Thread Challenge?

[RajahMD]

Hey guys!

There was discussion this weekend about starting a thread challenge similar to what Parenting did last month.

Here's the thread with what they did: www.goodbyecb.proboards.com/thread/82197/start-thread-challenge-1-11

In case you don't want to click, here's a summary.

"Since this is just for fun, I don't want to attach many rules. But here's some suggested parameters:
Posters opt-in. Participation is in no way required!
Intro threads don't count toward the challenge, but if you've never posted you can include intro information in your first post. Don't want the board cluttered with a million boring (no offense) intros
Standard threads, such as Randoms, UO, FFFC, and drinking threads also don't count


I am suggesting the below challenge commitment per membership level.
Noob: 2
Member: 3
Reg: 4
Bronze Reg: 5
Silver Reg: 6
Gold Reg: 7
Platinum Reg: 8"

I figured we could do something similar, but tweak it to fit our board.

So, what do y'all think?

[dashook]

Parenting's challenge actually started the week I had decided to finally muster the courage to intro over there. Needless to say, I did not intro.

I'm not against this idea but I do agree with ugaqueencity to stagger them somehow or stuff will get buried very quickly. Maybe we could tweak the number "requirements" downward a bit?

I also don't know if I personally will be able to keep up with all the posts. Obviously that's not a reason not to do the challenge; I'm just throwing in my two cents in case there are others like me (i.e., a pretty regular poster who will probably end up being fairly quiet during the month of the challenge due to sheer inability to keep up).

[Deleted]

Ok. So are you going to own this idea and see it through?
Like keep track of people's participation and post updates to keep people involved. Because if you are not going to be the backbone of this project there is no point in starting it.

What is the timeframe for this challenge? A week a month. Since this is a "slower" board" I would suggest capping the number of threads at 4 or 5.

I can tell you that I don't have the time or imagination to try and come up with 7 threads in a short time.

[kayladawn91]

I don't think I would honestly participate in this. I already have trouble coming up with thread ideas and do not want to feel like I have to come up with a thread just to meet a certain number. Some days I don't even have a chance to participate in a Randoms thread and doubt I will have time to read multiple threads a day. I think a lot of them will get buried too unless there's some structure to it. Just my two cents.

[RajahMD]

Maybe instead of doing total threads like Parenting did, we could do X number of threads a week for a few weeks. So like 1 thread per person who chooses to participate per week for however long we decide. I could make a Google spreadsheet to keep track of who wants to participate.

I left the OP pretty open ended because (1) I agree that Parenting's version was a little chaotic at first and (2) we don't have any many people as they do, so obviously we would structure it differently.

[JustJudy]

It's a very interesting idea if we can do it right. Not that I know what that would look like. I'm super helpful, as usual.

[nemomof2]

I would have to agree with PP. I would participate but might be intimidated by having to post or read so many in a day.

[Deleted]

What if you made it a competition instead of a challenge? Like, whomever can make the most/best threads throughout the month gets voted on and the winner gets a trophy for their siggy. Of course then someone would have to make an awesome trophy.

[penguin129]

Feb 2, 2016 0:32:14 GMT -5 @led said:

What if you made it a competition instead of a challenge? Like, whomever can make the most/best threads throughout the month gets voted on and the winner gets a trophy for their siggy. Of course then someone would have to make an awesome trophy.

I could possibly get behind this. I like the board the way it is to tell you the truth. But if we can come up with some quality threads and get a trophy or something that would be neat. You are going to have to have very clear rules though.

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2016 0:32:14 GMT -5 @led said:

What if you made it a competition instead of a challenge? Like, whomever can make the most/best threads throughout the month gets voted on and the winner gets a trophy for their siggy. Of course then someone would have to make an awesome trophy.

I already have a gold trophy.

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2016 0:52:06 GMT -5 penguin129 said:

Feb 2, 2016 0:32:14 GMT -5 @led said:

What if you made it a competition instead of a challenge? Like, whomever can make the most/best threads throughout the month gets voted on and the winner gets a trophy for their siggy. Of course then someone would have to make an awesome trophy.

I could possibly get behind this. I like the board the way it is to tell you the truth. But if we can come up with some quality threads and get a trophy or something that would be neat. You are going to have to have very clear rules though.

I'm no good with rules. Just general ideas. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to throw some out. 

[housecarder]

Late night lurker
One of my favorite threads on Parenting recently was the AMA RajahMD, did on autopsies. I'd love so AMAs about specific areas of expertise that GKU has. Jobs, hobbies, fandoms, etc.

[onesweetworld]

Feb 2, 2016 1:19:23 GMT -5 housecarder said:

Late night lurker
One of my favorite threads on Parenting recently was the AMA RajahMD, did on autopsies. I'd love so AMAs about specific areas of expertise that GKU has. Jobs, hobbies, fandoms, etc.

I really liked Sparkly's jewelry thread.

[requiressnacks]

I'm down. But my life is very boring so I will have no fun AMA knowledge to bestow. Unless it has to do with drinking heavily and being generally fabulous. ;-)

[housecarder]

Feb 2, 2016 6:44:50 GMT -5 pippacricket said:

Feb 2, 2016 1:19:23 GMT -5 housecarder said:

Late night lurker
One of my favorite threads on Parenting recently was the AMA RajahMD, did on autopsies. I'd love so AMAs about specific areas of expertise that GKU has. Jobs, hobbies, fandoms, etc.

Didn't we used to do AMAs on TTGP and when we first got here? People would get butt hurt when they didn't get as many questions as others. I think someone GBCTCF'd over it too if I'm not mistaken. Just something else to think about...

I think the problem with those is that they were very general AMAs. I didn't know enough about the posters to ask specific questions. And there are only some many times I can stay interested in hearing someone's favorite color and basic info like that. I thought Rajah and Sparkly's AMAs were interesting and generated a lot of questions because they were more specific in what they had to offer info about.

[ironbaby]

Nope. Even Parenting got sick of the challenge.

And all those threads don't necessarily encourage new people to post.

I like GKU. I'm not saying we couldn't use more posters, but a bunch of BS threads about recommend a (insert product here) and AW my dress aren't going to get me to post more.

[mill23]

What about instead of new threads, it can be posts in general challenge? Something like increase your status (e.g. noob to reg) or # of posts in month - that way you don't need a bunch of new random threads necessarily but it encourages people to post more than they would normally? % change of your post count?

[rablissful]

The only thing that will fix this board is new traffic. New traffic is only going to happen with more advertising and the full site being up. Challenges are not going to get lurkers to post nor are they going to make the board livelier.

Should people post new threads if they find something cool or have an interesting AMA? Definitely. Is a challenge going to get them to do that? Nope. It's going to force people to think of things instead of doing them on their own so we get a whole bunch of shitty threads or one sentence posts.

We legit have this conversation every couple months. Things pick up short term then die out again.

[penguin129]

On second thought... if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Things here go very smoothly and I think it is already a great place to hang out. If there are even more threads, like would come with a challenge, it might discourage new people from joining in because they may feel overwhelmed. I think we can just call/tag lurkers out in randoms and get new people that way.

[kleigh]

Feb 2, 2016 8:36:09 GMT -5 starbuck27 said:

Feb 2, 2016 8:27:25 GMT -5 danib said:

I think it's a good idea, but it doesn't have long term benefit. We might have a week of a million new threads, but then it just dies off and goes back to normal....

Could we do a recruitment challenge? I have no idea how it would work, or how you would track it considering most people want to keep their identities a secret, but something along those lines would have a longer term benefit in keeping the board active and interesting.

This would be best but there aren't a whole lot of people who would be comfortable recruiting people they know IRL to join GKU. Myself included.

So I'm not super smart, could I theoretically join another site and in my posts there mention TCF/GKU ? Thereby bringing people from those sites here? What don't I realize...

[pinkcat]

I sort of feel like we are overthinking this a little bit and it doesn't need to be that serious. It might work out, it might not, we might get some great threads out of it, we might get some slow threads that no one comments on. But it feels like it couldn't hurt to try this? It's not like it's a requirement or anyone has to start any threads, more just like "Hey, if you want to join this, you can try posting more threads and see if there is any interest."

I like the idea of whoever decides to be apart of this just trying to start one thread a week. I think that will help avoid the Parenting problem where there were an overabundance of threads all at once because people were trying to meet their goals quickly.

Or, I think if people just feel free to start there own threads more often, that would be great too. I can see how some people may not have time to keep up with the Randoms threads and on some days there are only randoms, WTO/TWW, and a check in. But there doesn't need to be a challenge or anything- just feel free to start more threads! Even if you're a newb and you're worried about it. We don't bite- we like new threads! But I think rablissful, is right, we have this conversation every few months and not much changes. I think the business of the board just ebbs and flows and that's ok.

[kleigh]

Feb 2, 2016 9:22:42 GMT -5 starbuck27 said:

Feb 2, 2016 9:15:50 GMT -5 kleigh said:

So I'm not super smart, could I theoretically join another site and in my posts there mention TCF/GKU ? Thereby bringing people from those sites here? What don't I realize...

Absolutely I think you could. But you'd probably get a quick ban hammer. Still...recruiting from other sites is certainly an option.

Do you know if they ban based on your email or username, or the actual IP address?
ETA: I can't be held responsible for any crazies that would come along with

[RajahMD]

Feb 2, 2016 9:39:24 GMT -5 kleigh said:

Feb 2, 2016 9:22:42 GMT -5 starbuck27 said:

Absolutely I think you could. But you'd probably get a quick ban hammer. Still...recruiting from other sites is certainly an option.

Do you know if they ban based on your email or username, or the actual IP address?
ETA: I can't be held responsible for any crazies that would come along with

Probably depends on the site. TB would definitely IP ban you because of our history with them. Baby Center and others might just ban the specific username, but may bring out the IP ban if they notice a pattern.

[PepperPottsJ]

Feb 2, 2016 1:00:28 GMT -5 @wallflwr926 said:

Feb 2, 2016 0:32:14 GMT -5 @led said:

What if you made it a competition instead of a challenge? Like, whomever can make the most/best threads throughout the month gets voted on and the winner gets a trophy for their siggy. Of course then someone would have to make an awesome trophy.

I already have a gold trophy.

Show off

[ceejay]

Feb 2, 2016 9:32:22 GMT -5 pinkcat said:

Or, I think if people just feel free to start there own threads more often, that would be great too. I can see how some people may not have time to keep up with the Randoms threads and on some days there are only randoms, WTO/TWW, and a check in. But there doesn't need to be a challenge or anything- just feel free to start more threads! Even if you're a newb and you're worried about it. We don't bite- we like new threads! 

THIS.

I worry that a "challenge" would lead to increased quantity but not necessarily quality, because people would feel obligated to post something to meet their quota.

I think in general, people here should feel free to make threads about interesting topics or things to discuss. I know that I used to do this more often, and I have been slacking lately. If you read an interesting article and think GKU would have some good thoughts and discussion, make a thread! Need recipe ideas or advice for a home project, make a thread! Find a good buzzfeed quiz that we would have fun taking, make a thread! (I remember ♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪ used to post a lot of buzzfeed quizzes back in the day...).  I think that is one big difference between Parenting and us (besides the # of posters)... even before the challenge started, there were always threads on a wide variety of topics. People didn't hesitate to make threads about any random thing. We can try to do more of that here without a formal "challenge."

Also, there used to be a lot more weekly/monthly threads that have died out. Weekly photo challenge, AMA's, Born to Run, Book Club, weekly TV show discussions, etc. Perhaps we could try to restart some of those?

[PirateCat]

Feb 2, 2016 10:43:30 GMT -5 ceejay said:

Feb 2, 2016 9:32:22 GMT -5 pinkcat said:

Or, I think if people just feel free to start there own threads more often, that would be great too. I can see how some people may not have time to keep up with the Randoms threads and on some days there are only randoms, WTO/TWW, and a check in. But there doesn't need to be a challenge or anything- just feel free to start more threads! Even if you're a newb and you're worried about it. We don't bite- we like new threads! 

THIS.

I worry that a "challenge" would lead to increased quantity but not necessarily quality, because people would feel obligated to post something to meet their quota.

I think in general, people here should feel free to make threads about interesting topics or things to discuss. I know that I used to do this more often, and I have been slacking lately. If you read an interesting article and think GKU would have some good thoughts and discussion, make a thread! Need recipe ideas or advice for a home project, make a thread! Find a good buzzfeed quiz that we would have fun taking, make a thread! (I remember ♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪ used to post a lot of buzzfeed quizzes back in the day...).  I think that is one big difference between Parenting and us (besides the # of posters)... even before the challenge started, there were always threads on a wide variety of topics. People didn't hesitate to make threads about any random thing. We can try to do more of that here without a formal "challenge."

Also, there used to be a lot more weekly/monthly threads that have died out. Weekly photo challenge, AMA's, Born to Run, Book Club, weekly TV show discussions, etc. Perhaps we could try to restart some of those?

I haven't been here that long but I think even what is apparently a much decreased number and variety of random threads and discussions is what sets this board apart from other TTC sites and what drew me here over other places. I really liked that you all seem to have gotten to know each other in a way that is not just limited to the TTC aspects of your lives. I think if there were a few more threads each day, however that is accomplished, it might encourage some of the lurkers to start participating, especially if a particular topic of a thread happens to strike their interest. 

[ceejay]

Feb 2, 2016 11:20:42 GMT -5 PirateCat said:

Feb 2, 2016 10:43:30 GMT -5 ceejay said:

*snip*

I haven't been here that long but I think even what is apparently a much decreased number and variety of random threads and discussions is what sets this board apart from other TTC sites and what drew me here over other places. I really liked that you all seem to have gotten to know each other in a way that is not just limited to the TTC aspects of your lives. I think if there were a few more threads each day, however that is accomplished, it might encourage some of the lurkers to start participating, especially if a particular topic of a thread happens to strike their interest. 

Yes. That is actually how I started participating (very occasionally) on Parenting. I would never jump into their randoms threads or FFFC or UO, but I participate in discussions on TV shows that I watch and occasionally other specific topics like tattoos or Harry Potter.  

It's much less intimidating to post in a thread about a topic you feel knowledgeable about and comfortable sharing your thoughts/expertise.

[kayladawn91]

Feb 2, 2016 8:01:24 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

Nope. Even Parenting got sick of the challenge.

And all those threads don't necessarily encourage new people to post.

I like GKU. I'm not saying we couldn't use more posters, but a bunch of BS threads about recommend a (insert product here) and AW my dress aren't going to get me to post more.

THIS.

Also, I do not and will not read a bunch of random posts that are posted just because someone wants to up their post/thread count. I don't see there being a point to this whole thing. I don't think it's going to get more people to post or increase traffic.

[kleigh]

To pinkcat and ceejay 's point, as a new person I've refrained from starting any new threads. I think at some point I picked that fear up from TB. Regardless I think welcoming others to start non-standard threads (not necessarily just check ins) is a good idea (of course I'm not talking about pee stick threads of ask google threads).

Tags

[ladytiffany24]

I'm neither for nor against this. First, I'm not sure I'd have enough time to devote to a certain # of threads, especially if it was during a specific time frame. Second, I also like things the way they are. I agree that more traffic would be nice and more threads might help that, but maybe we have some minds who could come up with some other ideas. I'm no good at this.