Inactive Users

[Kspore]

Being new makes no difference, if what you say is true then people will listen to what you have to say regardless of the person you are.

That's not how it works in the real world. You have to build up a reputation before your words have any weight to them. Otherwise you're just another fart in the wind.

Unfortunately that is somewhat true, reputation also doesn't mean much these days. People live for their own gain, and become puppets for those who already gained.
But within a small group of people, the words you say will have more meaning than the influences of the world.

Yes I know they won't follow me, but here's the difference they will know that I'm right. And that's all I want to gain from my ramblings, to show people my words do have meaning, whether they listen or don't.

And if I'm wrong, well I will admit it.

[Leeward]

Reputation is everything. If it weren't, there would be no such thing as slander and libel. You can say the most true and meaningful of things, but they won't achieve anything if nobody of importance is listening. I know it sounds horrible but it's the sad truth. Nobody cares what another nobody has to say.

[Kspore]

Yes but do you actually believed that, do my words breath no importance to you. Is what I have to say of little importance or does not hold truth in your eyes.
Yes, what you say is true, unfortunately. But you must still give others the chance to voice their opinions, they might just surprise you.

Yes I know I have little influence over this forum, but that does not mean what I say is false.

Lastly the usage of the word "nobody" is really pathetic, everyone deserves to be taken seriously even if what they have to say is false. Prove them wrong rather than shunning them because they have no reputation.

[Leeward]

You misunderstand me. I'm not saying you're lying or shouldn't be taken seriously because you're new or unknown. I'm saying that people in general don't give a damn what some random has to say, regardless of whether it's true or false. Please do not confuse what I say is true of the majority with my own views; I personally find it enriching to listen to everyone (well, almost everyone).

And no, someone does not deserve to be taken seriously if they're just spouting nonsense. What generally happens there is someone does prove them wrong, and they just carry on anyway. Because pride is stupid and humility is difficult. That kind of behaviour is what gives one a bad reputation. Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to express themselves, yes, but that doesn't mean anyone has to listen.

[Kspore]

I meant even if they don't know they are wrong, you should still listen to and help them.
I'm happy that you do listen to everyone though. Its nice to give others a shot as well.

[Leeward]

Agreed, as long as they are willing to accept that they might be wrong.
There is nothing more frustrating than trying to reason with someone who is convinced they're right.

[Galahad]

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to reason with someone who is convinced they're right.

Then, by all that is good on God's green Earth, avoid the 'Discussion' board.

[Sev]

Agreed, as long as they are willing to accept that they might be wrong.
There is nothing more frustrating than trying to reason with someone who is convinced they're right.

Indeed, like when you try and talk to an evangelical. They just start sprouting unsubstantiated nonsense.
I legitimately came across one who insisted that the world was flat, and that NASA was lying to everyone.

[YoteFox]

There is more to the furry community than these forums.

I would say the fact that there is more to the South African furry community is, to a very large part, because of the forum.

I do agree to this 100% people meet on the forums. But the new generation doesn't use forums that much. It's the age old concept of the changing times.

There is more to the furry community than these forums.

I would say the fact that there is more to the South African furry community is, to a very large part, because of the forum.

I agree with Rakuen here...
In my experience, it goes like this
-> Guy finds furries
-> Guy finds Forum
-> Guy finds whatsapp group, and...
-> Guy get's too preoccupied with said group to go to the forums...

The groups... stay away from the groups it's too dangerous and RIP data. It's much much worse than any forum in regards to drama.

Considering how active some of the WhatsApp groups are, the forum is feeling pretty neglected.

Except, of course, when WhatsApp furs come and stir up trouble here.

I agree with this statement that the forums are taking a back seat, but it's about the ease of access I believe. It's easier to use the whatsapp groups to communicate with other furs than the forums.
Is it needed to add a label? Whatsapp furs and forum furs. In general this is what divides us and makes any community fail is this division of the members by adding labels to them. We're all furries regardless of what form of communication we use. I chat with some people on whatsapp as it's easier having a private convo with people that way than constant PM'ing, when I come across something I feel worthy of a major discussion I like to post it on the forums for discussion. I haven't posted something in a long time on the forums since I have been very busy and some of my previous posts haven't gotten much replies or I got watered down replies.

Yes Yote, I was being passive-agressive, because of the "can't be fixed" tone I read in your post. Since you have retracted that, I retract my response. I just can't stand defeatist attitudes.

Like I said, I was in that state of mind. Depression got the best of me and I posted what I shouldn't. But moving on from that since we both retracted.

Hence my assertion about Twitter. Very easy to be a nobody there and suddenly become the life of the party by spewing shit. I am sure Ms Penny Sparrow would agree...

Having a fursuit as your Facebook profile pic gets you 30+ friend requests a day regardless of who you are, this builds up quite a community of furs on FB I have over 300 FB friends on my account from all around the world.

I've tried promoting the forums as much as I possibly can but people seem to be discontent with the fact of needing to register and learning the forums. I've given out ZaFur as much as I can to people asking me where to find SA furries while I suit at events.

I'm all for the forums, Skype chats, whatsapp groups, facebook pages, youtube channels, twitter accounts for specifically ZAFurries since the more platforms used the more types of users you get the more members you get. Just my opinion that we should maybe expand from the forums as well.

I personally would say with the inactive users send them an email after a period of inactivity that their account is suspended then if after another period of inactivity let say a month send another email that the account will be deleted if the owner does not act upon the warning sent.

Also to add why I grew a bit bored of the forums personally is that all it has become is posting in the what are you doing right now thread which is essentially a status update. But I'll try be a bit more active and contributing thread worthy stuff on the forums.

[Sev]

"I've tried promoting the forums as much as I possibly can but people seem to be discontent with the fact of needing to register and learning the forums. I've given out ZaFur as much as I can to people asking me where to find SA furries while I suit at events."

The laziness of people today is absurd, vulgar even.
A forum is not difficult to use, damn it. And the really, really irksome thing is that they will take the time to learn the user experience abomination that is SnapChat.

[Randall]

It is easier to complain, and whine than anything else. While this forum has a vent section, it does not sit well with many because they get taken to task with their flawed arguments.
Have you ever wondered why the one surviving big forum in SA makes it and grows? Despite the rigged competitions, fake news, and carrots dangled, its because its a moan-fest.
People love to complain and whinge, the ANC this, Jacob Zuma that, its a national pastime.

The actual discontent is this is a place that is for the most part, positive, it has positive energy. Not really much space here to vent about the government and ShowerHead's latest trick.
Another big differentiator is that we don't allow trolling or cyber-bullying.

[Sev]

Moaning about ones country is a national part time, regardless of which country that happens to be.

Except, maybe, if you're Canadian. The Canadians that I've come across are too drone like to ever moan about anything.

[Leeward]

And North Korea, North Korea is best Korea.

[Galahad]

Three non-specific, generic ZA Forum Users walk into a bar.

One complains about the presence of one of the other users, and refuses to have a seat as long as that other user is there.
One complains about his past love life, and laments about how there is no hope for himself; his past lover turns out to be the first user.
One complains that the bar's security is insufficient, and the design of the bar is poor and the staff should be ashamed.
Ultimately, no-one buys any drinks; the first user friend-zones the second; the bartender resigns out of frustration from the ranting of the third, and the evening becomes a bitchfest.

Do you notice the moral?


... Well, there is none. This is a tongue-in-cheek analogy, with but an underlying hint of seriousness. Yes. We can complain all we want, and perhaps our complaints are valid. I know I have whined about one or two suggestions on the site, myself, and so I am guilty. However, from an objective perspective: complaining may be good to highlight a problem, but it accomplishes nothing in solving it.

It only results in a phenomenon one might call: Bitching ad infinitum. Or, a bitchfest.

[Cape_F0X]

Adagio doesn't even like drinking! And why wasn't I invited? OK I know why, but still.

[Randall]

Moaning about ones country is a national part time, regardless of which country that happens to be.

Except, maybe, if you're Canadian. The Canadians that I've come across are too drone like to ever moan about anything.

I joined electro-tech-online the other day, a US-based forum.
Its surprisingly free of this phenomenon. The only bitching I can find is about unsolve-able problems.

[Sev]

Three non-specific, generic ZA Forum Users walk into a bar.

One complains about the presence of one of the other users, and refuses to have a seat as long as that other user is there.
One complains about his past love life, and laments about how there is no hope for himself; his past lover turns out to be the first user.
One complains that the bar's security is insufficient, and the design of the bar is poor and the staff should be ashamed.
Ultimately, no-one buys any drinks; the first user friend-zones the second; the bartender resigns out of frustration from the ranting of the third, and the evening becomes a bitchfest.

First one is definitely me, second one was me, third one is Randall.

Also, that technically means that I'm in love with myself. O_O

[Brutallis]

Well now, this topic escalated quickly. I see some good suggestion in here about the topic, however this topic was more of a "Look I found an alien" rather than, "Look I found an alien, let us study it to see how it breathes". I was more looking to raise the point to the attention of others but I never thought that this would become a full on discussion. To me, after going through this topic again, I don't feel like there is a solid solution to the issue that I raised, but I'm not complaining, I mean Inactive users will happen to a forum eventually, we just need to make sure that we have something to keep them here.

To Sudan Red's point earlier in this topic

Well now - that escalated quickly!

I doubt that we've completely exhausted all the handles in 180-ish tries. Not broke, why fix?

Make the forum a fun, inviting place & people will keep posting. At worst, it is a nice (ORGANISED) central point apart from FB groups & WhatsApp groups that tend to be chaotic.

[Valerion]

Moaning about ones country is a national part time, regardless of which country that happens to be.

Except, maybe, if you're Canadian. The Canadians that I've come across are too drone like to ever moan about anything.

I joined electro-tech-online the other day, a US-based forum.
Its surprisingly free of this phenomenon. The only bitching I can find is about unsolve-able problems.

I find that tech-focused or specialty forums are generally free of this. It's the lifestyle forums (like this one) that suffers the most. Also, if it's tech-based the mods can generally ban such discussions.

LOL
Back on topic though.
Here is an idea.

Set up a newsletter, and e-mail it in PDF format to the forum userbase. That way you can gauge who comes back, also you can then gauge who is not coming back by seeing which e-mail addresses bounce.
That is what a certain Orwellian forum does, except they took it too far and spammed me, so I blocked their mails.

EXCELLENT idea

[Rakuen Growlithe]

That way you can gauge who comes back, also you can then gauge who is not coming back by seeing which e-mail addresses bounce.

Except that actually means nothing. As you will recall a certain website which had a probably avoidable hack and then implemented a rather poor solution, i.e. lets reset all passwords. What it had were thousands of active users complaining because 1) they had set up accounts years ago and not changed account email as they changed emails 2) Had created accounts using disposable emails 3) forgotten what email accounts they had used when setting up their accounts and so on. And as an example from here I know of one person whose account here is almost certainly using an email address which I know no longer works and who was uninvolved with the fandom for a few years but who I understand is now involved again.

[Leeward]

I would wager than anyone who signs up to something with a disposable email or doesn't bother updating their contact details isn't all that interested in being contacted by or returning to said thing anyway.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

There are people who do not look and think the way you do.

[Valerion]

I would wager than anyone who signs up to something with a disposable email or doesn't bother updating their contact details isn't all that interested in being contacted by or returning to said thing anyway.

I have had to re-activate 1 user this year that used a disposable email address, but wanted to return to the forums. Was travelling the world for a while and lost contact with the local community.

[Leeward]

There are people who do not look and think the way you do.

Your point being?

I have had to re-activate 1 user this year that used a disposable email address, but wanted to return to the forums.

One user? In just a year? Wow, that's so many it totally warrants avoiding the situation happening again in future. /s

[Rakuen Growlithe]

My point being there are people who would use a disposable account and who want to be involved. And there are all sorts of entirely valid reasons for emails not to be working, all of which you ignore.

[Adagio]

Rakuen, I recall you or Val saying that deleted users' accounts don't vanish, they are still available to be reactivated?

If we decide to remove inactive accounts, wouldn't you be able to just reactivate them?

And if a user would happen to return, and find his account has been disabled, and he actually wanted to be part of the community once again.
Wouldn't he go through the trouble of contacting an admin?

Chances are, if he forgot his email, he had forgotten the password he has used...

[Valerion]

Rakuen, I recall you or Val saying that deleted users' accounts don't vanish, they are still available to be reactivated?

If we decide to remove inactive accounts, wouldn't you be able to just reactivate them?

And if a user would happen to return, and find his account has been disabled, and he actually wanted to be part of the community once again.
Wouldn't he go through the trouble of contacting an admin?

Chances are, if he forgot his email, he had forgotten the password he has used...

Agreed. However, we will now need to start keeping track of the REASON we de-activate users, which we don't have for everyone. Some people are de-activated because of a ban, or because they violated the rules. Some have been de-activated upon user request. If we do blanket removes, we will need to note which users can be re-activated safely, and which ones not.

Personally I find that people that had their accounts dectivated (other forums, not this one), either moan and bitch and don't return, or create a new account and then try to get their names changed. But I may be wrong there. Also, bear in mind that they really have no way to (currently) get in touch with the admins, unless they are members. And I am not about to publish my email address in the open, so they CAN get hold of me. There are ways around this, like contact pages, so it's not completely impossible.

<EDIT>Also, killing someone's account for not logging in doesn't feel like a very "we want you here" attitiude to me.</EDIT>

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Also it's completely unnecessary work. It's like gluing shut your drawers every time you close them to keep them safe because you can always remove the glue. Sure you could but there's really no point. Basically there is zero benefit to removing inactive accounts. It's going to make it harder for furs to come back to the forum, create unnecessary work and will make no change the daily operation of the forum.

[Sev]

There are people who do not look and think the way you do.

Your point being?

I have had to re-activate 1 user this year that used a disposable email address, but wanted to return to the forums.

One user? In just a year? Wow, that's so many it totally warrants avoiding the situation happening again in future. /s

And let's not forgot that many users who eventually return just end up creating a new account.