Approx 20,000 Members & Only Approx 200 Regular Posters

[ian-d]

Likewise, no problems with forum speed here, ever, and i'm in the middle of nowhere with a max 2mb connection!

[philhancox]

I've just done a tracert and only have six hops, each of them being quite fast. My ISP is IDNET and they specifically don't do any throttling. I don't want to do a screenshot of my tracert because of displaying my IP address publicly but I would be willing to type up the results if others think it would be useful.

It would be interesting if others could do a similar exercise to see if there is any commonality amongst those experiencing slow speeds.

Kathy

I have no idea what you just said but I don't find the forums slow either.

As for the topic at hand, I suppose I'm a noob and I lurked since September after a recommendation partly because I like to get used to the style of the forum first and partly because I had nothing to say. But reading the blog and forums really, really inspired me and made me ridiculously enthusiastic about AM. I suppose I was a 'taker' but I really don't know what harm I could have caused to anyone by 'taking' without 'giving'.
Besides, is it not normal for an established forum to have such a large number of inactive users?

P.S. I created an account before this one, so maybe it's 200 regular members out of 19,999?

[kathymoger]

I have no idea what you just said but I don't find the forums slow either.

Lol no worries - I forget sometimes that not everyone knows about things like "tracert" - just as I don't know a lot of AM terminology.

To do a tracert you will need to go to the command prompt (XP and before go to the Run command and type in "cmd". On Vista just type cmd into the search box from the Start button, then click on cmd.exe). This will bring up a black DOS screen. In this screen type the following:

tracert www.affiliates4u.com

You will then get a list of the servers (hops) used to get to the website's server including the IP addresses.

Kathy

[chris_kelly]

Well having only started using this whole site in late 2007, or whenever my date in the top right says I have always wondered why it always says that so many people are logged on but yet there is never much activity.

Do people just log on in a seperate tab or window and then leave it running all day?

I really do appreciate the forum and all the help that it has provided me with so far, although I am still stuck with backlinks (hint hint). The communities do seem to be more of a waste of time though, except maybe the beginners one which often has questions posted. In my rather lowly opinion this site is trying to be more than it should be. It seems like it is trying to create a social network aka Myspace or Facebook, but without all the crap. Really I think what it achieves is a much smaller gathering spot for like minded people who like to share tips and help one another - which is perfect. Well for me anyway.

[NeilBd]

1) Don't worry about lurkers - today's lurker may be tomorrow's best contributor
2) Only allow members to contribute
3) Amalgamate the communities and forums
4) Don't charge for membership - it will put people off and reduce the free flow of ideas
5) Have a newbie category for people to choose when they join and display the poster's category alongside the member details on the post. Then if a newbie posts, they should be encouraged to continue contributing, even if they make a 'twit' of themselves - treat them gently.

Absolutely agree.

Perhaps the word "lurkers" could be changed to "learners". I have used A4U to learn as much as possible from this huge wealth of experience, and I strongly believe that those who I work with in the industry will benefit from this. I've often read comments such as "someone needs to educate this merchant", so it would seem counterproductive to reduce access to the posts.

I do agree that you should be a member to post though - encourages commitment to the forums, accountability for your comments, and enables a proper dialogue to take place.

[Pete Taylor]

I hardly ever post any more or even view as the site is too slow and bulky.. get rid of all that blog/community ****e

Also less and and less folks seem to post 3 years back it was much better even on that free forum board thing Matt was using.

I have to agree with you, I preferred the forum as it was a couple of years ago with a good percentage of members actually being active.

To be honest I have not logged into the forum for over a year & this is my first posting since December 2006. It is noticeable that a fair few old regulars don’t post any longer or make very few posting compared to a couple of years ago.

[CB1]

Hi there,
I prefer the phrase "learner" rather than "lurker" for me personally. I was handed control of our affiliate program some time ago, but I genuinely knew absolutely nothing about how affiliate marketing worked at that time. Since then I've spent time getting information from various forums, learning the ropes and understanding what affiliates need and I have to say that this forum provided really useful info - I would have struggled without it. I've got a few things in the pipeline now, and look forward to offering our current affiliates much better conversions in the near future - as well as attracting new ones .

So from a merchant's perspective, massive thanks from me!

Best wishes, Claire (retired lurker/learner )

[Piojito]

Hello all

Well I suppose I am one of the 20,000 who have never contributed and I have just noted that I joined back in late 2005! So please accept my apologies for that, but I am certainly not a sponger, I am most definitely a learner and this forum provides a wonderful insight into the industry. I build simple websites part-time (a few hours a week at the moment), as I work full time and am studying towards a degree part-time. I am not sure why I joined this forum back in 2005 but I have only really started to read and use it since I stumbled across it again in the autumn of last year and I am so grateful to those who do post and share their valuable knowledge. For me the ultimate ideal would be to be able to leave my rather boring and unfulfilling employment and do this full time (as an affiliate or merchant - I am only the latter at present). I find it challenging, exciting and potentially rewarding and I do not lack motivation in finding extra time to devote to improving my skills. There is so much to learn and I want to get it right. Without this site I am sure the process would take an awful lot longer.

Since last autumn I would say that, as a learner (or lurker if you like), the reason I have not posted yet is that I feel I am still catching up and I certainly do not want to post something that would appear amateurish and out of character with the forum. I am sure, however, that as I become more involved in the industry I will have questions and hopefully will be able to post suggestions and ideas of my own, but I acknowledge that this will take time. It is a bit of an adventure for me at the moment so please bear with me and I will attempt to contribute more to the forum once my knoweldge is at a level where I feel I can actually provide something extra to any discussion.

I would like to thank those who do regularly contribute and maybe one day I will be able to offer useful advice to a noob.

best regards
Paul

[tbp]

but I am certainly not a sponger

I don't think you need to justify yourself, and I think its wrong that this thread gives people the impression that they are "spongers" if they don't post, don't even like the term "lurker" really as it doesn't give a positive impression.

Like you said, you have a valid reason for not posting. Forums are a place for learning and sharing information, I don't think anyone should be forced to contribute. If I felt I didn't want people to read my posts and maybe learn something, but not "give anything back", I wouldn't post.

I`m glad that I might be able to help other people, and they might learn something from posts, in the same way that I was helped by reading posts here when I started. Im up to 930 posts now, but it was a while before I first posted, because I didn't think I had anything useful to say for a while.

[Paulzie]

I found this forum a while ago and used to posted a few times every week. I learnt a lot from it in the early days and tried to help others where I could.

Since the site was revamped it just got tooo slow to browse and neer impossible to post. I now only visit when I need information (as a last resort).

[tbp]

Since the site was revamped it just got tooo slow to browse and neer impossible to post. I now only visit when I need information (as a last resort).

It's really strange people saying this, as for me it's pretty fast. When I post it's not instant, but only takes a couple of seconds, and reading posts is pretty fast.

I am on 8 Meg broadband though, with an actual speed of 7.6 Meg, but I wouldn't of thought that would make a massive difference to the posting speed, as the time taken to post is down to the remote server, not the connection speed to the server.

[fizzbird]

It's really strange people saying this, as for me it's pretty fast.

Although it's improved recently I found that it took forever to initially log on. Not sure why but this is the only site that I've had such a problem with.
Perhaps this explains why there are always so many people logged on but inactive - it saves the hassle of logging back in all the time?

[shyguy0507]

Speed of a4u is not a problem for me, it generally loads about the same speed as any other site I visit on my 2mb connection.

I do like a4u as it is, i'm not keen on the term lurker either and think 'learner' is probally more appropriate. I haven't made many posts compared to the amount of time i've been registered but generally I feel the knowledge I do have is generally a lot smaller than others on this forum and posts where I would normally offer help have already been answered.

I do like the idea of communities but to be honest I don't really use them, I find the blogs section amazing and it's the one section of a4u that I visit every day - i visit the forum aprox once a week and post when I feel I can.

[csn]

My 2 pence:

I'd do something radical and that's pull all the communties off A4U and go back to a straightforward forum - split between promotionals and discussion - with headlines used to feed the latest posts from both sections.

For me the web 2.0isation just hasn't worked and I prefer going out to the blogs than posting nowadays.

IMO, I think this is a great idea. I now use A4U significantly less because for me, the diversification into a social network is something I'm not interested in. Granted, I don't have to participate in that if I don't want to but I just wish the URL www. a4u forum .co.uk linked directly to the forum. Oh, and when I log in, it would be nice if the login script could remember the last page I was on. It would save a lot of hassle.

There are a few options.
1) Leave the forum as is and let lurkers lurk.
2) Charge a premium fee for a locked section of the site.
3) Stop access to newbies and have a closed forum.

I agree with point 1, if point 2 was introduced, I would use A4U less than I do now and if point 3 was introduced, the forum would quickly become stagnant. I've only been here for a year or so and have seen new members join after me go on to make relevant and quality threads. Evolution helps to grow forums.

Unregistered members should not be allowed to post

Perhaps we could introduce a forum that can only be viewed by members who have posted say around 50 times?

Agree with the unregistered members bit. Disagree with the limited access forum as that benefits no one IMO. If you were looking for something similar, hide particular forums from guests and show them to registered members only.

I hardly ever post any more or even view as the site is too slow and bulky.. get rid of all that blog/community ****e

Agreed, though speed is fine for me. I just hate loggin in and always being taken to the "dashboard" page. I want to be taken back to the last page I was on as I would probably like to post on a forum. As this doesn't happen, I now give up and don't bother posting on some posts that I otherwise would do if this happened.

1) Don't worry about lurkers - today's lurker may be tomorrow's best contributor
2) Only allow members to contribute
3) Amalgamate the communities and forums
4) Don't charge for membership - it will put people off and reduce the free flow of ideas
5) Have a newbie category for people to choose when they join and display the poster's category alongside the member details on the post. Then if a newbie posts, they should be encouraged to continue contributing, even if they make a 'twit' of themselves - treat them gently.

Agreed.

[Hero]

I can't help posting the first thing this thread reminded me off when reading it... merchants wanting to clean up their affiliate base chucking out those inactive ones...

Where would we be without the "lurkers", with them learning the trade and improving themselves and then hopefully contribute their experiences? They expand the affiliate base not only for the forum, but for a big number of programs too. They should be encouraged to participate, in the same way that merchants need to activate their affiliates. I think forums are a very intimidating place to post (think of abestweb - who dares post in there?) and this is what should be addressed, not the lurkers