Happy New Year - lets get this Forum more active in 2020

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 07/02/2023 09:00:50

It has been apparent for sometime now that this Forum is not as active as it used to be. The reasons are fairly obvious with social media being very popular. However I have noted an increasing trend for users to either make contact direct by email with questions on research, etc. that are already answered on our website, or posting their photos on Facebook rather than our Forum. This further reduces usage of our Forum. The latter is a users choice of course but we must try to get new users posting on our Forum to keep it active.

So from today email enquirers on research will be referred to register and post their enquiry on the Forum rather than we have done in the past and responded to them privately. There will of course be some exceptions to this and these will still be responded to as before.

Similarly I would ask those posting on social media sites to additionally post on our Forum. This MUST be done by those posting their own photos. If you see someone with photos you think should also be posted on our website then refer them to our website. Every time you do so you advertise the website and its web address for others to see. This then gets new users to our Forum. If users have any difficulty, or they advise you of this, they MUST be referred to the contact form on our homepage. They can then contact us and they will be helped direct.

By doing so hopefully our great Forum will get more usage and users will also be able to automatically receive notification when a response is made to their Forum posts.

I would also actively encourage users of our Forum to get more involved especially in answering messages they might read. I know many of you do this already and are a great asset not only to our Forum, but our Archive in general. Rather than refer users away from the site with links to Wikipedia check first to see whether we have anything even if its just to put the link to our Research pages here https://www.commandoveterans.org/ResearchAdvice

Best Wishes in 2020 to everyone.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 01/01/2020 21:03:11

It is a fact that for some years many people now prefer the social media to internet forums and even some, once popular, networking sites such as Facebook & Twitter are, in turn, losing their popularity to Whatsapp, Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest etc...

This is not just impacting on the CVA Website Forum but across the Internet and on most website forums - on all topics...
However, I've said for many years that I believe the CA Facebook Group is a very useful tool for the CVA Website and both Website and Facebook Group should work together - sharing information and feeding each other...
I still strongly believe there is a place for a Forum on the CVA Website and will continue to support the CVA Website resolutely.

For quite some time now I have referred this Website to people posting on Twitter and on the various military/veteran Facebook Groups and Pages, and I invariably added a link(s), to the Website Forum and the Gallery, in the Facebook posts as part of my response to a query.
There have been days when I posted those links three, four, maybe, five times in one Group/Page...
I have also asked people on Facebook etc., if they would post photos on the Forum for inclusion in the Gallery but, in most cases, they asked me to post on their behalf... Having done so, I always post a link to the Gallery to show the poster his/her photos actually in the Website Gallery.
Unfortunately, circumstances have recently changed and I can no longer post these photos myself, but I still ask for them to be uploaded and then send the owner a link...

Nick

There is absolutely no reason why people who can post on social media cannot visit this online archive and also post their photos and/or information on here. We need to encourage this. This is what they should be advised to do now if they want their photos or information included on this archive. If for any reason they have difficulty in doing so they should be advised to make contact using the Contact Form.

Pete wrote:There is absolutely no reason why people who can post on social media cannot visit this online archive and also post their photos and/or information on here. We need to encourage this.

I, more than anyone else, have always encouraged people to post on this Website & Forum - and still do - but it is a matter of choice! If people are reluctant, for whatever reason, to post on the forum, I'm afraid there is very little anyone can do to persuade them - goodness knows, I have tried!

Is my interpretation of your post correct and you're saying that if people continue to send me photos and information and I forward them to you, they will not be included in the Website?

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 02/01/2020 18:07:25

If they have posted on social media simply tell them from the outset to visit and post on the Forum of this Archive. If they have any difficulty, or they wish to discuss options, they can make contact direct via the Contact Form.

From my first post above

Similarly I would ask those posting on social media sites to additionally post on our Forum. This MUST be done by those posting their own photos. If you see someone with photos you think should also be posted on our website then refer them to our website. Every time you do so you advertise the website and its web address for others to see. This then gets new users to our Forum. If users have any difficulty, or they advise you of this, they MUST be referred to the contact form on our homepage. They can then contact us and they will be helped direct.