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A few of us pop in now and then to keep it on the front page. In a way it's a bit sad since even logging in once a month to check on it is overkill.

 

HC just doesn't seem to know what to do with the forums or attract more users to it. That or at least such with the bass forum.

 

Is there anything you think HC can do to attract more participation? Regarding the Bass Forum specifically, there's little the site admins can do about a core group who abandoned the site years ago for their own essentially private forum. I saw and felt the dynamic that was going on then, and it wasn't pretty. The forum wasn't welcoming to anyone who didn't toe the line a few members drew. So when the core members left, there weren't others lurking who could jump in to fill the void. The fact that some of that core were mods was really disappointing, as they allowed the forum to get to the point where people could be shouted down and pushed out.

 

But that's past and it's done.

 

A forum is about its members, and the attraction is discussion among your peers. If you start posting something about bass, maybe people will join in.

 

HC was saddled with lackluster ownership (we all know GC's financial woes) and IT vendors who had no clue how to set up a high-traffic forum architecture, which resulted in several failed system "upgrades". Hopefully Gibson can get the technical side of things sorted. I know that if the site would run well on portable devices we'd have a helluva lot more exposure and resulting traffic. But I'd be happy if the basic web platform had the functionality we once enjoyed.

 

So there's work the site can do, and work the members can do.

 

Just my two cents and the view from my seat, and I welcome differing opinions, and especially any constructive suggestions to get the place jump-started.

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Is there anything you think HC can do to attract more participation? Regarding the Bass Forum specifically, there's little the site admins can do about a core group who abandoned the site years ago for their own essentially private forum. I saw and felt the dynamic that was going on then, and it wasn't pretty. The forum wasn't welcoming to anyone who didn't toe the line a few members drew. So when the core members left, there weren't others lurking who could jump in to fill the void. The fact that some of that core were mods was really disappointing, as they allowed the forum to get to the point where people could be shouted down and pushed out.

 

But that's past and it's done.

 

A forum is about its members, and the attraction is discussion among your peers. If you start posting something about bass, maybe people will join in.

 

HC was saddled with lackluster ownership (we all know GC's financial woes) and IT vendors who had no clue how to set up a high-traffic forum architecture, which resulted in several failed system "upgrades". Hopefully Gibson can get the technical side of things sorted. I know that if the site would run well on portable devices we'd have a helluva lot more exposure and resulting traffic. But I'd be happy if the basic web platform had the functionality we once enjoyed.

 

So there's work the site can do, and work the members can do.

 

Just my two cents and the view from my seat, and I welcome differing opinions, and especially any constructive suggestions to get the place jump-started.

 

 

Agreed on how the site was being run behind the scenes. The old vBulletin setup wasn't ideal but the migration attempts drove traffic away and the bass forum never really recovered.

 

As to how to increase participation, I'm not sure. You're at least hitting the front page of Google's search for bass guitar forums, though it's a bit lower on the list on that front page. Some SEO fixes may help bring in new users which is likely what the site needs. I think a number of us are holdovers from the older times that check in here and there but are still a bit reluctant to participate much. As for myself, I'm definitely in that group with the addition of not having been able to play bass much for the last couple years. It's no surprise my participation in bass related discussions on any site is pretty low.

 

Beyond that, I'm not sure what's being done to promote the bass forums within bass related magazines, etc. I do see some bass related info on the HC main page so there's definitely potential to get bass players to the site. I haven't specifically checked to see if those articles are also promoting the forums for added discussion or such but that might be a thought if not being done.

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