| Just Plain Chris | 03 Jun 2014 4:03 a.m. PST |
As if further evidence were required to support the argument that I really need to get a hobby, as apparently, I've got way too much time on my hands, I've been thinking about the severe lack of responses to otherwise excellent and or visually stunning reports posted to the period-specific forums here on TMP. I visited the Ancients, Renaissance, Napoleonics, and WW 2 Land Battle Report sites. Here's what I found: "Varras – Saviour of Rome" Topic 11 Posts 329 hits since 29 May 2014
©1994-2014 Bill Armintrout - a .03 percent rate of response (posts divided by hits) "German Peasant Wars" Topic 3 Posts 323 hits since 30 Apr 2014 - a .009 percent rate of response (posts divided by hits)
"FoG:N revisited" Topic
16 Posts 829 hits since 25 May 2014
©1994-2014 Bill Armintrout - a .019 percent rate of response (posts divided by hits)
"Chain of Command – An East Prussia Campaign" Topic
2 Posts 325 hits since 29 May 2014 - a .006 percent rate of response (posts divided by hits)
To what do we attribute disparity between number of hits/views and the number of responses? There seems to be some disconnect between the time it takes to look at a posted report and the time/effort it takes to type a brief comment.
Just wondering . . . Chris |
| jameshammyhamilton | 03 Jun 2014 4:23 a.m. PST |
I think you need to check your sums…. 11 responses from 329 hits is not 0.03%, it is 3% Still not massive but there are a lot of people who look but do not contribute or who feel that a simple "Wow, that looks cool" or some such nothing comment is a waste of electrons. |
| DS6151 | 03 Jun 2014 4:25 a.m. PST |
There isn't a need to comment, so we don't.
You can only have so many "Oh, pretty" comments. Posting just to add another doesn't really contribute. |
| Rudysnelson | 03 Jun 2014 4:49 a.m. PST |
DS6151 is right, I may read a topic but if I cannot add to it, then I seldom post.
Of course James is right too. One of the hardest things to do with the GED classes is to teach them where to put the decimal in a percentage. This should never be a problem for Americans since a percentage is the basis of the American dollar but it is. . |
| streetline | 03 Jun 2014 4:55 a.m. PST |
There is no good way of checking if someone has posted a response to your reponse on TMP 3. A lot of hits are people seeing if anything else got said. |
| nochules | 03 Jun 2014 5:04 a.m. PST |
Some of the hits are probably web crawlers too. They are unlikely to have anything interesting to say. |
 etotheipi  | 03 Jun 2014 5:07 a.m. PST |
Many of my comments on visually spectacular posts (when I make them, as above) are only 5% of a comment by your metric. If I think something is cool (visually or not), I will go back and look at it a couple of times, maybe for reference. And I will usually copy and forward the link to a few people I know who are not TMPers. And none of that accounts for 'bots or people with slow connections or random problems that force the occasional reload to see the thing once. Hits are not the same thing as "unique visits" (which are not really one thing, either). I had to explain how that worked to one of my bosses when I was hired as an assessments director. He didn't appreciate my unwillingness to provide overinflated numbers and call them something they were not until a competitor sniped him in a brief with, "Well, hits are meaningless. I can post a page on anything and get a million hits in a day." and he responded, "That is true. That's why we don't report hits. It's clearly explained in the white paper on our performance, but I'll let my Assessment Director explain." |
| Dynaman8789 | 03 Jun 2014 5:17 a.m. PST |
Perhaps there should be a "like" button the same as facebook? |
| Martin Rapier | 03 Jun 2014 5:22 a.m. PST |
Yes, if only we had a 'like' button. OTOH many times I can't even be bothered to press that. The vast majority of web content is looked at, not responded to, and even tinier proportion is actually initiated. Just imagine the traffic if everyone registered on TMP put a 'gee, nice' response on every post…. I don't understand why it is a surprise that people don't. It is just the same on blogs, zillions of hits, a few comments. |
| VonTed | 03 Jun 2014 5:25 a.m. PST |
Just a regular forum that showed new posts were available would be nice. A "go to" new post feature. |
| (Phil Dutre) | 03 Jun 2014 5:45 a.m. PST |
I only answer to a post when I feel I have something interesting to add, or an opinion to give. This is a wargames forum. If I want some mindless chatter (which I need now and then as well :-)), I go to the pub with my mates. |
| Pictors Studio | 03 Jun 2014 6:16 a.m. PST |
Probably, at least for a while, a lot of the people's fingers were tired from posting about Tango one way or the other. |
| OSchmidt | 03 Jun 2014 6:29 a.m. PST |
I'm on several boards on Yahoo, about a dozen. Most of them are in the 100 to 500 membership range. Almost invariably the posting gets down to a bare two dozen people who regularly post. The simple fact is that most people have nothing to say. |
| gweirda | 03 Jun 2014 6:40 a.m. PST |
A comment relative to the WW2 entry: The AAR was also posted/discussed on TFL's Yahoo Group as well as their forum, where, I presume, many of those interested made comments. Dunno if that's true of the other games as well, but if so you get the small number of people commenting diluted over two or three places, and…? |
| Jamesonsafari | 03 Jun 2014 6:50 a.m. PST |
If I come to a thread and there are already a dozen or so "Very nice" posts, then I won't add to it if that's all I have to say. |
| Rich Bliss | 03 Jun 2014 7:01 a.m. PST |
Most of my posts are asking a question or answering one. |
| Temporary like Achilles | 03 Jun 2014 9:07 a.m. PST |
There are different ways to show appreciation, especially for a topic that links to a post elsewhere. Someone might a) comment on the TMP thread b) comment on the blog c) follow the blog or d) link to the blog elsewhere. That said, I do take your point. The way I look at it you wargame for your own satisfaction. If other people enjoy it that's great, but if you let other people's reaction become your main focus then you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself :) |
| MajorB | 03 Jun 2014 10:18 a.m. PST |
Just a regular forum that showed new posts were available would be nice. A "go to" new post feature. The individual Message Boards already work like that. A thread moves to the top of the board when a new post is added to it. |
| legatushedlius | 03 Jun 2014 11:05 a.m. PST |
If people are just puffing their blogs, like the Roman one, then I am more likely to comment on the blog itself rather than the TMP thread.
"This is a wargames forum. If I want some mindless chatter (which I need now and then as well :-)), I go to the pub with my mates." Well said. Mr Dutre! Oh if only more people thought like this! |
| Brownbear | 03 Jun 2014 11:57 a.m. PST |
You defenitely have to much spare time |
| Fergal | 03 Jun 2014 12:25 p.m. PST |
The problem is that the board is too fragmented. I used to come here and always find cool things to look at and comment on. Now there are soooo many board that many of them seem dead, and I have to look at 10+ boards where I used to check 3. General Discussion used to be very interesting, then the fragmentation and now it's getting to be a pain. I'd love to be able to subscribe to boards. |
| Just Plain Chris | 04 Jun 2014 3:49 a.m. PST |
Gents, Thanks to all for taking the time to read and comment, though apparently, according to some, this thread might well qualify as mindless chatter . . . I could not help but chuckle a little as I noticed the number of hits (even if this number is reduced by 50% – got the figure right that time Jamesjammy [I regret the very early morning math error, tried to fit both decimal and percent into the same calculation – ooops] – it is still more hits than any other post and quite a few more comments as well. Seems that I'm not the only one with too much time . . . Thanks again for reading and responding/contributing to the "discussion." Chris |
