200 400 600 700 -- 1,000 members now!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I agree that not having any fresh episodes to discuss seems to have discouraged some people -- not that we've run out of discussion fodder, not by a long shot! But I think there's more to it than that. Even though the forum didn't start until a month after "Reichenbach" had aired in the UK, the discussions went on very nicely then for six months -- but nearly stopped, very suddenly, in August. My husband's uncle, who lives in Wales, once warned us not to come visiting in August, because everyone in the UK takes their vacations then. At this point, I must say I'm willing to believe him!

 

Once a routine is broken, it's often hard to re-establish, and I believe that explains why it's taken a while for things to start picking back up again here. People stopped posting when they went on vacation, then when they got home, they had to deal with all the mail and such that had piled up during their absence, and by the time their lives got back to normal, they had half forgotten about the forum. We've been really glad to see our old friends starting to come back recently!

 

Filming will start in a month or two, true, but it'll be at least nine months before Series 3 airs in the UK -- and possibly even longer before we get it here in the US. Fortunately, we've got some neat new things to keep our interest up in the interim. (For example, I just got my copy of The Casebook, and will be sharing some tidbits from that soon.) And come January, there will doubtless be some sightings of location filming, perhaps with photos to share, and some juicy speculations about what was really going on in those scenes.

 

And, need I remind everyone, we already have six very discussable episodes that we haven't half analyzed to pieces yet!

[SherLOCKED221]

Too right.

 

I didn't think of the vacation thing as I don't take vacations.

I'm always stuck with lots of work.

 

We’ve got plenty to talk about until Jan/Feb next year when Sherlock comes back to the UK!

(I’m assuming later for Americans and Australians…)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sorry, but the January-through-April dates are for the filming of Series 3, which will air in the UK no sooner than next August.

 

But as you say, we've got plenty to talk about in the meantime!

[SherLOCKED221]

Oops. Must have confused my sources!!

 

But still, pleanty to talk about!

[Undead Medic]

There is also the Catch-22 thing, whereby people don't post because there's not much activity, leading to there not being much activity because people don't post. It's a self perpetuating problem.

 

What I'm trying to get across is that if you have been a long time lurker (reader) of these forums and have ever seen discussions that have sparked agreement or even disagreement then don't be afraid to join in, opinions are what this place is about after all!

 

We will honestly welcome your input!

 

[SherLOCKED221]

Agreed Undead Medic.

 

Just post!

All opinions are welcome.

[Carol the Dabbler]

All opinions are welcome.

 

We may not always agree with each other but that's what discussions are made of!

[SherLOCKED221]

True !!

[onthegokc]

Glad to be a new member. On most forums I lurk until I see something that I can add something of value to. I do like the fact that you can "like this". Net feature. It may be a good idea to encourage new members, lurkers to look around and try to click "like this" on a few things they like in order to let everyone know they are here. I know it really made me want to reply and post when someone replied to something I replied to. (say that five times fast) Look forward to many great encounter in the Sherlock Forum.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Glad to be a new member. ... It may be a good idea to encourage new members, lurkers to look around and ... click "like this" on a few things they like in order to let everyone know they are here.

We're glad you're here -- particularly since you've jumped right in!

 

That's an interesting idea. I agree that the "Like" button is helpful. I'm in another forum that doesn't have that feature, and it's very frustrating when I really like what somebody has posted, but I don't have anything to add -- so do I post "That's funny" or "Thanks" or whatever (which may annoy people who are subscribed to get emails when there's a new post), or do I just skip it?

 

Undead Medic, is there a message that people see just before/after they join, that says anything like "You are now able to post"? If it doesn't already say something about the Like button, would the software allow you to add that? Encouragement might help, at least with some people.

[onthegokc]

Maybe one of the regular members, who have been around for a while, could type up some suggestions on what to do next or areas to detect around in.

 

I am not a "forum" expert and have just been hunting and not really knowing what to do or how to do anything. Ha.

 

But since we are not simply wanting to add members but actually have folks post, like, read, enjoy, it may help.

You may have sent me something in the mail and I missed it or there may be somewhere on the site I was told to go and I did not understand the clue.

This is not a criticism - We all definitely don't want to have this be like a job. This is so relaxing for me. Exploring has been fun.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Maybe one of the regular members, who have been around for a while, could type up some suggestions on what to do next or areas to detect around in.

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you're asking for.

 

 

... we are not simply wanting to add members but actually have folks post, like, read, enjoy ....

 

Yes, exactly! We've been gaining roughly one member per day all along, but the vast majority either never post anything at all, or else post once or twice then are never heard from again. Maybe they continue to read the forum (which they are certainly welcome to do), but that doesn't help keep the forum active. So the question is, how do we either activate more of the members we already have and/or make ourselves known to the type of people who would naturally be active members?

[onthegokc]

Emailing direct questions, opening conversations with them on their likes or dislikes, communicating with them in the forum. Offering advice to a member. ( you mite like visiting this forum to talk about...), liking some of their posts, replying to a post directly. Asking them their opinion. etc. Just some ideas.

[SherLOCKED221]

I have tried to get some more members to the Wire in the Blood forum for awhile without success. (See below at my Signature!)

I guess somehow I'm not reaching those people??

[Carol the Dabbler]

While we were chatting away, we failed to take note of another milestone -- we now have over 400 members, and a bit sooner than anticipated. Our rate of increase appears to have increased a bit, up to something like 35 new members per month.

 

[Undead Medic]

I was considering making a post here the other day when I noticed that we had 404 members...

 

 

Too geeky? 404: Members not found!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Geeky for sure! Error code from somewhere? Oops! Yes, I see that was a link. Thanks!

[aely]

Hee!

[SolitaryCyclist]

Interesting, I came to this forum in search of thoughts on how Sherlock survived his fall from St. Barth's...and it made great reading! I think most folks lurk at first to get a feel for the type of conversation; no one wants to look foolish. I'm usually a lurker, but not this time. I think because of the friendly tone of all the discussion I read before posting.

[Undead Medic]

Interesting, I came to this forum in search of thoughts on how Sherlock survived his fall from St. Barth's...and it made great reading! I think most folks lurk at first to get a feel for the type of conversation; no one wants to look foolish. I'm usually a lurker, but not this time. I think because of the friendly tone of all the discussion I read before posting.

 

That's exactly the vibe we're going for. Some forums can be very intimidating for new users, and I very much wanted to avoid that.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you made the step into posting.

[Alice Holmes]

This is...so exciting, we have so many members now.

[CSIBakerStreet]

510 now. Goodness. Are this many people REALLY that interested in ME? Can't say as though I am surprised.

[Carol the Dabbler]

That's great -- thanks for noticing!

 

I'm not surprised either, though perhaps I should point out that they're interested in you AND John AND Greg AND Molly AND ....

 

[CSIBakerStreet]

Psh. It's called the SHERLOCK Forum, not the Sherlock John Greg Molly... Forum

[Carol the Dabbler]

A mere oversight.  Oh, and Mrs. Hudson too.