I'll started a new thread about one common query re: search and old posts vs new post
The 2nd thing for me is that when certain characters detract from the topic with a smart remark that gets jumped on for fun and we go way off, I just stop bothering with the thread. I don't think the intention is usually to destroy interest or deliberate but it has that effect for me personally.
Yes I agree this is often unhelpful (and can be very bad for SEO) in information threads and we will often move that to an off topic section. OTOH some people have said one thing they like about the cafe is the off topic fun.
I don't understand what it costs to run a forum/website and because I actually try to avoid spending too much time online (which is difficult) I don't subscribe to many things.
I will make a separate thread about the costs and our finances of the cafe
My limited knowledge is that Google doesn't like duplicate content - stemming from the days you'd have one page 'saxophone shop manchester' and the same page targeting 'saxophone shop Liverpool'.
Google is a law unto itself. Duplicate content may not be "penalised" as such, just that it is naturally lower down in the search results because two duplicate pages are competing with each other.
Google also likes to see new content, the more active a site, the more relevant it thinks it is.
Well, again I'm not sure. But the more active a site is the more frequently the Google bot might "crawl" it looking for stuff to index. But still, it's the quality of the content that counts most and forums suffer from threads often containing less relevant stuff because they aren't crafted by a professional article writer and there's loads of different people involved. (UGC)
Could you email a questionnaire to members - those who haven't logged in for a while could give some insight into why not.
A huge task, it's a list of 1000s. Many are dead email links and our email provider (Postmark) may well drop us due to it looking like spam.
Café capitalises on promotion of all facets of the saxophone and music arts. Also, due to excellent moderation, it lacks trolling and abusive posts, which I found to exist on at least on one other popular non-social media sax forum.
Thanks yes we always like to moderate fairly and diplomatically. Spam is very very rare due to our
anti spam measures.
Make connections with appropriate people/businesses,
Tricky one. many businesses know about us but most actually make a point of steering clear of forums and suchlike.
Do we not need more subscribers, "Cafe supporters"?
Always nice to have but not a deal breaker.
A solution to this could be a new rule that allows non-English posts as long as an English translation is provided in the same message.
Done!
Do a monthly or weekly listing of gigs/workshops that are happening in the UK/EU that 1: members are playing or attending 2: that non members can promote.
Great but I know I couldn't take on such a mammoth task.
These next two are related and appear a bit contradictory.
Here, a struggling or inquisitive beginner or intermediate, or even one at an advanced level can freely post without derogatory negative criticism, with many who with good intent want to help that person.
That's what we like and encourage.
There's also the fear of admonishment of asking "stupid questions"... especially when coming as a self-taught beginner, I get the feeling that the answers I'll get is, "I should find a teacher to see what I'm doing wrong in-person".
That can happen but in the (maybe more rare) circumstance of when something really can't be answered online. Anyone with those understandable fears would be encouraged to post a video so we get a better chance.
One fear I have is giving an answer that contradicts someone's teacher - there are different ways of doing things which can lead to confusion.
worse still, stupid answers! i remember being told off up here in the past and even accused of tax fraud. live and let live., please.
That should not have happened, if it does please report but you have the right attitude of
live and let live.
I bet participation would increase if there was some sort of easy weekly game or competition to win some sax related material ( mouthpiece, ligatures, reeds and so on)
Yes we could look into that, but quite big thing to organise. And workinging out a diplomatic and democratic way to judge could be the hardest thing.
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