Don't Just 'Like'; Build A Conversation!

Exactly. If you don't proactively leave comments (whether good or bad) at each and every discussion that runs around CE (except the non-technical ones), what is the use of being a regular member?

We have to 'build' discussions. It is the same as building a building. Each one of us has to lay the bricks.

Interesting fact: We neither have 'likes' nor 'comments' in this thread! 😨

Do we need to change the structure of CE or the nature of discussions to build more conversations here?

Totally, I agree on that.
I always wonder why in "debate" forum the views are more than comments.
In my opinion; whenever you read any topic in forum, its pretty sure that some thought might've sparked in your brain, so why don't you type it out & make debate/conversation more interesting ?

I've been told the discussions on CE are 'too geeky' or 'techie'. I wonder whether we should focus more on gossips - where people would have more to comment on. But that doesn't look like an option either. Our chit-chat section has < 10 posts in most of the threads.

If we're doing something 'wrong'; please let us know 😁 . If something needs to be improved, let us know! It simply amazes me when I see boards with 12k members and 6 million posts! 😲

I think I'll go on tagging a few CEans so that we get few responses here. I sometimes feel like we're on to an agitation with no public support 😖 😁

Crowd Pulling -

#-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-# (he used to be a rapid posting machine a few months ago!), #-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-# , #-Link-Snipped-#

...woosh! 😐

I think debates are misunderstood as "verbal war" in CE (obviously without cursing, but with bit of sarcasm).
It's something called DEBATE, we are not here to prove yourself right & fellow member wrong. It is just about sharing your thought.
I remember when I was debating on free-masonry & Illuminati, someone called me "paranoid"; see i didn't got offended, but I was like, "Damn, what's sense in doing this?". I believe in "Respecting the opinion".

I pointed this because loads of members don't carry-on the conversation thinking "what if they are wrong", "what if they will be insulted with sarcasm".
They don't want to get in "feud" ... I believe if we start respecting views of others in debate & being humble with everyone (even if you think they are wrong), each & every debate can go a long way !!!
Just my view 😀

In my view following factors affect on commenting and building a meaningful conversation --

• Inferiority Complex (before commenting we are begin to think , Is I am being stupid, Someone like my comment or not and other things... then what I comment on that discussion after thinking all this)
• Fear/can't afford criticism (We need to open to criticism, It actually help us to think open mind)
• People are so influence of with social website comments like LOL/awesome/ROLF which is can't be used here or any meaningful conversation.

☕

I've been told the discussions on CE are 'too geeky' or 'techie'.

I think, CE needs to be more techie in respective section.

#-Link-Snipped-# : There are two extreme views. The 'majority' thinks we're 'techie'. The minority thinks we need to be more techie. We're stretched between two extremes, actually.

I think it is better the way it is going on currently.

zaveriI think it is better the way it is going on currently.

I believe this community has a lot more potential than what's currently being utilised.

Like option is good, it is to appreciate the author true. IF we dont have that, we would have posts saying that nice post, wow! a nice post etc etc. So the like option let it be as is.

Next commenting, I dont think we are too techie, If I am a electrical engineer working on software testing I am expected to have good knowledge on Electrical and Software Testing.

If we are not replying to the posts, my opinion is either we dont know about it or we are busy working with something else.

As far as I am concerned may be its rude to say, but we dont have to ask people to post, they will post if they get the passion of posting.

and it comes for everyone some day for sure! The only thing we have to work about is to increase the presence first, which I am sure The CE-Meets will take care to a major extent. If regular members are active for good number of days the posts will follow.

As we believe in , If we are working hard for good amount of time, results will follow! 😀

The_Big_KI've been told the discussions on CE are 'too geeky' or 'techie'. I wonder whether we should focus more on gossips - where people would have more to comment on.

If CE is an engineering community, what is wrong with 'geeky' or 'techie'?
We have well defined sections (with subsections), which demand such responses. WE also have other sections of general interest.
Of late I see more and more academic, degree related queries than general, more mature technical discussions. Those that do take part in more serious discussions do not post frequently.
One reason could be that a reasoned response requires some study, evaluation and time. Some times it is not clear whether the original poster expects such a response or a quick fix.
There is no simple answer. Can we do a survey of existing threads to see how many 'pass' and how many 'fail' and what made them so? At least a sample survey, say ten or twenty randomly selected threads?

Point 1: We need to look for the targeted use's for the specific type of threads.
Point 2: I have seen a trend in past a well, that when ever we have some interesting event, that makes the threads and response more fruitful.
Point 3: None of us is dedicate to the forum, with a few exception all others are enjoying the forum to enhance their knowledge and had a wish to do some thing positive for the engineering community. Quite possible that a person from that team can not work actively for a day or may be for a week as they may have something important from their dedicated work area which may be outside forum.

If I will join above mentioned three points, can we designed some event at the SAME time, which will target different set of users, May be college goers, 1-5 years of professional, 5+ years of professionals, projects.. etc. After that If we can identify a TEAM (NOT individuals) and made them responsible for taking care of some of the areas. And this team needs to be changed periodically as after a point those folks would be moved to different set of users.

MOST Important, we need to be very patient to see the results, So in any of the situations if core team member of that section is not able to contribute to the section, instead of waiting for that person ONLY, to update the section someone else should jump into his shoes.

In Parallel to that, we need to think of plan B of it. So if this (Plan A) doesn't work AT ALL, we need to jump on Plan B.

I wrote this long story because as I have seen forums over a period of time.. 20-40 users runs the forum and other just takes participation (active or passive) for the sake of it. Am I wrong?

NOTE: I am talking about technical forums that is not very specific to one stream (Like tool or any specific technology)

-CB

English-ScaredAs far as I am concerned may be its rude to say, but we dont have to ask people to post, they will post if they get the passion of posting.

Of course it's not good to ask people to post. People will post if they are interested in the discussion. That's why I said, whether we should shift the nature of discussions to more 'gossip'. So far, it looks like not many people are interested in participating in technical discussions or start them. This is quite an important decision.

Of of the steps in this direction could be to allow SMS slang, Hindi and other regional lingo so that people feel more 'at home' with the community. I've noticed a few communities do it and are successful in building communication.

I'm of course not 'blaming' people that they don't post. I'm simply concerned about offering what people love.

bioramaniCan we do a survey of existing threads to see how many 'pass' and how many 'fail' and what made them so? At least a sample survey, say ten or twenty randomly selected threads?

Didn't get you, sorry. Are you suggesting that we should select a few threads generic and engineering focused and find out which ones work out better?

crazyboyIf I will join above mentioned three points, can we designed some event at the SAME time, which will target different set of users, May be college goers, 1-5 years of professional, 5+ years of professionals, projects.. etc. After that If we can identify a TEAM (NOT individuals) and made them responsible for taking care of some of the areas. And this team needs to be changed periodically as after a point those folks would be moved to different set of users.

MOST Important, we need to be very patient to see the results, So in any of the situations if core team member of that section is not able to contribute to the section, instead of waiting for that person ONLY, to update the section someone else should jump into his shoes.

-CB

I agree. There are however very serious challenges associated with that approach. The amount of time required to make the objectives clear is big and have the team function on its own is another challenge. Given the limited 'dedicated' resources we have to run CE; allotting time to this activity seems very difficult. But I think this can be reconsidered.

Why does it matter?

As you might know, all of CE's growth plans depend on active participation of members. More fruitful content would mean our traffic would surge and bring us enough revenues to sustain growth. We're in the process of working out an ad-free model of CE; but it looks like it's going to take some time till we reach there 😀

Didn't get you, sorry. Are you suggesting that we should select a few threads generic and engineering focused and find out which ones work out better?

That is right. We may get a road map.

bioramaniThat is right. We may get a road map.

Frankly speaking, I'm totally against turning this place into a gossip heaven. On one hand, I've to mind the traffic to the site and on the other, we'll have make sure that we maintain quality.

As we know, we are Engineering community so there will be a big no for gossip, Hindi and more to feel like home stuff. It just contaminates our forum nothing else.

I would say, atleast after 6 months down the line we need to organize events.

how it will be to organize a technical quiz or a coding competetion online every month without fail?

I know all the above needs poeple's support. If its for self benefit and if it benefits forum and people many people will be saying yes.

I feel that, the missing point in CE is people come here ONLY if they have some questions in mind to get faster answers. That should be changed. I agree there are few people who contribute and who work for forum but majority of chunck is for quick answers.

THe forums I WAS active on are sadly QTP based and CAT based. SO I would get quick answers and as I am working on QTP all threads seems to be useful for me. so I would comment or read or participate in all the sections.

Here, we are a Engineering forum so the scope is vast. So I am sure that the reach will be slow but will be very very high.

I have some more ideas and opinions but I will hold them now and will send Biggie and AKD an email.

The_Big_KFrankly speaking, I'm totally against turning this place into a gossip heaven. On one hand, I've to mind the traffic to the site and on the other, we'll have make sure that we maintain quality.

I came on CE because I came across it when looking for some info on robots. Decided to stay on as it seemed interesting. A part of me still goes after teaching. There is quite a bit of that.
Though CE seems a bit heavy on IT still there is a lot of good multi disciplinary engineering and healthy discussions.
Occasional Chit-Chat and horsing around is fine but not FB and Tweeting.
If CE capitulates and goes on that route, it would not be good in my opinion. The problem is, who bells the cat? Who minds the quality? It is a question of pulling oneself up by the boot straps. Auto boot as it were.
In queue theory the length of a queue is infinite if the average arrival time equals the average service time. But if the service time is reduced by just 2%, the queue virtually vanishes. What I am getting at is that even a small change can lead to a large benefit in quality.

#-Link-Snipped-# : Superb points. Gives me clues to determine further course of action.

#-Link-Snipped-# : Agree. A small change can in fact bring a huge change.

In 1956 at Viekananda College, Madras, we used to start the day with this Upanishad chant:
ॐ सह नाववतु ।...
Om, May God Protect us Both (the Teacher and the Student),
May God Nourish us Both,
May we Work Together with Energy and Vigour,
May our Study be Enlightening, not giving rise to Hostility,
Om, Peace, Peace, Peace.

May be we at CE should assert this ourselves.

I love where this discussion is headed. Went through every point carefully and found how much the old CEans are concerned about our community and its well being. Like #-Link-Snipped-# said, CE-Meets are going to continue and we will try making each meet bigger than earlier.
I also agree with #-Link-Snipped-# when he says we have less dedicated sources to work solely for CE, because the ones who can be active and bring quality have other engagements to tend to as well.
I think, as Moderators and as Community Leaders, we should divide the time of who stays online and make sure the forum is never left unattended. One staff member has to be online all the time, round the clock.
Like #-Link-Snipped-# says, we are not going to stop being 'geeky' or 'techie' to cater to average needs. We have a chit-chat section and a comics section, where people can relax and be cool.

Increasing the 'message count' with quality posts by old members is the way to go. A lot of newbies are worried because they feel their questions are not suitable for the forum OR they feel what they want to ask doesn't fit here (This is wrong, because we are open to their tech queries.) So, to make them feel that their queries belong here, we have to cover most of the 'relevant' topics through our posts. In this way, we lead by example - our posts will encourage people to post.

Also sometimes the views are more than replies because people watch the thread to get answer to their queries and not to contribute something to the thread. Also to know about a particular topic the thread is watched.

Since last year, things haven't changed much. We haven't seen any improvement in the number of comments / discussions we build on CE.

I see many regular CEans logged on to CE but very few post new threads or comments on existing discussions.

Is it that most of the discussions are irrelevant? I was expecting a flood of comments on our VoiCE articles and other discussions. Is there anything we need to change or seriously look at? I believe we've the best platform in the industry that encourages discussions.

One suggestion Pls. pin some traditional regularly asked threads in all forums That will make newer threads, to be really newer.

Cos Sorry to say friend Fed up some times to see the same old topic asked again and again here in CE Electronics Forum.

Just my opinion I may differ from your line of sight Sorry If I am so

PS: You got people to stick to you man so don't worry we are there at all times Recent trends show a better scenario than what we had last year end So I would say lets us look forward to more participation than spectation From CEans

You don't have to say sorry while making a suggestion. This is a free forum and only spam is objected. Each one of us entitled to have a unique opinion.

Getting back to the point - when a question gets repeatedly asked, we tend to merge it with existing popular threads.

My concern is about commenting on discussions that are hot and fresh 😀

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#-Link-Snipped-# - We've plenty of discussions here that talk about preparing for campus placements. Also check in the downloads section.

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