Activity Checks and Board Layout

[echigokid]

My forum has accrued a little over 700 members this past year, at least 600 of them lasting no longer than a month, and 80 of the remaining 100 have such fluctuating activity that it's difficult to get an accurate gauge of how many active people we've got on board. I see activity checks done in a lot of places, but my forum doesn't simply because we don't want to delete a person's thing, and we occasionally like to contact our old members and let them know what's going on/see how they're doing.

In regards to this, if you were to see a board with 700+ total members and only about 25-35 logging on per day, would it deter you from coming onto the site, or would it not matter?

Additionally, for board layout, I'm curious: I've heard a lot of people say they dislike sub-boards and never use them, and plenty of others who voice the opposite. Because of this, the forum's home page is somewhat small, with only the necessary things having boards, and anything else will be located in a sub-board. 

In regards to that, do you think the layout of boards vs. sub-boards can be a possible deterrent to potential members?

[Mandoli]

Apr 26, 2016 15:16:31 GMT -8 echigokid said:

... if you were to see a board with 700+ total members and only about 25-35 logging on per day, would it deter you from coming onto the site, or would it not matter?

Just my opinion, but no. It's not going to matter how many accounts are active. You have to realize that people are going to take a break from a board or a genre; some of those said people are going to return. Be patient with your members. Rome was not built in a day, and not every member's going to post right away.

Apr 26, 2016 15:16:31 GMT -8 echigokid said:

... do you think the layout of boards vs. sub-boards can be a possible deterrent to potential members?

This is a yes. My forum uses sub-boards and other layers. People don't mind - but you need to realize that my board is a small one with a specific topic. I don't need a lot of sub-boards to make it function properly. If you have one category, and you see topics that could go hand-in-hand, remove one and keep the other. Or make that a sub-section to whatever board it fits under.

[nariadreaming]

I prefer to use sub boards sparingly, and only when trying to create a space that needs a bit more privacy because of the fact that they are less visible.

[Tumbleweed]

Apr 26, 2016 15:16:31 GMT -8 echigokid said:

My forum has accrued a little over 700 members this past year, at least 600 of them lasting no longer than a month, and 80 of the remaining 100 have such fluctuating activity that it's difficult to get an accurate gauge of how many active people we've got on board. I see activity checks done in a lot of places, but my forum doesn't simply because we don't want to delete a person's thing, and we occasionally like to contact our old members and let them know what's going on/see how they're doing.

In regards to this, if you were to see a board with 700+ total members and only about 25-35 logging on per day, would it deter you from coming onto the site, or would it not matter?

I was admin on a support forum that had roughly 500 members and like you, maybe 30 to 100 were fairly active and we never deleted members because we knew that at some point, they would likely make it back when they needed us. It never bothers me when I see other sites like that.

Now it may be different if you have a different kind of a forum, like role play, which seems to be very popular here on ProBoards.

Additionally, for board layout, I'm curious: I've heard a lot of people say they dislike sub-boards and never use them, and plenty of others who voice the opposite. Because of this, the forum's home page is somewhat small, with only the necessary things having boards, and anything else will be located in a sub-board. 

In regards to that, do you think the layout of boards vs. sub-boards can be a possible deterrent to potential members?

I don't mind sub-boards but if there are sub-boards of sub-boards, that is too much for me. And actually, I prefer to just have sub-boards and not the area you post below the sub-board for the board itself so I disable that part. Looks much neater, in my opinion. I do prefer sites that are compact on the main page so you don't have to scroll for miles to see all there is to see. I think your arrangement sounds good as long as there aren't a bunch of unrelated sub-boards jammed into a board just to save front page space.

[Mandoli]

May 10, 2016 8:01:21 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

I don't mind sub-boards but if there are sub-boards of sub-boards, that is too much for me.

I have one secondary sub-board, and that's in the OT section (and even so, it's been used sparingly; I might move all of the threads to the archive). I think you're referring to more than just a secondary sub-board here and there, though. And I agree with that - if there's too many boards on a forum (sub or not), it gets confusing. I don't want to navigate through a jungle to find where I'd like to post.

[Tumbleweed]

May 10, 2016 10:39:35 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

May 10, 2016 8:01:21 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

I don't mind sub-boards but if there are sub-boards of sub-boards, that is too much for me.

I have one secondary sub-board, and that's in the OT section (and even so, it's been used sparingly; I might move all of the threads to the archive). I think you're referring to more than just a secondary sub-board here and there, though. And I agree with that - if there's too many boards on a forum (sub or not), it gets confusing. I don't want to navigate through a jungle to find where I'd like to post.

Maybe I need to clarify? I don't like a sub-board in a sub-board even if it's just one, but that's just me.   I hate clicking and scrolling excessively to get where I want to go. 
Like:
Board
    Sub-board
        Sub-sub-board


I don't mind a half a dozen sub-boards in one board, though. But I believe I'm the minority that feels this way because there was a demand by members for the option of sub-boards that could have their own sub-board and those own sub-boards, again, having their own sub-boards and on and on, so ProBoards made that happen. I have no clue how many people use it, don't mind it and may find it a necessity so pay no attention to my own personal take on this..
        

[Mandoli]

May 10, 2016 18:31:04 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

I have no clue how many people use it, don't mind it and may find it a necessity so pay no attention to my own personal take on this..

I understand where you're coming from. I think it's "useful" to have it on standby. Of course, I've only used it sparingly.

[Kami]

Regarding activity: For me this is all dependent on what kind of forum you're running. For RP forums, I'd rather have a better active-to-registered ratio because it's easier to gauge my chances for having good RP threads. For general chat, I wouldn't care because it's less crucial to me that everyone be active. That said, if I were running the forum that many inactive accounts would bug the heck out of me because I don't see the point in keeping accounts for people who don't participate in over x amount of time (the amount of which depending on the forum topic), unless they've specifically asked to keep their account active for like a vacation or deployment or something.

Boards vs. Subboards: To be honest I would rather see more subboards than parent boards as a general rule. A lot of boards when you first go to a site is really off-putting and overwhelming. That said, subboards can also be overused. I think the right balance between the two would depend entirely on the subject & genre of the forum. For example, I think a Harry Potter Hogwarts-based RP would be fine with a hefty number of subboards for different parts of the castle and whatnot, whereas a forum about... I don't know, taking care of your cat having a hefty number of subboards might be awkward.

[Teg]

About Activity: I belong to a site that has over 500, 000 members and like 60-100 people are active daily there and I still login and haven't been deterred away from that site. So, for me, that wouldn't matter to me. If you only had like 2-5 people logging in a day with that many members, something would be seriously wrong to me.

Regarding the board vs sub-board thing: In a recent project, I've put together image maps to display sub-boards which help the forum look less cluttered. As an example of what I mean, you can look at this board and it's sub-forums: Example - not this image map actually includes several boards and sub-boards within each board but is organized as an Image Map instead because it's more user-friendly and visually appealing that lists and lists of boards. Each image on the board, when highlighted over, will present a tool-tip telling you where you will be taken by clicking on that part of the image map. Clickable areas also outline in blue.

My site has over 100 boards and sub-boards on it, but the way I have things set up and am still setting things up, you won't be able to tell unless you look at the URLs.

Personally, as long as there's something different about the sub-board layout than the norm, sub-boards don't really bother me. As a general rule, I try not to list sub-boards in the main board description area as it seems overwhelming to people. Then again, with my site I don't allow the forum list to be seen at all as I link to all the main areas in a sidebar and image maps distribute out to the rest of the boards and sub-boards.

[cog1999]

Apr 26, 2016 15:16:31 GMT -8 echigokid said:

Additionally, for board layout, I'm curious: I've heard a lot of people say they dislike sub-boards and never use them, and plenty of others who voice the opposite. Because of this, the forum's home page is somewhat small, with only the necessary things having boards, and anything else will be located in a sub-board. 

I'm one of the people who like sub-boards. I think they make it easier for members or potential members to find the topics they're most interested in discussing. If I just had a board for pets in general, members would have to slog through every thread to find the ones about the animal they like; with having sub-boards for each type of pet, people can go directly to the animal they like.

I think if your forum is about a particular topic (ex: motorcycles), you can have more specific board categories and not nee to use sub-boards. For a forum like mine that has many broader categories, sub-boards become almost a necessity.

[lukedonadson7884]

I paid for pro and I'm still getting ads on satelliteradiofan.freeforums.net


1) ProBoards+ - ProBoards+ users won't see any ads when logged into a forum account.

[ClearlyHasUlteriorMotives]

About the amount of people coming online versus the amount of accounts; wouldn't bother me. Around 30 people online daily is already enough for me to consider a forum to be pretty active, so if the site interests me, such a number is fine. Plus; personally I prefer looking at how recently people have posted, as I've also been on very small sites with a very active userbase, and in the end that is the most important thing for me to consider when joining a site.

And as for sub-boards; personally don't mind them, and I absolutely think they have their use. It just depends on how you implement them, I think. In roleplay boards, for example, that have a large amount of locations, each with their own banner, not using sub-boards can make the forum very long, which some people might also dislike. While a more general forum might not need them at all.
I'd go with what you feel fits your site best.

[🎶Sossity🎶]

Jun 2, 2016 2:38:38 GMT -8 lukedonadson7884 said:

I paid for pro and I'm still getting ads on satelliteradiofan.freeforums.net


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Hi

You have already posted this on the support board(the correct place) and an admin responded.

To avoid confusion, it's better that you follow on with it there rather than continue with it here or elsewhere.

Thanks.

[Azuloth]

I have really mixed feelings regarding activity checks. I used to lean towards deleting accounts that fail to report in, but I at the same time recognize that people have lives and sometimes they get in the way. I've had a few members go ghost on me and then return only to find out their account was deleted. I wasn't ever dumb enough to delete their character sheet (only moved it) but you know. It's enough to turn a person off from continuing on.

Instead, I deactivate the account. This is accomplished by moving them from their current Rp enabled group to Deactiavated, which disables their ability to post in Rp areas (while still allowing them to post in OOC areas in case they suddenly return). A player with a deactivated account can easily return and with a few clicks, be back on the go. I do this mainly to be able to keep a current count of active players instead of trying to keep it straight in my head.

Also, I only do activity checks on a quarterly basis.