I've been trying to figure out ways to try and lure people back to the Hideout so they actually start using it again, otherwise it seems kind of pointless to keep this site and continue paying for hosting and upgrades and deal with keep it all maintained and running smoothly. It's SO difficult to get people off of other sites like Facebook and Twitter and come use this place. So I thought I'd ask anyone out there amongst you who IS checking in and reading this site from time to time... What do you think we need to do to bring some traffic here? We have the Hideout Comps and the GPPR podcasts, and those obviously attract some people, but what more can we do? We've been trying to utilize our Facebook page, where we have an astounding 37,000+ likes and followers (compared to only a little more than 8,000 actual members here, and most of those are MIA), thinking that promoting this forum, our FREE Classifieds section, dirt-cheap ad rates, etc., but nothing seems to work to get people to come here and check in regularly enough to keep it alive.

So yeah, any thoughts on this subject are appreciated.

Thanks,

kopper

Would you say that the previous site we were using was better and/or people used it more? I guess I am looking for a comparison. Would you say that this host was better, comparable, or worse than that last place that hosted it?

In all honesty, I liked the previous site a lot better and I was more inclined to interact there more often.

I really wasn't looking for criticisms of this site. Like it or not, it's what we have to work with and offers the best of what we want to offer members... a place for them to discuss (forums), share videos, music, etc.

Hey Kopper,

I'm one of these people who are here one day and gone the next for weeks at a time. This is probably mostly due to school and being busy. I've never been on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever is hot these days. I do frequent Terminal Boredom a lot. I even used to be on the old old Garage Punk Message board many years ago. 

One thing I notice here on the forums is there is not a lot of participation. Sometimes I click on topics and nothing has changed for days or weeks. I think maybe narrowing the topics down a bit to be more inclusive may help. Such as music and non-music. Instead of bouncing back between punk, garage, new music..etc. Politics, books, and whatever else could be non-music. Sometimes I don't feel like looking in every thread to see if something interesting is posted, but if I could just look in a couple, I may see something I was not expecting to see and get involved in a conversation. 

I'm not trying to put down the way you have it going on here. I think the site is great and like coming to check it out. This is just an idea, which I thought may stimulate more conversation. 

Also, maybe I am missing this, but didn't there used to be a "trading post?" Maybe a section that was dedicated to the buying and selling of records. People could sell directly to each other via set sales, list their ebay/ discogs pages with records for sale. 

Matt said:

Hey Kopper,

I'm one of these people who are here one day and gone the next for weeks at a time. This is probably mostly due to school and being busy. I've never been on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever is hot these days. I do frequent Terminal Boredom a lot. I even used to be on the old old Garage Punk Message board many years ago. 

One thing I notice here on the forums is there is not a lot of participation. Sometimes I click on topics and nothing has changed for days or weeks. I think maybe narrowing the topics down a bit to be more inclusive may help. Such as music and non-music. Instead of bouncing back between punk, garage, new music..etc. Politics, books, and whatever else could be non-music. Sometimes I don't feel like looking in every thread to see if something interesting is posted, but if I could just look in a couple, I may see something I was not expecting to see and get involved in a conversation. 

I'm not trying to put down the way you have it going on here. I think the site is great and like coming to check it out. This is just an idea, which I thought may stimulate more conversation. 

 

Thanks for the thoughts, Matt! I kind of agree with you that there may just be too many forums here. The reason I set it up this way was because this was the way it was set up originally, back when it was a phpBB message board (which is what you remember). I'll definitely considering narrowing these down a bit, though. I think you make a good point.

Matt said:

Also, maybe I am missing this, but didn't there used to be a "trading post?" Maybe a section that was dedicated to the buying and selling of records. People could sell directly to each other via set sales, list their ebay/ discogs pages with records for sale. 

There's no need for a "Trading Post" group or forum when we offer FREE classifieds! Just click on "Classifieds" in the menu on the left. Same thing... only better.

Thanks.

Personally, I'm like Matt. I'm an on/off user. When I am on the site, I LOVE getting lost in these obscure bands. Some of em are downright fantastic. I would be extremely interested in a FEATURED BAND OF THE WEEK topic or something (if this is already here, I'm sorry and have no idea how I could've missed it other than I'm a convict and a neanderthal). Like include an interview, bio, history, review, maybe a FREE DOWNLOAD???? EH??? I would log onto this site more frequently just to read this post.

It would encourage bands to be active AND maybe bring a little more traffic. Like the band may post on facebook or whatever "Hey, we're the GaragePunk band of the week! Check out this article and dowload a free copy of this song!"

It could be simply done if someone were able to dedicate time to a small column. Just an idea! But still, kopper, love the site! I miss some of the old podcasts, too! Some of em came out in rapid-fire! It was so exciting!!!

køpper said:

Matt said:

Hey Kopper,

I'm one of these people who are here one day and gone the next for weeks at a time. This is probably mostly due to school and being busy. I've never been on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever is hot these days. I do frequent Terminal Boredom a lot. I even used to be on the old old Garage Punk Message board many years ago. 

One thing I notice here on the forums is there is not a lot of participation. Sometimes I click on topics and nothing has changed for days or weeks. I think maybe narrowing the topics down a bit to be more inclusive may help. Such as music and non-music. Instead of bouncing back between punk, garage, new music..etc. Politics, books, and whatever else could be non-music. Sometimes I don't feel like looking in every thread to see if something interesting is posted, but if I could just look in a couple, I may see something I was not expecting to see and get involved in a conversation. 

I'm not trying to put down the way you have it going on here. I think the site is great and like coming to check it out. This is just an idea, which I thought may stimulate more conversation. 

 

Thanks for the thoughts, Matt! I kind of agree with you that there may just be too many forums here. The reason I set it up this way was because this was the way it was set up originally, back when it was a phpBB message board (which is what you remember). I'll definitely considering narrowing these down a bit, though. I think you make a good point.

The easier it is to scan through topics and the less clicks it takes, the more activity there will probably be. 

Matt said:

Hey Kopper,

I'm one of these people who are here one day and gone the next for weeks at a time. This is probably mostly due to school and being busy. I've never been on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever is hot these days. I do frequent Terminal Boredom a lot. I even used to be on the old old Garage Punk Message board many years ago. 

One thing I notice here on the forums is there is not a lot of participation. Sometimes I click on topics and nothing has changed for days or weeks. I think maybe narrowing the topics down a bit to be more inclusive may help. Such as music and non-music. Instead of bouncing back between punk, garage, new music..etc. Politics, books, and whatever else could be non-music. Sometimes I don't feel like looking in every thread to see if something interesting is posted, but if I could just look in a couple, I may see something I was not expecting to see and get involved in a conversation. 

I'm not trying to put down the way you have it going on here. I think the site is great and like coming to check it out. This is just an idea, which I thought may stimulate more conversation. 

 

Also, some of those sections that are at the top, the "last post" or "last reply" is from more than a year ago, sometimes 3+ years ago. I'm sure this gives someone the impression that nothing is going on here anymore. So maybe it should just be "Music" and "Not Music" and then maybe the super organized ones would be the Regional?

If you guys haven't noticed, I went ahead and did away with the segration of eras for the music discussion area, basically moving all of the topics from those forums into this one, which was formerly "Shakin' Street," and is now just simply called "General Music Discussion"... What about that name? Can you think of something better to call this forum? Should we go back to just calling it Shakin' Street, or go with something new? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks,

kopper

køpper said:

If you guys haven't noticed, I went ahead and did away with the segration of eras for the music discussion area, basically moving all of the topics from those forums into this one, which was formerly "Shakin' Street," and is now just simply called "General Music Discussion"... What about that name? Can you think of something better to call this forum? Should we go back to just calling it Shakin' Street, or go with something new? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks,

kopper

Gotcha. I was seeing the old ones in moderator view but I checked the forum page incognito and see how it looks publicly. My personal opinion would be to move the Lounge (non-music) above Regional since Regional is so much longer and it gives it a greater chance of being noticed. If someone sees Regional they'll know to keep scrolling until they find their region of interest. 

Kopper:

Personally i like this better....ie all the music topics in the forum under one header. Makes it real easy to find anything new that i might be interested in. Less clicks and searching hence more participation!

And Happy Belated Birthday Kopper!

I agree, seems eaiser now. Also happy belated! 

I'm hearing your pain Kopper, I dig what your trying to do, I been a member (of sorts) for 8 years,  visit infrequently and never quite get what I wants from here.  I dunno why?  

Perhaps I'm shit at navigating music sites, but I have found none of the evolving formats here easy to negotiate.  I don't particularly like 60's garage or old-school punk and my main concern is finding and sharing the music I likes.  Which is Trash, Lo-Fi, grunge & OMB's. 

anyways I find sites that use Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7 easy to get around.  Yep I'm a PC spastic. Ha!

I really do appreciate what you've tried to do in the last 10 years but I've got no suggestions because I don't know nuthin about shit

I also think it's easy for people to gravitate towards Spotify and the likes (I don't)  I'm still active with SoulSeek and Last.fm.  but I think they are both dying aswell.  I refuse to do Facebook.

good luck!!

Cheers