moriaritytk
TMF Poster
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2001
- Messages
- 127
- Points
- 0
First a story; then some questions.
HERE’S THE STORY:
When the TMF had 2450 registered members, here was the approximate breakdown:
100+ Posts – 50 people (2%)
10-99 Posts – 300 people (12%)
2-9 Posts – 550 people (22%)
1 Post – 250 people (10%)
0 Posts – 1300 people (52%)
These numbers tell us that a fairly small percentage of members (14%) are fairly participative, using 10 posts as a subjective measure.
The really interesting numbers are for the 0-posters and the 1-posters, because both of those are categories require a behavioral shift. To go from lurking to posting is a huge step, one that 52% of members have not been able to make. It’s also a big step to go from one post to making a second post–10% of the members are stuck in that 1-poster category.
Why should we care? Because the robustness and vitality of the community depends on the conversion of lurkers to participants. If only 14% of the people do all the talking, we will soon get bored with each other. Plus, we are not leveraging the ideas, experiences, hopes, dreams and foibles of 86% of our comrades in feathers. That’s a huge waste. There are too few of us out there on the planet in the first place. We cannot afford to miss out on the potential contributions of 86% of our colleagues.
NOW, THE QUESTIONS:
To the 0-Posters: What will it take to shed your lurker status? The board is anonymous–nobody will ever find out who you really are unless you tell them. It’s relatively flame-free and participants and virtually always kind and helpful to First-Posters. There’s clearly no IQ standard here–most of us aren’t geniuses, not even those who think they are. Tickling experience isn’t required–there are plenty of places where people with zero experience can contribute. Articulateness isn’t a requirement–some of our prolific people clearly speak English as a second language. Diego, for example, doesn’t appear to be a native English speaker, but I’ve never seen anyone complain about the occasional off-kilter word choice in his tickling stories–the content is too damn good to care about perfect English grammar. So, what do we need to do to convert you? I’d be very interested in seeing some 0-posters lose their digital virginity right here and give us some guidance on why you’ve hesitated. The learning may help us make the TMF more attractive to new people in the future.
To the 1-Posters: OK, you took the leap and then stopped. Why? Was something about the experience unpleasant? Did someone jump all over you? Was your comment ignored? Do you just get bored quickly? I’d be interested in hearing from some 1-posters about the obstacles to speaking up a second time and about what the rest of us could do to remove them.
Now's the time to speak up, folks.
HERE’S THE STORY:
When the TMF had 2450 registered members, here was the approximate breakdown:
100+ Posts – 50 people (2%)
10-99 Posts – 300 people (12%)
2-9 Posts – 550 people (22%)
1 Post – 250 people (10%)
0 Posts – 1300 people (52%)
These numbers tell us that a fairly small percentage of members (14%) are fairly participative, using 10 posts as a subjective measure.
The really interesting numbers are for the 0-posters and the 1-posters, because both of those are categories require a behavioral shift. To go from lurking to posting is a huge step, one that 52% of members have not been able to make. It’s also a big step to go from one post to making a second post–10% of the members are stuck in that 1-poster category.
Why should we care? Because the robustness and vitality of the community depends on the conversion of lurkers to participants. If only 14% of the people do all the talking, we will soon get bored with each other. Plus, we are not leveraging the ideas, experiences, hopes, dreams and foibles of 86% of our comrades in feathers. That’s a huge waste. There are too few of us out there on the planet in the first place. We cannot afford to miss out on the potential contributions of 86% of our colleagues.
NOW, THE QUESTIONS:
To the 0-Posters: What will it take to shed your lurker status? The board is anonymous–nobody will ever find out who you really are unless you tell them. It’s relatively flame-free and participants and virtually always kind and helpful to First-Posters. There’s clearly no IQ standard here–most of us aren’t geniuses, not even those who think they are. Tickling experience isn’t required–there are plenty of places where people with zero experience can contribute. Articulateness isn’t a requirement–some of our prolific people clearly speak English as a second language. Diego, for example, doesn’t appear to be a native English speaker, but I’ve never seen anyone complain about the occasional off-kilter word choice in his tickling stories–the content is too damn good to care about perfect English grammar. So, what do we need to do to convert you? I’d be very interested in seeing some 0-posters lose their digital virginity right here and give us some guidance on why you’ve hesitated. The learning may help us make the TMF more attractive to new people in the future.
To the 1-Posters: OK, you took the leap and then stopped. Why? Was something about the experience unpleasant? Did someone jump all over you? Was your comment ignored? Do you just get bored quickly? I’d be interested in hearing from some 1-posters about the obstacles to speaking up a second time and about what the rest of us could do to remove them.
Now's the time to speak up, folks.
