Hi all, I have missed a few opportunities to engage with people who have raised there own questions about the same regiment as my grandfather. i have tried to send them messages via the "start a conversation", and posted responses to their threads, but no luck with getting a response from them due to inactivity (as their posts were made last year or before). Are there any other ways of contacting people, perhaps sending them a notification via email? Regards, ian
Starting a Conversation should send out an email notification, although they may have opted out of that.
ian, I looked this week at thread and there was no sign of any responses to new members. That can happen and is probably discouraging for them, hence they rarely return. Perhaps, new members take time to "flag" a thread as of interest. I know it can take time to do - at the start - and the new members email address changes. I have had a good "hit" rate in my time here with emailing inactive or absent for a year plus members.
I did wonder a while back whether it would be workable/useful to have a dedicated thread where members simply post once to list units/regiments/formations/theatres in which they have particular knowledge, expertise or materials. No doubt for some people, that entry could be very long, but new researchers could be pointed towards that thread and search that thread alone for potential contacts when a general forum search has proved unsuccessful. I've included my main interests are in my signature line, but I think that's invisible to those viewing the mobile version of the board. As it is, success often relies upon a regular member spotting an enquiry from a new arrival and happening to recall which other members have associated interests. It does generate some success, but I think we could all agree its imperfect.
Speaking personally, I came here some time ago when we were going through difficulties of retirement. There must be many people like this who need a new interest It takes time to acclimatise. My concern now is for new members as I feel for them. They are often in a strange new world. Many on here have been here a long time and many are set in their ways. I try to encourage new members and feel duty bound to explain to them how the various systems work, such as applying for a Service Record. I tell them that it is all up to them as I feel that I might come across as pushy, I appreciate how dedicated the regular members are. I am not very good at typing and my mind tends to wander. I often overstate things and need to go away and come back to edit. My background convinces me that people need time to absorb advice and make decisions in their own time but my past training tells me to give them enough good information and advice to make them want to come back. Lastly remember that all of this goes out on the global internet. Not everyone reading it is ex-military or a WW2 researcher. Things might be taken out of context.
True CL1 but not sure that I should click Like! Perhaps it should read Agree or something less direct.
There are many people who join and are one hit wonders Possibly they find out exactly what they want first time or life takes over and they find another interest Others stay longer and again other things takeover Then there are the anoraks who are here for the long term One hit wonder or long term it all helps the forum tick along We do send out a message for new members if they have a query on a post and we have a good success rate
It is what it is. We can't/won't share people's registered contact details. People die, wander off, forget they've joined, storm off, etc. etc. Sometimes passed on a message via forum email in the past so the person can choose to get in touch, but now think that's probably a bit dodgy under GDPR and it sometimes consumed a lot of time when requests piled up Notifications indeed on by default but people use secondary/dump emails for sites they don't yet know, and do indeed switch off email notifications. I did shortly after joining as it got a bit silly. Sometimes the wheels grind slow too. Definitely had people getting a response a long while later. Sometimes worth Googling usernames as they might be more active/available on some other platform or soshul meeja. I'm sure if I started to send out mass update emails like many forums do we'd improve 'retention', but I refuse to do that as I see it as a form of spam & think if people want to engage they will without any chirpy nudging. 'Check out what you've missed on WW2Talk!!'.... Urgh.