Virtual Dr. seems more than a little sick: "Member Participation Issues"

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Originally posted by poppy4
I think the suggestion about threads that are resolved, that Linda and others have mentioned, can be a powerful tool for this forum......people who are looking for the solution are in a hurry, because they can't stand their pc not functioning properly.....and that alone I think will attract people.......and for those who want to go deeper the threads are in their respective forums.......and of course a link to this kind of thread should be prominent on the home page.
poppy

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Yes, but even if we made those changes how would we know their problems are fixed and edit their own title and put "(Resolved)" to let other members know? Remember some members don't even reply to let us know problems are fixed. Yes, some members probably would but getting everybody to do it is another story.

In my opinion, it would be just as easy if they replied and let us know their problem got fixed.

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Originally posted by JPNYC
Ah ok. As I said, the main site page is outside my purview. I can pass along some of the suggestions to the site editor though. Perhaps "Tech-help Forums" would be more apropos

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Now that would be a a big help and one I have seen elsewhere.

ecross.....
"In my opinion, it would be just as easy if they replied and let us know their problem got fixed."

I couldn't agree with you more......their are however some threads that are solved....and come to an apparent positive conclusion.....and those threads could be pointed to...
poppy

I see some comments here about people's particpation in this thread (or not), possible relations to the title, etc. I'm not saying I couldn't have picked a better title, but... I honestly don't think that's been much of an issue here. There's been over 3300 views of it (in some form). Now I realize that does not mean 3300 people have actually viewed it, but.. I suspect people are seeing this thread all right, or know it is here and what it is about. They just aren't posting to it. I've seen quite a number of people viewing the thread that haven't posted. Why? I don't know. To me (and I've said it earlier in this thread) it is just another sign of thet reduced participation, apathy, not caring, etc that seems to have set in at vdr.

Poppy and Ecross,

Ecross wrote:

"Yes, but even if we made those changes how would we know their problems are fixed and edit their own title and put "(Resolved)" to let other members know? Remember some members don't even reply to let us know problems are fixed. Yes, some members probably would but getting everybody to do it is another story. "

If I am a user and VDR has just saved my bacon, I might want to shout that to the heavens and post something like this.

"VDR is a winner. I just spent 2 weeks with vendors trying to get this problem (Blue Screen of Death) resolved and then I posted my problem here and the wonderful VDR community helped me find a solution within 2 days. I sure am glad that there is a VDR."

LindaHewitt
Dallas, Texas

That is the type of success story 'comments' that VDR should consider posting on the homepage "success stories" webpage. Granted members may write a much longer tale but VDR should be looking for good quotes, which best represent the VDR experience. If VDR can get these quotes from a diverse crowd with a friendly interface and the search engine problem fixed, then VDR should see a dramatic increase in visitors and registered members.

Just my 2 cents.

JPNYC,

The "Discussions Home" list of forums is a different list of forums than what is displayed further down the VDR home page under the heading of "VirtualDr Discussions By Topic".

I think that the "VirtualDR Discussions By Topic" is a more complete list of forum conferences. I don't see any reason to keep the "Discussions Home". Certainly there is no point of having duplicate information on the homepage.

Just my opinion of course.



Linda

Another thing I notice which could be a problem is the color highlighting employed to let you know where you are, blends in so well with the header color that I didn't notice it for a while. Changing that would make some difference, in my opinion.

One other thing I will say on the issue of people participating in this thread or not (and which was suggested to me privately)... It certainly could be that people have views/etc that they'd like to express, but are afraid or what ever about doing it unless it can be done anonymously. If this is the case then perhaps a mechanism (survey or what ever) to provide anonymous input could be set up. If people want such a thing then maybe they can just speak up here and say that.

I realize of course there are problems with anonymous surveys and such in terms of the input that's gotten, including the validity of some of the results.

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Originally posted by LindaHewitt
JPNYC,

The "Discussions Home" list of forums is a different list of forums than what is displayed further down the VDR home page under the heading of "VirtualDr Discussions By Topic".

I think that the "VirtualDR Discussions By Topic" is a more complete list of forum conferences. I don't see any reason to keep the "Discussions Home". Certainly there is no point of having duplicate information on the homepage.

Just my opinion of course.



Linda

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Right click both and select properties they both link to the same page. I just prefer using the one in the left pane as that is where I find them or rather, did find them on the the old forums I did use before arriving here.

Doc,

I think an anonymous input survey (or like you say, what ever) may be one more way to find out why some people are unhappy here.

Most of what has been suggested so far, sound like good ideas that if implemented, could help out a lot to improve Vdr, but it doesn't seem like these problems are serious enough to cause long time members to leave, and prevent new people from coming here (at least not to me).

Some of these people who have left, mods and old members can be seen on the other tech sites commenting about locked and closed threads on Vdr. This is no way to attract new members.

Lets try the ideas that have been mentioned along with a survey and see what happens.

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Originally posted by JPNYC
Actually there is no single person who decides the design of the main site homepage. That belongs to the design dept. along with a number of other individuals. I have very little, if anything, to do with it.

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And if the design department is anything like most web design departments they all have 24 inch monitors with settings at 2048x1536 - so of course everything fits in one page.

Katmac - no offence was taken and I didn't post what I said to cause any rifts.

I must have missed the the troublemakers - I've been aware of people being banned reappearing etc and vaguely remember some lengthy 'discussions' around cliques and members siding with one another against other members, but bascially I looked past it all.

If I read a thread where I believed I could help, then I did.

I've had a couple of run-ins over the years I've been here, even one with BJ himself over my thoughts in this thread http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...hreadid=118833 but we quickly resolved them and moved on and I'm still here 2 and a half years later.

Boldly going where no one has gone so far that I have seen, but why is that so many ex VDr folk have headed to Cybertechhelp forum ?

I'm a registered member there and was amazed by the regularity in which I stumbled across a VDr member.

Maybe it's the sheer volume of new posts coming up there and if you don't have time to go to both forums you must decide which gets your attention.

With me it was VDr, but that was probably helped by the fact that I got off to a bad start at CTH http://cybertechhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37967 although we did sort it out in the end.

Notice my plugs for VDr though !!!!

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Some of these people who have left, mods and old members can be seen on the other tech sites commenting about locked and closed threads on Vdr. This is no way to attract new members.

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Definately statements that relate to one of the problems that has been sighted (though perhaps too vaguely for some). There does indeed appear to be some healing that needs to be done, and that is not done easily/quickly. Generally much easier to do than to undo. But it is important to do. Not just in terms of attracting new members, but in terms of continuing to keep current memebers and bringing old members back (or back more). We need to be fair/honest though, this will take a two-sided effort.

Hi ,

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[From ] [DrMDJ]
this is not a time for people to be timid or silent. Not if there is any hope of the real problems being found and addressed, and for things to be turned around here. A collective effort is required here. This is a time for people who have something/anything (good or bad) on their mind to say it.

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Just my thought here , it may or may not be correct, but this is what I have observed for some time .
When I come in here to look at new posts I have noticed that some posts go unanswered or there is a lack of participation to posts. I my self by all means am not an expert on computers and need vdr's help alot of times and have had the help I need , but sometimes in my opinion it seems that the questions asked in vdr fourms do not get the attention they need . There are people out there that are still learning and their questions seem to easy or not explained correctly , and dont get the much needed help they need and are passed up without an answer . I have had Good Postings back to me when ever I need them and a Big Thank You To All Who Haved Helped Me !
This is a Much Needed Fourm !!!!

Also I noticed when posting or writing the original post if you type it to slow and you hit preview, it is blank and you have to start over. So what I found helpful to do is write what I am writing and befoe I hit preview to check for mistakes, I copy and then paste it back in, so I dont have to start over again.


If I hadn't found this fourm I wouldn't know how to fix or find much needed information !

I liked what Drmdj had to say so I included it in my post Above as a quote !

Also This is Good Too :

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[From ] [DrMDJ]
It use to be that more people would offer up an opinion, an observation, an experience, or ask a question based on something they read in a thread. What has struck me, concerns me, is that people, people still around, people who use to participate no longer do so (or do so MUCH less). I could only speculate on some of the possible reasons for this all. Is it that people are bored, the threads are boring, people are intimidated, the tone of the threads is “uninviting”? I don’t know. I’d like to find out.

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I feel no matter how boring or or inexperinced someone may be ,
when asking for Help , There is always room for Learning !
That is what this fourm is here for !!!!! To Help People, From Experts To Newbees Alike ( We All Need A Little Help From Time
To Time ) !

Just a thought .

Night_Skies

Could be that no one knows the answer to the question being posed ?

I know a couple of times I have added non helpful but witty (in my view) responses and on a couple of occasions have had this thrown back in my face :( so now I tend not to post to anything that I can't help.

Btw I think the asnwer is 42.;) :rolleyes: :p

42, yes... I agree, 42. What was the question? Anyway... I've always enjoyed your banter Nix. I've used that same tactic on unanswered posts simply to bump it up and let them know that someone was actually here! Only had a few negative things happen doing so... it is an odd thing when someone gets twitched about it.

Bored? Never bored myself... Read a quote some time back... something like this: "All God does is watch, looking for those that are bored, then kills them". I try not to be bored. ;-)

I've had my share of run-ins with various around here in my time... we all have, mostly because I tend to be having fun while being helpful. Sometimes folks just don't have a sense of humor at a given moment! And there have been times when I've gotten a bit twitchy myself... once again, we all have.

And good to see your post Night_Skies... and omahaorange's, crbell74's, emty's, Allthumbs', NielsRb's and Toolman55's ... all under 150 posts. And that's just a shout-out to them and all those lurkers out there that have an opinion, regardless of your post count. Feel free to express...

And another shout-out to everyone else here for a great deal of quality input... keep it going! So......

I've been trying to distill this thread down to it's lowest common denominator. And it seems to boil down to one thing really. Virtual Dr. needs to become more proactive... PROACTIVE!

Proactive regarding it's design (I'd better mock something up), the forum itself (it's coming), the members (talk to us, we're grown-ups, mostly), the forum subjects (sure, could be expanded, but don't forget what got you there!), the Moderators (as Nix and I have both mentioned, not privy to the "issues" that took place really. Maybe the Mods need a softer touch, I don't know. I know one thing though, if the rules are not followed or enforced when broken, this forum will be SO in trouble!)

All I can say is DON'T make me take us on another journey to the Valley of the Green Goose! We very nearly didn't dodge that trouble at the bistro and if it had not been for the fact that we were good ridgerunners we may not have ever again seen that omahaorange sunset in the night skies!

Sooooooooooooo...... laters.

I haven't read through this entire thread due to it's size, so I hope that I am not being too redundant. Quality over quantity anyday!!!Bad advice given in the VDR forum that causes serious computer issues would seriously p*ss off newbies that were too trusting, or didn't have any suspicion that it was bad advice--member lost. Of course, there is no practical way to constantly monitor the accuracy of the advice given. I am not saying that has or does happen, I am only throwing that out as a possibility. And how do you rectify it if it does. Anyway, touchy subject, so I'll move on. As for longtime members, such as myself, not visiting the site much lately, "guilty as charged" though with some justification. I have had nasty problems and bad luck with my pc that are only now near resolution, but more on that later. As for tension in the forum, I will say only that there have been members in the past that I kinda learned to ignore, because of condescending attitudes previously referred to. Not necessarily in answers to my posts, but in answers to other members posts. Hopefully, I have not been guilty of that myself and offended anyone, if so I apologize--no harm was intended. I am always careful to qualify suggestions if I am unsure of the skill level of the member. I do not ever intend to offer suggestions in a tech snobby, better than thou sort of way. If someone replies to one of my posts in a mean spirited, smart alecky, hurtful way, I'll just report the post to a moderator--problem solved. There has to be a "slow to take offense" mindset. I for one would not sit idly by and allow someone to insult me with no repercussions when I am only trying to help, along the lines of "If you didn't want my help why did you ask for it?" But I digress. Another point, I want to make, and I not sure how to address it is, grammar, grammar, grammar. If you want to be taken seriously, you have to look the part. If a post is full of spelling errors, runon sentences, improper or no punctuation, it is to be brutally honest, hard to take seriously. Just like in real life, communication skills both spoken and written, are a necessity. I don't like chat rooms, useless timewasters that they are, and poorly written posts would give this or any other user group the feeling of a chatroom environment. Really, there is no way to address that but it is food for thought just the same. As for unanswered posts, is there anyway to flag those so that they float to the top of the new posts until they do get answered? Love the search engine of this site. It gets the job done. Unfortunately, ads are a fact of life--no ad revenue, no VDR. There is no free lunch and the bills for hosting and operating this site have to be paid. Fond as I am of VDR, it is very unlikely that I would pay for the content, as I would eventually find what I was looking for elsewhere for free. Fortunately the ads are about 10% top and 10% bottom, so that makes them a little less imposing. I am, unfortunately, still stuck on a dialup connection and rarely if ever have a problem with page loads. But that is as much a function of the quality of the coding as anything. I hate it when it takes a page forever to load, and get the message "Done, but with errors on the page." Yes, space on the site could be more efficiently utilized. I'm not sure if this helps, but it is my 20 cents worth.