What system is in place to draw in new members?

I look at the currently active users and I see 38 members and 1500 guests. I'm going to assume that all/most of these guests are owners of Apple products and have searched google for a problem that they might be having and this forum has came up. Whatever Apple product they own whether it be a Mac/iPhone/iPod they will most likely find a solution/answer and leave. But what if something could be done to draw in these guests and expand the forum even more. I'm not sure if anything is being done at the moment but this forum has so much potential to expand. I'm no expert but perhaps something simple telling them that they could have any of their problems and uncertainties answered to by taking a few seconds to join up to the forum. Although many will join, ask all their questions and then not login again until they have more problems, some will not. They will stay with the forum and start posting around, maybe even helping others out with things they know about. Just my thoughts.

I would venture to guess that 80% of those guests are search engine spiders.

Unfortunately, some people just don't grok the "community" aspect of web forums. They see them as a resource for troubleshooting and help, but could care less about the social aspect of the forum. I can't tell you how many people I see who come here to post a question, expect an immediate answer, and then never return again. I guess there's nothing wrong with that as long as the person is appreciative, but not everyone is a computer enthusiast and the only time they care about the underpinnings of a machine is when there is a problem.

Just a guess, but I think your primary intent in asking the question is whether or not we've considered enhancement to the forums to improve their appeal. And that answer is a big "YES". I don't know when those enhancements will appear, but there is definitely a lot of enthusiasm for enhancements on the part of the forum staff.

Yeah he's right.

Currently Active Users: 1782 (56 members and 1726 guests)
And that is just right now. And this kind of thing happens a lot.

Bit I think the whole odea of a forum being a place to socalise rather then just a source of information is still relatively new to many people. Abd I think it's this idea that needs to be spread around more.

cwa107 said:

I would venture to guess that 80% of those guests are search engine spiders.

Unfortunately, some people just don't grok the "community" aspect of web forums. They see them as a resource for troubleshooting and help, but could care less about the social aspect of the forum. I can't tell you how many people I see who come here to post a question, expect an immediate answer, and then never return again. I guess there's nothing wrong with that as long as the person is appreciative, but not everyone is a computer enthusiast and the only time they care about the underpinnings of a machine is when there is a problem.

Just a guess, but I think your primary intent in asking the question is whether or not we've considered enhancement to the forums to improve their appeal. And that answer is a big "YES". I don't know when those enhancements will appear, but there is definitely a lot of enthusiasm for enhancements on the part of the forum staff.

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It's good to know that you are aware of this.

the8thark said:

Yeah he's right.

Currently Active Users: 1782 (56 members and 1726 guests)
And that is just right now. And this kind of thing happens a lot.

Bit I think the whole odea of a forum being a place to socalise rather then just a source of information is still relatively new to many people. Abd I think it's this idea that needs to be spread around more.

Click to expand...

I agree, although this forum is specific, It would be great to talk about many other things. The anything goes forum is like throwing all the Apple desktop section, notebook section, iPhone section, OS X section, airport section etc all into one forum. What I mean is, there are so many non-mac things to talk about but only 1 forum to talk about it all in.

And a lot of folk just come in as guests and join up when they either have a problem or a response to someone else.

Some people seem to live here too.

Well some of them don't really have a choice...coughcoughmodscoughcough. >_>"

CrimsonRequiem said:

Well some of them don't really have a choice...coughcoughmodscoughcough. >_>"

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Even we have choice... for instance, I could be on my PS3 playing my new game (Drake 2) on the 42" plasma I just got yesterday instead of watching TV with this notebook on my lap.

Come to think of it, cya'll later... I'm outta here.

CrimsonRequiem said:

Well some of them don't really have a choice...coughcoughmodscoughcough. >_>"

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That's a bit of a misconception. We volunteer our time here and are members just like you, except we have the ability to prune the forums to a certain extent and also police the members. We are under no obligation to be here, although I think all of us share sense of community and enjoy helping others out.