What can we do to spark activity from members?

[OZ Ninja Dean]

Over a 24 hour period, there have consistently been close to or over 100 registered visitors to the forums. Yet there aren't more than 15-20 posts in that period. Looking at the numbers, I'm thinking of the potential of being able to see all these contributions and have a true thriving community.

I don't know if it is because ANW 5 hasn't been broadcast yet or if it is because Sasuke 29 is a little bit away. Maybe this is like an off-season time or maybe we need to look at what we can do to engage more of these members to participate?

Just my comment from where I stand. I wish I had some suggestions to help but for now I'm just pointing out what is probably the obvious.


OZ Ninja Dean

[arsenette]

Welcome to the forums. Just as simple as that. We've been here for 5 years+ and it's just the nature of an online community. It's a show that barely comes on twice a year.. and recently less than that. There's only so much conversation anyone can be have watching a show as infrequent as this. Furthermore ANW in general is followed less than Sasuke by the worldwide community as a whole as it doesn't pertain to them. So wanting more from an established community because you feel it's dead.. have you see what Facebook NW has become? that has a base that's almost a million and they talk less than we do. I'm not sure what you want us to talk about that hasn't been beaten into the ground already.

[OZ Ninja Dean]

It is very true that every subject would have pretty much been discussed at length already and you bring up great points. I'm not complaining by any means, I'm just curious as to why the majority of the people who come online decide they don't have anything to say. I understand a lot may be lurkers but why not start a thread in the General Board, spark some non-sasuke chatter and perhaps we find more common interests.

I don't feel this forum is dead at all, far from it. If there was only 3 or 4 people checking up on it a day then I'd be worried but with 90+ it's very much alive.

[arsenette]

I understand entirely. I know when Sasuke comes around we see the same lurkers (some with zero posts) show up to see where the links are to the live streaming. They come.. see the show and then come back for the next tournament. If the show was episodic (like ANW will be shortly again) the amount of conversations would increase. However, that won't change the lurkers from not lurking. Heck.. some of them don't even speak our language but keep up with the state of the show. Some just read but don't feel as if they want to contribute anything. Again, nature of online communities. I don't think there's anything though that can change that outside of more activity in the Sasuke world. And that trend seems to be going further into a yearly thing.. sadly..

[OZ Ninja Dean]

Getting to know other fans and learning from them is what makes these communities great. It's disappointing to have so many users and yet the sharing and learning is limited as they don't post.

Anyway, hopefully the lurkers see this and give a little back to the community that has given them 5+ years of service I can only dream and being past midnight that is exactly what I am about to do!

[Anshin]

Well, Arsenette pretty much nailed it. We do what we can to generate community discussion, but we can't force anyone into it (unless we enforced logins, but that would likely deter visitors instead). Once a year for a Sasuke competition (if we're lucky, maybe twice), and an American Ninja Warrior competition inbetween. We are primarily a Sasuke community, and while we do cover ANW, that's mostly because of it's related connection to Sasuke in the past and more recent objective of becoming an American Sasuke.

Also need to consider the fact that a vast number of those visitors, may in turn be registered members that aren't logged in. I know I for one am always logged in, but not everyone does that. Most will logout before leaving, or some have their browsers clear cookies when they close a window (also forcing a logout); so that when they come back, they have to login again. There's no real way to accurately pinpoint the activity without analytics data (ie: pageviews, etc); but it does give us an idea of what to expect at the very least.

[YoDaUO]

Yea I lose interest in Sasuke off season, but when a tournament comes around I'm logging in every day.

[theswine]

I read the forums every day. I rarely post because most of the time someone else has supplied any important information, and I don't see a point in constantly adding unimportant posts to topics.

[jfeathe]

May 9, 2013 18:12:26 GMT -5 theswine said:

I read the forums every day. I rarely post because most of the time someone else has supplied any important information, and I don't see a point in constantly adding unimportant posts to topics.

This is me exactly. I'll read every new post, but I often feel like I have nothing to contribute. I do, however, stay fairly active in the Spam thread .

I would be much more active in the ANW threads, but I don't want to be spoiled.

Right before and right after tournaments, I feel like I'm one of the busiest posters here. Things really pick up immediately before and after new tournaments and ANWs. 

[higeboshi]

May 10, 2013 17:32:11 GMT -5 jfeathe said:

I would be much more active in the ANW threads, but I don't want to be spoiled.

Well, too bad: Dumbledore was on the bubble, but Snape came along and beat his time by just 0.01 seconds, so Dumbledore will not be seen in Vegas.

As for the actual topic: how many of those registrations are legit? I don't know about these boards in particular, but I know quite a few get a bunch of junk/spam accounts.

[RiderLeangle]

DAMN IT! Why'd you give that spoiler!? "Harry Potter and the Warped Wall" hasn't even been released yet!

In all seriousness we've only had a couple of spam accounts showing up here, most of those accounts that have no posts are people looking for downloads more than likely.

[Anshin]

Some quick little statistics that I did.

Of the roughly 1800 or so registered accounts;
- 516 have at least a single post
- 93 have over 100 posts

In the past 30 days,
- 283 users have logged in.
- 60 of the 283, have over 100 posts.
- 185 of the 283, have at least 1 post.
- 98 of the 283, have 0 posts.

That leaves roughly 33 members who have over 100 posts, that haven't logged in in over 30 days; and 331 members with at least a single post, that have not logged in in over 30 days.


As for spam accounts, we usually get like at most five a year? And they're all around the exact same time too, saves us the trouble.

[SasukeDoctor]

May 10, 2013 17:55:45 GMT -5 higeboshi said:

May 10, 2013 17:32:11 GMT -5 jfeathe said:

I would be much more active in the ANW threads, but I don't want to be spoiled.

Well, too bad: Dumbledore was on the bubble, but Snape came along and beat his time by just 0.01 seconds, so Dumbledore will not be seen in Vegas.

As for the actual topic: how many of those registrations are legit? I don't know about these boards in particular, but I know quite a few get a bunch of junk/spam accounts.

OK.. that's just funny!

[pussyfoot]

I'm a lurker Arsenette, sorry
I only say stupid s*** here though, so I try to keep it to a minimum