the Fashion Spot

dazed&confused · 02-08-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by SomethingElse

Also, I notice that lots of members don't post so the 60,000+ membership is kind of misleading. I wonder how many active members there are.

I also wonder about that! yrs. ago I was a member of a ruud v. nistelrooy forum which had sooo many registered members but way less active ones, and the mods deleted all accounts which had 0 posts..! the number of member was reduced to half

Quote:

I definitely agree that an application process would be good as so the moderators can control what sort of people will be posting and whether or not their posts will be useful.

I also think this is a good idea!
what also came to mind was the man utd forum redcafe.net, they have this system: there's a special newbie forum which is the only place newbies can post, and based on their behaviour there (and the quality of their posts), they can be promoted and get access to post on the rest of the forum..this is decided by mods (and regular posters who have access to the newbie forum) and they filter out those who offer valid points and decent discussion from those who just waste posts..i don't know how/if that would work here but it's definitely interesting!

castingcrowns · 02-08-2007

I vote we open registration, but I REALLY like the idea of using an application process. I think this would help weed out people who aren't serious. I think potential members should have to spend some time answering questions about why they want to join etc. People who aren't willing to spend time filling the application out definitely won't spend time contributing to the forums. Plus, I'm sure many of us wouldn't mind looking over applications..

In fact, the application could just become standard procedure to join-- fill out the application and you automatically get in. Just a thought!

ilaughead · 04-08-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazed&confused

I also wonder about that! yrs. ago I was a member of a ruud v. nistelrooy forum which had sooo many registered members but way less active ones, and the mods deleted all accounts which had 0 posts..! the number of member was reduced to half

I also think this is a good idea!
what also came to mind was the man utd forum redcafe.net, they have this system: there's a special newbie forum which is the only place newbies can post, and based on their behaviour there (and the quality of their posts), they can be promoted and get access to post on the rest of the forum..this is decided by mods (and regular posters who have access to the newbie forum) and they filter out those who offer valid points and decent discussion from those who just waste posts..i don't know how/if that would work here but it's definitely interesting!

Okay, I did a search through the memberlist and it looks like around 40,000 of our members have posted less than or equal to five to ten times. And 30,000 haven't posted once. (I think, I may have not done it right.)

According to the bottom of the forums mainpage, there are 61,000 members on the Fashion Spot. (For whatever reason, only 49,000 show up when I search for members with a post count of 0≤x<70,000.)

So, half of our members have never posted, while 2/3 of our memberes have posted a negligible amount of times.

So maybe if we thinned out the number of members we currently have, the site might run a little quicker? Or take up less bandwidth or something?

**BetteT** · 04-08-2007

Good research work, ilaughead!

It just prooves what is known in so many other places ... that 20% of the people do 80% of the work ... and I've always thought it was true on forums like this, too.

I think ... now understand that I'm a far shot from being a techie .... that bandwidth etc. is affected by people downloading/opening the pages with the images on them and posting. If they are not coming here at all, they really don't affect anything either way.

Then there are many, many members who come on a lot and lurk but they still enjoy being here and I don't think it's fair to cut them off just because they don't have anything to post. I'd rather have them than the people who make meaningless posts ... you know ... posting mostly comments and smileys that don't add anything to the conversation. It just makes threads longer without much content.

In addition, Andy is in the process of setting us up on two big new servers ... so we now have the capacity to take on lots and lots of new members without slowing things down ... so it should not be an issue.

matthaeus123 · 05-08-2007

I kinda think that invites should be easier to get. And that accounts inactive for over 12 months should be purged. This would get rid of those, whom just join and never post.

Yanka · 05-08-2007

Yeah, I noticed that too - it's always the same people who post. With 60'000 memebers you'd think that'd be pages and pages of opinions but the majority of memebers never contribute. I'm not saying they have to but you don't need membership to just read, so it would make sense to "purge" the community of people who never posted or who only posted less than 5 times and haven't posted anything in the last year. That would free up a lot of space for people who actually have something to give. Than, you can give out more invited to already-existing members or open up registration for like a month.

~Fashionista~ · 05-08-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yanka

Yeah, I noticed that too - it's always the same people who post. With 60'000 memebers you'd think that'd be pages and pages of opinions but the majority of memebers never contribute. I'm not saying they have to but you don't need membership to just read, so it would make sense to "purge" the community of people who never posted or who only posted less than 5 times and haven't posted anything in the last year. That would free up a lot of space for people who actually have something to give. Than, you can give out more invited to already-existing members or open up registration for like a month.

I agree. I think many people once registered seeing how cool tfs is and probably forgot all about it the next day. Members who haven`t posted in 6 months should be emailed that if they dont use their account it will be deleted in the next 30 days. It will open up lots o space and it would make the site run more quicker. And like you said you dont need to be a member to read

Tinetush · 05-08-2007

I agree with BetteT, to my understanding there are quite many members here who enjoy reading the most, and therefore they don't post. I don't think it's fair to delete their accounts either. Though members who haven't been active, who hasn't logged in, in say half a year or a year, I don't see why their accounts couldn't be deleted, after a warning of course. ?

And Fashionista, If I remember correctly I don't think you are able to see the pics here if you are not a member. If you aren't able to see the pics, you really are missing out on a lot. I know several who have asked me for an invite because they wanted to see the pics here.

As for the poll, I haven't voted yet, I can't seem to decide. Though I think SomethingElse is on to something, I think a trial period consisting of a few months might be a good idea for new members.

dazed&confused · 05-08-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinetush

Though members who haven't been active, who hasn't logged in, in say half a year or a year, I don't see why their accounts couldn't be deleted, after a warning of course. ?

I agree! A 'purge' is in order..! I also agree it would open up a lot of space, even if for instance tFS were capped at 60.000 members, by getting rid of the people who never log in and afterwards accepting new members, these would just be filling up the space vacated by those who weren't visiting the forum.

fashion_boi_01 · 05-08-2007

I voted yes, but I worry about an influx of spammers/useless posters. Another forum I'm a member of was "invaded" by a bunch of other forum members that posted all sorts of junk and were quite the pests.. I could definitely see something like that happening here if registration becomes open.

**BetteT** · 05-08-2007

Purging will not open up anything for anyone .... there's room for another 60,000 members, active or not. As I previously stated, inactive members have no effect on the forum ... they don't "take up space" if they are not participating. So, I think that purging would be a waste of valuable time and would be meaningless.

The biggest problem, as I see it, is to control spammers and useless posts if we open it up ... and that will take a lot of the moderators' time. But that is being addressed. Andy is putting new controls in effect soon, that should free up our time a bit with other matters, so we can get on any new problems that pop up. And with the members' help with reporting spam, we can delete it and ban the spammers pretty quickly.

dazed&confused · 05-08-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetteT

And with the members' help with reporting spam, we can delete it and ban the spammers pretty quickly.

yay! spammers are so annoying

matthaeus123 · 05-08-2007

I just believe the community should be closed, but invites should be less restrictive to get. I mean if you invite a bunch of spammers you get banned. That simple.

beaverhausen · 05-08-2007

There's a lot to say for both sides which makes this all the more difficult.
I like the by-invite-only policy (elitist as it may be). It gets rid of the spam, the troublemakers etc and it leaves the people who are really into fashion and genuinely care about it amongst themselves.

However I voted yes because in the end I think it's good to have new people coming in. Fashion is all about renewal. Letting new ideas, new perspectives in.

And if it ends up causing more harm than good, you can always go back to invite-only.

matthaeus123 · 05-08-2007

We could also just have open registrations for just a week or so.