Akragon
Member
01/26/10 11:04 AM
Posts: 177
Location: Canada
Member since: 07/01/07 05:12 PM
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 Suggestion
Post: #111727 | | |
I do have a suggestion...
I've noticed that theres alot of members here but even more "Former Members". The reason of course is obvious.... Your membership expires after 30 days of inactivity and you become a former member.
This brings me to my suggestion (obviously) I think this should stop! Although i do know that sending everyone that hasn't been to the board in a month an email does get people back here, it also more or less threatens them with Cancelation which isn't good at all. Im sure there are alot of people that are away from they're email account for a few months or so and don't get back to that email, and upon returning they find they've lost their membership / post count / status / etc etc... which truely isn't fair! Now im also sure that some of those people that are now Former members probably don't want to return as well due to this fact. They took the time to sign up and make a few posts only to lose their membership due to inactivity.
I know there are many people who enjoy forums and one of the benifits of being a member on a forum is the little Title you recieve under your name, although its small and petty its still fun to know you're a "Forum whore" or perhaps "No life" or even "dedicated forum'r" whatever the case may be... but again when you lose your status you don't really want to start over do you?
Another good arguement is, when you look around the forums and notice that theres Tons and tons of "Former Members" you ask yourself, why is everyone quiting?!? It looks extremely bad on our forum as a whole, and it definately detures people from signing up...
Not to mention comeing back! Fix this please!! I think the email that is sent after 30 days is Great, it gets people to come back and stay a while, but we really need to lose the cancelation part!!
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Gerrit 
Administrator
01/26/10 11:31 AM
Posts: 6807
Location: Spain
Member since: 01/08/00 09:58 AM
Last online: 09/10/10 12:55 PM
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 Re: Suggestion
Post: #111729 / Re: Akragon #111727 | | |
Good point, thanks for bringing that up. Please note that this was implemented because we had so many "dead" accounts of people who had not been the the forum in a long time, and possibly had no intention of returning, for some reason or other. Also, the email is not sent out after 30 days, but after three months of not having been on the site. Then it still gives another 30 days before removing the unused account. But your suggestion gave me the idea to change this completely, how about this: After 30 days, send first reminder. Another after 60, and yet another after 90, but still delete after 120 days of not using the account might be a good idea not only to give the database room to breathe, but to make sure dead accounts get purged after a reasonable amount of time. If needed, I am sure I could implement "parking" accounts to avoid deletion when absent for an extended amount of time, although the current 4 months are long enough under normal circumstances.
About showing "Former Members" as such being a deterrent, this could be easily fixed if the community desires this. We could just do away with the "Former" part.
Regarding coming back - I know there are a number of members who quit for some reason (got upset about someone's comments, etc.) and have returned under a new name. Some even just quit to change their name. But I get the point that seeing lots of posts by "Former Members" can leave a bad taste.
FYI, as of today I have canceled the ads as they were generating NO income at all in the nine months they were up.
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Akragon
Member
01/26/10 04:15 PM
Posts: 177
Location: Canada
Member since: 07/01/07 05:12 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111730 / Re: Gerrit #111729 | | |
Good stuff, although i'd still have to say that canceling or deleteing peoples accounts is still a bit unnecessary. I mean im a moderator on a different forum and we have well over 200k accounts and it takes little to no space in the Database. Might i suggest the "once a member always a member" approach.
I know i've been a member for about 3 years and there were times where i made no postings for probably at least a year, but i did always return once i got that email to make sure i wasn't canceled from the member list.
The Email remember so to say "hello remember us, come visit once in a while" is a great thing but im still against cancelation, unless of course its needed in some case of abuse or the like
IMHO
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Penny
Member
01/27/10 10:37 AM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111739 / Re: Akragon #111730 | | |
I think sending reminders is a good idea, but every 30 days is too often. I think to send the first one after 30 days and if no response to send one like every 90 days until a year is reached, and if the person isn't seen during that time get rid of them.
I know if I got a reminder every 30 days it would irritate me and I would say screw it and delete myself as a member.
Guess I don't see an option that is close to my thought on this.
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Gerrit
Administrator
01/27/10 10:46 AM
Posts: 6807
Location: Spain
Member since: 01/08/00 09:58 AM
Last online: 09/10/10 12:55 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111740 / Re: Penny #111739 | | |
Please note that only logged-in members can participate in polls.
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Gerrit
Administrator
01/27/10 10:48 AM
Posts: 6807
Location: Spain
Member since: 01/08/00 09:58 AM
Last online: 09/10/10 12:55 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111741 / Re: Penny #111739 | | |
Ok... got the poll updated, since nobody voted yet I was able to just delete the old poll and make a new one (as editing is not possible with polls).
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Akragon
Member
01/27/10 01:51 PM
Posts: 177
Location: Canada
Member since: 07/01/07 05:12 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111743 / Re: Gerrit #111741 | | |
ahhh.... see now i look around the forums and we're all members...
I like it much better already
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Gerrit
Administrator
01/27/10 03:10 PM
Posts: 6807
Location: Spain
Member since: 01/08/00 09:58 AM
Last online: 09/10/10 12:55 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111744 / Re: Akragon #111743 | | |
In reply to:
I like it much better already
 
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Gerrit
Administrator
02/05/10 02:22 AM
Posts: 6807
Location: Spain
Member since: 01/08/00 09:58 AM
Last online: 09/10/10 12:55 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111822 / Re: Gerrit #111744 | | |
Bumping thread, hoping for more votes, please see poll above!!!
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Risingtide
Member
02/05/10 07:59 AM
Posts: 324
Location: South Africa
Member since: 06/24/07 11:01 AM
Last online: 09/09/10 10:09 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111823 / Re: Gerrit #111822 | | |
Send a reminder every 30 days, no threats, invite them to have a look to see whether there is something new to their liking. It should also contain link to unsubscribe from the forum.
After 6 months of non-activity make the account dormant, with a reactivation option, after 12 month archive or delete. This depends on whether deleting also take all their posts down.
Total membership, since anno dominiincluding non-active and even dead people, on forums is imo mostly an ego thing.
The same with one's personal post count.
Amituofo
"Life knows its needs"
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Penny
Member
02/05/10 03:54 PM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #111830 / Re: Risingtide #111823 | | |
I like my "ego thing" I choose to keep the post count.
I also choose to stay human in this lifetime, so having an ego to some extent is a positive thing, at least in my life it is.
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Ijin
Member
09/02/10 02:34 AM
Posts: 127
Location: Netherlands
Member since: 07/29/10 06:15 PM
Last online: 09/09/10 03:30 AM
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Re: Suggestion
Post: #112820 / Re: Penny #111830 | | |
Voted to help out.
I have run a forum myself and to have no purging can really kill your site in the long run.
We had a server wich we bought fr a measely 1 dolar.
After the accumulated dead account space the next fee was 300 dollar and we decided to end the site since no one was willing to pay that much.
and i don`t blame themXD
I mean that`s a big increase.
This forum is by far one of the most promising forums about spirituality i have encountered so far and i have been on a lot of forums.
For one i didn`t get kicked out after 3 posts for my writings.
The staff actually replies and thinks alng and asks feedback.
The staff is willing to make changes suited for it`s users rather then telling them to [censored] off.
And there is a nice selection of things to view and reply on.
My personal minus though is that it is a site wich uses censoring, but that is not that big of an issue since at the same time it does stimulate usage of more words then you find on a censorless forum.
So it is a plus and minus situation.
And it would be a shame if it had to close down or delete pages due to room taken up by people who don`t visit anymore.
And i agree with positive ego^_^
Cause i`m a powerfull keyboard warrior and i`m not affraid to use [ctrl alt delete] on you. X3
watching the world fall
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