New Poll/Discussion

[glaszkaleidoscope]

I'm interested in how others feel about our membership. Even though there are 973 members listed, I've only ever seen a few making comments. Maybe they are just watchers and speak no English/American?? Please vote on the recent poll. Thanks, Dave

[antiques-in-nj]

I believe the mewmbership list is a product of alot of people signing up over the years and either have lost interest, are not on ebay anymore, or just are watchers.

[thrushantiques]

Would it be possible for a moderator to remove members that haven't visited in over a year? That seems a reasonable time frame...?

[tornado-lynn]

This is currently being discussed by Leaders and Moderators of many of the eBay groups. One of the concerns we have about deleting Members is that there is an eBay glitch where a Member's last visit doesn't always update. I've personally seen poeple posting in my various Groups, and when I go to the Members list their last visit may show as months or even > a year ago! I'd hate to remove someone who visited ... even if only to lurk. There is no rule here that says you have to post to remain a member, although some Groups do have that a requirement. I do periodically go through the member roster and remove names that are NARU'd (Not A Registered User). * See the new Discussion: Lurkers becoming Posters. I ran this at my Trivet Group, where we have about 350 members, but only about 5% are active at any time. Lynn :x

[glaszkaleidoscope]

Seems reasonable to me also, but the poll says we have a difference of opinion.

[tornado-lynn]

The other thing debated by the Leaders & Moderators of eBay (we have a private Group): Who & what does it hurt to have all those possibly inactive names remain on the roster? It's not like we have dues to collect, refreshments to provide, or a hall to rent for meetings. Lynn :x

[glaszkaleidoscope]

True, true. However, it might be intimidating to some to see such a large number. Maybe that's why they're lurking and not posting. But that's YOUR new discussion.

[tornado-lynn]

Some Groups, where this issue bothers the Leader, Mods, and/or Members, have elected to make their group PRIVATE. They then delete all the Members who appear to be inactive, sending them an open invitation to ask to rejoin if they were deleted in error. Lynn :x

[tornado-lynn]

Also, the number of Members active at any one time seems to be about 10-15, regardless of the size of the eBay Group! My trivet group has 350+ ... we have almost 1000 here ... and about the same number are active. Weird. Lynn :x

[glaszkaleidoscope]

But if you make a group private, how can Joe/Josephine average ebayer join?? Dave 🙂

[tornado-lynn]

They go to Community/Groups, find Antiques Anonymous, and click on: Request to Join Group. Then the Mod or Leader accepts them, and eBay generates an email saying they're in. They can also be Invited. Lynn :x

[glaszkaleidoscope]

Does Joe/Josephine average ebayer know that? When I first started on community just a month or two ago, I saw "private" and figured they were snobs. But even if I had wanted to join, I didn't know I could.

[tornado-lynn]

Actually, I don't think the average eBayer even knows that Groups exist at all! ~~~~~~~~~~ With the exception of a few Private Groups that say they are not accepting new Members, they all have a "Join Group" button to click, just like the Public Groups do. The only difference is that in a Public Group you gain entrance immediately. In a Private Group you get a message that you will be contacted, and thanks for asking to join. ~~~~~~~~~~ Lynn :x

[countrychick60548]

I found you guy's just out of curiosity. Clicked on it and easily joined. I didn't have any problem at all. It may appear to look "clicky" but that's only because the same people respond over and over. If there are that many members who don't want to participate, then I guess that's their choice. As a new member only a few months old, once I participated, I never felt that it was "clicky", just that the same people would respond because they're an active part of this group and enjoy each others company/comments. That's just my opinion. I personally think that all of you are FANTASTIC and have actually learned a thing or two about antiques, and probably more than i needed to about some of you - LOL!

[antiques-in-nj]

I agree, I believe that there are people who just read the posts and many people are not even looking anymore because its not for them and did not delete themselves. When i joined here the group looked dead. I almost left and never came back. Its just the last few months its picked up. I belong to the art glass group too and its been almost dead since i joined. Its too bad :( There are groups in Yahoo. I belong to the art glass shaker group and its totally dead. I write for their newsletter and you dont even get any comments. its strange. Sometimes i just want to forget it all :( Not here though.