Reinvigorate ASF as a stock forum

[SirRumpole]

Everyone (except Smurf) is dancing around the real point. Yes, the website design needs some work. Perhaps other changes need to be made as well in terms of functionality. But that won't solve the problem. It's just window dressing.

The problem will only be solved when people post less in general chat and more in threads in the other forums, especially stock threads. It really is that simple.

This is not a problem government (admin) can solve. It needs to be solved by the people and can be solved literally overnight.

Maybe there just isn't the critical mass of those

a. interested in the stock market
b. knowledgeble enough for their opinions to mean anything and
c. willing to share their knowledge and risk that their strategies will be undermined by the sharing of that knowledge.

From a marketing viewpoint, if a business is to succeed it has to have an advantage over the competition.

What are this site's selling points over the others in it's area ?

How can these be advertised to a wider audience than the current members ?

 

[greggles]

Maybe there just isn't the critical mass of those

a. interested in the stock market

I don't understand why someone who wasn't interested in the stock market would be here. It's a stock market forum.

b. knowledgeble enough for their opinions to mean anything and

I haven't seen anyone here who isn't capable of posting an intelligent comment or question.

c. willing to share their knowledge and risk that their strategies will be undermined by the sharing of that knowledge.

I don't think this is really an issue.

From a marketing viewpoint, if a business is to succeed it has to have an advantage over the competition.

What are this site's selling points over the others in it's area ?

How can these be advertised to a wider audience than the current members ?

I'm not a bells and whistles guy. I'm happy with a forum that is easy enough to navigate and has features that make posting easy. I'd like to see some design changes here and there and will probably make some suggestions but it's not a deal breaker.

I'm interested in content and reading what others post. Isn't that why we're all here? Not to hear the sound of our our voices but to read the views of others and engage in discussions?

 

[SirRumpole]

Personally I'm interested in investing (who isn't) , but not so much in day to day trading of individual stocks.

I've learned a lot reading the investment posts but I haven't the knowledge to argue the point with anyone over the stock market.

Maybe that is the same for all the guests that seem to hang around here not posting, although we don't know how many are humans and how many are web bots.

I haven't seen anyone here who isn't capable of posting an intelligent comment or question.

Correct, but it's not the people who post that are the problem, it's the ones who don't.

I'm interested in content and reading what others post. Isn't that why we're all here? Not to hear the sound of our our voices but to read the views of others and engage in discussions?

Of course it is, but that could apply to a lot of issues not related to the stock market.

 

[greggles]

Personally I'm interested in investing (who isn't) , but not so much in day to day trading of individual stocks.

Sounds like the Medium/Long Term Investing forum and the Business, Investment and Economics forum (I notice the name has been changed) would be the two other forums of interest to you then.

I've learned a lot reading the investment posts but I haven't the knowledge to argue the point with anyone over the stock market.

Maybe that is the same for all the guests that seem to hang around here not posting, although we don't know how many are humans and how many are web bots.

You're clearly an intelligent and thoughtful person SirR. I'm sure whatever you contributed to a discussion would be worth reading.

Correct, but it's not the people who post that are the problem, it's the ones who don't.

I have to agree with you there. To those who visit but don't post, please consider participating in the discussions. We'd all like to hear what you have to say.

 

[tech/a]

There is a plethora of improvements that could be introduced to ASF
I’m sure Joe has a Wishlist
The big issue is not having the capital to invest in ASF.

Tweeks aren’t going to cut it.
If nothing changes then——
Nothing changes.

To lead in any field you need to deliver the best your competition
Can offer up and then introduce an individualality unique to you.

 

[barney]

Everyone (except Smurf) is dancing around the real point. Yes, the website design needs some work. Perhaps other changes need to be made as well in terms of functionality. But that won't solve the problem. It's just window dressing.

The problem will only be solved when people post less in general chat and more in threads in the other forums, especially stock threads. It really is that simple.

This is not a problem government (admin) can solve. It needs to be solved by the people and can be solved literally overnight.

You make a lot of good points re posting etc Greg and I have hit the "like" button to reflect that ...…

I don't pretend to know how to solve the problems being spoken about but I do believe it is multi levelled. ie. More posting by current members is important for sure, but we continually need fresh blood to join and get involved because there is often a high attrition rate with traders and once someone has failed at something they generally don't continue on. Somehow Visitors need to be converted to contributing posters. How do we achieve this?

A simple suggestion off the top of my ever aging head …. Apart from the Home Page suggestion I posted above (which I think is a lot more important than we may think) …..

New Visitors/browsers can only enter the Site proper via a "gateway" thread (eg "Visitors Enter Here")where they must create a username and answer some non threatening Trading questions to give an overview of their Trading interests ….. ie. Your interests are: Blue Chips:Mid Caps:Specs:Investingay Trading:Futures:Forex: etc etc etc. A return post of Welcome from the site and members etc etc would create a sense of community right from the initial contact

Visitors that don't sign up were not likely to hang around or contribute anyway so no real loss.

Visitors that do sign up have now made a commitment of membership and given some feedback on their interests which should be valuable information for @Joe Blow to fine tune the site layout etc

I remember when I first joined the Site a million years ago I was very hesitant to post anything. I think the above suggestion would eliminate a lot of the hesitancy from potential new members and make them immediately more likely to get involved on the threads … win win …….

 

[andymac]

ok guys- new members point of view (relatively), barney and greg are on the right track, i have hung around this site for years without ever signing up, cause i could just peruse and pick up a bit of info now and then. didn't bother me that i couldn't post, didn't really want to. in the end i did sign up just because i wanted to thank pete2 for a collection of posts that i found really useful. once i was signed up and could post i find that i do now and then , not really up to speed with the etiquette etc etc, but will learn as i see and do more.
GC threads, am not really interested but get a laugh now and then BUT they have absolutely no bearing on my experience here, does not matter. so why change them? the only issue is volume (lack) of stock related posts.
need more members and more members posting .

 

[So_Cynical]

Someone in admin should step up and start posting daily about the big movers of the day.

A bot pretending to be a person is needed, someone/thing to stimulate discussion, a bot asking questions...

 

[greggles]

There is a plethora of improvements that could be introduced to ASF
I’m sure Joe has a Wishlist
The big issue is not having the capital to invest in ASF.

Tweeks aren’t going to cut it.
If nothing changes then——
Nothing changes.

HC just changed its design and a lot of the members over there are extremely unhappy with the changes made. There seems to be no consensus about what changes are required here. What would make this website better? Ask 100 people and you'll get 100 different answers. Make changes and half will like them and half will hate them. There are no guarantees that "improvements" will make things better.

There are almost a million posts here and we got there without too many bells and whistles and unnecessary features. This is a content based website, if the content is here people will come here. In my opinion it's all about the atmosphere. Be helpful, be friendly and welcoming, and post useful, meaningful content. That alone will attract new people and get them involved.

I don't pretend to know how to solve the problems being spoken about but I do believe it is multi levelled. ie. More posting by current members is important for sure, but we continually need fresh blood to join and get involved because there is often a high attrition rate with traders and once someone has failed at something they generally don't continue on. Somehow Visitors need to be converted to contributing posters. How do we achieve this?

My view is by new and established members continuing to post. People are drawn in by the content, not bells and whistles although I think design and functionality is important and can be improved.

A simple suggestion off the top of my ever aging head …. Apart from the Home Page suggestion I posted above (which I think is a lot more important than we may think) …..

I think the Home Page idea is a good one. I think that does need some work to make it more appealing. I can see that the current page is intended to provide a mix of market news, market data and forum content to visitors, but I think it can be improved to make it more user friendly.

I like seeing market news, data and forex rates too. It's nice to have a range of financial information in the one place.

New Visitors/browsers can only enter the Site proper via a "gateway" thread (eg "Visitors Enter Here")where they must create a username and answer some non threatening Trading questions to give an overview of their Trading interests ….. ie. Your interests are: Blue Chips:Mid Caps:Specs:Investingay Trading:Futures:Forex: etc etc etc. A return post of Welcome from the site and members etc etc would create a sense of community right from the initial contact

Visitors that don't sign up were not likely to hang around or contribute anyway so no real loss.

Visitors that do sign up have now made a commitment of membership and given some feedback on their interests which should be valuable information for @Joe Blow to fine tune the site layout etc

A worthwhile suggestion barney. I'm not sure how difficult it would be for admin to implement though. Some food for thought for sure.

It seems that some people are leaving ASF or refraining from posting because they can't get their own way. That seems a little selfish to me. It costs people nothing to be a part of this community. My policy is, if you want to see change then be the change that you want to see. If you want to see more stock chat, post more in those threads. If you want the site to be more friendly and welcoming, then be more friendly and welcoming to both newcomers and established members.

We live in a very selfish, superficial world these days. A little selflessness goes a long way. In the words of Mick Jagger, "You can't always get want you want, but if you try sometimes you might find, you get what you need."

 

[SirRumpole]

The site has 46,000 members according to the Forums page.

I wonder if it's possible to do an automated survey as to why only about less than 100 still continue to post, whether they use other sites, are out of the market altogether or just want to enjoy the fruits of their success, and what those who are left want from the site.

You might then get an idea of where the site is heading and whether its worth continuing or not.

 

[Joe Blow]

Thank you all for the feedback. I accept that changes need to be made and that ASF needs to be improved.

As @barney, @greggles, @bellenuit and others have pointed out the Home Page needs some work. I have taken this feedback on board and will be using the suggestions made to make it more user friendly when it is time for the next website redesign.

Around 12 months ago a new version of this forum software was released that was completely reworked from the ground up. The initial release of the new version was intended only to have the same features and functionality as this version. In the next few weeks the 2.1 version is due to be released with a dozen or so new features. I intend to upgrade ASF to this version once most of the bugs have been ironed out, which I anticipate will take about six months.

There will be no real changes to ASF between now and then so all available resources can be devoted to the next major upgrade and website redesign. I will continue to collate all feedback and suggestions made by members and do my best to integrate them into the next redesign.

I wonder if it's possible to do an automated survey as to why only about less than 100 still continue to post, whether they use other sites, are out of the market altogether or just want to enjoy the fruits of their success, and what those who are left want from the site.

More than 1,000 people visit ASF each weekday. Many of those are unregistered. Of those who are registered, only a small percentage post regularly. I would be interested in hearing from those who are registered and who visit regularly but do not post. I'd like to know why.

Those who have left have left for a variety of reasons. For some, it's because they are no longer active in the market, other reasons are the dominance of the General Chat forum, the overall decline in activity, the increase in passive investing, and the rise of other discussion platforms such as Facebook Groups. I'm sure there are almost as many reasons as there are former members.

To those who would like to continue to support ASF I have the following suggestions:

1. Keep posting, especially in threads on stocks, trading, investing, and economics. This is the most important thing. A further decline in activity will only serve to worsen the situation. An increase in activity, especially in threads on stocks, trading, investing, and economics will most definitely assist. To those who visit but do not post, please consider getting involved in the discussions and debates. The more the merrier.

2. Encourage and assist others, especially newcomers. There was the suggestion above that atmosphere is a big factor in attracting newcomers to an online community. I happen to agree. In my opinion nothing is worth more than a friendly, positive, constructive atmosphere where people help each other where they can.

3. Link to ASF from other blogs, websites and social media. Half the battle is getting people to find us. Google and search engines do some of that work, but more can always be done. Link to the website generally or individual threads. It doesn't really matter. A link is a link. You have probably seen the social media share buttons:



To those who use social media, please share or tweet links to ASF or content contained within. There are social media sharing buttons in every thread and on every page.

4. "Like" other's posts if you have found the content useful or helpful. This lets other forum members know that the content they are posting is useful to others and is a great way to encourage them to continue posting.

If I have missed any specific comments or feedback that people would like a response to, please draw my attention to it. Otherwise, I'm happy to respond to any further questions or queries.

 

[barney]

The site has 46,000 members according to the Forums page.

I wonder if it's possible to do an automated survey as to why only about less than 100 still continue to post, whether they use other sites, are out of the market altogether or just want to enjoy the fruits of their success, and what those who are left want from the site.

You might then get an idea of where the site is heading and whether its worth continuing or not.

A good suggestion SR …… @Joe Blow has everyone's email address on record so could either do a survey on the Forum or privately if he wished. Any personal contact with Members is likely to have a positive effect you'd think.

 

[Darc Knight]

Even when you put the General Chat forum on ignore you can still see it in the Recent Activity page. It's too tempting

 

[Joe Blow]

Even when you put the General Chat forum on ignore you can still see it in the Recent Activity page. It's too tempting

Yes, that's true unfortunately. However, I didn't say never post in General Chat threads, just please post more often in threads in other forums.

 

[minwa]

I would be interested in hearing from those who are registered and who visit regularly but do not post. I'd like to know why.

I log in to see if there is any markets discussion. Mostly none, except for the 2 or so journals. All GC crap that I'm not interested in. Most of the quality trader/posters have left/inactive so there is no discussion at all anymore.

In theory, GC should be able to coexist with market discussions in the forum but recent 2 years or so seems like it can't and it drove some people away, which starts a domino effect as less participation obviously leads to even more people participating less (in market discussions).

Removing GC or at least cleaning a lot of it up may be the last gamble to save the forum as a stock forum. But it may be too late do so as the damage has been done and GC has taken over, removing it will probably kill the majority of the current posters. Tough decision to make.

 

[barney]

I log in to see if there is any markets discussion. Mostly none, except for the 2 or so journals. All GC crap that I'm not interested in. Most of the quality trader/posters have left/inactive so there is no discussion at all anymore.

In theory, GC should be able to coexist with market discussions in the forum but recent 2 years or so seems like it can't and it drove some people away, which starts a domino effect as less participation obviously leads to even more people participating less (in market discussions).

Removing GC or at least cleaning a lot of it up may be the last gamble to save the forum as a stock forum. But it may be too late do so as the damage has been done and GC has taken over, removing it will probably kill the majority of the current posters. Tough decision to make.

Hey @minwa ……. Good to see you are still around ….. You were one of the posters who many including myself were always keen to listen to given your success at the coalface so to speak …..

Can I tempt you into starting another of your own threads for at least a short time, just to perhaps help the Site with some trading substance ….. I'm sure @Joe Blow would appreciate your input as would many other Punters ……..

Perhaps a Thread describing your trading journey from the beginning to how you became successful and how you achieved that ……. I can assure you there will be a captive audience Cheers M8.

 

[Smurf1976]

I see some similarities with other industries here.

Radio broadcasting is one. Every time you change the format or music style you loose a good chunk of the current audience who switch to whoever's playing that sort of music. I've seen a former number 1 commercial station decline to the point where a non-profit community station actually beat them in a ratings period due to that. Change, change, change - it drove everyone away. In due course it was bought out.

So if you're going to change in a manner that kills of some of the present customer base, make damn sure it's the right change and do it once only.

Nightclubs are another industry with a constant turnover of patrons. Let's be blunt and to the point - what is that industry really selling? DJ's and music? Nope they're mostly just to make the place better than the competition. Alcohol? Well that brings the money in but you can buy alcohol at a fraction of the price from any bottleshop. Socialisation? Not at 110 dB you're not. Nope, it's something far more basic - you're paying a cover charge and buying hugely expensive drinks so as to be in a relatively dark room surrounded by a disproportionate number of single people of the opposite (or same) sex most of whom are at least half way to being drunk. Hopefully that doesn't offend anyone - just telling it like it is at least in Australia.

That promise is what gets men in particular dancing to music they don't really like anyway and buying drinks at 10 times what they'd cost from a bottleshop. If the women weren't there then the men wouldn't have joined that queue, paid their money and got their wrist stamped in a million years. Well, the odd one yes but as a whole no.

Thing is, in due course most either find themselves in a relationship or realise that a room full of drunks and deafeningly loud music probably isn't the best place to meet someone for anything long term anyway (always some exceptions of course). Once that happens most spend far less time in clubs, not zero but definitely less unless they're some sort of hard core party freak, and a point comes where it goes to zero and stays there. Hence there's a high turnover of clubbers and either you attract those turning 18 or you're going to be out of business.

Now the surest way to have an empty club is to have an empty club. Might sound obvious but if the room fits 1000 people and there's only 100 there, well that's a pretty good way to have people walk in, see that it's dead, and walk straight out again wishing they hadn't just paid the cover charge. Those same people would have stayed if there were already 500 people in the room, as would the other 400 who walked in and didn't stay because nobody was there. So you've got the numbers but you can't make them stick.

Now Smurf has once played volleyball in the middle of the night on the dance floor in an almost empty club but I'm pretty sure they didn't make any money out of that. If the place is empty enough to be playing sports then it's not really working. You need people to make money and you need people to get people. A chicken and egg problem.

Now with a club you can sort of fake it a bit. Get a few uni students to hand out free entry cards or drink cards etc and give them whatever in return. Pay the $ and get a famous DJ and promote that heavily. Have no cover charge before 10:30, half price drinks until midnight, close off upstairs and push your whole attendance into the one space so it looks fuller, make people like up in a queue outside for no necessary reason, whatever. All aimed at making the place look fuller than it really is which then brings more people hey presto! Now it's actually full or close enough.

So we need more posts, stock posts or at least something about investing, on ASF in order to fix the empty room = empty room problem. Using the nightclub strategy, well we can't really just dump the crowd out of General Chat into the Stock Forum by playing crap music and turning on the ugly lights whilst having only one possible exit which just happens to lead right where we want them to end up, that's not going to work in this situation, but if we can encourage those posting in GC to divert their time and effort then that ought to achieve a similar result.

Just my thoughts at about midnight after setting up the computer in my new house (all my recent posts have been on a phone.....). Tomorrow I'll post something about investing.....

 

[Parse]

More than 1,000 people visit ASF each weekday. Many of those are unregistered. Of those who are registered, only a small percentage post regularly. I would be interested in hearing from those who are registered and who visit regularly but do not post. I'd like to know why.

That's me! I visit every day and read a bunch but I have difficulty posting. Mainly because I don't know what to discuss and my knowledge on stocks/shares et al is limited. I don't even read the "General" section - didn't like the look of that ages ago when I did a read-through. I like discussions on various stocks but there isn't a lot there that I can make comments on. That could be because of my lack of knowledge too.

As to the website design, I have always felt that the Stocks 0-H, I-P, Q-Z forums are.. well they just don't seem right the way it's setup. I have tried to think of a better idea a few times but haven't come up with anything worthwhile as yet. Btw, have you noticed that SYA Sayona Mining is in Stocks 0-H? (Most probably had a name change at some point I guess)

 

[barney]

That's me! I visit every day and read a bunch but I have difficulty posting. Mainly because I don't know what to discuss and my knowledge on stocks/shares et al is limited. I don't even read the "General" section - didn't like the look of that ages ago when I did a read-through. I like discussions on various stocks but there isn't a lot there that I can make comments on. That could be because of my lack of knowledge too.

As to the website design, I have always felt that the Stocks 0-H, I-P, Q-Z forums are.. well they just don't seem right the way it's setup. I have tried to think of a better idea a few times but haven't come up with anything worthwhile as yet. Btw, have you noticed that SYA Sayona Mining is in Stocks 0-H? (Most probably had a name change at some point I guess)

Howdy @Parse ….. I'm sure Joe appreciates your input. My suggestion would be to pick a few Stocks that you like or follow and simply update their news announcements on their respective threads. You don't need to have a discussion to have input, but you'll find that simply posting news will in itself likely create some discussion

SYA is a stock I'm interested in as well ….. On July 10th, 2013, DiamonEx Limited (DON) changed its name to Sayona Mining Limited (SYA).

Cheers.

 

[PZ99]

That's me! I visit every day and read a bunch but I have difficulty posting. Mainly because I don't know what to discuss and my knowledge on stocks/shares et al is limited. I don't even read the "General" section - didn't like the look of that ages ago when I did a read-through. I like discussions on various stocks but there isn't a lot there that I can make comments on. That could be because of my lack of knowledge too.

Can't be that bad mate, after all you won the comp last year

...flew past me at the last minute like a rat up an aquaduct. LOL