Sven
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pm | | Re: Making the forum active? (20th Jul 08 at 9:51pm UTC) | | I never delete inactive accounts. What attracts people is an open community forum. If you have a high number of a posts and a low number of members because you delete inactive ones then it looks to be a very close, tight and CLOSED community. That means, there is little opportunity for new members to be accepted within the community so they don't bother.
So, I am a strong believer of NOT deleting inactive accounts, don't do it - it causes issues and can be avoided easily. | |
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rosebud
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pm | | Re: Making the forum active? (20th Jul 08 at 10:26pm UTC) | | I have to disagree. 90% of the forum can be seen by guests. The purpose in creating a community is for interaction. If you don't have the time to do it, why join?
I have seen admins delete inactive accounts, but the member count doesn't always remain small. It just remains accurate. | |
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Graham
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pmwww | | Re: Making the forum active? (20th Jul 08 at 10:36pm UTC) | | On the subject of inactive accounts, i'm with Sven on this one - there's been a couple of occasions i've seen where people have deleted accounts only for the member to come back and say "why did you delete it?" - we have no idea why they haven't come back (maybe had holiday, lost their internet etc". This person refused to re-register and that's lost them what could've been a valuable member.
Personally, people will almost always look to see if the forum is popular, and they'll do that by looking at the member/post count. If those numbers are high then it'll attract more people.
I suppose it all depends on the admin's definition of "successful" - is it a small, but dedicated member base who post daily, or is it a lot of members which have taken the time to register, but for some reason or another have not returned. | |
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Sven
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pm | | Re: Making the forum active? (20th Jul 08 at 10:51pm UTC) | | I mean, if the account falls inactive and has posts... then it becomes a guest posting. That doesn't look good, as it looks like they quit the forum rather than fall inactive which is a terrible look and must be avoided at all costs.
I mean, deleting accounts has loads of implications, even if they make one, they may use it every month or so because thats all they need it for. That's not a reason to delete the person, no account should ever be deleted simply for that reason. If you use the mass email feature/mass PM feature, they may decide they want to come back if you release a good update or something.
However, if you have deleted their account then they don't know in the first place. I mean, I still get emails from forums I registered on over 1 year ago and no longer visit. Some of the ideas are looking good and I went back and checked it out, found that it had been over rated etc, etc. However, there was one that got me hooked and I returned and stayed.
Deleting accounts looses you mass amounts of members. | |
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rosebud
Junior Member
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pm | | Re: Making the forum active? (20th Jul 08 at 11:15pm UTC) | | I'd send out an e-mail to those individuals first before deleting their account. Of course I'll want to give them time, but I wonder if a month is too soon? I have asked another staff member on my board and she thinks it isn't.
I'll send out newsletters to try to bring the members back with site updates, but sometimes that doesn't always work.
Also, this rule about inctive accounts is mentioned in the rules. If the member isn't aware it's because they failed to read the rules, which is what they should have done in the first place.
Some members have the intention of joining and not posting at all. I just don't see the purpose in allowing members if they aren't going to post. Therefore, we aren't always losing members.
I'm apart of a message board that has over 4,000 members but only about 300 of us are actually active. It's taken a couple years for this board to get that many members. Obviously, some of them don't have the intention of coming back and everything on this board can be seen by the guests. The 200 something member are very active, but some are annoyed by the post count. Some of them say, "why join if you aren't going to post?" | |
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Sven
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pm | | Re: Making the forum active? (21st Jul 08 at 12:39am UTC) | | I still recommend against the deletion of accounts. Some people register but never post with intentions of coming back, but they aren't really interested in the community. They may ask for advice every now and then or something like that.
They register as security so that they don't have to do it again and are able to post when required. Some people also register to show support. I mean, when I was running a design forum way back when, people would register just to support the forum rather than to actually post, even when it's closed with just it's resources open people still register giving support to the forum.
To have people register is a great achievement and to me, it's like spitting in their face by deleting their accounts.. They are supporting and all you want out of them is numbers, that sounds and looks rude to me... | |
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Nick
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pmwww | | Re: Making the forum active? (22nd Jul 08 at 4:33am UTC) | | I have another question having to do with this topic. I used to have the firm belief that inactive accounts should be deleted, but this can seem to be an issue. Some people will join simply to access what they cannot. Guests can see 90% of my forum and I think it's stalkerish to join for the sake of browsing. What would be considered inactive? Sometimes things come up where you can't have the internet for a month, you're sick, there as an accident, a death, etc. where you can't always get to the computer within just a month.
for the last bit, Make a board about leaving.
like:
Leaving?
If you are leaving the forum for any reason please post it here.
I would suggest that as a sub board in the Welcome board. (if you have one) | |
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snakeair
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pmwwwyahoo | | Re: Making the forum active? (23rd Jul 08 at 8:57pm UTC) | | I only delete accounts if the member sends me a PM or email requesting this. Then i respond and confirm that they want there account removed and is it because of another member causing trouble or something else. I always try to help resolve issue's.
But when i do delete the members account, i also delete all there posts and threads made. This mean's that all there information they posted is gone forever and i can wipe my hands clean. Sometimes people post there email address in threads so i delete everything.
I don't argue with the members who want to leave the forum but i do what they want done. Inactive members i leave alone. I have different forum software but i got things coded so every 45 day's a email is automatically send to all inactive members reminding them to come back to the community and contribute a little. It's a little friendly email i won't say everything i wrote in there. But it encourage's people to come back. This email is sent to members who have not logged into the forum for 45 day's. Some members lurk but don't post. They are not active just shy. lol | |
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