I tend to agree with others comments that the forum isn't really "newbie friendly",
If someone comes along with a basic question or one that is fairly common, its not unusual for the comment to be ignored or a really short answer given, you just have to look at the threads and check the answers.
Without offending any particular person, I think more experienced users have understandably moved on from the basics and can find it a bit frustrating having to answer the same questions over and over, and those of us who are newer keepers and newer to the groups, tend to sit back a bit as more experienced members can come across intimidating, eg, I know I'm not the most experienced keeper, but I try to answer questions if I can but I'm also very concious that more experienced members are watching and judging and this can at times make me sit back rather than get involved.
I know we have newbie and FAQ sections but maybe we need to look at streamlining/ highlighting these sections more so that new user go here first.
The threads on heating and eating are really interesting and provide good info, but more people either skip over it, or don't know where to find them.
I know when I got my first python, I found it easier to search online for specifics and general info rather than get info here, now that I'm a little more experienced, I find it easier to navigate my way through the forums and can hold my own a little more with other members too.
Maybe I'm way off but this has been my own personal experience.
That said, there are a lot of really knowledgeable members here, the majority of which are very helpful and easy going just sometimes you need to reach out to them first.
Maybe all we really need is to streamline our forums into more basic groups, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, this might help those who are a little more advanced feel less frustrated with mundane questions, whilst giving newbies a more comfortable experience.
Anyway, that's my thoughts,
Thanks guys, and gals....
A lot of this rings true. I know that I often don't have time or inclination to answer a question for the thousandth time, and frankly, short of being paid, I'm not going to consistently do so. Sometimes I will, generally I won't. Most people in shoes remotely similar to mine will say the same. Nothing is likely to change that.
This does leave basic questions (which as still valid and important) going unanswered, or being answered incorrectly by people wanting to have a go, often giving out misinformation. This leaves someone like me in the position of either leaving someone misinformed and spreading of misinformation going unchecked, or looking like the bad guy who just wants to shoot people down. I used to try to help, but was rewarded with being 'hated for being an arsehole', so now I generally stay quiet and just roll my eyes while scrolling on. If you get punished for helping, eventually the motive to help wears thin.
Definitely, fear of being 'shot down' does prevent some less experienced people from attempted to help. Often this is probably a good thing given that it often seems literally most information being shared is incorrect, and a lack of information is better than misinformation, but this situation is easily remedied by a qualifying 'I'm a newbie and unsure, I may be wrong, but my understanding is...', which allows for much easier correction without anyone needing to look bad or losing face.
Ultimately, it's the job of the moderators to foster a productive and appropriate culture on a forum, and to step in with basic advice when no one else does it. To be blunt, I just don't see that happening on APS. When it was Australia's overwhelmingly largest forum, many experienced people wanted to take it upon themselves to get involved here, despite some utterly hideous people involved in the running and ownership of the forum at the time (I'm absolutely not referring to anyone involved currently or at all recently). These days, APS does not have such a monopoly and will only thrive with passionate, dedicated and smart leadership. I don't see anything actively wrong being done, but the owners/moderators seem very passive, which just isn't going to get much done. Sadly, most of the old timers view APS as... well, they view it unfavourably, largely due to some of the people who used to run it, though they'll say it's for other reasons.
I've run forums, I dare say I've done a good job based on the amount of members and traffic generated, but it's a dirty job you get a lot of abuse for if you do it well, you're constantly managing idiots, being polite and diplomatic to those who don't deserve it, your great work goes unthanked and unappreciated, and any small mistakes you make get held against you mercilessly. Being human, you'll make small mistakes. Switching off my last forum was a huge relief and while I enjoyed it for years, I wouldn't want to go back to it.
Telling members what to do won't make them do it. They need a carrot of some sort. In the glory days of online forums that was generally the dopamine gained from positive responses, but Facebook now has a monopoly on that dopamine stream, so forums need to be very creative to be competitive.
Haha, I'm glad it's not my job. I do think Facebook is absolutely hideous for many reasons and I would like to see Australia have a thriving online herp forum away from it. For reasons described by Wolfgang and others, it's challenging to support this forum, but I do hope APS can reestablish itself in a meaningful way.