Not many Newbies?

Facebook is the way everything is heading these days. I guess nobody can stop that, as long as people are happy to have ever keypress logged, matched up to all sorts of geodemographic profiling data, and sold to any and every company that wants the data.

Oh, and Facebook owns the copyright to any pictures you post on it. Its there in the small print of the terms and conditions that nobody ever reads

 

I think would move the Random Photos down and replace it with the main Gardening Discussions and the New Members below that. So the first thing you see is what you want gardening information.

 

I wouldn't feature in such stats. I joined last May, had a browse, liked it, went off for a bit, browsed some more, came back and posted last September/October and haven't shut up since. No particular reason for gap in joining to posting date, just how it happened. Also joined a FB group but really don't like it - or FB much in general.

@Kristen Is it of concern that some other forums have had more new joiners recently? Are they necessarily stayers?

 

Depends what this forum wants to be. The more it is a cosy club for the regulars the less attractive it is to newbies - many threads contain humour and some in-jokes (I'm not objecting, just saying how I see it) . That's fine if that's what folks want - but then it comes down to those folks to fund it. The regular folks are only going to stump up £X and are unlikely to click through many ads - compared to newbies who haven't seen those ads before (assuming they are targeted to the subject dear to their heart )

I don't suppose a Newbie is going to stump up any subscription money though.

But either way, and to answer your question, I think "churn" is required. I may only be speaking for myself, but I ain't here much these days ... there is very little "gardening" being talked about.

Here's what the New Posts Index looked like a couple of minutes ago

 

And by way of comparison here is a Competitor Forum. Several threads started Today/Yesterday (including a couple you'll notice in the list above. I have stopped answering from that poster as they appear here, there, and probably other places, and even when the advice here is diametrically opposed to that given over there the O/P doesn't come back with a follow-up question. I have no idea where the answers are going - Black Hole? A Book on Garden Tips? ... Sorry, I digress ...)

 

What ads? I don't see any and never have.
Not true (to me) that it is a cosy club that puts off newbies. It's what made me feel comfortable from the start.

 

Very true.
Just wondering what the implications for them would be if someone had to post a libelous picture and the "aggrieved" party took legal action
Since the original person that posted the picture in question no longer owns it (now belongs to facebook), who gets sued?

 

That's fine ... but don't appear to be many following in your footsteps. I have no idea what the reason is - cosy or otherwise may not be it, and I doubt it is Google Ranking as this site is "up there" with the others.

 

That's a shame then as I genuinely think it's a great site. I've learnt a lot, including from you, and the friendliness of the members means I'm not afraid to ask even the most basic of questions if I'm not sure of something. Partly because you get to know people through the non-gardening side of the site perhaps? I don't know, I just feel comfortable on here. If it was just serious gardening only I might feel intimidated. Plus your screenshot was just 'one moment in time'. Taken at at a different time it might show the opposite.

 

Afraid not, it was representative ... and why I started this thread as it seems to me that there is relatively little gardening chatter here, especially given the time of year, and very little of it from Newbies.

I'm happy to debate the finer points of growing something unusual here , but I am keener to help people who are stuck at First Base

 

With respect Kristen, I think you are in the minority in your views regarding the users of the site. On dull, dreary, not much going on in the garden days, folks like me just like to see and read what others are doing with their time. I, for example, only have a very limited garden area - unlike you who has a greater commitment to your patch - being larger than most.
I don't get the impression that much has changed in the ratio of gardening/ non gardening input. But yes, I feel that you are not around so much. Some of the other regulars are not posting that much either. I only frequent this forum - and it meets my needs,
Jenny namaste.

 

Yup, that's all fine of course. But will it be enough for the site to survive?

 

This is a snapshot in time, so may be skewed, but shows threads new "today" and "In April"



they are mostly long-running threads.Anthony123's Lawn question is the only one that looks to be from a Newbie as I recognise all the other names as being "regulars"

 

It's not text from threads, but captions from the 'Random Photos' at the top of home page.