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I just can't bring myself to sympathize with the negative attitudes regarding the idea. I might add, that in some way, this thread has infused many of you with a sense of passion for not only the TFP, but for the debate of decent governing principles. You may not like the rouse, but the TFP is merely a rock, floating in a galaxy of planets and stars - it's good to see some life here after all.
Would you believe that back about 4+ years ago, the TFP was in the top 2000 websites on the internet, by traffic? Do you know where it is right now? 126,477. We're at one of the lowest points of traffic in our history. There are many reasons for this, and I'm going to explain why this thread HELPS.
The first reason is obvious: stagnation. As great as the community is, its going nowhere. We have a slow trickle of users coming in from random searches on Google. That's all.
Second: Isolation. We have no incoming traffic except for search engine traffic. They're not searching for an internet forum, they're searching for a specific subject, and when they find it, they move on. Nobody links us from their blog. Nobody talks about us on other forums.
Third: Bland content. Yes, the TFP community is great, polite, intelligent and clever. But we have little to show for it. This is where C:A starts to help. This thread alone appeals, but it's going to take more. I look at other, more successful websites and they have a few things going on that I notice we have none of. Their users are just as tight, just as open, just as passionate. But they also produce content instead of just talking about news articles. When you're browsing on one site, and find a link to a forum, what does that link contain?
1) An interesting or amusing incredible anecdote that illicits laughter or disbelief.
2) A story of customer service or legal injustice with full documentation.
3) A comprehensive walkthrough or explanation on a particular subject that people are interested in.
4) A humorous list or compilation.
5) Discussions on unique events with diverse and well-thought responses.
This is the stuff that is passed along between websites. These are the passages through which users flow into a community. We have none. We are not worthy of users to just link.
Fourth: Rigidity. We're fighting against the grain on this one. We might think that our rules are what makes the TFP a great framework for a community, but we're also limiting our potential userbase. This is something I'm not willing to give up, which is all the more reason to work on the other things.
And while C:A is an abomination of an idea and is causing toxic conversation to spill into the TFP, it is not siphoning members away. And while some of my stakeholders disagree with its very presence, I must state the fifth reason why we are suffering.
Five: No outbound traffic. This might sound preposterous, but it's not. The most popular sites on the internet are the ones that lead you to other sites. Become a source of interesting content, both in-house and externally, and people will frequent you. From there, they will build a relationship and participate.
As I said, the TFP is just a rock, floating in a vast universe, alongside much more vast and dense bodies. We need to change a little.
I hope you'll read this and see my point. I don't expect you to agree with the C:A forum as an entity, but I hope you'll understand that it doesn't hurt. Yes, your friends may be arguing, but none of this was originated with the forum. Its good to air out some things.
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