700
 

700 member mark coming up!

and NOW 701!

Our growth is almost exponential compared to the old forum...

Hello John S.

Is there a graphic that we can all see to find out how many of the 700 members are really "active".

For example, do we have 700 members that log-on regularly, or are a bunch of the 700 folks members that log-on one time and never come back ?

Just curious...

Pete... <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Hi Pete? Unfortunately, no such graphic is available. There are many that have logged in but never posted... Lurkers... and there really isn't a way to track how many of them there are.

John D. would have to do some programming in order to arrive a such stats... and I really don't think we are inclined to "track" our membership... what purpose would it serve? If there is some value to these statistics that are not automatically measured (like the ones at the bottom of the main discussion board page) then it might be worth while to get them generated... I am open to suggestion.

You can already see how many posts a member has made listed under each of their posts... Those that don't? It really doesn't matter. We have recently seen the very first post from several members who actually registered MONTHS ago... so I am not sure what we would be tracking? Active membership? If we were involved in fund raising and advertising this could be an issue... but we are not. We are privately funded and are available to anyone who has even the remotest interest in Lugers.
Cheers!

The only thing about users that never post, is that they give a false sense of how many people are actually logging on in a weekly time-frame, or NEVER logging on except the first time to ask what a Luger was worth and then never come back?

So, if it was possible to track logging onto the system, compared to those that have only logged on a couple of times, might prove interesting. Most boards have a large number of lurkers, unlike us blabber mouths that ALWAYS have something to say [img]wink.gif[/img]

Hey Guys and Gals, I did a small study about two weeks ago. That study shows that at least 30 percent of the members have not posted. Based on my filters, I would estimate 40 percent or more are lurkers.

<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Hello John,

My thought in finding out how many "active" members we have on the Forum would be to solicit ideas from those non-active members as to why they are not active.

It might an Administrator-thing; but it might make sense to send a questionnaire/survey to those non-active members to see what they would think could improve the Forum to get them back and/or active. For example, are there other discussion "sections" that they might have interest ? Would they want an "appraisal" section ? Etc...

I also suspect that some that have signed-on are "drive bys" as the term on the old Forum was used...some person in a panic to get some help or value info., gets a reply, and then just goes away...

Just thought some customer feed-back to find out why a large (or small) portion of our members are non-active ?

This might be the same thing NAPCA's AutoMag is struggling with...members (in NAPCA's case) that pay to join but never contribute to "discussions"...maybe there will always be a % of folks that merely get enjoyment and/or entertainment listening and reading while some of us "blather" on...

Regards,

Pete... <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Here are a few thoughts, from a very new member. For a while, I was skittish about posting, because of my relative ignorance. I finally took the plunge, and began posting. To my relief, I survived the experience and am no longer afraid to show what I don't know (and I do it daily). A lot of people, I suspect, are intimidated by the wealth of cumulative knowledge a number of you have, as well as by your, shall we say, crusty (but oh so lovable) demeanors, in a few cases?

Seriously, we have decorated war veterans here, experts of all stripes, published authors in the field, and some plain old collectors and students who have been immersed in the fascinating world of the Pistole Parabellum for longer than some of us have been alive. It takes some measure of gumption to step into that fray. To be honest, after seeing some of the pitched battles on the old site, I almost backed out myself. What I suspect many do is lurk long enough to find a comfort zone (sometimes it involves reading enough just so you are better able to phrase a question that will elicit an answer without wasting people's time)and then decide how involved to become. Inevitably, some will stay and some won't, and some are just looking for pricing ideas for a one-off sale or purchase they want to make. Nothing can, or should be done about that.

Whatever the reason, I think that the true measure of the forum is how many active participants there are, ultimately, because that is your core group. There are several dozen folks here who I can count on hearing and learning from on a daily basis. As people learn more, provided they have an abiding interest in the area, they will post more. Those who don't probably are either interested on a more superficial level, or are lurkers by nature.

The trick is to involve the newbies in an untimidating manner. One suggestion I have is a welcome message to new members on the opening screen, emphasizing the new members forum as a place to start. It was by spending most of my time there that I reached the stage of knowing enough to be dangerous and feeling capable of posting something reasonably comprehensible.

Most people, if they immediately leap into one of the more esoteric sites, are likely to feel as though they stumbled into a fairly tight private club, and that can be intimidating. It is certainly no fault of any of you fellows, but it is the impression one gets at times when stumbling onto some of the strings. One way to help with that is for some of the old timers (duration in the P08 field, not age--calm down guys) to post responses to questions from newbies, even if it is simply encouragement.

Often, it is my guess, people will leave a post, never see a response, feel as though they don't belong, and quietly slip away. There is a tendency, natural of course, for those of you who know each other to carry on protracted personal dialogues, which can make some other folks feel like they are interrupting a private conversation.

Again, I am not sure there is an easy way to do this, but if one must name names, I've noticed that Big Norm, Ed Tinker, John Sabato, Thor and Lugerdoc (I know I am leaving a few out) all do a great job of responding when time and circumstances permit, perhaps more than others are able to do. The more of you old timers who are able to weigh in and welcome newbies, the more of them will hang around.

The great thing is that this incarnation of the site is much more hospitable than the last. Some of those debates on the old site were pretty uninspiring and disheartening for people who wanted to learn and get to know other collectors. This is a great group, and I encourage you to keep at it.

Sorry for the long-winded discourse. I'm on a boring conference call, and this is a heck of a lot more fun.

Regards to all,

Mark

I don't know about being a one time wonder guy. I just don't really have to say, too busy taking down the info you guys give out. Also wishing that I had more time to go and shoot my Luger, been so busy lately that I haven't even held it in two or so months. [img]frown.gif[/img] Just to let you know I like to lurk and read what you guys have to say, never been a big commenter. Now if you guys were to start a board on the Early Imperial Roman army... [img]smile.gif[/img]

Michael, just think of that - an Early Imperial Roman Army Luger!! WOW!!!

Sorry, I just couldn't pass it up!! [img]wink.gif[/img]

<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Is that the one with the Hammurabi crest over the chamber with the date in Roman Numerals under it Frank? [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

Hey Youse Guys, <img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" />
Seems that you forgot those 19 hundred or was it 19 hundred and six "Adam & Eves".
Betcha cant go back furder den dis!!!
<img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" /> <img src="graemlins/icon107.gif" border="0" alt="[icon107]" /> <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" /> <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />
ViggoG

What about the "Big Bang" Luger? <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />