online statistics

D

DFW

Membership Expired
In the forum statistics box at the bottom of this page it has an "online" category. Of course I slept last night, but prior to sleeping, and this morning after waking, I have bothered to look at this statistic. The most that I have seen "online" is "8". Mostly it said "3". Is this telling me that this site is hardly being used at all?  
 
yea it seems like it doesn't get alot of traffic anymore. I was around before the swap and we had tapatalk access then (way easier to use than current) Back after a break) and Facebook or reef2reef/reefcentral are the places to go now. 
 
Yeah Tapatalk was nice, I think there is still a chance it will get re-integrated back into the new site, just no eta.
 
The old forums had group buys which I believe was enormously popular. Also, there are a lot of topics no one posts in. I really think that helping to get things cheaper on group buys was a major perk for established hobbyists.
 
There is a meeting at MACNA for club members from all over to come together and discuss what is working for their club. I will be attending to see what and how other clubs are generating traffic, conversation other than FB. I hope we will get some new ideas that we can incorporate into our web site.
 
I can't speak for everyone but I have noticed the only traffic for this forum is the classifieds. There are just no informative post made anymore. When I first joined this group several years ago you could login everyday and find new post with useful information. Now all that is posted is someone trying to offload their used equipment. I'm as guilty as anyone but there are very few build updates or experiences shared on this forum. 
 
If one were to take a look at when the site usage plummeted, would they find that it corresponds directly with this new site design? The old site was engaging. How would you describe this one? Could the statistics here be describing it for us? I would include looking at what was working so well while searching for new ideas.
 
The new site was an attempt to generate more interaction, and thus far it has not worked. That being said, the old site was only being used for selling towards the end and that was one of the justifications to make a change. Loosing the history was never planned but due to development issues, we were forced to make last minuet adjustments. This is a work in progress and it's the BOD's mission to continue to improve on what this site can offer. We could no longer support the framework of the old site and it was being hacked and going down daily. The club was blessed to have had a great developer who built the old site for free, but the cost to build and maintain a new site like the old site with all of the data was beyond the clubs budget. We will continue to invest in this site until we have a site that everyone can be proud to use. Please continue to make suggestions and we will work to get those suggestions incorporated.
 
Here are some ideas to drive traffic to the site. 1.) Most people "hobby" as a means of meeting people with similiar interests. We can ask the LFSs to sponsor socials and advertise those as opposed to "20% off sale tomorrow" 2.) The Earth is flat seems to be a pretty popular thread atm - a little controversy doesn't kill anyone. 3.) This is an expensive hobby. Pooling resources to get greater discounts was a major crowd drawer in the past. (As I previously mentioned). 4.) Did I say controversy draws in people? Well, this is a science hobby we should be debating more unusual reef keeping ideals and so, we need to encourage that... 5.) Web events - online auction on site only members and sponsors can see - it could be great for sponsors to drive interest get people to look at things they weren't previously looking at...
 
Honestly, I probably won't show up at a LFS for a discount unless I was already planning to go, but it does seem like other club members have in the past.The Earth is flat.....just on a very small local scale.Everybody likes a good group buyI'll offer a free frag to anyone who puts up a build threadI really like events, not just frag swaps.  The event at the aquarium was my favorite.  I would be much more likely to attend board meetings if there were speakers.
 
Posted by: Steve The new site was an attempt to generate more interaction said:
Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the club members were using the site the way that they wanted to use it? There are 7 online right now, and half of those are no longer at their computer.
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^Perhaps, but being a for-sale forum isn't the stated goal of the club, and probably doesn't distinguish us from Craigslist.
 
I think if people only want to use the site for buy and sell we should kill forums, build a static page, charge a $.01 for your for sale ads.... The goal of the club is education - responsible ownership and science
 
Posted by: jccaclimber ^Perhaps said:
Propagation of corals to supply local markets so as to take pressure off of the reefs IS a stated goal of the club, by the way!!!!!! How hard is it to actually remember what the goals of the club are? But this club has as it's reps persons that don't seem to comprehend that home grown corals being sold/traded is THE fulfilment of those goals. Rather than lauding these successes, they belittle them, and try to hide them, stop them. They would rather have that selling done on Craigslist. There's a crazy disconnect somewhere. 
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^Ok, propagating coral yes, selling used lights and filters, less so (still helpful, but not as valuable as the knowledge).  I think talking about propagation is more valuable than selling frags, but I agree that both have value.
 
Posted by: BrianC I think if people only want to use the site for buy and sell we should kill forums said:
 Freedom is something that I think would work out real nice - freedom to enjoy your hobby the way that you want to enjoy it. Wow! What a concept - freedom! Instead it looks like the main written goal of the club should be to make sure that no one sells/trades corals? By the way, having home grown corals for sale shows that we are taking pressure off the reefs, a goal of our club.
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@DFW I like and hear what you are saying but, the coral propagators and the fish breeders need to teach and share what they have learned. If new hobbies just continually fail who is going to buy those fish and corals?  I know MOST advanced hobbyist are simply breaking even if they sale something and the hobby takes a ton of time but, new ideas are hatched from new hobbyists as much as old. Amd if there are more hobbyists buying salt it should reduce manufacturers costs and increase demand for corals which increases value.
 
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