Discussion Forum (Archived)
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I don't like it. I've been to the Way With Words Facebook page, joined the group, and will keep checking it (for awhile), but I much prefer this forum format. My initial impressions of the Facebook group are that the discussions are more superficial than here. Maybe that's the younger demographic that Facebook attracts ... maybe I didn't dig deep enough. Further, although there is a search function, it's not as convenient compared to just scrolling down the list of discussion topics. You have to know what you're looking for. Third, I simply don't like Facebook. Tried it once, quit, then signed up a second time just to get access to linked content. But the targeted ads really annoy me.
So this forum's 3612 members just doesn't hold any water compared to the 6000+ Facebook members? I have to wonder how many forum members will "migrate" to the Facebook group. Like I said, I'll give it a try, but I don't like what I've seen so far.
Adios to the forum members with whom I've had some great discussions. You know who you are. You will be missed. -Heimhenge
"So this forum’s 3612 members just doesn’t hold any water compared to the 6000+ Facebook members?"
This forum doesn't have anywhere near that many members. Nearly all of those "members" are spam/splogger registrations on the WordPress side of this site, meaning that they were done by bots who then (constantly) try to post spam comments to the site. Total active members over the last month are probably fewer than 30. I realize that most of the Facebook group members don't post, either, but they are at least lurking and browsing, whereas that is not the case here.
We will continue to allow comments on episodes, segments, and blog posts.
EmmettEdd said: I don’t like it or most changes. I even considered deleting Grant’s announcement post. (He may take away my admin privileges for that.
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Now that would be funny ... revolt of the Admins.
I still haven't been able to post on the Facebook page. After 3 days my request to join is still pending. Still waiting to see what happens there. You'd think they'd be anxious to get the top poster from this forum actively involved.
Grant Barrett said: We will continue to allow comments on episodes, segments, and blog posts.
Now I have to wonder if that means HERE or on the new Facebook page? I doubt he changed his mind about archiving these forum threads just from my one comment.
So it sounds like the forum software is set to keep a record of all members ever, active or deleted as spammers in the (now) 3622 total? That's a curious way to set the preferences. And if there's no way to set that, then I'd have to agree with Grant that this forum software has some serious issues. I was misled to think I was part of a much larger community than it really is.
Grant Barrett said
I realize that most of the Facebook group members don't post, either, but they are at least lurking and browsing, whereas that is not the case here.
So the many non-post Facebookies are kind of same as the guests who browse here. For example the browsers volume is at 70 at this moment. That is worth something in terms of following, no? I don't suppose there is some metrics on the Facebook site that can be compared against that?
The browsing "guests" on this site are visitors from Google searches. According to Google Analytics, they don't stick around, they almost never come back, and they don't become members. They're one-off information seekers. Whereas on the Facebook group, most members went out of their way to sign up to see the content and the rest were invited by friends and then agreed to join. So the Facebook followers are a more engaged crowd than the "guests" on this forum.
Grant Barrett said
"Total active members over the last month are probably fewer than 30. I realize that most of the Facebook group members don't post, either, but they are at least lurking and browsing, whereas that is not the case here.
For what it's worth. I am a daily lurker and browser to this site. The discussion here is much better than the Facebook page.
Dick said: For what it’s worth. I am a daily lurker and browser to this site. The discussion here is much better than the Facebook page.
I totally agree the discussion is better here. Been lurking on the Facebook group, see that my membership has been approved (Thanks Grant!), but just haven't been inspired to respond to any of the threads. Too much of it is "Is it OK to say/write this?" or "Does anyone else use this idiom?" or "Where did this expression come from?" ... are the members unaware of the online resources available to answer their questions, or are they just looking for quick and easy solutions? I see that our old friend Tromboniator has migrated (and posted) to the Facebook group but I haven't seen any of the other forum regulars. From what I've read in this thread I suspect many of them are getting the same impressions I am.
I see that the forum is still getting new members, but not as much discussion since Grant made his announcement. I guess that's to be expected. No firm date was given for shutting this forum down, but it just seems (outside of this thread) kinda futile posting here anymore. I'll continue to browse the Facebook group for awhile, as well as the podcast discussion page. Hopefully the muse will strike at some point.
Since you put it that way, I guess I have, in a sense, migrated to the Facebook group, but I'm not really happy there. Not at all the same sense of being among friends, kindred spirits. Certainly not the same sense of underlying scholarship, nor even much incentive in that direction. Much repetition, much wrong information, too many not bothering to read earlier posts before posting the same wrong answers. There are some worthwhile discussions, and people who think and look stuff up, but it's Facebook. Just as with my own friends' posts, there's far more chaff than wheat, and it's far too easy to sink to that level. One draw it has is that it is, or seems to be, easier to read and post from my phone there than is this forum. But this is gobs more comfortable.
That rule appears to apply only for copyrighted images. If you shot it yourself it's cool. But it looks like it's OK to link to copyrighted images provided the URL takes you off-site to view them. It's just a bit more clumsy than what we could do here, where the image would be embedded in the post like this:
Heimhenge, if that's the legal requirement, it should be applicable everywhere, no? That means you cannot post copyright images here that can be viewed without clicking to go off.
But as I read Grant, he has a vision of usage that concerns a little more than just complying with the law.
The no-reposting-of-images rule for the Facebook group never *had* to apply here because we don't have enough people for it to become a problem. Before we put the rule in place on the Facebook group, it looked like so many other language-related Facebook groups: mindless, endless repostings of not-very-funny memes/image macros/grandparent forwards. It's better now.
To reply to some of the comments up-thread: I get that the Facebook group is different. It is. But it's also a more thorough cross-section of the show's listeners. If the folks who prefer this discussion forum were all (or mostly) able to go over to the Facebook group en masse, and start threads regularly, I think you may find that you could together have a great impact. You could make that forum more like this one. Perhaps you could commit to posting your usual thoughtful stuff. Even better, commit to bringing in outside links and references, which would go a long way to helping to solve one of my own longstanding dislikes of Facebook groups: people seem to act like the rest of the Internet isn't there. So they post a lot of personal opinions and anecdotes, but they don't search the radio show website, don't search the dictionaries, don't link to outside authorities, don't back up their thoughts, etc. Consider it, would you? Thanks.
Yeah, saw you over there Robert. I've been lurking since the closure of this forum was announced. Still haven't felt compelled to post anything. The discussion on the FB group is just ... different I guess ... not as inviting ... not as thought provoking. But Grant claims it represents a more-realistic cross-section of their fans, so I guess I'm an outlier in that regard. 🙂
So when will this forum actually close? End of the year?
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