participation way down? - Page 3

[lalaland42]

Originally Posted by Arduinna 

But it is so amusing to see all the old crowd who never post, come out of the wood work to post on them after the threads hit the MDC spin off forums. 

It hardly breeds camaraderie, however, when posters feel like they are responding to Homophobic Monthly. 

[Bena]

Originally Posted by lach 

but as so many of its ideals have moved into the mainstream, MDC has seemed to make an effort to remain fringe, which means that sometimes it goes off into a la-la-land territory which might put off new members.  I think MDC has a reputation of being "green" and "crunchy," and those things are really quite mainstream now for a large population of educated, middle class mothers... there's no excuse not to try to embrace that.  It's a market ready to be tapped, but they're not going to be convinced by anti-vax propaganda, hateful comments about race, and some of the more "extreme crunchy" things that some very vocal posters do.  And I'm not saying you have to run those posters off: there's room under the tent o' crunchy for everyone :)  But I think you have to create a space where more people, even those who don't pass the extreme-AP test, are comfortable.  

Well said!!!
 

[Imogen]

The place certainly doesn't have the same 'spirit' that it used to have.  I miss the lively debate, where people could actually disagree.  Now it is too heavily moderated.  

[Liquesce]

I know quite a number of people who left during the time that TAO posts were all moderated and around when N&CE/Politics were shut down.   So not the moderation directly, as in warnings and thread closures, but the outright closure of entire subforums they frequented.  It's one thing to have to try to work with a UA to post, and quite another to just not be able to post where and what interests you at all.  My impression was that whoever made those decisions underestimated how many people were coming for those boards, and popping in on the pregnancy and birth and parenting boards so long as they were here, rather than the reverse.  And the thing is once those people are gone for the most part they're just gone ... it's not as though they keep checking back to see if things have opened back up yet.  

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by Imogen 

The place certainly doesn't have the same 'spirit' that it used to have.  I miss the lively debate, where people could actually disagree.  Now it is too heavily moderated.  

Except that it's not now.  There are even members who have complained that there isn't enough moderation.  We can definitely have some healthy debate here - everyone doesn't have to agree with one another. 

[annettemarie]

Yeah, I'm finding it a bit... ridiculous? silly? pointless? that the same people who complained when MDC was heavily moderated are still complaining because it was heavily moderated, never mind that it now is barely moderated.

[limette]

Originally Posted by lach 

I don't think that there's anything irreparable.  

I think maybe reorganizing some forums a bit would help.  Some of them are just so broad, I'm not sure they're terribly useful.  

I don't think adding more subforums is the answer. It'll just stretch out the few members that are left even further. Gardenweb for example has a ridiculous amount of forums (alpines, bananas, begonias, dahlias etc) and the majority are dead. People only post in the forums that cover a larger subject area (cottage gardening, landscape design, perennials etc).

[lalaland42]

I don't think I am the only one who is posting and waiting for that PM in my inbox saying OH, no, that  was over the line. I think there will be some people testing out the new boundaries much like our children do. 

[lalaland42]

Originally Posted by limette 

Originally Posted by lach 

I don't think that there's anything irreparable.  

I think maybe reorganizing some forums a bit would help.  Some of them are just so broad, I'm not sure they're terribly useful.  

I don't think adding more subforums is the answer. It'll just stretch out the few members that are left even further. Gardenweb for example has a ridiculous amount of forums (alpines, bananas, begonias, dahlias etc) and the majority are dead. People only post in the forums that cover a larger subject area (cottage gardening, landscape design, perennials etc).
 

I think it needs less subforums. I don't currently have a preschooler but I have in the past and I might have something to contribute to preschooler threads. I would never see them if I have a preschooler subforum though.

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by lalaland42 

I don't think I am the only one who is posting and waiting for that PM in my inbox saying OH, no, that  was over the line. I think there will be some people testing out the new boundaries much like our children do. 

I actually thought of that analogy as well. I'll try to set aside my grumbling about the grumbling, LOL! I do realize it's a huge change up.

[PhoenixMommaToTwo]

I think it's a combination of factors. I think the prevailing attitude has been that if you're not "crunchy" enough or ap enough than you don't belong. I know that there are some, like me, who are somewhat crunchy, but also have mainstream ideas. These people get bashed. Hardcore. Or the mods spank them for presenting ideas that don't jive with the "mdc atmosphere". It's hard to feel welcome when your questions and ideas are constantly being put down.

[Irishmommy]

Originally Posted by lalaland42 

I think it needs less subforums. I don't currently have a preschooler but I have in the past and I might have something to contribute to preschooler threads. I would never see them if I have a preschooler subforum though.

The vast majority of forums we have were created at members' request, not just because...

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by PhoenixMommaToTwo 

Or the mods spank them for presenting ideas that don't jive with the "mdc atmosphere". It's hard to feel welcome when your questions and ideas are constantly being put down.

The user agreement does express a specific world and political view beyond the scope of the natural parenting purpose of the board, and it's not to be challenged. 

[lalaland42]

Originally Posted by Irishmommy 

Originally Posted by lalaland42 

I think it needs less subforums. I don't currently have a preschooler but I have in the past and I might have something to contribute to preschooler threads. I would never see them if I have a preschooler subforum though.

The vast majority of forums we have were created at members' request, not just because...

*shrugs* I didn't think that you did created them just because and I do think a lot of the subforums are good. But. There is a side effect of having more subforums that less people see each thread. It also makes it harder to navigate the site. End users don't always know such things.

[Latte Mama]

I used to be here all the time.  Once they "updated" the site, I found I really disliked the new format and still do to some extent.  It loads slower and the site just doesn't feel as friendly to me anymore.  I'll say that almost every site I've ever posted on that has updated ends up losing tons of members.  People like things to stay the way they are!

[EviesMom]

I think a couple of things would help as newbies are coming to the site. First off, make it clear in the top bar, with some brief 1 liner like "MDC is a board dedicated to natural family living. We host discussions on gentle discipline, breastfeeding, etc." The "inspiring natural families since 1976" doesn't serve that purpose, because it's super duper tiny, and it reads as part of the logo and not something to read about the site. 

I would restructure the list of forums, because some of the ones that bring people back again and again are now really buried. I think Intros and Questions and Suggestions make sense first, but then I'd either do the Ask an Expert forums, because those make it pretty clear what the tone of the board "should be" in an ideal situation, MDCs values, etc., or alternatively put some of the most popular first-timer boards under a new category. I would move waaaaay down the forums like product testing, testing 1-2-3 (if ever there was a forum header that doesn't sound like "great! a fun place to be!").. the Commune Guidelines (confuses people who just get here according to friends who joined recently). These aren't what you do initially to get an intro to the place. 

I would prioritize some of the favorite forums that are easy for new people to jump into--parenting, breastfeeding. Those are already relatively near the top, which is good, but the Natural Family Living has some of the biggest draws for new people to the community IMO--diapering, Mindful Home is really really buried, below the Ask the Experts, which seems like it's own thing and you think it's going to be the end of the whole list there. 

I would move down some of the forums people don't usually come for when they first come, and that are also somewhat more fringe-leaning at times--Health and Healing, Learning at School and Home, Case Against Circ, and Vaccinations. 

I would also move the Abuse forum, personally, bc I don't see how it fits best under Parenting. Seems like the Surviving Abuse should be it's own category to me. Same for News and Current Events under NFL. Why not its own forum?

I've also never understood why WAHM Well isn't under something like Parenting, since it's really akin to the working mother's forum. (Is that and SAHM gone?) I think those were useful, because it kept people at least a little separate when they were posting about something work related and didn't need to hear how awesome SAH is instead; nor when they were posting about how hard it is to SAH with little kids all day and didn't need to hear how WOHMs were so much saner bc they don't SAH. (I've done both, BTW, they're both hard.)

Polls and Games were great as well, and seem to do well on other boards I'm on. That could be bumped up and put under an intro section right under Intros and Q and A. Then encourage mods/regulars/whoever to create and run games. Those were great for camraderie. 

Lastly... I think the moderation is way too light now. Sure, it was over the top before. That I totally agree with. But the FB stuff is inflammatory and the moderation is too light for so many people in this space trying to figure out what it's about and what they can and can't say. Spinoff boards "work" sans moderation because people don't come into them without first having an intro to how such boards work; no one's really a newbie to the concept there, basically.  And also, the people who left because it was overmmoderated... well, they already left. They are truly unlikely to return from what I've seen in other boards/groups. You don't leave and come back when something changes, you just leave and stay away. 

Edited by EviesMom - 6/12/11 at 7:01pm

[annettemarie]

Those are some great ideas!

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by Latte Mama 

I used to be here all the time.  Once they "updated" the site, I found I really disliked the new format and still do to some extent.  It loads slower and the site just doesn't feel as friendly to me anymore.  I'll say that almost every site I've ever posted on that has updated ends up losing tons of members.  People like things to stay the way they are!

So, do members ever come back? Or do new members come in and replace the old? Or do the sites just eventually die out?

[EviesMom]

Originally Posted by annettemarie 

Originally Posted by Latte Mama 

I used to be here all the time.  Once they "updated" the site, I found I really disliked the new format and still do to some extent.  It loads slower and the site just doesn't feel as friendly to me anymore.  I'll say that almost every site I've ever posted on that has updated ends up losing tons of members.  People like things to stay the way they are!

So, do members ever come back? Or do new members come in and replace the old? Or do the sites just eventually die out?

I know this wasn't to me, but I think it's rare for people to come back. New people come in and become long-timers more often. If it's not welcoming to newcomers, it can die out, but I've seen almost-fizzled groups re-energized with new people more often than groups die out.

[insidevoice]

Originally Posted by annettemarie 

Originally Posted by Latte Mama 

I used to be here all the time.  Once they "updated" the site, I found I really disliked the new format and still do to some extent.  It loads slower and the site just doesn't feel as friendly to me anymore.  I'll say that almost every site I've ever posted on that has updated ends up losing tons of members.  People like things to stay the way they are!

So, do members ever come back? Or do new members come in and replace the old? Or do the sites just eventually die out?

The sites I've been a part of where this has happened generally fizzle unless there is a major resurgence pretty quickly.   There are a few people who check in for a while, but when the core group moves on it can be hard to recreate that sense of belonging, no matter how many people come to test the waters, and without that, the energy just dwindles so instead of checking a couple times a day, people will check a couple times a week, then a couple times a month- and it's just not a part of their daily routine anymore.