Changes are coming Pilgrims

[inetdog]

Thanks for the response Dan. We will have embedded links to solarreviews.com but I feel you might be right, it dont mean people will click on it, something for us to consider, thanks.

How about requiring, among other things, at least one visit to each of the sponsor links before enabling PM or even image viewing?
Only partly tongue in cheek.

[solar pete]

How about requiring, among other things, at least one visit to each of the sponsor links before enabling PM or even image viewing?
Only partly tongue in cheek.

hmmmm...not sure how to make that work, .....Gregory, hey greg what about doing this

[J.P.M.]

Again another very good response, you pretty much nailed it. However I think those folks know deep down that this is the forum of few illusions, as someone once said. It gets good numbers, around 100,000 views per month and growing, its all about the numbers

For the record, and FYI, that someone was me, about a year+ or so ago.

On the 10^5 hits/mo. - sometimes I think about half of those might have been mine, depending on how spooled up I get. Seriously though - in reality, 4,600 posts/26 months ~= 177 posts/month - and I buy nothing from any ads I see here.

I only make that comment to offer some perspective because I'd suggest, like most everything, it's more about the perception of the #'s than the reality. The devil's in the details. I've found most situations are not amenable to a one sentence description or criteria for success.

[Bala]

Every forum is the same, a lot of repetitive questions, few read stickys or search. But if everyone did then there would be no one on forums. For most things you can google info. The catch is that people get tired of helping when most don't read your response properly etc etc. I have given up on a few mechanical forums. I still stay here as I need info, I contribute when I can but don't have much time at the moment. I was on a lot a few months ago as I had a broken collarbone. I have adblock so adds don't both me

[propman07]

As a new person to this forum, I'll throw in my $0.02....

This forum has helped me learn a lot about solar systems. Everyone here has been very helpful in responding to my questions. I think that a FAQ list would be a good idea. I know that I searched initially before posting some of my questions. Other times, I did not because I thought it was a unique situation, and warranted a new posting. Not sure how I feel about the PM topic. How are members supposed to contact each other if they want more information about a specific topic, but don't want to appear "stupid", and make a public post to get the answer? I know on some message boards, people live to berate new members, and I don't think that's fair. Everyone started off knowing nothing about a topic at one point or another.

[Amy@altE]

This is partly self serving, and not sure if it is even the right place for this request, but if you are also making changes to http://www.solarreviews.com/, any chance you can take "Distributors" out of "Other Services" and into its own tab? I see a lot of people asking where they can buy equipment, and the answer is on our host's page, but hidden.

[SunEagle]

This is partly self serving, and not sure if it is even the right place for this request, but if you are also making changes to http://www.solarreviews.com/, any chance you can take "Distributors" out of "Other Services" and into its own tab? I see a lot of people asking where they can buy equipment, and the answer is on our host's page, but hidden.

I feel the links to our sponsors solar equipment website and solar reviews need to be enlarged and highlighted so it would be harder to miss.

[solar pete]

This is partly self serving, and not sure if it is even the right place for this request, but if you are also making changes to http://www.solarreviews.com/, any chance you can take "Distributors" out of "Other Services" and into its own tab? I see a lot of people asking where they can buy equipment, and the answer is on our host's page, but hidden.

Thanks for the feed back Amy, its a fair point and I have raised it before with no luck. Short answer is the only revenue SR gets is from installers, they dont get jack from manufacturers or distributors. So I think the care factor is very small, but I think the day will come when that all changes, cheers.

[Amy@altE]

Thanks for the feed back Amy, its a fair point and I have raised it before with no luck. Short answer is the only revenue SR gets is from installers, they dont get jack from manufacturers or distributors. So I think the care factor is very small, but I think the day will come when that all changes, cheers.

Fair point. Perhaps a link from the FAQ to the Distributor page would be a happy medium. It is a frequently asked question.

[8.4]

I think the PM should be increased to after a person has reached 75 posts. Everybody is gaining something by coming to this site. But it's still a privilege and until you have contributed/participated lots, not all doors should be opened to you. This doesn't really solve the referral problem because you could still email them, I think. Being the internet is so anonymous, I don't think people really have problems posting what they might perceive as dumb questions. But that's just me. Look, my post count just went up one.

[J.P.M.]

Hey Pete - How about this: A sub forum where those who know little (and could care less about contributing anything even if they did), and only want some information about who's the lowest price vendor in their area, could get together with others, who only give a crap about sticking around to make whore referral $$'s ?

Kind of like legalized prostitution. It provides a public service and at least it gets controlled a little bit. The way it is now, seems like a lot of threads get cluttered with "I can't PM you because I'm a newbie - can you PM me who your installer is ?" etc. A sub forum would at least get the activity off Main St. and into a designated area.

Just sayin'.

[lkruper]

Hey Pete - How about this: A sub forum where those who know little (and could care less about contributing anything even if they did), and only want some information about who's the lowest price vendor in their area, could get together with others, who only give a crap about sticking around to make whore referral $$'s ?

Kind of like legalized prostitution. It provides a public service and at least it gets controlled a little bit. The way it is now, seems like a lot of threads get cluttered with "I can't PM you because I'm a newbie - can you PM me who your installer is ?" etc. A sub forum would at least get the activity off Main St. and into a designated area.

Just sayin'.

How about allowing a new person to pay for a PM (via Paypal?) to help offset the cost of maintenance of the site?

[J.P.M.]

How about allowing a new person to pay for a PM (via Paypal?) to help offset the cost of maintenance of the site?

Or just the referral whores, sort of like a vendor paying for hits on a website masquerading as a public information service ?

[radareclipse]

I hope you keep a similar look so its easy to see on all devices.

[foo1bar]

This is partly self serving, and not sure if it is even the right place for this request, but if you are also making changes to http://www.solarreviews.com/, any chance you can take "Distributors" out of "Other Services" and into its own tab? I see a lot of people asking where they can buy equipment, and the answer is on our host's page, but hidden.

I agree.
I came here looking for where I could buy panels, etc - and I was not able to find the solarreviews.com page. All I could find was the installers - and those I already had at least 2 of those that I was talking to, so I could get an idea of what an installer would charge.
I have seen a number of DIY threads on here, so you can tell there's certainly the interest.


Also - I REALLY hope that the 'report-this-post' link/icon is made functional.
Not long ago I tried to use it on what looked to me like SEO/link-farming spam. And it didn't work.