Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
Information => Forum News, Information and Help => Topic started by: Matthew on April 03, 2011
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I was having a look on here the other day while I was covering a class and noticed that a lot of guest members were viewing posts and those members who were viewing posts never seemed to post, as I did not recognise the names. I then looked at the membership of NI Wild, constructed a wee Excel document and did a bit of analysis.
A few interesting details arose when looking at the 408 members we have
• 192 members have never posted from the date they joined
• the earliest person who has not posted, joined 28/04/2009
• 91 members have posted fewer than five times
This got me thinking about why the above is true.
People are hearing about the forum but why are they not posting? I suppose this kind of echoes this thread http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=451.msg2642#msg2642
(http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=451.msg2642#msg2642) about gathering new menbers.
Matthew
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I dip in here everyday but don't always post as my primary interest is really 'campsite' camping but I do have a notion about trying a bit of wild camping sometime. I don't really fit into the profile of all you trekky types (tongue in cheek there) as I'm a girl and I'm not particularly fit and my tent is a five man and it goes in the car along with the kitchen sink.
Anyway then I started my own forum but it doesn't really step on any toes here because it's a different group of people, with marginal crossover. Also as a fan of NI wild I mention this site on the other forum and even refer the members who are interested in lightweight camping, backpacking or wild camping to here. Today I even retweeted a post from NI wild on my twitter (i'm still trying to see the point of twitter and have never retweeted before so I'm quite pleased with myself)
I do love the trip reports and particularly the pictures, so keep posting! For mothers day today I got two trekking poles, I've recently bought a 40l rucksack and even drybags! It's a slippery slope i tell ya. You'll all have me backpacking yet.
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Internet forums are rife with people who sign up and never post either because they just like to follow the conversations or they lose interest before actually participating. I think having over 50% people actually having posted isn't actually bad for a web community.
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Perhaps it is the nature of the activities the site covers. For many people they only get to do something occasionally so they don't feel they have a whole lot to add other than another "looked like a good day" reply. Perhaps they already do updates on club websites and the like.
That said as VMCC said it is interesting to hear other peoples trips and opinions. It is a bit of escapism to spend lunchtime at work looking through pictures someone else took at the weekend and to daydream about the next time you'll get out. It helps me pass the day anyway.
C'mon lurkers throw in a wee thread and fire a few pics up.
I know one of my friends who lurks could give us all a laugh about him searching for an hour looking for a car park on Saturday to climb a hill. You can be half way across NI in that time, he couldn't find a car park in a 6 mile square part of Co. Antrim! I got a 'frustration-filled' text from him on the verge of quitting. I think he found another way up the hill in the end.
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Have to say the security of my car would worry me too. It strikes me there's a few farmers out there who'd accept a few pounds for a space in a yard. If only we knew of those kind of locations.
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If only we had pack flat cars ;D
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Those are close to the thoughts I initially had.
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If only we had pack flat cars ;D
I'm surprised IKEA hasn't thought of that!
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Or a decent bloody bus service! I'd be more than happy to pay to park in Newcastle in return for a bus that could drop and collect in the roads that ring the peaks.
If only we had pack flat cars ;D
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Easy peasy buy a mini bus and start your own service (http://bestsmileys.com/cars/11.gif)
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Killing two birds with one stone and 1st time post!
Bus during the summer http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Translinks-Rambler-Services-P15207
Secure Parking http://www.meelmorelodge.com/
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We use Meelmore a lot but it gets boring starting there all the time. I've actually never tried the bus but I hear it's not very reliable.
Welcome by the way ;D
Killing two birds with one stone and 1st time post!
Bus during the summer http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Translinks-Rambler-Services-P15207
Secure Parking http://www.meelmorelodge.com/
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Hi wk, welcome along! I've never tried the Mourne Rambler before but I'd be keen to give it a go during the summer. As RedLeader says you get a bit sick starting from the same places with secure parking, so any way of getting to a different start point would be welcomed :)
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It's fair to say that things are going really well. This is the beginning of our 3rd year and we've managed to do loads of really fun stuff but I think we will only continue to get a limited number of new members randomly from the internet. What we need to do is to start to interest people who already spend time outdoors but wouldn't necessarily go looking for internet communities.
For anyone who is interested here are a few factoids on our traffic over the last month based on website logging stats rather than forum posting activity:
7,298 visits from 3,015 unique visitors
36,552 page views from 5.01 pages per visit
53% of our traffic comes from search engines
90% of all traffic comes from the UK (Northern Ireland is too small to be counted geographically so we're lumped in with the UK)
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On the topic of forum members, where's Chuck? He's been very quiet of late, did someone disrespect his dog?
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He's been very quiet of late, did someone disrespect his dog?
/me shuffles back into the forum.
Naw, the WGLoS (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcrobert/2942139281/in/set-72157604900254432)was in no way disrespected...work was just mental since before Xmas.....just didn't have the energy or will power to sit in front of a computer once I got home...sorry for ignoring them PM, text and emails, very rude of me :(
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did get a bit concerned but saw your flickr pics getting upadated with new trips so knew you were still around ;D
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Welcome back Chuck, nice to see your pictures again!