Community Activity - Charts

[[Co...]]

Hello all,

 

The reasons for steady decline in participation levels at BenzoBuddies (to about 20% this summer from our peak in 2014-15) are multifarious.

• A general decline in forum usage due to the rise of large social media platforms
• A steady downgrading of forum content (across the Net) by search engines
• A lack of development at BenzoBuddies to improve engagement (such as our failure to migrate sooner to a mobile-friendly solution)
• Failure to move sooner to HTTPS, which affects how search engines rate the site and degraded trust with users
• A lack of engaging features with our old software
• Inertia to make the necessary structural changes to the community and how we provide support.

 

With the above in mind, we thought you might be interested to know about the changes in activity since our switch to the new software and reorganisation to the support spaces. The following chart illustrates changes to activity levels since we rationalised the old support spaces into two new support forums, Withdrawal & Recovery Support, and Taper Panning & Adjustment. It also lists the archived forums the new forums replaced.

We should add that apart from changes to our core support spaces, our archiving of thread-based groups, and thread-based Buddie Blogs, has also had positive effects, driving activity towards the core support spaces, and improving engagement levels between established and newer members.

The chart, below, spans the full month of June before the changes, July, which was the transitional month, and August, our first full month post-changes. The data for the different forums is displayed cumulatively in the chart. That is, peaks represent to sum of all activity of the listed forums. The dip to zero is from when the community was offline for about three days during our migration to the new software. The dip in numbers midway post-migration, towards the right of the chart, is from when we suffered technical problems affecting logins for a couple of days.

The changes in how we operate will take some time to take full effect. But new members are now better supported and engaged, so are more likely to stick around and in turn help future members. It is early days, but it is already looking very promising.

One more chart. It is for the total number of posts per day. And in particular, over this past year and (and worse still) this summer. But as you can see, activity is already picking up.

Please note that both charts do not include activity from the new Groups, which are already proving quite popular. In particular, the Long Haulers group, which caters for those who suffer from very protracted, post-withdrawal symptoms.

 

(Again, you will see two similar dips in activity during migration to the new software and when we suffered technical problems affecting logins).

The changes have, so far, only reversed the most recent dip in activity over the summer. Our activity levels are now around where we were earlier in the year. We are aware that some members who were heavily entrenched in thread-based groups and blogs have ceased participating - this will affect the post count in the shorter term. But many other established members have embraced the changes are making BenzoBuddies work as it should, especially for newer members who are in critical need to help and support.

Thank you all for your continued support.

[[B ...]]

👍

[[B ...]]

Are success stories still around? They helped me immensely and I try to return myself to check in and try to help👍

Having a little trouble with the new format. Thanks B strong 

[[Co...]]

Hi @[B ...] Yes, Success Stories are still there. They are now ordered as the very first forum, at the top of the main page. We are looking to revamp Success Stories in some way to make them even more visible and accessible, but the content is not disappearing - nor will it be archived.

[[Co...]]

I've edited to my original post to update the charts to correct for a small date bug in the CSV data source files.

[[Lo...]]

7 hours ago, [[C...] said:

Hello all,

The reasons for steady decline in participation levels at BenzoBuddies (to about 20% this summer from our peak in 2014-15) are multifarious.

• A general decline in forum usage due to the rise of large social media platforms
• A steady downgrading of forum content (across the Net) by search engines
• A lack of development at BenzoBuddies to improve engagement (such as our failure to migrate sooner to a mobile-friendly solution)
• Failure to move sooner to HTTPS, which affects how search engines rate the site and degraded trust with users
• A lack of engaging features with our old software
• Inertia to make the necessary structural changes to the community and how we provide support.

With the above in mind, we thought you might be interested to know about the changes in activity since our switch to the new software and reorganisation to the support spaces. The following chart illustrates changes to activity levels since we rationalised the old support spaces into two new support forums, Withdrawal & Recovery Support, and Taper Panning & Adjustment. It also lists the archived forums the new forums replaced.

We should add that apart from changes to our core support spaces, our archiving of thread-based groups, and thread-based Buddie Blogs, has also had positive effects, driving activity towards the core support spaces, and improving engagement levels between established and newer members.

The chart, below, spans the full month of June before the changes, July, which was the transitional month, and August, our first full month post-changes. The data for the different forums is displayed cumulatively in the chart. That is, peaks represent to sum of all activity of the listed forums. The dip to zero is from when the community was offline for about three days during our migration to the new software. The dip in numbers midway post-migration, towards the right of the chart, is from when we suffered technical problems affecting logins for a couple of days.

The changes in how we operate will take some time to take full effect. But new members are now better supported and engaged, so are more likely to stick around and in turn help future members. It is early days, but it is already looking very promising.

One more chart. It is for the total number of posts per day. And in particular, over this past year and (and worse still) this summer. But as you can see, activity is already picking up.

Please note that both charts do not include activity from the new Groups, which are already proving quite popular. In particular, the Long Haulers group, which caters for those who suffer from very protracted, post-withdrawal symptoms.

(Again, you will see two similar dips in activity during migration to the new software and when we suffered technical problems affecting logins).

The changes have, so far, only reversed the most recent dip in activity over the summer. Our activity levels are now around where we were earlier in the year. We are aware that some members who were heavily entrenched in thread-based groups and blogs have ceased participating - this will affect the post count in the shorter term. But many other established members have embraced the changes are making BenzoBuddies work as it should, especially for newer members who are in critical need to help and support.

Thank you all for your continued support.

I think the changes are fantastic!  I have found myself logging on and truly reaching out to help members. It’s soooo easy to do now!  Although I certainly haven’t navigated everything on the new site, it’s still much more contemporary and user friendly. Thanks for all your hard work!!  

[[Co...]]

Thank you for posting this, @[Lo...]. That's really encouraging to hear.

If you have not already noticed it out, check out activity (main menu bar). The one I use most is:

Activity => My Activity Streams => Content I Posted In

But there are many other options.

And be sure to use notifications for particular areas of the community or threads which interest you. You can use it for a thread or forum, and can also access an overview. There are a couple of ways to access the full overview, but the fastest is:

Click the yellow notification bell at the top of the page => Notification Settings.

Yes, the new software works great on kinds of devices. And now makes access via phone not only possible, but a pleasure.

[[Es...]]

@[Co...]

The changes are really impressive and your ability to analyze these figures is incredible. I wish I had a mathematical brain. I'm all into words. Numbers freak me out. Although I got a French-Polish MBA, cause I wanted to earn lots of money😆 I really don't know how I did it, my analytical minded friends helped me out in exchange for my notes.

[[Co...]]

@[Es...] I replied to the inquiry you posted to my profile. In case you missed it:

Quote

I'll look into it tomorrow. But, it will be a 24 hour cycle - I do not know when it starts. So, if you posted a lot of reactions last night, this could explain it.

 

[[Be...]]

I'm struggling to understand how this new version works.

Heck, I can t even figure out how to add my history to my profile.

Is there any way to view the old me from before the purge?

I can't remember all the details I had added.

Is there a way for yuo to contact me here in this space and see if you can find my old content?

[[Es...]]

@[Co...]

Sorry, didn't mean to bother you with my request. But there are so many people wanting your attention at present, that I was afraid you missed it🙈

[[Pa...]]

14 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

I'm struggling to understand how this new version works.

Heck, I can t even figure out how to add my history to my profile.

Is there any way to view the old me from before the purge?

I can't remember all the details I had added.

Is there a way for yuo to contact me here in this space and see if you can find my old content?

You can use this link to go to the old forum, you can then copy your signature, come back here and go to your profile, then edit profile, they past into history. http://198.58.99.130/forum/index.php

[[Li...]]

12 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

I'm struggling to understand how this new version works.

Heck, I can t even figure out how to add my history to my profile.

Is there any way to view the old me from before the purge?

I can't remember all the details I had added.

Is there a way for yuo to contact me here in this space and see if you can find my old content?

Hello @[Be...].  Here are instructions on how to retrieve your signature information from the old forum and add it to the ‘History’ section of your Profile here on the new platform. 

1. Open a new window in your web browser.
2. Enter the IP address for the old forum: 198.58.99.130/forum
3. Log Into the old forum using your username (not your email address) and password.
4. Select Profile from the main forum menu.
5. Select Forum Profile from the drop-down menu.
6. Copy and save the information in the Signature text box to whatever storage device you use. 
7. Log in to the new forum.
8. Open your Profile. (Click your member name in the upper right corner of the page; then select Profile from the drop-down menu.)
9. Select ‘Edit Profile’ from the menu in the upper right corner.
10. Copy and paste the information from your old signature into the ‘History’ text box.
11. Make any revisions you wish, then save.

[[Lo...]]

8 hours ago, [[C...] said:

Thank you for posting this, @[Lo...]. That's really encouraging to hear.

If you have not already checked it out, check out activity (main menu bar). The one I use most is:

Activity => My Activity Streams => Content I Posted In

But there are many other options.

And be sure to use notifications for particular areas of the community of threads which interest you. You can use it from a thread or forum, and can also access an overview. There are a couple of ways to access the full overview, but the fastest is:

Click the yellow notification bell at the top of the page => Notification Settings.

Yes, the new software works great on kinds of devices. And now makes access via phone not only possible, but a pleasure.

Thank you!  I didn’t even know the activity feed existed! Lol!  Wow! So easy and convenient! Awesome!  I’ll check out the other links you mentioned. 

[[An...]]

Ok

[[St...]]

Where is the protracted information??

[[Pa...]]

13 minutes ago, [[S...] said:

Where is the protracted information??

This is the link for the Long Haulers Group, you just click ‘Join’.   https://benzobuddies.org/forum/137-topics/

[[Gr...]]

😊 thanks

[[Co...]]

I thought some of you might be interested to see how core parts of BB (support forums) have been operating since our migration to this software and the reorganisation of our forums. The following chart details activity in the two new core forums (the last two forums listed) compared to the multiple archived forums they have replaced. The most important metric is the green line at the top - this is the total number of posts to all core forums over the time scale. You will note that core activity has about doubled (and other parts of the community are expanding too - I'll detail them another time).

Note: the reason why posts appear in the two new forums from before the two forums were created is because we moved some old content from the archived forums to the new. This does not affect totals at the various timestamps.

Please note: the dates in the chart are incorrect. There is a bug spoiling this. The post numbers are correct, but the dates span 1st Jan, 2023 through to 29th Feb, 2024.