What is going on here?

I guess I'll share a little feedback if it's OK. I've been an admin on a variety of message boards since message boards were a new thing...and that's roughly when dinosaurs walked the earth. There's no escaping the reality that overall usage of traditional message boards like this one is declining; that's just a function of the fact that change is inevitable. But it's also not time to give up entirely on message boards - they can definitely remain active even through the onslaught of other social media options, and can continue to serve a valuable purpose.

But they have to be handled a bit differently than they were in the past. Just as an example here (and please don't take this as being negative; I love this site), if I were Empress of Everything (lol) I'd remove all guides that are more than just a few years old and threads that haven't been used for a couple of years, lock them, tuck them into a separate 'archive' section at the bottom of the home page, and post updated guides - EVEN IF the updated information is largely the same as in older guides. I'll be blunt - when I go to a reptile site, I typically won't bother to read guides or FAQs that were posted more than maybe three years ago. Even if basic parameters like humidity and temperature obviously haven't changed, if the main guide itself was posted in 2015, you're not going to get much interest. Why would I read/comment on a guide when the author hasn't bothered to update it or post additions or new comments in years? Users want to be sure that they are getting the most current information. And multiple guides/FAQs that were posted years ago give the whole site a dated vibe.

Some guides or FAQs are no longer as helpful as they could be, and that can be a turn-off. For example, a lot of new keepers start out with glass tanks. The 'How to set up a glass tank - with pictures!' guide looks really appealing. Until you click on it and see that the pictures are mostly gone now. Culling or updating guides like that would help a lot.

You have an entire section (BP.net's guide to ball python morphs) that hasn't had a new post since 2011. Once a user understands that the entire section is simply meant to illustrate morphs and explain basic genetics, then the 2011 post dates make sense. But to a new user, seeing a whole section that at first glance seems unused gives the whole site an out-of-date look. If there's a way to make it clear at first glance that you have a section dedicated to photographs and explanations of various morphs, that'd help. And I am most definitely not a BP person, so I'm not sure about this - but if there have been additional morphs developed since 2011, then the section needs to be updated.

So that's my main point - that doing whatever you can to promote the fact that this site represents the best and most current information will help. I hope you take this in the supportive spirit in which it's intended. I'm a relatively new user here but I recommend the site all the time and would like to continue my participation for a long time.

Very helpful & well-thought out post, Caitlin. :gj: Your experience is very relevant.

This is probably a good place if any to post this...

I cannot figure out how to get any kind of notification to threads that have new posts. I tried "subscribing" to the threads I post in or just want to follow, and with some digging found a section that is supposed to show those threads which have new posts, but they do not. "Subscribed Threads with New Posts: (0)" I know for a fact some of those I have not clicked on before checking that, and clicked the threads themselves and there is new replies. Is there something I am doing wrong maybe?

Not being able to stay engaged in conversations as easy certainly isn't helping people stay active imho. I have to just check the Home- Recent Threads, and even that appears to be a little iffy what shows as unread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

This is probably a good place if any to post this...

I cannot figure out how to get any kind of notification to threads that have new posts. I tried "subscribing" to the threads I post in or just want to follow, and with some digging found a section that is supposed to show those threads which have new posts, but they do not. "Subscribed Threads with New Posts: (0)" I know for a fact some of those I have not clicked on before checking that, and clicked the threads themselves and there is new replies. Is there something I am doing wrong maybe?

Not being able to stay engaged in conversations as easy certainly isn't helping people stay active imho. I have to just check the Home- Recent Threads, and even that appears to be a little iffy what shows as unread.

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Good point- I read this before & got side-tracked before I could respond, but since I don't know the answer, you didn't miss anything. ;) I've used other forums that notify me, but this one never has.

Probably should have posted here as well, but we got the subscription issue resolved in a PM:

Make sure you have selected the thread subscription method that you prefer in your User Control Panel: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/prof...do=editoptions

Scroll down to Messaging & Notifications. In the Default Thread Subscription Mode menu choose the option you want.

Your subscribed threads are here: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/subscription.php

With the email notification option, I will say that you get one notification when something new is posted to a thread you are subscribed to. You don't get a notification for each new post, only the first one. It's a limitation of the software unfortunately.

You will see all threads that you have posted to or started in your subscription list. Also any threads that you have chosen to subscribe to via the Thread Tools>Subscribe to this Thread option.

Aha.. Hi, of course I'm one of the new 'worried noobies' [to this forum at least] but I do have to say that I really hope this place survives. Even with some prior knowledge on snakes, this place has taught me more in almost a week than anything else in all the years I've lived. Thank you to everyone on here that makes that happen for us. As a worried noob, I really appreciate it, and I say thank you 😊 God bless you all 🙏

Well I’ve said this before ( more than once lol) ... but I frequent this quite a few forums and I use the free app called TapaTalk .


It’s a one stop place for all your favourite forums and also has a fabulous one click photo upload option .


Anyways you can see all your threads or all your posts for all your forums.

You can set it to notify you of any responses...




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