The Decline of Digital Point - My 2,000 word article on Digital Point

Hey guys firstly in no way is this a rant or an angry man thread it is merely supposed to open up discussion about the future of Digital Point and whether you agree that Digital Point has started to lose its touch that it used to have.

I have just finished my 2,000 word article where I explain why I believe digital point is declining take a look hope you find it interesting.


The decline of Digital Point

 

Why can't you just post it here?

 

Why would someone want to post their website content here? No offense but if I wrote a 2000 word article I would want it to be on my website not on someone else's forum.

 

Nice article, you raise some interesting points. The current amount of banned accounts is extremely high and makes a lot of threads difficult to follow.

 

True, my bad.

 

I think DP's as good as its ever been. For me anyway, I've gained a lot here the past few months.

 

Excellent, I am glad people are expressing there views.

Obviously the article only depicts my own view and some general criticism which friends and others I have read have said so it is different for everyone. But I do think if you are joining Digital Point now as a newbie you have to be more careful than you previously were that the information you receive in regards to perhaps a question you have asked is actually correct.

As I pick up on in the article I think there are a lot more newbies than experienced members on the forum now so I think your at higher risk of getting wrong information.

Thanks Kentucky for backing me up, in answer to the previous question Kentucky was answering. Exactly as he said I don't really feel like writing a 2,000 word article for a forum when I have the choice to put it on my relevant blog just the same as I am when someone asks a question I have already written the answer to I might provide a link to an article of mine or free eBook I have just because most of my articles are quite long and do help people.

Thanks

 

"The problem is internal" <-------- I 100% agreed on this, quoted from your article.

The forum is losing interest only because of internal structure as you discussed.

Asking same questions again and again is also an issue but can be control "Example: Sitepoint.com" but the thing is the moderators are not taking actions where they are supposed to get involved. And they are "Active" where people make mistakes and they use their weapons "Infractions" and "Banning".

Few months ago, I got my 500 posts deleted, when I asked they said "those 500 posts were in Introductions forum so we deleted them" Does it make any sense? Are we not supposed to welcome new members? If no then why we have that section on DP?

 

Thanks for your view Glitto. It definitely is internal I mean the problem with members asking the same questions over and over again is going to happen in any forum as large as this but its the fact that the Authorities here don't even try to cope with this and instead provide infractions for those who don't necassarily need an infraction is where it goes wrong.

 

Or they make false accusations against a member and ask them some questions then ban them before the member even has a chance to reply to the charges. Getting a 90 day ban for something that you did not do doesn't make you feel too good about a forum.

 

True Kentucky, although I havn't had that done to me "yet". I know I would be furious if it had happened to me. It would be great if they made the member support a little more efficient and easier to get in contact with Authority figures.

 

I agree with the suggestion of One Mod-One Section, so it would be easier to take care problem and suggest for each section

 

1. I have noticed one more thing that when we ask about any suggestion or give any feedback in the "feedback and suggestion" section the MODs reply and close the thread immediately, but I have seen 100s of threads that are almost 2-3 years old but people are still replying. Can't moderators see those threads?

2. There are 100s of threads in BST section where people says "Offer closed - please close the thread" but those threads are still open. These things are minor but makes the overall appearance of the forum look good.

 

Great article! Although I 101% love DP, the proposal of one Mod - one section is a brilliant idea. namepros I believe has been implementing it and it seems to work out fine.

 

I also have fun and do some good trades here at DP.
But it appears the governance of the forum has sightly lost it's way. Maybe if the site owner is not as involved as they could be, a overall governance group is required to assist the owner making structural changes to the running of DP.
Also, I (like all the mods, I’m sure) have the “Please PM the URL” etc.. type of posts. Can’t a modification be made to the submission page to catch these types of “spam” forum posts, stop them at the source instead of resorting to banning. Banning just clutters up the forum with crud.

 

Webmaster forums generally declining, after the introduction of AdSense the webmaster community grew rapidly and it became a serious sector, it's peak was I believe in 2006-07, now that it has matured enough, it will decline a bit but will still keep going. I think blaming stuff on mods or stuff like anything cheaper than $5 goes to Freebies section now my business is ruined hence dp sux, is sort of a funny explanation for that, it's about the sector and a general thing.



All major forums have a similar traffic pattern, so unless all forum mods decided to mess things up on a secret mission, it's a broad thing, in fact, DP seems to do slightly a bit better.

 

Hi WillyBoy,
I am new on the DP forum, indeed very new. But I belong to several other forums.

The points you raised seemed very valid and I can say that they apply to many other forums as well.

However I was expecting that you would propose ways by which the DP forum can be improved and to avoid the decline.
If you think this a something that you can do, may be you should write another article with all your recommendations and suggestions.

 

sorry dude, that's about 1900 words longer then I would read
I'm addicted to DP, not sure what your talking about..lol

 

I hate the new rules that you are not allowed to reply in a thread in the buy/sell forum. I have a slow internet connection, so it always costs me a minute or two to send a pm to someone.

 

The problems with DP resolve around the BST forum. It is by far the most viewed and posted in subforum on the site, and for good reason, it is the only place money is to be made. The other subforums basically just exist as a way for scammers/spammer to reach their min number of posts so they can make a thread in the BST. Once you get in the BST you have to live with the ever present fear of a 7 day ban if you want your business off to be replied to at all.

There are other issues of course. The biggest one is the Suggestions and Feedback forum which is in a constant state of lockdown. It makes it impossible for users to discuss ways to improve the forum, and god forbid if you suggest a way to improve the forum rules you are labeled as a whiner and slammed with an infraction.

If these things do not change I predict that DP will eventually fall to another webmaster forum, likely wickedfire or SitePoint.