Sharing and Participation Suggestions and Comments Discuss Sharing and Participation in the Vista Babble News forums; I think the most important thing is for all members to participate, especially new members. Maybe is frustration, intimidation or lack of interest, but some new members post once or ...

[felix8406]

I think the most important thing is for all members to participate, especially new members. Maybe is frustration, intimidation or lack of interest, but some new members post once or twice and then disappear. If it’s frustration due to navigation of the forum or not knowing how the forum works, please ask. If it’s intimidation because others seen to know a whole lot more than u and I do, hang in there and post anyway…u might show up ur ignorance, but u’ll never learn if u don’t. If its lack of interest, the only thing I can say is that we can make this forum the place to go when u need answers. U’ll be amaze of how many people will pay to learn the stuff that we are sharing. Bu the time the final vista comes around, we’ll be well ahead of the pack….but we need to share information and participate.

[crabby]

Participation is useful. I would suggest that most people who post a few times just registered so they could get their problem fixed. As long as we have our base of SUs we will be set (it's basically the same for all forums).

I would suggest a different layout to the forum though. It needs simplifying alot, there are too many seperate sections. If it was cut down to, suggestions, software problems, hardware problems, tips and tricks and introduce yourself then we arent going to get mis-posts. Obviously these main areas could be split slightly if you would prefer. But if we had these main sections and a specific search for each we will laughing as it will be alot easier to find old posts.

crabby

[Znod]

I frequent 3 good Vista forums. I focused on finding Vista sites rather than Windows sites. Vista Babble seems to be the second most active of the 3 (there are more). None seem to have an over abundance of highly computer or Vista-knowledgeable individuals. It seems like it's always up to a few to keep things going disproportionately. I think that it takes a while for sites to catch on, and many never do. And, it is hard to compete with the really well-established Windows sites--which naturally tend to add Vista forums--which will begin to dominate those sites in the future. I have always liked our site's organization. I think what's lacking, to me, is having enough people on-board to discuss their experiences with Vista features and provide tips, etc., rather just focusing pretty naturally primarily on bugs and problems. As crabby says, many show up to get a problem solved and then disappear.

[felix8406]

I think the only way to catch on is: 1. Members to spread the word, and 2. Crabby already touched on this, keep the layout simple, 3. "The Toyota Way..continuos improvements.
If I were running a company, I would want frequent feedback from my customers. And I believe the same is true for this or any other forum. Don't just ask what do like, but also what you deslike as well. I just check the current participation for this forum and it shows 2 members and 8 guests. That's a lot of guest for this time of the day, but why don't they join as member...that's a good question to ask, I think.

[crabby]

I was wondering about the guests too! Right now its 1 member (me) to 13 guests... I think we should make the sign up more visible maybe? It might be that people don't feel there is a reason to sign up which is odd considering the competition. Maybe we should think of some more member content? A 'for instance' would be babble wallpapers, 3rd party software discounts/exclusive trials, newsletters, locked forums, I am sure we can think of others and all are pretty easy to implement!

I would guarantee a huge influx of members if we were higher up the google search and had more links to the site. But as we aren't staff we have no power to do this. Lucky for us the windows 'live' search has us as the first item and as this is the native search engine for vista just wait and see what happens at release

The thread really does show the people who are 'participating' in the forum at the moment!

crabby

[felix8406]

Crabby, what's ur opinion on adding a discussion for WinXP? WinXP can easily be tied up with Vista.

[crabby]

A 'dated software' area would be viable as many people will be unable to run vista by itself for a while and many codes etc are compatible with both... but I don't think it will fly as this site is seen as a vista only page.

crabby

[dazzlin]

LOL, the admin goes away, and you guys are ready to redo the forum! *grin* I'll be happy to take all these things into consideration guys. Just wish I could do some real work during this time, but it's not really possible. But I promise that I hear you, and will work on getting things to the point where everyone is happy once I'm all moved in and able to do some work. Keep the suggestions coming.

[Znod]

How about a cash signing bonus?

[felix8406]

I'll take the cash. I'm out of work and need the money. I'm just kidding about taking the cash, but I'm out of work due to a bad rotator cuff. Anyway, what amount r we taliking about? And what would happen if people just sign in to get the money and run. Perhaps they'll get the cash after posting so many times or after becoming standing members.