Small List of Suggestions

**IBanners** · 06-24-2003, 02:33 AM

1.
This forum needs more modding, and better modding at that.

2.
This forum is so barren, theres never any one around, barely any posts, probably a couple new posts a day, and no one responds to PM's (atleast not mine).

3.
I think one major flaw of this forum, is its domain name. I know thats pretty brutal, but the dash in between webmaster and talk most likely has a serious impact on the popularity of this forum.

4.
Maby a new design? I mean I like the design here, but I think maybe its a little bit to much? maby a simpler design like <Removed. Link did not work anyway> would be good.

I know many of you will not agree with my suggestions, but think about em'

**IBanners** · 06-24-2003, 05:24 AM

See! 3 hours later not a single person has even viewed this thread. The 3 views are all mine.

**fonzerelli_79** · 06-24-2003, 05:25 AM

1. I think the modding here is fine. There arent too many troublemakers here or anything like that and that mods that are here are top notch and respected members of this forum and others.

2. Maybe your right - guess it depends what forum your comparing it to

3. I have to strongly disagree with this. This forum fairs very highly on many webmaster related words on the search engines - and the hyphen helps this as the se find it easier to parse the words. I can see your point about branding with respect to the hyphen but its something that honestly doesnt bother me.

4. Suppose its just personal opinion - i think the design is quick and clean and serves its purpose. It isnt too heavy on graphics and loads fairly quickly.

Its good to hear suggestions though

**IBanners** · 07:14 AM

Ya Fonz, I agree with you, the design is good here, like I said. And the hyphen may help se rank, but like you said, seriously effects branding, etc.

more suggestions..

5. Erase the accounts of people who never come here! There are 2,746 registered members, but probably only 100 ever come here, if that. I have noticed, people sign up, they make a thread in the "New Member Introductions" forum, and then never come back. Something needs to be done to keep people coming back.

None of my suggestions are ment to knock Webmaster-Talk.com in any way, I love this forum, and think it could grow alot, these are purely my opinions

**praveen** · 06-24-2003, 06:35 AM

Thanks for the suggestions IBanners .

1. moderating does not necessarily mean that atleast 1 mod need to be logged on 24/7.
each of us come at different time of the day (due to the timezones) and also due to various other personal work. so if you do not c any mod when you are logged in does not mean that mods need to be changed or not doing the job properly.

2.

Quote:

This forum is so barren, theres never any one around, barely any posts, probably a couple new posts a day, and no one responds to PM's (atleast not mine).

i would not agree on that.. as fonz said it depends to which forum you are comparing it to.

this is primarily a "webmaster" forum. so there will not be a HUGE number of posts everyday.. huge no of posts does not mean that the forum is active. check the quality of the posts.

ppl not responding to pm's : i can tell you that the if you have sent any pms to the mods you will get a reply within max 2 days . i say 2 days cos there might be some personal work during that time ..
if u have sent it to others, then you got to ask them :d

3 : fonz has already replied to it.

4 : just check the loading time of othe "other" forums and compare it with WT . WT loads very quickly and the design is clean.

5 : you might never know, they would have registered and forgotten about it. and one day they will remember and come back.

this is also being taken care of every now and then . the inactive members are being deleted from time to time.

Thank you for ur time and Suggestions.

**david** · 06-24-2003, 08:49 AM

Thought I'd just add my own thoughts.

1. As praveen said, we all do our best. From my experience WT has some of the least spam posts/abuse/flaming of forums of this type. If there are any particular posts which you think need our attention, please use the 'Report this post to a moderator' link.

2. 31 posts per day isn't too bad. OK, so it's nothing like Sitepoint or WHT, but they are massive forums and very well established, WT has only been running a short time. Certainly in the time I've been here, though, it has grown hugely, and every day there new members posting and boosting numbers, it just takes time.

3. See fonz's reply.

4. I must admit the design really doesn't bother me either way. It serves its purpose. Yes, I agree it could be better, but it could be a lot worse as well. At least it's not the standard VB design!

5. A lot of people register so that they can access the members-only forums and see new posts each day. As long as the forums are helping them, it certainly doesn't bother me.

**fonzerelli_79** · 06-24-2003, 09:03 AM

from an admin point of view - erasing accounts is pointless
extra member accounts take it so little space its not worth bothering about

you have to remember that the very nature of forums will mean that people will sign up and then never return - ive registered in countless forums, most of which i havent posted in

and dont worry mate - we know you werent trying to knock the site - guess the members here are just happy with the way things are

**TimSchroeder** · 06-24-2003, 10:58 AM

iBanners, I respect your opinions but I would have to disagree with much of what you are saying here.

Quote:

1.
This forum needs more modding, and better modding at that.

2.
This forum is so barren, theres never any one around, barely any posts, probably a couple new posts a day, and no one responds to PM's (atleast not mine).

3.
I think one major flaw of this forum, is its domain name. I know thats pretty brutal, but the dash in between webmaster and talk most likely has a serious impact on the popularity of this forum.

4.
Maby a new design? I mean I like the design here, but I think maybe its a little bit to much? maby a simpler design like www.webmastersforum.com would be good.

I know many of you will not agree with my suggestions, but think about em'

1. I think the moderators here do a good job. They can not be on here 24 hours a day and I don't expect them to. It is a voluntary job and they help out because they enjoy the forums and want to help out in whatever ways they can. You don't see LOTS of SPAM here. We do have maybe more rules than some other forums. Most Spam is taken care of within a few hours. For Example, you posted in the Site Review forum WITHOUT following the rules which are clearly posted in a sticky post and the forum intro (granted others somehow overlook this to). That link was removed and edited by a mod. You posted what seemed to be purely an ad (by what looked like a brand new member) in the Graphics forum. That was removed. Our mods edit, snip, and move posts everyday. I don't understand why you think we need MORE mods (afterall you try and bash its inactivity). Could it mean you would like better mods that don't remove what appear to be SPAM posts?

2. Do we have as many active members as I would like? No. However I would not call the forums "barren." At the moment, we only average around 60 active users each day but the forum does have a LARGE amount of lurkers. We were also getting about 1000 unique visitors a day when the archive was working correctly (being fixed). It's not fair to compare us to SP or some of the other forums that have been around for several years. SP has a huge network of sites, and lots of money. I myself would consider us one of the top 5 "Webmaster" forums on the web. I could lists MANY other webmaster forums that are not even close to the achievements we have made. Our forums are a CONTINUAL work in progress. I pop in and out the forums all day. Sometimes we have 0 active user, other times we have 5 to 10. We don't have a large number of posts everyday, but overall I think the forums have a decent total post count. I actually am HAPPY with the growth and future of our forums. Lastly, I think we have kind of a small close family here where everyone gets to know each other and when seomone needs help, we try and help each other. Most new member posts asking questions are usually answered if possible. I would say our growth and traffic is comparable to GV at the moment.

In regards to the PM issue: I don't know who else you have sent PMs to, but I DID get and read yours. Basically you wanted to offer me your banner design services from your new site (assuming you would want me to pay you). That is fine and if I choose to hire someone, I would consider you. I didnt think I had to respond right that second as no questions were really asked in the PM.

In regards to the post only having three views: 1. It could have to do with the time you posted it. 2. Only members can view posts in this forum. 3. This is not a forum category that every flocks to. 4. We are not a sitepoint.

3. I don't think the domain is a problem. If someone does not remember the "-" in our domain, they can simply type in "webmaster talk" in a search engine to easily find us. It's not hard to remember. Our site as well, at the moment is jumping between #1 and #4 for the keyword "webmaster forums" in the search engines. It spent a large ammount of time last month in the #1 position. It also ranks high for other searches.

4. The design may not be "ideal" for dialup, but overall I have have heard mostly only good things about our design. I like the different look and to me the design is still pretty simple.

Quote:

5. Erase the accounts of people who never come here! There are 2,746 registered members, but probably only 100 ever come here, if that. I have noticed, people sign up, they make a thread in the "New Member Introductions" forum, and then never come back. Something needs to be done to keep people coming back.

I have deleted a few in the past. There are several reasons for me not to delete member accounts but I need to finish up this posts

If you have suggestions on how to get members coming back then by all means let us know.

Quote:

None of my suggestions are ment to knock Webmaster-Talk.com in any way, I love this forum, and think it could grow alot, these are purely my opinions

Admittably, when I first read the post it looked like a bashing and nothing else and I wondered if I should let this post stay here. However, I welcome suggestions wether good or bad. You mention you "love these" forums. I would love to here why you like them so much yet had nothing but bad things to say in your post.

**IBanners** · 06-24-2003, 02:27 PM

Your right, after reading chief, Fonzerelli, David, Praveen, I have to agree. You have all changed my opinion of webmaster-talk. The reason I said it was barren is because, it seems like there is alot of registered members but so few active ones. One suggestion to get more members would be for you chief, and other members to join forums like SP, etc. and have webmaster-talk in your sigs. For the design, like I said I actually really like the design here, I just thought maybe a boring old vb default design would work better (for some weird reason).

Quote:

Admittably, when I first read the post it looked like a bashing and nothing else and I wondered if I should let this post stay here. However, I welcome suggestions wether good or bad. You mention you "love these" forums. I would love to here why you like them so much yet had nothing but bad things to say in your post.

Why do I love Webmaster-Talk? Because Webmaster-Talk was my first webmaster forum, and I learned alot of valuable information here.

**TimSchroeder** · 06-24-2003, 02:35 PM

Thank You iBanners.

Quote:

One suggestion to get more members would be for you chief, and other members to join forums like SP, etc. and have webmaster-talk in your sigs.

That IS a very good suggestion. I think some of our members do this a little bit already. I will try and do so myself when I get some spare time on my hands. I work on several different projects and don't have lot of time to spend time on many other forums (although I keep a close eye on the google forum over on WW).

That is also a good suggestion for members who would like to participate in our new referral contest (use you referral link in sigs on other forums). Of course don't SPAM our forum name in posts.

**The Crow** · 06-26-2003, 09:10 AM

I think WT is just fine the way it is. It has a homey atmosphere. The moderating is just fine. I enjoy WT more than any other forum I have been to. That's my opinion!

**Omega** · 06-26-2003, 09:36 AM

The only suggestion I would make for WT is the addition of some tutorials. I think most of the people here know their stuff, and adding a tutorial section wouldn't hurt anything. As for the other suggestions brought up in this post, WT is one of the best webmaster forums I've been to in a long time. I like contributing to this forum.

Eventhough it may seem like there isn't much movement on the boards, there is. I was online lastnight and saw that there was over 30 guests, and a handfull of members active on the boards. As I speak, there is 23 guests on the boards, and one member (okay, that one's me)...

Perhaps some of the viewers are finding the info they need in a search of the boards, which is nice because we don't have to put up with someone asking what HTML stands for every day

**The Crow** · 06-26-2003, 09:59 AM

Omega
I agree with you but if you look at praveens site or on mine thier are tutorials and lot's of info on HTLM and Java. If someone needs to use a tutorial, I'm sure one will be posted.

**TimSchroeder** · 06-26-2003, 10:18 AM

Thanks for the comments and suggest. One good thing I could see about a tutorial section in that it would be good search engine bait to acquire to members. I don't have plans to do something like that at the moment, but it will be consider for the fture.

**Omega** · 06-26-2003, 10:29 AM

Hey Crow,

I didn't mean to sound like I was putting anyone elses tutorials down. I plan on putting up some on my site as well, but I was kinda pushing that we could all contribute to the tutorials, as we do the forum. AND it would be bait. hehe.

**DaveMo~** · 06-26-2003, 10:44 AM

I hope that most people learn that there are proper ways to say things, and then there's the improper ways. IMO, it doesn't seem to me that much thought was put into what was said and how it was said. I think it is an opinion that does not have much basis in truth.

This is not an attack on anyone. However, I think everyone should think longer before they reply to any thread or create any thread. It's the spur of the moment comments that wil arouse anger or resentment. Even if you really dislike something, there are proper ways to state how you dislike it without offending anyone.

So my suggestion is to all members, please remember to think of others when you make comments.

Thanks.

Dave