Forum participation.

[rogruth]

Some may remember that at times I have posted encouragement for new forum members to join in.I repeat that invitation now.
BUT that is not the reason for this post. I have noticed that some long time forum members that have not posted for some time have begun posting again. I hope that is a sign of more to come and our small but more personal forum will continue to grow a little.
I have seen towns grow by leaps and bounds and do NOT want that to happen to this forum.
I have no position of any kind in this forum, I just enjoy it.

[v8vega]

If it wasn't for the Coffee Pot CTT would be not very active.
I used to go on Honda forums but they were for older Hondas and they are very slow now.
I have just got into slot cars and have found several forums but none of them are very active.
On Facebook there are several slot car pages, these are more active.

[rogruth]

v8,
I've never really been concerned about the amount of activity but about the folks that sign up and never post.
It seems to me that they showed interest in MTJ and probably have something they could contribute to MTJ.
IMHO everybody that has ever posted on this forum have added something that would be useful to someone.

[Roy]

v8,
I've never really been concerned about the amount of activity but about the folks that sign up and never post.
It seems to me that they showed interest in MTJ and probably have something they could contribute to MTJ.
IMHO everybody that has ever posted on this forum have added something that would be useful to someone.

This is the way it typically is though, Roger. I've also been on other forums, and only a tiny proportion of the membership actively posts.

Wasn't it this way in your classes? If you didn't call on some students, they'd never raise their hand.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

v8,
I've never really been concerned about the amount of activity but about the folks that sign up and never post.
It seems to me that they showed interest in MTJ and probably have something they could contribute to MTJ.
IMHO everybody that has ever posted on this forum have added something that would be useful to someone.

This is the way it typically is though, Roger. I've also been on other forums, and only a tiny proportion of the membership actively posts.

Wasn't it this way in your classes? If you didn't call on some students, they'd never raise their hand.

Generally it's around 10-15%, unless you make "class participation a significant percentage of the grade.

[rogruth]

If participation is not encouraged there won't be any.
Do you have a problem with this, Roy?
I have been to other forums and was encouraged to keep quiet.

[healey36]

I have seen towns grow by leaps and bounds and do NOT want that to happen to this forum.

Wait, what?

[rogruth]

Things can get out of control and in the case of a forum original concepts can be overwhelmed.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Things can get out of control and in the case of a forum original concepts can be overwhelmed.

We could be overrun by Visigoths,

[rogruth]

Things can get out of control and in the case of a forum original concepts can be overwhelmed.

We could be overrun by Visigoths,

That could happen but I hope not.

[Roy]

I have been to other forums and was encouraged to keep quiet.

That's the first I've heard of that sort of thing. What was their basis for asking you to keep quiet?

[rogruth]

I have been to other forums and was encouraged to keep quiet.

That's the first I've heard of that sort of thing. What was their basis for asking you to keep quiet?

I was told quite emphatically on OGR that if I didn't have questions that had not been answered don't ask them and look them up myself.
So why are you questioning my interest in getting more participation from forum members?
There is nothing in any of the above posts that I have not heard before and my only reason to encourage participation is to keep MTJ alive.
It almost died once. Some other forums are dying. Have you been to the CTT forum? There was a time when it was a force and was a plus
to our hobby. That was also true for the magazine. But not now. I visit some forums that have not had new posts in several years and still
exist in the outer ether but are of no real use.
It's time for me to go to bed.

[Roy]

I have been to other forums and was encouraged to keep quiet.

That's the first I've heard of that sort of thing. What was their basis for asking you to keep quiet?

I was told quite emphatically on OGR that if I didn't have questions that had not been answered don't ask them and look them up myself.

I'm sorry you got that treatment. The nicer people on that board would give you a link to a previously dealt with question.

So why are you questioning my interest in getting more participation from forum members? There is nothing in any of the above posts that I have not heard before and my only reason to encourage participation is to keep MTJ alive. It almost died once.

Depends on what you say. There's nothing wrong with being welcoming. But sometimes, there is an unspoken message that we're desperate for participation. That's an excellent way to drive people away.

[rogruth]

No one on OGR gave me an answer so I guess there weren't any nice ones there at that time.
As to welcoming, we have opposite opinions.

[v8vega]

I routinely see questions on Model train forums that I wouldn't think of asking, common sense gives you the answer or if you have to ask that question how in the world are you ever going to build a layout.
I go on city-data daily, it's a big forum where you can learn anything and everything about any city or state. They also have forums about everything else. There is a LOT of bickering, some people get away with murder. Moderators and it's heavily moderated can and do give you infractions where you can't post for a couple of weeks. I think I have gotten 5 and am afraid of getting banned so I am really careful . I know I can be caustic and there is a lot of politics .
The Fiero forum has a off topic forum and I got banned from that.