Jump to content

General Chat; Now the place where people dump info to boost post count?


offspringftw

Recommended Posts

It seems that some users mostly post in this Sub Forum to boost their post counts. It's clearly the sub forum with the most threads and posts.

I don't see the point in registering to a Forum only to stay within the 'General' forum, when you have no experience with actual developing.

 

Its a cheap way for people to boost the amount of posts they have, why I don't know...It is like the amount of posts is the factor which decides your status or rank. That's what matters to people; not doing things relevant to developing.

 

Do you feel the same way about this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reality is no matter how much you are into a certain subject, whether that be development, pets, graphics, law etc there will always be more going on just in general day to day life. Should think of a forum much in the same way as general conversation. I Sit it my office and I do have lots of conversations with my collegues on the latest version of visual studio, how to do xyz in sql server, or even which browser they are using. However there is far more conversation on the state of the eurozone, what my dog did this morning, or even where we're going out on saturday night. Its simply human nature as apposed to post chasing IMO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reality is no matter how much you are into a certain subject, whether that be development, pets, graphics, law etc there will always be more going on just in general day to day life. Should think of a forum much in the same way as general conversation. I Sit it my office and I do have lots of conversations with my collegues on the latest version of visual studio, how to do xyz in sql server, or even which browser they are using. However there is far more conversation on the state of the eurozone, what my dog did this morning, or even where we're going out on saturday night. Its simply human nature as apposed to post chasing IMO

Yeah, I guess you're right. I didn't think of it that way.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find General Chat and the gaming sub forum are my most active sections. There's no point in me posting within a help thread about a subject I know nothing about, such as Linux, web hosting or most programming languages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I don't think this is the case!

Cause, when we say, general chat, anything related to general activities can be discussed here. It is not even the case that people are not at all posting in any other sections and just bumping into this category in the forum! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One reason why many people start threads in the general chat section may be that they are not too sure whether they should put it. So just to play safe, they put it in general chat. As for the people who post replies, the reason may be that to post in specific sections require specific knowledge.

 

Does this mean that general chat is a waste of a forum's resources. I think not. There are times when I, myself, would browse the specific sections to learn something. I don't post anything because I have nothing to contribute. Then I stop by the general chat section to have some fun interacting with other members.

 

Think of the general chat section as the canteen in an office building. That's where people go for a cup of coffee and a smoke. After that they get back to work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One reason why many people start threads in the general chat section may be that they are not too sure whether they should put it. So just to play safe, they put it in general chat.

 

That's the reason I end up in a general section 98% of the time. It's still relevant to the forum and community, but I'm not exactly sure where it fits, so I'll put it in an off-topic/general/other style subforum. Sure, some people try to boost their post counts, but I don't think that's the bulk of the reason it happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's the reason I end up in a general section 98% of the time. It's still relevant to the forum and community, but I'm not exactly sure where it fits, so I'll put it in an off-topic/general/other style subforum. Sure, some people try to boost their post counts, but I don't think that's the bulk of the reason it happens.

 

I somehow get the feeling that this issue came up because some forum owners feel that they are not getting their money's worth from paid posting. Personally, I would think that it's up to the forum owner to make sure that there are knowledgeable posts made in the topic-specific sections.

 

I do know of at least one forum owner who understands this point. He puts in the extra effort needed to supply the necessary knowhow and he is happy even though there are no replies to those threads because he counts by the number of views. So when he sees that there are a substantial number of views in those sections, it means that the knowhow he has put there is being read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I somehow get the feeling that this issue came up because some forum owners feel that they are not getting their money's worth from paid posting. Personally, I would think that it's up to the forum owner to make sure that there are knowledgeable posts made in the topic-specific sections.

 

That's certainly possible. If that's the case, though, then they need to make it clear to their posters that they will not be paying for OT posts, whether that's by disabling post counts for that section or firing them from the job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think whoever is unhappy about posts which seem to be short on content should go over to some of the really successful forums to see what's going on.

 

I am an active member on one forum where, at any one time, there are literally thousands of members online and for every post that's more than twenty words, there's something like at least three that were just simply one-liners. What some forum owners may not understand is that one-liners can still add to the ongoing conversation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General chat is always going to be more popular as it's under the 'other' category. Each of the Technology sections have defined borders which can and can't be posted however if you think of a topic that isn't to do with the forums above (and there are god knows how many) then it goes in here. Surely by that logic it should be the most popular place?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a reason why people likes general chat. By its name says, it is general meaning majority of the members knows about what is everybody is talking about in here. Let's say that I am a good graphic artist but I am not good in programming, the other member is good in programming but do not know about gaming but we both know about what is the latest with Justin Bieber. And Justin Bieber would fall on the general chat so of coarse more members will post on this section. Get the point?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...

Well, like working in the company, doing your job, even the boss ask you to focus on your job,  You will find way to do something aside from your job. like texting to anyone, chatting with your co workers, get some coffee do your personal stuffs, thinking about your friends.  I think it's also the same here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think staying in/posting threads/topics in the General Chat/Forum is a waste of time and resources. I'm actually one of those many people who prefers to stay here. I do believe that there are other members here that does not have a degree related to web development just like me, and when we go to specific threads they kind of like seem to be a little bit difficult for us to understand, and so the General Chat/Forum is our only way to communicate with others like us or let me say a place where everything about web development is translated in to simple language. I do understand that this forum is primarily for Web Development, but I hope that (just for the sake of others like me who is interested with web development and stuff related to computers but doesn't have a deep understanding about it) will not get the hate or be discriminated just because we often visit the General Chat/Forums that the specific ones.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On forums that I have administered or moderated, we always had a "general discussion" forum for several reasons:

  1. We want to build a community where people want to come to chat with friends, and people often want to discuss off-topic things when they are part of a community.
  2. It gives us a place to put off-topic posts without offending quality members. People get mad if you delete their posts. If it's off-topic but doesn't break any other rules, then we just move it to general discussions.
  3. When people post about various topics in "general discussion," it gives us an idea of what content people want to talk about. Sometimes we make new forum sections if we find our community wants to discuss a certain topic a lot.

So, in my opinion, it is always good to have a place for off-topic discussions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...