Is Whateveresque Dead?

[MasterThief]

I see John's no longer linking to it or opening registration. :(

[KJToo]

In the last round of signups (waaay back in January of this year), we gained more than 50 new users, bringing the total membership to more than 1,600.

1,600 members.

In the past year, this forum has had nearly one active topic per day: 352.

In the past 6 months, we've had 121 active topics. 0.66 topics per day.

In the past 3 months: 31 or 0.33 topics per day.

In the past month: 10 or 0.33 per day.

In the past two weeks: 4, including this one. Two of those are pretty much "drop and run" topics; they're not really generating anything that could be called a conversation.

We've been pretty quiet lately. Maybe we need to give John something to link to.

[Randy H]

Good point KJToo. We simply may not be capturing his attention, or anyone else's due to lack of content.
Let's try to get an interesting topic or two started in one of the other areas. Give it some thought... maybe we can stimulate some real conversation again.

[willywoollove]

I blame the economy.

[ytimynona]

I blame final exams and homework. URGH!!!

[Jeff S.]

A week or so ago John posted on Whatever that he was leaving it up to us for awhile as he was going to be a bit to busy to moderate or open registration as usual. That explains the no new members part but I guess it doesn't explain the lack of topics.

In my own case, this is my first comment over here, let alone a topic for conversation type post. I'm generally a lurker more than a commenter anyway but I also don't really like to comment on a topic that's been up for a few weeks. It seems to lack spontaneity or any real relevance if it's a month later and the fervor of the moment has died down.
That being said, I'm like anyone else, the amount of time I have to devote to following any sites at all has been limited lately. Probably even more so this last week with the Swine Flu thing and working at Seattle Children's Hospital.

I would like to say that I would take it on myself to generate 2 or 3 new interesting topics a week to help jump things up a notch but realistically, I'm not sure that I'm that capable or witty enough in my own right to do it.

So what to do?

[willywoollove]

I like that Jeff. I'm much more of a lurker myself. When I do start a topic it tends to lack any real substance. I'm also not a very good writter, but I do enjoy reading a good thread when it gets hot. I look forward to that happening here again.

[ruzkin]

I have to wonder why John restricts new signups in the way that he does. It's pretty obvious that it doesn't really help create a more close-knit or dedicated forum community; if it did, we wouldn't be having this conversation. If anything, I think it makes a lot of people feel the forum population is stale, causing them to quickly move on, which means we miss out on a lot of interesting topics and points of view.

If John wants to take some time off from the forum then that's certainly his choice and his right, but control should then be handed to a secondary admin, who should have the power to open up registration if they so choose and then deal with the consequences.

[KJToo]

I have to wonder why John restricts new signups in the way that he does. It's pretty obvious that it doesn't really help create a more close-knit or dedicated forum community; if it did, we wouldn't be having this conversation. If anything, I think it makes a lot of people feel the forum population is stale, causing them to quickly move on, which means we miss out on a lot of interesting topics and points of view.

If John wants to take some time off from the forum then that's certainly his choice and his right, but control should then be handed to a secondary admin, who should have the power to open up registration if they so choose and then deal with the consequences.

I've observed that suggesting John "should" do something or other with his own website is generally not the wisest course of action.

[ruzkin]

I know. If anything, it's the sort of thing that leads to a ban. But it's the only suggestion I have, and most other folk here seem content to sit and wait for John to have some free time again to admin the forums. As far as I can see, that won't be for a while. His posts on Whatever seem to indicate that he's busier than ever with his work, family and professional commitments. And good on him! He doesn't owe the forum community anything, and what he does with Whateveresque is entirely his choice.

I'm a member on other forums where the same thing has happened - the original admin becomes busier with life and work, and things begin to slow or degrade. The options for remedying the situation always seem the same. Either get some more free time (which doesn't seem likely, John seems a very in-demand sort of fellow) pass on the admin duties to someone with the spare time (like penny-arcade.com, where the site founders don't even look at the forums) or let things slowly fade to nothing.

If other folk have other solutions, do tell. I don't want to see this forum die - I've barely been here long enough to start learning names.

[Jeff S.]

So: this thread started on the 29th of April, had comments (9) through the 4th of May, and now here it is, May 16th and nothing else has happened.

I'm inclined to quote Miracle Max from the "Princess Bride" "Now, mostly dead is slightly alive."

Anyone can jump in here at any time and tell me I'm wrong...
Anyone at all...

[Christian]

I used to be very active on this board once upon a time, but barely peek in here once a month now.

IMHO, we probably could have used a moderator or two. Not because anyone needed any correction, but mods generally keep things moving and fresh, throw out new ideas, contests, etc.

[Jeff S.]

Thanks for stopping by Christian,

I think you're right that a moderator from the family is a good idea, but who.
You? Doesn't sound like you have the time.
Me? Not hardly, not only am I a bit time constrained myself, but my internet Fu is rather weak. I really have no idea on how to go about something like this.

So the call goes out:

There is someone in the Whateveresque family that has the time, the skill set and the gall to ask John to take over the site for him? I hope so.

For a confirmed lurker, this particular post string has made me almost verbose. I wonder if it's a trend?

[KJToo]

IMHO, we probably could have used a moderator or two. Not because anyone needed any correction, but mods generally keep things moving and fresh, throw out new ideas, contests, etc.

There is someone in the Whateveresque family that has the time, the skill set and the gall to ask John to take over the site for him? I hope so.

So the idea is to assign someone to create content and generate conversation?

[geonuc]

I used to be very active on this board once upon a time, but barely peek in here once a month now.

IMHO, we probably could have used a moderator or two. Not because anyone needed any correction, but mods generally keep things moving and fresh, throw out new ideas, contests, etc.

That about speaks for me, as well, except I've never been too active.

[geonuc]

It would help if I didn't keep getting logged off when I navigate the board. Very frustrating.

[Jeff S.]

KJToo said,
"So the idea is to assign someone to create content and generate conversation?"

No, sorry. Not what I meant at all. More on the order of enlightened volunteerism. Is there, rather than, there is.
It seems that I was right when I figured my skill set was not optimal for something like this. Note to self: remember the darn preview button this time.

Anyway the question still remains and there is still no good answers out there so far.
An unscientific poll of the number of threads, which means I just glanced at the index and noted the most recent comments, shows 7 or 8 comments on the whole page so far this month. Not many compared to 6-9 months ago. KJToo did a more thorough number crunch up thread and it holds up.

I'm glad that this post has generated a little bit of talk and hope it leads to some sort of revival. At the very least it has pushed me out of my "lurker only" persona, and into something a little more active.

What's the best way for someone like me to learn more about moderating a blog. Google searching seems a bit random to me. Not that I'm suddenly brave enough to volunteer for this at all, whether John would allow a complete unknown to try it or not, but I would like to lower my ignorance quotient on the methods and skills needed. I can't keep asking my 23 year old daughter for help any more, it's getting embarrassing.

[KJToo]

Here's my take on the whole business of moderation:

• I've not seen anything (thus far) since joining Whateveresque that appears to require moderation—that is, some sort of approval, disapproval or modification by an individual with the ability to do more than simply post—which either indicates that our gracious host is actively moderating posts himself or we've got a roster of well-behaved members who know better than to stir up trouble.
• One does not need to be a moderator in order to create a new topic (or thread, if you will); it is simply a matter of deciding which sub-board best suits the subject.
• A moderator might be useful for handling new user registrations (should John be too busy to take on the monthly task), but as there does not appear to be a correlation between an influx of new users and an influx of new content, the value of assigning a moderator to that task in the hope of somehow reviving a quiet forum is questionable.

Yes, I'm playing devil's advocate here. From my perspective, the best thing to do to prevent Whateveresque from becoming stagnant and perhaps being shut down is simple: post something, preferably not on this particular topic.

[Lauren]

So perhaps we should all take a topic that interests us and post a new post. For example, one of us could take the photograph game and start a new thread. I liked that one. I still have an unanswered post on Ask Anything.

And we need to put a pointer to the 'Esque every time we post on the Whatever.

I'll start right now.

[Christian]

Unfortunately John has pulled the mentions (links, etc) of Whateveresque off of the "whatever.scalzi.com" wesbite, so at this point I'm rather guessing that the community it closed. I think that might be a gentle way of letting us know that it was fun while it lasted, but it's time to fluff the pillow and turn off the bedside lamp.

I've managed communities on GEnie, CompuServe, AOL, EA, and SOE - and these things just happen sometimes, for really no reason at all. There is no magic formula for keeping keeping a community going. Sometimes an evangelist helps, stickiness, flame wars, contests, fresh blood, etc - but there's no proven system.

My 2 pennies.

[willywoollove]

I blame facebook, twitter, and .......................

[willywoollove]

YES!!!

[Lauren]

YES!!!

I agree, willywoollove. I missed being here for two weeks (one of which was spent in the hospital, the other in recovering) and nothing's changed.

It's dead, Jim.