HAF's future

[Vocaloldfart]

Forums across the board are in decline. Membership is huge but active participation is down to single figures in all the forums I have been associated with.
I propose we actively ask current non participating members what they see as hindering participation.
In short we need a S.W.O.T analysis done to determine a way forward that will allow future growth.
I do not think we can solely blame social media,as the boffins (ARS Technia , google, Meta ) have noted that social media itself is slowing / loosing traffic.
We are on the cusp of a brave new world! 
We must decide what to keep of the old world and innovate for the new one.
Forums are not a societal folly, but a species necessity.

[Tank]

Go for it. What do you suggest?

[Vocaloldfart]

firstly investigating why members have gone cold. An emailed survey should do the trick
Then a Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threat analysis.
   

[billy rubin]

members always go cold. the key is to continuosly replace them.

i think different kinds of forums have specific life cycles, depending upon the subject matter.

some subjects have a large number of potential participants, others less so.

one thing that i have observed will increase forum participation is dedicated spamming by a few individuals, advertizing the forum to a larger group. that works pretty well.