3213 Members in ReCom, But...

[youngyew]

Only 956 (http://recom.org/modules.php?name=Members_List&file=index&mode=posts&order=DESC&start=950) members have ever posted messages!

So to say that this forum is a great success is still way too far from reality. Anyone here to share their ideas about these?

1. Why didn't those 2257 "members" post a single message?

2. Did they read the ongoing discussions at all? Or they simply left after their initial visit?

3. How can we improve the participation of ReCom members?

4. How do we maintain interest in first-time visitors? How do we prevent them from leaving?

[balderdash]

I've a feeling that this may be due to the reasons why they signed up as a member in the first place. From what I've read in some introduction threads so far, many people have joined this forum because they wanted to know more about the scholarships available to post-secondary school students. So it's quite possible that you get people just coming in to read what others have written.

Then again, we can consider the way our education system has encouraged us in the area of speaking up - virtually nil, if you ask me, a product of a mainly Chinese speaking SMJK. I was just naturally outspoken I guess. So since we in this forum have been discussing many issues concerning national education, identity, politics, etc - many people MAY get intimidated OR they are not equipped with the skills/confidence to articulate what they feel about things too.

And of course you may have the few who left after the initial visit.

To maintain the interest of first time visitors - we could try to vary the topics in ReCom. I joined this forum because I thought it was quite cool that there were so many Malaysian students in here talking about everything. But do we edge a little too much into political/ideological/educational/intellectual discussion? If ReCom aims to keep it this way, I'd say, so be it. We'd probably have to accept the fact that Malaysian students may not be as interested in such issues as we'd like to think they are. Each forum should have its own goals and aims and no point changing them in order to increase forum participants. Heck I am interested in girly stuff like makeup/fashion (ok I know I asked for a SIG for it and hey it generated positive response) but for a more extended discussion of it, I am a member of another forum that specifically delves into these kinda thing. So.... I suppose you catch my drift :)

And hey, the 956 members who have been posting are pretty good material don't you think?

[misled_youth]

They are what is known as the silent majority.
________
SexyVenera live (http://camslivesexy.com/cam/SexyVenera)

[topdog]

i think a good number probably signed up just to use the free sms service back when recom was still offering it. man, that was ages ago.

[wil]

How do we maintain interest in first-time visitors? How do we prevent them from leaving?

Maybe acknowledging their posts by quoting them. You need to communicate with them to make them feel that their views are appreciated. Sooner or later, they will even addicted to this site without any forcing. But, that also if they are willing to post during their visit.

[iQing]

Nowadays anybody can open one free forum and forum is so common like friendster and blog.

I doubt people will post in ReCom for no good reason since there are a lot of other good + interesting forums around.

I think the discussion topics are too "intelectual" for many malaysian students. What do you think?

[gohweihan]

I think the discussion topics are too "intelectual" for many malaysian students. What do you think?

Well, just try asking an SPM level student to explain what do you get when you differentiate a curve, and probably you'll get back a question sounding like this:
Is it in the syllabus?
By now, I think you got the answer to why people don't post in this forum. Most of them are basically trained to memorize, not think and most importantly, justify their thinking.

[iQing]

Many Malaysian students are bad in english.

Maybe they do not post here to avoid embarassment.

[saser_sp]

So it's quite possible that you get people just coming in to read what others have written.


I do that :roll:
I even invited 'many' friends to look at this site ..they used to post here but not that regular ....
It's depend on the topic and their mood ....



I think the discussion topics are too "intelectual" for many malaysian students. What do you think?

For 1st timer maybe it's hard to join in ...yeah it's quite "intelectual"
even for those who got good english but not very much general knowledge[/code]

[qy]

Nowadays anybody can open one free forum and forum is so common like friendster and blog.

I doubt people will post in ReCom for no good reason since there are a lot of other good + interesting forums around.

I think the discussion topics are too "intelectual" for many malaysian students. What do you think?

I doubt it's too intellectual. Most of the topics here are those that we can relate to. My guess is that most malaysian students in general aren't used to voicing out their opinions. After all, our education system is basically a spoon-feeding one, i.e. we're expected to accept without questions.

[leng_cyl]

for first time I joined this forum, indeed it's quite embarrased to post as I am really weak in English and scare to post something. And it's my first time to join a forum.

But then, don't know why I don't scare anymore. Maybe the first step is really important?

I can post message in forum faster than before this ( form a sentence in a shorter period than before this )

For those are inactive, maybe they can't online always or too busy?

About too intellectual... ya.. sometimes I can't post any because I'm not interested in those topic at all.. sometimes think that I'm not knowledgeable enough =p
Besides, sometimes also no mood to read

[weich]

i guess most ppl are not used to the forum system (reading lotsa posts to know some info, instead of 1 single article) ....it took me quite a while to get used to it...

..and i guess it takes a while to participate...i think i was just reading posts around here for 1/2 months b4 actually saying something...

...and yeah, some topics can be quite intellectual/controversial...& some ppl avoid that

[windrunner]

It is not about the forum being too intelectual, it is about the general interest of the majority. Remember, everyone in this world do not like the same thing. Just look at lowyat.net , one of the busiest site in Malaysia, they have alot talking about gaming and stuff there , but yet......

Not all them do post, it is quite simply to think that what they want to say have been spoken, or maybe they get intimidated by the 'experienced' poster.

I have been to a few forums, the same thing happens all the time.
I myself am a lurker (this is the term used for silent members) if a few of them. I do not really know why i joined :) Some forums need you to be a member to read.

So 900 is a good number already. Of course, it could be more, i think we can include more topics of discussion to gain interest. Computer gaming is one big favourite among teens (like the old me). Sports is another.

[iQing]

OK. I shall make it marrier by opening some interesting entertainment threads. YEEAAHHH !!!!

[chenchow]

To fellow ReComers, everyone is free to set up new thread in any topic that you wish to discuss. We strongly encourage that. The only thing we request is to try and search and see whether any similar topic has been created. If it exists, try to use the same thread.

If you are unsure, start a new thread, and if other ReComers find out about that, we would help the thread move to the existing one.

Enjoy~!

[markuzzz]

speaking of old threads on similar topics, there was one started by chenchow not too long ago which i found to be somewhat similar in focus..

http://www.recom.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1825&highlight=

[kintaro_kun]

.....Then again, we can consider the way our education system has encouraged us in the area of speaking up - virtually nil, if you ask me, a product of a mainly Chinese speaking SMJK....

is this true? i for one's from chinese school,from kinder till high school, i do find myself quite noisy here.maybe we do speak up in class, in a different language though.since recom is english based, maybe chinese-schooled folks do want to speak up but hampered by the language barrier? just guessing.....

i do feel recom that has been dormant for a while. maybe coz now its the exam season, spm, stpm, etc. sigh, everyday i wait for replies or blasts from my posts....yawn....

[vseehua]

not really...i find that most of the smjk chinese school students are very vocal about their views..they will have no problems voicing out their opinions..perhaps they are not confident about their level of english...

[okaywhy]

Some recomers got fed up when they were scolded by the rather senior recomers with words like, "you are telling sh**"and ...so forth.
Some recomers love to taunt those whose english proficiency is weak... all these have actually intimidated the fellow recomers and thus dare not to post anything in the forum.

I think some condescending recomers(esp those who're rather senior) should learn to respect others' views and focus on the point one intend to express rather than the language skills and presentation style.

[vseehua]

Some recomers got fed up when they were scolded by the rather senior recomers with words like, "you are telling sh**"and ...so forth.
Some recomers love to taunt those whose english proficiency is weak... all these have actually intimidated the fellow recomers and thus dare not to post anything in the forum.

I think some condescending recomers(esp those who're rather senior) should learn to respect others' views and focus on the point one intend to express rather than the language skills and presentation style.

yea...i agree with you there..

te main point about setting up this forum is to enable malaysian students to voice up their opinions,not to taunt other people...if anyone think that other's english needs to be improved, just pm them nicely and tell them about their mistakes..i believe everyone whould like to improve their english as well, but taunting is excessive...

[reedhus]

i think the main problem is nobody finds matters they can identify with. some threads are just there for no reason like a few concerning whether or not u would like it if ur daughter came home with a man of different faith. apart from being totally demeaning and inconsiderate...these threads have no function other than to discuss a matter which in reality...very few ppl will face. so i guess the problem is one man's concern may be another man's inconvenience...many ppl find it hard to identify thus find it hard to discuss a matter...

[iQing]

Some recomers got fed up when they were scolded by the rather senior recomers with words like, "you are telling sh**"and ...so forth.
Some recomers love to taunt those whose english proficiency is weak... all these have actually intimidated the fellow recomers and thus dare not to post anything in the forum.

I think some condescending recomers(esp those who're rather senior) should learn to respect others' views and focus on the point one intend to express rather than the language skills and presentation style.

ReCom gives me the impression like it is catered for "high class" elite students.
so..... bah

[iQing]

i think the main problem is nobody finds matters they can identify with. some threads are just there for no reason like a few concerning whether or not u would like it if ur daughter came home with a man of different faith. apart from being totally demeaning and inconsiderate...these threads have no function other than to discuss a matter which in reality...very few ppl will face. so i guess the problem is one man's concern may be another man's inconvenience...many ppl find it hard to identify thus find it hard to discuss a matter...

not to mentioned some good threads are locked or moved by the mods without notice and reason
they simply do things as they like despite protest.

[digimushu]

Iqing,

We all know that nobody is perfect, and making mistakes are normal. As far as attitude towards learning is concerned, some of us correct the english of others because it is only right that we help them grow as far as grammar is concerned. However, we have never condoned personal attacks on others, but try to promote a healthy exchange of intellectual opinion. Moving threads are part of a mod's duty, as "housekeeping". Some threads are retitled for easy finding and others just do not belong in specific categories. We do not just cater for elitist students, but try to help others to grow as intellectuals as well.

[iQing]

Iqing,

We all know that nobody is perfect, and making mistakes are normal. As far as attitude towards learning is concerned, some of us correct the english of others because it is only right that we help them grow as far as grammar is concerned. However, we have never condoned personal attacks on others, but try to promote a healthy exchange of intellectual opinion. Moving threads are part of a mod's duty, as "housekeeping". Some threads are retitled for easy finding and others just do not belong in specific categories. We do not just cater for elitist students, but try to help others to grow as intellectuals as well.

there are many who disagree with this opinion.

[digimushu]

You have the right to. :)

[luke]

and it is very easy to disagree ....

[iQing]

*bump

read youngyews complain

[youngyew]

Haha this is a digression, but I have just read the first page and realized that I miss gohweihan. :P

[iQing]

Haha this is a digression, but I have just read the first page and realized that I miss gohweihan. :P

ironic is it?
missing a hardcore hanjian.
maybe we should revive him :twisted:

[jayden]

We probably need to revive the SIGs. Most of them can be really informative and entertaining-especially the anime+nihongo, walking along the path called life and jokes one. Recom seems to have the 'image' as an educational forum, take a look at the first page-they're all bout scholarships. I guess there should be more relaxed and entertaining topics of discussions.

[iQing]

We probably need to revive the SIGs. Most of them can be really informative and entertaining-especially the anime+nihongo, walking along the path called life and jokes one. Recom seems to have the 'image' as an educational forum, take a look at the first page-they're all bout scholarships. I guess there should be more relaxed and entertaining topics of discussions.

many of us protested but the admin and mod insist on the "no play makes jack a dull boy" policy.

protest already, they dont care... what to do ? *shrug*

[jayden]

Really? I always assumed that they were inactive because people didn't seem to have interest

[iQing]

Really? I always assumed that they were inactive because people didn't seem to have interest

bad management and cold attitude towards feedback.

[sore_four_eyes]

Really? I always assumed that they were inactive because people didn't seem to have interest

bad management and cold attitude towards feedback.

SIG is almost dead... and it was such a cool place to discuss stuff too... wonder if I can take charge of one for myself? :lol:

[sore_four_eyes]

By the way, maybe can set up threads that are based on games? Like the corrupt a wish thread. Or have an RPG thread where the members can role-play as another character and everybody go on a mission to rescue something, etc. under the guidance of a GM... that would be fun. :D

[vseehua]

By the way, maybe can set up threads that are based on games? Like the corrupt a wish thread. Or have an RPG thread where the members can role-play as another character and everybody go on a mission to rescue something, etc. under the guidance of a GM... that would be fun. :Dlook arnd, there are already a lot of such threads created by our super poster, iQing...

[sore_four_eyes]

By the way, maybe can set up threads that are based on games? Like the corrupt a wish thread. Or have an RPG thread where the members can role-play as another character and everybody go on a mission to rescue something, etc. under the guidance of a GM... that would be fun. :Dlook arnd, there are already a lot of such threads created by our super poster, iQing...

Who is suspended... what happened to him?

But the ones he put up were light, I'm talking about heavy duty RPG here... in the example of: http://www.lotrplaza.com

Which is strictly for Lord of the Rings fans anyway... :lol:

[youngyew]

Who is suspended... what happened to him?
He was banned because he refused to comply with the regulation, in particular employing personal attacks towards other members. He wished some members to die, and that was inacceptable.

It was the third time he breached ReCom's regulations, so he got banned permanently.

[capablanca]

I particularly like the Chess Empire sig. Too bad there are no active chess players here so, I hardly enter there anymore.

[youngyew]

I particularly like the Chess Empire sig. Too bad there are no active chess players here so, I hardly enter there anymore.
I thought Chiun Lin is interested to find chess players?

[JetLee0510]

Only 956 (http://recom.org/modules.php?name=Members_List&file=index&mode=posts&order=DESC&start=950) members have ever posted messages!

So to say that this forum is a great success is still way too far from reality. Anyone here to share their ideas about these?

1. Why didn't those 2257 "members" post a single message?

2. Did they read the ongoing discussions at all? Or they simply left after their initial visit?

3. How can we improve the participation of ReCom members?

4. How do we maintain interest in first-time visitors? How do we prevent them from leaving?
1. it is juz the same in many forum else where.. juz syok syok come and hv a look

2. some yes and some no. there r some juz here to read posts bt they dun post. one of my frend, my housemate actually said he did read the posts frequently but he never post even one.
and, even many of those 956 might not read.

3. activities. but they participate when they wan. tat's another way.

4. maintain ? 1st and for ever is to interest them - us

[Xon]

1. no interest,no free time...

2. Mostly yes since the scholarship threads are very informative. Ya,some left after first time..

3. More interesting topics... Game? Prizes? Competition?

4. Erm...no idea...attractives credits...lol...

[chenchow]

We probably need to revive the SIGs. Most of them can be really informative and entertaining-especially the anime+nihongo, walking along the path called life and jokes one. Recom seems to have the 'image' as an educational forum, take a look at the first page-they're all bout scholarships. I guess there should be more relaxed and entertaining topics of discussions.

Fellow ReComers are more than encouraged to share on various topics, including sharing on various SIG. So, if you think any SIG that you have something to share or even something that you want to know. Join it, and post there. It would hopefully trigger other similar minded people to share and discuss more.

ReCom is only as good as its members. So, if we see what lacks, lets play our part to create it.

[Leen]

1. Why didn't those 2257 "members" post a single message?

- Because that's what people do. Leech. This statistic is way better than manga and anime forums. People simply register and get free manga downloads. So for me, there is nothing weird about this number at all. It's normal.

2. Did they read the ongoing discussions at all? Or they simply left after their initial visit?

- Sometimes they read, but they only read those that interest them. Others simply left after their initial visit for a few reasons:

i. They simply forgot the site address. Mind you, that is VERY possible.
ii. They just registered for fun.
iii. They didn't find the forum interesting enough.

3. How can we improve the participation of ReCom members?

i. Move to a faster, more user-friendly forum. VB is really one of the best out there but I know that money can be a huge problem too. People get tired refreshing pages and waiting for replies to load.
ii. Redesign the whole forum. Redesign the banner, redesign the skin, basically do a renovation. Give the members choices to pick their own themes.
iii. Post shorter posts instead of 800-word essay consecutively one after another. That really caters to the general population of the forum that might not want to read long, gibberish talk about some random philosophy of the world

4. How do we maintain interest in first-time visitors? How do we prevent them from leaving?

i. Beautify this place. Refer above for more info.
ii. Make the pages load faster. Refer above also.
iii. Let them be able to subscribe to RSS feed.

[youngyew]

Agreed. Since this forum is only viewable by registered member, some who simply want to gather information are forced to register an account but are not interested in contributing to the forum.

Anyway about the interesting-ness, unfortunately people discuss what they are interested about in their own expression, and so it may not interest everyone. Forummers are not blog writers who cater to their readers' taste. So while it's a shame that people don't find the things here interesting, there's nothing much we could do about it unless we turn the whole forum into a chit-chatting kopitiam, which unfortunately is not the original objective of the whole forum.

As for the site redesign, we would love to do it but all the administrators here are either working full time or are busy with their studies, so none of them are able to perform a site overhaul. I am just wondering whether there are any recommers who are up to the task and have the time for such commitment. Personally, I would love to see an improvement to the site.

[Leen]

Anyway about the interesting-ness, unfortunately people discuss what they are interested about in their own expression, and so it may not interest everyone. Forummers are not blog writers who cater to their readers' taste. So while it's a shame that people don't find the things here interesting, there's nothing much we could do about it unless we turn the whole forum into a chit-chatting kopitiam, which unfortunately is not the original objective of the whole forum.

Well, I can surely understand this. Some people do love to post long posts and do like to engage in deep philosophical truths. However, this cannot/should not be an obstacle for those with a lower understanding of deep issues (such as Nicomedian Ethics or Marx's Theory of Alienation) to participate in discussions.

What you can do is to set up more child boards. I see a lot of childboards around here but most of them are inactive. Those inactive ones, merge them together and give a new name. In that child board, create sub-child boards for them.

For those that are more active (say, Malaysian Today) you can try to categorize them. You can put a sticky up there indexing all the threads. I know that it will be kind of hard. I did it before too. I had to browse through 60 pages of threads. O__o

With indexing, things will be so much neater and the whole board can be navigated easily.

Example:

Deep Discussion (beware of long posts :lol: )
-A (with the links to the thread of course)
-B

Light issues
-C
-D

Or you can do it this way:

Politics
-E
-F

Economics
-G
-H

Using index system (which works in the forums I join) people will have previous understanding of what the threads might sound like. That way, they can choose which to read, which to comment, and which to skip. This is by far, the most efficient way to clear up a jumble area as well as keeping the old treasures in tact so that they are not forgotten. People who hate to click "next page" can easily navigate the old threads using index and revive them (or bump them) whenever they like.

As for the site redesign, we would love to do it but all the administrators here are either working full time or are busy with their studies, so none of them are able to perform a site overhaul. I am just wondering whether there are any recommers who are up to the task and have the time for such commitment. Personally, I would love to see an improvement to the site.

I am not sure how much is involved in the phpbb forum. However, I sort of question the front page of recom.org I'm not sure how much bandwidth goes into loading the first page alone with all the polls, shoutbox, location detector and so on. The % analysis of SIG is kind of not-so-useful too.

For me, I will personally suggest using MKPortal (http://www.mkportal.it/) for neater display. Take a look at it.

Within the forum itself, I guess there's not much that can be done with phpbb. However, maybe it is time for a banner renovation?

One thing that MIGHT (just might) work is to organize a competition to design the new Recom banner.

For other designs, I really have little understanding to how things operate (until I take further courses in my uni >__>) but I believe a bigger banner and a more interesting banner should help a bit in making this place a more attractive place.

Ah, a favicon helps too. It's really easy to design on. It's only 16X16 pixels. Shouldn't be too hard to design, eh?

-----------------
I apologize that I commented so much but never do anything concrete on my side. >__<

*vapors into thin air*

[chenchow]

leen, thanks a lot for the constructive suggestions! Those are valid and good suggestions. I really appreciate the feedback that you provide, as well as shared by other fellow ReComers.

[jiinjoo]

Leen! gosh, haven't hear much of a "non-child" voice on ReCom for a very very long time ;)

I'm one of those guilty of moving slowly from long deep post to short childish post. One thing I realize about the average reader is that they don't like pure noise also. Take for example, if you visit a site that's pure nonsense, it's enjoyable for a while, but it doesn't stick. I guess many of us keep coming back to ReCom is also because occasionally we see some worthwhile discussions.

Therefore, granted there must be some index that will smooth out the navigation of the site so that you see what you're interested in, one must also be careful not to shoe-hole down the path where you _only) see what you like (unless you carry a huge inventory of topics like those run by major media companies, or you're selling stuff like amazon). From the front page, I typically pick 2 to 3 thread that interests me, but by glancing through the rest I get a gist of what other "kids" are making noise about. And occasionally, I amuse myself with weird characters who just can't stop attacking people. They aren't nice of course, but I don't want to also feel like I'm being trapped in my own reality distortion field.

phpbb (more precisely phpnuke) is kinda a legacy thing. It's not the first time we brought up the technology thing. It's just the founding members are now in their prime time of their life trying to make ends meet (except one, who's gardening), and we've been eagerly trying to hand off to a next set of comrades who share the same beliefs and and tech savvy enough to migrate our assets over to a more stable platform. It's always a relief when we occasionally hear of eager students but most of them have not been technical enough to complete the whole migration. Most lend their energy in moderating, keeping good conversations going and halting bad ones.

Sorry if this is like a repeat of what others have said but - please help! Money, effort, programming, marketing, anything will do!

[vseehua]

Since I will be doing my practical semester next sem, and in the time i will most probably have the time to take a look at php-scripting. At that time i might be able to help out with the technical side of the site management ;)

I do agree that the front page will need a redesign. It shows only a very limited view on the types of discussions that are going on within the forums itself. This 'popularity contest' between the SIGs don't really bring much to the readers and takes up quite a lot of server resources to process and view.

What i can suggest here is that we overhaul the front page so that it shows directly the category of discussions in the forums itself. Something cleaner like the Ubuntuforums (www.ubuntuforums.org) will be nice ;)

I will in the meantime look into the issues with upgrading the database between version or builds of forum engines... And like always, keep up the good work guys ;)

[Xon]

vseehua,your efforts mean alot..hope i can help too,but i am not a pro...argh,will try my best~~

[tanyijing2007]

Only 956 (http://recom.org/modules.php?name=Members_List&file=index&mode=posts&order=DESC&start=950) members have ever posted messages!

So to say that this forum is a great success is still way too far from reality. Anyone here to share their ideas about these?

1. Why didn't those 2257 "members" post a single message?

2. Did they read the ongoing discussions at all? Or they simply left after their initial visit?

3. How can we improve the participation of ReCom members?

4. How do we maintain interest in first-time visitors? How do we prevent them from leaving?

Well, youngyew, I wish to know the statistics now. Has ReCom improved a lot or make a great advance this year?