I have browsed the various Korat forums in recent days and there seems to be only one that is doing well. It consistently has many posts under many different topics. It seems to be as "busy" now as ever. Why is it KF, which is the forum of choice for ex-pat Koratians?
Hi Taser,
what makes newspapers like "The Sun" popular? Are they popular in general or only among certain groups? Are there common features of those groups?
To answer your question of comparing forums in Korat, Taser, one would have to find a common denominator, get them all at the same level. Can the forum software already be that common denominator or should it rather be the content and purpose?
There are forums people like to use for different purposes. Some get posted to a lot and are mainly read by those wanting to actively engage in conversations like in a chat room, looking for something to answer to. Other forums are used by people to exchange information. With discussions only when there is something to discuss.
The most important feature of a forum in my opinion is its accessibility. That doesn't mean only who can post on that forum but mainly who can find it easily on the web. There is a lot more to a website than just the website itself, it's the connections the site has on the web, its importance. Google for example gives a Page Rank (PR) to each single page on the web found relevant by its criteria, based on the links leading to it, keywords used in the text and more. Links are given on most web sites as recommendations of other sites. but of course there are people abusing that as well by buying links or spamming links to their own site on other sites. But generally a high number of links leading from honorable sites to your site means popularity. So you might have one common denominator in the Page Rank of the domain or even better of the index pages.
Since most forums are banks of information the popularity can also be seen by what is called Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). In today's society most people don't look up a certain website except established news sites anymore but enter a query into a search engine and let the search engine compile a page of useful links to pages on sites including forums where that query popped up. There most people choose from the first page mainly. Maintaining good SERPs that reflect real popularity and usefulness of a website is the search engine's business. So you can trust them more than your own eyes.
You might say the number of page visits a forum records were an indicator for the popularity of the site. When websites are once on the target list of a spambot they will be visited by that spambot over and over again, even if the bot can't get through to place something. But its attempts will be counted as page visits. And there are lots of bots like that on the web. If you don't try to at least limit their accesses of /register/, /help/, /search/, /search2/, /login/, /profile/, /who/ etc. by a robots.txt file in the root directory you live with the illusion of many visitors, most of them so-called "unseen traffic".
So I cannot agree on your evaluation of KF being "the forum of choice for ex-pat Koratians" generally. The group that is chatting over it and their degree of activity isn't representative for expats in Korat.
I'm thinking it is because it was the first, therefore it got the member base in the beginning, which enabled it to "capture" the market early. More members would equate to more help, opinions, experience and variety, which in turn makes the forum a better choice for new members. Snowball effect.
Agree, disagree or have no idea?
KF had a purpose at the beginning. It was born out of frustration over TV's mods and the desire to form a Korat Expats Club where people can get together to improve our situation as expats in Korat. It totally failed in that. And there are hardly any left of the original group. The admin made sure of that!
I cannot imagine a "new beginning" of that forum with the reputation its administrator struggled to acquire by his "undercover actions" (He knows what I mean) and his banning practice, i. e. the hounding-out of dissenting voices, and the still unanswered question about the revelation of passwords to people abusing them. It is well understood that generally an internet forum cannot be a democracy, but the internet in Korat is used mainly by people permanently living in or being affiliated with Korat. That basis should permit at least some democracy and an increased confidentiality of the admin.
The internet use in general has recently undergone some drastic changes resulting from the lack of protection of personal data and abuse. Far less people will trust an admin with their real personal data fearing abuse by him or his close friends. And since personal data can be found out in many cases even without one revealing them oneself people changed their way of using the web, now desperately trying to protect their identity. Only a very few actual people still enjoy playing Hide-and-Seek on the web, risking to be taken advantage of by fraudulent or mentally sick people.
The question should be "How to play a new game in Korat (or at that forum) without conceit and deceit, with understanding and decency?"
Criticism alone doesn't change anything. Openness to criticism and application of new (and old but formerly rejected) ideas could!
