Utah Fishkeepers

[CarpCharacin]

You dont need pictures for showcase. You could atleast create the items and then add pics later? No? Oh its too much hard work isnt it?

I could do that, but showcase is designed to visually showcase items.

You should.

No.

Doubtful or active members would not be leaving.

One member left because I deleted a troll post that would have ruined one of my sticky threads threads and the other member left because I added another staff member.

No point even trying to steer you in the right direction. Over and out.

Why? What did I say wrong in my last post?

 

[CarpCharacin]

What should I do about my site that isn't shutting it down? I do not want it to fail.

 

[Mike Edge]

Who needs TV when you have this thread.. Amazing it's grown to 13 pages.

 

[n00bsaibot]

lol not sure why I always see this at the top. A hobby site with a few members can't really fail, imo. It should barely costs anything to run. Ask your friends to join and do whatever you want. Have fun.

 

[CarpCharacin]

Who needs TV when you have this thread.. Amazing it's grown to 13 pages.

So you think I am trying to be funny here?

lol not sure why I always see this at the top. A hobby site with a few members can't really fail, imo. It should barely costs anything to run. Ask your friends to join and do whatever you want. Have fun.

I want my site to grow. I want it to be fun also. People act like I am so stupid.

 

[Martok]

I think the questions that you seem to be persistently asking others to answer need to be turned around and answered by you. You need to think about them and answer them honestly. So,

1. Do you think that your forum is a success or a failure? Why?
2. Do you think that the 2 active members who left will cause your forum to fail? Why?
3. Why do you think those members left? Is there anything you can do about this?
4. What do you think you need to do make the forum a success?
5. What are you going to start doing right now, today, on your forum?

As I said, you need to think long and hard about these questions and must answer them honestly. If you can't do it honestly and/or don't have any inkling yourself as to the answer to these questions, then your forum will ultimately fail. Whilst a forum admin can ask for advice, you can't rely solely on others telling you what to do, you need to have some ideas and initiative in you already to be able to move forward.

 

[whynot]

I want my site to grow. I want it to be fun also.

#1 Wait for Santa to make it grow.
or
#2 Start working and make it grow.

 

[Nudaii]

I want my garden to grow, without watering it, without planting seeds, without preparing the soil, and while i stomp on whatever brave seedlings sprout by magic or chance.

Carp thats sadly basically how your site is right now, its already failed, entirely and completely, keep the domain if you like it, wait 3-5 years, get some maturity under your belt, learn how to do graphics, web design yourself, study how more expirienced admins handle their communties, learn from them in regards to how they do day to day running, handle real members, trolls etc.

In a few years you could launch a great site, but as it is, your site has become a joke more than anything, which is sad, people on sites you arent even part of mock you and your site, your terrible reputation in the admin community for asine questions and even worst replies to answers given has sadly alienated you almost entirley from the admin community.

For your own sake dude, take a step back, learn how its done and try again in a few years, this current downward spiral just gonna end up hurting you.

tl:dr
Your site is dead, your site has failed, wait till older and try again.

 

[CarpCharacin]

Start working and make it grow.

I have been trying.

 

[CarpCharacin]

Do you think that your forum is a success or a failure? Why?

I don't think it is really either. It was going pretty good until a few days ago when the members left. It isn't completley dead, so I wouldn't consider it a failure but it isn't that successful either.

Do you think that the 2 active members who left will cause your forum to fail? Why?

I am not completley sure, but it will definitely make it harder for my site to succeed.

Why do you think those members left? Is there anything you can do about this?

I apologized to professor fish and I hope he returns. I don't think that ozzy is going to return.

What do you think you need to do make the forum a success?

I think that there needs to be discussion for new members to join. There was discussion, but those 2 members left. I have been trying to make threads that will drive discussion on my site.

What are you going to start doing right now, today, on your forum?

I have been posting and I will keep posting in an attempt to drive discussion.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I just want my site to be a fun place to discuss keeping fish. I almost feel like people have singled me out for every mistake I make. Every admin has made mistakes myself included, but I feel like people jump on me for every small mistake I make.

 

[Nudaii]

I just want my site to be a fun place to discuss keeping fish. I almost feel like people have singled me out for every mistake I make. Every admin has made mistakes myself included, but I feel like people jump on me for every small mistake I make.

Carp thats not the case, and i am not saying this to be cruel or mock you, but i have never seen any admin make as many mistakes as you in the 15+ years i have been involvd with forums, its almost like you cannot grasp what people are saying to you half of the time, no insult as several members of my family have aspergers including my fiancee, but it appears to be signs of aspergers or close to it.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I can grasp what people are saying to me. Jeez. @tajhay said that I go around banning people and that is not the case. I only have troll accounts banned.

 

[Martok]

I don't think it is really either. It was going pretty good until a few days ago when the members left. It isn't completley dead, so I wouldn't consider it a failure but it isn't that successful either.

I am not completley sure, but it will definitely make it harder for my site to succeed.

The fact that you're not sure if your site will succeed or fail based on just 2 members is very telling. At this early stage in a forum success shouldn't be measured on a couple of members, it should be measured on you and the efforts you put into it. You are the owner (I don't think you have made this as a joint venture with others) and as such, it's all on you at this stage.

I apologized to professor fish and I hope he returns. I don't think that ozzy is going to return.

You didn't answer the question, you have only said what you have done since. The question was, why do you think those members left? Going by your answer, it's related to something you did. You must be honest and admit to the mistakes you make. Admins aren't gods, we are human beings and just as fallible as our members. We need to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. From other comments I have read, I'm not sure that you have.

I think that there needs to be discussion for new members to join. There was discussion, but those 2 members left. I have been trying to make threads that will drive discussion on my site.

I have been posting and I will keep posting in an attempt to drive discussion.

Discussion will only follow from decent articles on your site as others have said. I've had a quick look at some of your posts and many aren't this. You do have to put in the hard work to write interesting pieces. I agree 30 is too much but if you can manage 1 or 2 a day of quality (not just posing a question and hoping that members will answer) then that will help. It will take time and effort and it is hard work but if you persist then hopefully you will succeed.

I just want my site to be a fun place to discuss keeping fish. I almost feel like people have singled me out for every mistake I make. Every admin has made mistakes myself included, but I feel like people jump on me for every small mistake I make.

I can grasp what people are saying to me. Jeez. @tajhay said that I go around banning people and that is not the case. I only have troll accounts banned.

@CarpCharacin you have repeatedly asked for opinions on the success of your site and you as an admin and that is what you have got. Others aren't saying what they have said to be spiteful, it's their honest view of what they have seen of your site and your behaviour and actions as an administrator.

Sadly it does seem as though you can't take the responses that have been given, going by some of your posts in this thread and even your latest response. I know this sort of criticism hurts but if that's what others are seeing in you and your site, you are either going to have to accept the criticism gracefully and try to change things, or don't ask for the thoughts from other admins in the first place.

Regarding banning, I don't want to get into the details of what you have done. What I will say is that banning should be an absolute last resort, it's not a hammer that should be wielded lightly. On my site, I have never banned anyone. I have always dealt with matters through conversations in a pleasant way (and firm where needed). On a previous site I only ever used the ban feature a couple of times. Dealing with members on a site can be quite difficult at times (as I'm sure the XenForo staff will attest to with the members on here!) It would probably be helpful if you actually drew up a set of rules for your site - the standard terms and rules just don't cut it. XenForo has developed their own Terms and Rules https://xenforo.com/community/help/terms. I have my own in the About Us section of my site. Other sites have their own terms and rules. You should look at these and develop your own and post them on your site. They give clear guidelines to others on behaviour and actions that may be taken and, importantly, they are guidelines for you too to ensure that you don't overstep the mark as an admin!

So really it's up to you now.

 

[CarpCharacin]

The fact that you're not sure if your site will succeed or fail based on just 2 members is very telling. At this early stage in a forum success shouldn't be measured on a couple of members, it should be measured on you and the efforts you put into it. You are the owner (I don't think you have made this as a joint venture with others) and as such, it's all on you at this stage.

Those 2 members contributed a lot to the site. Angelphish helps with the site.

You didn't answer the question, you have only said what you have done since. The question was, why do you think those memb\ers left? Going by your answer, it's related to something you did. You must be honest and admit to the mistakes you make. Admins aren't gods, we are human beings and just as fallible as our members. We need to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. From other comments I have read, I'm not sure that you have.

Professor_fish left because I deleted a troll post that would have ruined a good thread and I have him a warning for it. I probably shouldn't have given him a warning. Ozzy left because I added a new moderator that accidentally deleted one of his posts in the staff section.

Sadly it does seem as though you can't take the responses that have been given, going by some of your posts in this thread and even your latest response. I know this sort of criticism hurts but if that's what others are seeing in you and your site, you are either going to have to accept the criticism gracefully and try to change things, or don't ask for the thoughts from other admins in the first place.

I am going to try to change things, but what some people have said is super upsetting.

Regarding banning, I don't want to get into the details of what you have done. What I will say is that banning should be an absolute last resort, it's not a hammer that should be wielded lightly.

I have only banned 2 members, both trolls.

 

[Martok]

Professor_fish left because I deleted a troll post that would have ruined a good thread and I have him a warning for it. I probably shouldn't have given him a warning.

No, you probably shouldn't have given a warning unless the post was very very bad or if the user was a repeat offender. If I have an issue with a post on my site that needs deleting (which is very rare), I remove it then PM the member who wrote it and explain why if I feel it's necessary to do so, or I put a reason for deleting in the alert they will get when it's removed. If this person has just flounced off for one deletion and a warning, then they don't sound very mature and therefore you don't need them. However, I can't attest to the truth of that because of what I have read from others about you, so it's just your word against theirs.

Ozzy left because I added a new moderator that accidentally deleted one of his posts in the staff section.

Why didn't you simply undelete the post then? If the answer is that you have given staff hard delete permissions, then you must immediately remove those permissions from everyone. Soft delete can be undone, hard delete cannot.

Anyway, see my other points in my posts such as the rules suggestion and start to take some positive action on your site.

 

[CarpCharacin]

No, you probably shouldn't have given a warning unless the post was very very bad or if the user was a repeat offender. If I have an issue with a post on my site that needs deleting (which is very rare), I remove it then PM the member who wrote it and explain why if I feel it's necessary to do so, or I put a reason for deleting in the alert they will get when it's removed. If this person has just flounced off for one deletion and a warning, then they don't sound very mature and therefore you don't need them.

It was a pretty bad post. The person who left is a professor and has 2 PhDs.

Why didn't you simply undelete the post then? If the answer is that you have given staff hard delete permissions, then you must immediately remove those permissions from everyone. Soft delete can be undone, hard delete cannot.

It was hard deleted, but I did remove those permissions from the moderator right after it happened.

 

[Gamorreaner]

I have a section for local fishkeeping discussion. You mean adding something like XenPorta 2 to UFK?

That's the general idea, though it does not have to be xenporta - xp might be more than your site needs -, but depends on your taste and ideas what else you could make out of it. Not sure if the AddOn titanfall uses is free or not, but if it`s free probably the better choice, atleast in my oppinion.


What people in the admin community think about you should not be of your concern and even if your first experiences with users on your site were bad, learn from it. You have basicly 0 users right now, so not a bad time to do mistakes and leave bad characteristics (e.g. "will my site fail?" posts, which I have to agree, are really annoying) behind.

What you should do is evaluate the feedback given to you, make a list what you want to try out, do it and if it fails either stop doing it or ask for further help to get it right, thats what this forum here is all about. The biggest challange your forum faces right now is an incentive for users to visit it/create content on it. As an admin you are not necessarily the creator of content, but atleast when creating a new forum you have to be the one who gets the engine started. Later on you can lay back in that regard and do things that make it easier for your users to create the content (e.g. checking out xf 2.0). Think of the above (portal) as kind of a blog. You write something once in a while and if it is interesting people start reading it and sign up to comment on it and if you already have them signed up they might check out some other topics or in the best case create some. That will take time and you will need patience, but it will pay off.

In regards to moderation forum rules: Keep the rules short and simple and moderate as little as possible. Think of a post as a picture you draw in school. Would you like it, if someone threw it in the dustbin or removed parts of it? Probably not. If it's insulting to others or has nothing to do with the topic, remove it, talk to the person in a friendly manner, explain your reasons and everything should be fine.

 

[tajhay]

@CarpCharacin I'll ask you a very simple question about your site. How many of your top posters(say top 5) are from Utah excluding you?

Still want to restrict your site to bring Utah based? The site name itself is very deterring to getting new members.

 

[Martok]

It was hard deleted, but I did remove those permissions from the moderator right after it happened.

Don't just remove the permission from 1 moderator, remove it from everyone, including yourself (to take away the temptation to use it). You really don't need hard delete at this stage. Soft delete is fine and it can always be undone.