Why do you think the forum has a retention issue?

Shrews

As a relative newbie here (not sure if a few years means Im still a newbie), I would say that this messageboard is among the best Ive joined over the tears.

Sure, it might not be in its golden years, but not many are, the concept of a messageboard is a bit old hat nowadays.

What springs to mind to me is that there are beginner guitarists, novice guitarists, experienced guitarists and downright awesome guitarists. Some of you have been playing 30, 40, 50 years ffs, even played to hundreds or thousands of people.

But we all play guitar, right?

There are no separate sections for the awesome, experienced, novice or beginner guitarists to hang out. So what you get is beginner guitarists feeling a little intimidated, novice guitarists looking elsewhere for some technical advice or words of wisdom, experienced guitarists a little wound up because they've never quite got to the next level, and awesome guitarists looking to play a 50 string sitar just for some variety.  

Its a guitar-fashioned-Maslow's-hierarchy.

Nobody is 'quite' getting what they wanted. 

Hootsmon

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

We do have a retention issue in as much as some members don’t like the passive aggressive way some threads go, and don’t enjoy the pile on threads - that’s from direct feedback.

But actually the bigger issue we seem to have is an awful lot of people come here and browse content but choose not to join and participate. The ratio between regular registered user participants and unique visitors in total is massive. 

Why aren’t they joining? Is something putting them off? Are they worried their first post might get jumped on? 

Yeah, there will be a lot of people who search and get directed here for answers to questions they have - but all of them? I doubt it. Even 10% of casual visitors signing up and posting would feel like a huge influx. 

Under-enforcement of rule 1 is my answer to your why 

I’m not sure that’s even a significant part of the reason. I’m sure some won’t join for that reason, but not the majority. 

I’m leaning more towards the 1/10/100 rule at the moment, and it’s simply that a lot of people don’t like joining forums but like the info they provide.

We do have a lot of sign ups that don’t visit much after a few visits.. now that one is intriguing

Sign up tae sell then bugger off?

Mellish

I'm relatively new to FB so I don't that much about it. But even if some find fault with it, I'm glad I found it. I have personal issues that I won't go into but here, I've a place where people are nice to me and that sometimes makes me cry. 

Bridgehouse

Hootsmon said:

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

We do have a retention issue in as much as some members don’t like the passive aggressive way some threads go, and don’t enjoy the pile on threads - that’s from direct feedback.

But actually the bigger issue we seem to have is an awful lot of people come here and browse content but choose not to join and participate. The ratio between regular registered user participants and unique visitors in total is massive. 

Why aren’t they joining? Is something putting them off? Are they worried their first post might get jumped on? 

Yeah, there will be a lot of people who search and get directed here for answers to questions they have - but all of them? I doubt it. Even 10% of casual visitors signing up and posting would feel like a huge influx. 

Under-enforcement of rule 1 is my answer to your why 

I’m not sure that’s even a significant part of the reason. I’m sure some won’t join for that reason, but not the majority. 

I’m leaning more towards the 1/10/100 rule at the moment, and it’s simply that a lot of people don’t like joining forums but like the info they provide.

We do have a lot of sign ups that don’t visit much after a few visits.. now that one is intriguing

Sign up tae sell then bugger off?

Or buy, possibly.

But there’s a lot of sign ups that don’t post at all, or post a couple of bits then disappear

Bridgehouse

Mellish said:

I'm relatively new to FB so I don't that much about it. But even if some find fault with it, I'm glad I found it. I have personal issues that I won't go into but here, I've a place where people are nice to me and that sometimes makes me cry. 

TFB makes me cry quite often.

Seriously tho, it’s good to hear you get that out of it

TimmyO

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

We do have a retention issue in as much as some members don’t like the passive aggressive way some threads go, and don’t enjoy the pile on threads - that’s from direct feedback.

But actually the bigger issue we seem to have is an awful lot of people come here and browse content but choose not to join and participate. The ratio between regular registered user participants and unique visitors in total is massive. 

Why aren’t they joining? Is something putting them off? Are they worried their first post might get jumped on? 

Yeah, there will be a lot of people who search and get directed here for answers to questions they have - but all of them? I doubt it. Even 10% of casual visitors signing up and posting would feel like a huge influx. 

Under-enforcement of rule 1 is my answer to your why 

We do have a lot of sign ups that don’t visit much after a few visits.. now that one is intriguing

Ask them why

Bridgehouse

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

We do have a retention issue in as much as some members don’t like the passive aggressive way some threads go, and don’t enjoy the pile on threads - that’s from direct feedback.

But actually the bigger issue we seem to have is an awful lot of people come here and browse content but choose not to join and participate. The ratio between regular registered user participants and unique visitors in total is massive. 

Why aren’t they joining? Is something putting them off? Are they worried their first post might get jumped on? 

Yeah, there will be a lot of people who search and get directed here for answers to questions they have - but all of them? I doubt it. Even 10% of casual visitors signing up and posting would feel like a huge influx. 

Under-enforcement of rule 1 is my answer to your why 

We do have a lot of sign ups that don’t visit much after a few visits.. now that one is intriguing

Ask them why

By the time we know who they are asking them why would be pointless as they don’t come back to respond…

Funkfingers

Time for somebody to lower the tone by asking whether this forum has a retentiveness problem?  

WiresDreamDisasters

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

We do have a retention issue in as much as some members don’t like the passive aggressive way some threads go, and don’t enjoy the pile on threads - that’s from direct feedback.

But actually the bigger issue we seem to have is an awful lot of people come here and browse content but choose not to join and participate. The ratio between regular registered user participants and unique visitors in total is massive. 

Why aren’t they joining? Is something putting them off? Are they worried their first post might get jumped on? 

Yeah, there will be a lot of people who search and get directed here for answers to questions they have - but all of them? I doubt it. Even 10% of casual visitors signing up and posting would feel like a huge influx. 

Under-enforcement of rule 1 is my answer to your why 

We do have a lot of sign ups that don’t visit much after a few visits.. now that one is intriguing

Ask them why

By the time we know who they are asking them why would be pointless as they don’t come back to respond…

Do a survey. If GDPR allows.

TimmyO

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

TimmyO said:

Bridgehouse said:

We do have a retention issue in as much as some members don’t like the passive aggressive way some threads go, and don’t enjoy the pile on threads - that’s from direct feedback.

But actually the bigger issue we seem to have is an awful lot of people come here and browse content but choose not to join and participate. The ratio between regular registered user participants and unique visitors in total is massive. 

Why aren’t they joining? Is something putting them off? Are they worried their first post might get jumped on? 

Yeah, there will be a lot of people who search and get directed here for answers to questions they have - but all of them? I doubt it. Even 10% of casual visitors signing up and posting would feel like a huge influx. 

Under-enforcement of rule 1 is my answer to your why 

We do have a lot of sign ups that don’t visit much after a few visits.. now that one is intriguing

Ask them why

By the time we know who they are asking them why would be pointless as they don’t come back to respond…

Do a survey. If GDPR allows.

Yep that's what I meant (it does) . 

spark240

I notice that the top line is " the Uk busiest and best guitar community".....I guess just because its called Fretboard it could still be Music community, .....maybe the group also needs to be more active on other social platforms, Ive recently joined the Reddit community and  its very active , plus Ive had a quite a lot of traffic to my own YT vids from there.

I suppose its all down to how much traffic do the Mods really want or need and is there a desire to grow this forum really ?

Mattharrier

I found TFB because I was looking for a forum to read about and discuss guitar related stuff. I imagine many find it because they are searching the Internet for the answer to a problem, or for information on a specific topic or whatever.

I think the effort of signing up is too much for many people, as they are only on the site for the one reason, and don't need to be registered to view.

Forums in general aren't a lot of people's cup of tea - I find that being (and feeling) part of the community is necessary to make a forum somewhere I can stick with - if there's no sense of community, a forum is just a bunch of posts by random strangers, and there's less reason to come back. TFB has a core of regular posters, some of whom are active all over, others are more active in certain sections, but they are regular, adding to sections, and obviously over the years (and various incarnations of the forum) many have got to know each other.

There are some posts that get heated, and some people who post unpleasant things, but for the most part it's an inviting place with plenty of people willing to offer their knowledge to those in search of wisdom. Most people just don't want to engage, they just want an answer to their question.

There are people out there who aren't interested in the minutiae of guitars, amps, effects and so on. There are people out there, people who play guitar, to who any guitar is much the same as any other. My father in law isn't all that fussed about tuning his guitar properly, let alone changing strings, worrying about not slot length or what material the saddle is made from.

How you retain more people, should you wish to, is a bit tricky - you could make people sign up, but that would make lots navigate away instantly. You could make people sign up to use the search function, but that would have a similar effect. Restrict some areas? That would at least mean people can't see the P+E, Coronavirus etc sections and be scared away immediately. 

scrumhalf

There's nothing wrong here that couldn't be fixed by deleting all threads and users.

But seriously folks, this is one of the more civilised public spaces on the internet. I keep away from the threads that I know will end up as sequential posts of the "you smell", "no, you smell" variety. And I spend much less time on here now that I'm working l-o-n-g hours.

And if people want to leave, let them. They smell. 

khaotic

Bridgehouse said:

Or buy, possibly.

But there’s a lot of sign ups that don’t post at all, or post a couple of bits then disappear

As a noob both to the forum, and to playing (despite being an old codger), this probably includes me - I joined to ask as specific question and stayed around because I'm fascinated, but I don't have enough experience / knowledge to contribute to most of the threads, so I end up as mostly being a lurker, just soaking up the atmossphere and hopefully a bit of the knowledge as well.

There's also a little bit of feeling like you've walked into a room where everyone has known each other for ever, which is a bit .... not intimidating exactly, but it's like being the noob in any environment - you don't know who the characters are, you don't understand the inside jokes etc. Either you get past that point, as a member and/or a player so that you feel you can dive in, or that you have some more sensible questions or contributions to chip in; or you remain a lurker; or you decide it's just not for you and fade away

Gilly

Perhaps it’s all the navel gazing.

Open_G

Guess I’m both of the intermusic and musicradar vintage but kind of shrugged my shoulders and moved on when that went belly up. Found myself looking for guitar oriented waffle recently and found myself here. I recognise a number of handles still posting from those days. 

Grumpyrocker

Adey said:

Grumpyrocker said:

It's not exactly friendly to half the population.

It is definately very "blokey" and not particularly female friendly.

Putting it mildly. There's a lot of open misogyny here. 

Mellish

You'll never get to the bottom of why people leave. Their reasons will be many and when they leave they take them with them. But it they stayed,, gave it a chance, maybe they'd like it  

Wazmeister

I don't think the forum struggles with retention, or attracting newbies.

Offset

I think many of us are anally retentive, if that's what you meant...