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Q: Will it die without Fresh Blood ?
Some days there is a lack of activity and freshness to the Answers section. Lulls in the action are expected, but there doesn’t seem to be a significant influx of fresh blood coming from new active users. Why is that so?
On April 11th eChinacities reported there were more than 1,000 respondents to its user survey, and 60% of them were living in China less than 2 years. You’d think with that many newcomers to China there’d be a lot of questions posted in the eCc Answers section. It didn’t take much to tabulate some data and crunch a few numbers. Let’s take a look.
In the last 32 days:
100 – new questions were posted
70 – different users posted a question, answer, or comment
30 – regular users posted something (they typically post something every week)
25 – new or one-off users (10 or less total posts, ever)
25 – questions that didn’t relate to China in some way
Most of the one-off users ask questions about visas, jobs for non-native English speakers, asking for info about specific language schools, or how to upload a profile photo.
Most all of the questions that didn’t relate to China were asked by the regular users, often by the same few users.
Multiple accounts held by the same person were counted as unique different users.
In the past there were more active users, and a greater diversity of users. Now, there are very few active female users, and not many active Chinese users. Is this an Old Boys Club that is not accepting new members?
Questions: Are new eCc users put off by the lack of civility and infighting between the older members? Are new users afraid of being ridiculed for asking a slightly mundane question, or unfairly accused of being a troll or fake account? Is membership in The Club too exclusive, and not inclusive enough? Are there too many questions that don’t relate to China? Has e-communication changed so much that this Q&A webpage is no longer popular enough to sustain itself? Are you doing what you can to make nice and welcome new members to keep this Answers section alive and a better place than when you found it?
If you don’t like how this Answers section is now, how are you going to like it if there isn’t fresh blood soon? It seems to be dying.
It might be 'tightening of the Working permit requirements for English teachers in China ...', what reflects as 'lower inflow of new posters'.
Board always fluctuated in posting days/months ...
Wait a minute, is Jean P. an admin account now?
icnif77:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/crayfish-amputated-own-claw-avoid-155750665.html
A Crayfish Amputated Its Own Claw to Avoid Being Boiled Alive in a Hotpot 
Jean.P:
I wouldn't have to post questions like this if there actually was a living, breathing Admin.
ambivalentmace:
Jean, tracking all of this takes some time and effort.
What motivated you to care in China about a forum that does not care?
My screen name is ambivalent for a reason, has anyone showed concern for you in China, that would be a surprise, this place changes your thinking, if you care too much, it will drive you crazy. Keep your sanity, work on a degree, get a second job, get a girlfriend, take up alcoholic intoxification, find a hobby but keep your care for a country that will actually appreciate you and not spit you out like a fish bone. I finished a Masters, now I just finished a 3 year project of copywrite fraud for torrents, I now have 738 of "the great courses converted to mp4 Ipod size torrenting on my linux servers with 12 terrabytes, looking for another project now. Maybe medical school is next.
I think you have made an erroneous assumption. It appears, to me at least, that you think this forum is the bread and butter of the site. Without being privy to the monetisation method of the site, my best guess would be that the Answers page doesn't generate as much revenue as the Main page or Jobs page. Therefore what goes on here is of relatively little importance in the scheme of things.
Jean.P:
Wolf, I didn't overlook that issue. It was one of several points I didn't include in my post because I knew I was running on too long. The active Answers users aren't paying any of The Cat's bills. The Answers section could shrivel up and die, and not many would note its passing. But for those of us that believe the Answers section serves a useful purpose, my questions still stand. Your point is well-noted.
iWolf:
Most of the other forums for expats have died. This forum does meep going because, as you noted, the topics are quite diverse. I have no answer to why the forums have died. There are the usual cries of arguments, no females, harrassment, cliques ect, but I don't thonk those reasons are valid, especially here. With any group of people there will be disagreements and pisstaking. Who cares? Fake accounts, bring them on. They serve a purpose. Perhaps forums are dying a slow death because many shift to wechat groups or just find something better to do with their time. Younger people seem to want the instant gratification of WeChat. As mentioned, there is an ebb and flow. Some come, some go, some stay. You mentioned an old boys club....perhaps you could look at it from a different point of view and recognise that it is just a bunch of people who have contributed to the forum for a long time. I don't believe that there is much harrassment of new members even when they post the same old newbie to china questions. Of course, obvious trolls being obvious cop some mockery. Another reason my be that the interface isn't user friendly for posting pictires unless they already exist online. And there are a few other quirks but at the end of the day, if someone wants to engage in a discussion online this remains one of the best choices for expats in China.
It will die if Admin let the same trolls post their shit.
As iWolf said...a lot of expat forums have turned to tumbleweed in China, fo rvarious reasons.
I mainly spend my time on Reddit China sub now...as the mods there are active and delete shite quickly.
On ECC the site owner, G, has been too hands off and the Admins he has employed as interns haven't had much say it what goes on.
As I said...If I see one more post by the "Polish" troll then I'm out of here. One less regular user....
The hard time for a newbie is always standard protocol, I remember the grief when I started, but I'm still here. The controls have gotten tighter with the new emperor so veering off China topics is the only way to keep the forum pages moving now.
The economy picking up in America now will cause less people to come to China for the next 6 years, maybe the slack can be picked up by Canada crashing and South Africans escaping death in the streets for a safer place, but the newbie numbers are going to be down for a while. The controls and regulations here compared to other places to go, and now face recognition is going in at every train station, it's just getting more orwellian everyday and that will keep newbies away.
I don't think the forum will change much at all, would be nice though.
Ecc has its boring, quiet periods just like any other forum I guess. People have been saying it will die because of the lack of new blood for a while now but it doesn't seem to have made that much difference.
What will kill it, if it does go the way of the other China forums is admin's apathy.
Hotwater raised a good point. When you check in and the first 10 posts are consistently either some idiot looking for attention by pretending to be ...whatever, or impersonating another user, I at least find myself doing something else instead.
Blood?
BLOOD?!
... Internet vampires?!
Call Van Helsing!
diverdude1:
cracked me up! I've been watching Buffy- Vampire Slayer recently.
