Turning lurkers into members

[Dani]

What is a good way to pull forum lurkers out of hiding and turn them into posting members?

[Rueful Rogue]

Pay them $1/post. :) Seriously, I think "lurkers" are people who may just be trying to "learn" themselves and don't feel comfortable contributing, for fear of embarrasing themselves. The fix for this is to instill more confidence in them, perhaps by a posting which exemplifies the old saying "The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked".

[Cain]

features dani.. features. when a user logs in options are available. if you wanna post
you gotta login. some sites dont allow advanced search as an option unless your logged in. keeps metrics up. google may link to your site and you may be able to read the forum as a guest but no search. instead you get a harassing popup or a registration redirect.

my problem is finding the time to even hit the forums...

[Dani]

I'll tell ya right now - if I went to a technical resource site and it wouldn't let me even search to see if they had what I was looking for until I took the time to register, I would be out of there so fast your head would be spinning :)

I don't think it's all in the features, really. There are very many popular forums and messageboards that are popular because of their simplicity, or lack of features. Just look at newsgroups! Even with the advent of the most advanced forum systems imaginable, they are still wildly popular - and attracting new users to boot!

[Cain]

I was a lurker for all of about 30 minutes. I kinda thought that I should contribute to the
amalgamated knowledge base since I had snagged a money saving soloution for free.
Besides.. clearing a queue is in my blood.
It almost seems like your non-lurking members are the ones that are going to answer "tickets" or start new threads.. I dont know how many are in to blog or chat.. or for other behaviors. Even when visiting other folks blogs I wont log in unless I have somthing to say.

[Lexani]

i hate when lurkers join my forums and dont say nothing, i dont get it

[mdvaldosta]

Best way I've found is to give guests a reason to join. Any reason, whether it be site features or what not.

[Dani]

i hate when lurkers join my forums and dont say nothing, i dont get it

The technical answer is because people register perhaps to send private messages, subscribe to threads, view the memberlist, or those other things that you need to do to register.

The real answer is ... let's face it, people register to post. No clue why people would register if they have no plans on posting. Unless they haven't confirmed their emails? That's a problem as well ...

[Oooodz]

I know some picky people on my forum before it got wiped that are very direct and they know when to post. once every month then. normally. Other than that it can be because of their average post count a day I have heard.

[Dani]

I'm confused what you just said. Your members post once a month??

[Oooodz]

Sorry there if im confusing, thats what happens to me when I try and talk sense - I fail miserably hahha.

Some do only some post once a month.

[lynnk]

What is a good way to pull forum lurkers out of hiding and turn them into posting members?

As a newcomer to digital technology and the social web, I have to confess to doing more than my share of lurking. What lured me out of hiding to sign up for Daniweb was the combination of friendly atmosphere and knowledgeable postings. The willingness of your extremely skilled community to cheerfully help the most rank beginner is what gave me the confidence to join. I am not in a position to offer advice on much yet, but when the day arrives, I hope to be of some help.

[Dani]

Thank you very much for your feedback! It's much appreciated and I welcome you to DaniWeb.

[fennimore]

I visited conqueryourniche.com the other day, and they have this great idea to make people want to post! It works like this: everytime you post, you get points. For every five points or so, they'll display your ad for free! But there're too many members there that the only chance your ad is ever going to be read at all is if you're a platinum member.

Nice concept, though!

[Ancient Dragon]

I visited conqueryourniche.com the other day, and they have this great idea to make people want to post! It works like this: everytime you post, you get points. For every five points or so, they'll display your ad for free! But there're too many members there that the only chance your ad is ever going to be read at all is if you're a platinum member.

Nice concept, though!

If there are so many members that nobody will see the ads then its not such a great idea afterall.

[fennimore]

If there are so many members that nobody will see the ads then its not such a great idea afterall.

Was too when they first started it! :mad:

[Dsiembab]

I think your website forum is as good as it gets and you shouldn't worry yourself with this question. Patience and time are all you need and with the community you have now everyone is like a tree that will drop seed.

[xComputerGirlx]

The most way to attract other people to joining your site is to explain to them how and why they should join. Explain to them how much it could either help them at least in some way. Just like that facebook.com, it gotten so popular because people influence other people, because it is the excitment of getting more communication with other people.
This site should be more out there and it should be more "spread the word out" that way each one of the members can influence their other friends to join-- thus, since this site is interesting, the most argetted audience is to reache out to computer interest members the most! :) just a suggestion!

[Bushi]

From what I've seen, generally the easiest approaches are usually the best. Simple threads like the Forum lurkers, introduce yourself ... !! along with occassional special events or games seem to do the job pretty well, in the short run, at least. Keeping the lurkers from just fading into the background again is almost entirely up to just keeping the conversation going.

[karlm]

I made a "step out of the shadows" sticky thread in my most viewed/used forum - asking lurkers to..well, step out of the shadows. Also, I use a plugin to hide links in posts, so if lurkers want to be able to confirm what a post says, or they're dying to look at a link to an image somewhere, they'll sign up.
I offer some other stuff too, like full search ability, image-hosting, stuff like that.

I'd guestimate about only 10% of my forum members actually participate meaningfully on the site though - most just continue as lurkers, with membership priviledges.. LoL

I signed up here for two reasons though. I've used a bit of code that cscgal was good enough to share so I wanted to:
1) Ask for a little help on it, and
2) Say thanks for sharing.

[scudzilla]

A forum I'm a part of hosts eye-balls.. (or should I say members host eb's).. We meet around twice to thrice a year just to get to know other members. We then do many sorts of gimmick such as bowling, going to the beach etc. I was personally lured from the shadows when I attended one of the eb's. However, that forum is still only national (Philippines). This forum is world-wide and it would be a hassle to have time to meet each other. Would it be impossible? Maybe, maybe not. I have no idea what the Daniweb UK Meet thread is all about but I guess its just the same as eb's. Would it be impossible to have local get-togethers in some parts of the world? *Shrugs*

Anyway, because I was already lured out of the shadows in a different forum, I gained confidence to start posting even in different forums such as DaniWeb and the reason I joined here is to help with problems and answer questions.

[The Dude]

I often see many members on alot of sites that go 1 year or so w/o posting.. I dunno if they are afraid or not sure if they wanna be on the site or what..

Some of them sometimes start posting :)

[Dani]

Unfortunately live DaniWeb meets have yet to come to fruition. :(

[Dani]

I think that a key element is to offer different ways for members to interact. On DaniWeb, there are the forums, social networks in member profiles, blogging, an irc chat network for live communication, etc.

[scudzilla]

I think that a key element is to offer different ways for members to interact. On DaniWeb, there are the forums, social networks in member profiles, blogging, an irc chat network for live communication, etc.

A chatroom seems like a good idea.

[ahnonamis]

One thing I plan on doing on our site is offering weekly contests for little (but cool) prizes to members who have started topics with a high enough rating, have commented in news stories, etc.

That way, people who usually just read and leave will register, and begin to contribute to the community. It may take a bit of cash at first to get things going, but an active community is hard to come by these days :)

[themafiaman.com]

i have a funny answer its some thing like what came first egg or hen ,let me clear now.. if some one go to any forum and see lots of registered members or lots of online generally he register there and look inside and post something .. but again if any site having less member why guests would register !! seems confusing ??? me too confused !! Lol

Enjoy really it totally depends on users mind nobody can read it.

[For my sins]

1. chatroom.. encourages people into the community and once they have spoken in real time to them they seem more willing to post on topics
2. Content, ensure that you are providing the content they are looking for
3. Controversy, nothing gets someone to post more than reading something they vehemently disagree with
4. On topic, dont let stuff drift to far from your core niche
5. Keep a lid on members personal attacking other members, weild the suspension/ban stick if needed
6. Make some forums only able to be read by registered members
7. If the web users are asking for a feature, see if you can provide it, if they wnat it , it is almost certain other visitors to your website will be attracted by it too
8. be consistent in applying your forum rules and guidelines, ( no-one like a clique)

[rmass01521]

I know certain forums I have been in have been "lurker" friendly so to speak. I find that when I am new to a forum, I usually become what you might call a "lurker" temporarily just so that I can kind of get the feel of what goes on in the forums. I don't know, maybe that's just me!!

[Dani]

The major problem is that while most forums have similar netiquette in not to hijack threads, not to spam, and simple things like that, every community is completely different with a different culture and atmosphere and different rules.

I think that's one of the major reasons that made me start DaniWeb in the first place ... I was in need of an all-in-one stop shop so that I didn't have to participate in 20 different communities with 20 different cultures where I felt like an outsider in each one of them.