Heads up I guess...

[santa sangria]

The last month I’ve noticed what seems to be a lot more ref chat on Facebook. There are a couple of new groups with a lot of members and good chat.

It could just be cyclical but I think it might also be that the group features have matured and the hosts are being much more active in moderating post by post. The users also have a very broad geographical breadth.

I mention it now because I’m seeing the same phenomenon in a couple of other special interest areas. In those cases I reckon it’s more to do with really poor forum usability. That’s not the case here, the forum is very well looked after and great to use. I wonder if here it’s that it’s quiet because there are not sure many new users and/or broad enough geographical reach.

I don’t know if it’s an actual problem but I thought I’d flag it. I’d much rather give my reading/rambling time here rather than to F***book!

 

[Nij]

The last month I’ve noticed what seems to be a lot more ref chat on Facebook. There are a couple of new groups with a lot of members and good chat.

It could just be cyclical but I think it might also be that the group features have matured and the hosts are being much more active in moderating post by post. The users also have a very broad geographical breadth.

I mention it now because I’m seeing the same phenomenon in a couple of other special interest areas. In those cases I reckon it’s more to do with really poor forum usability. That’s not the case here, the forum is very well looked after and great to use. I wonder if here it’s that it’s quiet because there are not sure many new users and/or broad enough geographical reach.

I don’t know if it’s an actual problem but I thought I’d flag it. I’d much rather give my reading/rambling time here rather than to F***book!

When the majority of the discussion and conversation is centred around one country's football, it's definitely off-putting, or implied that other countries probably won't be taken as seriously or have specific expertise available.
The forum is also set up with a very specific labelling system that makes it nearly impossible for other countries to use a label of the right words, let alone to indicate the corresponding expertise. I could say I'm Level 1 qualified (in two separate categories) and show you the certificate, but that would make no sense to people who talk about starting at Level 7 and trying to skip to Level 5 (which is impossible for multiple reasons where I come from).
Maybe the forum needs to consider who its target audience is intended to be, versus who it actually is.

 

[santa sangria]

I think that's part of it. If you are not in the UK, then this forum is quite tricky to get into I think. Of course, that's OK if that's the idea.

Overall, I am conscious that if spend my time commenting on F***book then I am creating value for F***book, helping to increase their revenue, and profits, on which they pay b***** all tax. It's basically masochistic and cannibalistic. Whereas if I spend my time commenting here then hopefully I am contributing to some kind of cottage industry which is much better for the niche advertisers and passionate people who run the forum.

Problem is, for most people, convenience comes first, and without really good reason not to, it's too easy to use F***book now...