How to boost forum activity?

Forum Feedback
21

The Off-topic category has been restricted again and is now invisible for unregistered users :smiley: :+1:
(we might restrict it for trust level 1 users instead, which is registered member with minimal activity, such has having read multiple topics)

22

Thanks @canapin, I donā€™t think restricting to level 1 users will keep everybody happy. There are many long time members who are not interested at all in the silly off-topic threads and though it is possible for them to hide those posts, it basically means making it harder for those who only want to read threads about unicycling techniques.

Canā€™t you make the off-topic ones invisible by default and only those of us who do want to read those and see them on the homepage, can activate that through the settings. I think there are more peeps who donā€™t want to see these threads than there are that do.

We can still reference other members from the off-topic threads if we want to include them.

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23

Even if I post in them from time to time, most of the time I donā€™t particularly like having those ā€œgameā€ topics prominently shown on the home page.

But even if this category doesnā€™t have many active topics, there are still non-game topics that can interest regular users, because they are funny, interesting or ice-breaking.

For example:

https://unicyclist.com/t/have-you-tried-riding-an-electric-unicycle/290068

https://unicyclist.com/t/music-thread/289936/

https://unicyclist.com/t/what-your-username-means/289981/

https://unicyclist.com/t/for-disc-brake-experts-ideas-for-a-wheelchair-braking-system/283952

https://unicyclist.com/t/what-sports-do-you-do/275747/80

https://unicyclist.com/t/must-see-movies/67548/590

Etcā€¦

Iā€™d be sad to see them gone from the home page, people would not be aware of them unless they are actively looking for them (new topics would also be mostly ignored). The issue is more with the spammy game topics.

Many forums have such topics, and some of them put them in a dedicated category or subcategory.

Would putting those topics in a hidden by default ā€œforum gamesā€ subcategory be a good enough compromise?

5 Likes
24

Yeah it is the spammy ones that are the problem. And I am well aware I have been very active in those threads, coz they are very fun together with @ManiusTerentiusPullus and @Raven but naturally it is not my intention to irritate other users who are not interested in these threads. I kinda do feel bad about that :slight_smile:. I very much enjoy the forum and the peeps in here.

I see your point in those other threads to then also not show up on the homepage. Though I would be sad if the only solution is to close down the spammy threads altogether, since it also brings people together, maybe you can create like a Games category for longtime members only or something.

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25

I am pretty sure you saved this forum too by migrating it, as I recall the posts on the old forum had reduced to a trickle before it was taken offline to migrate.

I made a conscious decision many years ago to never have a Facebook account so I donā€™t really know what kind of activity there is there, but could someone do a semi-regular/periodic post on some of the unicycle groups to point folk this way? Perhaps people do know about the forum but just see it as frequented by ā€œold peopleā€ (or terms to that effect) as the demographic here perhaps tends that way.

If the recent increase in bandwidth/page-accesses was for actually some LLM training type things, perhaps we might end up actually benefitting from that if it leads to more people finding the site due to the large knowledgebase and hence referrals. Likewise, is there anything that can be done to get higher rankings on straight google searches?

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26

I completely agree with you on that point. Once of the biggest issue with the old French forum was that it was not adaptive: it was a real pain to browse the forum on a smartphone, so lots of people would just not go there because who still goes on website through their laptop? (Except some people who work on a laptop, as I do.)

I donā€™t know about Telegram. I know some of them have migrated to Signal or WhatsApp, but as far as I know, this is mostly for club-internal stuff only. For wider reach, I think people still use Facebook/Instragam, emails and the official French website (monocycle.info).

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27

Very good idea

28

Iā€™ve set Off-topic available for trust level 1 users minimum so, newly registered users wonā€™t see it until they have at least read the forum for ten minutes.

Iā€™ve created Off-topic > Games. The category is muted by default, so if you want to see the topic on the home page, you must change the notification setting.
You can do that either from from the category page by clicking the :bell: icon (easiest way), or your profile page.

You canā€™t be granted badges from posting in this category, and it has a very low priority in the search algorithm.

I think this issue can be considered fixed, and we can focus back on the original matter :slight_smile:

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30

Iā€™m not against making it more visible discoverable, but Iā€™m not sure we can have the best from both world, making it both visible and invisible. I think we can discuss that, feel free to create a topic in Forum Feedback :slight_smile:

31

(Sorry added the item as a reply to @Manius)

So now the only way to get to the Games category from the homepage is through Categories > Off-topic > Sub categories > Games?

New peeps will never find it.

EDIT: yes we can focus on the original matter. Thanks for the changes :wink:

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32

Not even a meaningless badge? :pleading_face:

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33

from now on there will only be meaningful badges. I donā€™t even have the Meaningless badge.

34

Only automatic badges canā€™t be granted from posting in Off-topic > Games :face_with_tongue:
Others are at adminsā€™ discretion :smirking_face:f-slide:

35

An obvious flaw is that any necroed off topic games will initially show up in the Off Topic section, causing the exact situation we were having recently.

Well in that case, I suggā€¦ :man_cartwheeling:f-spin,flip::uni:f-wobble: !! ā€¦

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36

Off-topic > Games is muted by default and topics wonā€™t appear in Off-topic unless you change your notification settings :slight_smile:
Itā€™s completely an opt-in category, and the discoverability is low.

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37

Iā€™d like to try the banner thing to welcome visitors.
Do you guys have some cool pictures that I could use with authorization to put in the banner? Think landscape size: the banner wonā€™t exactly be massive, so the picture must be appealing, even cropped.
What about pictures of:

  • Muni
  • Freestyle
  • Touring/Racing

?

A short welcome text would be nice as well, if you have ideas.

38

Oh excellent. I hadnā€™t brought it up, but I had noticed the sudden increase in what I would consider mostly spam threads on the home page. Iā€™ve even posted in one or two in the past, but theyā€™re not what I want to see most of the time.

I think a banner might be nice, and I donā€™t know whether thereā€™s a way to do it with Discourse, but a selection of media might not go amiss either to tempt people into threads.

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39

Iā€™m not down with the kids - is there anywhere thatā€™s social and visible to anyone in a similar manner that people are using these days?

Facebook also seems old hat, #unicycle on irc.freenode.net is definitely old hat (and I think even the holdouts got fed up of Freenode years ago).

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40

There are two components for this, see my reply: How to boost forum activity? - #5 by Canapin

Iā€™ll probably pick the 2nd one as it supports arbitrary HTML so it can be more customized. The first one is more like a pre-designed banner with fewer customization features.

41

The selection of media was a different suggestion. As in a section that changes every time you visit, showing media that users have posted, that you can click on to go to that thread.

A banner image is presumably not going to change too often.

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