Respect to y'all committed moderators and regular posters. I admire your energy and contributions to this site but as a new subscriber I get the impression you are struggling to keep this forum alive ! I check in a couple of times each day and find there is very little traffic and communication happening compared to other much more popular and active boards. Unfortunately as a new member I dont have much experience or knowledge to impart otherwise I would be more energetic in my contributions. I do enjoy what I do read and discussions I can participate in. How can this Forum go forward and attract/expand membership ?
I have never gone more than a few hours without my questions being answered here. Though it's not as big of a city as some of the other boards there is a bit of a small town feel here that makes it the board I prefer. It seems easier to get to know folk here. This creates commrodity that keeps me, and many others, coming back. I've been here for a bit more than a year and there seems to be a steady stream of new members.
In the short time I have been here I have noticed periods of slowness, but that doesnt bother me as I am from a small town and this place has the same feel just as the above poster stated. It also seems that we ad several members weekly. I think the rules against politcal postings cut down on the mindless chatter and heated debates.
Well, what attracted you? A search for knowledge, I'd guess. That is what we are here for, and that's what we try to offer whether people post or just lurk. We all started with little knowledge and experience to impart to others. There is plenty going on here to keep a good number of folks around until they do feel comfortable contributing advice. This community is only what it's members put into it. And a lot of our members put a ton of time and effort into The Shave Den. Can't say we've ever "struggled to keep this forum alive". Heck, I struggle to keep up with it all.
I agree. I like the small town feel, as Danny put it so well. There's no nose-in-the-air, "Oh, you're one of those ______ users. hmph!" The people are so friendly and generous beyond belief, not only with sharing their wealth of knowledge, but sharing from the wealth of their den, as well. As for the steady stream Danny mentions, yeah, seems like at least two or three a day. And it amazes me the folks who join from all over the world. And what more can be said about our fantastic mods? Simply the best! As for attracting and expanding membership, it's simple - invite, invite, invite. It may seem awkward at first to talk about shaving; it seems like such a mundane thing. Tell folks about it. Share what you've learned. Then tell them where you got all that great knowledge - at The Shave Den!
My feelings too! I can get a burger at McDonald's if I want, but I would much rather get one at a nice mom and pop diner any day of the week. I signed at many of the shave forums when I got back into wetshaving, but this one had a small town personal feel that I liked, so here is where I stay. I've made some great friendships along the way that mean the world to me as an added bonus. Yes sir, and those kind of threads always required close watching, and lead to nothing but trouble, so I was happy when the decision was made to go with zero politics. Sometimes it gets easy to forget that our main topic here is wetshaving, but we try to keep our discussions herded in that direction when they start to veer off course. Agreed, but the great easy to get along with membership, and fellow mods help keep it all running smoothly.
There is more traffic at times and less during others. I am not sure about all those other boards; I joined most of them when I first started, but stayed at TSD because I like the vibes here better than the other boards. ( I am not bashing the other boards though!) We have members from every time zone on the planet, so there is bound to be heavier traffic at times. One thing that definitely differentiates us from other boards is that we are a family unit. Most of us are on a first name basis; we are not just screen names with faceless personalities involved in one clique or another.
Please take this with the grain of salt. I am a MOD on a newer knife forum. It is a little over 18 months old. It was very slow and still to this day it gets slow. Every forum that I am on goes through these times. With spring and summer coming up it can even get slower because people are outdoors more and doing more on the weekends. This forum IMHO if one of the freindlier ones out there. To get more people tell your freinds, include the link in emails and so on. This is just my thoughts, hopefully I have not offended anyone and if I have I am sorry. James
Checking the stats at the bottom of the main forum page awhile ago: The Shave Den had 300 active users out of a total membership of 5,975. Badger & Blade had 545 active users out of a total membership of 36,238. Shave My Face had 20 active users out of a total membership of 7131. In terms of the number of active users, the true measure of a board's size, The Shave Den does quite well. Comparing the number of active users to the number of members, The Shave Den blows the other forums out of the water. That indicates TSD has much better membership retention than most other forums. The primary reasons are that TSD is one of the most friendly forums around, and has a lot of good information. Also, the mods here don't go banning people right and left. If there is one thing this place is not doing, it is struggling to stay alive.
We're certainly not as busy as some of the other places out there, but to use a term a friend of mine once said, TSD has reached and passed the point of critical mass. I don't know if we'll ever be the busiest place on the street, but we're not going anywhere either. I kind of like thinking of us as the friendly local pub, and not the downtown nightclub.
I totally agree. The first night I signed on here I could see the way people were working together and I was amazed at some of the stories that I read about the help that new users received. I also signed on to some other shaving boards that night but this is where I stayed. It has been a little over a year now and I can't stay away.
Sometimes there's just not that much to say for a while, but I always like to drop by and see what's new. This forum and another have become part of my routine. I'm sitting at my computer finishing my coffee now, without anything really helpful to contribute on the subject of shaving, but just catching up.
lol, at the time of the OP's post, I could think of fewer times when The Den was less busy. All the PIFing going on and all the other stuff on top of it. Keeps me busy keeping up with it. The Shave Den is awesome, for the record.
Might not be the biggest but we are the best. The only other shaving board that has more traffic from established members is b&b. I belong to one other board an it's a new one so it's just getting started but I lurk at all the ones I know of just to see what's going on and I gotta tell you some of the threads stay on the home page for months at a time without moving.
It does seem that forums grow exponentially after they get 5,000 members or so. Maybe something to do with the Google search algorithm? IMHO TSD achieving this milestone is something very important for the traditional wetshaving movement. And that is why TSD is so important. The combination of really friendly vibe and lots of useful information is unique in the online shaving world. Sparky, thank you very much for bringing this place into existence and keeping it online. To all the mods and administrators, many thanks to you also for making this a laid-back, friendly and happy forum. Last, but not least, thanks to all the members for being the lifeblood of TSD.
Maybe it has slowed a little, but I haven't noticed. I visit many times a day even when I don't post. I'm still learning and I often just want to read. My computer crashes at work when i pull up TSD and other sites, and that also keeps me from posting during the day. The absence of political bickering is a big reason why I keep coming back.
