The Harold Lounge

I wanted to get you all a status update because you may (fairly) get the impression that not many people are here because most postings get one or two or maybe four comments, and usually those are coming from a handful of people.

That would be a wrong impression, it seems.

Visits over the first four days were pretty up and down, with big spikes after I sent out the first two announcement emails. After that, the traffic settled down into a fairly consistent pattern, ranging between 76 and 150 visits a day, for an average of a little over 100/day.

2/24 visits: 85

2/25 visits: 87

2/26 visits: 148

2/27 visits: 154

3/1 visits:  110

3/1 visits: 127

3/2 visits: 76

Then there was another spike with the Chancellor news (and email announcement), up to 266, followed by another settling over the last five days (152, 152, 120, 88, and 109 yesterday).

Now it could be the case that there are four people out there visiting 20 to 30 times a day, but I don’t think that’s the case. I believe that there are a lot of regular or semi-regular visitors who just aren’t commenting (yet) for reasons of their own. My guesses for the reasons are as follows:

1. Concern about some sort of consequence/backlash;

2. Uncertainty about how to comment/vote;

3. Concern about providing an email;

4. Topical disinterest;

5. Lack of time.

I have no suggestions at the moment for the last one, and I’m doing my best to throw up something for everyone (#4). I’m always willing to take suggestions, though, and there is a standing invite to interested faculty at large to become regular contributors here. As for 2 and 3, when you go to make a comment, the site asks you to provide a name and an email. I believe that your comment will still post, even if you don’t provide an email address. If that isn’t true, then know this: no one except the site administrator (me/Dave) sees your email address, and I don’t care who says what (and won’t give it up if someone wants to know). The site is NOT hosted on CCC equipment, so the administration, district, etc., has no access to it except through me. Given that it is a Faculty Council sponsored production and contains information about professionally related topics, I think it should qualify as acceptable under the CCC technology policy. I’m sure I’m on it more than anyone else, so I’ll let y’all know if/when I have a problem in that regard.

Finally, in regard to #1, as you can see from reading the comments, you do not need to provide your own name, and most people don’t (and can use multiple names, too, if you are signed up with WordPress (go to wordpress.com and sign up for an account and you can change your name as you wish)).

And voting doesn’t require anything of you except a click on an answer and click on the “Vote” button.

I know that everyone is pressed for time, especially with the midterm fast upon us, but taking a minute and tossing a comment off here and there, even if brief and partial, can go a long way toward making the site a vigorous and lively place of exchange. It’s getting there, but we need your help, too.

Any ideas about how to get more people to respond to posts (and how to turn lurkers into voices) are welcome here or by email (drichardson2@ccc.edu).

Thanks, in advance.