I didn’t want to bump this thread up but as Head 1 has now replied I have decided to add my two penneth. Reading of this long post is optional
It never ceases to amaze me how members (of all types of forums) always seem to know better than the person in the hot seat and with zero knowledge and understanding of the topic.
People get very fixated about guests. Any forum which is partly or completely viewable to the public without needing to be logged in, will show a large number of guests viewing in the stats. This will always be greater than members logged in. The opposite will only apply if there is no access to non members.
As Head 1 says guests will be made up of a significant number of bots. Just type UKpunting and doc holliday into google to demonstrate this. Try it with your own username. Guests will also comprise existing members who are not logged in and of course inevitably what some love to call leeches. More importantly it contains potential future members. Forums of this nature without some public access will always die.
I/we don’t have access to all the forum stats. The owner and admin do.
However, I have had access to other full forum stats, including punting forums over the last two decades. Based on my experience of this and where membership was open to public without charge, around 70% of those who join never make a single post. Many don’t ever login again after applying to join.
Of the remainder perhaps another 10/15% may only ever post 20/30 posts. What is left accounts for the majority contribution to the forum and of those a very small percentage again reach hundreds/thousands of posts.
If, as has happened here, a charge is introduced it may pose a barrier for some and indeed crypto probably a further barrier, but it then means that those who do join and pay are vastly more likely to ultimately contribute. The 70% who historically joined and never posted becomes reduced. As I say I don’t have access to the UKP membership data but would be very surprised if that is not the case.
There is another very important factor to consider here and that is the history and evolution of any forum. We can see from the stats that UKP from its fledgling beginning in 2010 and despite opposition from other platforms, successfully gained traction and grew. It is now 15 years old and for a forum of that age to still be thriving (and it is) is remarkable. More so as it is on its third owner.
We can see this growth was small during the first two years but then rapidly increased during the next 3 to 5 years and peaked between 2015 to 2018.
2018/2019 showed the first signs of decline. By then the second owner had largely lost interest. Head1 took over in June 2019 and was faced with considerable challenges not least technical.
Then came Covid which had a huge impact generally and is reflected in the forum stats. A very low point for everyone. Recovery in 2021 included a bounce back effect reflected in the stats. As a result Head 1 strived to improve the technical aspect of UKP. This required money. Initially in 2021 voluntary contributions were sought in and given. This was enough to make an impact and turn the corner, but to further improve and in particular maintain, he introduced subscriptions for new members in March 2021.
So back to the data. The best monitor of ‘contribution’ is how many threads are started and posts made. This peaked around 2017/18. There is always a peak and then a decline. This is inevitable as many of those members who were originally part of the substantial growth and popularity just fade away and many have also been culled and do not appear in the current membership total.
In addition, the discussion topics raised have all been done before. How often now do we see people lately being told this has been ‘done to death’ etc. Consequently posts total declines. This seems currently settled at around 50% of the forum peak (2015 to 2018)
The exception to this are reviews. Unlike BB threads and ‘
dating an escort’ they are always currently highly relevant. They do not become stale and repetitive. The data for these shows a decline from the peak, but have still held up remarkably well and are only around 15-20% down on peak levels (although there is a very odd large peak in Summer of 2018 distorting the data?)
Reviews are of course the main purpose of the forum.
There is no evidence in the data that the current status of the forum is vastly affected by the introduction of forum fees. There are many other more relevant factors at play here.
Finally I thought that OSA compliance could well mean Head 1 pulled the plug in July, as many other forums have done. But he didn't and instead considerable thought, planning and execution has taken place. This will have involved a great deal of time and funding.
Yet some people continue to question his decision making?
