Where Are All the Others?

Where are all the other members of this site? When I look at the multitude of names of those who signed up I say to myself why these people are not contributing their thoughts here. There seems to be only a small core of people who dominate this site. The thinking even tends to be one sided or slanted.

I think this forum could be even larger if the dominance of a few did not scare off (my opinion) many who want to contribute. Please Mr. Webmaster do not let happen here that has happened to other sites. They no longer exists as viable sites for conversations. The hard core left or right should not control sites like this one or sites like this one will die. A site called MindKandy, your competitor in the past comes to mind. It too died because of a small hard core elite took over the site, castigated diverse thinking and caused it to die.

 

So basically folks like me need to shut up or it'll kill this board?

 

I find many posts on this forum offensive just like people in real life, lol. I don't run away because someone doesn't like what I say or contradicts me. That's life....
The uber-offensive posters are just put on ignore....

EDIT: maybe it's not a function of the "Others" being scared away. Perhaps it's more due to people just not committing or sticking to something as unimportant as an online forum.

 

Believe it or not there are actually people who read but don’t post. I lurked for probably about 4 months before joining and posting, and I read almost everything going back about 2 years. I would highly recommend that to new members, as you learn to recognize individual people’s tone, sense of humor, etc. which makes interacting with them a lot more comfortable and less fraught with misunderstanding. I also know several guys who joined WWBM and have never posted a reply to anything, according to them they are content to just read the threads and it has nothing to do with feeling intimidated or put off by anyone. Their only common complaint is that the men don’t weigh in as often as they’d like.

The board is a pretty diverse mix IMO, you have some people who just aren’t that into self-expression, and some people who can’t keep their thoughts to themselves like me and you. I don’t think it’s dominance by regular posters that scares people off, nor do I think diverse thinking is shunned here. I often express an opinion that is adverse to what the majority of regular posters think, and no one has ever told me to keep my thoughts to myself. We’re a bunch of free-thinking, open-minded adults around here and that means we realize everyone isn’t going to agree with us all the time, and not only is that okay, it’s preferable. If everyone is always 100% in agreement you’ll never have a productive discussion on anything. That’s one of the things that drew me to this particular forum, people expressing a POV that is completely different from my own. I learn a lot more from people who don’t think as I do, than I do from the people whose thoughts mirror my own.

If there are people who don’t post because they are afraid of the people who regularly do, then let me say as a relatively new member to this forum, I have found the members here to be wonderfully open-minded and accepting. Some may not buddy right up to you after one post, but stick around and contribute and I think you’ll find the people to be very welcoming. As a member let me say that the more people who post the better. I’m not going to attack or belittle anyone for what they think, so whatever your opinion is, share it. If you interact politely and with respect for other people’s opinions, they will extend you the same courtesy. What’s the worst that can happen? You share your opinion and someone disagrees with you, that’s hardly a life altering, faith shaking, occurrence. It’s an online forum, really how much power do the words of an anonymous stranger have? Only as much as you give them.

 

Unless one member is outright personally attacking another then quieting people would just be censorship. Censorship would kill ideas too. People just need to remember this is only the internet and like in real life there are people who will disagree with you. Ignore them if you want to.

 

a.k.a. more right-wing sellouts need to post more. he's feeling outnumbered.

 

I have to agree with the responders.
Free thinking is very much welcomed here and I think every regular poster on here are stimulated by discussions.
There are no slanted or one-way view in my opinion.
I think where the arguments arises are usually very controverisal subjects and when some posters dont know how to interact in a respectful manner... then some of them cry that they are not wanted because their views - which is usually not the case, it was most likely their posting style and not the subject.

You can pretty much discuss anything if you are a little smart about HOW you write it.

Like espy said, most members here, as prettty much any other board, are pretty content with lurking and reading - its nothing special about this site - that is the norm for any board.

I dont see newbies being shut dwon at all unless we suspect them to be trolls - we are a bit paranoid on that, as can be expected with the experience we have with people coming here with an agenda.


The smartes thing one can do is to lurk for a while before starting interacting, that way - you get the regular posters and get a feeling on how to interact - we do the same in real life.

 

:smt042

 

I lurked for awhile, I wanted to make sure this wasn't a fetishist site.

 

Gonna add my couple of penny worth, I think we all need to calm the Troll thing a little bit, as someone said above, we seem to be a bit paranoid as the Internet is a big place with lots of people on it, although I'm sure there are a select few who re-register and repeat the troll process i'm not entirely convinced every controversial poster is the same person, calling troll just incites an overall assumption reference the accused.

 

As much as I could observe the last months:

-the forum exists now since 2002
-we are a bit more than 27 000 members
-when I joined (8 months ago), we were around 25 000
-each day we have around 9-10 new members
-every day between 120-150 members log in
-we have between 5- 10% posts of the views

I cannot say, how are the percentages of men and women, unfortunatly..

The 5-10% posts of the views are made mainly by the same persons (around 20 - 30?). Women appear to discuss and explain their opinion more than men. Most of the men cosign, flirt,post pictures or smilies and make compliments. In my eyes they try to show up,but write something harmless...

It´s the question, what is the perspective:
-As a member:
my membership is free of costs, I join in and if I don´t like anymore I leave, or I jump in from time to time.

What are my interests? What do I need to stay? What brings me back, when I lost my interest of regularly being here?

- As an owner:
I want that my forum grows, want to make money with it and want that my time and work is been paid.

I never checked how are the statitistics of other forums, but the numbers of active users seem very low to me. Maybe I´m wrong..generally I have nothing to critize, except the rough sound sometimes, I will never accept; it´s true, it gets many times on my nerves. And yes, I think that many members don´t post, because they are afraid to be attacked..and to be honest. who needs that?

As a member, again, I can say, what do I care, it´s not my fault, if they are that shy or if they don´t know, how to express themselves, but I see webmaster,too. He invests his time, free of any costs and honestly my intention is to help this forum growing...

 

I admit, I admit..... I am a troll. I walk thru life hibernating then trolling. What a waste of sperm that I'm. SMH. :smt081

 

Yes, Yes I totally meant you in my post, my way of trying to have a sideways dig at you. :smt048

 

I wish this board was more active like other boards I've been on. Some posts lay dormant for several days. I'm not used to that. I see so many members listed on the list, but only like 25% actually post. Looks like the board was jumping back in the day.

I personally don't mind a troll (not an idiot) with an agenda, who'll post once in a while, cause it actually sparks a good debate. You'll see the thread blow up - instantly.

 

fixd.

 

Some people like lurking more than posting. I guess I'm guilty of that to an extent. I post, but not nearly as much as I do on other forums that I frequent.

I also agree that some people here are a bit quick to call a new poster with divergent opinions a troll, but I don't blame them given the history of the forum. Some people are really weird and some are just fucking stupid, but that doesn't mean that they're trolling. The repeat trolls, who have clear agendas, are easy to spot after a while. It's pretty much the same nonsense over and over again with a different username. Seriously, how many "random" people are we supposed believe and going to show up here and go on the exact same rant about "bottom of the barrel" White women? At this point, it's more amusing to me than it is aggravating.