Trimming members.

[Bobitis]

Do you mods ever do that?

Seems ther're a LOT of folks that come here for a specific reason, and then they're gone (not that that's a bad thing). But do ya ever thin the heard?

Just curious.

[SouthernMoss]

We don't normally "thin the herd." I've seen members come back years later and log back in.

[ampaterry]

I had the largest Creation/Evolution discussion group in MSN Groups several years ago, and decided the membership was artificially inflated by lots of people who had not posted in years, so started trimming it back to only active members. I discovered that people LOOKING for a discussion group tend to gravitate towards the largest groups, and the fewer people that were listed as members, the fewer new members joined the group!

Sure, there ARE some folks who are listed as members who will never post again for one reason or another, but trimming the list serves absolutely no good purpose, and can be very harmful to the future growth and even stability of the group.

[jack404]

i check out new members sussing out spammers and such, the amount of folks with 0 posts maybe 1 that i end up looking at and when they joined .. its amazing

you'd have to suss out each and every single account to get it right and i guarentee you there'll be a few complaints when folks come back when they want help with their rifle or pistol again

theres a lot of aussies who lurk here they wont post as they fear the cops and govt , but i see em every few days ...

too many folks just dropping by maybe a few years between ..

[Oneida Steve]

Hey Jack, if you are going to use words like "suss", please post a link to an Australian-American dictionary.

suss ?

[Old Grump]

Originally Posted by Oneida Steve

Hey Jack, if you are going to use words like "suss", please post a link to an Australian-American dictionary.

suss ?

Short for suspicious, you need to get on a few Aussie and Brit boards, your vocabulary will grow by leaps and bounds. I crack them up because I'm always asking a poster to put what they just said into English.

[H-D]

I am a member of at least 5 boards where I have fewer than 10 posts because to look at pictures you have to be a member and a how to thread is useless without pictures .. and I love pictures of guns

[BETH]

i was just going to ask about suss also, and u guys better not trimm me because i will haunt u for sure

[jack404]

hmmm this is a small list to help translate ..

http://www.aussieslang.org/

[raven818]

I've had two long term forums, lots of members. Historically, about 10% will be active. I would imagine that would be average, for most. Personally, I like to lurk a couple days before getting involved.

[BETH]

i think there are a lot of people that just like to read and if they keep reading they get their answer without asking a question

[wsas7816]

I use "suss" to mean figure out ... especially a problem .... goes right along with open the bonnet, break out the Whitworth and end this "failure to proceed". I don't know that I would notice that my Aussie relatives use this so much as the British ones.

[jack404]

here it means a but more , look into thoughly is one that you dont trut the info and will look yourself is the other main one ..

i'm suss on the governments agenda .. real common use ...

and yes my slang is a tad dated for many aussies of the TV generation ,

i got told i had to drop my accent and become better edicated at the occupy protest , by someone who failed their arts degree, they called me all sorts of liar when i explain i have a few degree's all completed and paid for ..

i'll stick to the way i be , may not be real flash , but its honest and it works and thats way in front of these wanna be ideals i see they want us all to become ..

[Old Grump]

Originally Posted by jack404

and yes my slang is a tad dated for many aussies of the TV generation ,

I think it is a long in the tooth thing some of us get. We revert back to our upbringing which in my case is backwoods north Wisconsin. They drug me out of the country and made an electronics engineer outta me but they never drug the country outta me.

I have a game I like to play on Gunsnet I call sesquipedalia loquaciousness and it drives most of my gun shooting comrades right up the wall as they try to decipher English words they aren't used to seeing or hearing. English is fun when you play around with it.

When it gets frustrating is when supposedly normal people with average or better intellects cannot understand simple basic English like the phrase 'shall not be infringed' in the second amendment.

Just for fun parse this one out, it is an easy one:

A lithoid form, whose onward course
Is shaped by gravitational force,
Can scarce enjoy the consolation
Of bryophytic aggregation.

[jack404]

i'm banned from gunsnet ,

but i got your poem

[devildogandboy]

hello, i am definitely a new guy here. i retired june 2010 and spend a lot of time going between approximately 8 different forums for different reasons since my interests vary. i have tried to reply to an ad in the classifieds where socal is looking for some reloading equipment and i have an set of rcbs dies he is welcome to if he wants them absolutely free! i'll even pay the shipping for this but am not able to reply to his ad.
do i need to have a certain amount of posts before i am able to get the capability to reply to ads? i can't figure it out, so any help would be appreciated. thank you.
Bruce aka(devildogandboy)

also, not sure if i should have posted this here. Sorry.

[woolleyworm]

Originally Posted by devildogandboy

hello, i am definitely a new guy here. i retired june 2010 and spend a lot of time going between approximately 8 different forums for different reasons since my interests vary. i have tried to reply to an ad in the classifieds where socal is looking for some reloading equipment and i have an set of rcbs dies he is welcome to if he wants them absolutely free! i'll even pay the shipping for this but am not able to reply to his ad.
do i need to have a certain amount of posts before i am able to get the capability to reply to ads? i can't figure it out, so any help would be appreciated. thank you.
Bruce aka(devildogandboy)

also, not sure if i should have posted this here. Sorry.

Semper Fi and welcome to TFF ! You'll have to send him a PM, there are no replies of any kind by any member in the WTT/WTB section; it's much cleaner and keeps down on posts if it's just PM's.

[jack404]

devildogandboy, Welcome and woolley is spot on , send a PM directly to the poster of the ad,

[H-D]

A lithoid form, whose onward course
Is shaped by gravitational force,
Can scarce enjoy the consolation
Of bryophytic aggregation.

and rollin' stones don't grow moss

[Bobitis]

With all due respect to the mods here. I'm just curious.

I read the birthday announcements every day. If ther's 1 in 5 that has recurring posts, I'm amazed.

I understand the concept of many members, but many that don't come back seems a waste of space. Ya don't have to be a member after all. Anyone can come and read.

Sorry if I don't get the gist of it all.

I was thinking more on the lines of being a member vs coming here to sell yer stuff or ask what it's worth and go away.

[SouthernMoss]

The space taken up by the basic user info is minimal, so saving space is not an issue. And just because a member doesn't have posts doesn't mean they aren't coming back and reading.

Even if some only comes in to ask a "what's it worth" question and never return, their post (and hopefully some good, useful answers) will remain to help the next person who searches with a similar question. We would never dream of trimming away all those informative posts just because the member moved on after getting answers.

We also like to look at the number of members as an indicator of how many folks our site has "reached out and touched" over the years, even if in some cases it was only for a day.