Any theories? About new members

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Silent Bob

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Hello the DPF old guard and any new members interested in giving feedback,

I've been sitting here for about three weeks pondering this simple question? Online registration while it has slowed, new members simply do not introduce themselves?

My explanations are varied, but would wonder if you all would like to add your thoughts.

I went over each of the last 200 Introductions and we all (meaning those that respond to the new intro's} have responded with our own typical greetings. Some more than others actually type more based on their geographical interests or the new members places a question for the forum. Totally understandable, but I wonder what we can do to get new members to contribute or ask questions.

Are new member completely overwhelmed with all the info we have on the site? I don't think so, I've looked around and visited other information boards, and think Clyde has done a very admirable job at organizing it and I think the regular members have done a great job of adding information to the forum. I know we are never going to have the membership like the National website, but I think after seeing membership grow since I started, we've done pretty good at welcoming new members.

I'd like to say that when I was here regularly last summer, I always tried to send greeting emails to new members. I don't mean the intro one, but actually a quick email that stated how to navigate the site and also where to find things. I know that during my absence, I simply didn't do this, but have gotten back to do this as an additional welcoming that we place on the Intro site.

So what do you think, any ideas or are we just happy at being our normal selves and leave new members to decide whether they want to contribute or not? What your opinions?
 
I think DPF is experiencing the same issue many UK forums have experienced
1 The TV / media driven burst of interest in prepping and survivalisn has waned the masses have got bored and moved on to their next new hobby.
2 Many people are and will only ever be CONSUMERS they will read, copy, download everything they can that others have worked to contribute, but they will either remain silent or come out with the most amazing excuses as to why they only take and never give, Work, Time, Family, Shyness, Opsec, Armchairs and wannabes etc.
3 Advertising and pushing people to join and contribute rarely if ever works, it usually often attracts the lesser spotted mums basement dwelling armchair warriors.
4 Many Preppers dont consider themselves preppers, if they do wear a badge its often HOMESTEADER, OFF GRIDDER, SMALL HOLDER, BUSH CRAFTER, FARMER, so these folks if online and not tending chores use Homesteading, off Gridding etc forums, THATS where you need to go to invite them to share THEIR expertise with us.
5 SERIOUS Preppers and Survivalist tend to be fairly bright and astute people and they can and will use various web searches to find the better LESS Gung ho, tea party, total gun nut type forums and will seek out sensible middle ground professional ran forums like DPF.

Quality members attract new quality members, quality trumps quantity every time and DPF is a thinking mans forum.

FYI the online Prepper Journal is superb and has high quality contributors and readship, suggest linking up or DPF produces its own online Journal to attract more people.
 
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I think membership is largely due to the economy. When things are going well, interest drops. Right now the media is painting a rosey picture of the US economy, next month they will report the opposite. It's amazing how many just follow along with what news is putting out there. Anyways, when things do go south, interest will spike, unfortunately that's a little late to start learning most of the skills here. Some are easier to learn than others, but some take years of practice. I like the old saying about you can lead a horse to water, but can't make them drink. I think this site is showing a good and balanced view to prepping, and that is enough for me. Anyone asking for advice and I'm more than happy to help them. I'm just not so much into trying to convince anyone to jump on my bandwagon.
 
I've been away due to medical problems. The board seems slow. It used to be much more active. What we don't have is the benefit of a TV program about prepping that we had before. Then after you gather as much stuff as you can all you can do is wait for something to happen. It gets boring after a while. Guess nobody wants to live the prepper lifestyle. It's as if preppers have plateaued. Then preppers in general have gotten bad press from extreme individuals, and the press loves to put negative connotations on anyone who is a prepper. I've been on since 2012 and it gotten very quiet. Something we need to look at for sure.
 
perhaps some of the new ones feel slightly intimidated,'cause there is alot of info already here and perhaps they feel "my question must be stupid,I don't wanna ask that",if only all understood that there are no stupid questions,feedback/ideas are great and those given may just be that one ,one of has been thinking how/what to do?
so please,if you are new to this forum;ask,give feedback,ideas.. :)
what I love about DPF is the fact N.R said,this is a thinking mans forum and the admin has done a great job in keeping it that way.

here in my neck of woods,the feeling of apathy is quite strong,like some have given up on hope,maybe that's why it seems to be so hard to connect to like minded at my end....
 
perhaps some of the new ones feel slightly intimidated,'cause there is alot of info already here and perhaps they feel "my question must be stupid,I don't wanna ask that",if only all understood that there are no stupid questions,feedback/ideas are great and those given may just be that one ,one of has been thinking how/what to do?
so please,if you are new to this forum;ask,give feedback,ideas.. :)
what I love about DPF is the fact N.R said,this is a thinking mans forum and the admin has done a great job in keeping it that way.

here in my neck of woods,the feeling of apathy is quite strong,like some have given up on hope,maybe that's why it seems to be so hard to connect to like minded at my end....

The ONLY stupid question is the one that is unasked.
 
if only one would understand that!!
without asking you don't learn...hope my tutor shares this feeling when I'm doing this ambulance practicum and ask him over and over again ;)
 
if only one would understand that!!
without asking you don't learn...hope my tutor shares this feeling when I'm doing this ambulance practicum and ask him over and over again ;)

FYI my mad Finnish friend the UK is DESPERATELY short of Paramedics and Trauma nurses, just sayin?
 
i figure some joined with out much interest in prepping,and simply stopped coming here once their interest went away.
some joined more out of curiosity.then moved on.
some joined,but joined other prepper/survivalist sites.and thats where they spend most of their time,when it comes to these sites.
and of course some may even of passed away.and as some here has pointed out.preppers/survivalist has a bad reputation.and folks don't prep because of it..
some think.oh the government will help out in time of need.
some folks buy whats needed for that moment,like snow storms/blizzards.power outages,etc etc..then return what they can afterwards.
then there's the ones,that has family members,who say.that it stupid/dumb to prep.so they don't,so they wont offend the family members.
 
I believe we are seeing the transition of those caught up in the diminishing fad and those that genuinely want to prep.

From a cynical point of view, Nat-geo (doomsday preppers) youtube, zombie movies and the likes have created a 'fad' that generated demand/shortages on products I once taken for granted (from water storage containers to ammo) Because of the demand, ammo brokers have been purchasing tons of bullets warehousing them and refusing to release in affect helping to create an shortage causing inflated prices and limits, ammo manufactures have been targeting these brokers for a good while now then add the paranoid effect. I have seen the 55-gal blue water barrels go from $29.88 (2008) to $75 today and in many cases above $100. Unfortunately Amazon, E-bay and ammo pricing is very much operated like commodity futures pricing today. I know of many new preppers/survivalist that never got caught up in the fad who genuinely prep but it is this so called fad that has help cause problems in supply and demand and hoping it is them we are seeing less and less of since they bring very little to the table. The upside to all of this is the new products that is being catered for preppers and survivalist though much have to be carefully vetted given the junk status. I also know of a couple of preppers that graduated from the fad and made it a way of life so all isn't doom and gloom, I also know of a few from local groups that got bored with it all and ended up selling all their stuff (some treated it as a game here 'fad')

Today many of the new preppers are seeing these prices and becoming discouraged in today's economy not realizing a far more cost effective way to prep though on many and many prepper sites cost-effective=death then you have other sites that try to scare the hell out of ya acting like they have oracles hidden in the closet like why can't these sites just say 'do what you can at a pace you feel comfortable at' instead of a 400 page lecture never getting to page 500 without buying the CD for the price of shipping.

I may be wrong but that is my assessment
 

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