Poor response to posts in software subsections.

[russell]

Please go to the "other software" section and look at all the zeros under the replies column .

I've been trying to help out best I can up there the last few days (mostly in the XP section) but we need to do something to get more support now that we have so many more people posting here. If someone makes a a post asking a question and doesn't get a response, they aren't likely to come back to Tom's again. The efforts to increase the site traffic have paid off, however think of the further increase if there were a better retention rate.

 

[russell]

I have an idea that might help the situation.

We could campaign for volunteers that would be responsible for a forum subsection . These subsection leaders should be competent with the topic they are responsible for. This would require that leaders be selected by a panel from the pool of volunteers. The idea here being, if someone felt responsible for a subsection then posts in that section would be more likely to get a response. Perhaps these individuals could have their name at the top of these sections. If there is enough interest in this then the busier sections could have more section leaders.

Anyway is just an idea. A little food for thought.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

I think the main problem with the zero replies is the amount of subsections, not the lack of competency with our members. I know I don't go through more than two subtopics of the XP forum, and I don't even bother with the rest.

Less subforums = more centralised = better / faster responses.

 

[russell]

.
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.................................. or

In addition to deleting some of the subsections , (as mentioned before). One of those down arrows to view all unread posts at the section level would also help.

I still like my section leader idea!

 

[Ned_Flanders]

To be honest I don't. But let's see what the rest of the forum says eh?

And what it with the "..............................." with almost everypost?

 

[russell]

To be honest I don't. But let's see what the rest of the forum says eh?

And what it with the "..............................." with almost everypost?

..................................... It's a good way to emphasize something or draw attention to it.

...................................... Your negativity sucks! see how it works now?

 

[Ned_Flanders]

What is wrong with you Russel? You have an attitude with me all the time. I wasn't being negative at all, it was my opinion. Just because you didn't like it doesn’t mean it is negative. Read it again, I suggested that the rest of the forum make a decision. I can't win with you.

Also doing your ".............." with almost ever post nullifies the original effect you intented. Hope that wasn't too negative for you.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I've got to agree with Neddy here, on all accounts.

But then,

Iz my copilot!

:lol:

Seriously though, getting rid of all of these infernal subsections would really help a lot. Heck, reducing the number of sections would help a lot.

For example, what the heck is WinXP->Hardware? It doesn't even remotely make sense to have a hardware section under WinXP.

Why under WinXP is there General Discussion, Help & Support, Basics, and New Users? I mean at the very least these are all different areas for the exact same thing. Heck, pretty much all of those subsections either shouldn't exist, or could just be squished into a single WinXP Help section. It'd definately make life easier on those people who are trying to help. And it'd make life easier on those people who are just trying to figure out where to post their question. This million and one subsection concept is just not helping anyone IMHO.

But russell, as for your section leader idea, I mean besides that this is a task moderators should be interested in I'd imagine, it's also IMHO a pretty useless solution to fixing the "other software" forum's problem. The problem there is probably more related to the fact that it's not an area of expertise. It's an incredibly broad-reaching section. I mean "other software" can literally be anything. You'd need every expert in the whole forumz to adequately cover everything and anything that could come up there. And even then... Other areas where topics are much more narrow I could see a section leader helping. But then those other areas aren't seeing this problem.

And, honestly, this really goes back to one of my biggest beefs with THG right now. It seems that it's become all about the page hits and attracting the complete clues/newbies. It's just very much no longer about being interesting to experts and techies. Well, gee, what happens to the forumz then when you have a big influx of newbies without much/any experience, and a growing outflux/disinterest from the experts? You get a bunch of lame arsed questions with no one there (or if they're there, caring) to answer.

Is it bad for the retention rate? Definately. What's the solution? Taking the few experts that are already freely donating what time they can spare to be helpful and slaving them into full time tech support clearly isn't it IMHO. Doing more to attract those much needed experts, techies, and specialists so that there simply are more experienced persons around to help is my answer.

But no one at TG publishing seems to take my viewpoint seriously. Because it's all about the pagehits.

And russell, just because people don't agree with you doesn't mean we hate you. Chill out dude. Or if it really bugs you that much that we don't all bow down to your wishes and call you master, then leave already. I mean god forbid people have differing opinions yet coexist without so much hostility. :?

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Iz my copilot!

R.O.F.L - Classic. :lol: :lol: :lol: