Feedback from a new users perspective

[Farstarbuck]

Hi,

Thought I'd leave feedback for you to read regarding my experience of being on this forum.

I've been part of this community now for nearly three weeks. I posted in the presentation thread and was welcomed by some which was nice. There did seem to be a little synasism when I joined. I guess you get a lot of people coming, getting what they want and then leaving. I was always interested in this stuff and I did say I'm not going anywhere.

Now, I have visited this place everyday now since I joined and I guess what I see is, not a lot changes. People are busy and the few I have PM'd have been very nice.

I've posted threads to spark some conversation but ultimately I'm a little frustrated as someone who is trying to engage in conversation I don't find a lot changes. Now as a new user how are you supposed to become a power user without resorting to posting random crap? I started my own project and would like to do more but I find myself a little isolated and restricted to start others.

This is just my perspective and I wouldn't say any of this if I didn't care. Perhaps there are more people who stop by and like me aren't looking for the door as soon as they get what they want. But maybe they don't know where to start or find not much is happening for them to stay?

I hope you are receptive to feedback and take it in the way intended.

Thanks for reading.

[jerryshadoe]

Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. I have tried to help you here and there as much as free time has allowed me... Please keep in mind, that although there may not be a lot of activity in the forum, there is still a lot of work being done "behind the scenes" on various projects. Also, there have been a good number of us that were/are on vacation or are just too busy to respond due to that little thing called life, LOL.

I understand your frustration and hope it doesn't push you way, but please be patient

And a little word of advice, if you have started a project of your own, focus on that and getting it finished/released. If you have questions about how to proceed with your project, ask questions and patiently wait. Eventually someone that has some free time will answer.

[Farstarbuck]

I think you misunderstand Jerry.

I am very appreciative of the help you have given me and its because I do understand that there is that thing called life as I do have one also.

What I am pointing out is how exactly does one become more within a community when the community is too busy with life?
Do you see what I'm saying?
I don't wanna spam threads with crap just to become a power user my friend.

I'm not going anywhere but I just wanted to point out a simple fact that it's a pretty tall order to become a power user so you can see other parts of the community!

[PDB]

My two cents Farstarbuck. Please take this as my observations and not fanres policy.

First, you basically have picked a bad time to join. Fanres was created by spoRv as an offshoot of the Original Trilogy (OT). A place to focus on non-Star Wars related projects. Most but not all members here are also members there. From being on the OT a few years, I have noticed there is always a lull in posting in August and September.

Mirroring what jerry said. A lot of people are on vacation, many people have children going back to school (here in the USA), changes in work, etc. People are busy. I'm busy myself. Busier then I've been all year. I know of many other members are too. Hell, both admins were out for a week or so at the same time since they had things to do. So if you are looking for a lot of interaction with people, sadly this is not a good time. That should change once October rolls around if the OT is any indication.

Second, this forum is not even a year old. It has a faction of the people that say the OT has. A lot of it is powered by the reputations of the members here. So new members aren't going to be taken with the same weight. That's nothing personal, just human nature. I understand the frustration. I was there, everyone was there. I had to talk to people on the OT for years before people listened and cared as to what I said and frankly many still don't care. To use jerry as an example. I don't know jerry personally but I listen to his advice and postings. That's based on his reputation, his work on other projects, his previous posts, etc. He earned that. So did many of the members here. You also can't expect a response to every post or interaction from people, regardless of how many are online. I have found that out that myself. Sometimes you post something and no one cares. Its happened to me many times. All I can say is move on to the next posting.

I don't want to come off as negative or pushing you away. We want new members like you. We need different voices or different ways of approaching a problem. Members like you are the life blood of fanres. We want you here and we want to get to know you but three weeks isn't going to cut it. There is no policy to get to power user, that's for the admins to decide. And although I can't speak for the admins, I guarantee you are not going to get it in a few weeks. A Power User is a trust and a trust is earned not given. As jerry, said patience is your best bet, pay you dues, play the long game and build your reputation. We want you here not for a week or three weeks but for a long time.

[Feallan]

I understand how you feel about current promotion rules, but to be honest I have no idea how to make them better.

Fanres is a very small forum, we have only 270 members, of which maybe 30 are active posters. It's hard to "fit in" for new users, unless they're video editing geniuses.

Power User status does let you see other parts of the community - they're very interesting, but not that active either. Activity is generally the biggest problem of this forum - and I'm not even talking about posting, half of our "power users" haven't logged in at all in months!

Two weeks ago I've said here that power user status is only for people who stick around, but you're right, it's hard to stick around when the forum gets a maximum of five posts a day. Quality posts, but still.

I will discuss changes to the promotion system with our other admin - he's mostly away now, so it might take a day or two. Maybe some sort of a trial period? I don't know.

BTW like I said in that other thread, you can always apply for your promotion. You don't need to have 40000 posts or 20 released projects, lurkers and feedback givers are appreciated too. The problem is, we don't want to give out the power user status for everyone, because it wouldn't really be fair for people who have been around for years, before getting this kind of trust. On the other hand, it pisses me off that we have so many inactive power users while people who log in every day don't get it. I'm really conflicted about this, I don't know how to fix this situation...

[Farstarbuck]

Hello and thank you for your feedback on this.
I feel you are really listening and trying to see what I was trying to say. I've helped run communities like this for a long time and I know it's not easy to please everyone and know which way to go on things.
Yeah I'm gonna be around for sure, I like it too much. Having owned too many Laserdiscs back in the day to mention this is the first time I've come across people who don't think I'm crazy when I say LD was better sounding for a lot of old movies.

I'm glad I made this topic because not only did it allow me to discuss with you my thoughts. This also allowed me to interact with a few of you!

I check in regularly yes to see what's happening but please make no mistake guys, I'm getting married at the moment, work full time and then some, have so much to organise for the wedding. I come here and get away from that stuff for a while. I understand lots of people have little time.

Anyway, thanks again.

[jerryshadoe]

@ Farstarbuck - Yeah, I hope that my earlier comment didn't come off as me being an ass, wasn't my intent. We are happy to see a new member, such as yourself, being here on a regular basis (even if it has only been three weeks, it's a start) and happy to see you posting and trying to interact, but as mentioned earlier you joined at "the worst time" in the fact that a lot of the community is not here at the moment. Stick around a little while and things will pick up. Congratulations on your nuptials.

You also can't expect a response to every post or interaction from people, regardless of how many are online. I have found that out that myself. Sometimes you post something and no one cares. Its happened to me many times. All I can say is move on to the next posting.

I don't want to come off as negative or pushing you away. We want new members like you. We need different voices or different ways of approaching a problem. Members like you are the life blood of fanres. We want you here and we want to get to know you but three weeks isn't going to cut it. There is no policy to get to power user, that's for the admins to decide. And although I can't speak for the admins, I guarantee you are not going to get it in a few weeks. A Power User is a trust and a trust is earned not given. As jerry, said patience is your best bet, pay you dues, play the long game and build your reputation. We want you here not for a week or three weeks but for a long time.

On that note: I understand the frustration with making posts about certain things and feeling like you were "talking" to yourself. Still happens to me all the time and that's just the "nature of the beast, LOL. This is still a rather small community, with an even smaller "active base," and there are times where what interests you... well, that's the point, it only interests you. This is not to say it will always happen, but expect it. In cases like this, many times, PROJECTS ARE BORN

Speaking from experience, there are certain "widely of interest" films/projects that will get a huge response and things will move forward from there, but with some things you just have to take the initiative and then "hope" that once released there might be others that will enjoy it too. A lot of this work is actually for "purely selfish" reasons, i.e. "we" want the best video/audio possible for a film/show/etc. and are willing to put in the time/money/etc. into making it happen, then we share it with others because WE WANT TO

I understand how you feel about current promotion rules, but to be honest I have no idea how to make them better.

Fanres is a very small forum, we have only 270 members, of which maybe 30 are active posters. It's hard to "fit in" for new users, unless they're video editing geniuses.

Power User status does let you see other parts of the community - they're very interesting, but not that active either. Activity is generally the biggest problem of this forum - and I'm not even talking about posting, half of our "power users" haven't logged in at all in months!

Two weeks ago I've said here that power user status is only for people who stick around, but you're right, it's hard to stick around when the forum gets a maximum of five posts a day. Quality posts, but still.

I will discuss changes to the promotion system with our other admin - he's mostly away now, so it might take a day or two. Maybe some sort of a trial period? I don't know.

BTW like I said in that other thread, you can always apply for your promotion. You don't need to have 40000 posts or 20 released projects, lurkers and feedback givers are appreciated too. The problem is, we don't want to give out the power user status for everyone, because it wouldn't really be fair for people who have been around for years, before getting this kind of trust. On the other hand, it pisses me off that we have so many inactive power users while people who log in every day don't get it. I'm really conflicted about this, I don't know how to fix this situation...

Yeah, I have been wondering about the term "PowerUser" for some of the users that have it. Granted, on that list are a lot of people that are working on projects elsewhere and rarely login, or whatever, but have all earned a reputation that should be acknowledged due to past work on other projects. Maybe we should split the "PowerUser" group into two, an actual "PowerUser" HERE on THIS forum (sorry for caps, but really trying to make a point of this) and something like "Trusted Affiliates" which would be for people that have earned the right/privilege to be able to have access. This would make things fair, where new users here, that are actually active here and are trying "keep their finger on the pulse" of the forum, regardless of whether they are helping with projects by way of actual work on the video/audio (film scanning/editing/etc), are just "spectators" that watch on a regular basis or people that just give feedback; can all earn the rank of PowerUser here. On the other hand, all of those that have earned the access could just be the "Trusted Affiliates" such as a lot of the users that are originally from OT but are very rarely here.

On the other hand, there is still the problem of how long it took others to earn the access and here it's a "double-edged" sword because you don't want to shun people away from the community, but you don't want to weaken the community by letting "leeches" in. There has to be some kind of "happy medium," but what the parameters are for that, baffles me a little. Interested in hearing any thoughts on that matter

Your idea of a "trial" period is interesting and I'm wondering what you had in mind.

[spoRv]

Hey Farstarbuck, happy to have you here and really active - at the same time, I'm a bit sorry to not be here as much as I want, but, like Jerry said, "life happens" in the middle of our restoration projects...

Well, let's talk about Power Users: as I stated in a previous thread, I decided to promote Power User every previous "long time" OT and all AMPS members; new users, signed originally on this very forum should "earn" his/her Power User status; I must admit there is (still) not clear terms (like time spent on the forum, number of threads/posts etc.) just because it's a very small community, which is looking for great users... so, for example, one member who made 100 posts a day will not get the status, because those posts are not so interesting, while another who made a single restoration project, but it's really interesting, or just promising, get the status...

To tell the truth, I agree that three weeks is still not a long time to get the Power User status, just to be fair in comparison with older members - even if I'm thinking about the fact to purge inactive users after a while; but, as you seems a good willing person, I must say this: continue to post, be curious, don't be shy to ask for everything - even if you may think it could be a stupid question, or get a stupid answer - because we need people like you, who's not afraid to ask, to learn, and to fail, if it leads to understand something better...

OK, maybe I wrote something wrong, you know, it's midnight here, I'm half drunk, and I'm Italian, after all, so I hope you get the point!

May the force be with you! - and don't forget to apply for the Power User status soon, I'm pretty sure you'll get is before than you are thinking...

[Farstarbuck]

Hey spoRv, thanks for the advice dude and of course I'll be sticking around. I know its not long at all of course and I understand that you guys are a small community.

I just wanted to reach out and I'm glad I have as it has meant discussion around this topic and also let me speak to you all.

You didn't write much wrong dude and its all good my name is Angelo, nothing wrong with being Italian lol.

The Force is all around me my friend ha ha.

[PDB]

Hey spoRv, thanks for the advice dude and of course I'll be sticking around. I know its not long at all of course and I understand that you guys are a small community.

I just wanted to reach out and I'm glad I have as it has meant discussion around this topic and also let me speak to you all.

You didn't write much wrong dude and its all good my name is Angelo, nothing wrong with being Italian lol.

The Force is all around me my friend ha ha.

Glad you are sticking around. Because if there is once place that appreciates your love of LD soundtrack its here (Might be able to get something with that Die Hard track going soon)

Also get ready to kiss your free time goodbye when you get married. And then if you have children.....