Haif Has Slowed Down?

[tierwestah]

I mean really. No disrespect intended but i remember in the good old days of 2004-2006, i would be beating down doors to get to a computer to visit HAIF and nowdays, the topics of discussion are very slow.

I even accept the fact that its probably not even by fault of HAIF or its members. I'm thinking because all the exciting projects we discussed are now under construction or fixing to break ground and now we're just sitting back and watching them come to frution. On the flip side I'm more happy about that, seeing that Houston is progressing and alot of projects we'd talk about are actually showing action, instead of pipedreams.

I'll be honest though, things that used to be exciting on HAIF are no longer permitted such as: Dallas VS Houston friendly battles, houstonsemipro's posts, dalparadise VS Montrose 1100 pissmatches, twen2ty se7en vs dalparadise arguments, laughing at Plastic's grammar and other things,. That at least provided a little entertainment and gave a break from the conformed professionalism that the mods have sought after for years.

It's cool though, i know i probably need to grow up and move on but i was just wondering if anyone else has noticed a little bit of slow discussion on HAIF lately?

[Trae]

Yeah, those things were fun. Too bad I can't read 27's comments. He "...." them all.

[editor]

HAIF seems smoother now. Fewer troublemakers. Maybe the posts are being made in topics you're not interested in?

At this time of year in 2005 (the earliest date for which statistics exist), HAIF averaged 3,300 new posts and 268 new topics per month.

Currently, HAIF averages 6,200 new posts and 395 new topics per month.

However, it should be noted that March's new topic count is somewhat lower than it has been in recent months.

Daily reader traffic is at record levels.

Still, I agree that HAIF "feels" slower. I think it might be because some of the griefers have moved on and things are a little more civilized lately.

Any ideas you have for spicing things up around here -- I'm all ears.

[ricco67]

I say we invite tom cruise onto our site by insulting Scientology or making nice remarks about his wife.

it seems to me that things have slowed down a bit, but I expect once rail ramps up and a few other projects get up and going its going it will pick up again.

Who knows, maybe we should also invite Junction jack back again.

[houstonmacbro]

HAIF seems smoother now. Fewer troublemakers. Maybe the posts are being made in topics you're not interested in?

At this time of year in 2005 (the earliest date for which statistics exist), HAIF averaged 3,300 new posts and 268 new topics per month.

Currently, HAIF averages 6,200 new posts and 395 new topics per month.

However, it should be noted that March's new topic count is somewhat lower than it has been in recent months.

Daily reader traffic is at record levels.

Still, I agree that HAIF "feels" slower. I think it might be because some of the griefers have moved on and things are a little more civilized lately.

Any ideas you have for spicing things up around here -- I'm all ears.

I think boards mature and age just like anything else. And by age I do not mean they are dying, just that the tone changes. I have noticed that it feels different (slower and less active) from just a few months ago, and me and lockmat have even IM'd about it.

I have also noticed it seems like fewer people are making more posts. The top 20 for any given day are generally the same folks (Trae, editor, lockmat, houstonmacbro, ricco67, vertigo, musicman, sevfiv, etc.)

[jayshoota]

Even though I am a new member, I have read most the old post for as far back as possible and I think the slow down can be attributed to so much development going up. (Ironically..) If you read them, you notice the majority of the post are about people speculating/arguing/wishing over whether things will actually get built. Now that so many things are in progress, not much of this goes on. Just my two cents...

[ricco67]

Even though I am a new member, I have read most the old post for as far back as possible and I think the slow down can be attributed to so much development going up. (Ironically..) If you read them, you notice the majority of the post are about people speculating/arguing/wishing over whether things will actually get built. Now that so many things are in progress, not much of this goes on. Just my two cents...

You pretty much nailed it on the head. There have been threads that petered out because there was no news or we had come to a general consensus of what is going to happen.

You want some excitement, read the Richmond Rail threads.

[Trae]

Read the Texans Winning, Cowboys Reeling thread in Sports and Stadia.

[NewMND]

HAIF seemed the most active during the "will it or won't it get built" Houston Pavillions debate. People were passionate about that one. Now it's only a few months away from being complete.

[Vertigo58]

Its also pure coincidence.

Most of us post while at work and honestly most companies prohibit such use. Secondly, our work loads are much more strenous and time constraints deter further "playing" on the computer. So it's a combination of things thats all. I try to limit to my breaks and lunch time if tapping into Haif. Not easy, but you get the gist of it.

[travelguy_73]

Perhaps there is a little more competition from other boards? I get on City-data almost as much as HAIF. I rarely post on it, mostly because the "should I live in Sugarland or Kingwood?" posts bore me to tears, but there is probably some impact as many new users might find that board first and feel content just to stay there. City-data and HAIF definitely has cross-posters, but each one seems to have their own exclusive users as well, and so each one limits the others growth.

With that said, I like our current pace...I grow tired of the tit-for-tat that is so common with online forums, and it's been nice around here lately .

[lockmat]

I think boards mature and age just like anything else. And by age I do not mean they are dying, just that the tone changes. I have noticed that it feels different (slower and less active) from just a few months ago, and me and lockmat have even IM'd about it.

I have also noticed it seems like fewer people are making more posts. The top 20 for any given day are generally the same folks (Trae, editor, lockmat, houstonmacbro, ricco67, vertigo, musicman, sevfiv, etc.)

I kind of agree w/ macbro here. I haven't been here as long as a lot of you, but I know much of my beginnings here I did a lot of learning. I'm assuming others have too. And so therefore, less questions are asked, more answers are assumed(which means less posting), and so the discussion isn't needed; the conclusion has already been learned. Also, I don't know if I'm taking the early advice from others or it's become a natural thing, but instead of rushing to respond to posts, many times I just become a reader instead of participating, even though my post count/day may not reflect that. I don't know, I'm sure there's many factors.

But I know within the past year or so there have been spurts of excitment. But sometimes I wonder why certain topics don't get as much attention as I thought they would.

Also, it seems like after 4 or 5, the site activity really goes down.

[ricco67]

I've looked at other forums that are Houston Area based and I have generally didn't like the format and don't seem as "patrolled" like HAIF is and people on here have been more civil over the past couple of years.

[Vertigo58]

I like our current pace...I grow tired of the tit-for-tat that is so common with online forums, and it's been nice around here lately .

Yep!

[crunchtastic]

Editor could tell us this: is there a seasonality thing happening? I know with longer days and good weather, and a bad case of spring fever, I'm spending my time outside and doing other things. Baseball starts Friday, and there's just way more going on socially, it seems. Coming home and logging any more than an hour online feels sort of confining and less fullfilling lately. But I'm fickle by nature. My interest does tend to ebb and flow (not that I don't love the HAIF!)

[Vertigo58]

people on here have been more civil over the past couple of years.

You both get the Oscar for the day for Best comments!

as noted, some of us also tap on other forums like moi, checking out pals in LA and Italia & Espana.

[editor]

There are a lot more readers compared with posters these days. I think part of that is a change in the forum logic. It used to be that if you were unregistered you'd get an extra ad and a big nag at the top of the page asking you to register. I don't mind people just reading, so I removed those elements. Maybe people are less inclined to register and post now because of it. But I'd rather have people enjoy reading the forum than annoy them and make them leave because they haven't registered.

Editor could tell us this: is there a seasonality thing happening? I know with longer days and good weather, and a bad case of spring fever, I'm spending my time outside and doing other things. Baseball starts Friday, and there's just way more going on socailly, it seems. Coming home and logging any more than an hour online feels sort of confining and less fullfilling lately. But I'm fickle by nature. My interest does tend to ebb and flow (not that I don't love the HAIF!)

HAIF used to be very very very seasonal. It used to be that in Summer and around Christmas/New Year the numbers would fall off a cliff. But that changed in 2007. That summer we did better than the regular part of the year. And with the exception of this month, Oct-Nov-Dec was our strongest quarter on record.

I think the seasonality is going away as more and more people get computers in their homes and are less reliant on being at work or school for surfing. Also, more people are surfing with their mobile devices so they can catch up on HAIF when they want. I know I make extensive use of HAIF:Now and I know some other people do, too.

We'll find out in a couple of months in 2007 was an anomaly or not.

[MidtownCoog]

Local politics topics used to keep this board zooming, but local politics have been pretty tame lately.

[TheNiche]

Say, Editor, would you mind posting the specific stats? I'd think that those might be interesting.

Perhaps have a tab just to monitor HAIF traffic with a automatically-updated bar chart showing hourly posts and hits hourly for about the past week. And then another chart showing daily traffic over the past year?

[crunchtastic]

Perhaps have a tab just to monitor HAIF traffic with a automatically-updated bar chart showing hourly posts and hits hourly for about the past week. And then another chart showing daily traffic over the past year?

chart geek!

[ricco67]

chart geek!

<raises hand>

Guilty here too.

I've always been a stat geek, I am always curious about things like that. I monitor my website's stats obsessively every few weeks.

[Mark F. Barnes]

Just what Niche needs, more numbers to play with. You know when he was a kid he didn't get tinker toys, dad gave him a spread sheet and a calculator!

[crunchtastic]

<raises hand>

Guilty here too.

me too. whoever came up with the phrase 'chart porn' had a moment of genius.

to be clear, though, I hate spreadsheets. I'm a language geek and impatient to boot, and love charts only when someone else has prepared them for me! Thank god for all the stats people out there.

[ricco67]

I was absolutely HORRID at spreadsheets. I'd always bribe some poor secretary with a big lunch to do them for me. Which usually was proceeded by some very discrete begging and whining. (it was on an executive floor so I had to show some decorum)

Language geek here as well.

[editor]

Say, Editor, would you mind posting the specific stats? I'd think that those might be interesting.

Perhaps have a tab just to monitor HAIF traffic with a automatically-updated bar chart showing hourly posts and hits hourly for about the past week. And then another chart showing daily traffic over the past year?

Unfortunately, the part of the HAIF software that generates post stats is part of the administration functions. But I'll try to take a screencap and post it here.

[TheNiche]

Unfortunately, the part of the HAIF software that generates post stats is part of the administration functions. But I'll try to take a screencap and post it here.

I do appreciate it.

And Mark, growing up and all through college, the study of math has been the bane of my existence. Math has always been taught to me as something that ought to be fulfilling in and of itself. But it is not. My interest in data is limited to the extent to which I can develop a more sophisticated intuitive understanding of how the world works. The HAIF data, for instance, makes for interesting sociological observation. But I'm not about to run it through a bunch of statistical models so as to derive predictive formulae. Not only would I likely screw up the attempt, but I'd ultimately be familiar enough with the data to be able to explain why such a sophisticated analysis isn't really valid or necessarily relevent.

[TJones]

I don't think it has slowed down. maybe in number of posts, but certainly not in numer of "lurkers". I see over 1000 guests at any given time. I wish some fo them would get a little more involved so we can get some fresh perspectives around here. Perhaps editor can come up with some sort of posts for points system where Ipods or other goodies are involved. I believe it would increase hits and membership, in turn more advertising dollars from our sponsors ??? Editor, what say you ?

[ricco67]

My interest in data is limited to the extent to which I can develop a more sophisticated intuitive understanding of how the world works. The HAIF data, for instance, makes for interesting sociological observation. But I'm not about to run it through a bunch of statistical models so as to derive predictive formulae. Not only would I likely screw up the attempt, but I'd ultimately be familiar enough with the data to be able to explain why such a sophisticated analysis isn't really valid or necessarily relevent.

Mark?

I agree with you overall. One of the reasons why I ask so many questions of my initial clients is so I can (statistically) anticipate their needs. People don't like to think that they fit within a demographic and fall into certain stereotypes. It irks them (to a point) that I can guess what they're going to request in certain circumstances. One even called me "Radar."

I believe it would increase hits and membership, in turn more advertising dollars from our sponsors ??? Editor, what say you ?

Are you high?

[Pumapayam]

Its also pure coincidence.

Most of us post while at work and honestly most companies prohibit such use. Secondly, our work loads are much more strenous and time constraints deter further "playing" on the computer. So it's a combination of things thats all. I try to limit to my breaks and lunch time if tapping into Haif. Not easy, but you get the gist of it.

I had WAY more free time at my last job, and would visit each day and post upwards of 20 posts a day, now, I check in a few times a week, sometimes maybe once, and on a good day, maybe 3 posts.

It's kinda sad, but now that I am so "out of touch" with HAIF than I used too, and I feel less excited about visiting. It is rather strange to feel that way, but I guess the real magic happened when I used the site as a psuedo-chat room rather than a message board.

[Vertigo58]

It would be very easy to find more that would be great additions to this forum. Hundreds maybe thousands! and all right here within a 75 mile radius for Houston and vicinity that is. Be surprised what a few cards, PR and emails can produce. If there is the desire.