Just curious as to the overall usage of this forum in recent weeks and would be interested to see what light the mods/statto's can shed. It seems very quiet generally on here in comparison to last season. Days go by with nothing new and relative inactivity. We didn't even manage our own match thread on Sunday (no criticism of Belv intended who has been doing a sterling job). Paradoxically, we seem to have a fair spread of infrequent posters alongside the hardy users and the quality of debate when it happens, can be really good and (with the odd exception) in good taste/well behaved. A few questions: 1. Is it just me or do others notice this? 2. is usage down from last year or, again, is it my imagination? 3. If the answer to the above is/are yes, then what are the reasons? - do we have less to talk about as we are not winning everything by a street? I'd suggest that in its own perverse way this season is more interesting than last so probably not? Maybe just me so happy to be proved wrong. Still great "on ere".
I have been really busy (both at home and at work) so not had as much time to post as normal. I wonder if the 'goings on' at the top level of the Club are making people nervous and are keeping their opinions to themselves?
Usage is up from last season - especially on match days where we are getting over 30 profiles signing in, plus a ridiculous amount of guests. The number of threads, I imagine, is down - but thats not something I am too concerned about as I prefer a clean looking board rather than it being cluttered with every single piece of news that the club make available. Also, we've had more new members join, post and continue to remain active than we have done in quite a while. I don't agree that ''days go by'', there have always been days where activity is slower, something which is represented in most forums (football and non football). Reasons for some members not being as active - well I know from a few it's because of some of the stuff that went on over the summer, other cases it is something as unassuming as new jobs, moving house etc etc. I personally still have contact with several members via inbox messaging who aren't as active as they used to be. There are no reasons why, but thats forum mentalities. Attracting new members is tougher on an independent run site than say, when we were originally on BBC. You have to be more creative, and I have discussed some things with BRB (Super mod) who has been successful in some of his attempts to attract new members, in particular from using other forms of social media. Then you have the social media argument, which can be argued that they are slowly killing off forums. Some find it more convenient to log in to Facebook/Twitter and talk football, rather than filter around websites. AH explained a while back that if we have any budding writers, or anyone who might just enjoy writing a few articles for a hobby, we have the resources to have it published on Newsnow which I imagine will then be seen by thousands of CAFC fans. I've often thought about doing it and have attempted a few - but haven't generally been happy with the standard. Glad this thread was started, and hoping we may get some information to help us push on to create a better experience for existing/potential posters. Be as brutal as you need to be
Cheers Super. I had a feeling that numbers of users was actually up but actual usage is more intermittent. I suspect the club shenanigans, real or imagined, have had a bit of an impact. I can't speak for the social media side as this is about as interactive as I get, old duffer that I am. I have an inactive facebook account that I stumble upon from time to time but this type of forum activity suits me just fine. I suspect we probably lost a few around the Ackworth saga (I miss him in a strange way) and a few may have been driven away by some unsavioury stuff. But, all things considered , I like this place a lot.
It's hard for me to comment too much as I have spoken with a few individuals in private (not all), but yes, some was because of the JA saga and the way it was dealt with, and another was because of some of the stuff said over the summer. The first I completely understand, but with the second it's hard because it is a forum where people do wish to come and discuss all things CAFC. Despite disagreeing with a lot of went on, the forum is here to be used in those situations.
I have to admit that I am one who has been reading the site and messages for a while but never signed up until recently. I love the matchday threads, especially if I cant get to a game. Not sure what actually compelled me to sign up, I think it was a few articles I read that I disagreed with and thought that I should sign up if I wanted to put my point across. Also as you said when all the Ackworth articles came up I kind of switched off.
I think it has seemed quieter aswell (not that I've been helping), Perhaps the lack of transfer activity compared to last year were part of the reason for fewer threads. In regards to Ackworth - don't miss him, while I'm not the most active poster (largely because I manage to attend fewer games than most on here) it was only when he was at his most active that I wouldn't read this forum religiously. There was just so much clutter and utter junk to get through, not to mention the rest of the conversation revolved around all that clutter and junk. Seems to be a bit less banter with other fans than last season? Maybe I'm imagining that one because most of the league 1 forums are dead although there was a massive one.
I thought there would be more banter with other clubs - but apart from our love in with Leicester and the pleasantries with Bristol this weekend, it has been lacking. Though Millwall is coming up
I think the overall layout of the Charlton individual forum has been updated so all topics are sorted together. i.e. the transfer thread. Before whenever a new player was signed we had a individual thread for each player but now it is all in one. Same with the match thread, people would make new threads to express their views but as we have somewhere it would be relevant it all gets put in that thread instead.
Around a month ago I got locked out of the site at Work because I forgot my password, then the same thing happened at home, then I forgot to reset my password and gradually I stopped looking due to a mixture of being too busy with work and having too many Kevin Costner films to trawl through But I'm still reading, if only to keep up with everyone's lives and opinions (Any news on the book Ponders?)
Maybe it seems quieter because there's nothing much controversial going on at the moment. JA never bothered me much, I get more annoyed at Airman Brown being brought on to this forum, albeit only by one particular poster these days. Mind you football fans can usually make a controversy out of nothing- remember the arguments about Kishishev? Amazing. There were also very divided opinions about Solly - not enough upper body weight was a favourite I remember. The two players who divide opinion most are probably Kerkar and Hamer, apart from them there's pretty general agreement I think.
Your last point is a particularly good one, FHB - this is a harmonious board, generally speaking. Provided we keep off r*ce, and firemen (well, not so much firemen these days) we're pretty much in accord and drawn together by our love of the club. If you have a look at some of the Prem boards on here, some of the opposing views and personal sledging is really quite horrifying - when you're a moderator you tend to see some pretty extreme stuff. Super and AllHell make good points about work and life events changing posting habits and if this forum were the centre of our lives, what a sad commentary that would be. I like that it's fun on here a lot of the time but we can get serious when we need to - there's also a depth of knowledge and life experience on here, not just about football, that's sometimes jaw-dropping. What I really miss about the old 606 is the constant interaction with fans of other clubs - some clubs migrated here en masse but some of the really good posters ('Udders being a prime example) went to in-house forums. I'd like more posters on here - a hard core of 70-80 would be great, as it would encourage a greater diversity of opinion. I might get one of my shirts overprinted with a not606 logo and see if that provokes any interest.
As i said on sunday I just couldn't find the time to get a match thread up this weekend as I was extremely busy! Normal business should resume this week in regards to them as hopefully I can manage my time better! As with coming on and joining in other threads I've just been busy with uni work and running a team that I don't find the time to make any good replies!
Can you give more info on this? Is it connected to the Airman Brown stuff FHB mentions? I take breaks from forums every now and again depending on how I'm feeling. I probably will again sometime soon. One thing to mention vs old 606. This forum doesn't have two particular posters, at least not under their old guises. I don't miss one, but I found the other quite entertaining in the end.
I am not as frequent a poster as of last season, main reason being work related and living 4 nights a week away from home in hotels with intermittant wireless connections. Try to catch up on some days and make the occasional comment but frequently find the debate has moved on by the time i get on to catch up. Contract oop north finishes in early next year so should be able to find more time to contribute. The airman brown cr@p over the summer was annoying but i dont think it put many people off.
A lot of the time I only have time to read the posts, so don't post nearly as much as I did on 606. Saw a solar eclipse this morning in Cairns, the most amazing sight I'm ever going to see, absolutely incredible.
