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Macinsiders is Dead huh?

 
Old 01-20-2017 at 06:39 PM   #31
bradyr
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Like Chad said, there are a lot of visitors regularly on this site. MacInsiders has a wealth of information that is easy to access and contains a lot of helpful information. There's some unique inquiries made here that many students have concerns with, and you wouldn't be able to find it anywhere else. Even if activity is lower, I don't think it should be closed down simply because there aren't any new posts. If you are looking for a community, go to the facebook group if this site doesn't meet your needs of a community. However, closing down this site doesn't seem like a viable solution to me.

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Old 01-21-2017 at 12:26 AM   #32
trevidk
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As a prospective MAC student, I'd say a personal reason for me not actually posting much is because every question has already been answered. I've stumbled upon threads created this year, and 4 years ago, therefore, the most common questions an individual would ask already have a thread made. Either way, I still think this forum is pretty cool and a good way to connect. People (including me) should use it more

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Old 01-21-2017 at 04:06 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by student2299 View Post
I think the forum is alive and well. It's a vibrant community and I'm glad it was created. Sometimes it really helps to have an alternate source of getting answers to questions from your peers and maybe from people who have already experienced the trials of university.
Thanks Ashley! Glad it has helped you.
Old 01-21-2017 at 04:10 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bradyr View Post
Like Chad said, there are a lot of visitors regularly on this site. MacInsiders has a wealth of information that is easy to access and contains a lot of helpful information. There's some unique inquiries made here that many students have concerns with, and you wouldn't be able to find it anywhere else. Even if activity is lower, I don't think it should be closed down simply because there aren't any new posts. If you are looking for a community, go to the facebook group if this site doesn't meet your needs of a community. However, closing down this site doesn't seem like a viable solution to me.
Thanks Brad. We definitely do get some interesting inquiries that aren't posted to the FB groups. Glad to hear you've found it helpful.

If I were to redesign the site, I would make the articles/tips much easier to search and organize them better. The system that this site is built on is quite old and not built well for articles, as it's more a forum-specific system. Being able to link articles together (we have a lot of 'series' such as our Off-Campus Housing "what to bring" series, etc) which would be nice to be linked together easier, etc.

I may create a new homepage and articles section based off WordPress but then keep the forums alive for discussion
Old 01-21-2017 at 04:13 PM   #35
Chad
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trevidk View Post
As a prospective MAC student, I'd say a personal reason for me not actually posting much is because every question has already been answered. I've stumbled upon threads created this year, and 4 years ago, therefore, the most common questions an individual would ask already have a thread made. Either way, I still think this forum is pretty cool and a good way to connect. People (including me) should use it more
Thanks for the feedback! Great to hear from a prospective Mac student! Hope you choose Mac!

You are correct, a lot of the questions I've seen asked by incoming and 1st year students are usually the same type of questions that get asked every year. Having done this for over 11 years now, there are a lot of repeated answers and threads in here now that answer common questions.

An idea that the original poster had was a wiki-style site. I wouldn't do wiki just because it's an old style of info sorting and easy to delete/vandalize by trolls, but having a Q&A style section that would take the most common questions and sort them easier might be a good idea for a new section Have all those common questions into a large FAQ section so they are easy to find and search. However, it would be nice to keep it in a forum-style where users can add their own answers to that question, because unlike a wiki or simple FAQ, the power behind MacInsiders and the community here is that you get to read answers from a variety of students... which is really great because students experience things in different ways. One answer is usually not the definitive one, and hearing different viewpoints and answers can be a nice way to make up your own mind on how you want to proceed. There usually isn't 1 definitive answer.

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Old 01-22-2017 at 06:09 PM   #36
Frankenseuss
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Chad, I appreciate this site very much. I used it a ton during my undergrad, and referred people to it too. Keep it going man! It's awesome.

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Old 01-25-2017 at 12:20 AM   #37
mitski
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like 4 people (out of literally 100 000s that have been through mac in the time) sayin macinsiders is cool? that isn't cutting it, that doesn;t sell.

RIP
Old 01-25-2017 at 06:35 PM   #38
allanandthera
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BEEEF, I do aggree with points from Mitski, this site has basically zero contributions from users now and that was what really made me not use the site anymore. I checked it now because it was the last thing to check and the last time i logged on and was fully engaged was like 2014.

There are so many things that should change about the site, even the sections that exist now for the different forums are out dated. Why are there no faculty based forums? This is really limited and as a resource just is not as good as facebook due to these factors.

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Old 01-25-2017 at 10:18 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by allanandthera View Post
BEEEF, I do aggree with points from Mitski, this site has basically zero contributions from users now and that was what really made me not use the site anymore. I checked it now because it was the last thing to check and the last time i logged on and was fully engaged was like 2014.

There are so many things that should change about the site, even the sections that exist now for the different forums are out dated. Why are there no faculty based forums? This is really limited and as a resource just is not as good as facebook due to these factors.
that's a gorgeous idea. Have an english dept or anthropology dept. section. They all know the 10 or 15 profs in the program, can swap notes, hell they might even talk about Mead or the relevancy of Derrida or the people that are relevant to what they pay to study.
Old 01-26-2017 at 10:49 AM   #40
Chad
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mitski View Post
like 4 people (out of literally 100 000s that have been through mac in the time) sayin macinsiders is cool? that isn't cutting it, that doesn;t sell.

RIP


LOL. Basing your conclusion on a couple replies to your thread is pretty poor way to judge how many think the site is 'cool'.

Those '100 000s' that have been through Mac haven't read your thread.

Based on your ideas though (thanks for those) I have removed the 'inactive' forums, the new forum list is scaled back and simplified. Do you have any other constructive ideas Mitski for how we can better engage the new students to participate in the forums?

Ideas:
- Poster campaign around campus to bring awareness of macinsiders.com to newer students
- Facebook Ads
Old 01-26-2017 at 10:51 AM   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by allanandthera View Post
BEEEF, I do aggree with points from Mitski, this site has basically zero contributions from users now and that was what really made me not use the site anymore. I checked it now because it was the last thing to check and the last time i logged on and was fully engaged was like 2014.

There are so many things that should change about the site, even the sections that exist now for the different forums are out dated. Why are there no faculty based forums? This is really limited and as a resource just is not as good as facebook due to these factors.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mitski View Post
that's a gorgeous idea. Have an english dept or anthropology dept. section. They all know the 10 or 15 profs in the program, can swap notes, hell they might even talk about Mead or the relevancy of Derrida or the people that are relevant to what they pay to study.


Thanks for the feedback guys! We did try Faculty forums a few years ago, but they weren't active enough to keep them going and they were removed.

I could make Faculty forums right now for each faculty, but it would require students in each faculty telling their profs to tell the students to check it out. Otherwise it won't be utilized.

Any ideas you have for us to get the word out better to students that they can utilize the forums here, I'm open ears!
Old 01-28-2017 at 08:22 PM   #42
GeorgeLucas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mitski View Post
two part critique. There are barely 30 000 enrolled mcmaster students paying tuition. You receive 30 000 views. Yet how many of them truly contribute to a community? If you get that many, and they all don't add literally anything, that is a big problem fam. Why aren't they staying and joining? that is why i initially suggested a wiki, or a yahoo answers. and if that is where you are at, make the wiki. b/c that is what those are for, disseminating info. not community. which is fine. that is great, and a great service you could singularly provide.


if you want something social and real time, we're going to have to think harder

Based on all the new threads I see here:

1% of those views are actual users that discuss things.
29% of those views are people using the marketplace or use the course reviews.
40% are unregistered people who don't do anything (unregistered people, probably prospective students).
30% are bots who attempt to advertise mail-brides and shit.
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Old 01-29-2017 at 03:48 PM   #43
Chad
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeorgeLucas View Post
Based on all the new threads I see here:

1% of those views are actual users that discuss things.
29% of those views are people using the marketplace or use the course reviews.
40% are unregistered people who don't do anything (unregistered people, probably prospective students).
30% are bots who attempt to advertise mail-brides and shit.
That's a pretty good breakdown. I'd say bots are actually a lot less nowadays (probably closer to 5-10%) because there have been a lot of new things implemented to block them over the past year. We switched over to Cloudflare which essentially blocks everyone from countries outside of of Canada known to be spamming, or asks them a verification question before they access the site. E-mail addresses have also been filtered now when registering to avoid the spammers using anonymous mail.

I think the 40% you indicate, those unregistered prospective student group, is the biggest opportunity here. I'd put it even higher at 45-50%. A lot of students find us via organic google search when they are looking for answers to questions that McMaster simply doesn't provide online.

If we put a focus on helping more prospective students this year in 2017, what ideas do you guys have that we could build to help: a) make the site more attractive/accessible for prospective students, b) encourages them to sign up early and start asking questions and joining in on discussions PRIOR to entering Mac?

We already have a first-year/prospective students forum. I have also removed the requirement to have a @mcmaster email when registering (which they wouldn't have yet). We also added a 'NEW? START HERE" navigation button which has resources for prospective/first years.

Maybe better, clearer messaging on the site to welcome them and ask them to sign up? Show them the power of the forums?

If there are any prospective students reading this, please share your thoughts in a reply! Thanks!
Old 01-30-2017 at 09:11 PM   #44
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First of all, you need to rewrite the website engine to enable ability to block all people without McMaster emails. Last time when we experienced a series of spammers posting hardcore pornography, you said that needs to be done, but for whatever reason you didn't. At the very least make it so people can't post any images or links without having like 300 posts, make those bots and spammers work for it.
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Old 01-31-2017 at 06:33 PM   #45
Leeoku
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Forums are really dead unless the userbase continually gives content (ex. warez, video games, etc). Issue with forums is that reddit and wikis have just taken over so unless it has a big base, it's hard to continue generating new users



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