Now, before you all go jumping on me for suggesting this, I want to make it clear that this is not a suggestion for the site, but rather for users who are willing to make it happen for themselves!
So what is my idea? Well, my idea, for anyone who is willing to accept it, is to create a personal forum post quota for yourself. For me, I don't rest until I've posted at least 10 times a day in the forums. That sounds pretty low, because it is! If this idea is to take effect, however, my quota and those of others can be raised to reasonably higher numbers over time.
Now, let me specify again that this is NOT mandatory! This is only for people who are willing to make a personal commitment to themselves and to the forums to meet a certain requirement of their choice every day they come online and pay a visit to the forums without breaking any rules. If done correctly and not abused, I have a feeling this could really get the forums moving again if enough people are willing to participate!
post if I find threads interesting or if I can answer someone's question. Giving myself a quota would make me feel like I'm obligated to post.
I know what you mean. I only feel like leaving a reply in threads that I find interesting, having a quota to meet would drag down my post quality (the overall appearance, grammar, ETC...) I can spend up to 10 minutes writing a forum post... If I made a quota of 10 forum posts daily, that would mean I could spend up to an hour and a half on AG daily, I don't have time for that.
It's a great idea, but I agree that it could possibly lead to spamming, and crummy posts.
But... Just to show that I am not entirely against the idea, I will set my quota at one post per day (it's not much, but I usually average that, and I can be sure it will be a quality post.)
I disagree... From a psychological point of view, the people that would dedicate themselves to make 10 posts a day probably would try to make a legitimate 10 posts. The people that would spam those ten posts probably already make over 10 posts a day. I know, if I were me and had a quota of 10 posts a day to fill, that I would try to make quality posts rather than just get the posts over with, especially with the fact that ten posts are not exceptionally hard to make. Of course, that's just me.
But like Matricks said, it sort of gives an obligation to post... If you only have 20 minutes to post, the quality of your posts would probably not be the best. At the same time, if you took an hour or more to post the quota, you would probably be able to post them all without a problem. It pretty much fills the position of a dedication to come to the forums every day. However, instead you have a certain number of posts to fulfill, even if you only have x amount of time to do it.
One thing that would be interesting to try is that you only have one post (or up to one post) a day to fulfill, but you can only make that one post. Thus, you must strive to make as great a quality of a post as possible so that you can make up for all the other posts you might have had. Obviously it won't increase forum activity (if anything, it will decrease it), but it gets you into the habit of considering what all you are going to post and making sure it is as great as you want it to be.
Backwards sounds like it work better than forwards. You're bound to post more information, including specifics, which are then open for further discussion after you make your post. It would provide a lot more material to reply to, but the forums would still be dead. I really like it.
I'd rather see a dead forum than one full of people posting just to post.
Fair enough... it's more than likely that people will abuse this idea! But if you do end up posting entirely out of obligation, that means you made the commitment out of obligation, and that's not what this idea is about at all!
The amount of discipline you put into this is entirely up to you... if you don't think you can be online for more than 20 minutes a day, don't push yourself to reach a quota that you can't reach realistically without rushing your posts!
This idea is only for people who know they can commit themselves without spamming or submitting cursory, half-baked posts... if you don't feel you can make this commitment, simply don't make the commitment! Nobody is telling you that you have to! =)
Lol, I think I may have discovered: nobody should write quality posts, because no one bothers to read them. What's the point of writing three five-line paragraphs if no one reads them? It's like killing a dragon while no one is looking. It's there, but nobody bothers to look because they're too lazy.
I read that whole thing. what are you talking about?
I don't see how this idea could be harmful. It's not like any forum veteran is going to start spamming just because they feel obligated to. Knowing me, I could easily commit myself to a reasonable personal quota without really changing my posting habits. 10 posts a day? No problem. It's a slight increase from my normal 6 or 7 a day, but is a strain? Not at all.
anyway i agree with skater... a large part of or problem is limited topics. We seem to have like 5 active threads in the tavern at a time. Lately they have been about how dead the forums are.
I thought this would be about the length and quality of posts, not the number of them.
Do most of us even NEED a quota for that? Most of us are pretty good about coming up with well-thought-out posts... as long as they're at least a few sentences, nobody really cares how long they are! Unless of course, they're TOO long... then it just gets tedious having to read the whole thing!
Sadly their still needs to be things to talk about in able to post, which is always the reoccurring problem.
What I was hoping for with this idea was for people to be more motivated to generate more original discussion rather than wait for someone else to say something stimulating. If everyone keeps waiting for everyone else to do something rather than do it themselves, after all, the forums aren't going to go anywhere!
Besides, what's so wrong with silence?
In the forums, it's boring! What's the point in even having them if people are going to remain silent?
Do most of us even NEED a quota for that? Most of us are pretty good about coming up with well-thought-out posts... as long as they're at least a few sentences, nobody really cares how long they are! Unless of course, they're TOO long... then it just gets tedious having to read the whole thing!
Do we need a quota for how many posts we make per day? No.
Do we need a quota for how many posts we make per day? No.
Nobody NEEDS to set a quota for themselves, but it might encourage certain people to post in places they normally wouldn't!
I thought this idea was going to be a hit, but it turned out to have been a major flop! =/
Oh well, for the microscopic number of people who DO take end up trying out this idea, thank you for at least trying it out! I hope it works for you like it's working for me!
