Blog FeedThe Circle of Blogging
I don’t think it’s much of a secret, but activity here has been a bit down lately. This goes for both the blog and the forums, but to be honest it’s more depressing seeing the lack of forum activity, as I’m used to message boards being so alive, with ForumPlanet and all. I know this particular slump could be attributed to many different things, but what it comes down to is that even at our highest points of forum activity, we don’t have enough regular posters to keep things moving along smoothly. So, I’m making a decision.
I think it’s best if we axe the forums from Aelon. When I turned Aelon into a blog mid last year, I already knew there would be some overlap. When I have something I want to talk about, I put it on the blog, not the forums, so it does neglect the forums in a way. I shouldn’t have a conflict of interest between two types of communication for the one community. No-one should.
On top of that, it’s just higher maintenance. Just today I’ve had to delete many new members who have signed up, probably by some automated bot. They’re just accounts that are made to link back to Russian sex sites and the like. I already have enough to deal with on the blog as far as spam goes. The only reason I kept the forums in the first place was to have a proper place for staff discussion, and forums for other projects I run online, unrelated to Aelon itself.
I don’t know many blogs that have forums. Perhaps that’s because of the same one-community-two-mediums issue. The only counterpoint there is that a forum allows anyone to post a new topic, not just the blog authors. Of course I have plans to counter that to an extent… but you’ll have to wait and see what surprises I have there.
So that’s about it. The plan is that no forums will equal increased concentration and activity on the blog, which will increase our exposure (through syndication) which will in turn increase activity levels, in the great Circle of Life Blogging. Naturally I’m wanting your opinions on this, and will wait for due response before actually letting the forums go. Even then, they’ll still bere there of course, as I need them for the aforementioned staff and projects forums, but the general public sections are what is being put on the line.
24th February | Reply
It sounds like a good idea. Two mediums means less focus on either one, and that is never a good thing.
Also, I am departing from the blog for those who don’t know. Mostly because my life is too boring to blog about.
But i shall still come by occasionally, and check on things. I like this community, as small as it is.
24th February | Reply
One thing I forgot to mention is that I don’t think additional forums are really something that fits in with the people who frequent this blog. Most of us are regulars on ForumPlanet, and an additional place to sign up and post in, in such a similar way, probably isn’t high on anyones to-do list.
So, I’m thinking about what to replace the “Recent Forum Activity” section of the sidebar with. I still have the old PHP poll code from the old Aelon I could use, if we wanted a poll…
24th February | Reply
But what would happen to the Antares forum?
(Granted I’m not there much, but I do pop in now and then to see what’s happening)
24th February | Reply
Well, that stays, because it’s one of the project forums which we’ll still be using once I find the time and the inclination. Plus, JohnDoe needs to get over his WoW addiction before we can really get started on that anyway =P
24th February | Reply
He can’t play WoW with his hands chopped off ;o)
*runs off to get axe*
25th February | Reply
*Puts on the Arcane Gauntlets of the Bear*
bwhahaha
on topic: Seems logical, but then the blog would need to become a lot more active.
1) There’s only so much you can reply to. Usually I make 1 comment on a blog item, and sometimes replies to other comments.
2) Look at some of the topics discussed on the forums. these will never get a blogpost, unless you change aelon basically into a forum frontpage, which I’m sure you dont want to do.
You could be right, and get the focus more on the blog. Or you may just lose activity by axing the forums, and take even more activity from aelon.
Time will tell…
25th February | Reply
Dang…just as I start posting in this forum, it potentially gets deleted! I suppose it is kinda for the best as it was very very slow there and hardly any new topics were being made. But I echo John Doe’s points. Making it a blog only could potentially drive even more people away and slow down activity further because of the whole fact that in a forum…you can post much more random rubbish.
But still…if no one posts at the forum there is no point in prolonging its life beyond the necessary time.
25th February | Reply
I also disagree. I like these forums. They are a little place of sanity compared to the other foruming I do. Deleting the forums would just be curing a symptom of the larger problem. The problem being slow blog posts. Both comments and forum posts increase as blog posts are made do they not?
Cyrris is definitly pulling his weight in more when it comes to posting but myself, and others, are not. I tried to make a resolve of 1 post a week but that failed. I need to stop getting sidetracked
I really want the forums to stay and am prepared to make blog posts like crazy to keep them here if thats what it takes 
In fact I will write one, no 2!! at work tonight.
25th February | Reply
Well, for starters, forum activity does actually seem to be rather independent of the blog. And the expectations for activity on a blog are generally lower than that of a forum (one blog post a day is a lot on a blog, not so much on a forum) - so maintaining what is commonly considered an “active” blog is, in my opinion, easier than maintaining an “active” forum when both mediums have the same number of regular contributors. Forums require more self-sustainability, which we don’t have, and won’t have unless we get a lot more regular posters pretty quick.
That said, if we were to try and breathe some serious life into them again, I don’t want it to come at the expense of quality. The very reason I made Aelons forums was to have an online community that was generally free from the useless posts and morons that make up most of the others. To be honest I’d rather kill them rather then watch them turn into just another internet forum.
The fact is, the blog is my primary concern on this website. If we’re to keep the forums, we not only need more regulars and more activity, but we also need to make sure that both those things stay at the standards we’ve set so far (which are pretty high). Forums that require a big effort just to keep active are pretty hard to keep going in the long run, though. They really only work when people post because they feel like it, not because they feel obligated.
25th February | Reply
I like the forums. I don’t go to ForumPlanet anymore, so they’re my chance to sorta keep up with the old community.
If you don’t want to deal with them, perhaps just take off the link and never mention them again. Then only us 1337 enough to type forums.aelon.net will visit them.
25th February | Reply
Well, I’m more in favour of keeping the forums, under used or not. I’m not sure what to expect from a Blog since I perpetually exist in an Internet time roughly 2-years behind everyone else, so I’m still coming to terms with the whole concept. However, you know where you are with a forum and since I don’t tend to frequent any others I guess I’d kinda miss these ones if they were to go.
Given a vote, I’d vote for them to stay.
26th February | Reply
Forums should stay.
If you think a blog worthy discussion appears in the forum, when you’d rather have it on the blog, why not just move it to the front page as a blog entry? With people’s replies turning into comments, perhaps.
5th March | Reply
I never really saw why there had to be such a disconnect between forums and blogs. They lend themselves readily to one another, really.
Blog: write an article, have people respond.
Forums: post a topic, have people respond.
Why don’t blog entries correspond to forum topics? In a sense, the forums are the real meat of things, and the blog is a sort of headline view of what’s going on there… what topics have been posted by our staff that they want to particularly draw your attention to?
Been thinking about this for a while, and have been meaning to do it for some time on my own site, but… you know, I’m lazy.
I mean I have kids. Yeah. That’s not an excuse, that’s the real reason. Sure.