WHERE ARE THEY?

[Richard]

I'll try to drop by every now and then - even if it's just for a short blink ...

It is always good to see you, Sven !!!

All the best,
Richard

[Gustavo]

Hey, Playmofriends
(mainly adminis)

I'm in a forum in Portuguese, as I had said before ( http://meiapalavra.com.br ), which has the folloeing tool, in the profile section: "away for some time / from _____ to _____ / reason: _____". This might help us have a better
knowledge of some people's destinations or activity ... (It could be specially oriented in the guidelines to "in case of ceasing the use, please inform this &/or that way".)

And it could there be a tool of any kind, that made some sort of if the user doesn't log in in, say, a year, or a semester, he'd be marked as "inactive", until he came to log in again, and this would automatically (and with no additional cost ... ) turn him active again.

These things, if possible to be implemented, might be of some help to avoid loosing touch with people without, at least, to know why, as well as give us a better knowledge of the real activity in the forum, I mean, who's active, who isn't, and so on. For a place as Playmofriends, I think it might be worthed, once there's little people here, and usually interested (to the point of paying to come in ..., which doesn't happen in other forums and, lets say, with consequences* for that ...)

Only an idea that came around, in mind.
I hope it can help, anyhow.

Gus



* Forums overpopulated, including with some ... "weird" people. Martin can talk about the weird-people part better than I.

[Martin Milner]

Hi Gus,

not a bad idea, but if the Forum model doesn't offer the option, it's probably not possible.

Sylvia mentioned possible plug-ins (for a map) this might be one, but I don't think I've yet seen a English forum that offers this option, and I've been on half a dozen different models.


 

[Gustavo]

The idea of paying to enter is an interesting filter ... However, how to have notion of who "exists"? ...

The ideal place in the internet would be a place where you could know that people are actually there. This is difficult in a forum. In free forums its even more difficult ... Playmoboard must have about a thousand people (by the amount of people that go in everyday, a number of them because it's free ...), as well as this literature forum I went in ... I'd love it to be a pay-to-enter ... It's a beginning.

There's the problems of the versions of programs ... This forum I went in maybe can't do this, but it's a more recent version, and it happens that they go on getting more and more sophisticated. Into some time, maybe there will be such kind of forum program with this possibility ... But will be Playmofriends be possibly upgraded into that?

The pay-to-enter isn't enough to prevent us to know about people's abcences. It's sad, and common. As common as getting a girlfriend, and begin having less time in life to dedicate to Playmo &/or forums, if you aren't prepared for that. And many 20-25 people aren't. (I wasn't ...)

Gus



[Ps. The Meiapalavra forum is originally in English. The owner said that she had to translate a lot of stuff, to make it work in Portuguese. But I don't know yet, for instance, whether they have a photo section, which is crucial to us ...

(Ou of curiosity, "meia palavra" is "half a word", and there's a saying, in Portuguese that says that "para bom entendedor, meia palavra basta", which means that if someone is smart, he understand things already in the first half of the speech, and there's no need of any more explaination ... It's an interesting title for a forum on literature, at least in Portuguese. People there is very smart. It's a rare find. As well as Playmofriends ...)]

[macgayver]

missed this 

very interesting reading

thanks for the History revieuw Richard

Stil ....

where are they ?

are they still reading ? and no longer posting ?

I remember a lot of people no longer posting because of the management on fora but confessing to me they still read



maybe real life interfeared ?

I do have several friendships that still last and started on a playmo forum

is there anybody who found lost active members back ?

[Gustavo]

I remember a lot of people no longer posting because of the management on fora but confessing to me they still read

As I entered, and was eager to meet people, I contacted, maybe two people through pm, after having read their "Welcome!" message, and I've got the same answer, that they still evesdropped around, but didn't interact. So, they're active.

What worries me are those whom people try to recontact, and get no answer. It'd be very interesting if the forum program signalled this somehow: "this member hasn't posted since 200?". (Without giving us the trouble of searching for the person's last messages.) This might even be some sort of a little push for people to log in, say hello, sometimes, from from time to time ... Specially if it was said somewhere "if you don't log in in the period of (a year? a semester?), you'll be automatically marked as inactive, (and made unable to post?), until you contact the adminstrators of the forum" ...

And the tool of "absent from .......... to .........., because of .........." might be interesting as well, as long as it was properly announced as well in the coming in "if you get yourself absent for some reason, don't let the forum without saying why; if you don't fill the reason of absence update, you run the risk of loosing your active log in", or something like.

(The forum in Portuguese I'm in, of course, doesn't do all this; probably no forum does.)

I thought this would be interesting for Playmofriends, to make the group even more united.

This will get a lot of (hard) work to accomplish, though. But it'd be very interesting, I think.
It might begin with some "relationship tips tutorial", in the introduction notes, by the administrator(s) & moderators.

These are only ideas ...
(This is, possibly, how geobra Brandstätter feels, when they receive our ideas ... "It'd be great to do it, but it'll spend a lot of energy (and maybe money ...), so (...)". Unfortunately, it's a crude reality.

But, well, giving the idea is something already!

Maybe Tim, our computing wizard! could solve this matter easily!!!
(I'm kidding you, Tim )

Gus

[Timotheos]

What worries me are those whom people try to recontact, and get no answer. It'd be very interesting if the forum program signalled this somehow: "this member hasn't posted since 200?". .

Gus,

Go to the "members" section from the tool bar, click to view the profile of the member you want, and note the "last active" date.

Granted, if you're trying to look up 100s of long lost members, that could be a pain.  If this is an issue, you might consider spam software that includes read receipts and possibly port snooping of the members' last registered IP address.   

Letting receivers of PMs who fail to write back simply go their separate way may be the gentleman's response.   
-Tim

[Gustavo]

Well Tim ... If you say it isn't possible,
all right then ...

  The way you said was VERY funny, though!

Gus

[Sylvia]

People leave forums for various reasons and it would seem very unnatural to me if no-one ever did.

Usually it's because they discover new hobbies which interest them more or their personal lives become so busy that they don't have the time. I know from my own experience that spending too much time and energy thinking about and talking about the same topics can eventually lead to feelings of burnout.

Personality clashes are to be expected when you have a large group of people from varying backgrounds. Sometimes people take a dislike to the admin, moderators, or other members and decide to distance themselves in order to retain their sanity.

I agree it would be much nicer if long-term absent members dropped back in occasionally to let us know how they are, but I don't usually worry about the lack of communication unless it's very sudden or out-of-character.

Time is short so I prefer to concentrate on interacting with active members rather than trying to revive those that appear to be "dead" (for want of a better description ). I have attempted this myself in the past and have always found it to be an exercise in futility.

[Gustavo]

Time is short so I prefer to concentrate on interacting with active members rather than trying to revive those that appear to be "dead" (for want of a better description ). I have attempted this myself in the past and have always found it to be an exercise in futility.

That's different & interesting ... I'll probably have to spend time thinking about it, you know? , now you mentioned. Take the subject to my analyst ... See what comes out of that ...

That's ... Kind'a funny, too.

& It's very nice, I have to admit, to know your face, you know?, and imagine real Sylvia saying so. It gives some reality to the opinion.

Thanks for sharing your opinion ... Crystal *

 

Gus



*I remember you, Sylvia, when I open the polls at Ty's Yahoogroup, and see a lot of polls by Crystal