Board Traffic Comparison Thread

Moved from the other thread to concentrate on this comparison.

For comparison purposes, boards are checked just after 9pm, CST.

SDMB;

Mar 14 Threads: 490,401, Posts: 10,830,946, Members: 82,157
Mar 15 Threads: 490,502, Posts: 10,833,220, Members: 82,164 (+101 threads, +2,274 posts, +7 members)
Mar 16 Threads: 490,627, Posts: 10,836,732, Members: 82,175 (+125 threads, +3,512 posts, +11 new members)

Domebo;

Mar 14 Total posts 19766 • Total topics 926 • Total members 951
Mar 15 Total posts 20629 • Total topics 967 • Total members 966 (+41 threads, +853 posts, +15 members)
Mar 16 Total posts 22101 • Total topics 1011 • Total members 988 (+44 threads, +1,472 posts, +22 new members)

Comparison;

Mar 14-15 Domebo has 37.5% of new posts, 41% of new threads, 214% of new members, 1.17% of total members claimed
Mar 15-16 Domebo has 41.9% of new posts, 35% of new threads, 200% of new members, 1.2% of total members claimed

A little bird sent me this file. It contains the post number of the first post of each day for the last year on the SDMB. If you load it up in a spreadsheet and add a delta column it produces an interesting graph. Two interesting things I notice: 1) there was a significant jump in posts per day after the "lost weekend" (which shows up as a striking anomaly), and 2) there has been a pretty sharp decline in the past few weeks.

I apologize, but I'm not feeling well and I want to go to bed, so I'll be doing this now, about 1 hour 10 minutes shy of the 24 hour mark;

March 17, 2009;

SDMB: Threads: 490,740, Posts: 10,840,161, Members: 82,189
(+3,429 posts, +113 threads, +14 members)

Domebo: Total posts 23180 • Total topics 1058 • Total members 1002
(+1,079 posts, +47 threads, +14 members)

Down to 31.5% of the number of posts, 41.6% of threads, equal growth.

A bit later tonight because I had a social night for the first time in a while.

SDMB: 490,905, Posts: 10,844,349, Members: 82,208
(+4,188 posts, +165 threads, +19 members)

Domebo: Total posts 24268 • Total topics 1102 • Total members 1015
(+1,088 posts, +44 threads, +13 members)

Down to 26.6% of posts, 26.7% of threads, 68% of new members.

Clearly, SMDB traffic is picking up from the usual slow weekend numbers. I have nothing to compare it to long term, though. We here are fluctuating a little, but are maintaining an average in the 1,000 posts per day and a fairly steady membership growth after the initial two week surge.

Frankly, I wish all of our members would actually post on a regular basis, but I suspect that we've got a lot of people who signed on here "just because", then went back to the dope because there was more to read there.

At this point, I'll probably let the comparison rest and perhaps re-look at it a couple of weeks from now, just to see how we're faring.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Chimera

...
Frankly, I wish all of our members would actually post on a regular basis, but I suspect that we've got a lot of people who signed on here "just because", then went back to the dope because there was more to read there.

...

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I think a lot of people reserved their usernames here and on the Giraffe boards but aren't necessarily posting in all three places. We have many, many members with 0, 1 or 2 posts (right now it turns out almost exactly half of our 1018 users fall in this category). Of course the Ed Zotti boards have way more inactive posters than both splinter boards combined.

One More Time, just to see how things are going over a longer period.

March 18, 10:39pm (CST);

SDMB: 490,905, Posts: 10,844,349, Members: 82,208
Domebo: Total posts 24268 • Total topics 1102 • Total members 1015

March 22, 7:04pm (CST);

SMDB: Threads: 491,316, Posts: 10,855,864, Members: 82,273
(+11,515 posts, +411 threads, +65 members)

Domebo: Total posts 27810 • Total topics 1229 • Total members 1050
(+3542 posts, +117 threads, +35 members)

About average for the Dope over the previous period, though new membership numbers are increasing.

For us, it's appears to be slowing down a bit. We're under 1000 posts a day on average, which is lower than we were for the first couple of weeks. New membership is also slowing down. We're currently running about 30% of the traffic on the Dope, which is down from the 40% that we were running for a while.

Even so, for a one month old board to be pulling 30% of the traffic of a 10 year old board is pretty darned good.

Domebo as of March 25, 9:16pm CST

Total posts 30789 • Total topics 1343 • Total members 1068
(+2,979 posts, +114 threads, +18 members)

Averaging +932 posts +34 topics, +8 members per day (rounded) over the course of a week.

Pretty safe to say that we have leveled off from the heady early days of rapid ingress and should probably see sustained traffic at this level barring some unforseen change.

We need to invite more dopers and try to make peace with the Giraffe boarders. Apparently some of them think we're stuck up.

Quote:

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Originally posted by garygnu

We need to invite more dopers and try to make peace with the Giraffe boarders. Apparently some of them think we're stuck up.

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Fuck them.

(Just kidding.)

Yeah, we need a second wave of invites coming in. Also, try to invite people here not from the Dope, as well.

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Originally posted by Winston Smith

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Originally posted by garygnu

We need to invite more dopers and try to make peace with the Giraffe boarders. Apparently some of them think we're stuck up.

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Fuck them.

(Just kidding.)

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I say the only way to settle differences with the Giraffe boarders is a rumble between the Giraffe boards and Domebo.net behind the SDMB Dairy Queen.

Since I'm on both boards I'll respectfully decline to participate, but I'll be there renting lawn chairs and selling popcorn.

Quote:

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Originally posted by CRSP

Also, try to invite people here not from the Dope, as well.

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Bolded for added emphasis.

Also let me post images in room 101 and lets import all the good smilies from SomethingAwful.

kablaaaamo.

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Originally posted by Borborygmi

I say the only way to settle differences with the Giraffe boarders is a rumble between the Giraffe boards and Domebo.net behind the SDMB Dairy Queen.

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Really though I recall an idea of cross board contests being bandied about during the initial set ups, and I think that's a clever and good idea. Sure, there will be some level of butthurt, but it's a friendly thing, not a Crips and Bloods thing. It would encourage more goodwill than bad, methinks.

I don't actually have an idea for one mind you. ;)

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Originally posted by Cluricaun

...Sure, there will be some level of butthurt, but it's a friendly thing, not a Crips and Bloods thing. It would encourage more goodwill than bad, methinks...

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Will there be choreographed dancing and synchronized snapping?

You'd better fucking believe it. I call dibs on Jets.

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Originally posted by hatesfreedom

lets import all the good smilies from SomethingAwful.

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I like the one with the wang ejaculating all over.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Excalibre

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Originally posted by hatesfreedom

lets import all the good smilies from SomethingAwful.

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I like the one with the wang ejaculating all over.

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I suspect that there is a person or maybe several people who would or could say, "Of course you do." :mrgreen:

I am not that person.

But I felt I ought to make the comment.

I like to be in America!
O.K. by me in America!
Ev'rything free in America
For a small fee in America!

(I'm a Shark girl)

You can get drunk in America
You can get blown in America
But you can't get stoned in America
So I am going to Amsterdam.

This diagram shows the count of unique posters in the MPSIMS forum during intervals of 24 hours. It goes from 2008-09-02 to 2009-03-25, one day per horizontal pixel. (If you want to find a particular day, you'll just have to do the math. I'd also suggest to use a horizontal ruler if you're doing absolute comparisons, these types of histograms can be very deceptive without visual guides.)

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/47842654ae.gif
Stretched version for easier viewing: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/1173e242d4.gif

Blue=Total number of posts in the forum (not to scale to the rest). The other colors show the count of unique members who made cyan=1, red=2, yellow=3, magenta=4, green=5, black=6 posts in MPSIMS per day. (The count is cumulative, that is, users who made 2 posts or more also count as users who made 1 post etc.) Gray line is 2009-02-24 when the Pit rules have been revised.

This doesn't look like random fluctuations... Seems they've lost somewhere between one-third and one-half of the people. :shock:

Of course, there are any number (27) of folks over there that would say "Good Riddance!" to MPSIMS posters.

Quote:

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Originally posted by garygnu

We need to invite more dopers and try to make peace with the Giraffe boarders. Apparently some of them think we're stuck up.

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I'm not registered on the Giraffe boards, and rarely post on the Dope, but I think one way to get more traffic (and more non-Dope posters) is to leave Dope drama behind and let the Dome be its own board. I think people need to stop worrying about competing with the Dope or trying to justify the Dome's existence by comparing numbers.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Words on the Interweb

Quote:

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Originally posted by garygnu

We need to invite more dopers and try to make peace with the Giraffe boarders. Apparently some of them think we're stuck up.

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I'm not registered on the Giraffe boards, and rarely post on the Dope, but I think one way to get more traffic (and more non-Dope posters) is to leave Dope drama behind and let the Dome be its own board. I think people need to stop worrying about competing with the Dope or trying to justify the Dome's existence by comparing numbers.

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100% agreed but it will take a while to happen. However in just one month the moans and groans about the SDMB have greatly decreased.

I see some new faces and some lurkers have decided to be active on domebo. I wish more would. Traffic in many ways begets traffic when it is many making the traffic.

I am trying to bring in some gaming friends and a few sports friends. So far one has joined but I hope for a few others.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Chimera

March 22, 7:04pm (CST);

SMDB: Threads: 491,316, Posts: 10,855,864, Members: 82,273
(+11,515 posts, +411 threads, +65 members)

Domebo: Total posts 27810 • Total topics 1229 • Total members 1050
(+3542 posts, +117 threads, +35 members)

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Great thread idea!

March 27 10:23
SDMB: Threads: 491,926, Posts: 10,872,400, Members: 82,367
(+610 threads, +16536 posts, +94 members)
Domebo: Total posts 32250 | Total topics 1389 | Total members 1078
(+160 threads, +4440 posts, +28 members)

The SDMB currently has about 4 times more postings than Domebo.

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Originally posted by Truth and Beauty

Quote:

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Originally posted by Chimera

March 22, 7:04pm (CST);

SMDB: Threads: 491,316, Posts: 10,855,864, Members: 82,273
(+11,515 posts, +411 threads, +65 members)

Domebo: Total posts 27810 • Total topics 1229 • Total members 1050
(+3542 posts, +117 threads, +35 members)

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Great thread idea!

March 27 10:23
SDMB: Threads: 491,926, Posts: 10,872,400, Members: 82,367
(+610 threads, +16536 posts, +94 members)
Domebo: Total posts 32250 | Total topics 1389 | Total members 1078
(+160 threads, +4440 posts, +28 members)

The SDMB currently has about 4 times more postings than Domebo.

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And has only been established 120 times as long as Domebo. Wow, that's pretty impressive!

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Originally posted by ivan astikov

And has only been established 120 times as long as Domebo. Wow, that's pretty impressive!

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I agree. Y'all should be proud of what you have accomplished here. :D

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Originally posted by Borborygmi

I say the only way to settle differences with the Giraffe boarders is a rumble between the Giraffe boards and Domebo.net behind the SDMB Dairy Queen.

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So far Giraffe's board is ahead on tormenting helpless trolls in The Box.

And Winston doesn't have any Unpersons at all in Room 101, right? :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Words on the Interweb

I think people need to stop worrying about competing with the Dope or trying to justify the Dome's existence by comparing numbers.

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Pretty much why my last post didn't include dope numbers and just focused on our own posting numbers. Not for comparison or justification, just a longer term establishment of some base numbers to give people an idea of how active this board really is.

Because sometimes it can look like it ISN'T that busy. The #2 thread in a forum can be the same #2 thread, with the same last post, for several days running.

But even with a bit of a slowdown here, we're still running roughly 900 posts a day, which is nothing to sneeze at.

But then, what the hey... When I consider that we dropped to 888 posts per day over this last 5 day period that T&B documented, from well into the 900's or even over 1,000 a day during previous periods, and wonder why this might have happened; I can note that the dope dropped from 3800-4500 posts per day in previous periods to 3300 per day in the same period and say that there are exterior causes for board traffic to be down during the period.

March 27 10:23
SDMB: Threads: 491,926, Posts: 10,872,400, Members: 82,367
(+610 threads, +16536 posts, +94 members)
Domebo: Total posts 32250 | Total topics 1389 | Total members 1078
(+160 threads, +4440 posts, +28 members)

April 21 10:24
SDMB: Threads: 494,760, Posts: 10,953,421, Members: 82,809
(+2834 threads, +81021 posts, +442 members)
Domebo: Total posts 52326 | Total topics 2125 | Total members 1240
(+736 threads, +20076 posts, +162 members)

April 21 10:24
SDMB: Threads: 494,760, Posts: 10,953,421, Members: 82,809
(+2834 threads, +81021 posts, +442 members)
Domebo: Total posts 52326 | Total topics 2125 | Total members 1240
(+736 threads, +20076 posts, +162 members)


May 13 11:24
SDMB: Threads: 497,225, Posts: 11,028,999, Members: 83,226
(+2465 threads, +75578 posts, +417 members)
Domebo: Total posts 65640 | Total topics 2609 | Total members 1331
(+484 threads, +13314 posts, +91 members)

It will be interesting to see this months results, as I seem to have noticed a downturn in the amount of posts here.

Some days there hardly seems to be any new posts at all, while the "other place" has many. Why the slow down?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Walker in Eternity

Some days there hardly seems to be any new posts at all, while the "other place" has many. Why the slow down?

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I think the chat is partly to blame.

The chat is a big part of it. Also, I think the new board shiny is wearing off and we haven't had much drama to work up vitriol.

As the weather has gotten nicer and the days longer I have been spending more time outside. My posting here has definitely decreased.

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Originally posted by OneCentStamp

Quote:

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Originally posted by Walker in Eternity

Some days there hardly seems to be any new posts at all, while the "other place" has many. Why the slow down?

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I think the chat is partly to blame.

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I do too, and I'm going to try to use it less, and post more.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sarahfeena

I think the chat is partly to blame.

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I do too, and I'm going to try to use it less, and post more.[/quote]
The issue is specifically posting more threads, though, not just more posts. I mean, I'm not about to start posting the vacuous things I say in chat in threads instead; that's not exactly a win for Domebo.

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Originally posted by Excalibur

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sarahfeena

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Originally posted by OneCentStamp

I think the chat is partly to blame.

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I do too, and I'm going to try to use it less, and post more.

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The issue is specifically posting more threads, though, not just more posts. I mean, I'm not about to start posting the vacuous things I say in chat in threads instead; that's not exactly a win for Domebo.

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A valid point. It's more about just spending my time in chat, so I don't have time to think of my usual brilliant thread topics.

I can't see that feature on here that tells us how many threads we've started which the other place has, but I know I started far more threads over there - and even more on the previous board I was on - I'm afraid I might've reached my limit of semi-interesting thoughts! :lol:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Walker in Eternity

It will be interesting to see this months results, as I seem to have noticed a downturn in the amount of posts here.

Some days there hardly seems to be any new posts at all, while the "other place" has many. Why the slow down?

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We have at best 1/3 of the active members. So a slowdown there has to be three times as big before you notice it. Or...something. Math is not my strong suit.

ETA: Me, I slowed down for a couple of weeks with finals, but now it's summer break and I eagerly await participating in your next dozen threads!

May 13 11:24
SDMB: Threads: 497,225, Posts: 11,028,999, Members: 83,226
(+2465 threads, +75578 posts, +417 members)
DoMeBo: Total posts 65640 | Total topics 2609 | Total members 1331
(+484 threads, +13314 posts, +91 members)

June 15 11:44
SDMB: Threads: 500,827, Posts: 11,139,935, Members: 83,877
(+3602 threads, +110936 posts, +651 members)
DoMeBo Total posts 79886 • Total topics 3293 • Total members 1398
(+684 threads, +14246 posts, +67 members)


3/22 - 3/27 5 days
SDMB posts per day: 3307 threads per day: 102
DoMeBo posts per day: 888 threads per day: 32

3/27 - 4/21 25 days
SDMB posts per day: 3241 threads per day: 113
DoMeBo posts per day: 803 threads per day: 29

4/21 - 5/13 22 days
SDMB posts per day: 3435 threads per day: 112
DoMeBo posts per day: 605 threads per day: 22

5/13 - 6/15 33 days
SDMB posts per day: 3362 threads per day: 109
DoMeBo posts per day: 432 threads per day: 20

It looks like the post count per day is definitely on a downward trend at the DOpers MEssage BOard. (Or else, if it's because of some other trend, it's not something that is bringing the post count down at the SDMB.) What can we do to fix it?

If only Jali would come back, we'd have more posts. Her last visit was May 29th.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Truth and Beauty

It looks like the post count per day is definitely on a downward trend at the DOpers MEssage BOard. (Or else, if it's because of some other trend, it's not something that is bringing the post count down at the SDMB.) What can we do to fix it?

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Two things I can think of:

Start enforcing "don't be a jerk". We've been far too accommodating to jerks, trying to avoid becoming TubaDiva and Cuntlapper, and it's driven at least two good posters away, and stopped others from joining in the first place.

Get rid of chat.

Sorry, I know a lot of you don't want to hear it, and yes, I enjoyed a visit there the other night, but it's true. Chat has completely killed at least the Wut Wut (MMP), and I'm certain slowed a lot of other posts. And to those who say, "but you don't want the kind of posts we post in chat in real threads!" you're missing the point. We may not want those posts memorialized, but giving ourselves the time and place to chat serves as a distraction from making decent posts on the board.

Chat is the breakroom of the "work" of the message board. Spend too much time in the breakroom, and no work gets done. Pretty simple.

Of course, if people are happier with chat than they'd be with a more active board, that's fine, but then we should stop measuring ourselves by post count board traffic, and find another rubric for success.

Quote:

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Originally posted by WhyNot

Start enforcing "don't be a jerk". We've been far too accommodating to jerks, trying to avoid becoming TubaDiva and Cuntlapper, and it's driven at least two good posters away, and stopped others from joining in the first place.

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Yes. Yes we have. And it's certainly made me post a lot less here too.

I can think of two particular individuals, one of whom does a very good job at shutting down discussion of issues or completely derailing them without any moderator intervention; and the other one does a really good job (for certain values of 'good') of gushing over trolls, defending them and attacking people who would like a different level of discourse on this board.

And of course, we allow all this because Bo forbid that any moderator should be accused of being TubaDiva by telling them to shut the hell up and allow other people to enjoy the board.

Quote:

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Originally posted by WhyNot

Quote:

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Originally posted by Truth and Beauty

It looks like the post count per day is definitely on a downward trend at the DOpers MEssage BOard. (Or else, if it's because of some other trend, it's not something that is bringing the post count down at the SDMB.) What can we do to fix it?

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Two things I can think of:

Start enforcing "don't be a jerk". We've been far too accommodating to jerks, trying to avoid becoming TubaDiva and Cuntlapper, and it's driven at least two good posters away, and stopped others from joining in the first place.

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Which two good posters are those?

Quote:

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Get rid of chat.

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I have more posts than you, and I can safely say that if they get rid of chat, it's unlikely I'll spend much time here anymore. The idea that we have a choice between chat and posts is silly; something that makes Domebo more attractive will induce members to spend more time here. It's not a zero-sum game.

Quote:

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Sorry, I know a lot of you don't want to hear it, and yes, I enjoyed a visit there the other night, but it's true. Chat has completely killed at least the Wut Wut (MMP)

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Is it somehow actually a loss for Domebo if a thread that is nothing but chat in post form is displaced by actual chat? I wasn't aware that we were having a content with anyone to see who could generate the most posts. If we are, then anything that distracts users from generating an endless stream of vacuous posts is obviously a problem. But I am frankly glad that threads here are not just big ol' gabfests, because that means we can have actual, interesting threads as well as chatter. The MMP is not interesting to others or valuable or worthy of preservation in the same way that chat is not -- doesn't it make sense that pointless gabbing should go in chat rather than in a thread?

Quote:

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Of course, if people are happier with chat than they'd be with a more active board, that's fine, but then we should stop measuring ourselves by post count board traffic, and find another rubric for success.

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It's silly to pretend that one precludes the other, especially if the closest thing to an example that exists is chat displacing one single thread that was nothing but chatter anyway.

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Originally posted by Excalibur

Which two good posters are those?

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I'm sure if they wanted you to know why they left, they'd have let you know.

Quote:

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It's not a zero-sum game.

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Time is always a zero-sum game.

Quote:

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Is it somehow actually a loss for Domebo if a thread that is nothing but chat in post form is displaced by actual chat?

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Yes. The "chat" of the Wut Wut was actually slightly more profound than what I've seen in Chat. It encouraged longer posts, by virtue of no time-pressure, and it allowed people on different time tables to get to know and interact with one another in an informal setting. Chat is quick, ephemeral and self-selecting by schedule and time-zone.

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I wasn't aware that we were having a content with anyone to see who could generate the most posts.

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That seems to be what this whole thread started as, actually. If not a contest, a measure of board vitality.

Quote:

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If we are, then anything that distracts users from generating an endless stream of vacuous posts is obviously a problem. But I am frankly glad that threads here are not just big ol' gabfests, because that means we can have actual, interesting threads as well as chatter.

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Now you're creating a zero-sum game. The chatty threads don't preclude "actual, interesting threads". I'd say they interfere less than chat, because they don't have to be attended to in real time.

Quote:

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The MMP is not interesting to others or valuable or worthy of preservation in the same way that chat is not -- doesn't it make sense that pointless gabbing should go in chat rather than in a thread?

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No, because while you're gabbing over there, you're not posting here. And if you're not posting here, I'm bored. It's all about entertaining me, really. :wink:

As for "worthy of preservation", I remember quite fondly some of the "update" threads where posters would ask for or provide updates to old posts about what was going on with them, and lots of times, links to old chatty threads would be provided. I love going back and reading, in context, where someone was at and where they are now.

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It's silly to pretend that one precludes the other, especially if the closest thing to an example that exists is chat displacing one single thread that was nothing but chatter anyway.

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Well, it's the only specific example I have because it was the only recurring thread. I can't very well say, "If 'xcali wasn't in Chat right now, I just know he'd start an interesting thread about _____," can I? I mean, I just don't know for sure. But when I mentioned it the other night, What Exit? did say he thought I was right, and it seems logical. And I know when I was in chat the other night, I wasn't posting in threads (although, to be fair, I went to chat because there was nothing much moving and my responses were all the last posts at the time...probably because there were a TON of fun people in chat at that moment!)

But okay, you disagree. To what do you attribute the attrition in post rate, and how do you suggest we address it, if at all?

Jali's stopped posting and I've been slacking off(ie. doing a bit of late spring-cleaning around the flat.); there's your reason the post count is down.

I'm more concerned about the first part of the above sentence, than the last part. Has anyone been in touch with Jali recently?

WhyNot, I agree chat has drained some posts. But why can't you restart the Wut Wut. Most of those that chat the most rarely posted in the Wutwut or MPP.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Chimera

I can think of two particular individuals, one of whom does a very good job at shutting down discussion of issues or completely derailing them without any moderator intervention; and the other one does a really good job (for certain values of 'good') of gushing over trolls, defending them and attacking people who would like a different level of discourse on this board.

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OK, now you've piqued my curiosity. Who? Come in, this is the Dome, you can tell us!

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Originally posted by What Exit?

WhyNot, I agree chat has drained some posts. But why can't you restart the Wut Wut. Most of those that chat the most rarely posted in the Wutwut or MPP.

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Sure I can restart the WutWut. But that was an example, not the problem.

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Originally posted by WhyNot

I'm sure if they wanted you to know why they left, they'd have let you know.

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If you're alluding to private conversations you had, it seems fair to say that whatever reasons they gave might not be quite the full story. If you want a change in board policy, seems kind of unfair to try to use as evidence things that we can't actually talk about.

Quote:

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Originally posted by WhyNot

Quote:

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It's not a zero-sum game.

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Time is always a zero-sum game.

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The time members devote here, however, is obviously not, as I said earlier, so I'm not sure what you're getting at here. And if it is actually a zero-sum game, then it doesn't matter whether we have more chat or more jibba jabba threads, since it adds up to zero either way. :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by WhyNot

Yes. The "chat" of the Wut Wut was actually slightly more profound than what I've seen in Chat. It encouraged longer posts, by virtue of no time-pressure, and it allowed people on different time tables to get to know and interact with one another in an informal setting. Chat is quick, ephemeral and self-selecting by schedule and time-zone.

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I think that's a good point. And if users value those things, then a new MMP thread will probably get some posts.

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Originally posted by WhyNot

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I wasn't aware that we were having a content with anyone to see who could generate the most posts.

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That seems to be what this whole thread started as, actually. If not a contest, a measure of board vitality.

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To make my point more explicit, I reject the idea that we should use the number of posts as a measure of this place's success and then make rules based upon that inadequate measure.

Quote:

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Originally posted by WhyNot

And if you're not posting here, I'm bored. It's all about entertaining me, really. :wink:

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So come on back to chat, then.

Quote:

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Originally posted by WhyNot

But okay, you disagree. To what do you attribute the attrition in post rate, and how do you suggest we address it, if at all?

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I don't like any solution that focuses on trying to get current users to generate more posts, since I'd rather have more interesting content. There's some obvious reasons why post count would have diminished since this place opened, mostly having to do with the fact that few people want to spend a lot of time here, at Giraffe, and at the SDMB, so that as the initial excitement wore off and people wandered off to one place or the other, post counts naturally declined. I have absolutely no idea how you'd go about figuring out how many posts there "should" be here, given that. I don't know that a decline in post counts relative to the initial numbers has any real significance.

At any rate, I think that if traffic is going to increase, it'll have to be through bringing in more users. I don't have any particularly good ideas how. I do, however, feel pretty sure that getting rid of a feature that attracts people here will be counterproductive. Even if you allow that chat is drawing people away from generating posts, something that I don't think is a safe assumption, you have to concede that a fair number of people clearly enjoy chat, so if you get rid of it, even if you have the same number of posts, or more, they'll be generated by a smaller number of users. If you want interesting content, then that would, I imagine, be counterproductive.

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Originally posted by Excalibur

There's some obvious reasons why post count would have diminished since this place opened, mostly having to do with the fact that few people want to spend a lot of time here, at Giraffe, and at the SDMB, so that as the initial excitement wore off and people wandered off to one place or the other, post counts naturally declined.

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Well, except that post counts at the SDMB haven't declined. Why is that? What are they doing right that we're doing wrong?

The "post count" cannot diminish, damnit, unless somebody is running around deleting posts. Please stop making my eyes bleed. What you are discussing is the increase in post count, or the number of new posts. You can talk about the post count growing or stagnating, but it cannot logically decrease without actually deleting things off the board.

The Dope has remained pretty steady in activity, while we have declined. There's the chat room to consider, which has taken a lot of the nonsense silliness that would usually end up as post-count-padding, but I don't think that's entirely it. I've tried pulling in some friends of mine from off-board and one is a pathetic lurker (YES I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU) and the other drops in to post in the threads that interest her and then leaves.

Which is, in fact, what most people do. They come in, post to what interests them, and go.

At this moment, we have 3297 threads, which should be more than enough to tap into people's interests. As a comparison, Giraffe's board has 3126 threads. But, they have 97,482 posts and we have 80,012.

So what's our problem? We can't keep a fucking conversation going. If we suck at anything, it's in replying to people and keeping interest flowing and inviting responses.

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Originally posted by Truth and Beauty

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Originally posted by Chimera

I can think of two particular individuals, one of whom does a very good job at shutting down discussion of issues or completely derailing them without any moderator intervention; and the other one does a really good job (for certain values of 'good') of gushing over trolls, defending them and attacking people who would like a different level of discourse on this board.

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OK, now you've piqued my curiosity. Who? Come in, this is the Dome, you can tell us!

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He means me and Excalibur, and unsurprisingly lacks the balls to say so.

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attacking people who would like a different level of discourse on this board.

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I would really love to see a cite for this. The only people I have ever fought with to any degree on this board are you, and Exy one night in chat. I don't have any problem citing the fracas I had with you (which you started) and letting other people judge who was trying to shut who down.

ETA: I forget, I also had a minor spat with QED which we both apologized for about an hour later.

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Originally posted by WhyNot

Two things I can think of:

Start enforcing "don't be a jerk". We've been far too accommodating to jerks, trying to avoid becoming TubaDiva and Cuntlapper, and it's driven at least two good posters away, and stopped others from joining in the first place.

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Exactly. God forbid the mods try to tell someone to stop being a jerk. We were told we were being just like SD mods, even if the behavior in question was out of line.

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Get rid of chat.

Sorry, I know a lot of you don't want to hear it, and yes, I enjoyed a visit there the other night, but it's true. Chat has completely killed at least the Wut Wut (MMP), and I'm certain slowed a lot of other posts. And to those who say, "but you don't want the kind of posts we post in chat in real threads!" you're missing the point. We may not want those posts memorialized, but giving ourselves the time and place to chat serves as a distraction from making decent posts on the board.

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I also think chat has drained the board of actual posts. In addition, it's done nothing but cause problems since it was implemented.

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

In addition, it's done nothing but cause problems since it was implemented.

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Of what type?

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Originally posted by Chimera

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Originally posted by WhyNot

Start enforcing "don't be a jerk". We've been far too accommodating to jerks, trying to avoid becoming TubaDiva and Cuntlapper, and it's driven at least two good posters away, and stopped others from joining in the first place.

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Yes. Yes we have. And it's certainly made me post a lot less here too.

I can think of two particular individuals, one of whom does a very good job at shutting down discussion of issues or completely derailing them without any moderator intervention; and the other one does a really good job (for certain values of 'good') of gushing over trolls, defending them and attacking people who would like a different level of discourse on this board.

And of course, we allow all this because Bo forbid that any moderator should be accused of being TubaDiva by telling them to shut the hell up and allow other people to enjoy the board.

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This, exactly. Don't beat around the bush, Chimera. We all know it's Excalibur and Myrnalene.
Chat is ruled by a handful of posters who seem to think it's their own personal playground. Simple questions are met with silence or outright hostility. One poster, who was new to chat, asked if it was possible to turn off images in chat. The response? "Yeah, close the chat window and go away."

They dominate the conversation, ignore or mock those not in their little clique, flout the rules and play innocent when called on their behavior. They question every rule and guideline put in place.

They seem to revel in mocking others, claiming to just be having fun or that it's simple teasing.

I'm sure their behavior has driven away more posters than it's attracted.

The inmates are running the asylum, and the fact that it's been allowed to continue this long is appalling.

I'm a bit troubled by this "inmates running the asylum" point of view.

This is a message board, made up of a community of people. Some of these people, who are in no way different from the other posters, have been made moderators. Others are not moderators. I am not a "guard" and the posters are not "inmates." The posters are not the enemies of the mods. The posters are not the prisoners of the mods. We are all posters and some of us have been given the trust of the other posters to protect this community.

If the majority of the community does not want us to interfere in certain situations, then the community has spoken. If there is a great deal of frustration and hurt feelings over the actions of certain posters, however, I think the community should be up front about that. Name names and link to posts and if there truly is a problem, let's work things out.

I wasn't going to post, but I think the Mods are serving at the behest of the community and CRSP of course. I don't think the community has worked out to be quite what many thought it would be when it started.

I would like to see board grow and hopefully it will. It did only start in March. We have 80,000 posts and over 100,000 chat posts from 167 different members. It appears chat is working over all to the benefit of Domebo.

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

This, exactly. Don't beat around the bush, Chimera. We all know it's Excalibur and Myrnalene.
Chat is ruled by a handful of posters who seem to think it's their own personal playground. Simple questions are met with silence or outright hostility. One poster, who was new to chat, asked if it was possible to turn off images in chat. The response? "Yeah, close the chat window and go away."

They dominate the conversation, ignore or mock those not in their little clique, flout the rules and play innocent when called on their behavior. They question every rule and guideline put in place.

They seem to revel in mocking others, claiming to just be having fun or that it's simple teasing.

I'm sure their behavior has driven away more posters than it's attracted.

The inmates are running the asylum, and the fact that it's been allowed to continue this long is appalling.

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Funny how none of this came out before you made your monumental fuckup and had to step down as moderator. Your behavior was exposed in chat when I asked Jim why the name of the OP in the SockCheat thread had changed. With god as my witness, I though it was a board glitch. I was shocked that it wasn't. But your snooping was discovered in chat, and was discussed in chat (a bit gleefully, as you have done a fantastic job so far of trying to prove yourself morally superior to other people). I wonder what your opinion would be of chat if that had not happened.

I'm not gonna try to address your perception of Exy's behavoir, cause that's not my place. But I have made it a point to greet every person that comes into chat and to say goodbye when they leave. I often try to make converstaion with new chatters, asking them questions about themselves, etc. I do NOT meet questions with silence or hostility. I do not care who is or is not in my "clique". I'm not aware of any rules I have broken, so I have never played innocent. Your false insistence (yet again) that we want no rules proves that you were never listening to us and is part of the reason why you were such a shitty mod.

You remain a joke.

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

Exactly. God forbid the mods try to tell someone to stop being a jerk. We were told we were being just like SD mods, even if the behavior in question was out of line.

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It astonishes me that you feel you have some legitimate business saying this.

Nice to know, by the way, that you apparently consider users your "inmates".

I will second what Myrna says about treatment of new chatters. My experience is the regulars are more than happy to see as many people as possible in chat, and greet everyone who shows up enthusiastically. I've seen people comment that the most fun to be had in chat are busy nights when there are a bunch of people in there, and the conversation is flying. It's also been used as a chance to invite people new to the board to stick around, which is what we all want and need.

I'm not claiming that every single person in chat is sweetness and light 100% of the time. People exhibit their own personalities, just as they do elsewhere on the board. But in my observation as a chatter, the implication that the chatters have a negative agenda is simply not true.

Additionally, I second what Caerie says about Mods not being wardens. Mods are representatives of the posting community at large, and if there seem to be differing philosophies about how the modding should go, that needs to be resolved, or this board is going to fall apart.

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

Chat is ruled by a handful of posters who seem to think it's their own personal playground. Simple questions are met with silence or outright hostility.

They dominate the conversation, ignore or mock those not in their little clique, flout the rules and play innocent when called on their behavior. They question every rule and guideline put in place.

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So one night, I'm trying to work with my writing partner. We do all our writing through Yahoo Instant Messenger, and thus we do all our communicating through chat, with sporadic phone calls. One day, I was dealing with my mom, I had a headache, and I wasn't actually *chatting* much, though I was writing and sending her things. At one point, in the evening, she says, out of the blue, "I'm done for the night. You can write as much on this section as you want." I said, "WHA?!" She said, "You've been short with me all day, so I'm done for the night." Now, I can be a bitch, and sometimes, I say things that I don't mean anything by but can be taken that way. So I read through the chat logs, then read the chat logs aloud to my husband and sister (they call me on my crap), and they both agreed that I did not say anything remotely insulting to her. When I said I disagreed that I had been "short" with her, she picked a huge fight with me that lasted for hours and made me so angry, I wanted to quit permanently.

The point of my story was that she intepreted long pauses (because I was dealing with offline stuff) to mean that I was ignoring her, or mad at her, or annoyed with her. And instead of asking if that was the case, or assuming that I wasn't right there to chat, she made accusastions and assumptions about my feelings. Which is a completely ridiculous thing to do in a chatting situation. And it wasn't fair to me, and it wasn't even fair to her.

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They seem to revel in mocking others, claiming to just be having fun or that it's simple teasing.

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I disagree with this assessment.

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I'm sure their behavior has driven away more posters than it's attracted.

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And I'm sure that if I turn around fast enough, I'll see the unicorn that stalks me, stills my socks, and sucks down my diet coke when I'm not paying attention.

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The inmates are running the asylum, and the fact that it's been allowed to continue this long is appalling.

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I've seen you express this sentiment before, and quite frankly, I do not know where it comes from or why you think this is at all accurate or appropriate. I know you volunteered to be a mod at the very beginning, and so, from the start, you were set apart as a moderator. Is that where this is coming from? Or do you just dislike certain posters so strongly that you prefer they not have a voice in the process at all? These issues that you cite have nothing to do with chat. It's not as though members here wouldn't email/chat privately, even without the "shout box" at the bottom of the forum. Actually, what would drive me away from a board is an attitude like this. As though a board without the Iron Fist From On High is somehow out of control and less in value. The Internet, at its best, is like the wild west, and is democracy in action. People enjoy communities that have a free flow of ideas, even if the ideas are not always the most popular. Even if they're strident at times. We're stronger for it. If this board is to develop a true personality and direction of its own, then it's going to be because of strong voices making themselves heard. Not because everybody is too afraid to say "peep" because they're busy toeing the line.

Speaking as the "chat clique nuisance," I think how you see chat is more a reflection of yourself than how you are treated in chat. I go in, blab about stuff I'm interested in, have a scrap or two, post some monkey baby pictures, and call it a day. It really isn't much more than that.

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Originally posted by featherlou

think how you see chat is more a reflection of yourself than how you are treated in chat.

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When you look upon DoMeBo chat, as when you look upon the Mona Lisa, it is you, not she, who are being judged? :tongue:

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Originally posted by Truth and Beauty

Well, except that post counts at the SDMB haven't declined. Why is that? What are they doing right that we're doing wrong?

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Nothing. They're just much larger and thus generate much more content. This keeps folk's attention, resulting in more posters retained and more content generated. Large boards benefit enormously from inertia, small boards not as much :wink:.

There's nothing wrong with smaller boards, really. They're just inherently more fragile because a smaller number of major content-generators cutting back/drifting away can have an over-sized impact.

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

The inmates are running the asylum, and the fact that it's been allowed to continue this long is appalling.

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Jesus. Bitter much? The shot about inmates running the asylum is particularly funny in light of the fact that you, an incompetent busy-body, had mod powers until recently.

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Originally posted by OneCentStamp

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Originally posted by featherlou

think how you see chat is more a reflection of yourself than how you are treated in chat.

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When you look upon DoMeBo chat, as when you look upon the Mona Lisa, it is you, not she, who are being judged? :tongue:

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Exactly. Chat is our Mona Lisa smile.

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

The inmates are running the asylum, and the fact that it's been allowed to continue this long is appalling.

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Do you have a hard time finding women's clothing that allows for the space you need for the GIGANTIC BALLS you must possess to be able to type that shit with a straight face?

You are a nasty, condescending, sanctimonious, hypocritical, sneaky, finger-pointing shrew. We can now add LIAR to your ever growing repertoire of bullshit, too. You claimed that when someone asked about turning off images in chat they were told to go away. You should remember this thread proving the contrary, you posted to it.

What do you do, sit reading the chat with one hand on a notepad and your other hand God-knows-where waiting for something to be said that you can feel superior about? New people come in and are welcomed all the time. They are encouraged to chat. Chat members have sent PMs to new members inviting them to chat. You are just a bitter person who sees cliques and offense any and everywhere you look. Instead of patrolling the board looking for things to be offended about and people to spy on, maybe if you participated in conversations without accusations and negativity you might find a different experience with your fellow board members. Now that your I-Spy shenanigans have removed you from your moderating duties, you'll have more time to just post and be an active member. Hopefully you'll try to do it with a more open mind and see that there are a lot of really good people around here who are getting to know one another and enjoying each other's company online.

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Originally posted by Sleeps w/Butterflies

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

The inmates are running the asylum, and the fact that it's been allowed to continue this long is appalling.

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You are a nasty, condescending, sanctimonious, hypocritical, sneaky, finger-pointing shrew. We can now add LIAR to your ever growing repertoire of bullshit, too. You claimed that when someone asked about turning off images in chat they were told to go away. You should remember this thread proving the contrary, you posted to it.

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She's not a liar, actually. I was the poster she was referring to, who asked if it was possible to turn images off in chat, and received the response (from a Chat Regular Who Shall Remain Nameless) "Yeah, close the window and walk away". And everyone else in chat at the time backed the Rude Chat Regular up. The dismissal was not intended to be a "Joke", and even after backpedalling and claiming it was, instead of apologising for making a joke that came across the wrong way, it turned into personal attacks on me for being "highly strung" or "Not getting Poster X's style", with added jibes of "don't you have any friends?" (of course I do, that's why I don't live in the chatroom of a struggling internet messageboard) because apparently I should be used to being given shit by people I don't know for asking a simple question.

And you guys wonder people aren't posting here and you aren't getting new members. :roll:

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What do you do, sit reading the chat with one hand on a notepad and your other hand God-knows-where waiting for something to be said that you can feel superior about? New people come in and are welcomed all the time. They are encouraged to chat. Chat members have sent PMs to new members inviting them to chat. You are just a bitter person who sees cliques and offense any and everywhere you look. Instead of patrolling the board looking for things to be offended about and people to spy on, maybe if you participated in conversations without accusations and negativity you might find a different experience with your fellow board members. Now that your I-Spy shenanigans have removed you from your moderating duties, you'll have more time to just post and be an active member. Hopefully you'll try to do it with a more open mind and see that there are a lot of really good people around here who are getting to know one another and enjoying each other's company online.

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I'm inclined to agree with Biblio's assessment of Chat. There IS a Chat Clique that thinks they own Chat, they're not friendly people, and the fact that they're unhappy at being told they can't post explicit porn in chat (and again, not apologising for doing so when told it wasn't appropriate) tells you that they're not interested in anything except having it as their personal playground where they make the rules. If the members of the board here are fine with that, then great. But it's not the sort of messageboard I want to post to, which is why, generally, I don't. (Not that you care.)

But in this case I'm not going to stand by and led you call someone a liar when she clearly isn't. A polite person would, of course, apologise to BiblioCat for calling her a liar in this instance, but somehow I don't see that happening.

Double post, sorry.

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She's not a liar, actually. I was the poster she was referring to, who asked if it was possible to turn images off in chat, and received the response (from a Chat Regular Who Shall Remain Nameless) "Yeah, close the window and walk away". And everyone else in chat at the time backed the Rude Chat Regular up. The dismissal was not intended to be a "Joke", and even after backpedalling and claiming it was, instead of apologising for making a joke that came across the wrong way, it turned into personal attacks on me for being "highly strung" or "Not getting Poster X's style", with added jibes of "don't you have any friends?" (of course I do, that's why I don't live in the chatroom of a struggling internet messageboard) because apparently I should be used to being given shit by people I don't know for asking a simple question.

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Exy was the one who said that, and lots of people told him he was being a dick. That said, it clearly was a joke, and a response from you of "Ha! No, really is there a way?" would have resulted in nothing. I also remember trying to answer your question between your howls of outrage. You are misrepresenting what happened.

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Originally posted by Martini Enfield

I'm inclined to agree with Biblio's assessment of Chat. There IS a Chat Clique that thinks they own Chat, they're not friendly people, and the fact that they're unhappy at being told they can't post explicit porn in chat (and again, not apologising for doing so when told it wasn't appropriate) tells you that they're not interested in anything except having it as their personal playground where they make the rules. If the members of the board here are fine with that, then great. But it's not the sort of messageboard I want to post to, which is why, generally, I don't. (Not that you care.)

But in this case I'm not going to stand by and led you call someone a liar when she clearly isn't. A polite person would, of course, apologise to BiblioCat for calling her a liar in this instance, but somehow I don't see that happening.

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We have all apologized mutiple times for the porn posting. Here is one example.

A polite person would apologize for lying.

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Originally posted by Martini Enfield

She's not a liar, actually. I was the poster she was referring to, who asked if it was possible to turn images off in chat, and received the response (from a Chat Regular Who Shall Remain Nameless) "Yeah, close the window and walk away". And everyone else in chat at the time backed the Rude Chat Regular up. The dismissal was not intended to be a "Joke",

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Uh, there were other people there you know. Who also saw what happened. I'm just saying; your spinning it this way will undoubtedly please Bibliocat but it probably won't impress others.

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and even after backpedalling and claiming it was, instead of apologising

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I actually DID apologize, right afterwards, and acknowledged that I shouldn't have taken out my irritation on you. Although I guess I needn't have felt bad.

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with added jibes of "don't you have any friends?" (of course I do, that's why I don't live in the chatroom of a struggling internet messageboard)

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You know, though, you're here an awful lot for a poster whose entire repertoire appears to be complaints about how much you hate this place and how bad a community it is.

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I'm inclined to agree with Biblio's assessment of Chat.

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Yes. Well. We've seen just how good her judgment is, haven't we.

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There IS a Chat Clique that thinks they own Chat, they're not friendly people

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You're whining about a group of people being unfriendly, but that was well after you established a history of only coming here to complain about Domebo. How much friendliness do you think you, in particular, expect? And why do you generalize from the fact that you didn't receive sufficiently warm treatment to assume that no one is treated well?

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and the fact that they're unhappy at being told they can't post explicit porn in chat (and again, not apologising for doing so when told it wasn't appropriate)

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I think everyone who was involved has apologized over and over and acknowledged that it was totally appropriate. I certainly have. This lie is one that can be very easily checked by looking all sorts of places around here (although the numerous apologies in chat are, of course, now lost to the ages.)

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But in this case I'm not going to stand by and led you call someone a liar when she clearly isn't. A polite person would, of course, apologise to BiblioCat for calling her a liar in this instance, but somehow I don't see that happening.

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Bibliocat has built up quite a track record of lying very recently. I can see from this post you are joining her.

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Originally posted by Martini Enfield

I'm inclined to agree with Biblio's assessment of Chat. There IS a Chat Clique that thinks they own Chat, they're not friendly people, and the fact that they're unhappy at being told they can't post explicit porn in chat (and again, not apologising for doing so when told it wasn't appropriate) tells you that they're not interested in anything except having it as their personal playground where they make the rules. If the members of the board here are fine with that, then great. But it's not the sort of messageboard I want to post to, which is why, generally, I don't. (Not that you care.)

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I post heavily in chat and fuck you. I am super friendly. Asshole. No one was unhappy at being told not to post porn. Asshole. And they apologized repeatedly. Asshole.

By the way, I have no problem asking a moderator to pull the log of the night you came into chat, so sure am I of the correctness of my recollections of it. Shall we dance?

I didn't lie, I was mistaken. I'm sorry I missed the post where some members of the Chat Clique apologised for the porn and I apologise for the mistake in that regard. The rest of my earlier post stands. At any rate, this clearly isn't the sort of messageboard I want to be a part of (and clearly you don't want me here anyway), so I'll be on my way and you can enjoy your messageboard without me.

It clearly never was, given how much complaining you've been doing.

I was not around for night o'porn, but I went into chat the next day and said that I'm not really thrilled with the idea of having porn in chat. I got several apologies, including from Excalibur and pepper. No one is complaining about not being able to post porn all over the board willy-nilly...to the contrary, everyone involved who I have discussed it with has agreed with me.

Tempers ran high for a while over this incident, but it's not an ongoing problem.

The fact that you are using the term "Chat Clique" with a straight face says a lot about you, I think.

It does not matter in the slightest to me whether you go or stay, even if I did that would be no reason for you to actually leave. But I guess I won't have to worry about requesting those chat logs, huh?

It's weird to me, all this complaining that chat isn't friendly...I haven't found that to be the case, but even if seems to be for some people, why don't you just ignore it? Don't even scroll down; pretend it doesn't exist. If anything, it's keeping these folks you don't like from posting twice as much in the forums.

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Originally posted by BiblioCat

This, exactly. Don't beat around the bush, Chimera. We all know it's Excalibur and Myrnalene.

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There is a certain amount of value in not naming names, and then having multiple people say "everyone knows it's...", because shows that it's not simply my opinion of the matter, but a more commonly held opinion that some would like to admit.

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Originally posted by Myrnalene

I don't have any problem citing the fracas I had with you (which you started) and letting other people judge who was trying to shut who down

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Nor do I have any problem with people looking at what words were used and by whom.

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Originally posted by Myrnalene

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Originally posted by Chimera

attacking people who would like a different level of discourse on this board.

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I would really love to see a cite for this.

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Still waiting for a cite.

Please bookmark this anyone that does not what to see chat or take a chance or use this at work vs. home.

http://domebo.net/forum/IndexNoChat.php

I am still fixing it, but Chat is blocked already in this link. I will clean it up more.

So tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell anyone that remotely asks.

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Originally posted by What Exit?

Please bookmark this anyone that does not what to see chat or take a chance or use this at work vs. home.

http://domebo.net/forum/IndexNoChat.php

I am still fixing it, but Chat is blocked already in this link. I will clean it up more.

So tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell anyone that remotely asks.

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You are awesome, Jim. Seriously. I'm so happy one of my fever addled ideas was actually helpful. :lol:

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Originally posted by Caerie

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Originally posted by What Exit?

Please bookmark this anyone that does not what to see chat or take a chance or use this at work vs. home.

http://domebo.net/forum/IndexNoChat.php

I am still fixing it, but Chat is blocked already in this link. I will clean it up more.

So tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell anyone that remotely asks.

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You are awesome, Jim. Seriously. I'm so happy one of my fever addled ideas was actually helpful. :lol:

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It was a brilliantly simple idea. I wasted hours looking for a good way to do it in the UCP and this was such a simple solution. So thank you.

Now I just want to clean it up a bit.

nouncement pls

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Originally posted by Martini Enfield

She's not a liar, actually. I was the poster she was referring to, who asked if it was possible to turn images off in chat, and received the response (from a Chat Regular Who Shall Remain Nameless) "Yeah, close the window and walk away". And everyone else in chat at the time backed the Rude Chat Regular up. The dismissal was not intended to be a "Joke", and even after backpedalling and claiming it was, instead of apologising for making a joke that came across the wrong way, it turned into personal attacks on me for being "highly strung" or "Not getting Poster X's style", with added jibes of "don't you have any friends?" (of course I do, that's why I don't live in the chatroom of a struggling internet messageboard) because apparently I should be used to being given shit by people I don't know for asking a simple question.

And you guys wonder people aren't posting here and you aren't getting new members. :roll:

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Roll your eyes as far back in your little head as far as you want to Precious, I don't wonder anything about new members. The board is only a few months old and I think it's doing fine.

How am I not surprised that you have a conveniently different view of the "chat incident" regarding you and Exy than everyone else does and only changed your tune when Myrna offered to have the chat logs pulled? So do I still (as a "polite" person) owe your pal Bibliocat an apology even though you were just being butthurt and unable to take a joke from ONE person who was kidding you while you ignored the people trying to help? Okay. ....

Bibliocat, you are NOT a liar about this situation. I was WRONG to say you were. I apologize for calling you a liar regarding this situation. Having said that, you are still a nasty, condescending, sanctimonious, hypocritical, sneaky, finger-pointing shrew.

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I'm inclined to agree with Biblio's assessment of Chat. There IS a Chat Clique that thinks they own Chat, they're not friendly people, and the fact that they're unhappy at being told they can't post explicit porn in chat (and again, not apologising for doing so when told it wasn't appropriate) tells you that they're not interested in anything except having it as their personal playground where they make the rules. If the members of the board here are fine with that, then great. But it's not the sort of messageboard I want to post to, which is why, generally, I don't. (Not that you care.)

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You are 100% correct that I don't care a whit that this isn't the message board for you. Anyone who bitches that posts in a forum called "jibba jabba" are too silly isn't someone I am going to take seriously. In other news: water is wet. You're the type of person who would bitch that Chuck E Cheese has too many children running around.

Others have already addressed your misrepresentation of chat so I won't waste time addressing that other than to say that if you really and truly think that people in chat are up in arms because they can't post pornography then you are gullible as hell. It was JOKING around. Nobody in chat is twitching for their porn fix because the powers that be have snatched it away. Jesus Christmas, get a grip on reality!

So, in closing: stay if you want to stay, go if you want to go. It matters not to me. Really? QUITE RLY!

I think you guys are all yelling at and/or apologizing to the back end of Bibliocat, who seems to have left the building.

What a bunch of whinging harpies biblio et al are.

Know what you all need? Three things. Patience, perseverance, and most importantly in this case perspective. Calm down dear, it's only a message board.

:roll: Listen, I enjoy a hair-pulling eye-scratching bitchfight as well as any other snarker, but could you cunts please keep it out of my thread whilst I try to discuss some ways of making the board more popular? Take it to another thead in the 'Dome or go to the snackpit if you have to. Thank you. :tongue:

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Originally posted by Tamerlane

There's nothing wrong with smaller boards, really. They're just inherently more fragile because a smaller number of major content-generators cutting back/drifting away can have an over-sized impact.

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That may well be, but isn't it a cause for concern that over a period of two months the traffic of this board has dropped in half?

Well, when you say traffic you are looking at posts and threads. The rate of those has decreased, and chat likely has something to do with it. However, chat is still a legitimate function of this board, and if members are using it and enjoying themselves, that adds to the value of the board as well. Obviously some people have an issue with chat* but it likely does encourage longer individual board sessions and people hang out as gab, even if there is nothing in the forums to catch their interest.

*and only some of them are crazy bitches!

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Originally posted by OneCentStamp

I think you guys are all yelling at and/or apologizing to the back end of Bibliocat, who seems to have left the building.

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I realize you mean well, but I don't believe for a minute that she's not reading all of this. Not for a minute.

It really gives me the red ass that chat is being characterized as this horrible place where mean people are just waiting to swoop in and shit on your day. Of course there are times when we're catty or bitchy, of course! There are times when people are catty and bitchy in threads including some of the people ::coughcoughPARENTSvsCHILDFREETHREADcoughcough:: who are bitching here.

What they refuse to admit is that most of time people in chat have been really kind to each other. There have been times when Quasi has shown up confused and upset and we all do our best to make him feel better and cared for. There have been times when somebody comes in and has had something really upset them offline and we all try to cheer them up. Since I'm an insomniac I've been on very late and chat has been empty and I've seen someone say something like "I had the most horrible day." or "I feel sick" or "I'm so depressed" or something like that and it never fails that someone else comes in to see what's wrong and if they can help.

People get support for their graduations, birthdays, house hunting, accomplishments. They get advice for cooking or rebuilding a computer or what is wrong with their dog. We show each other pics of our pets or people show their kids or we look at pics of HANDSTANDS!

Some people really do seem to get some kind of thrill in always looking for the bad or negative. If that's what you're snooping for, you'll find it. Every.single.time.

Kind of tangential here, but ... is it possible to be a full member of the domebo community without participating in chat at this point? I've avoided it like an addictive personality needs to avoid crack -- I can see myself spending WAAYyyy too much time there if I even start. Since I telecommute and don't have any externally-imposed discipline to keep me from goofing off, it could be quite a problem if I got into the habit.

So I have never participated, and I rarely even look to see what's going on there. (And when I do, it's really dull, no doubt on account of my time zone being different from most people's.

Anyway, I wonder if not engaging in chat relegates one to the outskirts of domebo ... how do others see this?

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Originally posted by CairoCarol

Anyway, I wonder if not engaging in chat relegates one to the outskirts of domebo ... how do others see this?

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No, not at all. Chat is still tangential to this board. There are many posters who don't participate (heck, every now and then a poster turns up who still is not aware there is a chat or how to find it).

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Originally posted by CairoCarol

Kind of tangential here, but ... is it possible to be a full member of the domebo community without participating in chat at this point? I've avoided it like an addictive personality needs to avoid crack -- I can see myself spending WAAYyyy too much time there if I even start. Since I telecommute and don't have any externally-imposed discipline to keep me from goofing off, it could be quite a problem if I got into the habit.

So I have never participated, and I rarely even look to see what's going on there. (And when I do, it's really dull, no doubt on account of my time zone being different from most people's.

Anyway, I wonder if not engaging in chat relegates one to the outskirts of domebo ... how do others see this?

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Chat is robust, but it is really not even half the active posters that pop in and out. I don't think there is an issue of not being a full member, it is more like about 30 members use chat a lot and another 30 use it occasionally and another 100 rarely.

It also changes quickly and will range from old movies, to songs, to talks on physics, to bitching, to commiseration and then somewhere else. Often all within half an hour.

I like my conversational tangents, but that's all a bit too hectic for me.

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Originally posted by ivan astikov

I like my conversational tangents, but that's all a bit too hectic for me.

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It can be, other times it is much slower. At this time it is mostly dead.

Those of you in the States are just getting up now, aren't you? Well, those of you on the east coast!

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Originally posted by ivan astikov

Those of you in the States are just getting up now, aren't you? Well, those of you on the east coast!

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Well it is 8am here, so many are already at work. The West Coast is only at 5 am.

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Originally posted by Sleeps w/Butterflies

I realize you mean well, but I don't believe for a minute that she's not reading all of this. Not for a minute.

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You may be right. In Biblio's position, I probably wouldn't be able to resist a look back either. And this all presupposes that his departure was permanent, which we don't know for sure.

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Originally posted by Sleeps w/Butterflies

It really gives me the red ass that chat is being characterized as this horrible place where mean people are just waiting to swoop in and shit on your day.

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I personally wouldn't say that. The few times I've dropped into chat, everyone was plenty friendly, but usually deeply embroiled in some conversation or running joke that was hard to follow without context. That's no crime.

What I will say is that chat seems to have turned this place from a growing message board, into a shrinking message board with a chat feature. Which, unfortunately, is not as much fun for me. :sad:

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Originally posted by OneCentStamp

What I will say is that chat seems to have turned this place from a growing message board, into a shrinking message board with a chat feature. Which, unfortunately, is not as much fun for me. :sad:

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For what little it was worth, the board was already not growing before we introduced chat. We had stalled. We are still trying to find and do some things to get new posters in.

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Originally posted by Sleeps w/Butterflies

<snip>
Some people really do seem to get some kind of thrill in always looking for the bad or negative. If that's what you're snooping for, you'll find it. Every.single.time.

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I think this is worth repeating. One of the things I liked least about the Dope is that there is a strong, vocal contingent there who found the most enjoyment in pissing on everything. "I just had the tastiest burger at McDonalds!" "McCrapalds, you mean? They're the crappiest place in the world and anyone who eats there is a moron." :roll:

CairoCarol, you aren't wrong about the addictive nature of chat. I didn't realize it, and now it's too late for me. Save yourself!

Whilst much appreciating Sleeps w/Butterflies' defense of the chatroom as the happy snuggly bunny place :roll: , I will state my reasons for thinking that chat is not the board's greatest asset:
Posting it on the front page makes the board look kind of stupid, seeing as how the chat room (like all chat rooms) is mostly filled with inane chatter, inside jokes, and cliquish behavior.
Posting stuff in chat might make the DoMeBoers happy, but it's not the kind of thing that helps build up the board. Building up the board is making permanent posts that can be found via a Google search and bring traffic here, or posting stories on the front page. If the time spent in chat were spent posting in a forum, that would be better for the board.

I'm surprised that there are people who think the chat room is some sort of detriment to bringing in new people. In my experience, it's been the opposite.

Those who are in the chat room know this fact, but those who don't hang out there may have missed it: we get quite a few people chatting before they post a single message on the board. People I've tried dragging onto the board who are still largely lurkers will pop in there.

The excitement over getting new people in the chat room (good lord, you should have seen the celebrations for the first chat message from Chicken Toes) is tangible. Yes, there are some bitchy, catty moments, but that behavior isn't as common as people think, nor is it directed towards new chatters. Expanding the user base is always a source of celebration in there.

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Originally posted by Caerie

I'm surprised that there are people who think the chat room is some sort of detriment to bringing in new people. In my experience, it's been the opposite.

Those who are in the chat room know this fact, but those who don't hang out there may have missed it: we get quite a few people chatting before they post a single message on the board. People I've tried dragging onto the board who are still largely lurkers will pop in there.

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You do realize that this is self-selecting, right? You don't know if there are people that come to the main page, see the chat, and decide that this is not thre right place for them.

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The excitement over getting new people in the chat room (good lord, you should have seen the celebrations for the first chat message from Chicken Toes) is tangible.

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Yes, very tangible - I tried touching it and my fingers got all sticky! :wink:

Listen, I have nothing against chat per se - I just think it shouldn't be on the front page.

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Originally posted by Truth and Beauty

You do realize that this is self-selecting, right? You don't know if there are people that come to the main page, see the chat, and decide that this is not thre right place for them.

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Any group is self-selecting. There could be quite a few people that come to a thread on the board, see the conversation, and decide that this is not the right place for them.

We shouldn't change the board based on what hypothetical people might be interested in. If there was a strong movement from the posters at large against the chat, then yes, it would be a good idea to get rid of it, but as it stands now it's part of the community. Altering a community which is satisfied with itself so that others who dislike it as it is will want to join in the community is self-defeating.

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Originally posted by OneCentStamp

What I will say is that chat seems to have turned this place from a growing message board, into a shrinking message board with a chat feature. Which, unfortunately, is not as much fun for me. :sad:

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Ha. If only getting rid of chat would turn Domebo into a growing message board. :sad: It was shrinking from its initial burst of activity well before they put chat in place.

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Originally posted by Caerie

I'm surprised that there are people who think the chat room is some sort of detriment to bringing in new people. In my experience, it's been the opposite.

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Yeah. Chat draws people in. There's basically zero barrier to participation when it's just chit-chat, and from other internoodle communities I've seen, chat draws participants in who later may convert to participating in the "real" community. And it keeps present members more engaged, which probably leads to them participating more in other ways.

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Originally posted by Caerie

If there was a strong movement from the posters at large against the chat, then yes, it would be a good idea to get rid of it, but as it stands now it's part of the community.

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I'm not saying get rid of it - I'm saying take it off the main page.

Now I have to effing go to chat all the time to show my ABSOLUTE support for the wonderful Myrnalene. (like I didn't have other shit to do...) ::walks off talking to herself::