The People We Never Meet

[HoudiniDerek]

I have to say that I have been coming here a little over a year and I like most of the aspects of this forum, including most of the people I have met...even if some of them come around once in a blue moon in the year of the unicorn or something like that.

However, what I don't understand is why we have soooo many members...especially when about half of them have zero posts and are not even activated.

I know this board is open to all and I am glad of this mentality...it makes the board a happier community overall. Yet, I think that if someone has decided to be a member, and then never activated their account, nor posted...and it has been AT LEAST a year...then they should get an email that says they will be deleted by a certain date.

The reason I bring this up is twofold: 1. It looks like we have a TON of members, but we really don't. We have had a lot of people express superficial interest and nothing more. 2. I hate it when those people get recognized on their birthday. I know I try to do captions or at least PM someone a birthday message to show them that they are welcome. But when they have never been around and do not seem to show any desire to be here, why should we honor them?

I may be the only one thinking this way, but since we are on this big "let's clean up the board kick," why not start with the members? And if we DO keep the ones who are not activated and under a year...I like MyTatuo's old ranking for them of "special ed student."

What do you all think?

[jopierce]

I agree with you, HD. 150%

I would even say cut off the activation point at 1 month. If they have not activated in 1 month, they are not really interested.

If they are do not log for a year, I also think they are probably not interested anymore. However, a caution: EVERY SINGLE THREAD appears to be visibile to any guest. Perhaps some members visit but do not sign in?

I say keep people members if they sign in occassionally. (Every 3-6 months?) I say delete accounts and make the names available if not activated in 1 month.

Admin - can people sign up again with the same e-mail account, if their account is deleted for inactivity?

I think this is a good idea, although I wonder if we will quickly learn that there are only a few dozen people who really come here a lot...

By the way, happy birthday, hauntedfan3, whoever you are....

[HoudiniDerek]

Well, I understand keeping the activation for a year...to be fair as can be.

Some forums require guests to register to see things, but I disagree with this, thinking that everyone should get to see the forum first, so I think keeping it open to guests, with a place for them to post is the right course of action.

As for resigning up, I think they can...unless they have been banned. Then I think they have to come at it from another angle.

As for people who have even posted once...I think they should get the benefit of the doubt and get to stay as members...at least for two years or so...just in case something happened like they joined the PEACE CORPS and have no computer access and just forgot to mention they would be gone.

[MissDavidson]

I agree wholeheartedly. I suppose I'll start cleaning my board up too. I've noticed that there are people who've joined but not activated or posted, and a few have only posted once or twice.

[jopierce]

I think posting once or twice is ok... it's just when they don't even bother to click that link in the e-mail they send you to simply activate... That's annoying.

Here's another example. On another non-GAH board I am on, someone signed up using a variant of my name, just to annoy me... They signed on as Josi. Something like that, where it is obvious (or evenmore so) should be a reason to delete too.

[HoudiniDerek]

I agree that it is distracting and it makes the board look more active than it is...and I think potential guests get the wrong impression. However, I think time needs to be taken too. I think a year is the right amount of time to know...and if they have not activated, especially after a personal email from the admin, then they should be removed.

[MelMac]

I think the one thing we're trying to say is please come in and join the fun. There are so many things we do here besides just shoot the breeze: we have contests and (occasionally) game threads where everyone participates for a wild story (both in the good and literal way so far, first and second respectively. )

We do have a lot of fun and there's usually at least one mod (junior, like me or a senior/admin) on to answer your questions during the day as fast as possible. If you PM or ask me and I can't answer, I'll relay your question to MyTatuo, greenguy or Maxwell-FBI.

[HoudiniDerek]

That's fine and dandy, Mel, but I don't think your message is getting to those people who have never activated their account. If they came here and saw us, they know that already..and probably registered. So, if they already know that, have been around a year or more without activating or posting, maybe we should have them receive a personal email from Greenguy or MyTatuo so they know that they might get deleted unless they get involved.

[MelMac]

I know, HD, I just try to get out active ones to post as well. Unfortunately, I can't make anyone post, as much as I'd like to have them join in on the fun.

[billswoman]

After I read this thread, I checked the Culp board and discovered a bit over half of the membership have never posted. I sent an "all" email, telling everyone about the RC chat, and asking if folks who've joined but not posted want to come and introduce themselves, and get involved a little. Maybe after a month, if we don't hear from them, Sr. Staff will just delete their accounts. I didn't want to jump into that, because it's obvious from their IDs that there are many "I Spy" fans, and we want as many of those as we can get.

MissDavidson, I know I haven't posted much over on Pam's board, but I'm still definitely a member. I'm going to play catch-up on there soon, so don't toss me out, lol!

[HoudiniDerek]

Don't worry, billswoman...you have posted...you should be safe.

This is mainly for people who have never even activated the account. On the Pam forum, it is not so important a detail, nor on the Katt forum I would guess since the member count is so few and the forums so new. The Culp forum has members but is not yet a year old either, so I think it would be a rush to delete people who have never activated, which is why I put my year stipulation up.

However, this board has been around over a year and we have over 200 members, some of which are not activated at all...and joined LONG before I did. I think those people should be made aware that their accounts might be deleted for inactivity and so other people can use those names if they would like.

I think it might be a good idea on the part of the admins to go through and see if there are duplicate accounts that have not been deleted. I think it might be nice to have only one account. I think some people have two due to computer problems or lost passwords or something and those should be deleted, especially if never used, but definitely if one of them is a moderator.

I think some accounts have been jokes on the part of people too...and even if they posted...they should be deleted. One person logged in and registered a few months back and posted. Yet every post made ended up being deleted after people replied. So, I started going through and quoting this person every time they said something...I don't think people that post and then delete and the like for the fun of it should be allowed on...especially if it might be a joke.

Sorry to rant, but it is somewhat ridiculous to have people as members who don't care enough to activate. It just makes the board look more appealing than it is to have a high overall post count and high member count...especially if they are not true.

[jopierce]

Also, perhaps we should go back and see who hasn't been on in a while - even if they have posted. We (admin?) can e-mail people, welcoming them back. We have over 500 threads, new updates to the site, fun games, etc.

We don't want to be spamming people though. So we would have to be careful how we do it.

"Believe It or Not! It's been over 1 year since you logged on to your account at GAH.com. Won't you visit? [insert login name & Link....]"

You could even say these are some of our hot topics: Create your own captions, chat rooms, GIS applications to find Ralph's house, etc.

That could go to anyone, actually, including those who have posted, but not posted in a while. But again, we'd have to decide if it's spam or not. I think a year ago, this board probably looked really different. It was, after all, the pre-HD and pre-Josie era... and there have been over 10,000 new posts since!

Maybe if people come back, at least some might say, wow! this is fun! And let me pull out the DVDs again and have a look!

I know that I personally can't remember every site I ever created an account on. Maybe a reminder may get me there - at least to check it out, or to delete an account.

[HoudiniDerek]

I think an all-out email to the members, which admins can do, would be the best way. Say all that you did, and point out that it would be nice to have old members back too. The problem is...the people who HAVE posted might feel forced to join in just so they don't get deleted...and that is where the issue is. For those who have never posted or have not activated, this email is a good idea and the admin should look into it.

As for those who have posted AT LEAST ONCE, I think a different tactic should be used because then you might be seen as spamming and that would violate proboards TERMS OF SERVICE...you wouldn't want the board shut down, would you?

[MyTatuo]

OCTOBER IS ADOPT-A-NONPOSTING-MEMBER MONTH!

Perhaps Jo can email Sayscalled? Billswoman can email AverageAmericanHero? Mel can email MortimerWest? J-Man can email scenario? Greenguy can email MaxSommers? HD can email everyone else?

Seriously, we plan to do another mass email on the day the box set is released, A WEEK FROM TODAY(!), inviting members back to the board. (I try to limit the amount of times I do this, so no one accuses US of spamming. Plus, it doesn't really work, anyway... J.R. Yates will come back for two posts, and then go back to whatever kept him busy in the first place... )

[jopierce]

GREAT IDEA! Anniversaries are great excuses to get in contact. It's like a GAH holiday.

It's like the GAH equivalent of a XMAS card...

As far as not wanting to spam, I agree. But if they signed up for membership, they can expect mail sometime. Do you have any idea how many e-mails I get asking me to mail my congressman, just because I signed an online petition back in 1998?

[jopierce]

mytatuo said:

OCTOBER IS ADOPT-A-NONPOSTING-MEMBER MONTH!

Are you serious about this?

I saw your new announcement...

if you are serious, I can be the PR person, do the leg work, and divide up the members (to prevent overlap). Anyone interested, I can take volunteers.

[MyTatuo]

As I said, official mass emails don't work very well. Anyone truly interested but too busy to post here regularly will say "Oh yeah, the TGAH board, gotta visit that someday" and get back on with their lives.

Perhaps a more personal message from another member with whom they identify will spur some dialog here within the board. Using my examples above, billswoman could email AAH and say "Hey remember your cool cartoon of Bill in the suit? Did you know the GAH board members are choosing their favorite captions right now?" Not suggesting that billswoman do it exactly like that, but that is the gist of what I'm going for.

Now, if anyone wants to coordinate with Jo about who they would send a personal note to, or asking for a list of a few names that they can use to make a general invite, feel free. Who's with us? ... Hello? ... Is this thing on?

[HoudiniDerek]

You want me to do everyone else, huh? Just because I am the most verbose or what?

[jopierce]

Happy to coordinate. PM me and I will start the ball rolling.

[MyTatuo]

houdiniderek said:

You want me to do everyone else, huh? Just because I am the most verbose or what?

You said it, I didn't