Is it just me, or is this new site a lot less active, as far as replies to threads go, than the old site?

Inevitably as more and more theories, and stories get posted there will always be a natural decline, as suspects get exhausted, no new potential victims are linked, as there is only a finite case list in the relevant time frame and any good new and fresh ideas after 44 years of investigations and internet articles, must be regarded with greater standing, to actually find something fresh to write about. Having said that I believe the administrators of this site may be spending a proportion of their time busily transferring material from the old site.

Its nothing to do with no new leads, no new evidence, no new victim, no new anything. The point I was making was, just a matter of week ago, when the old ZodiacKillerSite was active before switching to this one, I posted many many threads regarding things that have been known for a while, or saw others commenting far more frequently on threads with responses. If the sudden decline in responses, threads created, and other people commenting on existing threads were due to the reasons you stated then the old site would have been the same just weeks ago, but it wasn’t.

I think it may be due to members not switching from the old site to this, the new. I havn’t checked the mebmber No.’s though.

There’s SO much good material at the old forum.
It’s going to take a lot of time & energy to move it over.
Thanks to everyone that has started to move the threads! Anyone can copy & paste a thread or good topic over.
Lets make it Happen!

Is it just me, or is this new site a lot less active, as far as replies to threads go, than the old site?

It might have something to do with the site now being public. When the forum was private and only available to relatively few people to read, I think posters felt a little more free to post what was on their mind without fear of their posts and/or ideas being replicated elsewhere or be chastised for what they posted.

One thing is that currently there are not many new clues..second is that when I read a post it still shows up ‘red’ as ‘unread’, which is a bit disturbing..and then I tried to upload a pic but it said max. 6kb….donnow

qt

Probably a combination of things.

Personally I don’t like change and I suspect a lot of people feel that way. The slightest things can really throw me. Take the post layout for example – the avatars and info are now on the right and I’m still a bit iffy with that. For one thing, it doesn’t make sense as I should think the person’s details should come first then what they are saying, this way it feels like having your contact details at the bottom of a letter.

I’ll probably get used to it but for now it still feels like trying to cross the street in a foreign country where they drive on the opposite side. I may even come to prefer it regardless of layout logic.

It’s like operating systems, we cling to what we’re used to until the new one becomes what were used to.

I joined the old site a week or two before this site was launched. I’m really new to researching Zodiac so I was referring to the old site a lot because that’s where all the information was. I see that things are slowly coming over to this site. I haven’t posted a lot since I’m mostly reading and researching. Just my two cents.

Sorry,we hope to have the kinks worked out and make it easier for people to find stuff,post stuff,etc. I also think it is a combination of things, people not liking change, some people didnt sign up for the new site, and plus people can read without ever signing up. The Z websites die down now and again sometimes, thats not ever going to change. I am happy with 20 great members that like to post as opposed to 2000 members that dont ever get involved, or dont care to learn about the case.

Well, I know nothing about web design and construction so I don’t know what advantages there are to be had by using this site opposed to the other one. The instant thing I was kidna confused by was the similarity between the old site, and this. The lay out is identical, as are the options available to the users so I couldnt see any real significant difference or advantage to using this one when it seems, at least on the surface, identical to the other. As I said, knowing nothing about the technical side of web sites, their design and the advantages to the owner and/or users, I can only really speculate as to the reason for the switch being of something to do with running, opperating and maintaing this one compared to the other old one.

The search function on the old site was terrible. The old site had grown so much it was difficult to find something to if you wanted to refer to it or post a link, consequently some stuff was getting posted in many places. I know that was one of the big gripes with the old board.

..second is that when I read a post it still shows up ‘red’ as ‘unread’, which is a bit disturbing…

qt

It seems to take a couple seconds to turn from red to black, at least for me. Or, sometimes the highlight doesn’t turn off because there are pages in the thread I hadn’t opened.

The thing I really like about this new board is that the forums and threads stay highlighted until you look at them. On the old board, everything "unread" turned to "read" whenever you logged off. Or maybe I just didn’t have the preferences set right? Whatever, it’s very nice to feel I don’t have to read every single new post in one sitting.

One thing that’s kind of intimidating to me is the "wall of posts" way in which the threads were transferred. Sort of makes it seem like the comments, opinions, etc. from those threads are now set in stone, so to speak. Don’t know how else to describe it. I’m hoping that, after a while, people will start posting a lot on those copied threads, and this "wall of posts" feeling will dissipate.

Well, now that anyone can read here, everyone will see what a good Z site this is and there should be quite a few new people who want to join. Seems like whenever there’re new posters, that’s when the discussions usually get more animated and everyone’s interest is renewed.

Here’s some statistics that suggest this board is more popular. But you know what they say about statistics.

PS. correct my math if it’s wrong, it’s not my strong area.

old board:

march 4 2010 to

march 24 2013

1,116 days, 41787 posts

average 37 posts per day

95 registered users, most ever online 120

new board:

march 24 2013 to

may 6, 2013 so far

43 days, 2083 posts

average 48 posts per day

93 registered users, most ever online 395

There were two main reasons why I decided to open up this site at a new location:

1-The search feature was terrible on the old forum. Seagull hit the nail on the head,there were way too many threads and topics to always find what you were looking for. One day I was looking for something,and pulled my hair out (what little I have ) trying to find it for an hour. That was the last straw,so I decided to get a new forum.

2- The old site was essentially a ‘rental’. With forummotion, you simply rent a spot from them,and go entirely by their rules. Your site’s name has a .froummotion.com after it, so you are limited to a point. This new forum has no special rules,I own the domain, I am having it hosted, etc, so there is a bot more control from that aspect.

Fresh stuff is what usually spurs activity. A new previously unreleased Zodiac document or letter, a new interesting suspect,etc, those are the things that usually cause alot of new activity,but we havent gotten alot of new stuff lately, plus with all Z sites, they go quiet from time to time. And I would rather be a bit quiet then have somebody like Tom Horan on here trolling the forum,and causing stomach ulcers-those aren’t the kind of posts I want either.

I think we will see some improvements, get some new members,etc, and get a fresh start, it might take a bit. Hang in there, and in the meantime, go back and re-read some of the old stuff, there’s a ton of great stuff there!

This one is SO much better, imo!

Change always takes some getting used to. Not much happening at a lot of the Zodiac sites. We (myself included) talk about a lot of the same things over and over and like Morf said…fresh stuff spurs activity.