How can we increase Forum Participation

[Peter McLennan]

Thanks Paul. All are gone. I check non-Australian applicants closely, but Australians can slip through, especially if they don't add their spam links until after I've checked.

[Peter McLennan]

Here's a redacted reply I've received to the email mentioned here:

My need for a critique group still exists, but I really want a small number of other writers I can meet face to face. Hard to find in [town], but I persevere.

At this stage, I'll just post up any feedback that I get. Subsequently, we should probably rationalise it all and work out what to do about it.

[Peter McLennan]

Here's another (redacted):

I was looking for writers in my situation - those writing for [publication type] around the world - I found there wasn't many like me on AWF. And the advice and experience I had to offer wasn't compatible with those writing other things. Then I did end up being invited to join a closed on-line writers group of [publication type] writers...

My suggestion as to what I would have liked would be....because there are such a wide variety of writers doing varied things, maybe have dedicated areas for each: magazine short story writers, literature short stories, novel writing, non-fiction writers, etc. But I have no idea about how a forum such as yours works, so maybe not even doable.

[Peter McLennan]

Another (no suggestions, but an indication of 'likes'):

I enjoyed adding my five cents worth and reading other's opinions and work...

[AJ Konlucko]

I agree, I don't know if splitting off in to small sub groups would bring many benefits. Happy to hear thoughts one way or the other.

[Feathertale]

I'm going to wade in here, even though I'm one of the absentee forumites ...

It seems to me, a certain social media site has taken over forums as a platform in many cases. Personally, I prefer forums for their ability to keep the members/participants anonymous. However, maybe we need to move with the times and make use of social media to attract people to the forum? I just had a quick look at the AWF Facebook page and the last entry was 31st May. There is room for both platforms, but if the most obvious one (FB) is behind the times, it may put off would be forumites?

[AJ Konlucko]

I have been involved in many forums and Facebook groups over the years. Generally speaking forums seem to run better and have less "issues" than Facebook groups.

Maybe we need to look at using the Facebook page to direct more people here?

[AJ Konlucko]

but you could perhaps introduce a convention of tagging by the poster in the heading, e.g.:

[POETRY] "Ode To A Small Lump Of Green Putty I Found In My Armpit One Midsummer Morning"
by Grunthos the Flatulent » Thu, 32 Apr 2016 25:02 pm

[SHORT STORY] A romantic short-short story for review! Please be gentle!!!
by Tamerlane the OverSensitive » Thu, 31 Apr 2016 13:72 pm

It depends on what folks are comfortable with.

This to me seems like an easy way to split areas of interest while still keeping it all together for those who prefer it that way.

[Feathertale]

Facebook - like Twitter - is a good tool to use for attracting potential members. I have posted about the AWF a couple of times on Twitter. As far as I can tell there's no representation there, which is a bit of a shame, since there seems to be an awful lot of Aussie writers actively on Twitter who might benefit from participating on the AWF.

This was what I was trying to say ^^^ Use Facebook etc to encourage new writers to join and participate on AWF

[AJ Konlucko]

I am not sure who is in charge of the Facebook page?