The Forums: Purpose and Direction
Posted: 13 May 2016, 14:59
Recent events made me think long and hard about our forums. Firstly, purpose. I joined the forums back in 2005 and was amongst the initial group of forummers - many sadly long gone. Why did I join?
I had discovered a copy of The Island of Adventure in my mother-in-law's bookcase. Intrigued, I 'borrowed' it (I still have it!) and the spark it gave re-kindled my love of Enid's books - books that I had not given a second thought to for twenty years.
'Googling' for something on Enid, this Society came up. I was entranced. Here was a Society, complete with website and forums which, although a shadow of what they have become today, that seemed to consist of like-minded people chatting about all things Blyton, and a website that provide answers to most questions plus a wealth of fascinating information about Enid and her books. I felt as though I had come home!
I immediately knew I had to join the Society. Enid Blyton had been such a huge part of my childhood, I just had to belong to a Society dedicated to her. I had corresponded with her in my childhood, had belonged to The Famous Five Club, had been ridiculed for reading her books by some peers and teachers. Pain and joy together! Now I had found a (mainly) adult site that completely fulfilled my needs to compliment my love of her books.
Here we have a world-wide official Society - with it's operational hub in my own home town! I still remember the joy of driving to Milford Hill and ringing on our revered leader's doorbell. I had joined and was contributing to both the Society's coffers and the forums. I had found the purpose of the Society.
In the intervening decade many new friends were made. Many Journals read and digested. Many posts written and read. The forums have had their periods of turbulence - both from children (some of whom irritated us all!) and from provocative and argumentative posts. That's life, I suppose. In all, it has been a wonderful experience, being part of this Society.
I imagine one purpose of the forums and website is to promote the Society. To encourage visitors to sign up to the forums, and hopefully, if they are true fans, to subscribe to the Journal.
From being a mainly Blyton-devoted forum, the breadth has widened. This leads me on to the direction. Where should we go?
If one purpose is to 'advertise' the Society and encourage people to register, will certain topics put them off? We are a forum/website dedicated to Enid Blyton, yet we have a thread of 56 pages (and counting) dedicated to a television programme - Doctor Who. This, in spite of an excellent DW forum, Gallifrey Base which has over 214,000 threads and nearly 83,000 members. Would Gallifrey Base have a thread devoted to Enid Blyton?
We have another thread which could make the visitor think that Enid really was xenephobic and held racist views. Clearly a view we know isn't true.
I have just used these two examples to illustrate a point, and am showing no criticism to anyone who has contributed to these topics - especially as I probably have myself!
Maybe we should concentrate more on Enid and less on brands of tea - I am sure there are some tea forums out there! I'm not saying we shouldn't have off-topic threads - it is just that some forums devoted to a specific theme don't allow it. I post on the Camra forum, and if I started a thread on Doctor Who would soon be issued with a warning!
These are really just my thoughts that have been going over in my mind recently. As I said, I'm not being critical of the direction we are taking, neither am I criticising anyone in particular for posting off-topic comments - I do so myself!
However, numbers of new registrations are falling rapidly compared to previous years, and I was just trying to search for a reason for this. Maybe there isn't one. Forums are in decline generally, and this might be just us following the trend. I just hope that one of the reasons isn't the recent arguing and provocative posts might be contributing. I'm not saying it is, just wondering.
Enid's books are still selling in their millions across the world - albeit in some updated versions that purists might disagree with. But they are selling.
It would be a tragedy if the forums and Society were to be in a decline in spite of this.
Sorry for a long post, I hope I haven't spoken out of turn. But it is down to my love of the Society and my gratitude and admiration for all Tony has done and continues to do, and the hard work that Anita does (reading every post, for example!) and the way the forums are run and managed that I want it to prosper.
I had discovered a copy of The Island of Adventure in my mother-in-law's bookcase. Intrigued, I 'borrowed' it (I still have it!) and the spark it gave re-kindled my love of Enid's books - books that I had not given a second thought to for twenty years.
'Googling' for something on Enid, this Society came up. I was entranced. Here was a Society, complete with website and forums which, although a shadow of what they have become today, that seemed to consist of like-minded people chatting about all things Blyton, and a website that provide answers to most questions plus a wealth of fascinating information about Enid and her books. I felt as though I had come home!
I immediately knew I had to join the Society. Enid Blyton had been such a huge part of my childhood, I just had to belong to a Society dedicated to her. I had corresponded with her in my childhood, had belonged to The Famous Five Club, had been ridiculed for reading her books by some peers and teachers. Pain and joy together! Now I had found a (mainly) adult site that completely fulfilled my needs to compliment my love of her books.
Here we have a world-wide official Society - with it's operational hub in my own home town! I still remember the joy of driving to Milford Hill and ringing on our revered leader's doorbell. I had joined and was contributing to both the Society's coffers and the forums. I had found the purpose of the Society.
In the intervening decade many new friends were made. Many Journals read and digested. Many posts written and read. The forums have had their periods of turbulence - both from children (some of whom irritated us all!) and from provocative and argumentative posts. That's life, I suppose. In all, it has been a wonderful experience, being part of this Society.
I imagine one purpose of the forums and website is to promote the Society. To encourage visitors to sign up to the forums, and hopefully, if they are true fans, to subscribe to the Journal.
From being a mainly Blyton-devoted forum, the breadth has widened. This leads me on to the direction. Where should we go?
If one purpose is to 'advertise' the Society and encourage people to register, will certain topics put them off? We are a forum/website dedicated to Enid Blyton, yet we have a thread of 56 pages (and counting) dedicated to a television programme - Doctor Who. This, in spite of an excellent DW forum, Gallifrey Base which has over 214,000 threads and nearly 83,000 members. Would Gallifrey Base have a thread devoted to Enid Blyton?
We have another thread which could make the visitor think that Enid really was xenephobic and held racist views. Clearly a view we know isn't true.
I have just used these two examples to illustrate a point, and am showing no criticism to anyone who has contributed to these topics - especially as I probably have myself!
Maybe we should concentrate more on Enid and less on brands of tea - I am sure there are some tea forums out there! I'm not saying we shouldn't have off-topic threads - it is just that some forums devoted to a specific theme don't allow it. I post on the Camra forum, and if I started a thread on Doctor Who would soon be issued with a warning!
These are really just my thoughts that have been going over in my mind recently. As I said, I'm not being critical of the direction we are taking, neither am I criticising anyone in particular for posting off-topic comments - I do so myself!
However, numbers of new registrations are falling rapidly compared to previous years, and I was just trying to search for a reason for this. Maybe there isn't one. Forums are in decline generally, and this might be just us following the trend. I just hope that one of the reasons isn't the recent arguing and provocative posts might be contributing. I'm not saying it is, just wondering.
Enid's books are still selling in their millions across the world - albeit in some updated versions that purists might disagree with. But they are selling.
It would be a tragedy if the forums and Society were to be in a decline in spite of this.
Sorry for a long post, I hope I haven't spoken out of turn. But it is down to my love of the Society and my gratitude and admiration for all Tony has done and continues to do, and the hard work that Anita does (reading every post, for example!) and the way the forums are run and managed that I want it to prosper.