A chicken and egg problem.
but if we can encourage those posting in GC to divert their time and effort then that ought to achieve a similar result.
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.
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)
I don't think that is the answer. From memory when Tisme first joined ASF I was impressed with his sharpness and, in my view, astute comments. My view changed but only because of the content and tone of his posts. It can always change again.
You might Sir, but many will not, this is a share and investment forum, not a Tisme forum.Told you you would miss him.
Aside from general chat...I've seen a few become dormant after threads get derailed. I think this has largely gone away (my impression) in more recent times - thankfully! But it was alive and well in the past. Someone would start a topic based around some fundamental analysis and some idiot would chime in something completely irrelevant, like, 'just look at the chart' or whatever. They obviously weren't interested in the thread's original topic, yet they chose to post instead of move on! That made me so mad. And, I know others that got mad enough to leave, at the point they'd had enough. I've always considered the opening post of a thread to be the guiding light of that thread. If you want to talk about something completely different - start a new thread.
Given that it doesn't seem to be a trait of the forum at the moment - let's not take it for granted and be vigilant to avoid that kind of trait appearing in the future.
To satisfy my curiosity I joined a half a dozen ASX Facebook Groups and made the following observations:Apart from that, I agree with what I and other have already mentioned as challenges that ASF faces.
- I'm a forum person (which probably dates me) but I've seen large forums in other topics I'm interested in die out ('health' and 'business' being the broad categories). Have people gone to Facebook groups? I don't know. In some cases, yes. So, the million dollar question is, what does Joe/ASF do about that? The options are - you let it die out, you try and keep it alive (Joe's current approach) or you try and transition to something else by looking at what is proving popular and move in that direction. The second option (keeping it alive) obviously still requires a change in approach - because, 'if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting'.
The stock market itself is a topic that is not exactly flavour of the month - at least not to the masses. That's a generalism that definitely has some truth. We all know that investors went away after '08 and we haven't exactly had a bubble since then to get everyone excited again. Having said that - there is a plethora of stock market information out there, and sites that do well. People are always looking for information. What does ASF offer? Discussion. A sense of community (when it's at its best). But what do people want? Maybe they want news. Maybe they want educators. Maybe they want stock data. I don't know. If I was treating it like a business, that's what I'd be looking at. Sorry Joe - but that one's your job
Too many ideas there to respond to individually, but some great food for thought. Thanks for your thoughts. If anyone would like to second any ideas, please do so. It's hard for me to detect any sort of consensus about what features/content people would like to see. Don't be afraid to speak up and let me know.
- Back to 'forums don't seem to be working'. That's not entirely true, of course. But like anything and everything in business, it's about differentiation, finding your niche etc. There are forums (even in the investing/stock market space) that charge for membership. They do that by fulfilling the need of a niche/sub-niche - same as any business. But that too is a business direction question for Joe; however if members are craving something in particular (e.g. a chartist only forum, a value investors forum, a day trading or Australian FX traders etc etc), they should let Joe know.
- Random ideas: pay people (or let them have the ad rev) for articles on the site (seeking alpha style) to generate content. Partner up with or feature various product sellers who'd trade the content for the exposure (e.g. get an SMSF to do a webinar). Become a source of some unique angle of stock market data. Provide a means for people to post / track portfolios and become heroes (like those sites that track traders). Become a contest site that rivals the ASX game with frequent contests and various sponsored prizes. Any of those could either become a feature of the current site OR transition the site from forums to something else.
Most of these types of ideas are about getting bigger. But again, another way to go is the other direction and go smaller. Especially if you can't compete with the big players in your space (I'm assuming that's Hot Copper). But to go smaller, ad rev probably isn't going to support the site and so a different angle pursued.
I realise that my entire post is, like most, lacking any real answers for Joe and the site's direction for the future. But that's all I've got.
If anyone would like to second any ideas, please do so. It's hard for me to detect any sort of consensus about what features/content people would like to see. Don't be afraid to speak up and let me know.
Would it be possible to automatically trawl other news feeds searching for financial information that may be relevant and post this on a news page ?
I don't know how you would go with copyright , but once it's in the public domain its ok isn't it ?
That would give a one stop go to page instead of people having to do the trawling themselves and would generate a lot of traffic I reckon.
I think a page devoted to financial news from different sources each with a different focus would be a good idea. As you say, it would all have to be in the public domain and copyright free.
Guys and Girls, the question is not whether to add in more functionality into the site, the question is, is general chat distracting from the other threads that are related to stocks, shares and investments and thus discouraging people from visiting and posting that only want to discuss the primary purpose of the forum.
Guys and Girls, the question is not whether to add in more functionality into the site, the question is, is general chat distracting from the other threads that are related to stocks, shares and investments and thus discouraging people from visiting and posting that only want to discuss the primary purpose of the forum.
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