Simon,
I think Justin is on the right track with regards to numbers set against the number of posts/views the site attracts.
I'll hold my hands up and confess to being one of the quieter ones on here.
I'm more of an "Only post when i've something to say" type as my free time is precious and i don't get the chance to get on while i'm at work.
Some of you will know that I'm an Admin/Mod on Maggotdrowning.com. and that takes up a fair chunk of my spare time. I also moderate on another small board and post on another couple, but look in on a daily basis.
My own take on this is that it's probably down to the very nature of the site. The vast majority of anglers out there are NOT Match Anglers, Indeed Match Angling only represents a small part of Coarse Angling as a whole.
For someone coming to the site for the first time via a link or search engine, the name Talkangling may lead them to think that it was a general Angling site. The reality of the situation however is that it is very much an exclusively Match Fishing site.
This is not a problem for those of us that post here, In fact it's probably the very reason that we do post here. For the general Coarse Angler however, they may feel that there is nothing on the site that will be of benefit to them.
The more experienced will probably realise that there are things to be learnt from a Match point of view, but may treat it as a "Read Only" reference forum, for fear of being shot down as a "Numpty" from a match anglers point of view.
I'm sure there are many match anglers out there that treat Carp Forums etc, in much the same way, looking in on bait forums and the like, without ever posting.
With regards to popularity of various sites it's noticable that the ones that attract most people are the ones that cater for a broad spread of angling diciplines.
Match Fishing is probably a minority Interest when looked at with regards to angling as a whole.
For every poster on a site there are probably 10 lurkers,and even those that register may be shy or even intimidated when it comes to actually posting.
Good Sites are those that are constantly evolving to meet their members needs.It's only made possible thanks to the various owners/Moderators/admins etc. who put in large amounts of time behind the scenes, pick up hosting costs etc which inevitably rise as sites become more successfull, some of which can be met by advertising, selling of branded merchandise but rarely are all the costs covered.
The average life of most forum sites is about 6 months from start up to close down, any that exceed this aren't doing to much wrong.The best evolve slowly but steadily,and a site is only as good as it's posters as without them there is no content,and it's content that is the key which in turn attracts more people to the site, so TalkAngling in it's present and previous guise isn't doing to badly at all.
This post is not meant as a critisism of Talkangling in anyway, in fact the site is a credit to Simon, the Moderating Team and the posters who make it what it is, but is meant as an objective look at some of the questions raised from time to time.
wiltshire mafia
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