Quote:
Serra
Hello Charles,
Originally I had thought to send you a PM, but I think that an open letter might help to not just answer my questions, but those of some others as well.
I have been away from XtremeSystems for a couple of years now and I must admit that I have missed the community. I was not gone because of spats with any members or anything like that, it was simply a confluence of events. More specifically, I had a kid (followed immediately by another), my job got busier and XS's population had been starting its noticable decline so I was simply not needed as much. After I was gone for a few days I checked in but saw no PM's or posts for me, and I did the same a week later, etc. Fast forward about 2 years and here we are today, with me finally seeing a bit of space in my calendar but wondering - should I come back to XtremeSystems?
At the root of my question is a curiosity for the ultimate direction for the site. When I left two years ago the decline had already been noticable, and based on recent activity I am not sure that a person could fairly claim that there are more than 10 or 20 truly active posters anymore. Is that a lull that you want to bounce back from, or has XtremeSystems accepted a fate as a relic forum for private use by a few good friends? If it is the latter I can accept that explicitly, though I would probably stop checking in as my experience over the last few years of monitoring the forums suggests that my level of knowledge in my areas of expertise won't be needed anymore. However, if it is your expectation that XtremeSystems can or will bounce back I am happy to return - but I need you to instill some confidence in me that there is a plan for direction and improvement as the current methodology is clearly not geared for that purpose.
If you do want to see a bounce-back, I might humbly make the following recommendations (for starters):
1. Stop believing the rhetoric that XS is fated to obscurity because of a shrinking enthusiast market.
There is some truth to the idea that hardware overclocking is becoming less common, but at the same time there are still new technology areas coming out that fit in extremely well with the XS ideology. For example, 3D printing, smart sensors, automation, and most anything that is made with an Arduino. XtremeSystems is about getting the most out of what is available, and all of those markets need enthusiastic communities to help them do just that.
And, of course, there is still room to continue searching for overclocking excellence - and a broader market appeal will help with that.
2. Open registration for the site and make it free.
This one is non-negotiable; if you want XS to bounce back, registration must be open and free. I understand that there is some hassle with this, but none of the challenges are insurmountable - countless other forums have dealt with them for years. If people cannot post they cannot contribute or have their questions answered, and without new blood this community cannot continue.
Registration must also be free because, frankly, at this point I have no idea why a person would pay as much as $1 for the right to post on a forum that only sees ~20 new posts a day.
3. Get the community more involved
I think this is one I used to harp on when I was a mod, and I stick by it. The community is not just a set of people who read and post, it is a collection of active individuals who spent dozens of hours every week doing their own computer-releated activities and who may check for new posts as often as once an hour. They are already enthusiastic about the forum and its direction - why not involve them more? This will involve the loss of some control which has typically been closely guarded, but I don't think that guarding has really ever been intentional.
Here are some basic ways the community could be incorporated more:
Give members with a certain post count or length of stay the ability to ban members with a small number of posts and/or who have only been active for a short while.
This is a response to the issue of open and free registration. Open it up and let the community be more active with policing. If people are banned early on inappropriately, the banners can always have their capability revoked and the person who was banned can sign up again (or have their old account un-banned). In the message sent to people who are banned, perhaps have it include an e-mail address which people can contact if they feel they have been banned inappropriately.
This might require some additional expertise with the board software, but if you really look around I'm sure you can find some members with a programming background who can help.
Decide on (and stick to) how this forum will be positioned
XtremeSystems has always said that it is an "expert-level" forum. However, beyond saying that, what has XS really done to promote that idea? Sure, we started with some knowledgable folks and more came over as a result, but the trend has never been specifically encouraged in meaningful ways. If traffic begins to pick up and membership opens, a lot of new blood will come in, and unless something is done to encourage more "in-depth" discussion and a greater skew towards expertise, the forums will water down quickly.
There are a few ways this could be encouraged, if XS wants to remain an "expert" forum. Some examples could be creating a knowledge-based ranking system (similar to "thumbs-up" seen on other forums), or awarding the right to use certain icons in a signature/picture, or certain titles. Perhaps once a person is recognized as an expert in a particular area they could get a new name color and the ability to be full mods within the forums which serve their subject matter area. Maybe even create an "experts-only" area that only the experts have access to.
Encourage the community to provide direction
Member input was traditionally read and sometimes discussed behind closed doors, but quite often it was just dismissed. Worse, that feedback was only rarely acknowledged by people who have the ability to modify the servers to fulfill the user requests, so the community members who wanted to help and change things were left with no greater understanding as to why their suggestion was not taken or, if it was, what kind of timeframe the implementation might be on. The real knife-twist however was that feedback was rarely actively sought. This forum does, of course, exist so that people can provide feedback, but it's a passive mechanism.
Long/short of this suggestion - create a committee that actively solicits and publicly considers the merits of each request with a view of the consequences. Those committees could then make regular recommendations for what does and does not pass their first-line test to yourself and any other admins for changes.
Ask for volunteers - Lots and Lots of volunteers
Very much to your credit, the staff at XS is not a club reserved only for friends and croneys. Proof of that is the fact that as some of the old guard started leaving a number of people (including myself) who were not particular "chums" of any of the top brass were invited to be moderators. However, the scale of the number of "help" was always rather limited, and this is one area that I think ought to be addressed.
Here are some quick examples of areas that a number of slots should be available in:
- Social media communications (tweeting big news and leveraging facebook for the same can drive a lot of traffic)
- Back-end coding (no offense Charles, but you aren't a coder and the Admin team has never been strong in this area)
- Community Engagement/Feedback (ideas for how to improve the site)
- Front-Page News (IMO this effort should have been ramped up, not let fall of the map)
- Subject Matter Expert Writers - Eg. my "RAID and You" guide. SME's who select (or are given) a topic and who are asked to write high-quality/definitive sticky's for them.
- Official Reviewers
Review and Re-Order the Forums
The order of the forums needs to be looked at and some of them need to be culled. A lot of work should probably be done now if a re-birth is desired, because the current layout and function is not very "user-focused".
The goal in moving forums should be to ensure that the forms that most of the demographic we want to have are in the most convenient spots, ideally close to the top. A few specific recommendations:
- Review the "Xtreme" section. Probably the most popular section we have is Xtreme News, yet that is the 8th forum under the Forum Rules area. Below areas like "Xtreme Augmented Reality" and "Xtreme Mobile" - sections which have never taken off.
- Move the Xtreme Teams forum area down a number of slots. Members of those teams are probably a large percentage of the remaining population, but they are not what draws people to the site. In fact, people who are drawn to this site won't really even care about that subarea until they have been here for awhile.
- Remove the term "Xtreme" off the following forums and re-file them appropriately:
- Virtual and Augmentred Reality
- Server
- Storage
- Mobile
"Xtreme" is not a title XS should take lightly. These are areas where we should talk about bold modifications which require a substantial amount of skill and expertise, with some exceptions for "news" and "reviews" where the "Xtreme" view is promoted. This title should never be applied to consumer systems which even we do not take to the "next level" in a DIY fashion.
As for culling, I think the attitude to take would be to ask "What do we need to have now to help us be successful in the ramp up?". The crux of that question is understanding that some forums that exist right now probably just make the board harder to navigate at the moment, but could potentially come back once the ramp-up hits a certain level of population.
- Remove the Xtreme D20L team forum. Last post was in 2010!
- Remove the Xtreme Dimes team team. Last post was in 2011!
- Remove the OCZ support forum. That company doesn't exist anymore.
- The Car and Truck forum hasn't had traffic since 2013. Do we need it or is it taking up space? Realistically, this discussion could take place in Wamps.
- Do we need separate PhotoCHOP and Photography forums? I would create a new, single forum that consolidates both.
- Consolidate the Console and PC Gaming Forums, and put them in Off Topic
- Console gaming hasn't seen action since early in December 2013
- PC Gaming, as far as XS is concerned, is more about GPU's/drivers. Always has been. Putting it in its own major section just takes up more real estate. Put in as a subsection to Off Topic feels more natural and puts what is probably the correct amount of emphasis on it.
- I have never understood why Security & Networking is one forum. The two are distinct disciplines. Further, Networking is not really a "software" realm.
- Remove Xtreme Storage. Storage is hard drives and flash drives; we never mod these things, we just spend more money on them. that's not Xtreme, and is trivially covered in the existing Storage section. (and that's coming from a guy big on storage)
- Fold Xtreme Overclocking and Xtreme Bandwidth into one section. Frankly there is less of each activity going on these days, and one "Xtreme Overclocking" section that covers CPU's and Memory is going to fill the demand just fine.
Awaiting your response,
Serra
Thanks Serra,
