Are you a viewer or a commenter?

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Permalink Reply by Adam R. Cox on May 3, 2008 at 11:46am

No Comment.

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Permalink Reply by Adam R. Cox on May 3, 2008 at 2:11pm

I am right there with you Carol. I am a noisy ones. However there are a lot of people on here that to respond/post that can put into words the thoughts that I have a lot better.

Though, because I know Andy (just from here) I do like his post's and love to put in my two cents worth as you can see.

There are a few people who have been here awhile that do post very good points/comments who are quiet. I suspect they are busy growing the business. I was active for awhile, but that was when I was off the road. I am back on, so I do not get time to respond like I used to.

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Permalink Reply by diane on May 4, 2008 at 9:12am

Carol, thanks for the input. Perhaps we should rename Discussions to Ask a Question?

As for the blog links with no commentary, I agree, they're lame. We could make it a community policy that if you link to an article in a blog, then you need to say something about the article up front. Otherwise, deletion.

We also need to do a better job policing those people who post full articles without permission. I think members must see it so much on the Web, they don't know that it's wrong. Carol, if you have any interest in helping me police and manage the site for this... please let me know. The FohBoh team is pretty small right now and can't be online all the time, so sometimes we miss these things.

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Permalink Reply by Don L. Stull on May 3, 2008 at 4:20pm

Always the intellectual, Jeffrey. I love it. Just discovered the Pareto Principle a couple of months ago. Tried it on the guys I work for and they looked at me like I had two heads or had lost the one I had. I guess the Fishbone Diagram didn't help any. Keep up the good work, I always enjoy your posts

Now to the topic at hand. It's kind of like a menu, 20% is responsible for 80%. This is my first post on this forum. Being a member of a group doesn't mean that you have to participate to belong. Some may be shy about commenting, feel that what they have to say is either unimportant or already said (perhaps, much like this comment). I've just returned to this site since my job takes up much of my energy and haven't had much to say. I've just finished reading two articles and comments that really spoke to me but I didn't respond (feeling stupid this evening). I feel like I do have something to offer on those topics it's just not happening tonight. I'm not sure the question is why do some comment and some don't but why do some? Comment that is. This should provoke some comments.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Fogle on May 4, 2008 at 12:10am

I think people may be intimidated. Whether it is by someones title, experience or the fear of feeling stupid, people don't want that feeling. At the same time I have heard that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Some of us just think that we need to use our mouth twice as much to make up the difference.

-People may be trying to learn and not teach.

-10% of the people do 90% of the work.

The cliches go on.......

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Permalink Reply by diane on May 4, 2008 at 9:28am

Andy, you bring up a very interesting set of questions that we've been wondering about ourselves here at FohBoh. Recently I came across some great information from Forrester Research on Social Media that studied this very phenomenon. They called it the ladder of participation:

Creators = 12% (people who blog and create content)
Critics = 11% (people who comment)
Collectors = 7% (people who use rss feed readers or social bookmarking)
Joiners = 15% (people who create profiles and connect to each other)
Spectators = 23% (people who surf and read)
Inactives = 67% (people elsewhere living their lives)

The numbers add up to more than 100% because many fell into more than one category. So if the average blog post is getting 10% response, that's pretty close to the social networking standard. What's interesting now is to see what posts are getting the most views and the most comments... it tells us what members and lurkers are really interested in.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda Hite on May 4, 2008 at 1:38pm

We should continue to encourage "newbies" that make their first post by engaging (commenting) on their blog/discussions they'll be more likely to post and/or comment again. The people engaged in the discussion here do a great job at that! I would guess that fohboh is one of the first SN experiences for most of the members here.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Totillo on May 5, 2008 at 9:17am

Does anybody find it interesting that all the usual suspects are the people that commented on this topic?

Also, It is absolutely an intimidation factor, or comfort zone issue for people. Just because it's the internet, there are people on this sight who are intimidated by the fact that their boss, co-workers, or friends are going to read this and judge them for their content. Remember, this is not an anonymous site, and not everyone on here has the education, experience, eloquence, courage etc... to comment or post.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy McMahon on May 5, 2008 at 1:43pm

I too find the line between blogs and discussions a bit blurred. My interpretation is that blogs are commentaries, much like an op-ed, that are open to but not dependent on response. I look to the discussion area to be more of a place to post questions and situations in hopes of getting answers and new ideas by way of response.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda Vroom on May 5, 2008 at 4:21pm

When I first joined this site I have to admit that I was quiet and basically 'took it all in'. Until I found people I knew and topics that I knew I had insight on.

I feel that most people will respond to a blog or discussion on here once they are comfortable with the content they are seeing or there is something that strikes them deep from within that pursuades them to respond or start a discussion.

Think about how quickly this site has grown...at first it was easy to keep tabs on what was going on. Now, I have to have the time to really dedicate to this as it has gotten more complex.

There isn't anything wrong with sitting back and taking it in. But think about how much better this site would be if EVERYONE actively participated the way some of us do!!

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