Sounds like an economic incentive might be called for to correct the community structure. In the past, some non-technical support sites required that a questioner have previously answered questions before they were allowed to ask them. Alternately, the vendor could provide giveaways or benefits to active participants. The problem with the former strategy in a technical problem forum is that one has no incentive until one has a problem. The problem with the latter idea is that it frequently creates a small group of highly active participants whose reward-getting prowess drives off lesser contributors.
Perhaps the best solution would be some combination of one or both of the above economic incentive with a concerted effort to create the buzz that does create a community. Apple forums have this because of the phanboi effect, but a vendor can create this with constant reminders, special offers, freebies, and other social activity. The Daz3D folks seem to try to do this - the Sketchup team tries but their communications are far too intermittent. Ray Parks Consilient Heuristician/IDART Program Manager V: 505-844-4024 M: 505-238-9359 P: 505-951-6084 NIPR: rcpa...@sandia.gov<mailto:rcpa...@sandia.gov> SIPR: rcpar...@sandia.doe.sgov.gov<mailto:rcpar...@sandia.doe.sgov.gov> (send NIPR reminder) JWICS: dopa...@doe.ic.gov<mailto:dopa...@doe.ic.gov> (send NIPR reminder) On Jul 16, 2014, at 11:23 PM, Arlo Barnes wrote: Well, I generally think of the improvement of forum interactions as a community phenomenon, eased or impeded by the structure of communication and interaction with the site infrastructure*, rather than as a computational dilemma per se; but I would be interested to hear what ways you think fora could be improved by AI. A general forum for thinking about internet fora (or forums, depending on your preference) is here<http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfInternet/top/>. -Arlo James Barnes *For software support, it is that interaction with the site is very limited - mostly, people are only there for the duration of the time they need assistance, and during that time are more interested in getting help than giving help. There is no time for the structure, mores, and history of the site to become clear, and so communication is weakened. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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