Yes you repeat things many times. Like your ebook could be boiled down to a fraction of it's size an still have all the relevant content in-tact. I'll let you in on something Winston. Just because you repeat something doesn't make it correct or accurate. Just because you swear to something or say it's 1000% true doesn't make it so. So you told us many times? So what. I know that this forum used to be a much better place as far as the topic of Happier Abroad is concerned.Winston wrote:Rock,Rock wrote:Winston, it's not that we wanna be negative. It's just that the overwhelming majority of core posters here from past and present believe:Cornfed wrote:Oh come on Winston. If you had not been neglecting the forum this wouldn’t be an issue. If you had been a diligent employee or entrepreneur you would have been doing what you have been doing in the last few days all the time. Instead it has taken you weeks to do anything. Imagine your dad owned this forum as a business, the guy managing it ran it like you do and your dad asked for your advice. I think you would advise him to fire the manager.Winston wrote:Notice that option number one got the most votes, despite it being the LEAST accurate. The reason? Obviously because it is the most NEGATIVE option and the RIDICULING one as well. So it got the most votes ONLY for being the most negative, even though it was the least accurate. A logical person would have voted the second or third option. That doesn't bode well for the members here. It means they aren't logical or objective at all, but hell bent toward anything negative, even if it's false and inaccurate. That doesn't speak well of the members here. So Steve55 and other critics are right, that the problem here is that you guys are way wayyyyyyyyyyyy wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too hell bent on negativity, criticism, cynicism and ridicule. That's what's driving people away from this forum, NOT my bad management. So look at yourself in the mirror guys.
1. You frequently neglect the forum completely, maybe as much as 70-80% or more of the time.
2. You don't even bother to at least skim each thread. You miss a lot more than even many of us even though you are the owner and beneficiary of all the work that goes in it. And when you do read stuff, you're often very late to the game, often many weeks late.
3. A large number of quality core posters have either left or no longer contribute much because they are not happy with the direction this forum has gone.
4. The forum has become a cesspit of negativity, racism, and trolling.
5. As Mr. S pointed out, volume (post numbers and word count) seems to have declined significantly from a few years ago unless you include all the spam and troll posts.
6. Many get tired of the retarded conspiracy flat earth nonsense and other half baked pseudo science and sky is falling Tacoest stuff.
I'm personally fed up with this place. I follow it everyday like an addict but I don't contribute much anymore. As I explained to El Claudio, if I spent a lot of time to put together a good report, I might get 2-3 quality responses if I was lucky and perhaps a few one-liners or sarcastic quips from the likes of Banano. Back in the day, a good report could generate many pages of great discussion. Now it's kinda become a small circus and we come off as losers for being here.
Case in point. At this very moment, I'm in Accra Ghana, a very exotic local. Am I gonna put together a trip report with photos similar to what I did with Jamaica, Haiti, or DR? Nah. Too much trouble for too little reward in the way of responses and follow-up discussion. I'd be better off just sharing w a few friends on Whats app or not even bothering. There is no reward for posting here like there used to be.
I realize you will deny much if not all of what I've stated above. Again, as I told El Claudilo, what looks purple to Winston may look green to many others. Such is the nature of perception and perhaps reality itself is not absolute but rather relative. Still though Winston, you should ask yourself a few hard questions - Why have so many good to great posters abandoned ship or cut down their contributions here to almost nil if nothing has gotten any worse? Why are trip reports so rare these days? Why is the noise to signal ratio here so high? If we've all become negative, perhaps the source is a chronic lack of leadership and consistent hands-on management of the place. If happierabroad.com was a publicly traded asset, I bet the share price would be way down from it's peak by now. It's an eroding asset.
Whether you want to be negative or not, you ARE negative. Most of you are. There no doubt about it. Why else would most people pick the most NEGATIVE option in this poll even though it's the least accurate and least logical? Obviously because people love negativity and are addicted to it. It's obvious and a no brainer.
1, 2. Excuse me Rock. Most forum owners rarely participate in their own forum. David Icke does not participate in his massive forum. Neither does Alex Jones. Even Rooshv doesn't participate that much in his own forum. Get real. The forum owner is supposed to have a life and be a role model to follow. The forum owner is not supposed to read every thread either. That would take all day and all night, or at least many hours.
3. The reason a lot of good posters no longer post is the SAME reason I don't. They have a life in the real offline world, and they are busy with lots of things. You know how life is. Tons of distractions, people to pay attention to, things to do, errands, eat, sleep, laundry, etc. etc. Only computer geeks have time to post all the time. Don't you get it?
Besides, Ladislav and Mr S are active in the Facebook group. They find it easier to upload pics and follow. Some people prefer FB. That's not my fault. Why do you think everyone is my fault or under my control? Free speech is not supposed to have too much control or censorship. Some of my other forums died out due to posters getting banned.
4. Why do you blame me for what people post here? Do you expect me to control and restrict their free speech? If so, tons of people will complain and leave. What solution do you suggest for getting people to post more positive useful stuff here? You are complaining but you don't have realistic solutions.
5. I thought you conceded that forum traffic was the same, according to Google Analytics, as we discussed earlier. Why are you now saying the opposite? You keep contradicting yourself. You are so unstable Rock and waffling. I told you, there's no objective proof that the forum traffic is dwindling. Again, click the Active Topics link above. Last time I clicked it, there were 76 active topics of the last 7 days, which is pretty good, remember? That right there PROVES you wrong. Traffic may rise and fall, but on the average, it's still about the same. Click on the active topics page and you will see. Did you do that? If so, you will prove yourself wrong, but you don't want to be wrong right? So you don't click the link. lol. Go figure.
How many times do I have to repeat the same things to you Rock? Are you deaf?????? Should I copy and paste the above to you again below? Do you need to read the above twice in order to remember it? lol Or thrice? lol
6. If you don't like the flat earth stuff, then don't participate in those threads. Don't read them. Don't post in them. Simple as that. Are you a child who needs to be told what to do? Do you need to learn common sense? If you don't like something, then ignore it. But if we set up a rule that no flat earth topics are allowed, then it would restrict free speech and another group of people would complain. How about we start a poll to see if the majority of posters would like to have rules banning pseudo topics like flat earth, etc? If so, then what else would you lump into this "pseudo" category? Conspiracy topics? 9/11? Anti-semitism? What's next? Anything weird or someone thinks is kooky (even if true) would go into that category? Pretty soon we would be a politically correct forum. Is that what you want? If not, then what do you suggest exactly?
Be a man. Honor free speech. If you don't like a topic, then ignore it. Don't click on them.
Even Mr S does not believe that free speech here should be restricted. Like me, he posts a lot of conspiracy stuff and metaphysical stuff here too. So he wouldn't be in favor of censoring such topics.
Yes I understand what you mean about writing a long trip report with pictures, and then getting very few replies. That happens with my threads sometimes too. It even happens with Everdred, though some of his threads have a good number of responses. Why is that my fault? What do you want me to do about that? You want me to force people to reply to your trip report threads? How would I force people to do that????????? Why you blaming me for things outside my control? lol. Isn't that illogical?
Besides Rock, we all know you come here for the entertainment value of it. You like oddballs and you find the odd cast of characters to be interesting and intriguing. It tickles your funny bone. That's why you loved odbo's posts. He didn't contribute anything practical, but his anti-semite posts and cartoons were funny and made you laugh. That's why you wanted him back remember? For your ENTERTAINMENT. Admit it. You like oddballs and eccentrics. That's why you even defend that poser who pretends to be my dad. You know it's not my dad, but you find it funny, so you defend it, cause it's ENTERTAINING to you. So admit it, this forum is a source of entertainment for you. You like the weird characters here, the eccentric personalities and the oddballs, as well as the free flowing free speech here. It creates a vibe and character that is like nowhere else. That's why you come back, and why others do too.
Even regular posters check in sometimes. Even MarcosZeitola checks the forum sometimes. I saw his profile and he regularly comes and reads posts still, even though he's not active. Same with billy and anamericaninbangkok other non-active members. They still come back to see what's going on, even if they no longer post. I know because their profiles show that they recently logged in.
I'm tired of repeating all this Rock, please re-read the above a few times. Sheesh.
As for the most active topics, it's a big mistake for you to use that as a gauge. If you instead use the latest 100 topics, you can monitor when a post is made and how many posts are made in a certain period of time, say over a 24 hour period of time. That's what I do. It ensures that you don't miss anything, especially threads which are started but don't attract responses. I've made many such threads and usually you miss them unless I point them out to you. And if you eliminate the troll threads, harsh racism, moon landing idiocy, rants about American women, and petty fights between the few left here, you will find the post numbers and word counts are in fact down when compared to a few years ago. Even if you include the retarded conspiracy flat earth stuff, it's still down.
Yes, many moderators of larger forums are not so active anymore. But guess what. They put solid systems in place to make sure the forum get's 24/7 moderation according to guidelines and that spam does not flood the place. They also seem to know whats going on through their lieutenants and deputies. So if I bring up a thread to them, they don't scratch their head and ask me who that poster is. The forum content generated at present is light enough that one person could follow it all. Even with my skimming, I pretty much catch everything. That's more than I can say for you, the guy who's collecting 1-2 K per month from a forum which is coasting on it's archives.
Your forum is kinda a joke these days. Yes, perhaps it may be out of your control to some extent. But you've become lazy and inconsistent as far as it's concerned so you don't even try much.
BTW, I'm not negative about everything. I'm positive about Thailand for fun, Taiwan for quality life environment, Philippines for dating, and Africa for exotic experiences. I try to encourage people when I see solutions for them. I only become negative when I see them dropping the ball, being lazy, or acting stupid. You see, when I get pissed off in Phils, it usually has to do with one of those three factors above when I try to accomplish a business task or even get decent service.
As leader, you should at least shape the forum into positive directions such as spiritual growth, creative solutions to finding happier abroad lives now that many areas are being contaminated, help to newbies, and quashing of extreme racism, negativity, or petty bickering which you yourself sometimes participate in.
You are like a 40 year old kid when it comes to taking in constructive criticism. You've lost many posters who might have stayed if you behaved more like a man and less like an emotional boy. So straight up, it is what it has become and that's not good. If you changed, it might be salvageable to an extent in spite of what Mr. S and Cornfed have said about the broader environment. But none of us are holding our breathes.
Guys, are there any alternatives to forums like this now that forums in general seem to be in decline? What do people do now to swap happier abroad information and trip reports?
