that see it as ONLY a 'troll' board. Those two don't really mix well. Things have improved recently... I'm not seeing as much character assassination over a simple comment about mundane subjects so maybe we're on the mend. Hopefully word of mouth will draw some quality posters here.

I wish I had a brilliant idea to turn things around but I agree with Enke, forums seem to be a dying breed.

 

[Conchaga]

Redistributing threads into what's considered a more appropriate forum wouldn't generate more posts, although it neatens the layout so it might entice more members eventually. Kudos to the old crew for sticking it out by circling their wagons in the mine field.

Well here's the issue I've noticed with the Media Center kinds of posts you find in the MF. If we took the two-odd dozen threads JUST about TV shows out of the MF and stuck them in MC, then asked the members politely to continue contributing to them, it would make that forum seem alive again. As of right now, we only get four or five new threads in there over the course of three weeks.

They make up such a small percentage of the MF's abundant threads it really wouldn't make much of a dent.

At this moment, there are these threads which make perfect sense to be placed in MC... just on the first page.

Man of Steel
Movie Trailers
The Hobbit
Star Trek 12 news
True Blood Season 6
Star Wars:TCW Season 5
Peep Show
Merlin
Blood and Chrome

That's what? 9 out of 50 threads? So, 1/5th of the front page? Even the 50th thread on there was bumped as recently as six days ago. The 50th thread in the MC's first page was bumped five MONTHS ago.

For my part, and I'm sure I'll be called a stupid fucking cunt for saying so... you've got members here that want to use this as a discussion board and you've got others that see it as ONLY a 'troll' board. Those two don't really mix well.

Ah... the ultimate dilemma. With the name of this board having troll in the title, we get that A LOT. However, Big Boards lists us as a Free Speech site. Which is ACTUALLY what we are.

Things have improved recently... I'm not seeing as much character assassination over a simple comment about mundane subjects so maybe we're on the mend.

For now...

Hopefully word of mouth will draw some quality posters here.

Word of mouth is dependent on mouths to spread it. We don't have a lot of those and there aren't a lot of places to spread it to that would be receptive to our paradigm. This is ultimately the problem.

I wish I had a brilliant idea to turn things around but I agree with Enke, forums seem to be a dying breed.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Conchaga]

Seriously though, minefielders, is it really that hard to post those threads in the MC instead of the MF? If we "borrowed" your threads for, let's say, one month to see if the dynamic worked, would you be completely opposed? If at the end of one month the idea doesn't pan-out, we move all the threads back and never bother you about it again.

LOL Socialism.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

The Mine Field is the Mine Field is the Mine Field. And that's the way it is. Live with it.

 

[whisky]

You could just get rid of the media center and just talk about those things in the mine field instead.

 

[Seph]

*Bangs head against wall*

 

[whisky]

Seriously though, minefielders, is it really that hard to post those threads in the MC instead of the MF? If we "borrowed" your threads for, let's say, one month to see if the dynamic worked, would you be completely opposed? If at the end of one month the idea doesn't pan-out, we move all the threads back and never bother you about it again.

LOL Socialism.

I guess if we wanted to post in the media center we already would be.

If you are worried that people arent posting much on the rest of the board, you dont fix that by messing with the one place people actually do.

If you want to experiment, just get the people who would normally start threads in TMC to post their threads in TMF instead, see if they get more replies.

 

[Conchaga]

The Mine Field is the Mine Field is the Mine Field. And that's the way it is. Live with it.

Seriously, man? I honestly hope you're joking.

That comment is EVERYTHING that is wrong with the MF and the decline of TK's membership.

What a completely childish and banal remark... I had expected better from you.

 

[Filthy Whore]

People have a sense of security in MF, posting in other areas will be like an agoraphobic trying to mow the lawn.

 

[Conchaga]

You could just get rid of the media center and just talk about those things in the mine field instead.

I guess if we wanted to post in the media center we already would be.

If you are worried that people arent posting much on the rest of the board, you dont fix that by messing with the one place people actually do.

If you want to experiment, just get the people who would normally start threads in TMC to post their threads in TMF instead, see if they get more replies.

With that kind of logic, we might as well just merge all the forums into the MF and rename the board "The Mine Field: Home of the stubborn clique; don't bother registering, we don't want you anyway."

 

[whisky]

You're debating logic to me when you start by claiming posting is down, then try and dismantle the one place where posting is still thriving.

If the mine field is such a mean and scary place thats frieghtening off the new posters, just make it opt in, and invisible otherwise.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Seriously, man? I honestly hope you're joking.

That comment is EVERYTHING that is wrong with the MF and the decline of TK's membership.

What a completely childish and banal remark... I had expected better from you.

I find your Margaret Dumont-like fake outrage hilarious. (Or should that be Florence Henderson-like maternal disappointment? Hmm.) I'd say this was the most entertaining troll I've seen in a while if I didn't know you were being serious.

But no matter what happens, you'll find a way to use all of this as foootnoted fodder for your academic work. Will you be needing any waivers signed from any of us in order to use our content?