Increase site traffic...

Try to offer something that can't be replicated by Facebook. Unfortunately a large number of the membership now prefer the Facebook "fall back" page to the actual site. A bit backward when you consider all of the privacy issues, and a bit of a betrayal from the original stated intention, but there you go, especially when they're using your PL branding.

The obvious solution to me is to try to offer resources not available on FB. One thought would be perhaps to see if you can host a few tools eg:

Maurice has an MPE Calculator. It must cost him to host it. Maybe you could offer to host it on here FOC and block links to / from FB. Maybe link access to active membership over here with posts required within a certain time period.

Tocket had his Colour Calculator, I forget the name. Maybe there's some way of hosting that without the need for anyone to down load Matlab so they can use it as a part of site membership, again on the same conditions as above.

Obviously these ideas have bandwidth implications. However, I wouldn't have though the simple few Kb's of text exchange would amount to very much.

Another way to increase site traffic is to make friends with someone who builds websites for a living and can get your search result to the top of the Google results for free or very little.

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Originally Posted by liteglow

I had a goal, to build myself a RGB.. and I did it. SO what now :)

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That's easy... You build another RGB! :)

Beam rails can be another fun project... Or a lumia rig... So many cool things to do with lasers! (And so little time/money to spend on them, right?)

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Originally Posted by White-Light

Unfortunately a large number of the membership now prefer the Facebook "fall back" page to the actual site.

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I didn't think about that until you just mentioned it, but you're right - the PL Facebook group does seem to get more attention these days. And I think it's because it's so easy to add photos and videos to the posts. (Plus the fact that lots of people are already conditioned to use Facebook on a more regular basis to start with.)

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Maurice has an MPE Calculator.

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I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't heard of this. (Or at least, I've heard about it and then forgotten it...) Got a link?

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Tocket had his Colour Calculator, I forget the name.

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Chroma! :) It's been the topic of more than a few lengthy discussions. But I still use it and find it to be a very useful tool. Hosting it here would be very cool, as it relies on a rather large and overly bloated math library to perform some of the calculations. Spec would have to comment on how easy/hard that would be though.

Adam

Al (White Light). This is an old thread... You knew that, right?

Are you a member of the FB page? If so, you will see that it has had only 10 original posts since the beginning of April, this Forum has many more. Besides that, PL has over 9,000 members, the FB group has just over 900 so I don't think anyone has to worry about the demise of the original forum.

The FB page is still there as fallback, and yes it does get used which keeps it alive. There are many requests to lift the 'fallback' description of the group, but thus far the Admin's have kept the original group description and have now accepted that some people prefer to post there rather than here, a free choice. Facebook is convenient, and I confess that I don't post here on PL quite as often as I used to, however, I do visit a couple of times a week. Occasionally a FB thread springs to life and generates discussion. However, quite often the same thread pops up on PL and generates similar interest quite often from the same members.

The PL forum is and always will be far better for searching for information and long term archival purposes. It isn't a willy waving competition and the two different formats coexist quite happily without you stirring up discontent which doesn't exist.

If Spec wishes to become an Admin of the FB group he only has to get in touch. This isn't about people, names, personalities or web formats... It's about a common love of lasers ;)

Hey Jeremy! :)

Actually I'm the one who resurrected this thread yesterday, albeit more for nostalgia than anything else. (What better thread to bring back from the dead than one which both reveals the origins of the "Clue-by-four" and also contains my very first post ever on PL...) I suspect that Al was just jumping in once he saw that it was active again. Also, Lightglow beat him to the punch.

I didn't mean to demean the Facebook group with my post, and I don't think Al did either. But on the whole, it does seem that Facebook is more popular than the forum. I know that when I log in to Facebook there's usually a lot more new things to look at vs here. Granted, there are lots of laser-related groups on FB, so maybe that is skewing my perception a bit. But I do think a lot of people just prefer the Facebook interface to this one.

Me? I actually like PL better. But then again, I'm also one of the hold-outs for the classic Reddit layout as well. (I *hate* the new interface with a passion!) And I was against Digg 2.0 back in the day too. Call me old-fashioned I guess. :)

I was surprised to learn that there were so few new posts in the Facebook PL group though. I guess I don't pay close enough attention to which group the posts come from when they show up in my feed.

Adam

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Originally Posted by buffo

That's easy... You build another RGB! :)

I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't heard of this. (Or at least, I've heard about it and then forgotten it...) Got a link?

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http://mpe.laserextreme.nl

Cool. Thanks for the link Al!

Adam

Ive seen another forum i am a member of fade , replaced by whatsapp !

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Originally Posted by buffo

Hey Jeremy! :)

Actually I'm the one who resurrected this thread yesterday, albeit more for nostalgia than anything else. (What better thread to bring back from the dead than one which both reveals the origins of the "Clue-by-four" and also contains my very first post ever on PL...) I suspect that Al was just jumping in once he saw that it was active again. Also, Lightglow beat him to the punch.

I didn't mean to demean the Facebook group with my post, and I don't think Al did either. But on the whole, it does seem that Facebook is more popular than the forum. I know that when I log in to Facebook there's usually a lot more new things to look at vs here. Granted, there are lots of laser-related groups on FB, so maybe that is skewing my perception a bit. But I do think a lot of people just prefer the Facebook interface to this one.

Me? I actually like PL better. But then again, I'm also one of the hold-outs for the classic Reddit layout as well. (I *hate* the new interface with a passion!) And I was against Digg 2.0 back in the day too. Call me old-fashioned I guess. :)

I was surprised to learn that there were so few new posts in the Facebook PL group though. I guess I don't pay close enough attention to which group the posts come from when they show up in my feed.

Adam

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Presses like button. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Lasermad

Ive seen another forum i am a member of fade , replaced by whatsapp !

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Yeah this wasn't a go at anyone, least of all Jem who's a good guy :D, just an observation that very few British members ever come here any-more, whilst the FB page has nearly 1,000 members. I couldn't comment on the usage though as I'm purposefully not a member.

In some respects, this forum is a nicer place for the loss of some who weren't always nice to other members, and I'm not saying that those lost members were entirely free from being blame either, some people did make mistakes that made themselves a target more than others. I include myself in that. However, the sometimes nasty posts in my opinion weren't called for. The forum is a better place where everyone gets along and discusses lasers, rather than being a place where the in crowd attack the out crowd.

As for Facebook generally, I don't know what Roberts' use of our data is, if any, but I'm going to bet a million imaginary dollars that it's far less than Facebook. I'm still surprised that so many people use it and disclose so much personal information on a platform that clearly data mines everything and sells it. A forum where people are fronted by user names, where only admin has our email addresses and where the information you disclose comes down entirely to what you choose to post the world, is a place I'd rather be.

I know someone above mentioned image posting / management being tricky. I don't know if Robert has any intention to address this, but if not, there are nearly always good free sites available to host. eg although many previously used image sites have gone onto a commercial model, new sites such as Imgbb have come along.

I’ve never been on the FB site. Didn’t even know it was there....

Sorry guys, I guess I suddenly became a grumpy old fart when I turned 60 a few weeks back :rolleyes:

It's a shame that FB's archival qualities aren't better as information is soon lost, I much prefer the PL forum in that respect. It's a pity there isn't a very simple way of posting photograph's here, but I guess that's just the nature of these forums...