How Can We Add New Members??

David I don't always sign in when I check the boards here so I would be listed as a guest at those times. I assume other members do this also because sometimes it is just a quick check on the boards. As soon as I see something I want to respond to I sign in. Maybe we all need to sign in right away so it shows the members are here, huh?

 

maybe have a contest........give away a t-shirt or hat ? maybe to the 20th new member? (just thinking)

 

Secure Login? Not that I have ever had a password problem here, but back in the day AOL was the worst.

 

I'm fairly new here and became a member after lurking for a fairly long time. I felt no need to immediately sign up because I didn't see a lot of friendly banter back and forth outside of the long term admins, mods, and staff. I've run a few forums and I found that new people like to be responded to in a fashion other than a dry response to a question, you have to sort of make them feel at home. I know this is more difficult on a tech forum such as this where people come only when they have a problem to solve. It also takes more 'staff' time to chit chat a bit but if you want to build a larger base one has to expand the methods of doing business. Once people feel comfortable enough they will begin to respond to one another so staff involvement gets back to the point of just moderation. You want people to come here for other reasons than just "I have a virus! Help me!" otherwise your growth will be slower than what you might want.

I initially came here because of the Way Off Base postings and read them every day. It's entertaining. Then I would scan for whatever new software was listed that day to see if there was something that sounded good. I eventually signed up for the Support Forum as a 'just in case' scenario to identify any issues my computers might throw at me. I wasn't drawn in by thinking 'Hey, this is a cool place to be! This looks like a friendly place to learn'. The Support Forum seems very rigid in where new people don't seem welcome to respond to other members issues. The 'staff' appears to be this impenetrable wall and people may feel intimidated and go somewhere else to feel more at 'home'.

Okay, so this place is for of the more hard core geeks and maybe you want to keep it that way. Which is fine as you have some very knowledgeable staff and the people who do post problems here appear to get them solved quickly although clinically. It's human nature to want to 'belong' to something and overall Major Geeks doesn't really offer a sense of belonging. It will get an issue solved for sure but once that happens that person leaves and doesn't come back until another issues needs solving. And that could be six months, a year, or never as they have forgotten who helped them the first time. There has to be a reason for them to stick around, tell their friends, and spread the word.

Just an outsiders opinion....don't hurt me.

 

As an old old old not too active member, let me say that when I first arrived here many years ago, I needed help. Got it in rapid fashion and really enjoyed the comraderie and friendly banter which occurred between members, admins and owners. I have never felt like an outsider looking in, even though I tend to lurk mainly. I have enjoyed the pranks, teasing and all out hilarity going on frequently here. I am sorry you feel that this is a place for hard core geeks. It is home to a host of friendly helpful tech-savvy folks who welcome comments and ideas from less-than-savvy folks like me on occasion. I truly miss some of the older members who don't seem to be around as much as in olden days. If they popped in today, they would still seem like family.
To me, this forum has been more than helpful and a fun place to hang out.

 

DavidGP,
The problem is two-fold:
1. The overwhelming majority of new members came here to get help, not give help.
2. Of the 12 new members in 3 days, 8 don't have a single post! Why did they sign up?

I respectfully disagree...
How many of the 11 staff members do you see posting in the Software (the most active) & Hardware forums?

 

(Sorry, am having trouble quoting)

Eldon said:
I respectfully disagree...
How many of the 11 staff members do you see posting in the Software (the most active) & Hardware forums?


I see the same names over and over (not all staff ) and not many if any new names in the discussions
Eldon
Earthling
Satrow
Plodr
Kestral
Sgt Tibbs
Chaslang
Dr Moriarity
TimW
DavidGP
The Mechanic
AltBo
Major Attitude
Just P_layin
Mimsy

Yes, I missed a few for sure.
This is just an observation

Eldon said:
The overwhelming majority of new members came here to get help, not give help
Of the 12 new members in 3 days, 8 don't have a single post! Why did they sign up?

They signed up for the same reason I did perhaps, as a place to read about the latest malware, software mishaps, and learning how to avoid those issues. I tried giving help once and it fell on deaf ears so I figured no one was listening. In the majority of replies made by new members I do not see feedback from the regulars saying something like "Hey, good advice. I was just going to say that" or even a "That's not quite right in my experience but thanks" So if you're not going to encourage people to post they why should they bother? Now don't pick out a single instance in 20 posts to say "See! We do respond" because I'll point to the other 19 as not a good track record.

In the Welcome Center when a brand new person comes in to say hello how many responses are there and who makes them? It's the same old names the vast majority of the time and even not many of those. Just take a look at todays first page of the Welcome forum and only one has 8 replies and the others 1 to 5 for the most part. In the forums I ran it was encouraged that regular members as well as mods and Admins respond to the news ones so that they feel welcomed and want to stick around. I'm NOT implying I ran good forums! Right now I sense a little hostility instead of people sitting back and thinking about what I have posted. I MAY NOT BE RIGHT but this is my overall impression and I am giving my response to an honest question asked by DavidGP.

 

I participate pretty much solely in the Lounge. Not sure I could tell you the last time I even looked at another forum... a hundred years ago when I joined here, I was moderating another (now dead) tech site/forums, and I wanted no part of it. Maybe because I was used to the format, I just jumped in and started commenting on stuff, and eventually got to make friends (a few of whom have long since left this board, but we've remained friends IRL). As such, I can't really suggest how to get people to join from the tech side, and since that's where the focus of this site lies I guess I am no help whatsoever.

I do get what Maine is saying, though... Because MG prides itself on giving correct, helpful, accurate tech advice, newcomers offering suggestions are not really encouraged to do so. Not because they might not have something valid to say, but because they are an unknown quantity and the site would rather err on the side of people not speaking up than having bad advice given. Even without frequenting the tech forums, I know that to be true because I've seen more than one post about it. And chatting is not really encouraged on the tech side as well, which makes it difficult for people to form personal relationships with people...that happens almost exclusively in the Lounge, and if someone is here because they have a computer problem odds are really good they won't click on the Lounge just to see what might be going on.

Today would be slow since it's Christmas, I'm sure. Although I do think forums hit their high point about 10 years ago and have been declining ever since. Many sites have done away with them altogether, and not just in the tech world. They cost the most to run for the least return, and are not always pleasant to deal with, especially for the volunteer moderators.

 

Click Reply to quote the entire post.
Or, highlight the part you want to quote, and click the grey button that will appear.

You quoted 15 names.
8 of those members are not staff. They have made a big contribution to the support forums, and continue to do so.
4 are malware fighters who devote 99% of their time to helping members in the Malware Removal forum.
1 is a co-owner.

That's what Like, next to Reply, is for.

During your 9 months on MajorGeeks, how many new members did you welcome?

Who's the hostility coming from?

 

Maybe set a date in the coming future for a day when as much as can sign in so at least we can beat the robots!

 

Very true, not many. But then I'm not very emotionally attached to this forum. Again, I'm just responding to an initial question and saying things that I see may be issues.

Here for one. Doesn't matter if I welcome new members. I was just replying to David as to what I see as an overall issue. No need to attack.

Still don't see a lot of that anywhere. I haven't gone through posts just now to check but in my memory of reading posts I don't remember many 'regulars' thanking newbies for posting a solution. But thank you for helping me with my issue on quoting a reply.

For the novice (like myself) they certainly appear to be due to the frequency. Yes, they do excellent work for free but my point was that the same names appear over and over and there are not many others who post replies to problems. It is of my humble opinion that this needs to change for the forum to grow. I have no solution, but am just responding to the question asked by David by trying to point something out. And you really don't want my non-technical persona responding to issues, I'd end up blowing up their computers.

 

Well, speaking as a sporadic visitor, maybe it is time to take a step back and look at things with fresh eyes?

I just did a quick & dirty run through the site. Some of the content indicates a bit of policing up the area may be good for 2016. While you're incrementing the copyright notice, take a what comes up as you go through the main menu items. As an example, the v1.01 Updater has a last updated datestamp from 2014 and Windows 10 isn't in the requirements listing. (I wonder if the Updater isn't counter productive. Does it reduce web traffic and stats? Does the 18 months since an update make people think MajorGeeks isn't committted?)

Here's an idea for getting new members. Geeks have a keen sense of the absurd. How about an absurd new member campaign with a theme of military recruiting on the home page. Have a contest for submitting your own recruiting posters and mock policies for different methods MajorGeeks could use : All volunteer, Impressment, The Draft, ROTC, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Boot Camp, Join the Reserves, classic Military artwork re-spun, You will be assimilated, etc. All should have a Geek spin to the military theme to qualify.

If you get some really good ones, sell coffee mugs with the Recruiting posters with part of the profit going to the creator. (Submitting to the contest should have a caveate giving MajorGeeks unlimited use rights without giving up ownership of creative rights. )

On a more serious note, I've been off the front line for a while and have gotten a pot belly in my Techie skills. Unfortunately, the volume of material to learn continues to expand exponentially and it is hard to pick where to jump back in. Perhaps a 2016 prioritized list of the highest recommended tools would be good too. To keep the theme, you could grade them as raw recruit, non-com, ROTC, Weekend Warrior, BlackOps, Special Services, Rear Echelon, Senior Staff, etc.

 

David this is just an observation and may or may not be the reason we see less members here. It may be a sign of the times. I know most of my family and friends are not getting on their Windows computers very often if ever now days as they are mostly using Smart Phones with Android or Apple to get on the internet. I know there is a Forum here for Smart Phones and Tablets also but there does not seem to be heavy traffic there. Just an opinion.

 

I was just saying that someone was going to have to update the "All content Copyright ©2000 - 2015 MajorGeeks.com" notice in the footer to "2016" somewhere in the next couple days. And while they are doing that, taking a walk through the main menu links would be worthwhile.

That "Updater" link to the right of "Home" at the top of the screen indicates that it is a strong recommendation. But the page there make it look like support is not ongoing... simply because the current Windows OS was released half of year ago and isn't in the "Requirements" list. It's all about new user perceptions there.

Unless the app is recompiled to have new features or bug fixes, changing the date to just drive traffic would be a major PR SNAFU. Revising the "Requirements" after a new OS is tested is a reasonable thing.

 

Good call! And I would also like to point out, as someone who regularly is on a smartphone rather than a computer, that this site was a huge PITA to navigate mobile! The new software is a lot better than the old (the old was pretty much impossible to use mobile), but the only reason I know that is just now I checked. I hadn't tried to use it in months mobile because of how awful it was. I realize that won't affect new people, but anyone who tried to use it before would know that and have given up already. Also, that means any time I was here mobile, I wasn't signed in so I was one of the "guests" even though on a computer I'm always logged in here.

@DavidGP I'm not saying there should be joking in the tech forums, just that since there really isn't chit-chat nobody new is going to have much of a personal connection to anyone there, and thus less likely to stick around after their problem is solved. Also, if you think about it, anybody under the age of 30 is conditioned to Twitter-verse, where everything can be compressed into 140 characters or less and "interaction" is simply gathering followers and likes. Those of us who grew up on old-school forums tend more toward talking. Oh, and by the way, when I got "hired" by my first tech site it was to co-moderate their kitchen/cooking forum... I didn't know jack about tech! http://i.imgur.com/niXKW.gif

 

Agreeing with what Sgt Tibbs said - the new forum is much more mobile friendly!

I'm going to suggest that the reason visitors don't sign up is the same reason they don't sign up for any of the other 10+ support forums they visited the same day: they could find what they needed without registering and posting their questions. And it's pretty much a solid guarantee that any forum that required them to sign up before they could search existing posts, is a forum they quickly deleted from their browser history and moved on from. In this day and age, there is so much FUD in the "news" about the dangers of online identity theft that the average person who comes here for help probably also is overly cautious about providing their email address anywhere online unless they have to. (At least I hope so - better to be too paranoid than too trusting, when you explore the tubes of the interwebs).

And yes, forums are a very different conversational environment than either Twitter or Facebook, and attract different types of people. I'd go so far as to say that there is no reason for anyone to join a forum unless they plan/want to become a part of e forum community.

 

Completely agree.
I think it's encouraging for new members when they see staff members online.
Also, it just might be a determent for the spammers.

I will (again) look into this.

So true. And don't forget the tablets.
Until about 2 years ago, not a week went by without me getting humorous emails from family and friends. Now their online communications are limited to Facebook and WhatsApp.

 

One action that will never endear many people to a forum is if in the off-topic area a discussion is simply shut down because one or two solitary posters calmly disagree with what the majority are saying. Anybody would think someone had posted 'I think you're talking crap and if I see you in the street I'll punch your lights out!'.
Now that would warrant closing a thread.
Either have an off-topic forum and moderate it like a mature adult or just don't have one.
Moderating it to stop disagreement or alternative viewpoints just makes it look like an exclusive club for like-minded people.

 

I actually agree that it would be better to have no threads at all on contentious issues and that 'The Lounge' reserved for anything but social/political/religious issues.
But that has to be a clear decision because right now, if a poster is verging on a Tea Party radical (or worse), the thread will stay...until someone disagrees.
Personally, I stopped getting involved in online comment of almost any kind a long time ago but I was moved by factually overwhelmingly incorrect stuff posted here a few days ago in a now closed thread. For that reason I wont post again because it's clearly a waste of time.

 

Dave . ya old monkey wrangler - i'm backkk , dunno if yas can handle me sense of humor , but will be tame on yas ..

 

I spent 30 odd years doing tech support (35 years in IT/computing), both on the phone and personally. Teaching part time at technical college, helping run computers groups. I crochet, am an amateur radio operator, write computer software (trying to make a nice interface that someone will use is hard!!) and frankly, my wrists hurt from typing and I am worn out.

I'd help out if I weren't so burned out, stressed out by my idiot neighbours, the prospect of fires close to us, diabetes and my next cancer test!!!

If I manage to make headway on my family recipe manager (I can't do fancy graphics). I promise to try to get involved more.

That's my excuse!!!

 

Best way to add new members is to restart the cash stipend you guys offered back in 2002 when this place rocked.

 

The problem isn't attracting new members as such - they sign up on a daily basis - but to attract new members who contribute in the support forums.

 

If that's the issue, the easier (?) solution to the problem could just as easily be to get your current Lounge-only members to go back to posting in the support forums... I am trying to get back in the habit, but am not doing it nearly as much as I used to.

 

I was not going to post this as some will see it as a poke in the eye, but DavidGP asked.
MG has always been a great support forum for all manner of computer related issues. One dichotomy keeps coming up and it got me banned from the malware section. Fix what is wrong or replace what is wrong. Both choices need to be explored. Some of our users have more time than money, some have more money than time. MG seems to always try to fix.
A friend called me saying he found a rootkit on his computer - my answer was "buy a new SSD, drop it by and I will set up Win 7". $200 is nothing to him and we have similar systems so I can image the drive. His data is on an NAS.
Maybe we need the fast and expensive replacement answer as well as the slow and cheap repair.
Want more customers? Speed up the repairs when we can.

 

Thank you.
I almost considered answering all Software & Hardware problems with 'Re-install Windows' or 'Buy a new PC'.

 

We need both options to be available. We also need to know when to apply which one, and we hardly ever do. If DOA's friend showed up here and asked for help, without explaining that he doesn't care about the data on the drive because he has a full backup, I strongly doubt that anyone would offer "reformat and reinstall" to him as a first option. Doing that to someone who cares only about the data offends them and makes them leave.

Our biggest challenge when doing support in a forum is that we never know which user type we are dealing with.

 

Could be the fact that guest can come here and search the Support Forum and find a fix for a problem they are having without signing up as a member. There is a lot of Guest traffic here daily. If they do not find an answer for their problem by searching and reading the forum or don't understand how to apply it they may then sign up as a member and ask for help.

 

On a different note, I am actively trying to remember to post MG articles on other support sites, rather than the first Google link that fits. This is a habit we can all form.