How to make this forum grow?

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bob

bob

Administrator
Staff member
The forum is definitely slower than I'd like. Usually the winter is the most active time, and while we are a bit busier, the site just isn't taking off like it should.

So I'm looking for suggestions, comments, ideas etc on how to make it grow.

Is there something about the forum you don't like? Is there something we could be doing better or differently?

How can we promote the forum (in a low cost manner) and encourage new folks to visit and participate?

The members are what make the forum, so I'm asking for your input and ideas. How can we make this site better and more active?
 
Is there any way to send off e-mails to all the members who do not or no longer participate, to encourage them to come back?
 
As an afterthought is there a program that can do a mass mailing?
 
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Ron, I can mail folks who haven't been hear lately. But first we need a reason for them to come back. The forum needs to be active, interesting and useful, or theyll just stay on Facebook. That's why I'm asking everyone for ideas.
 
Well I am not on facebook and came across your site by accident .

Here is some ideas .

Have a Macro Photo competion and landscape competion .

Or everyone take a photo of same area in your garden at every season .

Be nice to see at different seasons.

 
Yes there is mass Mailing I have also but does not always work
used mass mailing on my own site .

Think private mail works better.

In the end its just keeping site as active as you can.
 
I am aware of my age but I know there's a lot of other young people that are interested in gardening too. I have a friend who's 15 and he has tons of plants and if he ever gets a pc I'm def gonna get him to join. Another friend of mine who's 18 has been growing plants for years and moved to Colorado for college. He's a botony major.

Anyway, I think a better question is "Why is (insert-name) forum so popular?".
I mean, what features cause people to be attracted to some forums?

I know that software upgrades can be really expensive but vBulletin 3.8.6 should have some decent options.

1. The header. The current header art's cool but the name's tuff to read and bright colors are what really attract people. The name will still stand out if it's bold and outlined. I've made similar artwork before so that's how I know. Just an idea.

2. The board color scheme. I think green would be better than blue. Just my choice. Anyway, I was really excited when one of my forums changed the colors and I was logging in and posting a lot more.

3. Does it have a chat/ shoutbox option? The music forum I like the most has that option but they're running 3.8.7. The reason I like that forum so much is cause I can log in and the first thing I see is the chatbox. It's better than a chatroom cause the chat is visible, reliable, and quick questions can be asked and answered. And it just makes the forum more fun.
Anyway, if 3.8.6 can do this without a $$ upgrade then that would be a cool new feature. They had a thread about that at vBulletin.org that was interesting.

4. I'm also attracted to sites that let members have blogs and journals.

5. flash games. There are lots of forums with these and they even have competitions. Also, there are garden-type flash games too.

Anyway, I don't know much about the $$ part or how easy/tuff it is to work with the XHTML but those are some of the things that can make a difference.

6. The users. Members can create attractive sticky threads with definite schemes that could keep people interested. That's something that would need to be discussed in a thread.

That's just some ideas. :)
 
I like the idea of a photo contest. We have some amazing photographers on here. Not to mention names (BOB, RON, MAGGIE, etc)
 
Trax said:
I know that software upgrades can be really expensive but vBulletin 3.8.6 should have some decent options.
Click to expand...

I currently own the license for Vbulletin 4. It's a buggy resource hog that I have refused to install for the last year or so that it's been out.

We'll be moving to a new server early next year, and it will be faster. At that time, I will probably upgrade to the latest version of Vbulletin. It's not about the cost, it's about system performance and how bad the bugs are.
 
Bob said:
I currently own the license for Vbulletin 4. It's a buggy resource hog that I have refused to install for the last year or so that it's been out.

We'll be moving to a new server early next year, and it will be faster. At that time, I will probably upgrade to the latest version of Vbulletin. It's not about the cost, it's about system performance and how bad the bugs are.
Click to expand...

You have 4? Awesome! :) And yeah, I've heard a lot about system bugs from Hybrix (another admin). He's doing an upgrade right now and I still remember the last upgrade. It took a lot of time to get everything working.
Good luck with 4! (very excited!) But yeah, I know that'll be a full-time and frustrating job, lol. I remember how it was with Brix. It was like "Okay guyz, I got this working, now that's not working... Okay, that's working, now that quit working again...". Scary.
 
I'm glad you are waiting Bob!
I'd do the same until they fix all the glitches! Well at least the major ones!
 
Bob don't think it is so much a personal problem board wise

there has just been so much going on with everyone, I know the member participation on the other site I go to is way down

it's just the times AND the weather....I have in my area had two horrible summers..I haven't even posted one pic from my gardens this year..almost everything didn't do very well and the $75 worth of stuff I planted last year none of it came up so I am really frustrated and we haven't had a decent veggie garden in 4 years

Alot of the members on that site are midwestern and we haven't had much to talk about for 2 years...'ceptin maybe what survived

and then there is just life itself..I know my habits have changed. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in July and since then it has been an up hill climb to just "maintain" which has made my PTSD worse and with the lack of treatment I am not getting from the VA..I have pretty much just been in a vegitative state with little interest in pretty much everything besides "braindead" TV

Some suggestions would be to have weekly/monthly/yearly photo contests
people always like to participate in those and will come to the site just for that but alot of peoples WILL take the time to read other threads

and then there is the big thing.talking more "environmentaly friendly" alot of todays "younger" gardeners (as well as some older ones) are looking toward the environment and talking about better ways to improve their "green" outlook and not use as harsh of chemicals as we once did
on the other forum the big talk is Monsato..well to be honest with you I barely know what a GMO is but that isn't my gig to begin with I don't put any chemicals out....


Then there is the "entertainment" section there are lots of jokes and cartoons that people like to see and will bring them into reading other things

just some ideas......


Wolfie
 
Trax said:
You have 4? Awesome! :) And yeah, I've heard a lot about system bugs from Hybrix (another admin). He's doing an upgrade right now and I still remember the last upgrade. It took a lot of time to get everything working.
Good luck with 4! (very excited!) But yeah, I know that'll be a full-time and frustrating job, lol. I remember how it was with Brix. It was like "Okay guyz, I got this working, now that's not working... Okay, that's working, now that quit working again...". Scary.
Click to expand...

I've owned the license for the VB4 suite since it was released. Every time they issue an update, I go to the forums, read what other admins say and see the same thing you're saying "They squashed one bug, and introduced 3 more..."

They're going to force my hand eventually, VB 3.x is nearly at the end of its life cycle. They'll stop supporting it and stop issuing updates, and at that point I'll have to upgrade the forum. But for now, I've been holding off here and in my other sites until they get it right, or at least better than it is now.

I will probably upgrade one of my sites soon, just to test it out and see what the problems are.
 
Maybe weekly or monthly photo contests with a theme like clouds, sunsets, flowers, shade plants, birds, animals etc.
Maybe each of us could try to get a friend to join.??????
I don't do facebook so I can't help there.
I love the Christmas card and Christmas ornament exchange. Maybe a gift exchange with
all of the names put in a hat and draw names so we only buy for one person.
I really love trading plants and seeds
I love this site.
 
Bob said:
I've owned the license for the VB4 suite since it was released. Every time they issue an update, I go to the forums, read what other admins say and see the same thing you're saying "They squashed one bug, and introduced 3 more..."

They're going to force my hand eventually, VB 3.x is nearly at the end of its life cycle. They'll stop supporting it and stop issuing updates, and at that point I'll have to upgrade the forum. But for now, I've been holding off here and in my other sites until they get it right, or at least better than it is now.

I will probably upgrade one of my sites soon, just to test it out and see what the problems are.
Click to expand...

That's gotta be The nightmare for running a site, the non-support issue. I was really worried when I had to upgrade from XP to 7 Ultimate, and that's just Windows! A friend of mine tried Linux... He re-installed XP 2 weeks later! :D

For now, I like the photo contest thing and we could do a battle of the bands thing too. I know I wouldn't have a chance with that but no probs. It would still be fun... and educational. :D
I think it's just like being stuck at home. If I find enough cool things to do, people wanna come over and join in! :)
 
My thought is that maybe we can do "special" thread with someone providing current updates and information on one particular subject. Such as Ron has a vast education with cacti maybe a featured plant once a month, or one of us take one vegetable once a month. Let it have it's own thread under the correct forum. Stick to only that topic in that thread. That way when some one comes looking for info they can easily find it. I am as guilty as any about "drifting" off topic. But if the thread was more information driven , we might be able to keep on topic. I have received comments about how great the site is , but that finding specific information on one subject is difficult.
Also sharing with others you know that are not members might help. Sending a simple email with the link to the site to friends who share your gardening interest could bring in new members. Those of us who have made "friends" with those who are not currently active or who have been MIA, should send an email stating that they have been missed. A simple jog of someone's memory might bring them back ;)
 
I'll second that idea Nancie!
We'll need to monitor each thread and remove any replies that hand up getting mixed in on any given topic!

I was thinking of doing an ongoing thread on just cacti (since I'm becoming a collector of winter hardy species)!
We can make such thread topics sticky so they will not get lost among all the other relaxed active threads!
 
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