Are there enough participants here?

[Gareth]

From the lurkers thread ...

On any kind of forum, you'd expect to see new topics and discussions at least on a daily basis.

Based on my experience of running forums, ...

How many regular readers and frequent contributors are required to have a realistic expectation of new topics on a daily basis? Are the reader & contributor numbers here large enough for this to happen?

[Horse]

Might well depend on the forum topic.

AD is a bit 'niche' compared, say, to F1 car racing or footie.

[hir]

On any kind of forum, you'd expect to see new topics and discussions at least on a daily basis.

Methinks it's a bit rich to be told this, without any hint of irony, by a self-proclaimed "lurker" who hasn't yet contributed anything meaningful.

[Gareth]

This forum has only 1920 registered users; many of the past contributors no longer seem to take part.

In comparison, Pistonheads appears to have heading towards half a million registered users, so perhaps it's not surprising that it's slightly more active.

[Rick999]

I've just come back here after a while away and notice Iit is pretty quiet. Still some of the names I remember so I'll be hanging around. I was registered under a different name originally hence the lack of posts under this one. I've refund my love of cars after sticking with bikes other than using my work car and want to contribute to this place again if I can. I'm shortly going to be testing the new M3 which I'm going to treat myself to in June 2015 all being well

[TheInsanity1234]

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?

[Horse]

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?

What, the real world *shudder*

[TheInsanity1234]

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?

What, the real world *shudder*

Naw! I mean YouTube to watch videos of bad driving and take notes so you learn what not to do!

Or, dare I say it?
*whispers* PistonHeads...

[Zebedee]

I've refund my love of cars after sticking with bikes other than using my work car ...

What rekindled your love of cars? I ask out of curiosity, because I lost my love of cars after getting into bikes.

[Rick999]

I've refund my love of cars after sticking with bikes other than using my work car ...

What rekindled your love of cars? I ask out of curiosity, because I lost my love of cars after getting into bikes.

I think the fact that I have only had my company vehicle for the last 3 years (albeit I get to use it on blues and twoes) but gave not had a performance car of my own has meant I kind of missed it. Plus the fact that I can shortly afford a decent motor to go alongside my two bikes has rekindled my interest.

[TripleS]

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?

What, the real world *shudder*

Naw! I mean YouTube to watch videos of bad driving and take notes so you learn what not to do!

Or, dare I say it?
*whispers* PistonHeads...

....or better still, we could get a dash cam and go out filming all the 'appalling behaviour' of others, and then make a big song and dance about it, while at the same time ignoring all our own errors. That seems to be a popular ploy.

[Rick999]

....or better still, we could get a dash cam and go out filming all the 'appalling behaviour' of others, and then make a big song and dance about it, while at the same time ignoring all our own errors. That seems to be a popular ploy.

I must admit that these dashcam heroes are a bit of a concern. I have one fitted in my car but it is only used when attending incidents and if anything I use the videos to concentrate on my own driving to allow students to look at good or indeed bad examples when they are at our driving school. There are obviously a few examples of bad driving or more correctly put, inattentive or uneducated driving but it is not something I would put on the interweb to discuss!

[richie349]

From the lurkers thread ...

On any kind of forum, you'd expect to see new topics and discussions at least on a daily basis.

Based on my experience of running forums, ...

How many regular readers and frequent contributors are required to have a realistic expectation of new topics on a daily basis? Are the reader & contributor numbers here large enough for this to happen?

It depends what proportion of those people contribute. You need enough new posts each day to cause people to want to come back. How many daily visitors this requires clearly varies depending on your percentage of "lurkers" versus active contributors.

You need to be careful of focussing on "frequent contributors" though. Without sufficient active members to provide variation, you run the risk of it appearing like a small clique having conversations amongst themselves.

I suspect this site is close to the tipping point where it's still requiring active involvement from its owners and moderators to drive it forward and encourage people to join in. If you can get beyond that, a forum will become more self perpetuating and you'll find yourselves controlling the content and membership, rather than trying to encourage it.

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?

On any kind of forum, you'd expect to see new topics and discussions at least on a daily basis.

Methinks it's a bit rich to be told this, without any hint of irony, by a self-proclaimed "lurker" who hasn't yet contributed anything meaningful.

It's not a bit rich for me to tell you this. I didn't jump in making uninvited criticisms; I responded to a query made by a regular member and offered constructive advice.

For what it's worth, I think ADUK's an excellent little site, that does pretty well considering the relatively small core of people behind it. I'd be happy to assist where I can to help improve its hit rate and therefore its level of activity.

[Horse]

You need to be careful of focussing on "frequent contributors" though. Without sufficient active members to provide variation, you run the risk of it appearing like a small clique having conversations amongst themselves.

I suspect this site is close to the tipping point . . .

Not just frequent, but unique too. I use a handful of boards and there are the same names on more than one. Yes, I see the irony

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?

Given the number of spam (eg 'buy a cheap k1tchen') threads on a busy board I frequent and the ease with which capture and other 'preventatives' seem to be overcome, it may be a credit to the owner that this is done!

[Carbon Based]

More than happy with the manual sign up system. As has been mentioned earlier, and the reason this forum was recommended to me, was that this isn't just an online thing - people actually meet up.

I too have run a site in the past with a strong emphasis on actually meeting up for professional benefit, that (in reality, very light) vetting process becomes the assurance that most people want and value.