Level of participation in stock threads

[MrBurns]

You can't force people to post in the stock threads, end of story.

 

[Joe Blow]

The point of my post wasn't to create divisions in the ASF community, but just to point out the obvious; that the amount of posts in stock threads is declining and from my perspective it's a problem. A big problem.

ASF is a stock market forum, and the the discussion of ASX listed stocks should be a major focus. I have no objection to the General Chat forum, and I do not wish to place restrictions on it. It has its place, but I feel the balance needs to shift back a little towards the discussion of stocks. Discussion in General Chat threads doesn't have to decrease, but posts in stock threads need to increase. What McLovin says about newcomers being turned off by the disproportionate amount of posts in General Chat threads isn't just speculation, it's reality. People come here expecting to see the vast majority of discussion about ASX listed stocks and other topics relating to the Australian stock market. When they don't, many of them turn tail and don't return, inevitably leaving for somewhere else where there is more stock discussion.

I understand those who feel that there is no point posting in stock threads if nobody is replying to their posts and there is no real discussion happening. If you go back through this thread you will see the same sentiment being expressed by a number of others, a few of whom have mostly stopped posting in stock threads because they felt like they were just talking to themselves.

All I can do is ask that those who post in stock threads please keep posting. Don't lose faith. Those who mostly just read stock threads, please consider contributing your own thoughts, even if it is just a simple question. Ultimately, stock discussion is the real driver of growth of a stock market forum like ASF. It's what attracts newcomers, keeps them here, and gets them contributing too. It also keeps regular visitors coming back more often. The less discussion of stocks there is, the less people feel like they have to visit. Instead of once a day, it becomes a couple of times a week, then once a week, then... well, you get the picture. New posts in stock threads give others something to think about and respond to, and this generates more posts, which generates even more posts, and the cycle perpetuates itself.

To those who primarily post in General Chat threads, please consider lending a hand and helping to even the balance a little.

 

[jbocker]

I am not a big contributor.
I like reading over the stocks and usually search under the Stocks A-H Stocks I-P etc, looking at the latest comments. Frankly my comments are based on query or lack of understanding. I totally lack knowledge of any analysis and appreciate the effort people go to to determine what stocks are in their consideration.
I feel there is less content, but put that down to the market being pretty 'tight' and difficult opportunity out there. Maybe there has been some belt tightening and people turning away from stocks in general.

So for me I am very grateful for contributions, and thank you to those who make the effort.

I do glance over the subjects in the general comments, I find them a good source of news across many subjects.

So, all in all, I really like this site and feel safe to contribute. I understand perfectly when I dont get responses.

 

[MrBurns]

Ok Joe, here's a starting point, in the Forums section move the General Chat link to the bottom of the list, the priority of links is wrong, all investment and stock threads should be first, once people go into the General Chat area they might be waylaid by emotive subjects.
See if that makes any difference over the next month.

 

[MrBurns]

Also - your FB page only has a couple of hundred followers, you should run some ads on there, it costs me only $11 a day when I activate the ads and I've got over 7,000 followers, you can then feed stock stories into your page and with the ads you can target age, gender and location so it works well

 

[Joe Blow]

Ok Joe, here's a starting point, in the Forums section move the General Chat link to the bottom of the list, the priority of links is wrong, all investment and stock threads should be first, once people go into the General Chat area they might be waylaid by emotive subjects.
See if that makes any difference over the next month.

You know, I hadn't actually thought about that, but it might be a good idea. The display order of the forums really hasn't changed since 2004, so perhaps it's time I gave the idea a good re-think.

Also - your FB page only has a couple of hundred followers, you should run some ads on there, it costs me only $11 a day when I activate the ads and I've got over 7,000 followers, you can then feed stock stories into your page and with the ads you can target age, gender and location so it works well

I gave Facebook ads a shot and it blasted through $10 before I could turn around, so I forgot about them for a while and focused on link building and purchasing clicks from other sources. That was some time ago though, so I might take another look and perhaps give it another shot, but take a more careful, strategic approach.

In the meantime, can everybody who reads this and has a Facebook account, please like ASF's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/aussiestockforums

Thanks!

 

[MrBurns]

I gave Facebook ads a shot and it blasted through $10 before I could turn around,
Thanks!

Don't know what your budget is but $10 buys you a sandwich in Melbourne.

You need to spend that per day to get any traction at all.

 

[Joe Blow]

Don't know what your budget is but $10 buys you a sandwich in Melbourne.

You need to spend that per day to get any traction at all.

This was $10 in about 15 minutes. I did get another 15 or 20 likes but didn't continue at the time as I thought it had the potential to cost me more money than I was prepared to spend considering I was purchasing some targeted traffic from other sources.

 

[MrBurns]

This was $10 in about 15 minutes. I did get another 15 or 20 likes but didn't continue at the time as I thought it had the potential to cost me more money than I was prepared to spend considering I was purchasing some targeted traffic from other sources.

Don't leave the budget open , limit it to a daily spend, you can go in and pause it at any time but run it every now and again when you're in the mood.
You need to feed comments across from a trading forum on to the page or place stories there once or twice a week.
Keep it looking active.

You rank very well on Google, doesn't seem to be too many problems there.

 

[Joe Blow]

Don't leave the budget open , limit it to a daily spend, you can go in and pause it at any time but run it every now and again when you're in the mood.
You need to feed comments across from a trading forum on to the page or place stories there once or twice a week.
Keep it looking active.

New threads are getting posted to the page via an RSS feed, but will look at adding more content. Will take another look at Facebook ads and see how I go.

You rank very well on Google, doesn't seem to be too many problems there.

No, Google loves ASF and we rank really well. It's why I have a drawer in my desk filled with defamation threats from people who didn't like the fact that a thread about them or their product/service on ASF containing unfavourable comments ranked above their own website. But that's probably all I should say about that right now. Lawyers cost more than Facebook ads.

 

[burglar]

... Lawyers cost more than Facebook ads.

I hope your job has a light side too! :

 

[Joe Blow]

I hope your job has a light side too! :

Being my own boss and working from home (or anywhere really, thanks to wifi) is a definite plus!

 

[Country Lad]

Why not limit General Forum access unless people put equal amount of effort into posting in stock threads? It's a stock forum - not a political forum. Some people rack up in excess of 100+ posts per month (often in a week) almost (and sometimes) exclusively spreading whatever party propaganda it is that is the current flavour of the moment.

I haven't idea why the general threads are so active compared to the stock ones.
I think it's good having the general section but this is a stock forum for crying out loud.

Joe, I can understand your reluctance to limit the general discussions section, however, I think we are talking only about the political threads, not the overall general discussions. On the very odd occasion I wander over to the political bunfight department for a look, it is the same handful of people with the same inane circular arguments, achieving absolutely nothing except expressing their unwavering political dogma.

That would be fine except for the fact that this is a stock forum trying to attract new members so that the stock discussions can increase. From experience of being involved in the operation of other forums I would expect that people coming here for a look would be put off when they see two things.......

Firstly that there are far more political posts than stock posts and secondly that people are permitted to hurl abuse at each other and start arguments at a drop of a hat,

..... and then go look elsewhere because that can really put people off this site without them having a real good look around.

There are numerous "guests" each time I look, currently 58 members and 186 guests. It is these guests we want to convert to members so the site has to be as welcoming as possible and political bickering is not the way to go on a stock forum, there are plenty of other forums catering for this.

.....but this is a stock forum for crying out loud.

Not to the person looking at the site for the first time. They see mainly political comments and arguments. Those of us here know we can avoid them, so we do not see the political nonsense but the guest can't.

Cheers
Country Lad

PS
One suggestion I would have is that the "latest posts" clips on the main page under the ad exclude the General Chat posts. On numerous occasions they consisted only of political posts which is not a good look for the person browsing and looking for a stock forum.

 

[MrBurns]

I would also move Announcements ands Sire News way down the bottom, it's not relevant to stock chat.


Notice how Hot Copper has all Stock related thread links on the front page, you should follow suit and have the front page all stock threads, comments and news, Google will also like that but more importantly the new visitor will be ably to see what's on offer and jump right in instead of needing to search or go to the A-Z links.

Also stifle any nastiness to newcomers they'll ask stupid questions and so forth but the stock threads are for investment news and views not sniping.

 

[Joules MM1]

ok, Joe .....did 4 today....i'm thinking thimbles and oceans and still worth the effort....

 

[Joe Blow]

ok, Joe .....did 4 today....i'm thinking thimbles and oceans and still worth the effort....

Many thanks for your efforts Joules, and thank you to everyone else who posted in stock threads today! The post count in stock threads was up quite a bit, and it definitely made a difference.

I hope we can keep the momentum up, and that posting in stock threads will continue to increase.

 

[nulla nulla]

Being my own boss and working from home (or anywhere really, thanks to wifi) is a definite plus!

Being retired after 20 years of running your own successful "consulting" business in a very competitive market is possibly even more gratifying.