Re: AGA Forums (fwd)

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

comments below:

--- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2 Dec 2003, S. Hieber wrote:
> > 
> > An AGA set of forums wouldn't have to suit my tastes --
> but
> > I'd like to to have a reason for being beyond "because
> we
> > can."
> 
> I think James' reasoning is "One Forum to Rule them All".
>  What he said to 
> me is that he thinks the AGA name will be an influence on
> people to come 
> to these forums.

It doesn't matter much what brings people to a set of
forums the first time. It's the content and availability of
help -- or the possibility to give help -- that brings them
back, that makes them users. There's always a critical mass
that has to develop for new forums to really get going and
have some staying power. 

So I don't think the AGA masthead will make much diff. I
really think it's the porduct and not the brand.

> 
> Personally, I think it's flawed to think that there can
> be one uber-forum,
> because people inherently want to go to different places
> for different
> communities.
> 

Yeah. and diff folks have diff tastes. Even, personalities
sometimes bring some folks in or move some folks out.

> I think the other thing faulty in the logic is that they
> count forum
> subscribers as anyone who has registered for the board. 
> You never quit a
> board, so this number is artificially high.
 
Oh yeah. And counting hits is like counting every time
someone drives by your store. dosn't mean they shopped --
doesn't mean they bought anything, so to speak.

>  Mailing
> lists, on the other
> hand, desubscribe people all the time, so the subscriber
> numbers for APD
> accurately represent people who want to be receiving the
> stuff.
> 
> But... I also want to give people chances at things.  So
> I don't want my 
> own bias to steer things badly.
> 

I would think that it is hard to know how a set of forums
will develop. We could try it for one year and see what
develops but I think we would need to know who the
moderators will be on the initial forums, and some of the
regular mavens, no?

I mean, if you had, for example Roger Miller or Paul Sears
responding to chem Qs, that would be pretty good. If you
had someone like me in that corner, all hope would be lost.

sh

=====
S. Hieber

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