Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Todays jobs havent turned up today so ive been reviewing a few things on PassionFord...

Interesting PF Facts:
We are 18mth old exactly on Saturday

We have now exceeded 42million Hits per month

We have 1.2 MILLION topics.

We have 8942 Members.

You post 1542.21 post per day on average.

We gain 11.68 new members per day.

Our uncompressed database is over 1gigabyte in size

Our peak online membership was 473 last tuesday night.

Our "average online" is over 250 now.


However..
This popularity is causing its own problems now, and as i see it, these are:

1) General discussion is becoming TOO busy at times.
On Tuesday night, general discussion shifted a full page of 40 topics in 17mins

This means in seventeen minutes a new post has left teh top of page 1 and gone to page 2. This isnt good for newcomers asking questions as they tend to feel ignored. I want to find a solution to this.

Other than shifting more stuff to more relevant and less busy forums, any decent suggestions?

2) I want to hear about problems youve noted?

Lets discuss PF and start paving the way forward as it can only get worse as we get busier!

Graceland

maybe we should actually post technical problems in the technical section instead of GD - i for one am guilty of not posting them in the tech section as i feel that it isn't read enough by all

Muska

congrats to you stu, and all involved. the only thing i could suggest is for members to post everything in the right section to make sure the page doesn't fill too fast. how many times do pics and stuff get posted up in general when they could be in the pics and vids gallery...? just a suggestion.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Thanks for the suggestion, and fair comment

gurnE

I like the fact general discussion is so busy personally

It's like being involved in every conversation in a really busy pub

Long live PF

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

And a welcome suggestion too Thanks

richm

yeah, for me that's the most visible one.. Tech queries in General forum..
We all do it, as there is the perception that it will get noticed more. However, maybe it only encourages 'opinion'based response rather than useful help that would be more likely in the Tech forum.?? just a thought.

JAP CRAP

make the pages longer??

although it is easy to lost threads when it goes that fast I like it when its busy.

I have been meaning to suggest something else for a while though re. the search function. it would be very handy if you could search JUST the thread title and not the entire threads.....

mark_J

Stu, could you guys not make the number of topics on one page bigger?

K3V HA

Yeah, i agree with graceland, maybe encourage people to put tech stuff in there, TBH alot of people (including me) put stuff in tech bits, if you dont get a quick answer (which alot of the time you do, cos car is in pieces LOL) then they put a post in general section saying take a look in here....

Perhaps a section like what was suggested late last year (id have a quick look but its prob 3000 pages back ) about a forum for ford discussions (ie tuner q's/wars ) and one for general (ie most of IMA's bshit ).But im pretty sure people voted to keep just the one

dvid

a post I was reading on friday had moved to page 27 by the tuesday next week!!

Skedge

Top work Stu i think like Graceland said would be a useful idea.

Or even have a technical page for the individuals such as one for Cossies, one for RS's, one for XR's etc only an idea


Hope this helps

James

cossiecrew

i agree with you there mate i think thats the reason its so busy is cause every time you log in theres shit loads of different things to talk about and you find if you need to know something its far easier to post in general cus everyones in there sorry i know thats not the way it should be but everyone does it you could be waiting along time for answers using other areas imo but keep up the good work stu and pet

Graceland

car specific technical area would be a really good idea 3 catagories spring to mind

1) Cosworth Tech section
2) CVH Turbo Tech section
3) Normally Aspirated Tech Section

JAP CRAP

Then you lose the variety of topics in the general section, which makes it boring IMO. That would mean people would have to go in to technical specifically on the look out to help people. it wont happen IMO and you'll get the same lack of replies you do now in those sections................ Its nice to be able to just sit all day in general and read about loooooooads of DIFFERENT things another solution needed IMO.

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Could you open up a few more General discussion headings,which are a bit more discriptive eg
General Discussion (cars)
General Discussion (Social Life)
General Discussion (World Events)
and so on ,this way people could post stuff in the relevent heading and would thus slow it down a bit
Cracking site all the same

RANJ

ban newbies

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Whilst i agree with you and enjoy the way it has been, i get numerous E-Mails and Pm's complaining that weve deleted things or moved things blah balh and we havent, the fact is outlined here by another member:


Its that simple..
Its becoming so busy at times that its getting unworkable. This is why im interested in discussion solutions, as i feel we will be BUSIER for it in the long run.

Newbies may be a bit daunted by the busyness of PF and not return....

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

But this may be becase you dont go in there cos theres enough tech help topics in here to keep you happy

M7 COS

The problem is that the vast majority of members only browse the General forum, if you post in any of the other forums, it can be a while before you get a reply, post in General Discussion and you normally get a reply in minutes. It's a victim of it's own popularity really.

Although I do feel there are far too many posts in the General Forum that really belong in the muppet forum.

Slightly off topic, but do you get a reminder prior to your Gold membership expiring?

cossiecrew

pmsl

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Yes, Pet has automated most of the membership system now

CliffRS4

iTrader: (1)

Slightly off topic, but do you get a reminder prior to your Gold membership expiring?


I got one from Pet telling me that my Goldmembership was up soon a few days before

JAP CRAP

Stu, did you see my suggestion about the search function?? this would make threads easier to find.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Hi,
I dont quite see how it could help to be honest?

Why would knowing the word "Prelude" for example is in the title, make a thread easier to find if the search searches both title and text?

It should return the same result ideally?

Incidentally...
How many people know how to use the AND funtion of teh search? Read the instructions

BlueSmoke

Gracie stop causing trouble with your Jibba Jabba!

Gee

how about spliting the general room into two, Gold members and standard

Obviously gold members would get access to both, only gold members could post in both rooms, non paying members get access to public general chat

Suppose it'll work like the Restricted areas on the site now

i.e. Mens/Ladies Room as an example

JAP CRAP

Because otherwise it brings up 1000000000000000 returns. if you put in anti lag for example, at the mo, you get things like how to bake a cake come up because someone has anti lag in their sig or something, or any time someone has even mentioned it or part of it. where what you actually want is a a topic purely about anti lag. see what Im getting at????

Nikki

I was just about to say the same as the Twins posted, if general is that busy and you think that soon it won't be ablet to cope,,,,then split it!!

Not too sure into what sections, but twins gave you some idea

Its a tough one though as I can see where peeps are coming from with the "but its the main place to post" comments and stuff,,,,,but then again,,,can also see your point of view with it getting too busy and topics jumping to pages down the line!!

pmsl @ Ranj,,,

I tried to look at the stats the other day (for something I was working on was looking at the members figures, everytime I refreshed the page,,,,,,it was going up one I left it 6 minutes and yet another 6 people had already joined

So if its the general room your having the most problems with,,,,and people like to post in here,,,,,as its,,,,so busy and everyone likes it this way,,,,,,I can only suggest to split it!!

Sorry I'm crap I know ,,,,but just can't think of another way!!

x x x

lamb chops

I always browse PF by just using the new post since last visit function, you get to see all topics and don’t miss a thing means you need to visit very often to keep up though..

Robin

going back to the split forum idea why not have 1 for genrel chit chat and 1 for more car based question??

cossiemen

why not add a "Hello, i'm new here" or "Hello, i'm a newbie" room?

and ofcourse, most people (including myself ) are posting lot's of topics in the wrong room, so come on peeps;
always think (twice for a few onhere) before you start posting and place/post it into the correct thread.

Anonymous

This sounds like a cracking idea! And it will mean more people will become gold members to be able to excess it!!!

Hay

BillyCabrio

iTrader: (1)

Yeah how do you bake a cake??

Maybe more mods is the answer?? To keep on top of the surge of new topics and move them to the deserving forum?

And if it is moved then an email is generated telling the post starter & followers where its gone?

i.e.

Something along those lines??

I put a post up in the contributers discussion room a while ago and only 2-3 peeps have answered!

More control over the foums with what needs to go where i think?

BillyCabrio

iTrader: (1)

But what happens when 99.9% of the population are gold members? We will still have a overloaded Gen Discussion area and 00.1% of the other forums will be like a ghost town........

IMHO of course!

cossiemen

arghhh FOOK THAT

i'm not keen about 'paying for membership' as when the server crashes or
Pf disapears I'm losing my hard earned money

MrsFrog

Does anyone use the "View last post since last visited" option? That's IMO much easier to follow the threads than actually browsing only one forum at a time... I rarely just browse one forum ....

Someone suggested in the contribitors' room (no idea who that is... I am not biased... ) to enhance this functionality and make it work with parameters .... I.E. you could say show me all posts since monday 17/01/05 for exemple by having a date search option. That could help....

Saying that, I guess its good that it is so busy....and also topics do come back round on a regular basis anyway, so if you ever missed the first time, it'll be likely you'll get it the next time round...

I think that newbies or some poeple not always getting answered to their posts is most likely because the "regulars" don't always want to answer someone they don't know of rather than the post being lost between all the others.... Just have to compare the viewing counter with the esponse counter...

vroooom ptssssh

yea ive noticed past couple of days its been really busy, but also enjoyed it all the same as aint sittin about waiting on replies but can see where you are comming from!

I thought seeing as their are so many new users joining, how about a newbie section? where they can say hello and ask "newbie" quastions, also make them more aware of the search facility and let them know most of the questions been asked a thousand timesbefore!

bigal1978

i agrre with that

bigal1978

after readin that the rs owner site must love u
keep it up