The changing face of online communities

[Joe Blow]

I wanted to start a discussion about online communities, the way they have changed over the years, their future and what it is that you value, look for and hope to get out of an online community.

I think we can all agree that one of the greatest things the internet has given us is the ability to connect with others with common interests, irrespective of where we live, our age, social class or physical or other impairments we may have. My love for online communities motivated me to start ASF 13 years ago and after all that time I'm still in awe of how they can entertain, educate, and bring people together from around the globe.

As a result of the way they have resonated with people, online communities now take many forums; traditional forums, live chat rooms, Reddit, Facebook groups, and other social media incarnations such as Instagram. Some appeal to specific demographics more than others based on their user interfaces, popularity with peer groups, mobile device functionality and other discretionary factors.

So, getting around to the discussion part, what is it that attracts you to online communities? What do you get out of it? Do you like the way they have evolved over the years or do you think they have been appropriated by social media billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg? Have they enhanced the way we connect with others or dumbed it down? How would you like to see online communities evolve from here?

I'm curious about what people think.

 

[SirRumpole]

As you said Joe, the ability to interact, learn and express views.

As for enhancement or dumbing down, it very much depends on the quality of people you can attract and maintain, and sometimes that's beyond your control because you can't determine the quality of the conversations really unless you go overboard with moderation which no one wants.

I don't agree with some people here all the time, but I don't think I've failed to learn something from all of them.

The audience obviously depends on the subject. This is a stock forum, so you attract people interested in the stock market. If you want a bigger (more diverse) audience, maybe you need to be a more general discussion forum where people can discuss a wider range of interests, hobbies etc, but maybe that is too much trouble to maintain, I know there is a balance. You need to be careful about attracting the 'wrong' people too.

Maybe some contributors have been lost because of 'robust' discussions on sensitive topics. That's a tough one to control because there is a fine line between free expression and abuse. You seem to have a pretty good balance though.

I don't really know how forums will evolve. I like the anonymity of this forum compared to say Facebook. Some of the cyber bullying that goes on there is distressing as well as the intrusion into privacy by the Facebook owners, something that doesn't happen here, and never should.

 

[basilio]

It all depends.. it all changes.
I found ASF when I was getting involved in the Stock market and was looking for ideas, suggestions whatever on stocks and investing. There seemed to be the opportunity to pick up good info and perhaps make some profitable investments.

Well that didn't work out did it ? In fact what I have learnt about the Stock market is that it is a real racket. I suspect the only winners are the Exchange, the company directors, the stock promoters and the wildly rich owners of stock forums....... (NQR..) I think the only successful investors at the moment are short term traders or people with an intimate knowledge of a a particular, well run business.

Most people I suggest have been burnt and thus retreated to the front bar (general chat) to shoot the breeze. It is a social group. It does offer some insights, some companionship, some new ideas, some different perspectives.
ASF is a generalist forum. I have to say the more valuable forums (for me) are the far bigger ones like Whirlpool. If I have an issue I want to explore - building, technical, technological that is the place to go.
If I'm scratching around to see what the story is about a car I want to buy, or a product or service I'm look at Product reviews website is a good one.
ASF should just be a an interesting, friendly perhaps edgy bar room. If it gets too nasty or boorish well that's not cool.

 

[ThingyMajiggy]

Have a look at the first few pages of any new thread on ASF and you'll see why the numbers have dropped. It's either jealous nobodies that get upset that they can't do it themselves, someone getting attacked for wanting proof, or the original poster for being full of BS. Motivation quickly disappears when any of the above happens for all involved, so no one posts anything because of the nonsense you have to go through to get a gem of a discussion going. Plus it takes a fair bit of effort on TOP of your trading to post/have a discussion on a forum at the same time, especially when no one responds or if there is a response it turns into a mess, why bother.

How to manage and fix all the above though, that's over to you Joe

Maybe some kind of down-voting system where if someone gets enough down votes in a thread they get silenced as voted by other users. But there isn't much incentive to post here, but not sure what can be done about giving people incentive to post, tough issues.

The above is all just my opinion. That's probably another reason in this day and age why discussion has gone down, people choose to be offended by opinions differing from theirs, or offended about anything for that matter.

 

[systematic]

As the question is getting answered from all kinds of angles, I'll add a thought I had the other day.

I noticed that I am coming to the home page - scanning the topics (most recent started and most recent replies) and I'm finding myself opening very few posts now because, at least when I'm checking it (on average, more than just once daily), there seems to only be 'general chat' discussion happening for the most part - and I've never been interested in that section (I think I decided to deliberately avoid it from the start as there were people stating opinions as facts on topics such that I found it offensive).

I do like the forum format of online communities. Could be an age thing? I'm in barely any, but a couple of FB groups, that are obviously centred around a topic also (not investing). They're fine, but they are more the situation where I just want to keep up with the latest, and banter etc. Whereas when I first joined a stock forum eons ago, I also used the search function as the previous topics were also of interest - which I think is useful in a subject like this, where you're going to attract people new to the topic.

Anyone who knows my investing style knows I'm not one to punt on the future (ha!), but my best guess would be that all kinds of communities will continue on. Chat groups, forums, video groups even? as others have said, it might depend on the topic. Chat (including video chat) these days would work great, for example, on a forum of dedicated day traders. There are paid, private forums that exist where people get into heavy duty analysis of stocks according to the style of investing the forum covers.

Maybe ASF needs more of an angle - a niche within simply, 'Australian stocks' or whatever. A private ASX microcaps club...ASX value investing (you do seem to attract the investor types) for example. I dunno; and now it feels like answering a question that wasn't asked, (sorry!)...just thoughts...

 

[So_Cynical]

My love for online communities motivated me to start ASF 13 years ago and after all that time I'm still in awe of how they can entertain, educate, and bring people together from around the globe.

As a result of the way they have resonated with people, online communities now take many forums; traditional forums, live chat rooms, Reddit, Facebook groups, and other social media incarnations such as Instagram.

13 years ago Myspace was all the go, Yahoo was super popular for chatting and connecting with people, both pretty much totally gone, replaced by other sites that do what they did but somehow did it better, Facebook, Skype and Gmail.

Its funny how people use FB for general social chats and news, Skype for video chatting and Gmail for mail, even though all 3 can do all 3 functions, people are fickle, look how reddit came out of nowhere as a forum for all, i think the way how it allowed anyone to create their own forum thus community was a big winner...that could of been you Joe, running the reddit stock chat subs, just sayin.

ASF is great, its just that over 13 years it hasn't changed, kept on doing what its always done, and so people went else where for more, discord for example is a new voice chat and message program that has gained instant popularity and acceptance by the international gaming community.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discord_(software)

Discord is like 2 years old and everyone that games is using it, it will take many users away from other messaging platforms and yet i reckon many ASF members have never heard of it...things change.

 

[minwa]

Forums are just simply declining in interest as more alternatives take over. Just much more activity in other forms of online communities. Slack (https://slack.com/) groups is the "work" counterpart to the "gaming" Discord groups mentioned above.

A clear distinction is that they are more focused for example "elliot wavers" and "value investors" will have different groups. This eliminates most of the never ending argument that plagues forums. For example a long term investor is much more unlikely to sign up and join a day trader group just to go in and argue that day trading is a scam, whereas on a forum like this it easily intersects and those arguments ensues. Participants in those groups hold more similar views and thus collaborate/discuss better.

Personally and I think this applies to most people I feel more comfortable posting actual content in those type of settings than public forums like this one. Contents leads to more discussion/activity.

Forum is good for more broader general things like broker/software questions/discussions.

 

[Joe Blow]

Thank you for all the detailed perspectives. Plenty of food for thought there. There's no doubt that the internet continues to diverge and evolve. Nothing stays the same forever.

The point about Myspace and Yahoo is well made. These were billion dollar companies now reduced to rubble because they became internet dinosaurs, unable to adapt to an ever changing online world. They simply lost their way and, in the case of Yahoo at least, when the writing was on the wall started using their cash to acquire other dubious companies like Tumblr in a desperate but misguided attempt to stay relevant.

Facebook and Google seemed to have bucked the trend and managed to thrive, at least for now. It's hard to imagine anything being able to unseat Google as the 1000 pound gorilla of internet search. What it does it does very well and it has built an extraordinarily successful business model around one very simply idea: helping people find the information they are looking for on the internet. They do much more now of course, but search still comprises the bulk of their revenue. As for Facebook, I think it's become a love it or hate it giant of social media. I know a lot of people who have left only to return because it has now become the primary way people connect and communicate with family and friends online. Only time will tell if it can continue to grow and stay relevant.

 

[PZ99]

I think the biggest change was how protesters were able to use Facebook as a platform to overthrow the Egyptian Govt at a time when mainstream media was silenced. Similar activity then spread to other countries which continues even to this day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/books/review/how-an-egyptian-revolution-began-on-facebook.html

Building on the above are the events of today when the US president uses twitter to communicate with the people directly without censorship. (his words...)

Future of forums obviously depends on the topic of interest. The stock market has been around since Adam was a boy and plays an increasing role in the lives of everyday Australia (particularly with its free market economy and superannuation) so the future of forums such as ASF remain secure because it is relevent.

I wouldn't recommend floating it on the ASX though. lol

 

[smallwolf]

you need to have some quality people also that not only care but thick-skinned to be able to put up with certain level of abuse. It is very easy to be a keyboard warrior/troll and critique other's posts negatively. after a time, that person who has invested certain amount of time educating others (may) think "why bother" and looks elsewhere or nowhere. this is probably more evident these days vs 1990s and 2000s.

the other thing today is time pressures... with 2 teenagers, more study and work, I just do not have the amount of time I used to to be able to engage (1) on a level I might have years ago and (2) insufficient time to think about the response to make. time pressures may also have moved those who are more experienced away as well. this also affects the number of topics or lack thereof that appear. I am looking at my bookshelf and see "the amazing life of jesse livermore" and "the art of speculation" and think these might the interesting topics for discussion... but then I will go back to the drudge of the life/work and other miseries.

I think that it is only after you lose something that you realize how important it is/was.

 

[Logique]

Hi Joe,
there was an earlier time of massive hubris about share trading. And lots of beginners, eager for tips from the 'old stagers'. But such a different scene now. You're just as likely to be told go and buy an index fund, and not without some justification.

But I hope for the continuation of the forum, there are some fantastic threads eg, just to name a few - XAO Banter; XAO Analysis; Nulla Nulla's Aussie REITS thread, and Techa's Charts of Interest thread.

I agree with others, we need an alternative to Facebook and Google. And 14 character Twitter.

There's plenty of engaging General Chat threads! Although I noticed some frivolous starting of new threads, which I see you are clamping down on.

That I can think of, posters Nuntheweiser, Todster and Calliope got the boot - and with great respect to them all, I think justifiably so. But overall it's a pretty good enjoyable community of posters on ASF.

 

[Joe Blow]

Hi Joe,
there was an earlier time of massive hubris about share trading. And lots of beginners, eager for tips from the 'old stagers'. But such a different scene now. You're just as likely to be told go and buy an index fund, and not without some justification.

But I hope for the continuation of the forum, there are some fantastic threads eg, just to name a few - XAO Banter; XAO Analysis; Nulla Nulla's Aussie REITS thread, and Techa's Charts of Interest thread.

Thanks for your support. Yes, I agree there's some fantastic content here at ASF, and unlike Facebook it is relatively easy to track down discussions from a decade or more ago. ASF is an archive of more than 13 years of interesting and educational discussions and debates that encompass a great diversity of topics... and there's a fair amount of fluff as well. But all forums have that.

I agree with others, we need an alternative to Facebook and Google. And 14 character Twitter.

Hopefully there's always a place for stand-alone niche communities like ASF. I don't want to go to Facebook for everything. I only ever skim it as it is, and only use it to keep in touch with what friends and family are up to. I don't like their "groups" feature, probably because I have been involved with forums for more than 15 years and like the format.

There's plenty of engaging General Chat threads! Although I noticed some frivolous starting of new threads, which I see you are clamping down on.

I try to merge duplicate topics where possible, as I don't think it serves anyone's interests to have the exact same discussion twice. I think there are some threads, mostly newbie "Where do I start?" or "What should I invest in?" type of threads, where you just can't avoid having a lot of them as everyone's circumstances are different and people like to have their own threads.

That I can think of, posters Nuntheweiser, Todster and Calliope got the boot - and with great respect to them all, I think justifiably so. But overall it's a pretty good enjoyable community of posters on ASF.

I always regretted having to ban nunthewiser. He was quite a character and added a lot of colour to the forum. I enjoyed his Taxi Cab Confessions thread. Unfortunately his demeanour appeared to change almost overnight and he started to stir up trouble and disrupt the forums. I thought perhaps he was experiencing some difficult life circumstances at the time. If he ever reads this, I'd be happy to give him another chance if wants to come back.

 

[skc]

View attachment 71636 What chart is that?

Plus it takes a fair bit of effort on TOP of your trading to post/have a discussion on a forum

I agree with others that, a large part of the decline on ASF is the competition from other social media. ASF is a much more involved medium... you need to read the posts carefully, think/structure what you want to write, and be prepared to debate/discuss/argue. It takes a lot more time to prepare charts or tables to enrich your post. On the other hand, something like Facebook is a simple experience of tapping likes or respond with an emoticon. There's no doubt that people are generally trending towards dumber, bite-size doses of content and information.

And consider some of the most read threads on the forum's history (I don't know what they are but Joe would have the answer)... my guess is that they would more than likely be debated/consumed on Facebook these days, especially if it involves the public at large (like Storm Financial's collapse).

I do hope that ASF stays alive... yet I don't have any great solutions other than post a bit more frequently.

 

[Joe Blow]

And consider some of the most read threads on the forum's history (I don't know what they are but Joe would have the answer)... my guess is that they would more than likely be debated/consumed on Facebook these days, especially if it involves the public at large (like Storm Financial's collapse).

Good guess. As far as I'm aware, the most viewed thread on ASF is the Storm Financial Group thread with 1,241,275 views and 8,017 posts. Just behind in second place is The future of Australian property prices thread with 1,235,218 views and 12,937 posts. Both monumental threads that are still active after more than 8.5 and 7.5 years.

I do hope that ASF stays alive... yet I don't have any great solutions other than post a bit more frequently.

It's a simple solution, but I guarantee you that it is the solution.

 

[Joe Blow]

Good guess. As far as I'm aware, the most viewed thread on ASF is the Storm Financial Group thread with 1,241,275 views and 8,017 posts. Just behind in second place is The future of Australian property prices thread with 1,235,218 views and 12,937 posts. Both monumental threads that are still active after more than 8.5 and 7.5 years.

Oooops! I was wrong. The most viewed thread on ASF is actually the XAO Technical Analysis thread with 1,281,066 views and 9,616 posts. It is also still active after almost 11 years with the most recent post in the thread made today. The other two threads I mentioned are second and third respectively.

 

[SirRumpole]

I keep being surprised by the low posts per view ratio, it's something I noticed on other forums too.

There are people out there reading the posts but not contributing, I wonder why.

 

[systematic]

I keep being surprised by the low posts per view ratio, it's something I noticed on other forums too.

...It's the same thing bloggers realised a decade or more ago. e.g. 10 comments to a blog post probably meant 1,000 people had read it (making the numbers up on the fly, but you get the drift)

 

[debtfree]

Just noticed this
Gold Price - Where is it heading? Replies:11,559 Views:4,933,433

 

[Joe Blow]

Just noticed this
Gold Price - Where is it heading? Replies:11,559 Views:4,933,433

D'oh! Clearly I haven't done my homework well enough.

Well spotted.

 

[minwa]

What chart is that?

Google Trends on the keyword "forums"