|
|
Post by hhsussex on Nov 12, 2014 20:24:58 GMT
Just an update on those numbers, and apologies for misleading you s and f. Our current total of page views is actually over 315, 000 - I misquoted you an interim total from the board's stats, rather than the May-November figure. |
|
|
|
Post by viewfromtheboundary on Nov 12, 2014 20:33:56 GMT
Yes we usually have at least 30 guests on the site along with 1-10 members in an hours period (thats probably the average). Page views are the same as hits.
|
|
|
|
Post by Wicked Cricket on Nov 13, 2014 10:34:31 GMT
hhs,
Now that makes a lot more sense.
It certainly contrives the Somerset 'Grockle' Forum and their achievement of reaching 100,000 page views in 3.5 years, to be a bit
of a farce. Although, to be fair, their MB did begin in 2002 when there were far fewer people using computers and the internet.
|
|
|
|
Post by hhsussex on Nov 13, 2014 11:39:04 GMT
hhs, Now that makes a lot more sense. It certainly contrives the Somerset 'Grockle' Forum and their achievement of reaching 100,000 page views in 3.5 years, to be a bit of a farce. Although, to be fair, their MB did begin in 2002 when there were far fewer people using computers and the internet. Some illustrations of our users and posting tendencies. This is the spread of postings made by the current membership  The very high proportion of non-posting members does not necessarily indicate lack of interest in the board. Many view to keep up with what's going on but for various reasons don't want to get involved in the debate; some like to join in for polls only. These Lurkers all contribute in their own ways to the board and many are remarkably loyal.  The volume of posts made by members has fluctuated for several reasons: A) There was an initial flurry of posts when the new board was founded, some of them nuisance posts by trouble-makers from a rival board B) There was strong interest generated by the Test matches and the strong Sussex performance in the early part of the season C) With the waning of Sussex performances and representation in Tests in high summer posts started to decline sharply D) The lack of cricket in August coupled with holiday patterns intensified this E) The recovery in September with a good finish and returns from holiday was strengthened by new membership and the “Reciprocal Ageements” posting spike in October These are figures for complete months only, but November to date seems to be holding up strongly.  |
|
|
|
Post by Wicked Cricket on Nov 13, 2014 11:57:57 GMT
hhs,
Many thanks for those fascinating stats.
So, the eternal Forum question. How do you persuade those 64% of lurkers to post and how do you
persuade the 20% who have written between 1 and 9 posts to push on?
This is the bane of all Forums.
Meanwhile, the fact that posts are up in October is very encouraging, albeit, boosted by a hot topic. And
that 42% of loyal lurkers (a tongue-twister there) have returned in November. Much to give us hope for the
long-term.
Any ideas then on how to encourage lurkers to get involved. A monthly competition for the best 'loyal lurker'
post? Or are we "all" wasting our time? What views does Alex hold? Has he any ideas for his VFTB?
The more people post with a variety of different views, the more healthy the Forum.
|
|
|
|
Post by hhsussex on Nov 13, 2014 12:11:27 GMT
hhs, Many thanks for those fascinating stats. So, the eternal Forum question. How do you persuade those 64% of lurkers to post and how do you persuade the 20% who have written between 1 and 9 posts to push on? This is the bane of all Forums. Meanwhile, the fact that posts are up in October is very encouraging, albeit, boosted by a hot topic. And that 42% of loyal lurkers (a tongue-twister there) have returned in November. Much to give us hope for the long-term. Any ideas then on how to encourage lurkers to get involved. A monthly competition for the best 'loyal lurker' post? Or are we "all" wasting our time? What views does Alex hold? Has he any ideas for his VFTB? The more people post with a variety of different views, the more healthy the Forum. Maybe. As I said, some people like to post a lot, some people occasionally post, and some people don't post at all. The forum is healthy if it represents all of those characteristics and still attracts people regularly. We currently experience an average of 2000 page views per day, including weekends when the volumes of actual postings are at their lowest. 50 members regularly visit daily and about 100 guests, about half of the latter having some corporeal presence. Lots of innovations coming up to keep our members interested and involved, including polls and technical enhancements to make the site more attractive and convenient to use. |
|
|
|
Post by deepfineleg on Nov 13, 2014 12:18:46 GMT
hhs,
How is the 'Last Viewed' counted? I ask as I've noticed in Members list that borderman is shown as last logged on in May. Presumably some people contrive not to log off.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2014 12:25:33 GMT
hhsussex said: "50 members regularly visit daily and about 100 guests."
In terms of regular traffic, perhaps not that different from the other Sussex messageboard,then, which I was told last week has 86 members, about 50 of whom were described as "active." The higher number of members and guests on here is no doubt because this is an open board and the other is invitation-only.
|
|
|
|
Post by hhsussex on Nov 13, 2014 12:33:02 GMT
hhs, How is the 'Last Viewed' counted? I ask as I've noticed in Members list that borderman is shown as last logged on in May. Presumably some people contrive not to log off. It records individual last views, whether that view is made by someone whose name is regularly visible or who has chosen to keep their status private ( see Profile>Edit Profile>Privacy settings). Both are counted for page views. |
|
|
|
Post by hhsussex on Nov 13, 2014 12:34:25 GMT
hhsussex said: "50 members regularly visit daily and about 100 guests." In terms of regular traffic, perhaps not that different from the other Sussex messageboard,then, which I was told last week has 86 members, about 50 of whom were described as "active." The higher number of members and guests on here is no doubt because this is an open board and the other is invitation-only. Yes, that sounds right. It depends on how you characterise "active". |
|
|
|
Post by Wicked Cricket on Nov 13, 2014 12:35:02 GMT
Lots of innovations coming up to keep our members interested and involved, including polls and technical enhancements to
make the site more attractive and convenient to use. Can't wait. My tail's wagging excitedly like a child entering a sweet shop.  Meanwhile, I am looking at different ways of marketing this Forum to Sussex supporters over the Winter. I'll keep you posted. |
|
|
|
Post by viewfromtheboundary on Nov 13, 2014 12:48:20 GMT
I think sometimes you can do nothing about converting lurkers to posters as it is very much up to the member. For example we have a member who has spent close to 7 hours online on the forum and has yet to make a post, thinking about it, it's a very long time lurking!
In terms of attracting more people to the site, I think Twitter is key to spreading the word, I am looking to recruit some more forum moderators to help make some of the individual forums more active. This will hopefully create a snowball effect and keep the forum growing.
One thing that did increase the numbers on the Durham forum was fantasy club cricket, this attracted lots of members to the site and also attracted some sponsors into the forum such as a free bat and free gloves for the winners. Ultimately it took a lot of time to run the Durham moderator chose to stop it due to lack of time. However now we have an actual website it would make running the competition a lot easier.
|
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Nov 13, 2014 13:18:03 GMT
Re lurking: I believe this is how the majority of people enjoy message boards. I contribute freely to this MB, and it is always open in a tab on my browser. But I read and follow other MBs (not cricket related) to which I don't contribute - I am a lurker on those boards, and it keeps me in touch.
The reason I don't post on certain other boards is that I don't want to make the commitment to the extra involvement it would entail. I don't want to spend all my free time on MBs. Once you start contributing, it can become addictive, as I have learned!
Do lurkers on this board feel the same?
|
|
|
|
Post by hhsussex on Nov 13, 2014 13:25:52 GMT
Re lurking: I believe this is how the majority of people enjoy message boards. I contribute freely to this MB, and it is always open in a tab on my browser. But I read and follow other MBs (not cricket related) to which I don't contribute - I am a lurker on those boards, and it keeps me in touch. The reason I don't post on certain other boards is that I don't want to make the commitment to the extra involvement it would entail. I don't want to spend all my free time on MBs. Once you start contributing, it can become addictive, as I have learned! Do lurkers on this board feel the same? Very good points, flashblade, and very likely true of this board as well. Alas, we shall never know, for a true lurker never tells!  |
|
|
|
Post by Wicked Cricket on Nov 17, 2014 11:50:53 GMT
Sussex CCC Cricket Bookfair: November 16th: Boundary Rooms: 10am-4pm.Part 1The annual November 'Cricket Bookfair' held at the Hove 'Boundary Rooms' attracted a larger crowd than last year with over 120 people through the door, 12 traders in attendance and some rare and unusual memorabilia items for sale. Some stallholders were enjoying a brisk trade with one collector spending over £1,000 alone on a collection of ‘Wisdens’ dating from the 1940s. Top UK dealer Christopher Saunders was offering 'CMJs' book collection for sale. After recently negotiating with wife Judy, the money paid has been donated to the ‘Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation’. CMJ had accumulated over 1,000 cricket books during his writing career although he wasn’t a collector per se. Saunders explained, “Christopher was regularly given books to review or as gifts from other authors. It was more a working collection.” To give gravitas to this library, Saunders asked Jules Akel, who designs all the tickets for matches at ‘Lords’, to create a bookplate to be placed within each book.  Other unusual items on his stall included two different electro-plated Victorian toast racks with cricket themes. The larger was priced up at £450 and a smaller version at £125.  www.cricket-books.com/Ted Kirwan from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, was attending for the first time. A retired chartered accountant, he has been involved in the cricket memorabilia market for over 30 years and trades under the name ‘Grace Books and Cards’. He has a pitch during the summer at the Leicestershire, Northants and Scarborough cricket grounds. A Leicestershire Member since a boy, he said with a mournful tone, “It’s rather depressing supporting them today” although pointing out, “People forget we have won the Championship trophy three times and gained 6 OD cups since the war - the last time in 2011.” Let us hope former Sussex player Wasim Khan can help turn this proud club's fortunes around since his recent appointment as their CEO. A speciality of Kirwan are cricket-related postcards. He continued, “I bought over 20,000 from a Shoreham stockist back in 2004 and have sold around 5,000 since the purchase.” Kirwan sells them in packs of 50 at £5 or individually under the title ‘Classic Cricket Cards’. Other items for sale included biscuit tins with a cricket theme (£10 each), cigarette and caricature cards and stamps.  One delightful item on his stall was a mini cricket bat priced at £15 with the wicket-keeping signatures of Jack Russell, Bob Taylor, Godfrey Evans and Alan Knott. It was produced as part of Russell’s 'Gloucestershire Benefit Year' in 1994.
|
|
