Requesting Feedback On These Forums

mikel.withers wrote:
1. I propose that if you had a constant stream of incoming information, people would feel more at ease interacting with what goes on.

2. you have the CGC Network section, but it is rarely used. I'm calling out Strangers and Aliens and Theology Gaming in particular here... I know they put out podcasts that don't get mentioned. Are they part of the CGC? I think so, maybe reinvite them to participate more.

Regarding #1, do you mean people who just commit to posting regularly on the forums, or people who post actual articles here? If that latter, I'm wondering if these forumns are the best way to go. Should we consider moving the entire social side of Christian Geek Central over to Facebook?

Regarding #2, S&A and Theology Gaming are both mentioned on the SBU podcast each week, along with the other CGC Network members. But the network members don't use their forums here much and more than one of them already have social interaction platforms for their content elsewhere. I'm waiting to hear back from a podcast right now regarding an invite to the network, but pretty soon I plan to propose an alternative to the current forum situation to the other CGC Network members. If they are on board with it there will likely be some kind of change to that part of the forums in the coming weeks.

mikel.withers wrote:

And they mention they are a part of the CGC, but, as much as I love the guys, maybe they aren't upholding their responsibilities to the CGC fully. Then again, with the lack of traffic on here, maybe they just don't see a purpose in promoting/conversing here.

mikel.withers wrote:
Going back to a Facebook-centric model might make a big difference, as it makes things much simpler. Both of those podcasts have a presence on FB, and are active posting there, so linking up with a CGC FB group would be almost automatic.

Another issue we might have is the eclectic nature of those who do come around here. Like UKSteve says, he posts on DrWho, Red Dwarf, and ancient video games...none of which really interest me. I don't have anything to add to a conversation on those. However, I could "like" and share one of those posts that I think the wider set of my friends might enjoy if we were on a different setting.

You'll get more negative interactions as well, as we broaden the fishing net, but an active set of moderators could suppress a lot of that.

I guess what I am saying, in sum, is that FB would be a different "business model" but might be a better fit for your goals.

mikel.withers wrote:Francisco, if you look at the upper right of a post ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Here--------->
You'll see a "+" an "_" and a "-", those allow you to up or down vote a post.
Our forum culture uses them very sparingly, but they are there.

fxruizx wrote:My two cents:
For facilitating deeper discussion, I think the forum is very useful. But I think there would be a higher degree of interactivity on something like a Facebook group especially being able to like posts that you appreciate, but wouldn't otherwise comment on (if this is in fact a feature of the forums already, please tell me how to do this ).

Given my stream of consciousness above, I think condensing the boards down to those that foster the most discussion, would probably be good.

fxruizx wrote:
Also from a technical aspect, when I get email alerts that someone has commented on a thread, the email has a broken link in it i.e. forums.spiritblade.net/t...

Paeter wrote:Would that be weird or awkward to have two different community platforms (forums and facebook) to play to those different strengths? Or are we better off prioritizing one primary goal (either deeper discussion or higher degree of interactivity) and using just one platform while still doing the best we can to serve the secondary goal?

fxruizx wrote:
As to which one should be primary between forums and say a FB group - If I were trying to decide which to go with, I think I would try to give equal energy to both for a couple months, and which ever one seemed to be thriving more, make that the primary one. Maybe that is too simplistic, but its my opinion

Also, not really related to this part of the discussion, but I have notice that your forum Signature is still showing spiritblade.net, Paeter

Paeter wrote:Is there another media type you'd like to have more content and conversation about?

Paeter wrote:I think you can rest assured that these forums aren't going anywhere, even as we try to extend the community to Facebook/etc. Ideally, we can use FB to invite those who want to take conversations deeper/longer to come back here to the forums.

CreatorsPixels wrote:look at it.  
Anyway, good luck and i'm sure you will make the right decision no matter what!