Are RV forums dying?
Seems to me we get less and less participation in this forum each year:
Forum Discussion
Forums have been over-moderated and filled with arrogant know-it-alls for years. If people enjoy the subject matter, they will ignore all that.
Newbies don't stick around because they just want an answer to their question or validation of their idea. They don't want to be "pals" and discuss the merits of a residential fridge versus an RV fridge. Go on any forum and you will see post after post by newbies who never return. It has nothing to do with moderation or snarkiness.
Yes, this forum is heavily moderated, but no more so than any other big business-owned forum. I know one forum where the company created a specific "off-topic" board and encouraged the problem children to post there - made it out that they were in agreement that politics, religion, etc., and attacks on others had a viable place on the forum. Then they closed it off to all new posters. So the bickering, vindictive, snotty posters could argue with each other without interfering in the main purpose of the forum - to bring in new customers. It was actually pretty clever. As the problem children piss each other off and leave, the pool gets smaller and smaller. Soon there will be one person left and she'll only have herself to fight with.
Newbies don't stick around because they just want an answer to their question or validation of their idea. They don't want to be "pals" and discuss the merits of a residential fridge versus an RV fridge. Go on any forum and you will see post after post by newbies who never return. It has nothing to do with moderation or snarkiness.
Yes, this forum is heavily moderated, but no more so than any other big business-owned forum. I know one forum where the company created a specific "off-topic" board and encouraged the problem children to post there - made it out that they were in agreement that politics, religion, etc., and attacks on others had a viable place on the forum. Then they closed it off to all new posters. So the bickering, vindictive, snotty posters could argue with each other without interfering in the main purpose of the forum - to bring in new customers. It was actually pretty clever. As the problem children piss each other off and leave, the pool gets smaller and smaller. Soon there will be one person left and she'll only have herself to fight with.
