Ausbonsai not very active?

[treeman]

I've noticed a drop in activity here lately.

If I could just make the suggestion, if that the pictures posted on this forum be made available for everyone to see whether they are members or not may very well give a boost from international enthusiasts?

[dandelion]

I second that idea

[Max]

disagree...i wrote a lenghty reply but when i viewed it, it went blank.....
the jist was
no joiny joiny
no looky looky
as easy peasy
and a big thank you to those who actually reply
80 views-0 replys

[benbonsai]

I agree that letting guests view images would be good, though it wouldn't bring more activity, as they can't comment.

[Raging Bull]

Maybe the members are taking a que from the plants and going dormant in winter.

[Pearcy001]

Barely have time to water my trees at the moment let alone work them.

I'll try make a conscious effort to update/comment where possible.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[Boics]

Yep. Cooked for time myself.
Trees are slow and waiting for leaf drop.

[Ray M]

Hi all,
I think it would be a good idea for guests to see the photos. I appreciate various sentiments that have been shared for and against this idea. My thoughts are that if guests were able to see the photos it MAY encourage them to join and be part of the forum. A point to also think about is that there are a number of "Members" who most probably follow a number of threads but don't make any comments themselves. Please don't think I am suggesting that this is wrong. There may be many reasons why they don't comment and that is quite valid. I hope there would be many more from Australia and other countries who may be attracted to join the forum.

Regards Ray

[bonborn]

I am actually against non members being able to view the pics. It only takes a couple of minutes to become a member and if people can't put that little effort than i don't think they will be contributing a hell lot to the community anyway.

At times pictures give away the location and identity of a person as well. You'll be surprised how these pictures can be used to gather details about a person and then their bonsai's targeted for theft.

My lack of activity on this forum is due to the complexity of uploading pics. I take pics on my camera. I then have to upload this to photobucket via my computer, resize them and then place individual links onto a thread. I wish it could be made simpler. Like tapatalk but on desktop with multiple pic upload and automatic resizing. If mods could come up with a way that would be great.

[bonborn]

And just to add onto my comment above I feel Ausbonsai forum should move to facebook platform. Facebook groups are trending nowadays. So much easier to use. Admins have a lot of control in activities. It can be made public, private or even secret. People can be tagged in comments. Things can be posted for sale and deleted once sold.

If it does move to facebook this forum can be archived and future facebook posts be linked back to the threads here. Some thing to think about.

[Frankeldein]

And just to add onto my comment above I feel Ausbonsai forum should move to facebook platform. Facebook groups are trending nowadays. So much easier to use. Admins have a lot of control in activities. It can be made public, private or even secret. People can be tagged in comments. Things can be posted for sale and deleted once sold.

If it does move to facebook this forum can be archived and future facebook posts be linked back to the threads here. Some thing to think about.

Facebook is NOT the way forward, it may be trending but after hundreds of years bonsai is definitely not a trend, another problem with facebook it likewise requires membership & is even more intrusive regarding personal data collection & retention (if you use it on a mobile device you give them permission to access every part of your phone, not just the content you wish to share on the site)

I lurked for a long time without membership and during that time it became clear who is 'active' for public praise/attention/other and who posts genuinely helpful/thoughtful/meaningful content... Images are for the eye, words the mind

[benbonsai]

I agree with frankeldein, facebook is not the way forward. I don't use it, Facebook is terrible.

[Thymetraveller]

I'm an avid user of Facebook and instagram, big fans of both, but they are not the right platform for the sheer weight of information, knowledge and experience contained in this forum.
Yes, it is a bit clanky to post and upload pics, but like browsing in an amazing old bookshop, you will find exactly what you need. I'm happy to put the time in to post my experiments, successes, questions and disasters as they occur.
In terms of activity, we have 34 users online right now, with 193 members active over the last 24 hours. Since I woke up and logged on, I have seen five new posts, and uploaded one myself.
I think the forum is doing a great job. I'm just about to search for the best time to airlayer a lilly pilly. It'll be there..

[squizzy]

I'm with bonborn

If they can't sign up they probably won't contribute.

As for my efforts on this forum, I do tend to get a little lazy. At the start I was quite enthusiastic. I would post quite a bit with plenty of stupid questions and get a mixed bag of responses from very helpful to some not so helpful. I guess that's what comes with 8500 different opinions.
I now consider myself as an intermediate bonsai enthusiast who has less questions but even less answers. I just don't have the experience personally for an opinion on a lot of the subjects. I have always felt if I am simply offering advice from something I read somewhere then that advice has little value. I do often contribute to plant if as I seem to be able to help a bit there.

In saying all this I do have quite a few threads I need to update and plenty of new ones to add with all the trees I have.

Maybe all 8500 of us should try and take 5 mins each week to update one of our own threads and contribute to one other thread. That should see a spike in activity

What do others think.

Squizzy

Ps on a positive note. I visit this site several times a day. I think it's an amazing site with some priceless information.

[kb bonsai]

Whilst I am not a regular "poster" in this forum , I log in and follow posts almost daily. I would like to throw my 10c worth in on this post however.
Still being a relative "newbie" to bonsai I am quite happy to hunt around this site to seek out more info or ask advice.
I too don't believe open access should be available to visitors. If somebody who is interested bonsai can't be bothered to spend a few moments filling out the meager details to join then too bad for them.
From my perspective (guess my age is showing) Facebook is NOT where I would want to see this forum go.
Some constructive feedback for thought however; I too find it awkward to post photos ( my latest attempt last week probably created enough sore necks to keep a team of Chiro's busy !!!!) A simpler process perhaps ?? Or maybe like most men, didn't read the instructions beforehand. !!!

Having been following this site for perhaps a year or so and regularly following posts I believe every contributor who responds to a post seriously attempts to be positive in there feedback / criticism and provide advice from experience or proven data. Even so , I wonder if many newcomers to this forum feel embarrassed or intimidated at posting their "first attempts" or "dumb" questions hence a limited number of "regular" users (contributors) and a lot of other followers "hiding in the bushes" so to speak. I don't know that that can be addressed other than new members taking their time to feel comfortable about stepping out of their comfort zone to post.

Just some thoughts from one of those followers hiding in the bushes !

Regards KB