Expatica said:
Hi guys Thanks for your comments and I just want to let you know about a few things from our side. First of all, we have had major major problems with spam signups and attacks in recent months. At one point we were getting literally thousands of signups a day - the blog section is still full of spam, and this necessitated a pretty severe tightening up on the entire in terms of things like Captcha - which we know is really user unfriendly. That SEEMS to be under control now but we are still a little concerned about what else may happen and monitoring the situation day-by-day. Second - it has never been out intention to let the Forums or the Community die, but in terms of online trends there has been a mass migration over the last few years from blogs and forums onto social networks. So even without enormous spam attacks, it would have been a difficult task to keep a critical mass of users on our forums when social networks are offering a constantly-evolving user experience that due to budgets and size we will never be able to match. Third - there have been some internal changes here at Expatica, including new staff, a slightly new direction for the company, and in the short-medium term future a new site will be launched. These things take an enormous amount of time and energy from our side unfortunately and we do what we can with a limited team, and this means there is very little time to monitor the forums or contribute to discussions. Lastly, in an effort to keep the Forums alive we do regularly tweet and occasionally post on FB about forum topics initiated by our uses. It is definitely a valuably community-building tool in this way. Please be assured we are aware the forums are at a crossroads. Once the site relaunch is under way we want to spend some time improving the Community - but unfortunately I can't categorically state when that will be. Besides that, I would like to thank you for your longstanding interest in the Forums and it is really great to see such support. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
singlemaltdutch said:
Thank you for these explanations. Now, it's up to us to make the magic happen again. I have noticed a slight increase in forum activity since captcha has been lifted. So that definitely was a step in the right direction. I hope that the old users will return and join again and be able to step over their own shadows. There is enough to rant about. So rant! We will be happy to explain to you why you are wrong and why things are not possible.
Um, no, it isn't up to us to make the magic happen, not yet, it's down to Expatica to come up with a better forum first, like the one we used to have prior to this dreadful one, instead of trying to compete with the likes of some of the other famous social network sites.
I would like to see more action happening on the Exptica forums also. I don't know many other similar forums that encompass all the needs of expats without being commercially slanted or focusing only on specific topics or needs.
Glad to see the Captcha gone. In my view, social networks will not replace a good forum in the long term. I for one do not want everything I would write on this forum appearing on FB, Twitter etc., and do not find them as useful tools for finding/searching information or debating topics.
I find that news sites like DutchNews are good at providing news, but not so good for debating the news. They only allow small comments, no links, no quotes, no notifications, etc. They are also very slow to post comments. Especially in the last few months, DutchNews is not accepting comments on any article that might be the least bit controversial, esppecially for expats, for example: Complaints about discrimination rise.
My biggest frustration with the Expatica forums has been the speed. As a long term expat, I primarily use Expatica for it's forums, especially relevant expat news, and rarely go to the the main page for Dutch News. Because nobody comments on articles on the main page, very few news articles are debated anymore. An idea that might help is that Expatica also lists news articles in the Dutch News sub-forum, as I think it would encourage more comments and possibly revive the forums in general.
Now that Expatica has an agreement with DutchNews, maybe Expatica can ask DutchNews to print something like "We are not accepting comments on this article. For a debate/discussion about this article, please see the Expatica Dutch News forum". I think this would be a win-win for both DutchNews and Expatica.
BTW, Has Expatica considered switching to something like phpBB, which I find to be one of the better open source forum software.
Expatica said:
Second - it has never been out intention to let the Forums or the Community die, but in terms of online trends there has been a mass migration over the last few years from blogs and forums onto social networks. So even without enormous spam attacks, it would have been a difficult task to keep a critical mass of users on our forums when social networks are offering a constantly-evolving user experience that due to budgets and size we will never be able to match.
fortuner said:
singlemaltdutch said:
Thank you for these explanations. Now, it's up to us to make the magic happen again. I have noticed a slight increase in forum activity since captcha has been lifted. So that definitely was a step in the right direction. I hope that the old users will return and join again and be able to step over their own shadows. There is enough to rant about. So rant! We will be happy to explain to you why you are wrong and why things are not possible.Um, no, it isn't up to us to make the magic happen, not yet, it's down to Expatica to come up with a better forum first, like the one we used to have prior to this dreadful one, instead of trying to compete with the likes of some of the other famous social network sites.
I totally agree. The only very few people who love it now are the ones who used to troll around clamping down on any so called negative or ranting posts, blaming the poster and suggesting there was something wrong with them. They are still active, just giving their so called wisdom to anybody who posts. I agree they wanted to follow the other social network site as they thought it would attract more people, wrong wrong wrong. The format is awful, everything jumps around and it takes an age to settle. If only people would stop chasing the buck and realise that not everything needs updating and revamping. They have driven out many many posters, leaving the newbes who just ask the same questions which have been dealt with many many times, or the batty ones. I shall wait in anticipation for signs of recovery.
quest said:
I would like to see more action happening on the Exptica forums also. I don't know many other similar forums that encompass all the needs of expats without being commercially slanted or focusing only on specific topics or needs.
Glad to see the Captcha gone. In my view, social networks will not replace a good forum in the long term. I for one do not want everything I would write on this forum appearing on FB, Twitter etc., and do not find them as useful tools for finding/searching information or debating topics.
I find that news sites like DutchNews are good at providing news, but not so good for debating the news. They only allow small comments, no links, no quotes, no notifications, etc. They are also very slow to post comments. Especially in the last few months, DutchNews is not accepting comments on any article that might be the least bit controversial, esppecially for expats, for example: Complaints about discrimination rise.
My biggest frustration with the Expatica forums has been the speed. As a long term expat, I primarily use Expatica for it's forums, especially relevant expat news, and rarely go to the the main page for Dutch News. Because nobody comments on articles on the main page, very few news articles are debated anymore. An idea that might help is that Expatica also lists news articles in the Dutch News sub-forum, as I think it would encourage more comments and possibly revive the forums in general.
Now that Expatica has an agreement with DutchNews, maybe Expatica can ask DutchNews to print something like "We are not accepting comments on this article. For a debate/discussion about this article, please see the Expatica Dutch News forum". I think this would be a win-win for both DutchNews and Expatica.
BTW, Has Expatica considered switching to something like phpBB, which I find to be one of the better open source forum software.
I pretty much agree with you... DutchNews seems only good for reading Dutch news, anything further is pretty much pointless. Few will bother hanging around waiting for their posts to appear never mind the responses!
As for phpbb forum software, Expatica used to use them in the past, but unfortunately thought they knew better and tried competing with all the other social networks with this awful one!
monkeynuts said:
I totally agree. The only very few people who love it now are the ones who used to troll around clamping down on any so called negative or ranting posts, blaming the poster and suggesting there was something wrong with them. They are still active, just giving their so called wisdom to anybody who posts. I agree they wanted to follow the other social network site as they thought it would attract more people, wrong wrong wrong. The format is awful, everything jumps around and it takes an age to settle. If only people would stop chasing the buck and realise that not everything needs updating and revamping. They have driven out many many posters, leaving the newbes who just ask the same questions which have been dealt with many many times, or the batty ones. I shall wait in anticipation for signs of recovery.
Ah yes, one person comes to mind! Tee hee hee! There's a clue right there! 
fortuner said:
monkeynuts said:I totally agree. The only very few people who love it now are the ones who used to troll around clamping down on any so called negative or ranting posts, blaming the poster and suggesting there was something wrong with them. They are still active, just giving their so called wisdom to anybody who posts. I agree they wanted to follow the other social network site as they thought it would attract more people, wrong wrong wrong. The format is awful, everything jumps around and it takes an age to settle. If only people would stop chasing the buck and realise that not everything needs updating and revamping. They have driven out many many posters, leaving the newbes who just ask the same questions which have been dealt with many many times, or the batty ones. I shall wait in anticipation for signs of recovery.Ah yes, one person comes to mind! Tee hee hee! There's a clue right there!
I'm outta here - another clue
I think this situation is a lesson learned in style over substance
fortuner said:singlemaltdutch said:
Thank you for these explanations. Now, it's up to us to make the magic happen again. I have noticed a slight increase in forum activity since captcha has been lifted. So that definitely was a step in the right direction. I hope that the old users will return and join again and be able to step over their own shadows. There is enough to rant about. So rant! We will be happy to explain to you why you are wrong and why things are not possible.Um, no, it isn't up to us to make the magic happen, not yet, it's down to Expatica to come up with a better forum first, like the one we used to have prior to this dreadful one, instead of trying to compete with the likes of some of the other famous social network sites.
singlemaltdutch said:
I know, but they are doing their best. Look at it from their perspective. In order to keep this show on the road, they need to attract advertisers. Advertisers are not attracted by old Roman website technology (which you and I prefer). However, a dead forum doesn't attract advertisers or new members either. So in that respect, it is up to us to keep the verbal plumbing going and to Expatica to accommodate. This used to be a an active community that has succeeded in surviving many years accumulating to many interesting, hilarious and sometimes ferocious discussions. It would be a terrible waste to let that slip through our fingers.
According to Matt, this WAS their best, he seemed to love it boasting that there was lots of new members joining and things were very active and that it was unique to break into social networking. But even he jumped ship so things couldn't have been THAT good after all.
If this is their best, then I'd hate to think what their worst is.
Until things change, I'm afraid I wont be bothering very much here at all.
fortuner said:
singlemaltdutch said:
I know, but they are doing their best. Look at it from their perspective. In order to keep this show on the road, they need to attract advertisers. Advertisers are not attracted by old Roman website technology (which you and I prefer). However, a dead forum doesn't attract advertisers or new members either. So in that respect, it is up to us to keep the verbal plumbing going and to Expatica to accommodate. This used to be a an active community that has succeeded in surviving many years accumulating to many interesting, hilarious and sometimes ferocious discussions. It would be a terrible waste to let that slip through our fingers.According to Matt, this WAS their best, he seemed to love it boasting that there was lots of new members joining and things were very active and that it was unique to break into social networking. But even he jumped ship so things couldn't have been THAT good after all.
If this is their best, then I'd hate to think what their worst is.
Until things change, I'm afraid I wont be bothering very much here at all.
+1
fortuner said:singlemaltdutch said:
I know, but they are doing their best. Look at it from their perspective. In order to keep this show on the road, they need to attract advertisers. Advertisers are not attracted by old Roman website technology (which you and I prefer). However, a dead forum doesn't attract advertisers or new members either. So in that respect, it is up to us to keep the verbal plumbing going and to Expatica to accommodate. This used to be a an active community that has succeeded in surviving many years accumulating to many interesting, hilarious and sometimes ferocious discussions. It would be a terrible waste to let that slip through our fingers.According to Matt, this WAS their best, he seemed to love it boasting that there was lots of new members joining and things were very active and that it was unique to break into social networking. But even he jumped ship so things couldn't have been THAT good after all.
If this is their best, then I'd hate to think what their worst is.
Until things change, I'm afraid I wont be bothering very much here at all.
singlemaltdutch said:
Matt has moved on and we haven't so what better opportunity is there to take advantage of the situation and set things in motion? We have managed to end captcha in just a few days. Why should this not be a start? We can spoon up all the wrongs and analyse this forum to death. Fact is: if we want this forum to remain, we should try to be a little more constructive. It's not like we are paying customers to this service. Perhaps we can play a role in combating spammers. Maybe a button that automatically deletes the spammer when pressed on by 5 unique members? I don't know if that is even possible..
Well, that's a very good idea for a start! I have over the last couple of days reported a few but as usual I see they are still there, so then of course people give up reporting!
Osita, what is a QQrs? I would like to find realistic ways this forum can stay alive, even though I am sometimes difficult too. I totally agree that expats often move on, that's why we are expats (most of us are expat everything). For those of us who do stay, I think we can help newbies, along with helping each other who have stayed (for whatever reason). I miss that comaraderie which has helped to sustain my sanity, even if I do not always agree with all posters.
osita said:
Quest: Yours is the best post here, and with solutions to anticipated problems. That's why you're in business and the QQrs aren't. Fact: You are not going to bring ex-expats back. ...
quest said:
I miss that comaraderie which has helped to sustain my sanity, even if I do not always agree with all posters.
Me too... 
singlemaltdutch said:
Matt has moved on and we haven't so what better opportunity is there to take advantage of the situation and set things in motion? We have managed to end captcha in just a few days. Why should this not be a start?
Expatica made drastic and abrupt changes to its software twice in recent memory, and are eagerly talking about the next change. This is not the way to curry favor with users. And Matt's dismissive tone in dealing with longtime members showed that Expatica wasn't all that interested in keeping us around.
If things are going to change for the better, it'll take time to convince some of us.
