Who are all these people?

[michel123456]

Who are all these people?

 

They come for the very first time, post a question and never post anything else. What is that all about?

[hypervalent_iodine]

Elaborate spammers or people who have genuine questions, but aren't interested in other discussions.

[michel123456]

I was thinking maybe they are afraid to be involved in discussion.

[Ophiolite]

Fifth columnist sleeper cells.

[michel123456]

Maybe shoot-and-scoot tactic?

[CyberFlo]

We are all new blood Aren't you all so welcoming! Why does everyone comes here anyways? Because everyone needs help! I need help with my thesis so a friend suggested I check out these forums. I kinda like what I see. At first I thought the process to sign up was too much but it wasn't. So I plan to stick around if you don't mind. And if you get a chance, help me out here [link removed] Thanks!

Edited November 27, 2012 by hypervalent_iodine
Link removed

[Phi for All]

We've had a rash of next-gen spammers lately. We need some tweaking done on our filters, and the Admins are on top of it. It's a busy time of year for everyone though, so thanks for your patience.

[CyberFlo]

It says discuss, "life, school, work, anything" and here you go removing my link. It's school related! Why?? I'm not a spammer.

 

We are all new blood Aren't you all so welcoming! Why does everyone comes here anyways? Because everyone needs help! I need help with my thesis so a friend suggested I check out these forums. I kinda like what I see. At first I thought the process to sign up was too much but it wasn't. So I plan to stick around if you don't mind. And if you get a chance, help me out here [link removed] Thanks!

[hypervalent_iodine]

Because the link is not related to the topic of this thread and goes against the rules of this forum. You have a thread where you link your survey, you don't need to spam other threads with it as well.

[michel123456]

We are all new blood Aren't you all so welcoming! Why does everyone comes here anyways? Because everyone needs help! I need help with my thesis so a friend suggested I check out these forums. I kinda like what I see. At first I thought the process to sign up was too much but it wasn't. So I plan to stick around if you don't mind. And if you get a chance, help me out here [link removed] Thanks!

(bolded mine)

That is part of my question.

You must first pass through the sign up process, then you post once, then ...nothing.

Why?

Are we intimidating?

[swansont]

Maybe shoot-and-scoot tactic?

To qualify for that (aka hit-and-run), the post needs to at least be somewhat controversial.

[Phi for All]

You must first pass through the sign up process, then you post once, then ...nothing.

Why?

Are we intimidating?

I think I understand what you're talking about, and it's not about just any recent posters. We always have a fair amount of people who join, and even post something in the Introduce Yourself thread in the Lounge, and then are never heard from again. I've always wondered about them as well.

 

I try to go in that thread every once in a while and say welcome to all, but maybe it's just not a friendly enough concept. We get a few folks who post a separate intro thread and then the Mods merge those with that big Introduce Yourself thread, and maybe that's too impersonal.

 

As in business, it's always the clients who don't tell you why they're leaving you that are the most frustrating. They just disappear and you don't get the feedback that might help you correct a bad situation.

 

It says discuss, "life, school, work, anything" and here you go removing my link. It's school related! Why?? I'm not a spammer.

Sorry about that, but that's using someone else's thread to advertise your own, and it gets reported so often that we added it to the rules a while back.

[michel123456]

After reading your post Phi, I realize that this thread title is not good at all. Too offensive. It was a very bad attempt to get the feedback you talk about...

[Phi for All]

After reading your post Phi, I realize that this thread title is not good at all. Too offensive. It was a very bad attempt to get the feedback you talk about...

I'd be happy to change it if you have a better title.

[StringJunky]

Something like this?:

 

Topic title: New members: How do you rate SFN and it's membership?

 

Topic description: Please give us your initial impressions.

[michel123456]

mmm. That's not about rating SFN.

 

That's about why posting once and then leaving.

 

I myself may have done this in the past. I can't recall exactly, it was on some newspaper site. This Leerdamer is striking again. (edit) Alzheimer.

 

------------

If I remember well, it was after googling for info, reading some BS and wanting instinctively to say something fabulous, then becoming totally uninterested in what I wrote. Something like that.

Edited November 27, 2012 by michel123456

[StringJunky]

mmm. That's not about rating SFN.

 

That's about why posting once and then leaving.

 

I myself may have done this in the past. I can't recall exactly, it was on some newspaper site. This Leerdamer is striking again. (edit) Alzheimer.

 

------------

If I remember well, it was after googling for info, reading some BS and wanting instinctively to say something fabulous, then becoming totally uninterested in what I wrote. Something like that.

 

You might get comments from people who have posted only a few times and this may give a clue to the feelings of the one-time-posters. You and I are probably blind to the impression the site gives to newcomers having got used to its ways and members. A site will always get some drive-by thread-starters though.

[CyberFlo]

Ok, I understand. Perhaps you should have something like Official Intro for New Members and Old Members. I plan on sticking around and browsing other topics as well. But currently I'm all about my thesis paper so have little time for anything else. Once I'm done..You'll see me more You are in my favorites forever!

 

(*pat on the back*) I think there are many threads around. And I personally don't like that I can edit your post while I'm replying to it (not going to, but I'm just saying). If it's a free speech why you do have to edit people?! It's my choice where I post and a person who started the thread can say something to me. I don't know, I guess it's something you can look at, and maybe change some things in order to keep new people around. Whatever you do people will use other media to promote you or to put you down. You're doing a good job, keep it up!

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think I understand what you're talking about, and it's not about just any recent posters. We always have a fair amount of people who join, and even post something in the Introduce Yourself thread in the Lounge, and then are never heard from again. I've always wondered about them as well.

 

I try to go in that thread every once in a while and say welcome to all, but maybe it's just not a friendly enough concept. We get a few folks who post a separate intro thread and then the Mods merge those with that big Introduce Yourself thread, and maybe that's too impersonal.

 

As in business, it's always the clients who don't tell you why they're leaving you that are the most frustrating. They just disappear and you don't get the feedback that might help you correct a bad situation.

 

 

Sorry about that, but that's using someone else's thread to advertise your own, and it gets reported so often that we added it to the rules a while back.

[Phi for All]

I myself may have done this in the past. I can't recall exactly, it was on some newspaper site. This Leerdamer is striking again. (edit) Alzheimer.

 

------------

If I remember well, it was after googling for info, reading some BS and wanting instinctively to say something fabulous, then becoming totally uninterested in what I wrote. Something like that.

If you go strictly by the Intro thread, and forget the last two pages since those people have been here less than a month, you see an awful lot of "Posts: 1". It just seems odd to me that a person would take the time to join, go to the trouble of following instructions to introduce themselves, and then never post again. Some of those intros are pretty enthusiastic and I just want to make sure something we don't know about or are taking for granted isn't chasing these good folks away.

 

You might get comments from people who have posted only a few times and this may give a clue to the feelings of the one-time-posters. You and I are probably blind to the impression the site gives to newcomers having got used to its ways and members. A site will always get some drive-by thread-starters though.

Those are easily explained I think, people who have a question and get it answered. Perhaps by the time they have another question they've forgotten their password or something else mundane we're not considering.

 

It just happens more often than chance seems to account for, imo. I can understand the ones who join and never post at all, they're like the people who come into a shop, get greeted by the owner, browse around a while and then leave without a word. But the ones who introduce themselves are like people who go into the shop, tell the owner what a nice place he's got and how much they like it, and THEN leave and never come back. It's not as easily explainable, especially when there's so many of them.

 

Ok, I understand. Perhaps you should have something like Official Intro for New Members and Old Members. I plan on sticking around and browsing other topics as well. But currently I'm all about my thesis paper so have little time for anything else. Once I'm done..You'll see me more You are in my favorites forever!

It's in writing now, and we're going to hold you to it!

 

(*pat on the back*) I think there are many threads around. And I personally don't like that I can edit your post while I'm replying to it (not going to, but I'm just saying). If it's a free speech why you do have to edit people?! It's my choice where I post and a person who started the thread can say something to me. I don't know, I guess it's something you can look at, and maybe change some things in order to keep new people around. Whatever you do people will use other media to promote you or to put you down. You're doing a good job, keep it up!

It's a big no-no to edit something you're quoting, but many people will use that feature to bold a certain part they want to address while leaving the rest of the quote for context. It's really not there to "edit" anyone's speech, though some have tried and they usually get caught. It's treated about like someone who plagiarizes the work of another, but I think it's even more intellectually dishonest myself. It's rare though, since it's easily checkable since you can't edit someone's original post.

 

And thanks for the kudos, it's always appreciated.