State of the Forum

[johnnyb]

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

The Lumia competition seems to be bringing the best and the worst to these forums. I was brought here because of it, as was Techblitz and many other quality members (wasn't trying to imply I'm a quality member -- far from it ). But it's also bringing too much spam and too many hooligans. I enjoyed chatting with people when I first came here, but now it seems every other post is spam or discussions have, for the most part, fizzled. There isn't much speculation around about Windows Phone. Sure, there's the Verizon hype and the Lumia, but other than that there isn't much press. And it doesn't help that most of the users (judging from what I've seen) are not WP7 users. I am most likely getting the Lumia 900 for my next phone, but I'm not upgrading until July, so I have to wait until then or try to con my family into getting it for me.

Without many WP7 users, I feel like the community is really a gilded spam-heap. Everyone here, including myself, hopes to win the phone, and most will disappear after the contest ends. I feel this isn't a sustainable state of the forum, and there are two things that must be done to make it a long term achievement.

1. Get rid of spam. Promote a few new mods. Give those mods some reason for being here. To entice a couple new high-quality posters, offering the Amazon gift card is a good start, but there is no incentive to stay. I've never worked in management, so I have no idea what would be feasible. But there needs to be some incentive to keep quality members around if the spam keeps up.

2. Create original content. This contest is a nice start, but there is no reason why most people will come here for their WP7/8 news. Mock-up contests, contacting manufacturers, anything to create a unique reason to stay here. If you, the mods, were to generate some kind of monthly contest that awards the person with the highest quality of posts, as voted on by users with x-number of posts, some kind of award, there would be a reason for people to stay.

These both boil down to: Give them an incentive. This is not, currently, a sustainable community. Until there gets to be enough reason for the community to stay because of the community alone, there needs to be something that anchors people here. But that's just my opinion.

[techblitz]

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

The Lumia competition seems to be bringing the best and the worst to these forums. I was brought here because of it, as was Techblitz and many other quality members (wasn't trying to imply I'm a quality member -- far from it ). But it's also bringing too much spam and too many hooligans. I enjoyed chatting with people when I first came here, but now it seems every other post is spam or discussions have, for the most part, fizzled. There isn't much speculation around about Windows Phone. Sure, there's the Verizon hype and the Lumia, but other than that there isn't much press. And it doesn't help that most of the users (judging from what I've seen) are not WP7 users. I am most likely getting the Lumia 900 for my next phone, but I'm not upgrading until July, so I have to wait until then or try to con my family into getting it for me.

Without many WP7 users, I feel like the community is really a gilded spam-heap. Everyone here, including myself, hopes to win the phone, and most will disappear after the contest ends. I feel this isn't a sustainable state of the forum, and there are two things that must be done to make it a long term achievement.

1. Get rid of spam. Promote a few new mods. Give those mods some reason for being here. To entice a couple new high-quality posters, offering the Amazon gift card is a good start, but there is no incentive to stay. I've never worked in management, so I have no idea what would be feasible. But there needs to be some incentive to keep quality members around if the spam keeps up.

2. Create original content. This contest is a nice start, but there is no reason why most people will come here for their WP7/8 news. Mock-up contests, contacting manufacturers, anything to create a unique reason to stay here. If you, the mods, were to generate some kind of monthly contest that awards the person with the highest quality of posts, as voted on by users with x-number of posts, some kind of award, there would be a reason for people to stay.

These both boil down to: Give them an incentive. This is not, currently, a sustainable community. Until there gets to be enough reason for the community to stay because of the community alone, there needs to be something that anchors people here. But that's just my opinion.

Come on johnnyb! Their holding this nice contest, and among you, Slack, Tom and achmeignott (I might have misspelled, sorry!), there are genuinely nice people here who are here for the contest andfor the community. I'm staying afterwards, and you should too. Look, I may not own a Windows Phone, but I know a lot about it! In fact, I run a technology blog and I don't have a smartphone: I'm just an avid follower of technology. Let's not hurt the people here because they're putting themselves out here every day, fighting trolls and moderating just so we have a viable chance of winning a free phone. Let's just enjoy that there are people who like talking about Windows Phone!
TL;DR: Every site needs to grow, and these forums are one of those sites; let's not jump the gun and declare this community dead!

[Joe F.]

Just to touch on the mods thing, we plan on promoting a few members to mods. But we have to wait until the contest is over or there could be some trickery going on. You dig?

Also, we're working very hard on creating original content. We've done developer interviews the last two weeks, and we have another one this week. I always post that stuff here in the forums.

The truth of the matter is the forum is barely a month old. It's not going to be packed with discussion right out of the gates. You just gotta help us grow the place by being active. Hell, you might even get a phone out of it.

[techblitz]

Just to touch on the mods thing, we plan on promoting a few members to mods. But we have to wait until the contest is over or there could be some trickery going on. You dig?

I dig! (ADDING CHARACTERS BECAUSE YOU CAN'T HAVE LESS THAN 10 LETTERS IN A POST) (EXCESSIVE CAPITALIZATION)

[Joe F.]

FYI I edited my post above to add more shtuffs.

[techblitz]

FYI I edited my post above to add more shtuffs.

How old is the site too? I've been working at Techblitz for 8 months now and I'd like to see a little more growth. I've tried relying on humor and more original content, because as much as I'd like to give away phones, I don't even have a smartphone myself!

[Joe F.]

How old is the site too? I've been working at Techblitz for 8 months now and I'd like to see a little more growth. I've tried relying on humor and more original content, because as much as I'd like to give away phones, I don't even have a smartphone myself!

First post was in December, so about 5 months.

[techblitz]

First post was in December, so about 5 months.

The problem with promotion is I don't want to force people to win my blog- I shy away from inviting people to like the official page on Facebook. I need a hook, and as of now that's just original content.

[johnnyb]

I don't mean to sound cynical, but the forums in general are cluttered with spam and don't have much sustenance. I guess time will help bring more people, but only if there is something for them to come to.

[techblitz]

I don't mean to sound cynical, but the forums in general are cluttered with spam and don't have much sustenance. I guess time will help bring more people, but only if there is something for them to come to.

John, there's a good community and a chance at winning a phone! Once the spam gets lifted up, it will only get better. Why do you think it's bad? I've had a great time with all the posters (except Mehtavarun96, but that's life!)

[Joe F.]

I don't mean to sound cynical, but the forums in general are cluttered with spam and don't have much sustenance. I guess time will help bring more people, but only if there is something for them to come to.

Well that's the chicken and the egg. The forum is new, so there isn't going to just magically be wonderful content for people to find. We need people like you and techblitz to help us create that content.

P.S. You can also help flag spam. (triangle icon in the bottom left of posts)

[Joe F.]

We just instituted some new spam blocking measures. Hopefully it works!

[slack]

We just instituted some new spam blocking measures. Hopefully it works!

I think it's been working. I've seen users that registered with "Online_Paydayloans" and other ones like that and they still haven't posted, even though they've been on and off all day, good job!!

[techblitz]

I think it's been working. I've seen users that registered with "Online_Paydayloans" and other ones like that and they still haven't posted, even though they've been on and off all day, good job!!

It's amazing! I can actually see who's posted today!