Are there enough participants here?

[Rick101]

The manually vetting process you use (an email from a moderator asking why you're signing up) is a very bad idea. it send a message to the prospective new member that the site is very quiet. Can you imagine a thriving, busy site being able to send individually written emails to each new subscriber?

Was a bit surprised to get the email and if i'm honest it put my nose out a little. I didn't reply to it straight away and if it wasn't for the fact I really wanted to post on here, I probably wouldn't have bothered.
There is already a spambot prevention thing in the sign up, not sure why new members are then asked to prove their worthiness before contributing.

[playtent]

It does get a bit dull at times, but if the internet isn't exciting enough for you at that point, why not go somewhere else?

I always remember some interesting discussions between myself and certain other members!

[jcochrane]

It does get a bit dull at times, but if the internet isn't exciting enough for you at that point, why not go somewhere else?

I always remember some interesting discussions between myself and certain other members!

Greetings to you. Long time no hear. Must look into another drive together some time soon.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

The manually vetting process you use (an email from a moderator asking why you're signing up) is a very bad idea. it send a message to the prospective new member that the site is very quiet. Can you imagine a thriving, busy site being able to send individually written emails to each new subscriber?

Was a bit surprised to get the email and if i'm honest it put my nose out a little. I didn't reply to it straight away and if it wasn't for the fact I really wanted to post on here, I probably wouldn't have bothered.
There is already a spambot prevention thing in the sign up, not sure why new members are then asked to prove their worthiness before contributing.

I must admit when I found out about the email vetting process (which is all under the control of one person) I was very uncomfortable about it myself. I agree it does send entirely the wrong message - a forum that doesn't really want you, rather than one which encourages enthusiasts to sign up to the debate. Still, that's the way it is ...

[martine]

I must admit when I found out about the email vetting process (which is all under the control of one person) I was very uncomfortable about it myself. I agree it does send entirely the wrong message - a forum that doesn't really want you, rather than one which encourages enthusiasts to sign up to the debate. Still, that's the way it is ...

That'll be me then!

The email I send is I hope friendly and starts with 'Hi and Welcome!'

If you have another way of vetting spammers then please speak to Darren...I'd quite like to find a solution but I suspect Darren won't have time to put any sophisticated coding in place.

We get spambots (trapped I suspect by the registration question) and real human spammers attempting to sign up and occasionally, even after they've assured me by email they won't place adverts, they still do

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Human spammers can be dealt with on their first post that transgresses any rule - it takes only the length of time necessary to press the "Ban" button. Spambots can usually be defeated by a human-only intelligible question. I'm not sure what the sign-up rate is, but I doubt if it's as many as one a day? This forum is run by phpbb which is the same one as I run on our RoADAR site, and I have no problem with spambots at all now. A simple captcha and a human-only question were enough to stop them dead. I still verify accounts because it's a closed community, but that's a very quick process.

[martine]

Human spammers can be dealt with on their first post that transgresses any rule.

True but in the past they populated numerous threads with ads and junk in a few minutes...creating lots of user 'reports'.

Spambots can usually be defeated by a human-only intelligible question. I'm not sure what the sign-up rate is, but I doubt if it's as many as one a day? This forum is run by phpbb which is the same one as I run on our RoADAR site, and I have no problem with spambots at all now. A simple captcha and a human-only question were enough to stop them dead. I still verify accounts because it's a closed community, but that's a very quick process.

Yes indeed and the ADUK registration question seems to do a good job.

I get may be 1 registration request per day and it seems less than half those actually go on to post anything - I expect many of them just want to see what's in the 'members only' section.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Human spammers can be dealt with on their first post that transgresses any rule.

True but in the past they populated numerous threads with ads and junk in a few minutes...creating lots of user 'reports'.

I think this is what the two Ricks are on about - better to welcome the real enthusiasts, and have to do a little work moderating the spammers, than alienate potential converts / fellow driving nuts by the formality of asking them "why do you think you're good enough to join our forum?".

I get maybe 1 registration request per day and it seems less than half those actually go on to post anything - I expect many of them just want to see what's in the 'members only' section.

... and perhaps some of them shrug their shoulders after receiving the vetting email and think "sod em", and go and join some other group...

[martine]

I think this is what the two Ricks are on about - better to welcome the real enthusiasts, and have to do a little work moderating the spammers, than alienate potential converts / fellow driving nuts by the formality of asking them "why do you think you're good enough to join our forum?".

I don't phrase it like that! I just explain we don't want adverts or spam and ask them why they like to join.

... and perhaps some of them shrug their shoulders after receiving the vetting email and think "sod em", and go and join some other group...

May be for some but I was talking about people who have responded to the email and then been 'activated' but still don't post. The other side is some may find it reassuring we do our best to stop spammers.

I'm quite happy to activate all registrations if you think it will make a difference. I'd just ask you to keep an eye out for spam and respond quickly.

[trashbat]

I reckon it might help. I didn't know we did that to new signups and I've never seen it done elsewhere.

[jont]

I reckon it might help. I didn't know we did that to new signups and I've never seen it done elsewhere.

I've never seen it done elsewhere either, but most other forums I'm on are more active with moderators around more often. There are only 3 mods on here, and as Martin says it's surprising how quickly someone can splatter spam across multiple forums/threads. If there was a quick way to delete all posts by a particular user, then it would become easy to clean up, but I'm not aware of a way to do this.

Also, if we are going to do this, it's important to help the tidyup that people report the posts, but don't reply/respond in the threads, as that adds to the tidying.

Jon

[Kimosabe]

Is the question now more to do with why some people aka lurkers, don't contribute more? Are there ways to encourage them to contribute more often? (okay that's two questions) I can't help but notice that many of the best members this forum has are contributing to this thread and that some of them are probably already considering this.

My contribution/idea is one of mentoring newcomers to AD. Nothing particularly new about this, just that I would like to see a more structured approach to it. What I mean by 'mentoring' is that newcomers can be assigned forum mentors (who can voluntarily sign up to the job) to spend regular time with eachother as both passenger and driver. Could 'mentoring' be added as a separate entry on the forum board index?

As I have previously mentioned, the best lessons I have learned have come as a result of spending time with people who have done just this for me and others, it's just that it's reliant on a willing person to find that post by another member/ newcomer and to be able to offer their time in this way. I know it already happens but could doing this more explicitly help new members to get a better grasp of what AD really is? It could be that people are being put off furthering their AD interests by thinking that the IAM and RoADAR are their only choices. There's so much more to AD than that which is being taught by the IAM and RoSPA and perhaps making meetings between newcomers (who join this forum) and forum mentors more explicit, newcomers can be supported more as the drivers they can be rather than just the drivers the IAM/RoADAR want them to be? How many new IAM/RoADAR members never go any further than the standard AD observed runs and test results? They're where it's at for us as a forum. I've never been entirely happy with the 'us and them' which seems to happen between rival factions of the AD world. To me it makes no sense.

You people are incredibly good at being a forum and any fluctuations in new ADUK members are only to be expected. This echoes what is going on with the IAM and RoADAR, as I understand they also not only have membership fluctuations but also the capability to advertise to existing members. So our forum directly is fed by that but only if those people look outside of the AD-centric advertising. Is ADUK able to advertise it's presence (i'm not aware of ADUK having yet done so) through IAM and RoADAR? I realise that this is pretty obvious to many people here but to new folk, it may not be. So a more proactive approach might help to bring us a more vibrant membership.

Just some of my thoughts, randomly spat out as usual. I don't have a concrete plan but if it's ideas we need, there's a few to get us going. A more focussed discussion could be kept on track by mods or other nominated members, otherwise this could tail off again until it's brought up again in a few months.

Hope this is taken in the spirit in which it is meant.

All the best, Kimosabe

[Slink_Pink]

I personally find it quite a relief not to be overwhelmed by too many posts. I visit this site most days and am able to read all the new posts in a reasonable time. I don't contribute much: either when I have something vaguely positive to say or when I feel obliged to rebut a post.; there are a couple of members I like to keep an eye on

+1 I read a lot more than I post. I've started the occasional topic when I have a question to ask but otherwise am usually happy just to absorb. (I just wish some of the good advice would reflect in my driving, but that's for a different post)