Is VT getting less activity?

[Miserabilia]

Okay so this is a bit unspecific, but is VT getting less active members/less new members?

I feel like no matter what time I get on for example, there is nobody in the chat room. A year ago that was really different.

Don't get me wrong, the smaller the community the more personal but I just feel like there are a lot less new posts and activity.

[Uranus]

(Even though it is in VT HQ I personally think it's a TWPR thread so I'll post even though I don't represent VT)

Yes, I honestly believe that VT is slightly less active than it was. I've seen so many profiles of really active and amazing members, but are no longer active. (Mostly because they have 'Grown Up' and 'Moved On'.
And I over the year I have been here, I've seen alot of members move on or disappear. But, I have seen a good deal of newer members that are really active and valuable to VT.

It's a yes and no answer. My personal conclusion is, one generation has gone, a generation is here, and starting to leave, and a new generation is just starting to reveal itself.

[ImCoolBeans]

After the two week period of downtime we had last year, our SEO rankings got demolished. Google really hit us hard for that and we've been slowly working our way back to the activity level we had prior to the crash. I've seen a slow, but steady, increase in registrations and posts per day over the last 6 months or so.

The chatroom has been rather inactive lately, but I think that is attributed to a few things. Slightly less activity definitely plays a part in it, but I think it's also because a number of active chat users have left the site in the past few months and nobody else has really stepped up and become a staple in the chat room. The best way to get people into the chat room is to go in and wait for a few people to join -- usually when I or a friend of mine does that a number of people end up joining -- but without the chat regulars in there at most times people aren't as enticed to join. A lot of people say "oh the chat room is dead" but in actuality if they just went in and waited for a few people would likely join and it wouldn't be so dead.

[Castle of Glass]

i am trying slowly to rebuild the chatroom popularity but it is hard at times

[Cognizant]

The chatroom has been rather inactive lately, but I think that is attributed to a few things. Slightly less activity definitely plays a part in it, but I think it's also because a number of active chat users have left the site in the past few months and nobody else has really stepped up and become a staple in the chat room. The best way to get people into the chat room is to go in and wait for a few people to join -- usually when I or a friend of mine does that a number of people end up joining -- but without the chat regulars in there at most times people aren't as enticed to join. A lot of people say "oh the chat room is dead" but in actuality if they just went in and waited for a few people would likely join and it wouldn't be so dead.

I agree with Mike. It's like complaining that the train isn't here but you're leaving the station before it has a chance to arrive. If people stuck around in the chatroom for longer and actually tried socializing then it wouldn't be so dead.

[Miserabilia]

Good point. I'll try lurking/waiting in the chatroom again like back in the day ;)

Hoping activity will come back up again a little. thanks for the responses

[Jaffe]

Wow, the chatroom works? First, I didnt even know about it until recently. Then, when I went to it I got an error... 404? 403? Something.

If its up again, I'd love to be in it, when I have time to sit here. Some days though, like everyone, I only have 15 minutes, which isnt enough time to chat, just to read a few posts and go away.

So.. tomorrow morning, maybe.

Maybe you should "advertise" the chat room more. And can you do "private chats" in the VT Chatroom?

[lyhom]

to be fair another reason for the chat inactivity could be that since it runs on java, some browsers might block it because of this whole eliminating npapi thing that stuff like chrome is doing

idk

[StoppingTime]

And can you do "private chats" in the VT Chatroom?

We already have a Private Message system for that reason - having private chatrooms is only asking for trouble in terms of moderation

[DerBear]

I haven't really been too active on here since December 2013 but if I compare now to then I'll admit that VT has drastically went downhill in terms of activity, probably due to the amount of server issues VT has had over the varying course of 2014 like Mike said. The Chatroom hasn't recovered very much either, back when I was really active around 1am UK time the Chatroom usually had around half a dozen to a dozen people in it and during the day it would always have a steady stream of activity.

Hopefully the more VT is online it'll regain its google rankings. I'm sure it'll quickly recover, after all we have the never ending cesspit that is Puberty 101

[Uniquemind]

I also want to say that I think the current ban policy has really come down hard on many contributing regulars to these forums to the point where a decrease in activity has occurred.


I don't know what can be done about that because a lot of the rules here have good reason for being there, but if VT cannot handle such "hot topics" perhaps a link to another forum community who does welcome such discussions can be used to outsource what would get you banned over here without the loss of a contributing conversationalist.

[Elysium]

I also want to say that I think the current ban policy has really come down hard on many contributing regulars to these forums to the point where a decrease in activity has occurred.


I don't know what can be done about that because a lot of the rules here have good reason for being there, but if VT cannot handle such "hot topics" perhaps a link to another forum community who does welcome such discussions can be used to outsource what would get you banned over here without the loss of a contributing conversationalist.
What gets you banned here is repeated offenses, sex chat/cybering, being overage, and making duplicate accounts. I hardly think those kind of things are unreasonably strict. It has nothing to do with "hot topics." And if I'm misunderstanding you and by "hot topics" you mean sex chat sites, by linking to those we'd be breaking our own rule.

If you want to continue being a contributing conversationalist on VT, read the rules, listen to the mods, and don't use the site to hook up with people. I am not sure how giving someone an alternative site would help them not break rules on ours anyway.

[project_icarus]

The chatroom has been rather inactive lately, but I think that is attributed to a few things. Slightly less activity definitely plays a part in it, but I think it's also because a number of active chat users have left the site in the past few months and nobody else has really stepped up and become a staple in the chat room. The best way to get people into the chat room is to go in and wait for a few people to join -- usually when I or a friend of mine does that a number of people end up joining -- but without the chat regulars in there at most times people aren't as enticed to join. A lot of people say "oh the chat room is dead" but in actuality if they just went in and waited for a few people would likely join and it wouldn't be so dead.

Here's the main reason I'm not in there anymore. :P
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t34.0-12/11667987_701762526616429_2137550995_n.jpg?oh=5cd279a797ee84800332c9e321173323&oe=558E1363&__gda__=1435424179_70048a58bd1611e0c031612c0e50eea5

[Uniquemind]

What gets you banned here is repeated offenses, sex chat/cybering, being overage, and making duplicate accounts. I hardly think those kind of things are unreasonably strict. It has nothing to do with "hot topics." And if I'm misunderstanding you and by "hot topics" you mean sex chat sites, by linking to those we'd be breaking our own rule.

If you want to continue being a contributing conversationalist on VT, read the rules, listen to the mods, and don't use the site to hook up with people. I am not sure how giving someone an alternative site would help them not break rules on ours anyway.

Not sex chat sites. Those are obviously obscene and have no place here.



But over the past 3 days I saw 3 people banned two of which had hundreds of posts and I couldn't find any obscene post that makes sense why they were banned rather than perhaps just frozen for a bit.

From my perspective I see that as something that's shrinking the community and is really threatening the quality of advice that can be given when grey area questions are asked by various OP's.

There are many sites regarding sexual health that approach the topic clinically and appropriately without it being inappropriate storytelling.

Those are the types of sites that shouldn't be bad to refer to since techniques cannot be shared here. Even if the intention is to correct a behavior a poster makes that you could suggest an alternative that is safer because you recognize what they currently are practicing is dangerous.

[Emerald Dream]

Not sex chat sites. Those are obviously obscene and have no place here.



But over the past 3 days I saw 3 people banned two of which had hundreds of posts and I couldn't find any obscene post that makes sense why they were banned rather than perhaps just frozen for a bit.

From my perspective I see that as something that's shrinking the community and is really threatening the quality of advice that can be given when grey area questions are asked by various OP's.

I think you're stuck on the idea that members here on VT must be getting banned for what they post publicly on the forums. As Elysium said above - more often than not...it's not the case.

Most of the time members end up banned for one of several reasons:

- advertising or being a spambot
- it's discovered that someone is overage to have registered
- cybersex/camming
- they have duplicate accounts

(^there are other reasons, but these are the most common ones^)

Yes, members may also be banned if they earn too many infraction points (disobeying staff, fighting, profile violations), but honestly...that's not as common a circumstance as those listed above. Chances are - if you see someone that is banned, it's more likely it's not because of something they posted on the forum.

[Elysium]

I'd just like to add that even if we did ban someone for something they posted on the forums, we'd delete the post so you wouldn't be able to see it anyway.

[Uniquemind]

Okay.

Well those cases that makes sense.

I guess there are things I can't see like I will concede if I see 3 people banned, they could've really been the same person with multiple profiles which only a mod could see via IP address.

This leads me to ask this question.

How do mods differentiate siblings from the same household from someone with multiple accounts? I'd imagine it'd appear like duplicate accounts but it could still be two people in real life living under one roof and one internet connection.

[ImCoolBeans]

Okay.

Well those cases that makes sense.

I guess there are things I can't see like I will concede if I see 3 people banned, they could've really been the same person with multiple profiles which only a mod could see via IP address.

This leads me to ask this question.

How do mods differentiate siblings from the same household from someone with multiple accounts? I'd imagine it'd appear like duplicate accounts but it could still be two people in real life living under one roof and one internet connection.

Cases like that are few and far between, and we generally handle everything on a case by case basis.

[Noody]

"This site uses a plugin (JavaTM) which is unsupported"

I'd love to use the chat room, but there's just no way of me bypassing this issue.. I've tried different browsers, new versions of java etc.

[Silicate Wielder]

Like Bright nights, I don't represent VT.

It does feel the site is becoming less active, but it's a slow decline. and I think the main reason of this has been the abuse to the site by bots in the last year or so . Nonetheless, we always seem to have a fresh influx of members during the summer.

But let's also keep in mind this; not everything lasts forever.

[CosmicNoodle]

with the amount of bullshit on this site, and sites like it, I'm amazed they have survived this long. If anything I'd say there where more new members than ever, that's my problem, I'm just about done with VT because all my friends are gone from here. The old generation are gone and it's all newbies these days.

[Rayquaza]

with the amount of bullshit on this site, and sites like it, I'm amazed they have survived this long. If anything I'd say there where more new members than ever, that's my problem, I'm just about done with VT because all my friends are gone from here. The old generation are gone and it's all newbies these days.

I agree with this.

I don't think VT has been getting less activity because of anything other than how it's currently being run now.

There has never been as much downtime before 2014, and I do think it's naïve to say it's a slow decline rather than a rapid one, considering general forum activity. In hindsight, I feel removing reputation was actually a big error seeing as now there is no incentive other than a +1 on post count to write a good post. Quality posts are declining. A bunch of replies in H&A are just "you should look up whatever you have" or "research it" rather than giving personally-related stories. This means that when people come to the site to browse or come for help, they're more hesitant to create an account because they won't want to invest their time and effort, and disclose their personal circumstances on the website because they won't get an answer that they can relate to. An answer that won't be from researching online, but from the experiences another teen. That's what made the whole point of VirtualTeen. I think if you're replying to a thread, consider what you're saying as a representation of the help people on VT can give and what makes that response different than just another help site.

I wouldn't say it's based on a generation gap at the moment. In the past the generations continually evolved so regardless of whenever people moved on, another generation had already started to take over rather just revealing itself. I suppose I can't be very accurate as I think it's been mentioned before that most traffic comes from P101 but I have that whole section hidden. I do think that the forums could do with a major shake-up too and have some more features on the website, such as "Staff currently online" so that someone can get immediate help. VT has basically been the same since it was 10 years ago with features being added then removed. The shoutbox was a brilliant addition to the site but surely, wouldn't it have made more sense to ban the people that tried to glitch it out, or fix the glitch problem entirely rather than removing it for everyone's entertainment? Was that too much work that the staff couldn't handle?

I speak to people regularly that I met on VT but are not as active any more, and the view that there has been a decline on VT unfortunately doesn't stand alone :-|