Request Forum Traffic - Building Up Interest...?

[Aviador]

Just to add to my previous comments.... It's probably unlikely we'd get the support of airport authorities. They tend to only like social media they can control. It would be nice if they would get involved though.

 

[Hassaan]

I've tried using the Facebook pages to try and drive traffic to not just the BHX forum but other airport forums too. I think they'll have done their job in regards to attracting traffic to the site but not so much getting them to sign up and contribute. I think we'll need something a bit bigger to get this site more active as it should be.

 

[Aviador]

Nice work Hassaan, when you say bigger what do you mean. How can you get bigger than Facebook?

 

[Hassaan]

Nice work Hassaan, when you say bigger what do you mean. How can you get bigger than Facebook?

There is the option of actually recommending the forum to people. Like you did with LBA and it seems to be pretty busy with thousands of replies on most topics but that's been like that for years presumably.

Flyers, if there's a legal way to do so, could work. I've contacted owners of enthusiast sites but haven't heard anything back. I'll try again in that regard. Getting the actual airport on board would be worth ago although it'll be pretty difficult.

 

[Hassaan]

There has been an increase in 'lurkers' in the last 24 hours. Facebook & other forums seem to have helped with that. If we all help trying to get the word out about the forum it'll help. :smile:

 

[Brum X]

Come on guys, is it me or do the posters from BHX and MAN contribute most to this site, a very poor showing from the rest of the country.

I posted something on the Glasgow airport forum (And im from Birmingham, England) about 3 weeks ago about Thomas Cook launching flights to Las Vegas from Glasgow and nobody from Glasgow or indeed Scotland have responded. I dont post lots and lots of stuff but at least i do on a regular basis to contribute to the BHX forum, so thanks to the guys who support BHX and MAN, as for the rest of you ????? Does nobody have any news from there airports ?????????

 

[Brum X]

Come on guys, is it me or do the posters from BHX and MAN contribute most to this site, a very poor showing from the rest of the country.

I posted something on the Glasgow airport forum (And im from Birmingham, England) about 3 weeks ago about Thomas Cook launching flights to Las Vegas from Glasgow and nobody from Glasgow or indeed Scotland have responded. I dont post lots and lots of stuff but at least i do on a regular basis to contribute to the BHX forum, so thanks to the guys who support BHX and MAN, as for the rest of you ????? Does nobody have any news from there airports ?????????

Also thanks for the contribution from the guys down at Bristol Airport also. :good:

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Come on guys, is it me or do the posters from BHX and MAN contribute most to this site, a very poor showing from the rest of the country.

I posted something on the Glasgow airport forum (And im from Birmingham, England) about 3 weeks ago about Thomas Cook launching flights to Las Vegas from Glasgow and nobody from Glasgow or indeed Scotland have responded. I dont post lots and lots of stuff but at least i do on a regular basis to contribute to the BHX forum, so thanks to the guys who support BHX and MAN, as for the rest of you ????? Does nobody have any news from there airports ?????????

You're absolutely right. I think the majority of posters are interested in their own airport and perhaps neighbouring ones and confine their comments to that. I doubt that they read much about other airports on this site. There are some exceptions so I'm trying not to generalise.

I read every post submitted but then I've got the time and also the inclination.

At times I feel I'm running a losing battle (and have been for several years) in trying to keep airports such as BRS and CWL and EXT (admittedly to a lesser extent with this one) in the frame.

It's funny that you should submit this post this evening because it couldn't have been more than an hour ago when I was thinking that BRS (an airport that punches above its weight given its postage stamp physical size, poor surface connectivity and challenging weather) never seems to attract much attention on any aviation web site apart from a handful of regular aficionados. My alter ego posts regularly to the Dried Plum but the responses are limited in the extreme when it comes to debate even there. Yet the public at large regularly castigates the airport whenever it's in the news in the local press.

I'd love some of them to come on here so that we could have a proper debate.

My alter egos have tried devil's advocate-type posts to try to get people thinking about the airport such as suggesting that Bristol doesn't really need an airport given that it's surrounded by others but that went down like a lead balloon in terms of responses.

If every supporter of an airport on here (mainly LBA, BHX and MAN) said to themselves that they'd post to another airport thread once a week it's surprising how interest and comment would widen.

Anyway, I'm grateful for your post. I hope it will have at least a tiny positive effect.

 

[Ray Finkle]

You're absolutely right. I think the majority of posters are interested in their own airport and perhaps neighbouring ones and confine their comments to that. I doubt that they read much about other airports on this site. There are some exceptions so I'm trying not to generalise.

I read every post submitted but then I've got the time and also the inclination.

I'm definitely guilty of this, as it's my local airport the vast majority of my posts are on the BHX forum, although I do try and add bits to the EMA forum from time to time. I shall try and make more of an effort.

If every supporter of an airport on here (mainly LBA, BHX and MAN) said to themselves that they'd post to another airport thread once a week it's surprising how interest and comment would widen.

Good idea :good:

 

[Hassaan]

I have been thinking about advertisement spots on popular aviation websites, such as JetPhotos.Net/Airliners.Net to maybe generate more traffic. I do contribute to the BHX forum 97% of the time. I've made the odd post in another forum.

Apart from BHX & MAN, it's posters from Leeds/Bradford who seem to contribute most. BHX is someway behind as are the others. I've tried going on the airport's Facebook pages, posting the link. It's encouraged lurkers but that's it. No new posters. I wonder if a spot in the local papers (of the airport) would encourage people to join in? As mentioned above, could encourage debate and more postings from people who aren't as much enthusiasts as others. Of course there are threads these people can participate in. The General airport thread would be fine.

We've all got to work together on this, though. :smile:

 

[Aviador]

Thanks for the comments guys it's really appreciated. All I can say is it's extremely hard getting people to post even when I know many of them visit the site every day and have done for years. The site still receives thousands of hits every month although sometimes you wouldn't believe it given the number of posts in the post count.

I have found that some people just don't like engaging in debate and they prefer just to read. Some people don't feel they have the knowledge or right to comment on threads. Also sadly, there are a number of people who use this forum who could contribute significantly but they choose not to post perhaps because they fear of reprisals from their employers. I know of an individual at an airport that asked their boss if they could post things like movement logs and they were told explicitly that they couldn't, yet I could stand at the end of the runway at said airport and collect all the information anyway. Madness! Knowledge is power and some people don't like to share information because it will make them feel less powerful!

Anyway, on the positive side, any help to give the site a push is most appreciated, sadly there's little scope yet for a proper paid advertising campaign because of the costs involved. What the site is making is going to the running costs of the site such as Maintenance; Servers; Domain Names. I'm hopeful we will have some funds left over and I have promised some car stickers which I'm hoping to order soon. I'm expecting them to cost over £100 to produce but in addition there's the cost to post them all out, some in bulk, some single. It would be great if people could volunteer to hand them out responsibly to reduce the cost?

 

[User0001]

At times I feel I'm running a losing battle (and have been for several years) in trying to keep airports such as BRS and CWL and EXT (admittedly to a lesser extent with this one) in the frame

I think that's a shared feeling. The MAN threads, believe it or not, can feel very lonely, or in the case of other forums, most MAN posts are actually just bickering over technicalities or jealousy from other posters. When you break it down, very little genuine news is posted.
On this forum, aside from the 'thanks' made by 2-3 posters, I feel the MAN thread is 99% me with very little discussion. But, on saying that, I don't expect people to post if they are not that interested, and it could be linked to my next point:

If every supporter of an airport on here (mainly LBA, BHX and MAN) said to themselves that they'd post to another airport thread once a week it's surprising how interest and comment would widen

For me personally, I don't post too much on the BRS/CWL/EXT forums in particular, due to having very little knowledge of those 3 airports, and, if Im being 100% honest, I don't have much interest in that area as Ive only visited Devon once in my life, thus passing BRS/EXT, and don't really have plans to visit that area with any regularity. As I am not aware of the market demographics and service types, I feel rather unqualified to comment on the airports.

Also, my particular interest is long haul, so when the airports in the south are limited to short haul, again my interest wains, but, like I have said, that is my personal opinion and interest.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

For me personally, I don't post too much on the BRS/CWL/EXT forums in particular, due to having very little knowledge of those 3 airports, and, if Im being 100% honest, I don't have much interest in that area as Ive only visited Devon once in my life, thus passing BRS/EXT, and don't really have plans to visit that area with any regularity. As I am not aware of the market demographics and service types, I feel rather unqualified to comment on the airports.

Also, my particular interest is long haul, so when the airports in the south are limited to short haul, again my interest wains, but, like I have said, that is my personal opinion and interest.

That's perfectly understandable and is something that seems to be followed by many, probably most, posters to aviation forums, not just Forums4Airports.

I have an interest in public transport and civil aviation in particular so I do tend to read posts across other aviation websites about the industry and airports/airlines in general. My main knowledge of the subject (such as it is and it's certainly not technica) is in the aviation scene in the south west quarter of Britain which is handy on F4A as at least it keeps that pot warm. I'm lucky in that I'm retired and so can devote more time to my interests and I've always been a very quick reader and assimilator which enables me to get through a mass of guff rapidly. I'm also able to type quickly though not always accurately which is a help too.

I don't confine myself to aviation on the web as I contribute to sports forums (mainly football, cricket and rugby union) as well although I've been cutting back on that in recent months. I also do a lot of walking (often out all day) and I help my wife in our fairly large garden. I hate the telly and rarely watch it apart from the occasional football/rugby union/cricket match so at least that doesn't take up too much of my time.

Now even in retirement the hours can be difficult to find to fit everything in. Were I still working I obviously would have no chance, so working people (the majority on this and other forums) clearly have to ration themselves to matters they find particularly interesting and perhaps have some knowledge, hence the polarisation to specific airport threads.

Although many forums here don't have a lot of contributors they are obviously more widely read than posted to so some people do have an interest and maybe take something away from reading them, so all is not completely lost, but it would be nice to have more debate and contrary opinions at times.

 

[Ray Finkle]

On this forum, aside from the 'thanks' made by 2-3 posters, I feel the MAN thread is 99% me with very little discussion. But, on saying that, I don't expect people to post if they are not that interested, and it could be linked to my next point:

The Manchester forum in particular baffles me, LBA has a good following, BHX and BRS and a few others seem to have a sprinkling but given the size of the airport the MAN forum is a ghost town. What baffles me most though is the one thing that seems to bring posters out is the announcement of new routes, particularly long haul destinations, and MAN has probably announced more routes this year than any other airport - including the return of the one route it has craved so desperately - yet nothing :dunno:

 

[Brum X]

Thanks for the comments guys it's really appreciated. All I can say is it's extremely hard getting people to post even when I know many of them visit the site every day and have done for years. The site still receives thousands of hits every month although sometimes you wouldn't believe it given the number of posts in the post count.

I have found that some people just don't like engaging in debate and they prefer just to read. Some people don't feel they have the knowledge or right to comment on threads. Also sadly, there are a number of people who use this forum who could contribute significantly but they choose not to post perhaps because they fear of reprisals from their employers. I know of an individual at an airport that asked their boss if they could post things like movement logs and they were told explicitly that they couldn't, yet I could stand at the end of the runway at said airport and collect all the information anyway. Madness! Knowledge is power and some people don't like to share information because it will make them feel less powerful!

Anyway, on the positive side, any help to give the site a push is most appreciated, sadly there's little scope yet for a proper paid advertising campaign because of the costs involved. What the site is making is going to the running costs of the site such as Maintenance; Servers; Domain Names. I'm hopeful we will have some funds left over and I have promised some car stickers which I'm hoping to order soon. I'm expecting them to cost over £100 to produce but in addition there's the cost to post them all out, some in bulk, some single. It would be great if people could volunteer to hand them out responsibly to reduce the cost?

Can i mention Forums4airports on my facebook page, i have a few friends interested or who work in aviation and may drum up some interest ???

 

[Hassaan]

Can i mention Forums4airports on my facebook page, i have a few friends interested or who work in aviation and may drum up some interest ???

Anything to get us more hits! I don't see the issue personally, so feel free.

 

[Aviador]

It's fine to mention Forums4airports on any social networking site.

 

[Brum X]

It's fine to mention Forums4airports on any social networking site.

Cheers :rockon:

 

[mmm]

keep up the good work

 

[Hassaan]

It's fine to mention Forums4airports on any social networking site.

I'm sure you meant to say "It's fine to mention Forums4airports anywhere where it's legal to do so."