skateguy
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RE: Forum activity (or the lack of)
(17-01-2012 11:49 )sweetsugar007 Wrote: I think there comes a time when burn out occurs for forum members...[etc]
I agree completely with this perspective.
The following is the part of a private message that was sent to the forum admin, shortly after Gaz contacted us to announce he was leaving.
skateguy Wrote:While I realise that someone leaving the forum, especially a senior member (or members), is never a good thing, I don't think its anything particularly out of the ordinary - although it can appear to be if that person announces that they wish to leave, rather than simply stopping or slowing their posting. I believe there's a natural cycle that will always see senior members come and go. For example in the first six months of the forum, I used to post a lot, along with Kalel, Tintin, Paul Ducky, Djm, Skully, Smc, Gaz, Aston V, Belfast Bad Boy, ShinyHelmet, Firebird, BristolRovers etc. Then a few months later members such as Josh, Tsu, Karl, Dreamlander, Shandy, Mr G, Sooky and various others appeared and began to dominate the posting. Out of these members, very few post much anymore, whether they aired their grievances and left, were banned, or simply began to stop posting or post less. But the cycle has continued regardless, with new people joining and becoming high posting senior members on a regular basis.
I think when someone announces their departure and airs their grievances with the forum/admins/mods [a common phenomenon among many on all forums], then its natural for some to believe the departure is of significance, especially when its a senior member. But I'm not sure it really is. I don't think its particularly natural or normal for anyone to keep on posting at a high rate without one day becoming bored, fed up or disaffected - eventually the good things begin to escape someone, while the annoying things grate more and more, and their perception of the forum can become distorted.
But, while some might be becoming disaffected, many other forum users are still 'at the beginning' of their forum experience. I think as one member leaves there's always a new member who begins posting and ends up becoming a significant poster.
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