I agree. It is up to the stakeholders to make a decision that is right for them. I can only comment. I believe that they have been honest with the members so far as their knowledge goes, but that they also probably left some viable strategies unexplored.
I’m guessing that the ideas that were explored were those that would be obvious to a newspaper company, and some ‘new media’ strategies were shrugged off.
Great. Now the cruise director for off-board drama puffs out his pigeon chest and tries to do some amateur viral marketing. Head back on over, Carny. We’ll all meet you in a few minutes. Honest.
Man. Why do some people take scatological evisceration by unidentified tards so personally?
Yes, yes, yes, and Apple is gasping its last breath.
Sampy already took care of the viral marketing, Wavy.
Cruise director,pigeon chest, and viral marketing? Your metaphors don’t quite mesh, but you get an A for effort. Way to fit them all into such a short sentence.
Or identified ones for that matter…
As the admin for another board, here’s my thoughts on what may have caused the perceived downfall of the SDMB. FWIW.
[ul][li] Pay-to-post: Decreases the pool of potential new members to those who are willing to pay. Solution: Some message boards have had good luck with free memberships, but payment for extra features (avatars, custom titles, etc.), Google ads, allowing members to pay for low-cost banner ads that would appear for a week, and so on.[/li][li] robots.txt: The administrators of the site choose to exclude SDMB from being indexed by Google and Yahoo, and thus fewer people are likely to just stumble upon the site and join. Solution: open up the SDMB to search engines.[/li][li] Google: Many questions that users once asked in GQ can now be found through some research using Search engines, which are much more advanced now than in 2000. The online resources available to answer many GQ-like questions are available in greater abundance than in the “good 'ol days”, for instance Wikipedia and many niche sites. Also, some GQ posts generate short responses like “Google it” or “look at Wikipedia”. Responses like “here’s a thread from 2001” give new users the impression that it’s frowned upon to revisit old subjects and that their participation is unwelcome. Solution: a radical change in the mindset of many SDMB users.[/li][li] Resistance to change: New subforums are seldom added, new smilies are often discussed but never appear, and the software hasn’t been updated in years. Consider how long it took before post editing was implemented; even then, it was done with a lot of reservations by staff, and opposition from long-time members. The evolution of the SDMB is apparently frozen. The SDMB can seem like the shetl of Anatevka in Fiddler on the Roof, where tradition reigns supreme and things never change; not even the cliches. Solution: loosen up and experiment a bit.[/li][li] “The other board”, LiveJournal, etc: Many posters are less likely to post personal revelations, for fear of having a post dedicated to them on an anti-site. Solution: ???[/li] Offenderati: Much like the effects that “the other board” may have on self-censorship, some posters may be less likely to post questions about topics they fear might inadvertently offend a large group of people, incite a pile-on, and earn them a reputation that would be hard to shake off. If someone posted a question today like this one that Cecil answered more than two decades ago, they’d probably be flamed to a crisp. Solution: ???[/ul]
Damn edit window. I said …
“If someone posted a question today like this one that Cecil answered more than two decades ago, they’d probably be flamed to a crisp.”
… and meant to include this link.
This is the one that really blows me away. Am I looking it up correctly, does a new version of vB cost a measly 150 bucks?
What’s weird is the on and off of it sometimes. I distinctly remember threads where Tuba seemed pretty open to the idea of new forums but there seems a lot of resistance now to creating a Sports forum. Also, I still don’t get why MPSIMS’s name is sacrosanct.
There’s another problem with LJ. Lots of the personal stories that used to get posted here are now getting put up in LJ instead, where people can choose “friends only” settings. I always thought that a sort of in-house LJ set up for SDMB members as either an adjunct or replacement for MPSIMS might be the solution. The livejournal backend is open source, so it needn’t be expensive to set up. This could also be a part of your first “solution” to the pay2-post problem. Paid members would get a journal.
Metaphor? No, that would be:
“Here comes Carny, unfolding himself from behind a grimy desk in the back corner of the showroom floor. His threadbare pants are 2 inches too short, but his wide brown tie terminates a full 5 inches above his ample waist, even with his belt hiked up high on his belly. He’s hungry for a drink, but he’s also hungry for a sale. Spying a well dressed young woman browsing the dusty used cars, he licks his lips and hopes his breath isn’t as bad as he suspects it is. “She’s a runner!” He chortles as he waddles over.”
A vBulletin upgrade is free as long as the license owner pays the $30 annual support fee.
It’s easier with a new vBulletin blog plugin that was released by Jelsoft not too long ago. Alas, it doesn’t work with the old two-generation old version of vBulletin that the SDMB is using.
Amen. Its heels-dug-in defense is the. dumbest. thing. ever.
Well, I should have guessed that the vB guys would have had that thought. As long as it came with friends-only type filters it would suit my suggestion to a T. So saving on this $30 annual fee is really cutting this place down at the knees. Dang.
And Waverly, give it up. You aren’t very clever. Hint: I wasn’t trying to entice Jodi into anything.
I’ve never seen so many people go on and on talking about such a small amount of money. The membership fee really never got a second thought from me. I spend more than 15 dollars everyday on taxis and I forget those experiences almost immediately. This is a whole world of fun nonsense for a year. I don’t see what the problem is.
elmwood: Nice analysis, but each thing you mentioned will of course alienate different posters.
A good example would be that any animated **avatars ** would bug the hell out of me and even static avatars would be annoying.
The **Robot.txt ** being opened for Google indexing would be awesome and draw in many new guests. It would also be a huge improvement over the terrible search engine that this version of Vb has. However, many poster have poster more information, than maybe they should have and don’t want it opened to a Google search. Myself, I would prefer to have the Google search, this is how I find things quickly in wiki and the IMDB as two examples. Google just works better.
I agree that we don’t need to see anymore “Just Google it” posts in GQ. Actually, I don’t know how anyone can defend this practice. That is a bad and insulting habit. A small change to, “This is how I found it using Google” is friendly and fights ignorance.
The **resistance to change ** is a great point. Especially getting the update of Vb done, but that seems to be an issue of tech time and not an unwillingness to make the change. I would love to see the new Sports forum created. I begged for the edit window and I like the PM feature.
Offenderati: Problem here is that one person’s Offenderati is another person personal anguish. Someone insults someone in the news in a pit thread and someone else is going to jump in and take offense to the mention of race, sex, injury, handicap, intelligence, size or perhaps even a hump. To many of us, the concern looks like another rampant Offenderati but to that person, it might well be a really deep felt issue. I too, am clueless to the solution.
The point isn’t that no-one can afford it (as you’d surely have noticed if you’d read anyone’s posts); it’s that it represents a significant mental barrier to any newcomer pondering whether to sign up. After all, they can get something which is, on the face of it, every bit as good elsewhere for free. So why should they join? It doesn’t matter what the price is - people don’t like paying for something if they don’t have to. What’s the compelling reason why this place is more expensive than all the other MBs on the internet? And please, no bollocks about Dopers being some rarefied breed of hyperintellects.
Honestly, if I happened across the board for the first time as it is at present, I’d wonder who these nutters were who thought their run-of-the-mill MB was so special as to need paying for.
Then I’d probably check out GQ, roll my eyes and fuck off permanently.
Who is going on and on about a small amount of money? It’s the fact of having to go through any payment process at all which kills a lot of participation. While some people like you get all your money’s worth right away, running around and being a popular iconoclast gadfly party girl, some people just post a couple times a month. If they sign up, post a couple times then come back next month to see they’ve been shut out, a great many aren’t going to bother digging out their wallet. That’s why I kind of like that “30days/30posts which ever’s last suggestion” that was made in ATMB a while ago. I like the idea described by elmwood better (i.e, members get perks but everyone can post)
I know, I know, this place is so freaking awesome that if they don’t see that immediately then who needs them anyway.
I don’t know why but this just seems really mean spirited
Because it was mean spirited, don’t let CarnalK bug you to much. He’s okay overall.
Jim
Call me easily impressed, but I really do think that Dopers are a rare breed. Even on other boards that I really like to read, like Snopes, I just don’t get the same vibe that I get from here. Here, there does seem to be a certain standard that I think is worth paying for if I have to.