Jenny, Good thoughts and great for stopping the trouble we have been experienceing. One could build a great GREAT friends list just with the responders of this forum. These are great examples of responsible posters. Would anyone leave Adlandpro if you had friends like these?? Perhaps caution in who one adds to their friends list would be worth making a plan. Decide who and what types of persons with whom you wish to network. That puts some responsibility back on our own shoulders and is something we have control over. Take back the Adlandpro you want!!! Well said Jenny!!

Bryan, Glad to hear you are not experiencing problems. You have taken some actions already that have prevented problems for you. This troubleshooting forum is to find out what is happening as people perceive it. You so far are the only one not seeing a reason to change anything. I hope you read all the posts here because many are seeing the people leaving Adlandpro and able to verbalize possible causes. Your suggestions are helpful, so I thank you for sharing and caring about our community.

Hi, again, all, This is a very interesting forum and has produced quite a few ideas. My own situation may well put me beyond the pale (for those not familiar with English idiomatic ideas, outside the fence around our encampment) because I do not accept that, once invited to a forum, I should not be free to give full free reign to my own beliefs and ideas. There are three philosophy forums running at the moment in which I have been deeply involved. None of them has provided a definitive answer to any of the questions asked, no surprise there, and only one person has actually left a forum because of their own conviction that they knew all the answers and did not have the spirit or desire to question what they had been taught to believe. My own beliefs are what I present if I post to a forum and I cannot help it if my beliefs are totally at odds with the forum owner. If a forum owner cannot accept an alternate view, he should not have started the forum in the first place. Another aspect that forum owners tend to ignore is that a discussion is an animate thing - it will take on a life of its own and ideas could be presented that are "unusual". That is a risk inherrent in inviting diverse people to contribute. So, what are my beliefs where forums are concerned? 1) It is not necessary to encourage posting by those who simply wish to accumulate a posting record to attain a 'rank' within the posting community. While those of us who post because we wish to contribute are happy to see our posts on the forum, we (well, certainly, I) can feel our contribution is diluted and obscured by the mindless "Ooh, lovelys" and appalling sparkly pictures chosen to hide the fact that "no commnt" is not seen as an option. 2) Forum owners should monitor their forums as a matter of routine and remove posts which are either offensive (generally) or which add nothing to the content. I despair when I see forums that are top heavy with "Thank you for inviting me....", "What a great forum...." or some other banal comment. The rule should always be - "If you have nothing to say .... say nothing". Just imagine how long a forum would be if those people who did not want to post actually apologised for not doing so. 3) There are probably many interesting forums that I do not know about because I am not on the friends list of the forum owner. Would it not make more sense if the forums were advised to all Adland members so that everybody had the opportunity to contribute? Some forums I have read (by looking for a profile and checking the forums listed) appear to be nothing more than an initial post for sycophants to echo and say how wonderful the forum owner is. 4) Adland is awash with places and different methods for advertising. Even in the forums there is a place to advertise with your signature. It is unforgivable to use forums and PMs to push ads on people. 5) I like Adland. I have had a lot of fun and some great discussions here. One thing I have never been is rude, arrogant, condescending or fatuous and I do not see why anybody else should either see the need to be so or be allowed to be so. The beliefs I hold are very strong. I know that my beliefs are also the right ones. I also know that my beliefs can be questioned and that I need to be verbally proficient enough to argue my corner or open minded enough to accept that another point of view can be equally valid. I would never, ever be so arrogant as to insist that my beliefs are the only ones that God allows - unfortunately, Adland has far too many religious zealots who, not only know what they believe but also claim a unique insight into their God's mind as to be able to state, without fear of contradiction, what that God will do or think. If any forum is to survive, such absolutes must not be allowed to hold sway. If you can't accept that your beliefs (on any subject) might not be universally accepted, you should keep them to yourself and not inflict them on everybody else. Even Jesus Christ had doubts! 6) It should not be possible for anybody but the forum owner to introduce a new subject in their forum. Why are others allowed to post adverts in a new thread on any forum they choose? 7) Finally, I do not like the idea of cliques. I do not see the point in creating an exclusive group within the community. If you have an idea, a programme or whatever that will benefit the community, why not make a public announcement? Why should it be necessary to be on your friends list so that you can promote your idea? If your idea is valid and good, wouldn't a general announcement produce a greater response than restricting yourself to your friends list? Personal messages are just that - a way to communicate with a personal friend.

Arthur, here is what I am understanding you to say: *when you make a forum expect the unexpected answers. If everyone says "Hi and thanks" you don't have a forum but an audience. * when you make a forum expect people to disagree, then you have a discussion going right? Ranking members is an administrative gesture to recognize people who spend a lot of time posting. Did we say quality posting? Did we say they contributed to the forum? Somewhere people got the idea that posting would get them something. But what are they expecting? When they don't get what they thought was coming to them they stop posting and maybe leave altogether. What are they looking for??? Forum monitoring has been discussed. The owner then takes the responsibility and sometimes suffers the consequences. When arguments begin and the post is deleted the owner has to be prepared to suffer the consequences. Some forums would never have responses if every "That's nice" was deleted. People really don't care, just leave my post there so I get what I think I will receive that something I am expecting with every post. When I post and post and that special something doesn't happen I may leave the community. What are they looking for???? So Arthur what is the solution? What are people expecting with every post they make? Someone could make a forum with that question and see what people are expecting to happen. When needs are met we stay and when needs are not met we leave. so let's find out why people spend hours posting "that's nice" and "thanks" on every forum they can catch. Forums can offend, insult, enrich, teach, enlighten, build friendships, create networking. People stay and leave because of forums.

Arthur (continued) How much mail do you want. If you knew of every forum, would you bother to check them all out? Misuse of advertising has been mentioned as a cause of leaving Adlandpro. If we could make a turnaround in that area it might improve longitivity in membership here. On the other hand if they put their ads on forums some would find this place useless to them. They need to be trained where it is proper to put ads. I think we can handle that with forums that already exist. Introducing ads in others forums is one of the benefits. The forum owner can remove it if offended. People have been known to post something that does not fit the subject. Here we go again---what do they expect to happen when they post a thread on anothers forum? Are they pleased with the results? Did it meet a need? People have chosen the forums with the most participants and posted on everyone of them for what reason??? Perhaps people has misperceived what results they will get. Does it leave them happy or unhappy?