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Forum for Epiphytic Myrmecophytes

Members / Guests


Andreas Wistuba

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Dear users,

as you might have noted, I set parts of the forum only to be available to registered users.

This is a little "experiment" and can be reverted within 10 minutes, don't worry.

Over the last weeks I realized that our membership count is growing very very slowly while a steadily growing number of "guests" browses the forum almost constantly. In addition, most of the input here comes from very few members only.

I find this a bit frustrating - my hope was that interested persons commit to the forum at least by registering themselves and some also give back something to the community.

As you know, I paid for the first year to run this forum but after this first year we will be dependent on donations also from others to keep this place going.

Will guests who do not even commit themselves enough to register ever be willing to give back anything, either by sharing knowledge or by donating anything to keep this place going?

What would you do or wish me to do do in order to increase membership count?  

Are closed areas in the forum a tool to generate a higher membership count?

Please give me your feedback.

All the best

Andreas 

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That's a difficult question.

I think that a little part of the guess will become members.

I'm really in a few forum, but for each, I was a "guest" also at begining, because I consider that I have to see some post, the "level" of the discussion, the pertinence of the question and the accuracy of answer before I invest myself in it.

 

For example here: I've heared really quickly when the new forum was open, and I come straight away because the subject is really interesting for me, because this forum was really lacking before, and also because I have confidence in Andreas. And even here, I read the new topic every day or every two days, but I don't participate so much... sorry for it.

 

If tomorrow a new forum is open in any other subject that I'm interest in, I'll begining by judge it directly or indirectly, and may be create an account if I estimate it good...

 

I don't know if I'm clear?

 

But I understand also the viewpoint of Andreas. I don't have a magic wand!

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In the xerophytic plant community, the one in which I have been most involved for decades, there is very little knowledge about 'myrmecophytes' and as far as I am aware, we already have most everyone that is informed enough to contribute much to our learning curve.  Although having said that, there is at least one very ant-plant knowledgeable Singaporean that I would love to see participating.  Therefore, we will probably remain as a small core of educators with many learners. However, one hopes that among current beginners will be tomorrow's teachers but watching current trends on Facebook, it seems that these might be a very rare commodity.  Social media appears to be promoting, indeed training, a world of followers. 

  I wonder how many Facebook users realize that smart employers use Facebook to assess their employment prospects.  One can soon see if a person of interest is able to lead, be innovative,  will think (shown by quality of questions asked), will give something back to their chosen communities, be a team player or other issues pertinent to a vacant position. 

  After an unknown period of time one hopes that the subject of myrmecophytes will attain its own 'momentum' in the plant world and not need a large degree of promoting as it currently does.  Then would be the time to tighten controls.  The fact that search engines are frequently finding us is a very promising sign.

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A common problem with forums. I for one haven't been saying much as I'm just learning a bit about these plants but co-running 3 forums I can tell this is a common problem. You want to be very open to guests so people can find you and get interested, but you also want them to participate and at least take the step of becoming a member.

 

Based on my experience I would recommend that only the sections on Families and genera are visable to guests. That should be enough to draw people in. If someone wants to grow a plant, buy one or have it identified...well if people here will take the trouble to provide that information for free...than they bloody well can take the trouble to register for free.

 

and yes...I know the ICPS, Carnivora and Florida CP forum are not working that way...haven't won that debate.....yet!

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A common problem with forums. I for one haven't been saying much as I'm just learning a bit about these plants but co-running 3 forums I can tell this is a common problem. You want to be very open to guests so people can find you and get interested, but you also want them to participate and at least take the step of becoming a member.

 

Based on my experience I would recommend that only the sections on Families and genera are visable to guests. That should be enough to draw people in. If someone wants to grow a plant, buy one or have it identified...well if people here will take the trouble to provide that information for free...than they bloody well can take the trouble to register for free.

 

and yes...I know the ICPS, Carnivora and Florida CP forum are not working that way...haven't won that debate.....yet!

 

 

What a good lesson from experience!

Thank you Mister President.

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Hello,

 

I just joined and I joined because of a Carnivorous Plant forum (terraforums) that I am a member of.  I've seen various posts about ant plants in their "Miscellaneous Plants" section and I went looking for more information and found this forum. 

So to start, I would suggest posting in other forums to generate interest.  No adds need to be placed, but just starting a thread with pictures and some info would get people interested in checking out your website.  Carnivorous plant forums, orchid forums, poison frog forums, gecko forums, succulent/cacti forums and air plant/bromeliad forums would be good places to start and find people with similar interests.

 

Second, having care information about the commonly available species will help this hobby expand.  If you can get people growing ant plants, then you will have people wanting to talk about ant plants.

 

Third, I am always most active on forums that have a thriving classifieds (for sale/trade) section.  (I already made a post there to help get things moving).  But if you or people you know have plants for sale or trade, please suggest they post up!  Also, ask companies (like Black Jungle Terrarium Supply) to post up in your classifieds section.  The idea is to make plants available to your members.  You may want to have a seed give away or some sort of contest too, just to get things going.  Again, if people are keeping plants, than they will have something to post about.

 

Last of all, I would like to suggest moving the "Ant Plants - general information" section to the top of the "Epiphytic Ant Plant Families and Genera" area.  This just makes it easier for people to post a question that they may not know where to place it.  (I made the mistake of posting in the wrong area already, I just didn't look hard enough to find the "General ant plant info" section.

 

So those are just a few thoughts.  Take it or leave it.  :D

Thanks for making this forum!  I hope to get my first ant plant soon!

(actually, I discovered that I already have one, a Tillandsias, but I'm hoping to get something a bit more unique)

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  • 9 months later...

I am also concerned that my posts being wide open to search engines, thus to the public at large, may assist illegal collection of plants especially of Australian populations.  If images are restricted to this community one hopes we may encourage responsibility and easier access to commercial plants grown by licensed nurserymen as Australian law requires.  Especially so as wild collected plants are notoriously difficult to keep alive, usually suffering from tuber rot.  A problem possibly linked if only in part to the loss of resident ants and their anti-pathogenic secretions.

   I frequently see ratios as high as 15 visitors to only one member visiting here.

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I don't see that we keep poachers from getting data without screening members...and that is very difficult to do. I try to avoid giving exact locations on forums, if someone want them he can pm me. I don't think a picture would be a problem as long as we look that GPS data is deactivated.

I have no idea on how to prevent post showing in search engines...if you restrict search enigines you have more problems in getting found by new members but is that an issue if it is possible?

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  • 1 month later...

Although I cannot give exact figures, I note that a high number of persons who start this forum's registration process to become members do not complete the process.  What does this mean? Perhaps they do not like to add an email address, or do they find that currently, membership herein provides no benefit (at least for lurkers)?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_%28Internet_culture%29#Participation_inequality 

I now know that we are subject to a level of spam attacks that are proportionally much higher than actual membership applications.

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Do we know at what point the leave? Are we sure there is no technical problem?

 

I have found that many people won't bother with a forum if they have to register, but those who start usually don't abort once they are on the way..

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