Should we post for members or guests?

[Jet Cash]

It's starting to be a bit of a struggle for me to get much interest in my topics, now this could mean that I am out of touch with the members, or that I'm talking rubbish. On checking my server stats, I see that I am picking up a bit of traffic from the forum. So what do you guys think? Would it be sensible to expand on the topics that attract the lurkers, and maybe try to get them to join the forum?

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[The Sceptical Chymist]

Jet Cash, I wouldn't waste your time trying to increase traffic forum--though I'd love it if it would happen, since the topics and discussions have been a bit....dry....for months at least.  I used to post a lot about combating shitposters, but that seems to be a battle that doesn't even seem worth fighting anymore since there's been such a reduction in them (as far as I've seen, anyway).

I'm not sure you'd be able to encourage people to join the forum unless it was with the enticement of all the money to be made by participating in signature campaigns/bounties.  That's how a great number of members were led here, and the rest presumably joined out of interest in bitcoin or crypto in general.  People either have an interest in that or they don't.  You'd be tilting at windmills if you attempted to recruit members who have a genuine interest in bitcoin. 

Maybe we're just in a dry spell.  Maybe if and when bitcoin starts shooting up toward a new ATH more folks will start registering here and the volume and quality of discussion will pick up.  We'll see.

[NeuroticFish]

I'll add a bit to the previous post: unless they have some financial gains, few are interested indeed. And that's why I agree a FOMO run will bring fresh blood.
But I think that there's already an area that may be attracting fresh blood and I think that it's ignored (possibly because ChipMixer doesn't/didn't pay for posting there?) : altcoins. The DeFi mirage is bringing some new users already, I think (I may be wrong though).

[Jet Cash]

I think I missed out by being late to the DeFi world. In fact I've only looked through the windows ar the moment ( Well Linux rather than Windows of course ).

The astute amongst you will have realised the purpose of this thread. It is to remind posters that their efforts are not just seen by members, but by a whole army of lurkers and guests.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

I was a guest reader before I became a member. Being a guest reader is needed before being a member. Even if lasted few minutes, several hours or little days.

[CarnagexD]

I'm not sure you'd be able to encourage people to join the forum unless it was with the enticement of all the money to be made by participating in signature campaigns/bounties. 

It's all about the price tag when we want some people in here. Remember cryptotalk forum when they introduced their forum through this forum? guess what they have been robbed by the spammers lol it come to the point that they banned and restricted some country IP addresses to get that pennies. I prefer having less people with great minds, than having a lot of rubbish.

Maybe we're just in a dry spell.  Maybe if and when bitcoin starts shooting up toward a new ATH more folks will start registering here and the volume and quality of discussion will pick up.  We'll see.

That could be possible, once bitcoin hits up it will bring some people here. But what I really think of is that people are just too bored to interact here in the forum. Can we have a list of inactive users since March? April? or since May?

[friends1980]

How much traffic and activity were there in the years before the big spam explosion in 2017? Since I arrived in mid-2017, I've never known these boards without spammers in them. I do suppose the percentage of quality posts was higher than it is now?

If so, you only need to start worrying about reduced activity as soon as this percentage goes under the pre-2017 era, I guess.

edit: imho you don't need to lure people in. I wasn't lured in and found my way to this forum anyway.

[nakamura12]

I also notice that I only notice few new topics or threads being posted in this forum. I know some people who stop visiting the forum because of the merit system but merit system also help increase the quality of a person's posting ability and reduce spam posts. Well, it's to them if those lurkers decide to create an account here.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Today, the merit system is easier for newbies, so I don't think that's the case here. The forum can be read without registering on it. Many who come here for knowledge write that they have read the forum for a long time. When questions arose, they registered here.
Today, as before, all news agencies write that bitcoin is a good asset that can make an ordinary person rich in the future. I think as soon as people have free funds for investment, people will come here for knowledge. It's just that people have become lazy, and do not strive for knowledge, or the road here leads them only for a penny that they receive in the bounty.

Therefore, everyone has their own preferences. Who wants to know something, he himself will find his way here. And those who think that there is a “gold mine” on the forum, where you can make good money on awards, are often mistaken, and thereby waste their precious time.

[cryptoaddictchie]

I also notice that I only notice few new topics or threads being posted in this forum. I know some people who stop visiting the forum because of the merit system but merit system also help increase the quality of a person's posting ability and reduce spam posts. Well, it's to them if those lurkers decide to create an account here.

Thats because some users got lazy already to post or create new ideas. Merit system cant be blamed instead. I know merit system is harsh, but it make some post become more quality as users tend to aim their post being merited. Lately Ive noticed too that only same person creating unique and useful topics and also they are the one who contributed too in the past. So rare to see new people posting a good one.

[Coyster]

It is to remind posters that their efforts are not just seen by members, but by a whole army of lurkers and guests.

This is not something I've taken a breath to think about, but it's pretty true and there are prolly many guests that have been helped by this forum, they may not be contributing overall to the community in a way we all will see, but it could put a 'big grin' on the faces of users here that their efforts is appreciated not only by users they 'know' (registered users), but an unfathomable number of lurkers, who prolly might have lost their Bitcoins, been scammed through giveaway scams, revealed their seed phrases to others etc, if not for their posts, it's pretty comforting tbh.

edit: imho you don't need to lure people in. I wasn't lured in and found my way to this forum anyway.

When users are 'lured' to a forum, maybe based on financial benefits, they don't last long, especially when the initial incentive is taken away.

[Harlot]

I won't go that way allowing anonymous people to post in the forum will be prone to a lot of spam/plagiarism/trolling and might be use in a bad way by people who are already in the forum, if you are looking for ways to attract readers/contributors in your thread I don't think this is a good option to do so. Also I don't like the idea of promoting the forum to increase the number of members here in BCT since we can't really control what kind of people are we getting in so we might have a new batch of people who will just be seeing the forum as some kind of money making site for them. TBH I don't know how to solve your problem but I think increasing the number of members here or people posting anonymously is a solution here.

[Nellayar]

I also notice that I only notice few new topics or threads being posted in this forum. I know some people who stop visiting the forum because of the merit system but merit system also help increase the quality of a person's posting ability and reduce spam posts. Well, it's to them if those lurkers decide to create an account here.

Thats because some users got lazy already to post or create new ideas. Merit system cant be blamed instead. I know merit system is harsh, but it make some post become more quality as users tend to aim their post being merited. Lately Ive noticed too that only same person creating unique and useful topics and also they are the one who contributed too in the past. So rare to see new people posting a good one.

Actually, there are still new users which are good in creating quality posts. But when it comes to a unique and helpful post specially when it comes to technical, old users contributed a lot. It is not just lazy to post or create new ideas. I think lack of knowledge and almost all good posts were shared already are the factors why some new user cannot make new posts.

Regarding in invitation, it might be a good impact for bitcointalk because it spreads the idea of cryptocurrency. However, it just make the forum more mess since many newbies will ask or spam the whole forum, which we know that many users here don`t want.

[Steamtyme]

I would just take comfort and some pride in the fast that your topics and/or discussions have directed random internet traffic towards your content. People only sign-up or post if there is a need. Whether it be additional information or a desire to delve into the discussion themselves.
I have a few purely informative threads in mining that have been stickied. They were created with the sole purpose of providing that specific information, not necessarily with discussion or specific groups in mind. I am positive though that they've been used by a large number of guests to access information. There have been the odd new account that posts in one of the threads, but I don't know if any ever really continued on with the forum.

[OgNasty]

Rather than focus your energy on getting new users to post here, I wish you'd focus on getting people already here to participate with Bitcoin and build new use cases.  Bringing in more spammers isn't exactly a positive thing.  This forum should be measured by the innovation it encourages, not the # of posters.

[NavI_027]

This forum should be measured by the innovation it encourages, not the # of posters.

In this case, The lesser, the better. I'd rather choose to have a simple less active forum rather an overpopulated one mostly composed of toxic people (I'm referring to scammers and sh*tposters). Merit System provided a long term solution for such problems and I'm glad about it. I don't want the last 2017 craze happen again .

Let the lurkers made their choice because only with purest intentions among them will come here voluntarily. No need to stress out ourselves thinking of things on how to attract them.

Edit: fix the code

[erikoy]

It will be good to increase the forum members once again. Why not advertise or make use of altcoin project as a mandatory that while they promote their project for free it should be added in the promotion to visit the bitcointalk forum for them to learn more about cryptocurrency.

Possibilities that they should be encourage to visit the  local boards to meet and greet people with the same culture and language. Major Discussions will be transferred to local board instead so that the pile of posts per day will be minimized especially if major boards will remain or if not remove will discourage new members to post in their local boards for cryptocurrency discussions. And users are free to roam around every local boards to get update in other countries activities about cryptocurrency. Most of the discussions will be transferred in the local boards. I think existing users could help lot in their local boards.

Anyway, do not take it seriously for I am just expressing mt thoughts which is for free to post here.

[UserU]

Rather than focus your energy on getting new users to post here, I wish you'd focus on getting people already here to participate with Bitcoin and build new use cases.  Bringing in more spammers isn't exactly a positive thing.  This forum should be measured by the innovation it encourages, not the # of posters.

I remembered some member suggesting a hardware subforum to broaden the discussion topics.

To some extent, I kinda agree that we should open up more non-BTC subforums, besides the language and mining ones. Let's say I'm a newbie and I come across this forum by chance, the first thing I'd look at is the interface (boooooo).

Another thing which is obvious is about the deletion of off-topic/ irrelevant/ meme replies, which might be off-putting to those uninitiated with the discussion etiqquete here.

[Jet Cash]

I agree that it would be a disaster if non-members were allowed to post.

We all have computing equipment, and I think it would be useful to have a hardware forum. This could combine desktops, notebooks and mobiles, and could always be split if it becomes too busy.

One of the aims of Bitcoin is to provide a payment method for users of the Internet. Many of these users will have, or consider creating, websites. One of my frequent appeals is for a domain owners board, with a buying and selling sub-board. The digital goods sales board here is completely useless for a domain name trader in my opinion. That is based on previous attempts to use it, so maybe I should have another go.

[Slow death]

We all have computing equipment, and I think it would be useful to have a hardware forum. This could combine desktops, notebooks and mobiles, and could always be split if it becomes too busy.

it would be great if we had a section dedicated to discussing computer things; and if we had a section dedicated to programming and a section dedicated to video games. the current section of hardware seems to me to be just for selling or buying. it is not for discussion. my point is that if we have a discussion section of computer hardware and programming and video games, we will see much more constructive discussions and we will not see attacks as seen in the reputation section. I don't know if I'm meeting your line of thought.

Many of these users will have, or consider creating, websites. One of my frequent appeals is for a domain owners board, with a buying and selling sub-board. The digital goods sales board here is completely useless for a domain name trader in my opinion. That is based on previous attempts to use it, so maybe I should have another go.

I scrolled through the section of Digital goods and it seems to me that organizing that section will be a lot of work