Rzbk:There is no way to determine that as far as I know
Being a Game site and not purely a forum site...
I would suggest approx 10% of the players on WGT are active in the forums, some more so than others. some post 1x per year , others daily.
Then there are probably another 10% lurkers , who read a lot, and don't post.
I have 170+ members in my Country Club, (a recent culling took the number down from 240) most are fairly active in WGT, only around 20 % are active in our Club forums. Everyone receives a link from me to the Club Forums, some will do the suggested and introduce themselves and that's the last we hear of them.
We encourage forum participation also, prizes are to be collected from the forums, Club emails are sent out with forum links etc.
Many people just 'aren't' forum people. They play, they makes friends they chat in game they post on walls, but to them the forums are 'for the others'.
Rzbk: there are many, many less players who bother to read the forum's mainly because of the treatment they received the first or second time they posted.
I'd agree with that, unfortunately the platform these forums were built on, in hindsight simply not good enough to cope with the traffic they receive.
Im not sure exactly what options forum Mods actually have at their disposal, but i am sure it isnt enough.
Subsequently there is abysmally inadequate moderation.
Abusive posts and the continual Off Topic posts and threads created in the wrong areas all lend to the dump, garbage pile these forums are.
However, to a new visitor to the forums they probably aren't as aware of these inadequacies as a seasoned regular is.
they post heir question, as dumb to some of us at it may be and then finding themselves fending off a barrage of abuse and attack, all on their own with no moderation.
In just this last week i have come across 2 people who didnt know the main forum page headings were clickable and therefore exposed a multitude of threads under the one heading.
These people see - "Community Help" and a link next to it (the most recent) they simply click on that obvious link and pose their question in what is often a completely unrelated thread.
EDIT: I've just come across this post of PRESH10 here to indicate my point:
http://www.wgt.com/forums/t/91527.aspx
Rzbk: when the "new forum cops" arrived
They left as quickly as they came - we all felt a breath of fresh air when they were placed, Pizza, to his credit, was the only one who had the apparent tenacity for the large task presented him.
I am sure it was due to their frustration that these others left, at their inability to moderate the forums even in the most basic of ways that even a PHBB (common forum platform) can offer.
As a community member who is affected by these forums inadequacy and one whom also appreciates interaction from a vast array of opinions, I do what I can to help those seeking help here and if I notice anything in breach of the posting guidelines, i will report it in full.
Having said that, I am baffled as to some of my reports on racism and personal abuse have been largely ignored.
Me thinks too many Chiefs & not enough Indians.
duffer19: so, the question is, what percentage of wgt
players do you think visit these forums and have any idea what's going
on?
With people like yourself around Duffer, perhaps to spread the word of the great community in the WGT forums. We could perceive a slow increase in 'Forum Awareness & Participation'
Which in turn will increase the need for adequate moderation.