Lost it's mojo?

[Egg Beaater]

What do people think, has AFO lost it's mojo? Wasn't so long ago you could see a dozen or so topics started each day with plenty of replies and helpful advice. Now it looks like it's dwindled to a few hardcore members and a couple of new ones breezing in and out.

Even a week after the 'best event of the year' winter camp there has been no official report or acknowledgment of sponsors and others who have donated prizes.

Thoughts?

[muzz]

This forum has lost it's mojo for me when I had to pay a membership to list items for sale.

I once contributed often with reports and advice, as well as selling stuff.

I now view this forum as a take only site, where your expected to write reports offer advice, as well as cough up cash to post items for sale. This philosophy does not sit very comfortably with me.

Fair enough that businesses pay for the privilege to advertise their company or to advertise stuff for sale.

A way that funds could be raised is by having items for sale from the site. I remember the brag mats from last year, which I bought were reasonably priced. There are many products like brag mats that are easily procured in bulk at a low price that can have forum and sponsors info posted all over them. Another example is a fishing shirt, this also brings mateship into the equation as people out fishing would recognise the shirt and be inclined to have a chat.

Just my two cents, however I reckon that a few people would agree with me.

Muzz

[Egg Beaater]

Mate from what I have seen I agree. Been told there used to be shirts, beanies, stickers all for sale.

What happened?

[AFO]

I now view this forum as a take only site, where your expected to write reports offer advice, as well as cough up cash to post items for sale. This philosophy does not sit very comfortably with me.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion, but we hope people don't perceive AFO as a 'take only' site. We have invested thousands of hours into this site over the last 9 years for no monetary gain. Any money we have raised has gone back into the running of the site. Over the years we have tried to find a balance of keeping the site friendly, free and enjoyable whilst also being able to pay for itself. To do this we have tried a variety of different things like selling shirts, brag mats, membership, sponsorships and advertising etc

There is no expectation for members to write reports. This site is for all to enjoy and there are many that are happy to sit back and read posts and reports, while there are others keen to post reports and photos. We would hope people would like to participate as we feel that makes a richer community, but it is totally up to the individual and always has been.Also, the concept was not to 'cough up' cash to post items for sale, it was to be able to provide a free site to use and enjoy, and only limit the posting of items for sale to those that have given back to the site, either through participation (paying with points they have earnt) or through money. This was the general concept and one we thought fair, as we were also getting members annoyed at people signing up to only post items for sale.

We are always open to ideas

[Luvit]

I believe it's a great platform and it's up to the members input to make it interesting. It may simply be that not as many people fish over winter and the posts are down.

I could not attend this winter camp due to work commitments, however, I attended last years winter camp and met many members who I now have regular contact with. I now fish with them and share information.

I think it's what you make of it.

[rayke1938]

Egg Beaater it is normal to take some time to post an official thread for any AFO event.

The people who run this site also have families and also have to work for a living as well as devote countless hours upgrading and running the site.

re the items that have been for sale I think that they have been a bit disappointing for the site.

There is a lot of work involved in collating orders, getting items made for very little return, and the forum owners left holding stock ( They have to fork out the capital)

The forum is run on a shoestring depending on a little income from some loyal advertisers/supporters and some infrequent donations.

All the monies for the winter camp went to Sports Tuition with the forum taking nothing.

I see nothing wrong with asking members to kick in a couple of bucks to advertise.

Hang in there put up some posts and contribute and attend one of the social events.

Cheers

Ray

[getrigged]

Yeah, it might have slowed up a tad,

Might just be low tide, it'll come good again!

[samsteele115]

Agreed, there's always been times where forum activity/reports slows for a bit, but it will pick up again .

I would usually have reported my last 3 trips, except there's been nothing to report.. :blush:

[Egg Beaater]

I ain't no business man, but why would an event be run on the site where it does not financially benefit from it? It sounds like the site runs on the thin side of money so raising funds is not too hard online.

Most websites have an online shop which serves a number of purposes. It let's people browse and buy with no additional advertising costs involved. It gets your business name out in the public with free promotion. Someone is going to display, wear, photograph your business name and what's more they paid for the right to do it.

Yes it means keeping a small quantity of stock on hand but with smart purchasing and pricing for every product you sell should buy you another replacement when it's sold is pure profit.ie 100% retail mark up.

[max pwr]

I'm not having a go at you mate but it does strike me as somewhat ironic that this thread regarding lack of mojo due to a perceived downturn in activity on AFO has been started by a user with a grand total of 22 posts .

[Angus]

I have avoided weighing in in order not to drag it out but oh well...

Merch: We did put together an order of shirts and the end of last year and 4 sold. With a min order of 20 to the company this was a relatively disappointing result but we have never been inclined to force self promotional merch but rather respond to demand. We would like to have more in the shop and will organise it when we have some initial capital to do so and the time to assure we get the goods right (historically speaking this is not as assured as one might think). P.S. The Brag mats we had made were actually NOT cheap and were only affordable to members as so many sponsors subsidised the cost. These were also not particularly good sellers. I do have some left over shirts from the aforementioned order and I will inventory these asap and get them up.

Why run an event that does not generate profit: For the members and admittedly because I thoroughly enjoy attending. While this may seem unbelievable to some this site has always been an altruistic pursuit with little hope of ever paying back what the owners have put into through both time and money. Does this worry me? Not at all. If AFO closed tomorrow I have a few dozen mates I would not have without it and my life has quite literally changed courtesy of the opportunities and experiences I have gained through membership here. I would not trade that for a few grand. I would elaborate by saying that one of the greatest ironies is that any little group of haters that has ever had a dig at the site would never have come together without it.

New topics: Agreed they are down and it is a shame but it is on the community to strengthen itself. I do see A LOT of Facebook pictures go up by members that do not become reports which is a shame. I have actually spoken to other forum owners (fishing and other) and there is a feeling with the growing nature of groups etc on Facebook it has killed a bit of the forum vibe.

Why did it take me a week to get an official report of Winter Camp up: With humble apologies ill inform you that as well as working full time, I study full time at night and run a business on the side. Last week I had 4 nights of meetings until at least 9:30pm after 6:00am starts. Sympathy not needed but understanding that I will squeeze in what I can when I can is requested (and this most certainly goes for webby as well).

For Sale Posts: The ironic thing was this was surveyed and the overwhelming majority of members supported this move. Members not flooding the For Sale need not pay anything and if you are selling items on a regular basis, well then a small fee should be acceptable. Additionally this has certainly stopped the old trend of signing up, selling 20 things flooding the recent topics stream and disappearing. Also for the record the VAST majority of members who took this membership used points to purchase it as the design was always intended to not financial hamper active members.

In short, lets fish. Use the forum how you want but if you want to see it prosper help it to do so, or do not complain Ultimately if it has become a hard core group of loyalists that get along so be it. There are far worse fates.

Angus

[Old Scaley]

I first became addicted to this site in 2008, and since then it has had some very active times and some quiet times. Some of the high activity times were driven by new members who were keen to share their ideas and fishing successes. Unfortunately for some of them, egos became more important than the community and the moderators were forced to step in, with some being banned (just like the other forums). Some of their mates then stopped posting as well. Usually these quiet times don't last too long and new members step in to fill the void.

I have found that the owners are very open to new ideas and have done a great job to keep this forum going and bring people together. I have learnt heaps from people on this site.

Maybe another reason that the posts are down a bit is because the fishing has been pretty quiet in the bay and the Brissie river this year. I was talking with the fisheries guy doing the survey at the port ramp yesterday and he said it has been a very quiet year and even the pros are not getting their usual catches. I did manage a couple of good flatties yesterday and will put up a post tonight once I download the photos but I have had more than my usual share of donuts this year.

[John]

Small footnote, yes it is also encouraging to see a healthy amount of forum activity and so we will be working on trying to boost the site in this regard. We are open to ideas and may put up a survey in the not too distant future to assist us with that.

In anycase, if you have been on a trip or do have a question, we hope members want to write a post as it is super quick and easy and always interesting to read for other members.

[demarc]

New topics: Agreed they are down and it is a shame but it is on the community to strengthen itself. I do see A LOT of Facebook pictures go up by members that do not become reports which is a shame. I have actually spoken to other forum owners (fishing and other) and there is a feeling with the growing nature of groups etc on Facebook it has killed a bit of the forum vibe.

This ^

It's annoying. I like writting and reading reports. I've noticed the slow down, but then when I chat to mates who use Facecrap all the reports are there. It's sad, and another thing Facecrap has killed.

The BBS guys would of said the same thing bout forums... Same with the gopher guys about WWW...

[old mate]

what Ant said below

[Surfingant]

The forum has its ups and downs, people don't just fish, everyone has other commitments. If you want to see more then how about posting a report of your fishing adventures and try to drum up some activity that way? I don't report much any more myself as frankly there hasn't been much to report on, hopefully that will change soon. As for selling on the site, I know I haven't had to pay anything, I've used points accumulated from my 5 years of activity here, as have many others so I'm not seeing the problem.

There have been some good reports put up in the last few days, have you bothered to hit the thankyou button or leave a quick reply? Even something as simple as that makes people keep on reporting. Pot, kettle, black comes to mind.

[crazywalrus]

MOD Note: We have accommodated you and indulged you enough. You write as though you have more familiarity with the site than your 4 months on the forum. There are plenty of people on here that have an angle or are old members returning with a new account. Let this go and get on with contributing in a positive manner. You have been answered by admin and other members.