State of the boards

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by Weg Cory

The term everyone is rather sweeping and can't be said for any board. I mean, you could say it for GFY, but people will say they don't read it.

You can look at advertisers on boards for some clarity on things. I was more talking about program owners and webmasters that tend to follow. They have a lot of advertising and a lot of program owners post there. A lot of very large webmasters post there as well.

In terms of business posters and readers, they have a very good pool. People aren't skinning GFY or throwing all these contest on JBM for no reason IMO.

But I could easily be wrong...

No one can argue that GFY has a ton of eyeballs. The fuel of this entire industry is traffic....or eyeballs. If you have a lot of eyeballs that are looking for whatever it is that you're selling, you're going to have no problem attracting ad dollars.

That said, I dont think advertising on GFY is necessarily an endorsement of the community by the owners of the programs or that they read there themselves. I think most probably use board tracker and thus conveniently show up when needed. Any program large enough to have a dedicated board whore will likely put GFY on their rounds as well due to traffic. I'm not sure I consider that to constitute truly being a part of the community.

I dont think anyone reads all the threads anywhere, I know I dont. I pick and choose what grabs my eye from subject line. And if you have a piss poor subject line that tells me nothing about the subject, you have no chance of me reading it unless thread previews are enabled. This is one thing that dropped my post count here to next to nothing when the software switch was made (hint: turn it back on).

Every board tends to take on it's own personality over time based upon the core participants. I've said it many times, a board becomes a community when it becomes an assembly of like minded individuals with similar interests and goals. There are exceptions to all rules of course, but I see 'em as follows:

GFY -- perhaps the most diverse community due to size, but it's dominated by young 20-somethings.

JBM -- a bit more mature, people who are doing business in much the same way as the GFY crowd, but typically a bit older. JBM was essentially a very successful spin off of GFY in my opinion because it came along at the right time and offered a home to those craving a bit more maturity and better signal to noise ratio than GFY.

Netpond -- attracts a lot of the european crowd.

Amateur Masters -- duh, this one is obvious!

GGJ -- mostly all business talk, not a lot of chit chat, good place to get in and get out with Q&A, etc.

Oprano -- In the past, face it, this was home of the grey beards of the industry. What will it be now? I'm kinda interested to see that myself. Both Joe and GonZo have those polarizing personalities with many people. But I think both have discovered how much business you can get done and what can be grown by working instead of pissing on the boards in the last year.

[Weg Cory]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

Both Joe and GonZo have those polarizing personalities with many people. But I think both have discovered how much business you can get done and what can be grown by working instead of pissing on the boards in the last year.

You said it well and this will be the point of interest, unless there is some other plan to make money.

Subject lines attract your eye? You might also add the thread starter. I look for that. I tend to throw up a lot of longer post, the interesting thing is, if you look at the thread, often times you see a lot of replies from people that don't post much. I also get a lot of people at shows telling me they read it, but don't enjoy posting.

You can't always judge a thread by those who post. This is what I was trying to say when everyone was coming down on AlienQ, saying the thread worked him over; fact is, more people do not post and most judge all

One thing I can say, I have worked for two very large companies and have done some personal business with a lot of pretty large players. I have been in the room with a lot of big players (KK might be the only one that could verify such a statement, but I suppose you just have to take my word). Fact is, they all do read the boards. Fact is, they all remember those who argue and all are judged. Those who actually post account for very little.

Wasn't trying to sound egotistical with that last paragraph, I sure hope it did not sound that way.

[Jace]

Originally Posted by Weg Cory

Fact is, they all do read the boards.

i know this all too well. I get calls all the time from people seeing me post on GFY, wanting to chat about shit on that board....these are people that have never made one post on any board in their life....everyone reads the boards, this includes video side and internet side....the page view stats on places like gfy must be amazing with the amount of viewers over posters.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by Weg Cory

One thing I can say, I have worked for two very large companies and have done some personal business with a lot of pretty large players. I have been in the room with a lot of big players (KK might be the only one that could verify such a statement, but I suppose you just have to take my word). Fact is, they all do read the boards. Fact is, they all remember those who argue and all are judged. Those who actually post account for very little.

I'll take your word for it. And I will say that most of the program owners I know or talk to are certainly at least aware of most major events on the boards and who the "personalities" are now that you mention it.

How much of that is absorbed thru actually sitting down and reading the boards directly each day versus what's gleamed from lunch conversation with employees, board tracker type tools, I still question. If they're reading closely, I need to talk to some of these guys about their time management techniques and get some tips.

Myself, I typically stay off the boards when I'm actually working...or I should say working hard, I'm ALWAYS at least piddling with something in the background. I'm a major multitasker. So I typically make my passes late at night or right after dinner, etc.

And yes, good point, I do also weigh who the poster is into my decision of whether to click it or not. And I'm much more selective about threads on some boards than I am others. However, as I alluded to above, I catch a lot via the eyes of others. If there's something I NEED to read, someone's gonna ICQ me the link.