Hari's Corner

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Six (and a bit) months of LiteraryForums.org

Filed under: Site management by Hari
Posted on Thu, May 12, 2005 at 10:55 IST (last updated: Wed, Jul 16, 2008 @ 20:53 IST)

As promised, here is the first issue of the LiteraryForums.org newsletter! This is indeed a good time to sit back and take stock of the first six months (and a bit) of LiteraryForums.org.

Six months: 1000 odd posts, 60 odd members with an average of about 10 registered members per month doesn't seem much. And it isn't. But more on this later.

Let me first highlight some positive achievements of LiteraryForums.org. First of all, let me take this opportunity to thank all those members who have registered and taken an active part in the discussions. In particular I'd like to thank all those of you who have posted articles to enhance and enrich the site's content. And a special thanks to those of you who were kind enough to link to our site in their signatures in other forums. I certainly appreciate these small, but vital gestures that can help in spreading the word, expanding the community and enriching our ideas and knowledge. Please do continue to support us in this way: you have my sincere gratitude.

The community has been growing slowly but steadily. There have been no flame wars and almost no spamming till date. This is a credit to all those who have participated. The quality of posting has been kept to a high standard and I am pleased to say that our moderators presently have very little work to do. The only moderation that I've ever done is moving a couple of topics around to their correct forums. It's been a pleasure to lead such a well-behaved and mature community.

On the flip side, LiteraryForums.org hasn't really taken off the way I thought it would. Six-odd months and I expected at least to see 5000 posts and 100+ members. Still, it's not the statistics that bother me, but the fact that only a small fraction of the registered members who have actually taken an initiative to post new topics and start fresh discussions. Another strange aspect is that while the website statistics show a steady rise in traffic, this traffic hasn't really converted into community participation effectively. This has certainly baffled me and has baffled a few others as well.

These are some points that needs to be worked on and I urge all those who have registered but haven't been participating in the forums to do so. If you have trouble starting off, then a good idea is to begin by introducing yourself to the community.

That said, my hopes are high. They say that content is king. Going by the axiom, content is certainly a strong point of LiteraryForums.org. Quality comes above quantity and thanks to our members, this has certainly been the case. Hopefully the same quality will be maintained in the future with a lot more participation from the book-loving community.

Yours Sincerely,

Hari (Forum Host)

4 comment(s)

  1. Well, I found your site from LQ, I suggested wordpress ;) and I totally agree with you on this subject. I am a moderator on another forum and we have about 200 members and 3,000 posts. However, only about a dozen are "active" members. The rest simply signed up and never posted. I agree that it's very bizarre. I don't understand the reason for it. Some people suggested a new redesign of the color scheme, and I read that you are redesigning the site, so I think that would attract more members, and more "active" members. BTW, I will sign up and become an "active" member... I'll see you on the forum

    Comment by rksprst (visitor) on Thu, May 12, 2005 @ 12:18 IST #
  2. Hi, there rksprst!Yes. I tested this blog offline and was quite impressed with its features. Thanks for your suggestion for that. And you're welcome to participate both here and in the forum!Regards,Hari

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Thu, May 12, 2005 @ 13:43 IST #
  3. You know, hari, on most forums, lots of people may have signed in but never or seldom participate. It is really not something that should bother you, because it is quite common. As you said, there may be fewer people sending articles or reviews, but I think the quality varies between good and excellent.Moderators have very little to do because we are perhaps interested in other things than just making a Linux computer work (which is good, I also run Linux !) and not start childish flame wars which lead nowhere except to mutual resentment.Besides, the increase in traffic shows that more and more people are interested in the subjects and discussions posted and that they just wait a bit longer to join in ! Keep the faith, I am sure your effort is not wasteless.

    Comment by azrael26 (visitor) on Thu, May 12, 2005 @ 22:23 IST #
  4. Yes azrael. You're right. The focus of a site like LiteraryForums is quite different from a "technically" oriented site. I hope that the trend continues and we build a wonderful community rich in ideas, opinions and knowledge.Thanks for those encouraging words.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Fri, May 13, 2005 @ 06:26 IST #

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