Has GD had it's day?

[#1]

@endorphin you have nicely summed up the behaviours which mostly keep me away from GD

I popped in just now but...

Sadly to some degree it it a forum wide issue ... the tips forum also has many ‘simple’ tip threads which keep getting bumped while those with quality tips often dink without trace. I have also reported multiple tip makers in contribute

The solution ? I stay away from GD mostly so it doesn’t annoy me

[#2]

@kath72 I seem to recall that giffgaff were going to overhaul Tips IIRC but as you say it's more of an exercise to increase one's thread/post count at the moment.

[#3]

Thank you @endorphin , you set out those behaviours perfectly. The problem being, as we've both said, that giffgaff seem very happy with those threads.

Not fit for purpose is summed up nicely.

[#4]

And here's one I prepared earlier, 2 years ago:

https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/Does-General-Discussion-work/m-p/18298700

[#5]

Okay, so we've identified some things that you think shouldn't be there. I'm of the mind that all content brings people to the community - but the type of content dictates the type of people. If a forum has a lot of a particular type of content, it will only attract people who enjoy that content. The only way to attract people who enjoy different things is for those different things to be there for them to enjoy.

So, at the risk of repeating myself, what would be the content that drew you to a general discussion forum? Even if we got rid of everything you didn't like, what are the things you'd like to see there in its place?

[#6]

@endorphin

It looks like change is definitely not going to happen any time soon then, especially as you made that one just over 2 years ago.

Sad times for GD as it just declines even further.

[#7]

endorphin wrote:

It does seem to me, and do correct me if I'm wrong @t_will, that giffgaff are happy with the way GD is as it drives traffic to the site. The plethora of subjects and external links posted, which are usually topical, are picked up by search engines and promote giffgaff's pages' listings in the search results.

Missed this in my initial post, sorry - yes, I'm sure traffic gets driven to the site. But sheer volume of traffic isn't a good thing - the content that draws people to the site needs to be engaging and make people interested and want to stay. We're not in the business of just putting any old crap up just because it gets clicks - the businesses that are set up that way do it because it gets eyeballs on their adverts, and even they don't do very well if people don't stick around.

Also - what's with the doom and gloom attitude, folks? I've been in this thread asking for more information and trying to work with you and you're already resigned to thinking change won't happen? Come on, I want substantive content as much as you do, but it's not going to happen if all we do is sit around and say 'it won't happen'

[#8]

@t_will

Firstly, i'm not all doom and gloom.......just on a weekday

I think the need is there to educate more members on the type of threads they make. I've reported over and over only to be told that others like those sort of threads. No, that's not true, they do actually fall by the wayside but the op bumps them. I'm talking about long term members here as well, not newbies who may just be getting used to how it works.

Those long running cliquey threads, (because that's what they are) are mostly filled with the same people, so surely one thread should be enough for them to either say hello, show their food, tell each other what they're doing, who's bored, etc.

And a few members have their own individual long running threads, more than one in some cases. What if we all did that and bumped them every day? There wouldn't be any new content at all then.

[#9]

I gave up on GD when a staff member commented the following about those threads:

".. the topics themselves is nothing bad, in fact it's great that someone is opening up these kind of discussions to get to know the community at large. Having a different variety of topics for people to choose what to talk about is what the GD board is all about."

and

"....they have replied to their threads, which is a good thing. It keeps the conversation alive and kicking."

[#10]

General discussion has been a bit of a weird place for several years. I've not visited it for months because I couldn't be bothered trawling through "what's your favourite flavour of crisp" threads to find something worth reading and discussing.

We all know that the allure of payback gets people posting, so some (many) people head to general discussion simply to boost their post count/activity on this site.

I for one will be keeping away from general discussion because it's not interested me for a long time, and by the sounds of it, it's got worse!