Site Activity And Changing Times...

[AeroplaneDriver]

I will start this by saying I discovered this site damn near 20 years ago and with a few gaps have been active on it ever since.  But as a 20-year veteran I remember the days when we had many more active members.  The current 2023-24 GB poll is a perfect example of our activity level.  34 members have voted.  We have 2,444 members.  That 34 number is typical of GB votes and we all know that we have about 40-50 active members at best.  I am a member of several modeling Facebook pages, one of which is VERY active with hundreds of members posting regularly.  Our hobby is not dead, but it feels like our site might need some...for lack of a better term...some OOMPH...

Have we looked at doing a Facebook page for the site?  One specifically linked to the site that might bring more activity?  I am fairly active on Facebook and would be happy to be the Admin for such a page if we had one.  Several of the other modeling sites have Facebook pages these days and they seem to be more active than the actual websites. 

At the risk of stirring the pot and introducing new ideas I would like to see how the membership feels about this.  Either way I'll be here, but I just feel like if we had a social media page promoting out activities we could get more participation than we currently see. 

Standing by for a bun fight...

[kitbasher]

Hmm, interesting.

So what is it you seek?  More active participation by the currently inactive/silent majority of forum members?  New members who may be more active?

Social media presence: not immediately convinced (but not dismissing the idea), but Facebook et al are such time vampires (and don't appeal to all)!  There's already at least two groups on Facebook with 'What if' in the title (and some familiar names do pop up on at least one of theses) so carving out a distinct identity could be challenging.
- How might a mix of forum and social media group work for all concerned?
- Would it be a closed group that only forum members could join?
- How would any decision to create a social media presence be made, by whom and on what basis?

Forum membership versus active members: I wonder how many of the seemingly inactive members 1) occasionally log in and browse without posting, 2) how many browse without logging in, or 3) are genuinely inactive?

According to the bottom of the home page 175 guests plus 5 users checking out the forum as I type.  47 logins so far today (dunno whether that is a calendar day or last 24 hours).

So it's not a simple thing to gauge active participation, but yes, worth debating the forum's public profile.

[Dizzyfugu]

Personally, more activity from members would be fine - who knows how many "profile zombies" this forum actually has?

However, as a (highly) specialized forum I am not certain if presence on other platforms actually helps. I am member of a German SF modeling website (also with the phenomenon of only a very limited number of members who frequently post stuff or discuss), and it launched a separate facebook thread a while ago. IMHO, this has not improved the website sitiuation, and the FB branch is almost exclusively used by those who primarily post their stuff on FB, anyway, but not in the forum itself. Not certain how useful this is, it appears like a parallel world to me in which both media do not benefit from each other. Might be different in our case, but since there are apparently already special FB threads that cover our topic/work, I have doubts about the effectiveness. On the otherside: if you are not present, attracting attention (and even interest or engagegment) is hard.

Besides, I am not a fan of FB et al. and stay away from these platforms.

[NARSES2]

I really don't have much to say on this. I'm not a fan of Facebook, although I'm on it, mainly to  keep in contact with friends around the world. I see way to many of my younger friends and family, and some not do young, spend far to many of their waking hours on it, but it's the way of the world.

I will say a couple of things as far as membership numbers are concerned though.

As far as that 2,444 (now 2445) membership number is concerned then once you register you're included in it. People don't get taken off it, unless we are specifically asked to remove them.

One of my duties as an administrator is to approve all new applications for membership. We have 4 or 5 a week, sometimes more, sometimes less, indeed I've registered one this morning. Now once approved the vast majority of those "members" are neither seen, nor heard of again. They may well lurk in the background, I suppose I could have a look, but in all honesty can't be bothered. Now I have not the vaguest idea why this should be so, but then I'm from a different generation, one that still sees computers as a tool rather than an "way of life".  I know I'm a bit of a cynic, but that goes with age, just you lot wait 

So I'm quite ambivalent about this. If it's the way the Membership wants to go then fair enough although I really can't help with the practicalities I'm afraid as I haven't the foggiest idea of how to go about it.  The one thing I would say is that I wouldn't be that active on the Facebook front, probably just glance through it every now and then, as I just don't like it.

[TomZ]

Personally I hate Facebook as I never seem to be able to find anything on it.  I remember I saw a post somewhere but are completely unable to find it again.
Also the the annoying clutter of non relevant information bugs me. But that is my personal opinion. I would certainly be a lot less active on FB as I am here.
I think adding an additional FB group would just split the audience and thin down forum participation even further.

I agree with the original post that 35 votes in a GB and about 40 in the whiffies seems a bit meagre, when compared to 2400 members. On the other hand, we could just agree that we have about 50 active member and forget about the 2350 others. And then we have a nice and friendly group with good participation.  So I'm sure this is really a problem.

TomZ

[NARSES2]

I agree with the original post that 35 votes in a GB and about 40 in the whiffies seems a bit meagre, when compared to 2400 members. On the other hand, we could just agree that we have about 50 active member and forget about the 2350 others. And then we have a nice and friendly group with good participation.  So I'm sure this is really a problem.

TomZ

Totally agree Tom.

It might be worth me finding the time to actually have a look and see when members were last active, although it'd need to be spread over a long period and I'd need to talk to Martin and Geoff next time I catch up with them at a show first.

[crudebuteffective]

Personally, more activity from members would be fine - who knows how many "profile zombies" this forum actually has?

However, as a (highly) specialized forum I am not certain if presence on other platforms actually helps. I am member of a German SF modeling website (also with the phenomenon of only a very limited number of members who frequently post stuff or discuss), and it launched a separate facebook thread a while ago. IMHO, this has not improved the website sitiuation, and the FB branch is almost exclusively used by those who primarily post their stuff on FB, anyway, but not in the forum itself. Not certain how useful this is, it appears like a parallel world to me in which both media do not benefit from each other. Might be different in our case, but since there are apparently already special FB threads that cover our topic/work, I have doubts about the effectiveness. On the otherside: if you are not present, attracting attention (and even interest or engagegment) is hard.

Besides, I am not a fan of FB et al. and stay away from these platforms.

if i read this correctly if we did have a facebook "link" we could almost have a parrallel site issue with some people posting on facebook and not the site and vice versa, this could actually reduce site activity

just my ten pence worth

[Dizzyfugu]

That's my feeling, too. 

[PR19_Kit]

if i read this correctly if we did have a facebook "link" we could almost have a parrallel site issue with some people posting on facebook and not the site and vice versa, this could actually reduce site activity

Exactly.

I'm not, and never will be, a Facebook person, and I'd hate to see this wonderful and mind expanding site drift slowly over to FB. Just diluting the activity on here wouldn't be a good idea either, if we could persuade members of an associated FB group that the REAL Whiffing activity is on here, that might work, but I can't see that happening really.

[zenrat]

I too detest face book and won't have anything to do with it unless it is absolutely necessary.

I'm happy how it is here.
Although I wish I knew what happened to Brad C (Chronic).

One thing which could be done is to email all registered members everytime there is a poll or a GB.  One of the model car forums I occasionally visit does this.  Doesn't make me visit any more often though TBH.

[Vulcan7]

I too detest face book and won't have anything to do with it unless it is absolutely necessary.

same here 

[rickshaw]

Facebook has it's uses, however it is mainly not for anything useful.   

[TomZ]

Totally agree Tom.

It might be worth me finding the time to actually have a look and see when members were last active, although it'd need to be spread over a long period and I'd need to talk to Martin and Geoff next time I catch up with them at a show first.

You can just hide the total member list   

TomZ

[NARSES2]

Totally agree Tom.

It might be worth me finding the time to actually have a look and see when members were last active, although it'd need to be spread over a long period and I'd need to talk to Martin and Geoff next time I catch up with them at a show first.

You can just hide the total member list   

TomZ

I like your thinking Tom 

[seadude]

Facebook has it's uses, however it is mainly not for anything useful. 

Exactly. The way I look at it, it's a nice place to visit, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to live there.
As has already been said, there's already 2 (or more) What If modeling groups on Facebook. And one of those is too strict for my tastes because it won't let you post any in-progress pics of your model builds. 
So if the What If Scale Modeling forum here were to create a FB group, how would it differ from the other What If modeling groups on FB?

To stay or to go? Good question.
I came here to this site long, long ago because I liked it and there were other people who shared my interest in what if scale models. But I left long ago not necessarily because of anything here, but because of issues with Flickr, Photobucket, image hosting limits and prices. I went to Facebook because there was none of those issues. I eventually came back here to this site as I found Imgur to host my pics and it was free.
I still go to and use FB as I am on a lot of groups there, have friends there, and manage a few of my own groups there. There are times when I don't like FB as much as the next person for various reasons. Bad Admins and Mods, People asking stupid questions, Trolling, Arguments, etc., etc. And of course, there's Mr. Z and his rules on what you can and can't do on FB. And let's not forget his algorithims and bots too who will kick you out and put you in FB jail if you say the wrong thing or post the wrong thing. 
Did you know that you can't post, discuss, show the swastika symbol on FB? Not even on model kits. 
We're in the 21st century, folks. People want things better, faster, and easier when it comes to communicating with others. And that's where social media is. In another few years, decade, or whatever, forums like this will go the way of the dinosaurs. It will happen.