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Post by Woody (Admin) on Dec 28, 2022 11:06:44 GMT
Hi Skiathos Boomerang Members,
I am looking for advice from members on how this forum can evolve and attract new members, or encourage current members to engage in topics more often. We currently have 1445 members, but only a few post on a regular basis. I fully understand that at this time of year, the forum does go a little quiet.
This forum does not easily allow posting of photos and videos and sometimes this discourages people from joining in, but fully agree that some people do like this type of forum style.
Do I need to edit or remove any of the the current board topics, some have not been posted to for quite a few years? A revamp of how the forum is displayed?
Can we try and push this forum on other platforms?
Would current members like a private Facebook group for members only, so pictures and videos can easily be posted? Or maybe another type of social media (closed groups only)? These of course would run alongside the current forum.
I will not do anything until I have some feedback from the members (those that regularly post or others who just "Look In").
I hope you had a lovely Christmas and that you have a great New Year.
Regards
Woody (admin)
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Post by kelso on Dec 28, 2022 11:38:40 GMT
Thanks for all your work on the site Richard. I agree that the procedure for posting photos is a drawback. Is it not possible for this to be simplified? ( Cue for row from Dennis telling me that it is not difficult! ššš) I think that it would be a shame to remove some of the topics. I still occasionally pop in to some of these even if some of the information might be a bit out of date. I think we just have to accept that things slow down at this time of year, in line with the other Skiathos sites on Facebook. This site contains info that others donāt, ie the interactive map, the Whoās going pages and the webcam link. I think the best bet is to try to push the site to as many others as we can. Thanks again and wishing you a very happy2023. Bob
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Post by exgreekgod on Dec 28, 2022 17:58:50 GMT
Hi everyone I agree with everything said, for me personally I am more of a just look in and see what's going on than a regular poster but I think the photo posting thing is a definite drawback. I'm a member of a motorcycle forum also hosted by Proboards that doesn't have this problem and is just a case of downloading straight from your phone, surely this could somehow be enabled on this site?
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Post by balddave on Dec 28, 2022 19:33:34 GMT
Whilst the ability to down load photos would be a big plus , I personally wouldnāt change much else, I appreciate the honesty of this forum, by that I mean ,if someone asks a genuine question members will answer to the best of their ability without going off on a tangent or promoting individual business. I find on other forums the original question gets lost in translation or go off on a completely different tangent, this ultimately results in a war of words which gets personal, this leaves the OP with a negative outlook and no answer to their questions. Rule of thumb, if you have nothing positive to say,say nothing
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Post by dennisn on Dec 29, 2022 9:05:30 GMT
Well, for what my opinion is worth, I personally would not welcome āourā forum joining the FB mode of being a photo show. I visit the FB page far more often than our forum, itās so easy, just switch my brain off and click into FB for a mindless session. The FB page is designed around photos, indeed EVERY day you are invited to submit a āsnapā photo and a āthemeā photo, so anybody can do it and those who do often submit oodles of them. Regularly, some people submit their latest dayās album, with any number of photos. How many times (a week!) do we see Pan jewellery? Of course, the very nature of FB creates that repetition problem - posts disappear into history, so each photo is a brand new incarnation (of Pan, etc). But it really is getting very boring.
I donāt have any idea how to attract more participation here, but I for one would worry that an easing of photo uploading might lead to us moving in the FB direction. Maybe Iāll make a New Year resolution to decorate future posts with meaningful photos (like Kev did).
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Post by dennisn on Dec 29, 2022 22:52:40 GMT
Having pondered some more, I could go along with a private FB group, limited to existing members of this forum.
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Dec 31, 2022 9:59:24 GMT
Okay, interesting stuff.
PHOTOS
For starters, I believe it's quite possible to add the facility to add photos. However, I believe there's a cost implication (I stand to be corrected).
If so, who would pay? Woody alone? Not fair. All members? That won't encourage anyone to join. 'Active members'? What if some don't want to? Also, and this might sound back-to-front, but it might be too cheap, and involve a dozen of us paying Woody two bob each every month, or something silly. I can see any such arrangement falling down very quickly.
So let's say we've sorted that, and it's not an issue. Yes, I'd like to be able to add photos directly from my phone in the holiday feedback section. I love reading others' reports, and photos help. They're also useful when asking/answering questions, giving directions, and so on. So it's an unqualified "Yes please!" from me.
Having said that, I take the point about not wanting to be spammed with photos; this isn't FaceBook. Perhaps we could set up rules/guidelines. Look a few threads above this to the stickies, and there is indeed a (rarely used) 'Skiathos Photo of the Day' thread. Perhaps set a rule to only allowing photos:
- If necessary/helpful when asking a question - If necessary/helpful when answering a question/providing information - In your holiday feedback - Something else which I've no thought of, but which others may come up with - If there's anything else, if someone just wants to post a photo for fun, it can go in the 'Skiathos Photo of the day' thread, or a 'Post a Photo Here Whenever You Like' thread which other members can view or ignore as they see fit.
FACEBOOK
Private FaceBook page? Yes, I can see the attraction, and yes I'd go with it. But I'm worried that these forums might lose their unique character. It also doesn't attract those who don't have a FaceBook account, or who only rarely use it. We might see current members leaving, or not engaging, because they see others using it in conjunction with FaceBook. You end up with a two-tier membership, which is counter-productive. There are a hundred Skiathos FaceBook pages, but only one online forum.
REMOVING UNUSED TOPICS
Editing the board topics? It might seem that there are two options. Keep it as it is, or delete the unused ones. But there might be a third way. Take all the rarely used ones, and make them sub-forums of a 'Rarely Used' or 'Other Stuff' forum, in the same way that 2023, 2022, 2021 etc. are sub-forums of the 'Holiday Feedback' forum. They'd still be there, but the forum would look less cluttered.
ATTRACTING NEW MEMBERS
As for attracting new members, do we want to? Well, of course we do. I'm not saying we don't want new members, but once again, there are FaceBook groups for those who want to post in that particular way, or are only going once, or whatever. I wasn't invited to this forum, I found it because I went looking for it. And maybe that's the sort of people we have here, and why we like it...and that's the sort of new member we'd like, too; people who don't see this Skiathos discussion as just another thing which might pop up on their FaceBook news feed, but people who come here regularly and specifically. I'm at FaceBook groups for several other places I've been (like the hotel I went to in Tenerife), but I wouldn't join a dedicated forum like this. I might be totally wrong on that, by the way. And yes, a bit of new blood would be very welcome, as would more input from existing members.
As an aside, we've had 5 members online within the last 24 hours, and 13 in the last month. And it's the middle of winter!
In general, I'm happy to go with the flow. Those are just my thoughts.
Anyway, Merry Christmas, and have a great new year.
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Post by dennisn on Dec 31, 2022 10:35:35 GMT
Good post, YM.
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Dec 31, 2022 11:05:05 GMT
A bit more data on usage (because I like me data).
I find the Holiday Feedback forum useful for seeing who's posting regularly.
Okay, I might be 1 or 2 out, but the number of people posting about their experiences are:
2022 - 7 2021 - 8 2020 - 7 2019 - 10 2018 - 8 2017 - 13 2016 - 7 2015 - 13 2014 - 6 2013 - 7 AVERAGE 8.6 per year
The 'last time they posted a review' figures:
7 in 2022 2 in 2021 2 in 2020 3 in 2019 1 in 2018 7 in 2017 2 in 2016 5 in 2015 2 in 2014 4 in 2013
That means 35 people have posted reviews in total.
Apologies for any errors.
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Post by katet on Jan 1, 2023 10:06:14 GMT
I'm very regretful that I've not been on here for a while ... since September, in fact. No real reason, just quite busy with family and hobby stuff. I realise I didn't even finish my holiday report š
For me, easier posting of the odd photo would be a huge plus. The lack of visuals may, perhaps, be why some people have a look at the forum but don't return. I've learned a lot about Skiathos from looking at photos ... for example, you can get an idea of what various beaches/hotels/restaurants are like from travellers' snaps.
I also like to dip into the archives. When I started to get a bit Skiathos-obsessed I spent hours going through the older stuff, which was fabulous. (We'd been visiting the island every year from 2004, but in 2015 I found myself wanting to find out every snippet of information I could. I think it was because we were retiring in 2016 and planning to spend more time there each summer.)
I'd be willing to pay a small annual sub for the pleasure of adding photos more easily.
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 1, 2023 11:18:29 GMT
Thank you all for your feedback, so far. It seems that the ability to more easily post photos onto the forum is on the "most wanted list", rather than maybe a dedicated FB Page or other social media.
However, as Yorkshiremouth has stated, for Proboards to allow photos to be added directly as an attachment, there is a cost element (per Mb per month). Currently, the forum is on a free attachment plan, but that is only for 200Mb of storage. At a maximum image size set at 1Mb, that would only be 200 photos in total allowed to be uploaded. A 500Mb plan is $3.00/month.
We can see how this works out, but for most cameras these days 1Mb is tiny, so most images would still be needed to be reduced in size before posting. If I increase the maximum size of allowed images, then we go down the route of not so many photos can be stored.
Thoughts?
Woody
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Post by dennisn on Jan 1, 2023 11:28:38 GMT
Straight simple answer from me - I would have no problem with changing the forum to a subscription. Maybe many people wouldnāt fancy that? Is it possible to have a subscription service for members with permission to upload photos - those members who want to upload have special permission (and subscribe) and those who donāt want it donāt have that permission.
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Jan 1, 2023 20:32:18 GMT
$3 a month - that was exactly my fear.
If there are half-a-dozen of us, thatās $0.50 a month each.
Who decides who the half dozen are, etc.? It all gets a bit fiddly.
Would that 200mb be enough? And Iām thinking more in the summer than winter?
Before we even think of doing this, weād need to answer these questions.
But yes, Iām principle, obviously Iām up for that.
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 2, 2023 9:42:01 GMT
Is it possible to have a subscription service for members with permission to upload photos - those members who want to upload have special permission (and subscribe) and those who donāt want it donāt have that permission. Hi Dennis, The charge for attachments is a something an owner of a forum can choose. It may be possible to place an individual member who wishes to pay towards the cost of increased storage, into a separate group. I could then only allow members of that group to add attachments (photos). That may work. Woody
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 2, 2023 9:50:50 GMT
Would that 200mb be enough? And Iām thinking more in the summer than winter? YM, Proboards have many different storage options. From $3.00 per month to $73.50 per month for 10Gb of storage. Proboards plans by Richard Woods, on Flickr
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