Why so few posts?

Mark O · 15 Jan 2010

Hey don't wish to be rude but I'm pretty amazed by the ratio of views to replies on this forum.

Take this from the NR General Discussion (SWT's interesting post Freight train derailment at Carrbridge) :
Replies.....Views
146.........16,015
:roll:

Seems pretty strange to me coming from other forums that so many people look but so few post anything!:cry:

So here's my question to you regulars: what kind of issues get people fired up to bother typing a reply?? Or is it just that this is one of those forums which have a great silent majority??

Nothing necessarily wrong with that and please excuse me for asking - just wondering how it works here thats all!

RailUK Forums

theblackwatch · 15 Jan 2010

I'd say its quite normal. Given that we don't even have 16,015 members, it's pretty obvious most people have looked numerous times. And speaking of silent, I see you've only ever made 7 posts! Have you only viewed 7 threads? :P

DaveNewcastle · 15 Jan 2010

Its one of the things I appreciate about this forum!
Very many of the posts are considered, well informed and factual, and only a handful are quick response personal opinions. In fact some posters are criticised for posting opinions before the facts are available.
It makes the forum easier to use and a more reliable source of information.

Sure, there are some people who post the first thing that pops into their head, but regulars on here will quickly recognise who they are, and if they're looking for facts then they probably don't pay too much attention to them (some even put those posters in an "ignore list" ! )

I don't find that this applies to the "General discussion" and "quizz" fora, and I recognise that there are a much larger proportion of posts which are factually dubious in there. No criticism internded, its just they way the forum has developed. Especially the fares & ticketing advise section which has begun to aquire a reputation as a unique resource of ticketing knowledge which you simply wont find elsewhere!

Hope this helps.

Daniel · 15 Jan 2010

DaveNewcastle said:
Especially the fares & ticketing advise section which has begun to aquire a reputation as a unique resource of ticketing knowledge which you simply wont find elsewhere!

Indeed, and seems to be very popular with those trying to get out of a penalty fare :lol:

142094 · 15 Jan 2010

DaveNewcastle said:
Very many of the posts are considered, well informed and factual

Apart from the multitude of Pacer and polls we seem to have in Rolling Stock section at the minute

DaveNewcastle · 15 Jan 2010

142094 said:
Apart from the multitude of Pacer and polls we seem to have in Rolling Stock section at the minute

. . and all the threads with the word "favourite" in it.

Hmmm, yes, I see what you mean.
I did go a bit too far with my description, didn't I?

4SRKT · 15 Jan 2010

I agree with the OP. It's unusually quiet for an online forum. However, I suspect that there aren't actually that many rail enthusiasts out there (at least not those geeky enough to feel at home on here..........), and that this is only to be expected!

SouthEastern-465 · 15 Jan 2010

I would say RUK gets quite alot of posts but there are not as many posting during the day but more at night when most get home from work and school and thats the same most days.

But I would not say theres a 'Lack' of posts lately.

theblackwatch · 15 Jan 2010

4SRKT said:
I agree with the OP. It's unusually quiet for an online forum. However, I suspect that there aren't actually that many rail enthusiasts out there (at least not those geeky enough to feel at home on here..........), and that this is only to be expected!

I would disagree about it being quiet...I could find several railway forums where the number of posts probably hasn't even reached double figures this year! I guess it depends if you want quality or quantity.

Around 20 threads have had new posts in the past hour, there was a time when it was pretty easy to read all the threads each day. To do so now would leave people without much of a life away from here, though I guess that might suit some! :lol:

SouthEastern-465 · 15 Jan 2010

theblackwatch said:
I would disagree about it being quiet...I could find several railway forums where the number of posts probably hasn't even reached double figures this year! I guess it depends if you want quality or quantity.

Around 20 threads have had new posts in the past hour, there was a time when it was pretty easy to read all the threads each day. To do so now would leave people without much of a life away from here, though I guess that might suit some!

I would also say this is quite a busy forum compared to other ones I am on which are very calm and are hardly used.

4SRKT · 15 Jan 2010

theblackwatch said:
I would disagree about it being quiet...I could find several railway forums where the number of posts probably hasn't even reached double figures this year! I guess it depends if you want quality or quantity.

Around 20 threads have had new posts in the past hour, there was a time when it was pretty easy to read all the threads each day. To do so now would leave people without much of a life away from here, though I guess that might suit some!

I'm sure it is lively compared to other railway forums (I certainly enjoy being on here), but I think both the OP and I were comparing it to other forums, rather than specifically railway ones.

SouthEastern-465 · 15 Jan 2010

4SRKT said:
I'm sure it is lively compared to other railway forums (I certainly enjoy being on here), but I think both the OP and I were comparing it to other forums, rather than specifically railway ones.

I am wondering if you mean the The Transport Forum (I think its called that) but if so I am sure thats been around longer?

4SRKT · 15 Jan 2010

Ironically, this thread is getting loads of posts.........

Dai. · 15 Jan 2010

Hello!
Why so little posts! A forum question that's asked by many many people, I just put it down to the following -
Lets take a start by looking at google -
Rail Forums, comes at the top of many results if people are searching for answers to questions or generally people who can help (hence how you ended up with me here!). So people (another me) are going to lurk round the forums not knowing what to say and if they find their answer, window closed. Simple.

Another answer which no one seems to have mentioned yet, is Robots 'Bots', I'm sure one of the admins have seen the Google, Yahoo or Ask bots come across the forum and put the results into their search engines.

So yeah, thats why you get many views and little posts.

90019 · 15 Jan 2010

I'd say this is far from a quiet forum.

Of the few I'm on, this is by far the busiest, getting as many, if not more, posts in an hour than some get in a week.

Aussie_Rail · 16 Jan 2010

Well in the general discussion forum, there list of threads there is a pretty good indication as to why there are few posts.

Perhaps there needs to be an injection of post worthy threads to get things moving along?

FusionRail · 16 Jan 2010

Probably because everyone's buggered off to TMR?

theblackwatch · 16 Jan 2010

FusionRail said:
Probably because everyone's buggered off to TMR?

There are more posts here now and more active members than before a small minority (which you describe as 'everyone') went elsewhere. What's more, the majority of posts are now related to railways whereas before there was a lot of off topic inane drivel - remember we are a railway forum!

Daimler · 16 Jan 2010

Like various other people who've already posted, it's one of the things I appreciate about this forum - posts tend to be well thought out, interesting, and quite frequently lengthy (a good thing!).

4SRKT · 16 Jan 2010

theblackwatch said:
There are more posts here now and more active members than before a small minority (which you describe as 'everyone') went elsewhere. What's more, the majority of posts are now related to railways whereas before there was a lot of off topic inane drivel - remember we are a railway forum!

I think this is the point, and agrees with what I said upthread. There aren't really that many railway enthusiasts in society at large (and society does bully us somewhat, so it's not a pastime that gets a lot of encouragement), so with that in mind I think this forum does well. Compared to another forum I post on, about anything and everything, it moves slowly, but that's only to be expected.

We do have a railway thread on said forum, you'll be pleased to hear.

Mojo · 16 Jan 2010

Also bear in mind that that particular thread has actually been our most popular in January so you're likely to get a lot more views than responses thanks to Google searches for people only looking for news on that particular topic. I'd normally expect for 50 views to have 1 reply and we tend to do well on this factor, of course though if you have a particular thread that brings in a lot of traffic (compare the derailment topic's number of views to all the others and you'll see it's way over and therefore not a fair comparison or typical of our forum to pick that particular thread) then that figure will be far out. Of course as you look at older threads you'll find the ratio appear differently as people find something but it's too old to reply to.

But yes, things have been on the increase recently and there certaintly hasn't been a decline (except over the festive season which was to be expected).

yorkie · 16 Jan 2010

Daniel said:
Indeed, and seems to be very popular with those trying to get out of a penalty fare

I can't remember the last time someone posted to say they had a penalty fare actually! Although some people think that they have been given a penalty fare when they actually have had an excess fare or a UFN (unpaid fares notice).

jayjay · 18 Jan 2010

I really joined this forum to resolve a ticket based question, because I didn't trust the TOCs to email me back with a decent answer and you guys seemed to know your stuff very well. Anyway, I like trains, but I don't know very much about them compared to most of the members here so I don't feel like I can join in most discussions without making myself sound stupid. Half of the threads I read I take interest in and can understand, but I don't feel like I know enough about the subject to contribute or I just don't want to.

So yeah, that's one possible reason. There may be others like me.

Dai. · 18 Jan 2010

jayjay said:
I really joined this forum to resolve a ticket based question, because I didn't trust the TOCs to email me back with a decent answer and you guys seemed to know your stuff very well. Anyway, I like trains, but I don't know very much about them compared to most of the members here so I don't feel like I can join in most discussions without making myself sound stupid. Half of the threads I read I take interest in and can understand, but I don't feel like I know enough about the subject to contribute or I just don't want to.

So yeah, that's one possible reason. There may be others like me.

Don't worry about making yourself sound stupid, I do it on a regular basis, everyone on here is always nice enough to help you.

But yeah most of the posts here are people asking for help with tickets.

Old Timer · 18 Jan 2010

jayjay said:
. Half of the threads I read I take interest in and can understand, but I don't feel like I know enough about the subject to contribute or I just don't want to..

Please do feel free to ask any Infrastructure / signalling questions and I shall be happy to help, as will the other Infrastructure guys on here.

Our aim is to educate as and when we can.

No question is silly or stupid, and we dont treat people in that manner, so do feel free to join in as you wish.

jayjay · 18 Jan 2010

Cheers guys.

I've actually learned quite a lot about British railways just from reading the forum.

Why so few posts?

Member

RailUK Forums

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Forum Staff

Forum Staff

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member