"The pulse of TMP?" Topic

Is the true way of checking the pulse of TMP to count the number of responders to each post?

I notice that very few posts get more than 10 replies and more than 20 is rare. It doesn't seem that long ago that some post replies could be counted in the dozens.

Are we mainly content?

Or have we lost regular posters?

A fair few people left. Some of the forums seem to be mainly populated by the same people, responding to the same topics.

Not everyone that pops in to look at a post will stop to comment on it. Check the "hits" counter, over there at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar. That will give you an idea of interested onlookers, at least.

Weasel might be on the right track.

It is also summer, always quieter at this time of year. However, I would broadly agree with Weasel, the general trend is down. Lots of other alternatives for people these days. A million markets of dozens rather than a dozen markets of millions and all that.

why did "a fair few" members leave

"The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been"

why did "a fair few" members leave

If we told you we'd have to kill you.

That's what happened to those that left too :-)

As well as the same people saying the same thing on the same topics, I think we have a lot of people who stop commenting when they would be saying the same thing they have said before to the same people.

F'r'ex, I post a lot of conversion topics, and they still get lots and lots of hits, but over time they have garnered fewer and fewer comments. I think people still have a (morbid?) curiosity to see what the maniac with the X-Acto knife did this week, but not a burning urge to say, yet again, that he is twisted beyond belief.

youre supposed to welcome a stranger

Responses depend on the question asked. Once answered, it's done. On the other hand, if it's an interesting question, you get more responses. This one will probably get more responses because it's an implied criticism which draws out the negative nabobs of pessimism.

Snarky humour does seem to generate more responses than writing about wargaming. Also, threads in TMP Talk seem to be longer than those in the wargame related boards. No serious research, though, just an impression.

Yes, Citizen.

I always laugh when the folks (the same gang, usually) claim, on non wargaming threads: "I came here to talk about wargaming and playing with toy soldiers"

LOL!

Go start some gaming threads and it'll solve everyone's problems :)

I've posted 3 or 4 today and yesterday. Your turn gentlemen.

I think one of the changing aspects as already said is that there is a growing source of material. Perhaps people are bombing around from post to post and even site to site and perhaps doing this more than once a day – a behaviour of just clicking in and out and moving on without commenting might be occurring

I run a blog which consumes a substantial amount of my time as each post is quite detailed and often several thousand words long. I post links in all the usual suspect places but get very few comments in return.

I am not looking to get stroked or have a pat on the back because I do it because I like it, but because maintaining that level of output is an effort, I find myself increasingly wondering whether is worthwhile because there is a genuine problem of not knowing whether the material is of enough interest to justify the loss of that time …. Instead of say gaming instead.

But I have a growing number of followers and my google stats for visitors looks quite healthy, so am I seeing people popping in, looking, not really interested and going or are people actually popping in and consuming, it is very difficult to tell – but I think the comments in my opening paragraph probably explain it and that the courtesy of comment is under time pressure to a habit of just hoovering up as much as possible in the hour or so that people divert to browsing. Who really knows?

P.s. By the way, I absolutely get that my blog posts may be too long for some consumers in this 'fast news' age or that even the content or style might not interest many, I am not particularly precious about this, my point is that it is unknown and that comment is a courtesy.

In some ways sites do not make commenting easy because you have to log in and when viewing multiple forums and blogs, that is not practical.

normsmith, what are you writing about in your blog? Link?

I do articles on both figure gaming on hexes within a small area, say typically a 3' x 2' pinboard, plus board games that I happen to be enjoying at the time.

Link link

Very nice work there

It is also summer, always quieter at this time of year. However, I would broadly agree with Weasel, the general trend is down. Lots of other alternatives for people these days. A million markets of dozens rather than a dozen markets of millions and all that.

Hell no it aint! Summer ends August 31st in Norway.

Is the true way of checking the pulse of TMP to count the number of responders to each post?

I guess that will be a true/false type poll?

What exactly is this frothing phenom I'm now seeing? Am I naively missing something? BTW. The thread with the "confessions" was interesting. I love red wine. Bourbon before and after a battle, and the painting fez was pure genius.

I stumbled across this topic that reached 196 posts before everybody got too tired to type anymore:
TMP link

- Ix

And that was only last month. Well maybe there is life left in the old hound after all.

To an extent it's random as well. Some forums (and topics) spawn a lot of discussion, some spawn very little.

To be fair sometimes when a question is asked one answer might be enough.

Ebbs & flows. Traffic doesn't mean much in the short term.