Well there you go... make them fix these little niggling issues.:)

I think it's my responsibility to get people to sign up and want to post here. ;)

Hosting costs only - maybe enough left over for a cup of coffee for Morgan.

But not those fancy schmanzy coffees with whipped cream 'n' stuff. ;)

I've already said my final comment on the original subject matter of this thread.

But as regards keeping the thread open.... I also would like to add my appreciation to M & M, and to Jim, for keeping this forum going. - Thanks guys!
I think the only worthwhile weapon we can all use against argumentative and disruptive attention seeking activity, is to just ignore their posts.

Bunk!

If you were giving away gold bars someone would complain that they were too heavy.

You can't please everyone. This is one of the better forums I visit daily. The fact that people occasionally go off topic or continue a discussion long past its usefulness is no reason to beat yourself up.

Thanks for the hard work. I think everyone here appreciates it, even your "problem children."

Bob Frank

Just a note of support for the forum administrators and Jim. This is my first post, but I have enjoyed reading others posts for a couple of months and of course everyone enjoys Marine Aquarium 3.

Just to head an issue off at the pass, we will NOT be moving to vBulletin 4 software. vBulletin was purchased by an American company "Internet Brands" who forced out all their developers in the UK and moved development to California. The product is TERRIBLE and causing nothing but headaches for forum operators who were optimistic enough to install vB4 on their live forums.

You can read about the numerous problems with the vB4 software at one of IB's own forums:
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...ser-Assistance

I really like this forum and think it's okay as it is. I did avoid posting on the version numbers subject to keep the grief down (my personal opinion is software should have a source code version and a build number, that ideally identifies the compile environment, but if the author's not fussed then I'm not getting excited about it).

I get annoyed sometimes, but I still check in every day, so people must be doing something right.

I would definitely be against banning users who weren't spamming or insulting people.

But I'm just a user, after all that.

John

Since this "topic" is now the "off topic topic", I'll comment on this from the perspective of a forum administrator (elsewhere): FWIW

Critical mass is very important. In my mind (and perhaps that of others), this forum (overall) is for fans of SereneScreen stuff. That's essentially what it says on https://www.feldoncentral.com/Sachs/index.php (pointed to by the SereneScreen site).

Many people do not come here to chat about movies, photography, general topics, etc. In fact, if you click on the "Please head over to the....." link on https://www.feldoncentral.com/Sachs/index.php, you never see anything except Marine Aquarium forums.

In the last two years, many folks have decided they would rather "chat" on their Facebook (or other social networking system). So, I don't expect any new forum interest in non-targeted (non-product) discussions.

If I click on "SereneScreen Forum" at the top of this page, I do see (first) the Prolific/Lifeglobe product forums. Most current postings in November last year. Not many folks seem interested.

The "Off Topic" forums? I see a lot of familiar names, and folks who have Join Dates of 2001/2002/2003, so that was a successful section then, and "historical" people continue to use it. That's good. But my guess would be that not many "new members" are interested in posting there. Just a guess - administrators should be able to verify if I'm right.

So, what's the point of this long ramble:

Critical mass is "lots of people will check the forum every day, to see what's new in their area(s) of interest. (And some of them will write something).

If there isn't something new in that area approximately every day, they'll forget to check regularly, and eventually won't check at all.

[If there's a new version every 3 or 4 weeks, they'll remember longer -- but that ain't gonna happen any longer]

Oh, they will remember to come back if they have a problem or a question (about MA3). Maybe a few will come back to check the "Announcing" thread, to see if there's a new version. If they think of it, or somehow get reminded.

My conclusion (in forums that I administer) has been that "something new every day" is important. And it doesn't much matter what that is - even if it's something that many people just ignore.

Critical mass is a matter of activity. Activity is a matter of how many people check "every day". People check if there's something to see.

Well, if Morgan and Michael could come up with a new dance and song routine each day...;)

What would normally be interesting and would keep users coming back would be a "daily progress journal" from Jim. However, with the current collision avoidance problem being so time consuming there wouldn't be enough to fill a daily report. Unless you consider daily "grey hair count" and how many times I "yelled at my computer sceen count" interesting.:) It would also be a distraction that Jim doesn't need until the problem is fixed.

When that day arrives maybe Jim would give this suggestion some serious consideration.

That would be interesting (particularly if it wasn't the same thing day after day).

As you point out, it would be a distraction for Jim. And most old-timers around here would expect such a thing (if done at all) to be posted on http://www.fish-byte.com/news2.htm

More to the point, it's the kind of thing that many folks would expect to see on Facebook nowadays, rather than on a discussion forum.

By the way - my long posting (above) was not meant to throw rocks at anybody.

Most forums today are slowly dying. I don't know any forums that are actually growing. There are lots of reasons for that - changing lifestyles, changing technology (texting, Facebook, Myspace, blogging, and see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rking_websites)

The intended message was: if you're running a forum, and it's surviving, then you're doing OK. Don't be disappointed because it's not growing.

Nope, never will that kind of social interaction appeal to me, and I'll bet I'm not alone in this regard. I'll leave that kind of interaction to the twenty-something and younger crowd. :p

The decline and eventual passing of MSN groups had a lot to do with myself and a lot of my friends giving up on forums. They weren't updated and the 3MB storage limit was a joke. But since you could have the same nickname across the whole groups network it made it easy to recognize familiar 'faces'. I'm just saying this to agree with Dale, forums are a dying breed, but this is the only one I know of where there's something to talk about every day in the OT area. You can't see the coffee shop until you've registered and posted right? So people who visit to just read the messages might not know it's there. Facebook isn't the same at all, there's not the degree of contact you get in forums. Somebody here said it's mostly people posting pictures of their dogs (and complaining about their spouses), and that's not far from the truth. Oh, well, there's Farmville of course.

The point was that those folks (twenty-something and younger) aren't going to be attracted to the feldoncentral forums.

[So, they will never meet you online, and you'll not meet them online, and that's probably OK with all]

Many of those folks will presumably purchase MA3 (and/or some version for their cellphone/iphone/blackberry/whatever). They'll never know to update it.

No, you're not alone. I'm old, and haven't yet decided to sign up for Facebook. But I try to never say "never".

I have a Facebook account, which I almost never check. But it does have its uses. Yesterday I connected with someone who was one of my best friends in Jr High, but who I haven't seen or heard about in 45 years.

If this ever happened, even if just once, I'd pay money to see it! I totally believe it would be worth every penny!

I'm glad you said Morgan - I might sing a little, but if you expect to see me dance you will be waiting a looooong time. ;)

My two cents is that this is a very unique forum. It does not have to chase sponsors or advertisers. It is self sustaining. The form that I help manage is sponsor and member based. We charge $20.00 a year for our members to have access to the vip boards within the forum itself, $300.00 for lifetime. Lots o' of boards if you don't want the "charter membership". and want free access, but that is on top of having to generate revenue via sponsors.

Things sometime melt down when members start bashing sponsors or try to promote their "wares" without paying for advertisement. That is why we need so many moderators and upper staff to manage the moderators.

This place is refreshing to me due to the fact that there is only one sponsor...SereneScreen.....Ahhhhhhhhhh :cool:

As for off topic boards...I think they are crucial in the success of any major board. The first place I tend to go is the social board of a forum. There you get a feel for the intellect..(or lack there of).

In my little world I am VERY picky on where I post. I find the members here (for the most part) to be intelligent, international, polite, and not to stuffy. :TU:

Not a big fan of facebook, twitter, and the like. Can't stand MySpace! I do go to classmates to find old friends....but thats about it. Guess I'm lucky in that regard. Having a full life does has its rewards. LOL