Hi Bill

I think there are a veriety of reasons why folk dont post to forums and blogs.

First...they have not taken the time to learn how to write effectively and believe they have little to add to the pool of information on the net.

Second...Most folk I meet are focusing on pushing their products/services before rather than sharing good information with others in their community.

I recommend people increase their sphere of infuence by sharing good information [free] with others via blogs. The effect is two fold. Subscibers can keep up-to-date with their mentor, and search engines which loves regularly updated blogs, rank the new content so it will be presented via seach engine results.

Have your future prospects find you via Seach Engines.!!

http://blogger.blogfather.net

Hi Bill!

Thank You for inviting me into your forum.

There could be so many different reasons as there are personalities.

Low Self-Esteem...thinking one's opinion isn't worth very much.

Intimidation...afraid to post-up against someone who has 1000 friends and 1000 posts.

Face-to-face communicators...might not be able to express one's self with words on a page...but better in person.

Poor spelling & grammar...afraid of what others might be thinking if they make a mistake.

These are right off the top of my head...just my 2 cents.

I also agree with Crystal...I would much rather see "Thanks" or "Thanks for your info" instead of "0 replies".  At least you know someone's receiving the email that a new forum or thread has been started.

A responder shouldn't be put down for a short post.

Bill...Thanks again for the invite & have a pleasant day...Steven.

Hi Bill,

This is a great forum topic and I thank you.

I can remember vividly when I joined Adland that I had a huge fear of posting.  I spent a long time "lurking" and reading forums, but never posting.  I wanted to make sure I did not do anything wrong.  The word "flaming" always rang in my ears.

Once I felt comfortable, I started posting short responses mainly thanking the forum owner for inviting me.  There were many people who did the same thing, and I seem to remember there being a lot more posts.

I agree with the statements that have already been made about the issues of discouraging these short posts for having no value.  I personally think they have a lot of value.  They make the forum owner feel like someone is interested in what they posted, and they help people to build their confidence in posting.  You can't put a price on that  :-)

You cannot please everybody, but a combination of short posts and long posts should please everybody.........LOL

Bless you,  Jill