TIME FOR A BIT OF PRUNING

[TC]

At the time of typing this, we currently have 803 registered members of the site. However, that figure is a little inflated as there are quite a few who register, then never make any contribution to the forums by way of posting.
Come the end of this month, I will be pruning the membership figure by removing some of those nil posters.

New members need not be too concerned about this as I will be starting from the earliest nil poster and working my way up to and including the end of May this year. That means that if you have joined the site since June of this year and have not yet posted, you will still retain member status.

Any nil posters who registered prior to the beginning of June this year, will be deleted from the membership.

This is the 1st time I\'ve needed to do a pruning excersise on the Board and I think it may well be worthwhile repeating it on a six monthly basis.


[Edited on 17/11/2005 by TC]

[Edited on 17/11/2005 by TC]

[mark]

why bother?? seems a lot of work that won\'t actually make anything run better.

from a potential newcomer point of view, finding somewhere with a \'big\' memberships might look a lot more attractive

[Charlton]

TC can you tell if these nil posters still visit the site. Could understand deleting them if they never visited but you can tell by who posts that only a small percentage do. We could end up with only a small membership.

[TC]

Mark/Alan
What you both say is true.
However, it does give a rather distorted view of the number of members. Removing long term nil-posters won\'t have THAT dramatic effect on the overall membership figures. As I\'ve said on a couple of ocassions, the figure I judge the health of the site on is the %age of members who\'ve posted. It used to be up around 70 to 71% - it\'s now just over 60%. What\'s the point in retaining somebody on the membership list who registered in 2003 and has never made a contribution to the site by way of a post......other than to keep the membership figure artificially high?
I\'d rather have a smaller membership which reflected a more honest view of the actual membership figure.

[Edited on 17/11/2005 by TC]

[willywetegg]

I agree with that Tony. Too many people have become members and never even looked at the site again never mind posted.
I would bet of the one\'s you delete the first time you won\'t hear from more than two asking why lol.

Jim.

[John]

Just the ticket Tony sack them mate LOL...no posts.... no membership. So for the Lurkers out there get active or its good bye from him
But I think most of them are folk who have joined just to see what the site was all about and never came back.



[Edited on 18/11/2005 by John]

[orinoco]

Could you send an email to those who have not posted saying that their account will be deleted dut to not being used, if they want to keep their account they need to visit this site. If they dont want to keep their account then they need to do nothing.
I know that this would be a pain but i know of other forums that do this.

[Charlton]

TC would agree with deleting those who dont post and no longer visit, but those that still visit and dont post i would still keep, after all we are supplying a service, whether they acknowledge it or not. If the lurkers where deleted they might just rejoin for a look around.

[John]

Suppose its the fairest way to give them the opportunity to remain members

[pottsy]

Hi there. I am one of the \"lurkers\"! There are lots of reasons why people dont post on the forum and I am sure lack of confidence is a big one. I am a mum who has taken up angling because my sons wanted to give it a try. My husband wasnt interested and I thought right I will give it a go as it would get the kids away from their playstations and hopefully give them a hobby that they could enjoy for the rest of their lives. Nobody was more surprised than me that I would get \"hooked\". I have learned loads by reading the forum threads and guess what......now that I have mastered the knots and making rigs and have started catching fish husband has started taking an interest lol It has been a bit like learning to drive from a book though and there is things that I am struggling with......gemini disgorgers being one - there is a codling swimming about in the Tyne with belly ache at the minute as I had to give up and cut the line!

It would be a shame to delete members just because they dont feel confident enough to contribute.......yet! I will get there eventually

[alan]

Hi welcome to NESA,nice post to get you started,you may as well carry on now
Alan Charlton......just click on there name in Members List and it tells you when they were last active

[Charlton]

welcome aboard pottsy, you have made some very good points that we should take on board. Hope your first post is not your last, do not be afraid to ask any Q\'s. I am sure somebody will be able to answer them.
TC we do supply a good service to others, and as pottsy says, they might just be they dont have the confidence to post, would be sad to loose good members like these who use our service. As i have already said i agree with deleting those that do not visit or post anymore, but those who visit and for some reason do not post i would not delete.

[Edited on 18/11/2005 by Charlton]

[LING_BASHER]

Hi pottsy and welocme. My mam started taken me when i was four and 20 years on she still joins me on areas she can get to, got arthritis (spelling ?) and cant walk far but she still likes her fishing.
Hope you get well hooked on it and good luck

[pottsy]

Thanks for the welcome guys! To be honest asking the questions can be the hard bit....there is a whole new language to learn lol! Only today in the tackle shop I was asked what I was looking for and had to mutter \" its ok I will recognise them when i see them its those little clippy things that I use at the top of the rig\" lol!

As one of very few women out there ( I havent seen any myself but I do know there are a few) I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb and when you are just learning you dont always know the questions to ask which is where forums like this come to the fore. I have been able to find out information without showing how little I know lol! I am catching fish now though so the advice I am picking up must be helping!

The main thing is I am enjoying it and so are the kids

[LING_BASHER]

You will be suprised, there are alot of female anglers out there, just not as many in the winter months. Am sure when your kids are older they will look back and really thank you for getting them started...yer in the real world lol. Have fun anyway.