KCRag Forum

OK, the forum has been since October, the website has gotten a lot more publicity with the newspaper and we only have about 20-30 active members on this forum?

Not that I'm complaining about you guys...I never really expected to have this many care but now that we do have a good base, I can't imagine that nobody else in this city wants to talk about what's going on.

What is everybody else's feelings on this? Am I just being greedy to want more users?

can you track the number of non-registered visitors you get? That might help get a handle on who's actually visiting. You also might try a link on the Kansas city webpages, like Kansascity.com or Kansascitychannel.com these might get more exposure and more interested folks in the forums.

Maybe check out the possiblity of passing out flyers or cards at City Market, or in the lobby of various loft developments in town.

OK, you got me...I want the site to grow but I don't want to do the work

We actually get a lot of hits on the forum of people just reading and that shows interest...I just wish we had more that were actively participating.

Emailing the neighborhood association presidents might be an easy way to get some publicity among a big group of people interested in these issues.

whatever happened to the T shirt/bumber sticker idea. You had a good logo

I've shown several at work who thought this was a great site. I don't know if they checked out the forums though.

You may want to boldly hilite the Forum at the top of the main page.

good idea on making the forums more visable on the front.

I'd still like to do some sort of sticky graphic thing for car windows.....the logo I had was good but too busy....i'm looking for something very simple for something like that and then the website....I need to look at that again.

KCPowercat wrote: OK, the forum has been since October, the website has gotten a lot more publicity with the newspaper and we only have about 20-30 active members on this forum?

Not that I'm complaining about you guys...I never really expected to have this many care but now that we do have a good base, I can't imagine that nobody else in this city wants to talk about what's going on.

What is everybody else's feelings on this?  Am I just being greedy to want more users?

starting to think we may be back at square one here. i started reading the forum in november of 2003, discovering it on accident. got hooked, and 6 months later DOVE IN HEAD FIRST. seems beyond sports, beer, and politics, we talk about NOTHING nowadays. and dont blame it on development. 4-5 years ago we did not have that much development, and we still talked all of the time. and dreamed, dreaming BIG.

I have grand plans to make the information on the forum much easier to find, sort, view, and rank. I just need to do a little reading first.

bahua wrote: I have grand plans to make the information on the forum much easier to find, sort, view, and rank. I just need to do a little reading first.

i have my differences with you, and understand this is a thankless job that really no one wants. i run a not for profit business on the side, trust me, i understand it well.

i wish you well. the forum is still alive, it just seems we have lost something here lately.

KCPowercat wrote: OK, the forum has been since October, the website has gotten a lot more publicity with the newspaper and we only have about 20-30 active members on this forum?

Not that I'm complaining about you guys...I never really expected to have this many care but now that we do have a good base, I can't imagine that nobody else in this city wants to talk about what's going on.

What is everybody else's feelings on this?  Am I just being greedy to want more users?

This place is a place for people of like-mind.  A unique group who pretends (my self included) to know about cities, urbanism, city government, etc.  Most people don't care about this stuff.  They just want to be and leave these issues to "professionals."

As one in the profession, I sometimes feel like the regular public should leave us alone and do what we think needs to be done.  On the other hand, one of the ethical principles of the profession is to promote public involvement, pressumably because we don't always know what is best.  I welcome and value public involvement in the things that I do but, frankly, regular folks don't really want to get involved as much as I wish they did.

The real issue is that people in general don't care about the things we think are important.

bahua wrote:I have grand plans to make the information on the forum much easier to find, sort, view, and rank. I just need to do a little reading first.

When kcgeek returns we may be going with drupal. Have you looked into that?

cdm2p wrote:
This place is a place for people of like-mind.  A unique group who pretends (my self included) to know about cities, urbanism, city government, etc.  Most people don't care about this stuff.  They just want to be and leave these issues to "professionals."

As one in the profession, I sometimes feel like the regular public should leave us alone and do what we think needs to be done.  On the other hand, one of the ethical principles of the profession is to promote public involvement, pressumably because we don't always know what is best.  I welcome and value public involvement in the things that I do but, frankly, regular folks don't really want to get involved as much as I wish they did.

The real issue is that people in general don't care about the things we think are important.

Just curious, like-mind about what subject?  If you mean like-mind about the Kansas City area in general then that would be valid.  Not picking on you but sometimes (OK, many times) when regular folks do get involved then there is the reply that they don't know what they are talking about nor are their opinions appreciated since the opinions expressed run contrary to the "popular" opinion or stance on a subject matter.

aknowledgeableperson wrote: Just curious, like-mind about what subject?  If you mean like-mind about the Kansas City area in general then that would be valid.  Not picking on you but sometimes (OK, many times) when regular folks do get involved then there is the reply that they don't know what they are talking about nor are their opinions appreciated since the opinions expressed run contrary to the "popular" opinion or stance on a subject matter.

hey akp, you are a longtimer. and many times, in the minority opinion. i like your opinion, not your viewpoint at times, but that is what makes it fun. the ability to carry on a spirited debate.

now, your opinion. why have the amount of full time posters dropped off to almost 20 or so?? way back when, we used to have loads more full time posters who participated in all ranges of subjects. now, the only areas that draw daily interest, are sports. and then even flamers non stop.

so, why do you think the discussion has gotten so stale in here?

Yes... I do see substantial evidence that this forum is dying. I have been of the opinion for some time now that it's "jumped the shark" in comparison to those wild and wacky days on up to, say, sometime mid last year. Just hasn't been the same for awhile. A lot of people are going to have different reasons and explanations for this, and some groups will blame other groups, and vice versa. But I think the primary factor is that our forum is drying up in much the same way the development momentum in this city has dried up - the very thing that inspired this forum to begin with.

I'll be curious to see posting patterns for this coming January, when we don't have the holiday thing going on like we have lately to meddle with the analysis of this.

Frankly, I don't see it. The usage stats for the forum have consistently gone up, not down. People are getting upset with the content they see, and they think that logically because it isn't like the "good old days," that the forum must be dying. I remember the middle of last year, and two and three years ago, and people were saying the forum "isn't like it used to be," then too.

aknowledgeableperson wrote: Just curious, like-mind about what subject?  If you mean like-mind about the Kansas City area in general then that would be valid.  Not picking on you but sometimes (OK, many times) when regular folks do get involved then there is the reply that they don't know what they are talking about nor are their opinions appreciated since the opinions expressed run contrary to the "popular" opinion or stance on a subject matter.

This is one of the reasons people might perceive that the forum is dying: people are apprehensive to post because they perceive that their opinions will be belittled.

I would say that debate, as much as we like it, probably drives away readers.  Nothing worse thant to watch two people go around and around endlessly.

I think polls keep people engaged because they provide a pretty good snap shot of what forumers think.

I follow KC development.

There is none.

End of story.

bahua wrote: Frankly, I don't see it. The usage stats for the forum have consistently gone up, not down. People are getting upset with the content they see, and they think that logically because it isn't like the "good old days," that the forum must be dying. I remember the middle of last year, and two and three years ago, and people were saying the forum "isn't like it used to be," then too.

they were complaining that the place had turned to shit. use whatever stats you wanna use, but the majority of the regular posters are not here anymore.

Times change, as do the, "regular posters."