what % of members have turned off the Soap Box entirely?

[Martha]

ERD, and anyone else, feel free to pm any moderator or admin if you have questions or concerns about moderation.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Originally Posted by Martha

The topic is how many ignore the soapbox. Andy set up a report so we now know as of today, 52 have the soapbox on ignore. We average about 500 visitors to the forum a day.

Be interesting to know how many of the 52 and 500 post or post regularly.

If you've got 52 regular posters with the forum on ignore, and only 100 of the 500 post or are regular posters...that's pretty significant.

But if you've got 500 active posting users and the 52 with the soapbox on ignore are largely people who dont post...pretty insignificant.

[Kronk]

Hrm. As one of the 52, I'm surprised it isn't a little higher than that. But then, I normally just go to "New Posts" and make my way through there. So I normally have no idea what forum a thread is in. But other people may have a different routine, and thus ignore it without using the "Ignore" feature.

[Sarah in SC]

Kronk, you might also try the Portal page, now that the Soapbox has been moved to the bottom (thanks, Admin folks!).
It is a good way to catch the most recent stuff, then you can work your way through New Posts.

[ladelfina]

Martha, thanks for digging that up, even though CFB is right that maybe nothing much is to be made from it without separating regular users from casual visitors who won't bother to employ many of the extra forum widgets, including "ignore". He's probably also right about the distribution of opinion on moderation.

I think you guys do a good job, and since people do have the ignore option I don't see why anyone should continue to get upset over the very existence of the Soap Box. I don't know what the forum's economic model is, but aren't more page views usually better? 18,000+ views on the Palin thread reflect an expression of interest in political matters which affect economics (first) and the opportunity for a free-for-all (second). People are gonna want to talk about this stuff just like they wanna talk about golf or bacon, and if it doesn't have a home it will just spill into other areas. Only the mods can decide whether policing this one "red-light" district is worth the trouble as opposed to having to police more heavily all around.

I appreciate the mods' efforts especially as the forum goes through these growing pains. I would only get concerned about the SB if it starts becoming the primary topic area.. right now it seems to have a pretty modest "share".. with fewer threads than "Stockpicking" which was created around the same time, no? It also seems to be on the middle-to-low-end in terms of people currently viewing (at least as I am writing this).

Its description is perfect: "For issues concerning public policy, prominent political figures, and topics about governmental conduct, as well as news and other world events not pertaining to retirement."

Oookay.. didn't want to make this a referendum on the Soap Box, but seeing as it went that way, those are my .02.

[chinaco]

Soapbox looks fairly popular... However once the election is done... it will probably see much less activity.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Pictures of nude women and conspiracy theories also very popular on the internets...maybe we oughta make a spot for those?

Hey, if we can find a gallery of nude female conspiracy theorists we'd be in adsense heaven!