Revive this forum time!

[Keith Jordan]

The forum here is only 1/3 as popular as it was this time last year. Why? How can we get more people to join in again?

In the past I have tried re-activation emails to lapsed visitors, Twitter/Facebook and Newsletter. What else can be done?

Suggestions please!

[Idisaffect]

Keith, talk to Roger Waters and tell him to do something new.

[Keith Jordan]

Yes, that would help.

At the risk of getting loads of unsubscribes, I could use three newsletters over three weeks with the forum featured only. So we would need some interesting topics to hook people in to corresponding with us all here on planet Neptune!

Any thoughts?

[danielcaux]

More interesting discussions. Really, I always get kind of depressed when I come here and read some of the new topics... the problem is that most of the interesting topics have already been discussed to death or have been abandoned. Perhaps there could be a kind of ranking system for the threads, so more people could be able to find more easily old but interesting threads instead of so much crappy but new ones, kinda like the "was this helpful?" system on Amazon reviews. We should have a special page with creme of the crop threads. It would be also fun to see which threads get in and which ones are left out each week or month or so.

[snifferdog]

How about seeing if you can organise an online chat or new interview with people related to Pink Floyd? I've no idea how easy it is to do this and it's probably old hat
A podcast?

[Hudini]

the problem is that most of the interesting topics have already been discussed to death or have been abandoned.

What's also a problem is that there are in fact new people on board that try to start a topic only to meet instant discouragement by the older folks, in the form of a "this has already been discussed a thousand times already" type of sentence, and never come back again.

But what we actually need is either bootleg trading or another eager troll.

[my breakfast.]

The forum here is only 1/3 as popular as it was this time last year. Why? How can we get more people to join in again?

Ban Moom?

In all seriousness, because I'm guilty of this as much as anybody else, perhaps the small 'core' member base treat this forum like a blog or something. If we all have eachother on FB as well it probably doesn't help. Not sure how this forum looks like to outsiders but if you are new and see 10 members with 10000 posts replying to everything you might not feel the urge to stay.


The deal is we get a lot of newbies, especially when Roger brings out a tour, Gilmour plays some shows or a new release comes out. However these people don't want to stay.

[moom]

Ban Moom?

Haha.

But really, Alan, we clearly have problems with each other, but if I rather try to stay away from you (okay, not always, but most of the time), you do not just point out my flaws, which is fine, but often you, willingly or not, blow it up out of proportion, and you know I'm gonna react because, at least, new members may think what you're saying is unquestionable truth and automatically get turned off me. And then how much negativity these conflicts bring. And I' not having good times with that.
If you took things about me a bit easier, I wouldn't fight back so much, and then new members woldn't be so afraid to join. I'm flawed and so are you, but hey let's try to keep it to ourselves, please. And when I admit my fault, there's really no need to continue talking about that.
Can we both just do that?

Now... I live in a country where knowledge of English is quite high, but not many young people I know openly say they enjoy Pink Floyd and they're rather not kind of forum guys.
But you guys, whose native language is English or you have friends who know English well and are into Pink Floyd, - try to bring them over here
Definitely "advertise" us on other forums, blogs... For example, in form of referring to the site/forum...
Keith or Draf could register NPF on search engines other than Google... New ones appear sometimes...

[nosaj]

Not sure how this forum looks like to outsiders...

Well, it has come up at other PF forums...but, those are opinions I don't want to get into now.

I am doing my part, by not posting so much these days!!! Let the newbies speak!

Time to discuss the next era in the Pink Floyd timeline section...1987 does not seem so popular.

[Keith Jordan]

Well, it has come up at other PF forums...but, those are opinions I don't want to get into now.

It would be interesting to know what they are saying?

Some good ideas and insightful thoughts so far. I will have a look if there is a voting/ranking system for posts/topics. I like the idea of that.

I think we need to get some sort of momentum going around a good 20-30 different topics. In they best times of the forum, it was being used to announce torrents but, alas, those days are gone.

I will have to draw up a "marketing plan" for a month to get some momentum going and research the like topic/post idea.

[nosaj]

Well, it has come up at other PF forums...but, those are opinions I don't want to get into now.

It would be interesting to know what they are saying?

Hmmm, should I say it? Well, I think Hudini kind of touches on it above. I think that there may have been a small number of know-it-all long time members who shut newbies down in the past. I don't think it has been an issue for some time, but those newbies post elsewhere now.

I saw your exchange with Col a month or so ago - not nice to bash NPF in that manner. But, he may have had a slight point about the size of the community...still, not cool to bash like that.

I am not sure why, but a couple of other forums get official recognition, where NPF does not. I suspect it is because the owners are a little older and have spent more time as fan club type members - in fact, some have posters with really good "inside" information.

Maybe it is time to create a few new sections - for instance, one could be for posting PF related interviews only. take a look at how these sections are laid out: http://crosstowntorrents.org/ - I know you have a PF photos section on your website, but perhaps a forum one as well?

[Keith Jordan]

NPF is the most popular fan site out there for web traffic according to Google Ad Planner. More people visit NPF even than David Gilmour's website and more than A Fleeting Glimpse, Brain Damage, Pink Floyd Online and others. So, in my opinion, it is the largest community.

In the past, I have been able to drive people onto the forum with various downloads and news features. I think the NPF Facebook page has sort have taken over from the forum a little as that has just under 11,000 fans on there and chats about the latest news postings. I think I am spreading the traffic over the site too much and should perhaps give more focus to the forum which I feel is the heart of the website!!

I shall make a 6 month weekly plan I think and use social media, site home page and newsletter in order to drive more traffic and debate onto the forum and see if we can increase post rate by 25% in those 6 months.

After 10 years, it is quite sad to see forum participation dwindling.

[mosespa]

Can't blame it on me...I've pretty much kept my mouth shut for the past year.

Maybe that's the problem?

[nosaj]

Yeah, get posting old timer...

Anyway, Keith, you have a point about the social media thing. I have just ended my third contract with a company and my position was marketing and communications. I started using social media more over time and that part grew, but the website itself started getting less hits per month compared to previous years...

[Keith Jordan]

I think it is 50/50, Mossy!

Focus this week on the forum can be Pink Floyd history 1987 and Big Pink Floyd Survey - Best Albums discussion later on in the week.

Any ideas for a forum "lead" the week commencing 4th July (excluding Independence Day)?


I think I will re-focus the home page of NPF with links to the Forum and what is going on. Sort of like a noticeboard for the site. The home page hasn't changed much in the past year due to Roger's tour!