Boosting membership.

First topic message reminder :

Hi guys as we struggle around the 40 mark for members is it about time to go on a membership drive to open up the Forum to new members?
I have just Tweeted details of our new Forum to my followers, why not do the same with yours or can you use any other means to wake up the Italian Loving Community to the Best Italy Forum yet (Probably)

A solid membership base is needed; however, members must participate. This does not mean that the Forum cannot help guests... On the other hand, communication is not one way only and participation is what makes a Forum worthwhile following.

Gala Placidia wrote:A solid membership base is needed; however, members must participate. This does not mean that the Forum cannot help guests... On the other hand, communication is not one way only and participation is what makes a Forum worthwhile following.

The Forum is also a place where some of us have created long-term friendships.  We have met several people over the years whom we stay in contact with and see when we are in Italy.  Another friend also visited us when she was in the States.  The private e-mail feature has also been great.  It has facilitated being able to help one another on a more personal level when matters needed to be discussed privately.  We have found the friendships we have cultivated thus far to be very rewarding and look forward to meeting more people in time.

I fully agree, Lisa.

I suppose the fundamental question is 'why are we here at all?  

Over the many years I've been on various forums/a I've also made life-long friends (and a few enemies as well! )  But, perhaps most of all, I've had a lot of laughs .

I think to have a wiki forum, just exchanging 'dry' information, would be a retrograde step.

ghiro wrote:I suppose the fundamental question is 'why are we here at all?   Over the many years I've been on various forums/a I've also made life-long friends (and a few enemies as well! )  But, perhaps most of all, I've had a lot of laughs .I think to have a wiki forum, just exchanging 'dry' information, would be a retrograde step.

 Perhaps you misunderstood, the forum would be as is except it would have a separate area for sticky type of posts that move along with changes in law etc e.g. "getting residency in Italy"....
For me the forums were and are a means to an end i.e. finding out about living in Italy and importantly giving something back to the forum as I learn or if I can help. I fully appreciate some see it more as a social "expats" get together place, which I also see as fine if that's what they want...

There is the facility to have a Portal which, as I understand it (although I haven't looked too closely) is along the lines of what Steve is describing.

I have attempted to do something similar with the stickies on topics like tax etc. I am unconvinced (although open minded) that guests would bother to look at the actual forum itself if we had a page or pages of useful info separately. 

It might improve our Google ratings though......

Admin wrote:There is the facility to have a Portal which, as I understand it (although I haven't looked too closely) is along the lines of what Steve is describing.I have attempted to do something similar with the stickies on topics like tax etc. I am unconvinced (although open minded) that guests would bother to look at the actual forum itself if we had a page or pages of useful info separately. It might improve our Google ratings though......

 I think the stickies you have are great and suffice for what I was thinking. If that is they can be updated to cater for changes e.g. stay in Italy reduced/increased by "x" amount due to EU law ... Or that type of thing...

I know of a Forum that has a special section of useful information that can only be viewed by members. All threads in that section are "stickies". It may be a good idea to copy 

I could make it only open to members. That's not difficult.

The hardest thing is keeping things current. It's a big job staying up to date with this sort of official information. We would have to share the burden.....

Stickies can be updated. That is no problem. It is more the will and burden of doing it that is difficult.

I think I'll start a separate poll about why people come here and ask for comments on an information section and see what people think.

I would leave them open to all, so they can see what a good forum it is...  

Perhaps the right balance may be to start with that section open to the general public and then, if Admin sees that the section is used by more "lurkers" than members we could have it restricted to members and this may entice some of them to join. This is what that other Forum (English-speaking but not about Italy did). And it worked...
I agree with Admin about the difficulties of keeping the section updated.

Miss Demeanor wrote:I'll tell you one thing - if we don't all get outta this thread and start posting in other ones, we may as well not bother.

I'm going to be brutally honest and, therefore, probably hugely unpopular.   But here goes.

The problem as I see it Ms D is that 'posting in other' threads is often unrewarding.  There is frequently little or no support from other members.

For example charlitaly recently raised an interesting question about LPG.  This generated exactly 2 replies.  If he/she never posts again I wouldn't blame him/her. 

On a more personal note I spent a lot of time and thought on my post last night.  47 views and only one reply (by the forum Saint Gala Placidia, who is always supportive).  Otherwise not a single 'sounds fun'!   Not a single 'thanks for sharing that'!   Was it really that boring?

What's for sure is that I'm most unlikely to make the effort again.

Are you aware that of the 71 members of this forum a mere 6 have made more than 100 posts?

I know these are early days but either people are committed to and supportive of this forum and of the other members, or they're not.  Clearly a few (Penny, you're brilliant ) are totally committed to the success of this forum.  But for this forum to succeed in the longer term the majority of members, IMHO, need to be more involved and more supportive.

Rant over!

Oh FFS get over yourselves - it's like unfollow on Twitter.

Personally I think there is a problem (maybe surmountable) with this forum format. 

I drop in regularly to many sites (not all forums) - maybe I am unusual in this behaviour - but what I want (or wish to be able to craft the forum notices to allow) is to see THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS.

Here, all I get is that there has been a post in a non specific forum section (like there is a red thing in general - maybe means there are three posts, or one, or the post is in a subsection of the forum) - I'm not shown (on the front page, in my face) what people have written. 

I'm happy to be accused of not being dedicated - that's absolutely true - but I'm not even attracted! 

I dunno if this format allows 'last eight posts' or whatever option to come up first, but IMO this current format is at least as painful as the unmentionable. 

Italyuncovered, (?spelling) also something Chillout did, which used Vbulletin or blah as their basic platform were really functional as forums. This forum has quite a lot of potential personality wise, but it is dire functionally. (IMO)

The Original Relaxed wrote:Oh FFS get over yourselves - it's like unfollow on Twitter.Personally I think there is a problem (maybe surmountable) with this forum format. I drop in regularly to many sites (not all forums) - maybe I am unusual in this behaviour - but what I want (or wish to be able to craft the forum notices to allow) is to see THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS.

Here, all I get is that there has been a post in a non specific forum section (like there is a red thing in general - maybe means there are three posts, or one, or the post is in a subsection of the forum) - I'm not shown (on the front page, in my face) what people have written. 

I'm happy to be accused of not being dedicated - that's absolutely true - but I'm not even attracted! 

I dunno if this format allows 'last eight posts' or whatever option to come up first, but IMO this current format is at least as painful as the unmentionable. 

Italyuncovered, (?spelling) also something Chillout did, which used Vbulletin or blah as their basic platform were really functional as forums. This forum has quite a lot of potential personality wise, but it is dire functionally. (IMO)

Not too sure what you mean Lax? Perhaps you have not looked at it in detail for a while, as the format has changed. You can see only the latest posts or was it something more you wanted?

The Original Relaxed wrote:Oh FFS get over yourselves - it's like unfollow on Twitter.Personally I think there is a problem (maybe surmountable) with this forum format. I drop in regularly to many sites (not all forums) - maybe I am unusual in this behaviour - but what I want (or wish to be able to craft the forum notices to allow) is to see THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS.Here, all I get is that there has been a post in a non specific forum section (like there is a red thing in general - maybe means there are three posts, or one, or the post is in a subsection of the forum) - I'm not shown (on the front page, in my face) what people have written. I'm happy to be accused of not being dedicated - that's absolutely true - but I'm not even attracted! I dunno if this format allows 'last eight posts' or whatever option to come up first, but IMO this current format is at least as painful as the unmentionable. Italyuncovered, (?spelling) also something Chillout did, which used Vbulletin or blah as their basic platform were really functional as forums. This forum has quite a lot of potential personality wise, but it is dire functionally. (IMO)

I take no notice of any of Lax's late night ramblings as they are often fuelled by a bottle of the finest red and a wicked tongue (which I find completely delightful and very amusing) but I do draw the line when she accuses Chillout as being the once who "did" ItaliaUncovered when I am the one guilty of that.

Chills forum was called The Italy Forum and also sadly never quite took off, whereas ItaliaUncovered was a rampant den of iniquity plagued with numerous likeminded reprobates and plenty of sinful debauchery.

I do agree that VBulletin is a format that is easier to navigate on many levels and allows things like "new posts" and take me to "last unread post" within a thread to be used, to name just two.

The thing about VBulletin is that it is NOT free - there are software, set up and monthly fees to be paid by the owner.  However, you do "get what you pay for" and support is second to none. 

Miss D is absolutely right. You get what you pay for and whilst I'm quite happy to put the effort in to run it I'm not going to fork out €00's of my own cash for it uness there is a return.

Lax - I'm a bit confused. Why don't you just click on 'View Posts Since Last Visit'????

If you have a suggestion for a better FREE forum software I am all ears

Have you tried clicking on Portal?? You will find it in between Home and Calendar on the menu.

Is this the kind of thing you mean Lax?

I've been playing - what do we think?

I found the forum format no problem, so will leave to others their views. The addition does not impact my view that the forum is very good as it is (and free). The only thing I do find a chore is putting a new post by having to look for it every time (I forget it's at subject level).