Taking stock after 100 posts at BonsaiNut

Redwing

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This is my 100th post at BonsaiNut, and it seems as good a time as any to look back over the past few months and take stock of what I've learned while here. Despite what might seen to be a rather low signal to noise ratio at times, I've actually learned at least six things, which may not sound like much but actually is pretty good for a hundred posts in an internet forum, when you really think about it.

6. I've learned little bit about what motivates clubs to show their bonsai.

5. I've learned a lot about Masakuni tools.

4. I've learned that there is at least one person on the internet who can receive an uncalled-for remark and yet not hold a grudge. Based on my experiences at other hobbyist forums, I never would have guessed this was possible.

3. I've learned a lot about the display of scrolls.

2. I've learned that ketoi makes beautiful pots , and Walter Pall lifts heavy things .

1. [EDIT] Wow... really? Life is too short to harbor such negativity. Let it go, man. Let it go. Oh, and no more personal attacks please - BNut [/EDIT]

Seasons greetings to all,
Redwing
 
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Bill S

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One of these days, we will here about some d bag that gets a call from a lawyer after one of these rediculous posts.

You might want to try to learn about Bonsai, but then again you are having so much fun, why spoil it, oh ya, you are for the rest of us.
 

R_F

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Was this really needed?

ditto....

I don't always agree with Will...heck I rarely agree with anyone 100% of the time whether it's what they do or how they do what they do....but what was this all about? To me a troll is some one who never really contributes anything and just tries to the throw the forum off balance and they never take anything seriously.

Whether you like it or not, Will has made contributions...whether they are big or small contributions that is a matter of opinion.

I don't agree with the way many people conduct themselves on the board, some of them are well known artists...but I would never see the point in calling them out unprovoked.
 

Klytus

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But who you got in mind to inherit your Bonsai?

I have seen several good posts featuring genuinely friendly people but there was also a lot of grandstanding.
 
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Bonsai Nut

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I have seen several good posts featuring genuinely friendly people but there was also a lot of grandstanding.

Grandstanding gets very lonely when you are the only one in the grandstand. The only thing that grandstanders want is an audience.
 

Pine Barron

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I got a good laugh out of it [EDIT] Thank you for your opinion. The rest of your post serves no purpose other than to incite, so it has been removed. - BNut [/EDIT]
 

Smoke

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Grandstanding gets very lonely when you are the only one in the grandstand. The only thing that grandstanders want is an audience.


...and sometimes a little respect.....
 

Smoke

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I'm not sure grandstanding is the best way to get it :) You might make yourself feel better, but I doubt that you've been effective in changing people's opinions about you.

If I were that shallow and cared about what someone might think about me you would be right.
It's not opinions about me that I'm interested in. It's about showing a body of work and trying to do that without all the other stuff.

Personalities, baggage, politics and all that other crap seem to get in the way of all the good stuff there is to offer.

Of course if you follow a couple of the other forums on a daily basis and count the number of new posts about bonsai, which they do cause all that other stuff I mentioned is not tolorated, then this place would be boring as the rest.

Lets face it Greg, everyone likes the drama. Real bonsai work lasts a few fleeting moments on a page like this, drama soars to 50 posts in a day. Grandstanding "is" the draw. I find it especially entertaining when those that are so vocal about all the grandstanding and even go so far as to tell people to take it to PM always come back to read the daily mud slinging and who got the best of who. They don't like it but are compelled to come back and look like some grisly train wreck.

After 11 years on the forums and probably over 10,000 combined posts between all the places I've posted ( I was just at 5000 posts when bonsaiPAGE went down) over 5000 at BT a thousand here, one thing you can't say is Al never posted any work. Yea I might grandstand occasionaly, but I have always been about the little trees, take "me" or leave "me" I don't care, but read and appreciate the work.

Appreciative of this venue, Al
 
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In the spirit of friendly debate...

I have thought over the drama brings traffic argument quite a bit and even supported it at one time, however I have come to understand that this argument is actually not quite true. Drama may bring posts, but not traffic. This can be seen by comparing page views of certain threads, for example.

The highest views in the general discussion section here is for a thread started by Vance Wood " Where Oh Where has our BT Gone" at 13,105

The highest views in the Karaoke Bar is a thread by King Kong, "here it goes" at 11,643

These two threads above have views higher than anything in pines, junipers, or any other species, beat only by a thread I started in Miscellaneous, " Cannabis Bonsai" with a whopping view count of 24,444, which is, if I am not mistaken, the highest view count of any thread on this forum.....higher than any drama thread here by far.

Make weed, not war. :D

But pot in a pot may well be a novelty and maybe should not count, which would leave a couple non-bonsai threads, like those listed above as being the most viewed threads on the forum. This is closer to Al's thoughts, but these are not the train wreck threads thought to cause the most action.

Do people want to see real bonsai content? Let's compare these numbers above to a couple from AoB (only because I know them well), a forum such as the ones Al mentioned where train wrecks are not tolerated.

In The article section, page views on some articles reach over 20,000 views, at least one as high as 30,000 views.

In the eristic section, page views on some of the pieces near the 50,000 view mark.

Profiles and gallery sections up to 20,000 views.


So there is interest in straight bonsai without the drama after all. :eek: A forum does not need drama and flame wars to be read.


Sure, some would argue that activity means a lot, and there is no doubt that AoB doesn't have a hundred posts a day, not a tenth of that, but the content is read more and if we had ads, they would be viewed more as well.

However, what if the quality of the posts were considered?

The post count here is higher than at AoB, and yes, more so in the drama threads, but typically in those it is just the same few people tossing insults back and forth, not quite quality content....and, as we have seen, this sort of exchange does not create page views, in fact, except for those aching to get into the fight, it most likely discourages it.

The numbers do not lie, people do not flock to the drama threads, only those who want to participate and these people run up the post count only for each other.

I realize this is a different forum, and it has its own charm, which is why it attacts so many people. It is not BT, AoB, or IBC and thank the Gods for that, we don't need more duplicates popping up. But let's not fool ourselfs, the drama does not add to the forum, it does not create more views, and it certainly does not attact new members, unless they are the type who can't wait to jump in.


Just my opinion, for what it is worth,



Will


(Disclaimer, just to avoid a sidetracked discussion, I neither admit or deny my own guilt in the above mentioned actions, nor do I mean to imply that AoB is better or worse than Bnut, they are different forums and both serve a good purpose.)
 
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