Why is it so quiet ? What can be done ?

[mark68]

Undoubtably this site is too quiet. I have a suggestion for why this might be. When you post a message it does not seem possible to be notified by e-mail that you have a reply. Somebody might comment on what you have said a month or more later, but you unlikely to notice ! Then the thread is likely to "die". You can check back a few days later to see if anybody has commented, but it is quite likely since the site is so quiet you might just not bother, or not get round to it.

It might be alot of work to move this forum to a new forum "board" or whatever you call it, but it might help to get the site more active.

[barb1]

I quite agree Mark. I think a new site could be the answer with a nice layout, not just a Forum. It would grab peoples attention. Lots of pictures of different lizards etc. to show that the exotics are not the only ones they could have experience keeping.

We certainly need a more symplistic way of uploading our pics. to this site. I am having real problems.
Perhaps some folks would like to help design a site, those who are clever on the computer? I have my own site on freewebs.com and there are lots of gadgets to use to make your site eye catching and fun to look at.

Are your Lacerta's getting ready for winter? This last couple of weeks mine have gone off their food to settle in, it's been quite Autumnal but today has been hot and they have been out sunning and eating. The youngsters are quite large now even little Hunchy who seems to have the respect of all the others, even those bigger than him; different from when they first arrived and I thought he might get eaten!
Have you seen my news about the baby tortoise? It's quite a little character as you will see from the pics. when Miqe gets them up.
B.

[mark68]

I personally don't have a problem with the layout of the site. I like it as it is. I think its a "critical mass" situation where there would be a snowball effect if only there was more activity on the site.
There maybe also a fundamental problem that too many reptile people love keeping reptiles in indoor cages ?

[barb1]

You might be right about people prefering to keep lizards indoors but then surely the exotics have to have a hotter temp. than we can provide here in UK. I would like to put my Berbers out in hot weather but wonder if they would become more stressed being moved in and out.

The ideal situation of course would be to have an outdoor viv with heat and an area where they can access the outdoors to an enclosure. Having their own den of course makes them feel secure.

I guess Mark, folk just don't have the time to write their news on the site. There certainly does not appear to be much activity on the site at the moment. B.

[mark68]

I am not suggesting keepers should start keeping species which would do poorly outdoors in outdoor vivs. Though from personal experience in the UK there are plenty of species which people think of as tropical which are in fact good candidates for keeping outdoors for at least part of the year. For example many chameleons, Australian water dragons and even bearded dragons. There are many other reptile forums that are very busy, so it is simply not about people not having enough time. I think there is (sadly) much less interest in this aspect of herp keeping than in the indoor side of things. As I said before it is easy with the low level of activity to write a post or reply and not notice you have a reply many weeks later. Also there have been times where no posts have been made for a month or more ! So what is the incentive to check this site ? I'm afraid it is a vicious circle that will be very difficult to break

[barb1]

Interesting what you say about some of the exotics. Do you mean they can be kept outside at night without heat?

[mark68]

Examples...

Australian water dragons in London kept outdoors ALL YEAR ROUND, in a greenhouse for the winter with only enough heating to kept frosts out.

Jacksons chameleons in London outdoors down to 2-3c at night (though no lower than this, this is the most extreme tolerated).

Bearded dragons, down to 10c or less not a problem at all.

Its all down to enclosure design and doing research on native habitats, which often get alot colder than you might think.

[barb1]

So are you saying, quite a lot of species from hot clims can be kept outdoors with no basking areas under a lamp in the summer? With the Cameleons, wouldn't rain wash them off their branch?
I presume you mean the animals in the greenhouse would hibernate?

[Killian]

I think it would be a real shame to take this site down and start a new one as there is an absoloute wealth of knowledge on here that is simply available no where else on line or in books. there is a freewebs website attached to this site and perhaps it is need of a revamp. www.freewebs.com/outdoorvivaria I will look into the design of this site and see if I can organise an email system that notifies members about replies to their posts.

a forum is only as good as its members however!

[barb1]

Killian,

I don't mean get rid of the site but with a new site ajoining, or all the old chat lines transfered. I know people love looking at pics. but as you know, I have had great difficuty getting them onto the site. If I have, I am sure others will have had problems too.

Anyway, lets see what ideas come in. Yes, e-mail notifications would be great!

[Killian]

Ive had a look at the backround of this forum and there seems to be no way of getting email notifications! which is a shame I will see if I can get the info transfared to another forum. bare with me

[mark68]

There is a "mainstream" reptile forum that i am a member of that recently moved over to a v bulletin board, with no loss of old posts (as far as I can see). So I think it is possible.

[Iowarth]

I have just checked the Pro-boards support site and, sadly, they state quite clearly that they do not have a facility to copy the underlying database which is what would be needed.

Most boards give an option either when posting, or within one's profile, whereby one can be informed of either postings to the specific subject or, for example, a summary of all a day's postings. I wonder if the "Bookmark this thread" would achieve the former. I have selected it this time to see if it helps. I must agree with Mark that I think this is the single greatest cause.

It is also possible that there is a shortage of links to either the website or the board. I must plead guilty in this respect in that although Killian has linked to my site - I hadn't linked to the board or site in turn. Now rectified!

It may be worth Killian contacting Pro-boards to see if a summary could be downloaded to administrators and then forwarded to members.

Chris

[guest from holland]

I have registered about a month ago under the name stonewall and when I try to log on i still get a message that my application is under review (nothing in my spam btw). If there are more people with the same problem then that might be one explaination of the quietness.

[Varanof1]

First my Englishman excuses, but there is that I am using a translator.
It happens to my me like to the previous companion, register in the forum two months ago and it does not leave me to enter. Maybe it is one of the reasons of few activity of the forum.
I write from Spain and it looks like to me a very interesting topic that in spite of the climate that we have here is not very common.
A greeting
Antonio