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Please don't spoil other peoples threads [20]
long story short - people will repeat visit a forum for 2 broad reasons - firstly, that it provides them with information that is valuable to them and that this information is continuously updated; secondly, that there is a sense of community which they feel they can belong to... of these 2 factors, each is dependent on the individual visitor which is why you will get some posters who visit very occasionally for a translation only [type 1] and those of us who spend way too much time here for it to be healthy [type 2]
I agree. And that fits my point about first-time visitors that [providing valuable information - "the first broad reason"] is crucial for people to determine if they are actually going to experience the [sense of community - "the second broad reason"]. Without the relevant, on-topic information it is not possible for a prospective member to go to the next stage and become a part of the community. I'm not sure why you originally signed up as a member at Polish Forums, but most likely you found this site by chance when looking for
information about Poland. Then you have probably found relevant information in topics about Poland and Polish people (not in Off-Topic discussions). As you may notice, the majority of guest users post messages related to Poland - they don't engage in off-topic discussions.
Would you become a member of this community if you had to go through dozens of posts to find an on-topic post and most other messages you saw in "Poland topics" discussions were private conversations between a few members about things not related to the topics? Even if the conversations were funny?
Again, the Off-Topic discussion has been created to talk about anything one could ever imagine. So if we move unrelated to the "Poland topics" messages to Off-Topic forum, you can still continue your conversations there.
here are many reasons for dozens of modorators... those of us who visit other forums with a different set up of moderators will know the pros and cons of different moderating styles... and how quickly a change in this style, as with just the graphical representation of a forum, can impact on its success or falior... which is a reason 1. i had reservations about daffy becoming a moderator and 2. why i didn't particularly want to know about it
The moderating style and the website's goal has always been the same - to bring people interested in Poland and Polish issues together and make sure they enjoy being here by posting messages that follow the social and technical rules. The rules have been there for over a year now. One moderator (like Daffy) takes his time to explain the rules even to long-term members by writing a note why a particular topic or message was edited or moved. Another moderator doesn't do that - both techniques have their pros and cons, but personally I prefer the first style (even though it is much more time-consuming). As you noted, you visit many different forums and each of them has a different "moderating styles" - it suggests there is no one, ideal style. Regarding your "reservations" - it is not possible that 100% of all users approve something.
if you want to know more about forum dynamics and how they apply to the wonderful world of marketing i can send you some links
Having had a degree in Information and Computer Systems + Economics, possibly some of the links point to my articles about online communities, but you may still PM them to me :).
