Member participation....

[gzhpcu]

I just looked at the statistics for this forum and saw that there are over 80,000 registered members, but only about a dozen of us are active. Wonder why?

[stotty]

I just looked at the statistics for this forum and saw that there are over 80,000 registered members, but only about a dozen of us are active. Wonder why?

I think forum participation is something you fall into almost by accident. I certainly never intended to become as prolific as I have. I entered the forum searching for help with a student of mine. I received such great feedback about my student and went on to discover there was not only a lot of knowledge on the forum but interesting and diverse viewpoints as well.

I think the forum ebbs and flows somewhat, some periods are better than others, but on the whole it's a great place and we should always encourage newcomers whenever they crop up.

[gzhpcu]

Yes, but still over 80,000!

[don_budge]

Active...?

Yes, but still over 80,000!

Ask John how many of those 80,000 are active and paying.

The forum is what it is. Just as Stotty said. It ebbs and flows. Now there are only 12 or so that are even viewing regularly. It wasn't so long ago it was nearer to 40.

It is tennis in general that has hit sort of a lull. Wait until Federer retires then you will see the edge of the cliff. Even as his relevance has waned so has the interest in tennis.

It took a lot of coffee just to keep me awake for a day at Roland Garros and that was seeing the best men's player in the world and the best women's player. The game is waning. It is on life support. Propped up. Just like some of the bigger economies in the world.

I sincerely doubt that there are 80,000 paying customers here at tennisplayer.net.

[John Yandell]

I wish they were all paying. The difference is between lurkers and contributors.

[klacr]

If all 80,000 were active, would we ask the question why are there so many people and voices on the forum? Just a question.

The forum does has spurts of activity and different voices and personalities. I learn a lot from everyone that contributes and rest assured that if I don't post on a thread, I still read it. To be honest, I wish I had more time to dedicate to this forum and this website.

Interest in tennis does wane from time to time and this forum can reflect that. This forum's traffic picks up around grand slams and other big tourneys. I too wish there was greater participation but I also am aware of people's responsibilities and obligations to areas of their life not called tennis. Life is a funny thing. It's all about balance. I'm as guilty as anyone for not following that.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Funny, if you go under "statistics", you get a number of over 80,000 John. Can you read the forum without paying?

[gzhpcu]

Yes Kyle I know but 81,000????

[stotty]

Maybe some members would like their strokes looked at by the coaches on the forum? Do members realise they can do this? We need to give members an incentive to post then maybe they will get the bug from there.

Kyle gradually worked his way on the forum rather like myself. He went from "now and again" to "all the time". He probably never intended to make a routine of it, as I didn't, but gradually he discovered the sense of community and got the bug.

The byproduct of all this is that all the regular posters have become better writers. Writing 300 or so words per day for years on end seems to have dramatically improved us all as writers. That's got to be a good thing in itself.

[klacr]

I originally came upon this forum as a perk of being a USPTA member. USPTA and tennisplayer.net had an agreement of a free membership. Once I came to the site, I was hooked on reading on the articles. I didn't discover the forums until nearly a year into it because it was all the way at the bottom of the section list and I read systematically top to bottom starting with
"New Issue", then "Advanced Tennis" and so on and so forth.

And yes, I did catch the bug. I felt this site was designed specifically for me. Just so much great stuff on here. I test and certify young pros for the USTA Certification exam and one of my closing statements to the group of new professionals is a plug for tennisplayer.net, paying for the membership and making a great investment in their coaching and teaching career. I did.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

Most people are not builders. Most are not creative. Most are not involved. MOst don't want to help their opponent, but beat him. Whenever anyone posts anything of value here, they usually are not acknowledged for it, so there is no ego reward for all the work typing/thinking/analyzing.

[bottle]

So when they finally are acknowledged, maybe it means more.

[John Yandell]

That 80,000 number had to do with potential subscriber logins. We created a bunch for some of the teaching organizations--but the number was just some arbitrary huge number generated by our programmer. I hadn't even noticed it myself and obviously we don't (yet...) have 80,000 subscribers...although I feel we should if everyone in tennis knew and could appreciate what we have here.

[klacr]

That 80,000 number had to do with potential subscriber logins. We created a bunch for some of the teaching organizations--but the number was just some arbitrary huge number generated by our programmer. I hadn't even noticed it myself and obviously we don't (yet...) have 80,000 subscribers...although I feel we should if everyone in tennis knew and could appreciate what we have here.

AMEN!

Millions of tennis players out there. Serious disservice to their game if they are not part of tennisplayer.net community.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

On the other hand, we don't want a forum like the tenniswarehouse forum either...